This week, I am starting the first of hopefully many "series posts," in which besides the regular news I will be posting for your enjoyment a new chapter (episode) of a story. Each story will last for several weeks in the form of "seasons."
After that, there will be a break in the series and another series will take its place. Got that all?
So, without further ado, it is my pleasure to announce the first episode of the first series.
Enjoy!
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Ankoku no Ki
(English translation: Tree of Darkness)
Chapter 1
Nightmares
Nothingness. Where am I? This place is so bleak…so white… Is this whiteness? What should I call this? Rachel floated upon a bed of nothingness with nothing more than her thoughts. Such a never-ending void claimed occupancy to Rachel and Rachel alone, nothing less, nothing more, forevermore.
How do I get home? Will I be here forever? A ripple in the lonely void caused her to bob up and down upon an unseen stream. With the flow of the stream, her long, auburn hair flowed casually behind her.
What is it that surrounds me? I can feel something…something indescribable… Is my body supposed to be tingling like this? A strange sensation crawled through her body. Something moved beneath her creamy, white flesh. It slithered up her arms, down her legs. What is this? She felt her skin tighten against the lean muscles in her limbs. The pressure spread until the tightening reached her chest and traveled even north. With a soft cry agony, she felt the mysterious, slithering objects under the soft skin on her face.
What is this? Where am I? Why can’t I go home? One of the slithering objects broke through her skin. Rachel loosened a pained scream. One by one, more of the slithering objects pierced her flesh. Again and again, she cried out in pain, causing harsh tears to flow from her eyes and fall like crystalline beads into the void below.
After what could have been minutes or years, she couldn’t tell, the objects stopped their tearing and Rachel looked to her left and right with her teary eyes. The scene startled her even more. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Her mind caught the rhythm of her terrified breathing. Leathery green vines bound her naked form from each of her limbs, stretching outward endlessly in every direction. A gentle flow of crimson blood soothed each of the wounds the vines had created as they had released themselves violently from her insides. Such a small soothing sensation wasn’t enough however to combat the sharp pain each braided vine caused as they began to stretch her limbs as if she were on a rack. Once more, the painful pitch of her stained voice pierced the emptiness around her. More crystalline tears fell to the void below. Why is this happening to me? Her lungs strained, almost to their limit.
“WHY WON’T THIS STOP?!” she screamed, the tone and power of her voice causing the blood to flow faster from her wounds, downwards, into nothingness. The void became red like blood as the vines pulled harder, more violently. Even over her ear-shattering screech, she could hear the sound of her limbs as they popped from their sockets. The resulting sound loosened from her vocal cords shattered the walls of the crimson void. Like glass, the shattered barriers fell around her as the vines loosened their grip. Slipping out of their hold, Rachel fell into the crimson void which became dark, illuminated only by the soft red glow that seemed to come from her blood as she watched it mark her trail of descent.
“Please…” she whispered. “I just want to go home…”
“My tea’s gone cold, I’m wondering why I got out of bed at all. The morning rain clouds up my window, but I can’t see at all.” Dido’s voice blared outward into Rachel Edington’s college dorm, just as the soft glow of the morning sun. “And, even if I could, it would all be gray, but your picture on my wall…it reminds me that it’s not so bad. It’s not so bad.” Rachel’s eyes open slowly with the weight of the dream she had just had. With a lethargic hand, she smacked the snooze button on the alarm next to her bed, cutting off the sound of Dido’s voice.
She sighed heavily and sat up urgently on her bed, letting her soft comforter fall off of her chest and revealing to the world the large, loose green shirt she had worn to bed. Trying to dispel her fears, she quickly scanned the medium-sized dorm room, noticing that her roommate’s bed to the left was vacant. She must have spent another night with that guy she likes… Rachel sighed again.
“I guess it’s just another night at OSU…”
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Well, that's all for this week. Make sure to pay attention to the order in which we make our posts, because that is the general schedules for each week. Sunday is a free-post day, so expect randomness from either myself or some of the other writers. Each day brings something knew, so make sure to check in each day to make sure you've read everything. Au revoir.
Provehito in altum
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