Chapter 3: Hands

Note: A picture will be up either Friday or Saturday. From there on out, I'll be trying to post a picture prior to a story by one to two days.

Chapter 3
Hands

There was no time to doubt whether or not any of this was real. I had seen enough, and I had no time to decide. I had to act. I turned to the girl sitting next to me.

“I need your help.”

She didn’t even turn toward me. I had answered the phone, and now she was leaving me alone. How childish.

“There’s something on this train.”

She turned toward the window and looked out.

Maybe if she sees whatever-it-is that’s out there, I won’t even have to talk to her.

That didn’t happen. Maybe if I had waited longer, maybe. But I didn’t. I knew what she wanted. She wanted me to answer the questions from earlier.

“When you want to know someone’s name, it’s polite to introduce yourself first,” I said bitterly.

“Well then, introduce yourself!” she laughed.

I bit down on my lip.

“I’m Hank.”

“And I’m Grace,” she smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She lifted a hand toward me. I pushed her hand away.

“Introductions later. There’s—“

“So, do you have an aspect?” she asked.

“We don’t have time to answer questions. There’s something out—“

“If you want my help, you’ll have to have to answer my questions first.”

“What don’t you understand?” I burst. “Something’s crawling outside!”

The other people on the train began to shift uneasily.

“Shh,” she whispered. “Look, do you have an aspect?”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“Okay then.”

She stood up.

“Can I have everyone’s attention please?” she announced politely.

The other passengers turned toward her.

“My friend has a high fever and is quickly becoming delirious. For your own safety, please move to another car. Thank you!”

The other passengers began to leave. Some quietly walked toward the doors separating the cars. Some pushed aside others with their hands to escape contamination. Truly noble. In the end, Grace and I were the only ones left in the car. I didn’t know what I’d do now. I could still see the echoes pinpointing the creature’s location. It was above us. What would we do? I didn’t know.

The train jolted. The wheels screeched. The lights on the train began to flicker, and everything went black.

I found myself lying on the floor at one end of the car. It was dark, but my eyes slowly began to adjust to the meager light provided by the tunnel lamps. I saw Grace standing in the shadow.

“What happened?” I asked.

Then I saw something else in the shadow—something large and crawling along the ceiling toward her; something similar to a lizard but with limbs far more elongated and a tongue that constantly flicked in front of it.

Grace was facing the creature. She was holding a small silver tube. She removed the cap and twisted the bottom. Black lipstick rose from the tube.

“Of all times to put on lipstick, you choose now?” I shouted.

She turned toward me for a single second, but I saw her smile.

Though she was half covered in shadow, an additional strand crawled across her and into her hand. It stretched over the lipstick and formed that long black sword I had seen earlier.

The creature lashed its tongue at Grace, but with a swing of her sword, she sliced its tongue off. Very few lizards can make a sound, but this creature was no lizard. It roared in terrible pain, in guttural anger. It leapt toward her, but she sidestepped the attack and struck the creature with her blade. It crashed onto the floor beside me.

I looked at it for only a moment. It had no eyes, no ears, but its nostrils were flaring and snorting. I could see its tongue regenerating in its mouth as it began to roar. I got up and ran toward Grace. The echoes of the creature roaring showed in my mind that it had already recovered and was chasing me. It lashed its tongue out toward me. Grace was still too far away.

I reached toward her with my hand.

She lifted her sword and struck forward. The shadows crawled across her body and into her sword, lengthening the blade. It extended past me, and I heard it pass through flesh and strike metal. I turned back to see the creature’s skull impaled against the wall of the train. Its body began to bubble and disintegrate. Her sword retreated from her hand and into her shadow.

She then lifted her hand toward me.

Images and Text © Jonathan Lee

Pictures

A finished picture for Chapter 1 is up. Here's a link to it, but it's also in the post.

Hank

Chapter 2: Antithesis

So before I get to the chapter, I'm running a bit late on inputting the pictures. I finally got them scanned and resized, but it was a busy weekend. So, I'll try to get two up before the Thursday post.

Chapter 2
Antithesis

Here I was, lying on the floor of an alleyway with a strange girl standing before me. She wore a purple one piece, a purple ribbon with a skull in her hair, black socks with white skulls, and purple shoes. She wore heavy eye liner and black lipstick. A goth - someone I didn’t need and who didn’t need me.

Her grey blue eyes covered in black flashed over me before she turned toward the kid.

“Hi!” she smiled in the bubbliest voice I had ever heard. “It’s alright. The monster’s gone.”

“What was that thing?” the kid asked.

“A real monster. But don’t worry, it’s gone.”

“Will it come back?”

“No. It won’t.”

“Are there others like it?”

“Yes. But I’ll stop them all,” she smiled.

From her voice, I could tell she really meant it. The kid believed her. I didn’t care. All that mattered was that I was alive. I walked away. I could hear her voice behind me.

“Now run home. Someone must be worried.”

And I heard the kid run off. As I continued out the alleyway, I felt a shadow stalking me. So I looked back and saw the girl following me.

“Why are you following me?”

“Because I want to ask you something.”

“Well, I don’t want to hear your question.”

I turned and continued on my way. She continued following me.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

I ignored her.

“Do you have an aspect then?”

I continued on.

“Why didn’t you try to help?”

I walked faster.

“Hey! Wait up!”

My phone rang. I looked at it. Blank screen. I hit the red button. It continued ringing. I had enough of this. I tossed my phone into a trash can and continued toward the station.

Behind me, I could hear her rummage through the trash to find my still ringing phone. She found it and ran to confront me.

“Aren’t you going to answer your phone?”

“Leave me alone,” I barked.

“Okay,” she smiled. “If you answer your phone. It's rude not to respond. Even with me, your fleeing away from me is a response.”

I looked toward the station ahead. It wasn’t far. I pushed her aside and ran. I could hear her following me. I arrived out of breath. I swiped my wallet against the card detector and moved through the rails. I ran to the east platform. The train was already there. I entered it and took a seat. The doors closed, and the train began to move.

I laid my head into my hands and sighed to myself. Then I heard it – the plain ring of my cellphone. Everyone else has a ringtone. I never cared enough to apply one.

“You really don’t want your phone?” she asked.

I looked up at her. “Leave me alone!”

“I told you: if you answer your phone.”

Which was more annoying? Not a difficult question. I grabbed the phone from her and answered it.

I could hear the sound of metal screeching across metal – the sound of subway wheels grinding on their rails. I could see the echoes bound off the tunnel walls and reflect an image of the tunnel, the train, and something – some thing crawling on the side of the train. There are at least fifteen trains traveling in the city at all times. Which train would it be on? I looked through the window, and a shadow swung by.

It was on my train.

I looked around my car. There were ten other people. One of them was the girl. Here I was, sitting on a train with the strange girl who saved my life previously. I had answered the phone. She said she’d leave me alone. And now, I needed her.

Images and Text © Jonathan Lee

Chapter 1: Noise

I'm turning this blog into a story blog that'll be updated Mondays and Thursdays. I'll try to do an accompanying picture for each installment as well. But we'll see if that one happens. But here it is.

Chapter 1
Noise

It was just supposed to be another day.

My alarm rang at 7:30AM, right on time. I was up immediately and turned it off. I slept my usual eight hours and felt perfectly normal. I turned on my computer, loaded some music, and did my exercise routine. I checked my e-mail and saw my professors sent me a few– nothing important though. Not that it ever is.

I wore my black jeans, my white dress shirt, my red tie, my grey hooded jacket, and my grey toque with the yellow stripe. I grabbed my wallet, my backpack, and my cell-phone, and I was out the door.

I walked along the same city street as I did every day, and I saw the same people talking on their cell-phones, listening to their iPods, honking and yelling at one another from their cars but no one ever listening. I continued on my way toward school.

In lecture, when the professor asked a question, as usual, my hand was the first one up. Not that any other hands went up. These parasites that called themselves students just sat there, absorbing air as they squandered their time sleeping, chatting to one another, sending texts on their phones – wasting away. All my classes passed like this.

During my lunch break, I sat by myself in my college’s park, eating my sandwich. I saw people walking by, staring at their phones, texting as they walked, talking to someone a hundred feet away on their cell-phones. I hate cell-phones.

My phone rang. I looked at it. Mom. I didn’t answer. I knew how the conversation would go. This was the voicemail.

“Hi honey, it’s mom. I just wanted to ask you if you needed anything? No? No, you never do. You’re such a good boy, Hank. I’m so proud of you. A top college with a full ride. Well, your father and I miss you. We hope you’re enjoying college. Bye, sweetie.”

My school day ended at 2. I walked toward the subway to return to my apartment. Although it’s my first year at college, I don’t live in a dorm. The endless sound of squabbles and mundane gossip are things I can do without. Someone hands me a flyer. I don’t take it, but the man persists in handing it to me. I take it ruefully.

Listen to another. It could change your life. Visit www.listentoyourpeers.org/

I laughed. I have my own opinion, and you have yours. Let’s keep it that way.

On my way to the station, my phone rang. I looked at it.

Unknown Call.

Well, that’s even less appealing to answer.

I hit the red button to send it to voice-mail. It didn’t stop. I held it down to turn off my phone, but it didn’t turn off.

So, I hit the green button. Noise flooded into my ears. The voices of the city shouting, whispering, crying, and I was at the center of it. I fell to the floor. And then, I heard the laughter. Such terrible laughter.

I hit the end call button. And the sound stopped. I looked around, but no one seemed to have noticed. Everyone was too busy with their own lives, and that’s how it should be. I got up and began to walk toward the station again. My phone rang again. I looked warily at it. Nothing was written on the screen.

I answered it.

“Help me! Help me!” It sounded like a kid.

“That’s sick,” I said into the phone.

I hit the end call button.

“Help me!” I could feel the voice coming from my left, from down an alleyway.

The phone was still on.

I continued walking.

“HELP ME!”

I ran down the alleyway. What the hell am I doing? I could feel the voice closer and closer as I ran down the alley, echoing in my mind. I knew exactly where to turn. And there he was, the little kid backed off in a dead end.

“What’s wrong?” I huffed.

“Save me!” he yelled.

“From what? There’s nothing here!”

As the words left my mouth, I could feel something descend from the shadows above me. I turned and saw my reflection in eight red eyes.

That was enough. I ran away, but the monster was faster. It spat a tendril of web at me and caught me by the leg. It started pulling me toward it. It opened its mandible. A putrid smell came out like rotted meat. It was the only thing going through my head. Fear does wonders to you. You focus on the most unimportant things when you’re about to die.

But it wasn’t my time.

I found myself on the floor. The arachnid was split in half nearby, bubbling and disintegrating until there was nothing. And then I saw her. A girl standing before me, holding a black sword that crawled back into her shadow.

It was just supposed to be another day.

Image and Text © Jonathan Lee

Soon to Come

Decided to change the picture at the top to one of my foggy night pictures. A few days ago, a thick cloud of fog rested upon Irvine. So I decided to take pictures, and after about half an hour with only a few good shots, the battery on my camera decided to kaputz. Now, I'm waiting for it to be foggy again one day. Until then.

Note: The photo is not at all photo-shopped. Thinking of cropping it though.

*Edit* - Cropped

Things to come (Projects I'm working on):
Deviant Art page with Fog Photos
Music:
-Toy Soldiers
-Little Boots
-Pocketwatch
-Lavender's Dream
Writing:
-Advent Horizon
-Unnamed Project
-Horizon's End
Reviews:
-Bond: Quantum of Solace
-Wall-E Blu-Ray
-Sleeping Beauty Blu-Ray
-Prince of Persia (360)