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February Short Story Challenge--F/F Blindfold-Stories
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Sammy Goode
(last edited Feb 01, 2012 03:53AM)
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Jan 25, 2012 07:09PM
The votes have been tallied and the winning pic for this month's challenge is:
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Alright Gang, the picture is posted and now all we need are YOUR stories!A few reminders:
The story should reflect it's muse, i.e., the picture above.
The story can run any length.
Remember this is a YA thread...as such the story should reflect that, please.
Lastly, when commenting please be respectful of the author's work--no snarky comments please!! (note added by the Evil Moderator Sammy=:)
Happy Writing AND Reading all!
Kaje wrote: "Damn, that was hard."I agree!!!
Argh! I thought I knew which one I was choosing but then Rupert (Plot Bunny Extrodinaire and occasional mediator between the voices in my head) made some suggestions, and now I am not sure.......
K wrote: "Argh! I thought I knew which one I was choosing but then Rupert (Plot Bunny Extrodinaire and occasional mediator between the voices in my head) made some suggestions, and now I am not sure......."LOL--Rupert!
Sammy2006 wrote: "LOL--Rupert!"Shush you! Do not upset the Rupert!! He's a very sensitive bunny ;)
K wrote: "Sammy2006 wrote: "LOL--Rupert!"Shush you! Do not upset the Rupert!! He's a very sensitive bunny ;)"
Another drive by hugging!!!n dashing to work!
(((((K)))))
Oh good, I can let this plot bunny/flat puppy out to play...
sooo, since I'm new, if we write a story what do we do with it?
you post it on here for everyone to read
Oh excellent*places Rupert in front of screen*
ok thats my car journeys, quiet moments at work & dog walking enyertainment sorted for a few days whilst he works out the rest of the idea he threw at me last month :-D
You can look at the threads from previous months to see what has been done (although we're going to try to have a little less chatter between the stories this time.)I wonder if it would help to preface each story with some cue, eg.
*******************
so they'd be easier to find amongst the comments? Thoughts?
Samantha wrote: "sooo, since I'm new, if we write a story what do we do with it?"Feel free to Pm me Samantha if you have any questions. Glad to have you here!
K wrote: "Oh excellent*places Rupert in front of screen*
ok thats my car journeys, quiet moments at work & dog walking enyertainment sorted for a few days whilst he works out the rest of the idea he threw a..."
Entertains Rupert *juggles carrots*
Kaje wrote: "You can look at the threads from previous months to see what has been done (although we're going to try to have a little less chatter between the stories this time.)I wonder if it would help to p..."
Actually I was trying to think of ideas as well so please everyone pitch in here and share. My other thought was to set up a thread for just stories and ask everyone to comment back here but I don't like that as much. So ideas as to how we can highlight the stories admidst all the fun chatter and kudos.
I think something visual that even a novice doesn't need HTML for, but that can be caught scanning through the thread would be good - maybe at the beginning and end of each story. The asterisks was one easy example - if you scan up it does a fair job of catching the eye.
Wouldn't it be a lot easier for people to put their stories somewhere else (their website, blog, the Goodreads Writing section) and link them here instead of trying to break it up into multiple posts?
**********The Fold: Part One**********Starlight empowered Ki, millions and millions of twinkling buds, each trying to find their place in the vast blackness of night. It was time, years of preparation had told her that much. “You only turn seventeen once,” her father would say.
Absorbing the damp chill buried within each blade of grass, she sank to her knees, her denim cut-offs providing her with enough freedom to maneuver the decline. Her fingers entwined with the earth, dirt granules finding comfort deep within the crevices of her unkempt fingernails. With what felt like the tiny legs of a thousand ants, the occasional spider and an assortment of other critters traipsing over her skin, Ki had to fight hard against the urge to run inside, lock herself in the bathroom, and wash away the grime. But even if she succumbed, she couldn’t go back in.
They wouldn’t allow her.
She reminded herself that a few mislaid bugs were the least of her problems. If she couldn’t deal with them, how would she hold up against what was coming?
The minutes ticked by as Ki counted the repetitive croaks of nearby frogs. She couldn’t see them, but judging from the faint echo that seemed to slip away almost immediately, she knew they had to be close.
At least they weren’t crawling over her like the rest of the night brigade.
Bearing through the torture of waiting, on her hands and knees, with no idea of when it would begin, seemed like more of a curse than what was actually coming.
She was wrong.
There was no giant cymbal clapped, no thunderous drum beat leading to a crescendo, nothing to signify the beginning. One second there was the quiet, chirp filled calm of nature, the next, there was them.
Ki bristled, determined to stand her ground. Her toes dug into the grass, bracing for what was coming. If she collapsed, she wouldn’t stand a chance. Weakness was devoured. Her father had drilled that little nugget into her, practically from birth.
An arm tore at her leg, trying to disturb her balance. Fingernails raked across her flesh, the coppery scent of her own blood making her lightheaded.
It was nothing, she reminded herself.
Legs thrust themselves at her, kicking her stomach, her shins, her thighs—each blow taking another bite of her breath out of her desperately pumping lungs. Her body wanted to collapse, but she kept her legs taut and willed her mind elsewhere. They were still beating her, kicking, punching, clawing, but if she could just keep her body rigid, she’d make it. They had to tire eventually.
Except she knew they wouldn’t.
“Stay strong,” her father’s voice spoke in her mind.
Easier said than done, Ki thought back.
She recoiled, her neck jolting, as a blow to the side of her jaw sent her mind into a spin. Blinking back the tears that threatened her resolve, she tried to seek out the eyes of the one who had punched her. It didn’t really matter, though. She couldn’t do anything about it. If she left her position, her body would give out.
While by no means unfit, Ki held nowhere near the physical strength of her opponents, all she had to rely on was her finely honed mental capacity.
Mind over matter, mind over matter, she repeated to herself.
Teeth clamped down on her inner thigh, sharp points digging in dangerously close to her femoral artery. She could feel her blood swell to the surface, beginning to pool around the impressions in her skin.
“Mind this, bitch,” Ki cinched her knees together, crushing the head between her legs. She heard the sickening crunch of bones grinding together, but she didn’t care if they belonged to her or her attacker.
Broken bones were the least of her worries.
Releasing her grip, the man sunk to the ground, his buzzed-short hair drawing tiny prickles over her skin as he rolled down her leg. His head struck the dirt, delivering him into his own unconsciousness.
Ki struggled to keep her teeth clenched, as a discordant burst of agony rippled up her spine. A deep keening threatened to break free, clawing at her throat with its incessant roar. But Ki held it in, her teeth chattering against trembling lips.
She was no exhibitionist for pain.
Ki screamed just about every single curse word she knew, but only in her mind. She needed to distract herself.
“Taki!” her father’s serrated voice peaked, pushing through the fray of expletives. “What would your mother think?”
“She’s dead!” Ki snapped, mentally. “You killed her.”
“Potatoes,” he said, his voice wavering in her head as he tried to brush off her retort. She didn’t know why his comeback of choice was always a vegetable, but she never questioned him on it. She had no desire to start now, either. She knew her words had gotten to him. The mental silence that followed was proof of that.
Without the distraction, her attention was immediately drawn back to the pain of the assault. It wasn’t as strong, having died down a little more with each passing moment, but it was still by no means a friendly massage.
Some fathers bought their daughters a car for their seventeenth birthday, Ki’s sent her out into the woods to get punched in the spine.
Love you, Dad.
With the white shine of the moon finally breaking through the cover of trees, Ki was able to make out the faces of those closest to her. Their attacks rolled off of her, leaving hidden bruises, seamlessly progressing, like some kind of synchronized gay bashing.
Not that that was what this was.
It was just the regular, run of the mill, happy-seventeenth-birthday bashing.
Survivors were welcomed into the fold, and the others…no one spoke of them. They ended up thrown in the wood chipper. It was the easiest way to dispose of a corpse, this side of incineration.
It made no sense to Ki. She didn’t see how getting beaten up was going to make her stronger. That was the way it went, though. Those who had passed were forbidden from discussing it with those yet to take the test. Some kind of subliminal warfare, like knowing exactly what that light was at the end of the forest would somehow defeat the purpose.
She wasn’t oblivious, though. Her father could speak within her mind. That wasn’t normal. Whatever happened to be waiting for her on the other side of tomorrow had to be something out of the ordinary.
While she had no proof, she’d always assumed her father was a werewolf, possibly the alpha. He’d take off at odd hours with a bunch of the guys from the ranch. They took cars, but in her mind, that was a cover. Running off barefooted into the woods would have been a tipoff, and her dad probably knew that.
The secrecy was ridiculous, anyone who survived their seventeenth would find out whatever was going on, and those who didn’t, they wouldn’t be around to spill it.
A face stared up into Ki’s, eyes masked with grey as the night drew out every breath of color from her surroundings. The girl had somehow crawled along the damp press of the grass without being trampled on. Splayed out on her back, with her neck arched backwards, she stared up at Ki who hovered above her.
She was beautiful, for one of them—nothing like the others. Her skin remained supple, flawless, as the moon caught her pallid cheeks. She looked as if she hadn’t seen the sun in centuries. The barest hint of pink returned to her lips before the moon’s gaze shifted.
Doused in the shadows, Ki tried to make sense of the girl. She was one of them, she had to be, but she wasn’t trying to kill her. That simple fact stumped Ki. If the girl wasn’t one, the others would have devoured her already.
“Who– No, what are you?” Ki asked.
Fingers continued digging into Ki’s flesh, searching for a way to remove her limbs, as if they would somehow screw out and detach from her body. She tried to block it out and focus on the girl. She had to know.
“I am what I am,” the girl’s lithe voice echoed within Ki’s mind.
Had she spoken aloud? Ki was too unnerved by the girl’s simplistic response to notice.
“Why aren’t you trying to kill me?”
“Would you like me to?” the girl smiled slowly, her words definitely travelling via the mental highway. She was even able to inject some of that smile into her infliction, an evident cheekiness to her voice.
Ki was saved the anguish of blood rushing to her cheeks. It had already begun residing there due to the indiscernible time she’d had her head hunched downwards. She suddenly realised what she must have looked like to the girl beneath her. She tried to suck in her cheeks, but gave up, thinking that probably only made her look more like a fish.
A short burst of laughter exited the girl’s lips.
“You are too cute,” she said, pulling herself forwards, and up onto her knees.
**********The Fold: Part Two**********Ki was left staring at an empty patch of grass. She lifted her head, catching sight of the girl’s lower back. Bare skin danced in the night air, a grey hue coating her slim body.
The girl sprung to her feet, moving with much greater ease than she should have been able to. She twisted her neck, glancing back over her right shoulder and said, “My name’s not ‘the girl’—it’s Midori.”
Ki was about to introduce herself, when Midori’s eyes locked with her own, dissolving her words, “I know who you are.” The girl dropped her gaze and turned back, disappearing into the trees, her voice lingering in Ki’s mind, “Don’t die on me, Ki.” Another one of her smiles entered Ki’s subconscious, as Midori added, “At least not tonight.”
She had no intention of it.
The girl that had come out of nowhere renewed Ki’s determination. She didn’t care about her father’s stupid little secret—lycanthropy, or whatever it was. She needed to survive the night so that she could find Midori again. The girl’s brevity had proven frustratingly appealing.
Ki’s breath seized. Staring down, her eyes widened at the sight of the man she had previously crumpled. His mouth had latched onto her left breast, teeth digging into the fabric of her bra. It was as if a fire were eating its way through her chest.
Unable to stop herself, she bellowed as blood burst free, coating the inside of her bra, and seeping through into his cracking lips. Her back arched, but it only increased the pain, his mouth weighing her down.
“Get off!” she grunted.
She shook against the tugging sensation that spread up into her shoulder blades, but without the use of her hands, she had no way of knocking him free.
The pervert let out a moan, his scraggy voice buried within her chest.
She’d had it. Her dad could stuff his family secret right up his–
“Don’t you dare give up,” Ki’s father ordered her mentally, from the safe confines of the house.
“You come out here and let him bite down on your nether regions and see how you feel,” Ki spat through her teeth, knowing he’d hear her either way.
“Tomatoes.”
That’s a fruit, Ki thought.
Lifting her elbow, Ki jabbed it into the man’s jaw. She knew it was a bad move the moment she did it. Balance broken, Ki tumbled onto her side, collapsing on the grass beside him.
“Taki, no!” roared her father, his booming voice echoing all the way from the house.
The others descended upon her, what little barrier her hunched stance had created, gone. Her hair was yanked, teeth burrowing into her calf. Ki rolled over, losing a clump of hair in the process.
Collateral damage, she considered.
Now that she’d broken the rules, the fold was closed to her. If she wanted to survive, she couldn’t simply withstand the attacks of those around her and wait for her dad to come pick her up in the morning.
If those biting and jabbing at her didn’t kill her, her father’s men would. She’d be thrown in the chipper and disposed of.
She had to escape.
Only things were never that simple. She had nowhere to go. No money of her own, no clothes—she couldn’t walk into town in just her bra and a pair of shorts, even if they weren’t bloodstained.
She needed to find Midori.
“Dad,” she pressed, kneeing one of her attackers in the crotch. The man stumbled, but he didn’t fall.
“Run,” her father insisted. “Don’t come back. If I see you again, I’ll kill you.”
Ki ducked, avoiding the lips, and accompanying teeth, of a girl with patches of skin hanging from her cheek coming her way. “I love you, Dad,” Ki said resolutely, watching the girl as she tumbled over another man in front of her.
“I’ll kill you,” her father’s voice repeated, more to himself, it seemed, than to her.
Ki left the others behind, hoping they would disperse, rather than attempt to follow her. She dashed through the trees, weaving in and out, trying to disorient any wayward trackers. Her bare feet met the abrasive underbrush, becoming torn and bloody, leaving a trail anyone worth their salt would be able to pick up on.
There was nothing she could do about it, though. Shoes didn’t fall out of the sky.
She glanced up for a second without stopping, in case that had been the cue for some magical god to come to her rescue.
It wasn’t.
She was on her own, darting through the woods with a bunch of rogues on her tail, her eyes on the ground as far the moon would let her see. The stars were pretty, but as far as light went, they were useless.
If she just collapsed where she stood, it would probably be over within the hour, her body torn to shreds, the memory of her strong at first, but then eventually dying down until it was only a passing thought on her father’s mind each night before he went to bed—just like her mother.
Death was the easy way out, though. Ki wanted to live—she just needed to make it off the ranch. She needed to find a place to hideout, gather her thoughts, and form a plan of attack.
Ki’s body ached, not just from the blood seeping from her wounds, but from everything. The weight of her family’s abandonment hurt just as much as any of the physical pain she’d been subjected to in her first few hours as a seventeen year old. Ki rolled her shoulders, small cracks sounding throughout her joints as her body tried to realign itself.
Glancing down at her thigh, Ki noticed the dried blood starting to crust over the holes the filthy rogue’s teeth had left. Trancelike, Ki picked at the scabs until they fell away. Silky wetness coated her fingertips. She lifted her hand to her face and inhaled, her eyelids blinking as a wave of nausea hit.
Shit!
Ki jolted, stopping herself.
She’d been inches away from tasting her own blood! What was wrong with her? She knew it was disgusting, yet she’d felt the pull, urging her to do it. Dropping her hand, she wiped the dark substance off on the back of her shorts.
Realizing she’d stopped moving, Ki pushed her straining legs harder, making up lost ground. She knew the woods—making it easier to maneuver in the dark—but so did her dad. And if he really was a werewolf, then she didn’t stand a chance.
The scent clung to her.
Blood.
No matter how violently her legs moved, it was still there—the coppery liqueur, begging her to taste it.
Ki doubled over, emptying her stomach onto a patch of brush. She tasted bile as it crawled up over her tongue and splattered at her feet. Just as she was about to wipe her mouth, a hand clamped over it.
She turned in the direction of the arm blocking her orifice, but couldn’t see past the dark, monotonous blur of night. Dragged backwards, she stumbled, her foot catching on a log. Panic settled in, curling around her insides, begging the bile to give it another shot.
Ki removed the hand and exhaled deeply as she turned around. Moonlight shone down on the girl in front of her. Dark brown hair, or maybe black, hung heavy against her shoulders, a stark contrast to the ice-like quality of her skin.
Realizing she’d been led to a clearing, Ki shrunk back against the tree line. They needed cover, not a wide open space.
“Midori,” she whispered.
“I told you not to die,” the girl said, her cerise lips immobile.
“I didn’t.”
Midori’s hand struck out, slapping Ki hard across the left cheek. “You’re dead. You killed yourself.”
Ki’s hand flew to her face, caressing her soon-to-be-bruised jaw. She stared at Midori’s unwavering eyes, pools of black, devoid of any insight. She was unable to comprehend what had just happened.
“Why did you do that?” Ki tried to find meaning in the girl’s face.
Midori took Ki’s hand in hers, forcing her out into the center of the wide expanse before them. What little cover they could have escaped back into was quickly deserting them.
Once in the middle of the grassy field, Midori plopped down on the ground, drawing Ki down before her. The two of them sat face to face, staring at one another. Midori blinked, whites returning to her eyes, “All you had to do what put up with the zombies chewing on you for one night.” Ki flinched. Zombies weren’t real. They were just the rogues that hated her father—homeless, deprived of food, starved to the point of cannibalism. They weren’t the freaking undead.
Midori continued, her eyes locked on Ki’s, “They would have given you the antidote in the morning. Now, you’re going to die. You’re going to become one of them. In half an hour, maybe less, you’ll be a zombie.”
**********The Fold: Part Three**********Midori had to be lying. There was simply no way that she was turning into a zombie. Things like that just didn’t happen. And if they did, Ki thought she would have heard about it. There was nothing on the news, no killing pandemic. If zombies really were taking over the world, it would have been impossible to keep it a secret.
Plus, she thought her dad would have told her.
But–
Then–
No–
The family secret.
“Zombies are real,” Ki said, reluctantly, her voice shaking, as she tested the words out, hoping Midori would somehow refute them.
“Zombies are real,” Midori said, resolutely. Her eyes remained locked on Ki’s, black, even with the silver light of the moon shining down on them. “It’s almost time,” Midori squeezed her hand, clasping with cool fingers. “How would you like me to end it?”
Ki stared at the girl, her vision taking on a new light. Colors were returning to her. A heavy teal coated Midori’s breasts, the fabric of her bra clinging to the icy swells before her. The thought hadn’t occurred to her before then, but Midori was dressed, or rather undressed, to the same extent as her—both in nothing but the shortest of shorts and their underwear.
Was someone just spitting girls out in the woods?
“End what?” Ki asked, remembering Midori had spoken.
“Your life,” she said without pause, “Or what’s left of it.”
Scrambling backwards, Ki said, “W-what?!”
“Once you die, you’ll gain new strength—and a desire to eat flesh. I need to kill you before that happens.”
The bitch was talking crazy.
‘Bitch’ wasn’t the right word for Midori, but Ki couldn’t think straight. In a few hours, she’d gone from a high school girl, living with her father and his men, out in the woods, to the unwitting victim of a zombie infestation.
Shunned and hunted, her life was a mix of contradictions.
All she’d wanted was a normal life, to meet a girl, fall in love, and just live out their lives together. But even that was too much to ask.
Her father wanted her dead. But not for being gay—for taking her hands off the stupid freaking ground. It was absurd, archaic even. Her own father would have preferred her to have a let a decaying man chew off her boob.
“I don’t want to die,” Ki choked.
“I know you don’t,” the patronizing tone rolled off Midori’s pert tongue. “But you don’t have much of a choice. Either you die a human, or you die a–”
“Zombie,” Ki snapped. “This is insane!”
“Quiet,” the whisper Midori ousted exalted a world of authority. “They track with sound.” Ki stilled, listening to the ghostlike melody of Midori’s voice, “Your eyes may be glowing now, but once you complete the change, blindness will take over.”
“Glowing, what?!” Ki spoke, her voice coming across louder than she’d intended. Midori winced at the volume, holding her colorless index finger to her pursed lips.
“Green,” Midori said, “Your eyes are green—like my name.”
“Huh?” Ki tried to hide her confusion, but failed. “My eyes have always been green.”
“Neon,” Midori raised her hand to Ki’s face.
Ki clambered away from the approaching limb and collapsed, falling onto her back. She had seen every single ridge ending and bifurcation that had been imprinted on the fingers Midori had held up.
It shouldn’t have been possible, especially not in the middle of the night.
“What’s happening to me?” Ki asked, taking the hand that Midori extended to her. “I-I”
“Your sight has been heightened,” said Midori, like that was an everyday occurrence. “It’s part of the change. Your eyes will burn out soon from the over-stimulation.”
“So you just helped that process along?” Ki sneered, “You know, shoving your hand in my face.”
Midori seemed taken aback. She sat, cross-legged, her black eyes drawn to the canopy of trees at their side. “I was just showing you that you’re different now,” she said, her voice tinged with something Ki couldn’t decipher. “That’s all.”
This distant-Midori was disturbing. Ki much preferred the in-your-face, brutal honesty version—at least that one looked at her.
Words spoke within Ki’s mind. She jumped, her shoulders bunching at the realization that her and her father were still linked. “You haven’t run far enough, Taki. I will kill you soon if you don’t keep moving.”
Why bother, Dad, she thought. I’ll be dead soon, anyway.
“Run,” he said.
What’s the point of that? You’ll feel better knowing your zombie daughter is safe, out in the world, doing the same thing to somebody else?
“Run!” he repeated, his voice more urgent this time. No vegetable—things had to be serious.
Somehow Midori must have heard the warning too. She dragged Ki to her feet and together they fled for the woods. Jogging, running, sprinting, Ki was surprised with how fast her body could move. Picking up speed, she and Midori tore through the trees. Ki needed to find the property barrier—the barbed wire fence that secured the perimeter—and breach it before her father caught up.
“They’re coming,” Midori said, effortlessly, barely a pant as she kept pace beside her.
No shit, Ki thought to herself.
Midori’s cheek twitched, but she said nothing, and kept running.
Arriving at the fence took less time than Ki expected. She put that down in part to her enhanced speed, also aided by her apparent night vision. Every rock, every twig, every single leaf—they all stood out to her, highlighted in a violent green hue. It didn’t please her, though. It meant her body was getting closer. The change was almost complete.
Half an hour—eighteen hundred seconds—had it passed already? It didn’t seem like much time, especially not when that was all you had left to live.
Borrowed time—that was what she had. At any moment, her eyes would die, and so would the rest of her. Her body would then reanimate itself, only one purpose in mind—to eat flesh.
Or was it brains?
She could ask her dad, and be like, ‘Hey Dad, so, you know, what’s my diet going to be like in two seconds? Should I suck the blood, or do I crack the skulls open like a coconut? Come on, Dad. A zombie girl’s gotta know these things.’
“Run,” the coarse voice repeated, sounding almost strained.
Did she ever have a moment’s privacy?
“No,” said Midori, “Now hurry up and give me your foot,” she linked her fingers and cupped her hands, hunching forwards slightly, “I’ll give you a boost.”
With no time to decide, Ki stepped into Midori’s waiting hands and felt a wave of vertigo crash over her. Swaying, she reached out for the top rung, gripping the wire tightly. She felt the sting immediately, her palm torn open by the jutting burrs. Leaving her hand in place, the blood dribbled down her wrist, a rich brown slicking the wire around her. With her teeth clenched, Ki swung her free leg up, over the thorn-riddled barrier, and paused, finding a way to place her foot on one of the wires without tearing it to shreds. Balancing on the seam of her shorts was another option, but she didn’t much like that either. Those burrs were getting dangerously close to an area she didn’t want to disturb.
Without a chance to think, her other leg was thrown over the fence, sending her crashing into the brush. A bundle of dissonant twigs broke her fall, their sharp and twisted ends digging into her spine.
Midori leapt over the fence, her feet planting on the other side in a single bound.
Ki was astonished, blinking her eyes intermittently, making sure she hadn’t slipped into a delusion, “Why couldn’t I have done that?”
Laughing lightly, Midori bared the hint of a smile as she whispered, “I didn’t have time to teach you.”
On the other side of the fence was her home, her family, her old life—but it was all closed off to her now. They’d mulch her body before she even got the chance to hug her younger brother goodbye.
She wondered what story they’d try and palm off on Ori. He was fifteen, he wasn’t an idiot. But her dad’s word was law.
Would a simple, ‘she was exiled, son,’ work on him?
“Forget them,” Midori’s voice entered her thoughts. “We need to keep moving.” She turned, opened her mouth and said, “You’d be better off spending your last moments deciding how you want to die. Otherwise, I’ll surprise you.”
Maybe ‘bitch’ was the right word.
**********The Fold: Part Four**********“Midori,” Ki said, taking the girl’s hand, and pulling her behind a tree. “What’s the point of all of this? Either way, I’m going to die. Why are we running?”
“We’re running, because you’d rather I kill you, than your father.”
Ki leant back into the bark, further scraping her skin on the tiny notches of the tree’s outer layer. Midori’s eyes were completely black again, the whites having receded into the depths of her insides.
It was unsettling. She could have been looking anywhere, but Ki knew she was looking at her. Struck immobile, Ki watched as the girl reached out and stroked the back of her palm down Ki’s left cheek.
She winced, feeling the onset of a bruise.
“I’m sorry,” Midori said, turning her head away. “I wish you had more time.”
Ki screeched, as something inside of her snapped. Dropping to the ground, she clutched her stomach, feeling like it was about to tear open. Her legs wouldn’t move—they had turned to jelly.
“I-it’s h-h-happening,” Ki’s teeth chattered. Whimpering, she sucked in a series of short breaths, and said, “H-h-help.”
Midori sank down onto the dirt, seemingly unbothered by the twigs digging into her legs, and reached up into the left leg of her shorts. She pulled out something short, almost five inches in length, gripping it in her fingers. Flicking her wrist, a blade popped out from somewhere inside, doubling its length.
A willful stream of light trickled through the canopy, reflecting off of the silver surface. Ki couldn’t tell how sharp the switchblade was just by looking at it, but the increasingly horrid knot growing in her stomach told her she would be finding out soon enough.
Unable to move, she couldn’t fend off an attack. At least not until the change had completed. But Ki was starting to think that maybe Midori’s words had been true. She did want someone else to kill her, to spare her brother the pain of later knowing his father had done the deed.
“M-make it q-quick,” Ki wrenched her eyelids shut.
A plunge to the heart, her wrists slit, her throat severed—Ki didn’t want to know what was coming. Surprise was the best route.
Swallowing, Ki took a deep breath—one that was likely to be her last—and waited for it to come. Midori’s silence frightened her, but she couldn’t make herself open her eyes. It was taking all of her will power to stay strong, to ignore the changes going on in her body. Her eyesight would give out soon, the hunger already setting in. The blood around her smelled delicious, the hint of what lay beneath the flesh giving off an aromatic wave of pleasure.
The need was becoming too much, transforming from a wistful inclination into a hungry desire. Pain pressed in on her mind, her brain becoming a blur of primal urges.
Survive, survive, survive, it screamed at her.
Her arms swung out, batting away whatever was being thrust in her face.
She opened her eyes to nothingness. A black void had taken hold, like the lights had just switched off and she was waiting for her eyes to adjust. Except they wouldn’t. The virus had expunged every last trace of her sight.
She was blind.
As she tried to speak, she realized she didn’t know what she wanted to say. Barely a syllable would leave her lips. She managed to mutter a groan that was indistinguishable, even to her. Her arms waved around in the dark, finding something solid in their path. She stopped, pivoted to her right, and started moving again.
Moving became much easier after the first few collisions. Her body adjusted, interpreting the world through the sounds around her. Each crunch her feet made as they plundered across the earth told her something new. While she was barely affected by the scrapes her body was inflicting upon itself, she instinctively knew what each one of them meant. Trees blocked her path, vines tripped her, twigs made her stumble—each a lesson learnt.
“Ki,” a human shouted.
She had no idea what this ‘Ki’ was, but the voice kept calling for it.
Recognizing the sweet scent of fresh blood tripped something within in her, and her body adjusted its course. She turned towards the direction of the voice and took off at a much faster pace. Leaping through the woods, she dodged the trees, having somehow memorized their path. Her bones ground together with each bounce, tightening against her joints. She needed to slow down before her body broke.
Something caught her off-guard, jolting her head backwards.
She crumpled to the ground, letting out a pained moan. She’d only felt it slightly—most of her pain receptors had disconnected—but without the ability to form words, a moan had been all she could release.
“Ki,” the voice repeated, dejectedly. “It’s too late.”
She tilted her head, glancing upwards, though her eyes couldn’t see. Groaning, she tried to reach for whoever was standing in front of her—their scent was too delicious to let escape.
“Sweetheart, I told you I’d kill you. Why did you come back?”
You called, dumbass, she thought, not knowing where the words had come from, or even what they meant.
“Ki!” the voice spoke louder.
She had no idea why the human had become so excitable. Didn’t it know she was about to eat it?
Her knees pressed down into the twigs, snapping them as she moved forwards. Her right hand wrapped around a leg standing before her. It was thick, stocky. She used it to pull herself up. Once she was back on her feet, her mouth opened wide and sought out a piece of flesh to latch onto.
A hand slapped against her face, pushing her away. “Don’t make me kill you, baby,” the deep voice said. “Not if you’re still in there.”
“Ki,” another voice spoke from behind, this one much lighter than the first. From the way its feet shifted on the leaf matter, it appeared to be smaller in stature than the other human.
“You!” the bigger human growled, exhibiting its authority. “I told you never to come back. Don’t you dare touch my daughter.”
A laugh rung out within her mind. Somehow, the other human had gotten inside of her head. “You sent your daughter out to be killed. You knew that would happen. You have no right to call yourself her father.”
“I’ll tear your throat out,” the large human snarled.
Doubling over, she clutched the sides of her head, trying to keep the laughter out. It was relentless, clawing its way inside of her mind. She groaned—this time, in actual pain.
Make it stop, she thought.
“Ki!” both humans cried simultaneously.
“I-I can give her the antidote,” the large human suggested, its voice faltering.
“Your people will overthrow you,” the other said, using its voice externally. “No one who fails the test is returned. No one,” it repeated. “They either escape undead, or you kill them.”
Kneeling down beside her, the large human took her hands within its own. She stuck her head out, trying to position her teeth close enough to the vein pulsing before her. Another set of hands locked onto her ribs from behind. They were cold, running just below the fabric her upper body was covered in.
“No,” the lighter voice chastised. “Bad zombie.”
The large human stifled a chuckle resulting in a snort. “Ki, can you hear me?” its gruff voice asked.
It appeared as if they thought she was this ‘Ki’ they kept mentioning.
She let out a short moan.
“I’m giving it to her,” the deep voice insisted. “We’ll grab Ori and leave if we have to.”
“No,” the smaller human said, releasing a hand from Ki’s ribs.
“What do you mean, ‘no’?!” the large human barked. “She’s my daughter. If I want to save her. I very well, freaking, will.”
“No,” the smaller human repeated.
Its fingers tightened against Ki’s, the nails alarmingly close to breaking her flesh.
She jerked forwards and threw her head hard against the skull of the human trying to harm her. It collapsed on the ground with a grunt, its hands slipping free of hers.
“Come on,” the human behind Ki said, helping her up.
Something was off, but it didn’t stop her from moving—the urge to survive pulled at her more than her desire to stay and eat the fallen human.
The two of them scurried, hand in hand, through the trees.
“It’s not too much farther. Just follow me.”
The small human brought Ki to an area uncharted, the vibrations shifting within her feet, displaying a distinct lack of coverage. The ground held only the soft plush of grass. Without the twigs beneath her toes, the trees to grapple, Ki had no sense of direction. She could have been headed anywhere.
She tried to pull back, to head into the safety of the woods, but the human wouldn’t let her. A tight grip drew Ki forwards until the two of them stopped and Ki felt herself being drawn to the earth, a hand goading her downwards.
The human weight shifted the grass, giving Ki a vague impression of where it lay. Reaching down, she felt its head just beneath hers. Staring blinding at what she knew to be the throat, Ki wondered if this human was offering itself to her.
As Ki leant down to take the first bite, the human said, “Wait.”
The word didn’t mean much to Ki, but she stopped to see why the human had interrupted her feeding.
A hand took hers and brought it closer. Something soft was covering the place where the human’s eyes should have been. The human said something next that Ki didn’t quite understand, “Just kiss me first, okay?”
**********The Fold: Part Five**********When she didn’t move, the human drew Ki’s face in, pressing her lips against its own. Her mouth was slightly dry, making it a little messy. Their faces were joined the wrong way, Ki was sure of that. When she tried to turn around, so that their mouths wouldn’t be upside down, the human clamped its hands against her cheeks, stopping her.
It tasted good, but there was no blood, so Ki didn’t understand why.
Was she supposed to eat the human’s tongue?
She bit down lightly, testing for a response. There was no blood. The tongue simply oozed with something tasteless. Ki pulled back, breaking the seal, wishing she had eyes that worked. She wanted to see what this human bled if it wasn’t blood.
“Hold on,” the human said, reaching for something.
Ki heard a click, jolted, but then decided to remain still, hovering above the human’s face. She wanted to know what had made that noise so she could learn something new.
“Ki,” the human said, drawing its hand closer, “I’m going to cut you. If you can understand me, please don’t freak out.”
Something sharp slashed out across Ki’s throat. It didn’t cause her any pain, even so, her hands swept up to her neck, trying to cover the spill of blood spraying over the human beneath her.
She realized now that there were no friendly humans—they were all out to harm her. The human’s attack intrigued her, though. Just like when she had bitten the human’s tongue, the liquid that her body secreted held no scent. There was no desire to feed. It was as if her blood were void of nutrients.
A knee pressed down on Ki’s stomach, inciting her defenses. She kicked out at her attacker, but found nothing for her feet to latch on to. The human’s teeth dug into Ki’s neck, sucking at her blood, or whatever useless substance pumped through her veins.
Midori, she thought, not knowing where that word had come from.
“Yes,” the human’s voice invaded her mind again. “You remember me. Just stay still and it will be over soon.”
As Ki felt her insides being drained, she tried to fight off the attack, but her limbs grew increasingly heavy. Feeling empty, her body dropped flat on the grass, her face buried within the dirt. Though she knew it was coming, she didn’t want to die, or whatever it was known as when those of her kind ceased to be.
Midori, her mind repeated.
“I’m here,” the human said. “But, you have to have figured out—I’m not human.”
As she finished speaking, Ki heard Midori draw her weapon across her own skin. She rolled Ki over and pressed the abrasion to Ki’s lips. Trying to latch on, she realized she couldn’t move her jaw. Midori had to force the liquid into her throat.
With nothing left inside of her, the tasteless liquid felt like ecstasy, travelling through her body with a torrent of freedom.
“S-s-stop,” Ki sputtered, choking on the seemingly endless flow entering her mouth. She reached for her throat, feeling the skin knitting together over her slashed neck.
Trying to sit up, her back jarred as hands locked over her shoulders. “Take it easy,” Midori said, “Your body’s changing.”
Ki blinked, feeling a stinging sensation returning to her eyes. Light pooled in around her, overwhelming her distraught retinas.
“I-I can see,” Ki said.
I can speak too, she thought.
“You’re changing,” Midori repeated.
Into what?
“Into the same thing as me.”
“W-w-which i-is?” Ki stuttered, forcing her mouth into reforming words.
Ki stared into Midori’s eyes, black, with a tiny ring of white circling them. “Take a second to process it. I'm afraid that you’re not going to like it,” Midori said.
“J-j-just t-tel–”
“A vampire-zombie hybrid," blurted Midori.
Aren’t they kind of the same thing? Ki wondered. I mean, they’re both undead, and they both drink blood.
“Except that we have control of our faculties—we can talk, we can kiss, we can…” Midori paused, taking hold of Ki’s hand, and reached for her thin, teal fabric belt that had fallen to her shoulders, and draped it across their interwoven fingers. Leaning in close, with a smirk that coated her sinuous lips, Midori whispered, “And, our bits won’t rot off.”
**********THE END**********
PS. If you’re reading this next bit before reading the story above, it will probably spoil you. I was going to leave it open and ambiguous at the end of Part Four with Midori asking for the kiss, but Rach told me it needed more. So if you prefer this ending, you can thank her for that. The zombie POV was especially difficult to write from, and probably just as difficult to read. She couldn’t see, speak, or understand speech. I shuddered trying to describe everyone when she kept insisting on using gender-neutral pronouns. So thanks, Rach, for taking the time to go through, and help make it a little more understandable—much appreciated. I have to say, I’m really loving this month’s pic, it was so much fun to work with. Can’t wait for everyone else’s stories!
I wanted to know what Midori was! haha. Brett, hon, you are welcome. You have a very vivid imagination and I loved your story. Keep them coming! :)
Brett wrote: "**********The Fold: Part Five**********When she didn’t move, the human drew Ki’s face in, pressing her lips against its own. Her mouth was slightly dry, making it a little messy. Their faces we..."
Just WOW--that was a very cool take on this pic Brett!!! If you don't mind can you pm me the story without the ending--did you save that one as well?? I'd like to read it without the ending and see what it is like!! Very nice!!
The ending just didn't have the part five Sammy
Sammy2006 wrote: "If you don't mind can you pm me the story without the ending--did you save that one as well?? I'd like to read it without the ending and see what it is like!!"Yeah, what Rach said--it just didn't have part five. Now that it's there, it feels a little too abrupt just ending it where I was going to. It kind of left me under the impression that Midori wanted a final kiss before she was about to be devoured. So with part five added, you get a much nicer outcome--plus, like Rach wanted, you find out what Midori is.
Anyway, thanks for reading :D
******* Oblivious *******The first time I saw her, I wanted to be her. We were both twelve, and in seventh grade. A new school for Junior High, new people and hopefully a new start. I was going to be cool. I was going to be... well, not popular, but normal. Middle-of-the-pack. Hell, I'd settle for invisible. And then there she was.
She sailed into the lunch room that first day with her dark blond hair curling around her face, her green eyes laughing and her head high. She wiggled her fingers in response to a general wave from the girls at the popular kids table and then she ignored them, and went to sit by this geeky boy named Steven.
I couldn't take my eyes off her. She lit up the room. The awkward boy I'd dubbed Silent Steven last year in grade school said, “Adara! You're in this school! I didn't know that.” And I didn't think I'd ever seen him smile like that.
She nodded. “Home for the foreseeable future. You're stuck with me, boy.”
Steven laughed. “Thank God for that. Sit, eat, tell me about your summer.”
She plopped her lunch on his table and pulled out a soda in an actual glass bottle. She tipped it up and drank, and looking at her, the way her throat made that line as she enjoyed the first sip, I could almost taste the cool liquid in my own mouth. She set it down and nudged Steven. “You first. What have you been up to since I moved away?”
Steven's response was too soft to hear, but she paid careful attention, her head tilted and her eyes only on him. And he talked and laughed with her, as she unwrapped a giant sandwich and made a game of trying to get a bite around it. The popular kids had turned away, but the occasional glance they threw her way looked envious, not disdainful. Her shirt was the perfect blue, her jeans fit just right, the rings on her fingers caught the light. And I wanted to be her, with an ache that almost took my breath away. I sat there, lunch forgotten, watching out of the corner of my eye, until the bell rang.
She stood up, crumpled her paper bag decisively and gave Steven a grin. And then she sailed out the door, hitting the garbage can with a paper-bag rim shot from twenty feet away. The cafeteria was a dimmer place without her. I overheard one of the cheerleaders ask another, “Who was that?”
“Adara Delaney. I guess she's been living in Paris for two years and she just moved back here. I used to know her in grade school too.”
Adara Delany. Even her name was perfect. It rolled off my tongue in a way that Candice Gregg never would. For months after that, in secret, I wrote little poems and did sketches and paintings and signed them all “Adara D.” They lived in a drawer in my bedroom. Under the hand-knit sweaters from Grandma Gregg that even Mom didn't insist I should wear, my dreams were safe and secret.
Four years later, I didn't want to be Adara any more. I just wanted her.
The gap between twelve and sixteen is practically an ocean. Standing on one shore you can't even see the other. At twelve I was a dreamer and a nerd, with the goal of one day earning fame with my art. I envisioned standing in a gallery at the opening of my one woman show, with my supportive husband at my side. The guy may have been a bit nebulous but he was there, a rock to lean on as I spread my creative wings.
Until one day I realized that while I was setting up that cardboard cut-out of a guy in my careful plans, there was someone quite different in my mind. Someone who appeared as I lay at night, drowsy and brushing the edges of sleep. Someone who was softer and rounder and whose cheek was silk against my own. A light sweet voice and a scent not like musk but like wildflowers. I was sitting in class, doodling because we were discussing the correct use of apostrophes, again. Adara was three seats over beside the window, gazing out and looking as bored as I was. My pencil slid over the paper, limning the curve of her cheek, the line of her neck, the way the shadows pooled in the little hollow under her collarbone. And suddenly it felt like someone had dumped hot water over me. And I knew.
That sketch never was finished. In fact, I ripped it into tiny little shreds and flushed it down the toilet in the school bathroom. I leaned against the side of the stall, holding back tears. Like I wasn't weird enough. Like the fact that I could define the word somnambulism and cared who Diego Valasquez was didn't already set me apart. This was not who I had planned to be.
But a small part of me was glad too. That little bit of me that had worried and fussed, and wondered if I was asexual because I could care less about Taylor Lautner's abs or Alex Pettyfer's cheekbones. That bit of me was feeling a soft rolling heat of anticipation. And so I stood there and cried and wanted and tried not to think about anything.
It was a good thing we had no exams that day. I'd have totally flunked. I went home and spent hours online, looking at guys, looking at girls, Googling GLBT and lesbian. And bisexual, because completely giving up that cardboard husband felt like cutting loose on the string of my life's balloon. The sky was big and empty and cold when you got high enough. I wasn't ready. I wasn't sure enough. Except I was.
The day of the spring field trip was sunny and warm. It was a rare thing for us to have an outdoor field trip in high school. Or any kind of field trip. Gone were the days of taking the whole class to dig for fossils or explore the nature preserve. But the Biology teacher had convinced the school that a day spent learning about identifying invasive species and doing our public service by preserving the woods and wetlands was worth allowing us to miss three other classes. Everyone was signed up by the end of the first day.
I sat beside Greg on the bus. It was purely by default. When I got on the yellow bus, there were three open seats left. One was next to Becca, but she defended it with a glare, waiting for her friend Shannon who was last in line. One was beside Toby and I'm sorry. It's dumb and shallow and I of all people should be better than this, but I hate sitting next to him. He's so fat he takes up two thirds of the seat and he sweats and... I know it's not nice of me and I should try to be friends with him. And sometimes when I see him alone at lunch I think I will go over and strike up a conversation. But then he shoves a big bite in his mouth and chews, and I just don't. Anyway, that left Greg.
“Hey, Candice.” He moved over to give me more than half the seat.
“Thanks.” I dropped onto the cracked green vinyl, trying to spot where Adara was sitting. There, two rows up.
“So this could be okay, right? I mean a field trip beats sitting in class any day.”
“Sure. I guess so.”
“And it's in a good cause, to keep the preserve healthy. And we'll learn stuff.”
I glanced at him and then turned to look up the aisle. “Yeah, it's a good cause.”
Greg kind of likes me. At least, I think he does. He's always nice to me and if we happen to be somewhere together he asks what I'm drawing or some question about class. I used to think we might go out on a date, one day. But even though he's not bad looking, except for the really short hair, I just never could take an imaginary date as far as the first kiss. We'd talk and have a burger and then... That was one of the things that had me worried, back before I realized that just the sight of Adara's back could make me feel like I'd walked too close to the sun. So I sat by Greg, and answered his awkward questions with even more awkward short answers. And instead of looking at him, I let my eyes wander, so that every now and then they could slide over to where Adara and Steven sat laughing two rows ahead. Adara's hair caught gold lights in the sun. It seemed like the sunshine always found her.
We got off the bus and stood around, waiting for the park ranger to do his presentation. Greg wandered away from me after a while. I felt bad about that. It's not like I have a lot of friends. It would be cool if he wanted to be friends. But when we're together I get this feeling like... like he wants more. His eyes track down to my boobs, even though I don't have much. (My chest makes me think about that joke where a lingerie salesman asks the guy shopping for a gift to describe his wife's size – cantaloupes, oranges, apples, eggs... and he goes, “yeah, fried!” That's me.) Anyway, I don't want to go there with Greg. So it's good that he found his buddies to hang out with instead.
The naturalist was kind of cool. He showed us what to look for and what to avoid (poison ivy!) Then he handed out gloves and clippers and set us to work. We were supposed to work in pairs. In a moment of insane penance, I went and stood next to Toby so we were 'accidentally' partnered together. It worked out okay. He didn't like bending over and cutting stuff, so I had him just identify the invasive plants, and then hold onto them while I knelt down and cut them off at the ground.
It was mostly buckthorn, with its glossy leaves and wooden stems. I was glad of the gloves, but even so those damned bushes don't have 'thorn' in their name for nothing. After half an hour, I dropped the latest victim of my clippers into the growing brush pile and pulled off a glove to suck on my thumb. I looked around at the other guys hard at work, scanning the area for no particular reason. Yeah, right – there she was over beyond the ditch, working with Steven as usual. I noticed that Toby was flushed and sweaty, leaning against the side of the bus and kind of looking past me as I slid my glove back on.
“Hey,” I said. “Are you okay?”
“Sure.” Toby's voice was higher than you'd expect from a guy his size, but even so it seemed a bit thin. “Just hot is all.”
“You should take a break,” I suggested. “Sit in the shade for a bit. I don't mind.”
“We're supposed to stay in pairs.”
I glanced around. “The preserve is what, two square miles? I somehow doubt I'll get lost.”
“I mean, I can do my share.”
I shrugged. “It is pretty hot. I'm used to it, because my dad doesn't believe in air conditioning.” That much at least was the truth. Until we could afford solar panels to power it, our house would swelter without the energy-sucking modern conveniences. “Why don't you just take a break. Then if you feel better before the lunch break you can come find me.”
I headed toward the path without looking back. I didn't really want Toby along, puffing and sweating and making me worried he'd have a stroke or something. The day was warm but not that bad, and the quiet of the woods beckoned to me.
I decided to find a good private spot, make a secondary brush pile, and then haul things back to base later. There was no shortage of buckthorn. I kept walking, until the sound of voices had faded behind me. The woods were quiet. The nature preserve was small enough that the occasional distant buzz of traffic intruded, but it was muted and could be ignored. For a moment I could pretend none of that existed. It was just me and the oak trees and poplars and the whisper of a breeze. There were birds in the underbrush, darting flashes of bright-crowned kinglets that tantalized me with glimpses of dark eyes and golden feathers. Blossoms still clung to the blackberry vines, marking the tangles of thorny brambles. Here and there, where sunlight penetrated the leaves, the ubiquitous dandelions raised yellow heads on long milky stalks.
******
******I picked a spot that was as good as any, and started looking for the oval leaves and sparsely-pronged trunks of the buckthorn. It was no problem to find some. In fact there was one that had somehow been missed in previous efforts and become a full-fledged tree. I dug in my pocket for an orange plastic ribbon and marked it for the team with the saw to cut down later. Around it, the small shoots of new buckthorns from fallen seeds sprang upward, spindly and fast growing. Like obnoxious teenage boys. Ha ha – I have clippers, my pretties and I know how to use them.
I had a pretty good pile of dead buckthorn by the time I decided to take a break from wrestling with bristly shrubs. I pulled off my gloves and waved my sweaty hands in the air to cool them. There was a spot on my thumb that was threatening to become a blister. I looked more closely and then saw my watch. It was ten past noon. Somehow I must have missed hearing the recall whistle for lunch break. I knew I should head back. My hummus and cucumber sandwich was waiting in the cooler. But my dad's idea of good nutrition – on whole grain bread of course – couldn't compete with a school day alone in the woods. I sat down on a patch of grass, wrapped my arms around my knees and just looked at the trees.
“Figured I'd find you staring at something.”
I jolted and turned. Adara stood on the path, a paper bag in each hand. “Didn't you hear the whistle?”
“I guess not,” I admitted.
“Oblivious.” There was an odd, friendly note in her voice as she said it. “Anyway, I grabbed your lunch for you, so the teachers won't be worrying about why you didn't come get it.” She held it out to me.
I scrambled to my feet. “Thanks! But you didn't have to do that. And... how did you find me?”
“Oh, I noticed you heading this way after you ditched poor Toby. So when Steven and I broke for lunch and you didn't show, I figured you'd found a flower or a boulder or a grassy knoll or something else to draw.”
I raised my empty hands. “No pencil or paper.”
“To draw in your head, then. You know you're always looking at things like they're pictures just waiting to happen.”
I did, but how did she know that? I walked the three steps to meet her and took my lunch from her outstretched hand. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” She glanced around. “Hey, we're close to my favorite place in this whole park. You want to see it?”
I'd have gone to look at a garbage dump if she'd asked me, but... “Where's Steven?”
She wrinkled her nose. “The ranger was handing out unlimited free chips and pop. He's a boy. Three guesses.”
“Where the food is.”
“Bingo. Come on, Candy.”
I hated being called Candy. I'd pretty much made everyone stick to Candice, all the time. I loved it when Adara said it. I followed her down the path. About a hundred yards on, she took a small fork to the right. The path was closed by a gate, held shut by a loop of chain and a padlock.
“Oh, that's too bad,” I said.
Adara grinned at me. “Have a little faith, girl.” She put one foot on the bottom rung of the gate, leaned on it, and tugged the loop of chain upward. The gate dipped under her weight, the chain lifted and slid up over the post. “Come on.” She pulled the gate open just enough for us to slip through, and then closed it behind us. “This way.”
The path turned again, and suddenly we were in a clearing. The ground underfoot was flat slabs of rock, like the bones of the earth, exposed through the soil in tilted angles of sun-warmed slate. Around the edge of the glade, low juniper and the boughs of evergreens formed a screening wall, dark green and impenetrable.
Adara whirled in a cheerful pirouette. “You like? I live near here, and this is my favorite place to come and just hang out.”
It was perfect. It was beautiful and secluded and quiet and romantic. I said, “Do you come here with Steven a lot?”
Adara froze in mid whirl. I bit my lip hard. It was like that moment in the fairy tales where the true princess has pearls drop from her lips whenever she speaks, and then the ugly step sister has toads. My warty question hopped around between us. I dropped my eyes to the dark rock underfoot.
Adara came closer. “You aren't jealous of Steven?”
I didn't look up. I wanted to say no. I wanted to say yes. I kept my toad words behind my firmly closed teeth.
Adara laughed and startled me into looking at her face. “You are jealous.” A slow smile curved her lips. “Holy hell, Candy, you're more out of it than I thought.”
I didn't like being called out of it. I did like the way she stood there with her green eyes staring into mine. I freaking loved the way her lower lip tucked in at the corners, and made the dimple appear on her left cheek.
“Is that why you always walk away from me? Because you think Steven and I are a couple?”
I shrugged. I walked away from her before she could walk away from me, mostly. We were friendly, we chatted now and then. I said hi in the halls. I complimented her clothes (not too often) and laughed at her jokes (not too loudly) and shared complaints about the teachers or the cafeteria food. And I walked away before she could get tired of me. So I would never see that Oh, my God, her again look on Adara's face.
She shook her head at me, an over-dramatic expression of sorrow on her face. “Candy, Candy. You must be the only person in the school who doesn't know Steven is gay.”
I think I made a sound, like the grunt you give when you walk into the corner of a table with your hip. My brain shut off. I blinked at her.
Adara said, “You know what your problem is?”
I'm an idiot?
“You're too one-dimensional. You look at everything, you see the surface. And that's not bad. You see it pretty perfectly. Your drawings are amazing. But sometimes you have to turn off those eyes and feel.”
I said, “You can't turn off your eyes.”
“Close them then. Or better yet...” She set her lunch bag down on the rock and reached to her waist. She had a long thin sash of teal green in place of a belt. As she slowly drew it through the loops of her jeans I noticed it matched my cami almost exactly. Coincidence? Fate? Had she somehow psychically known what I was going to wear?
She twisted the fabric in her hands. “Do you trust me, Candy? Really trust me?”
Did I believe in gravity? “Yes.”
“Okay. Then, I'm going to blindfold you, okay? I'll be right here. I just want you to close your artist's eyes and feel things for once.”
“Okay.” I think I whispered it.
Adara came in close to me. I dropped my eyes. She wore a red cami under her black sweater, and her breasts made two perfect curves above the lace edge... The softness of fabric, warm from her body, touched with her floral scent, slid across my face. I closed my eyes. She eased the blindfold in place and knotted it gently. “That okay?”
“That's fine.”
“Then listen.” Adara's fingers slid over mine and clasped lightly. “Listen first. Hear those crickets? There's a chickadee in the trees to the left. I think a train is coming, a long way off. Hear that?”
“Yes.”
“This way. Sit down.” She tugged on my hand and guided me down onto the rocks. They were hard and rough under me as I sat obediently. “In fact, lie down.” Adara's hands eased me onto my back. I stretched out cautiously.
“Now feel.” Her voice was a honeyed whisper. “Feel the stone under your hands. Feel the sun on your face. Can you feel it?”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
It was cooler. The breeze touched my cheek but the warmth had faded, as if a shadow blocked the sun. Something soft brushed over my forehead, and then across my eyebrow. “And now?”
“Your hair...”
“Very good.” I heard her change position. She might be between me and the sun, but there were other kinds of heat. My skin was burning, sensitized and waiting. She shook her head, so her hair slipped across my forearm and wrist. I closed my fists so I wouldn't reach for it.
“Candy,” Adara said softly. “What do you feel?”
My mouth was dry. I was breathing fast. I licked my lips, wishing I could see her eyes through the blindfold, glad I could see nothing at all. There was a rustling again, as she moved closer. I could smell the scent she used, wildflowers and vanilla sweetness. I could hear her breathing slow and easy. Her hair moved lower, slipping over my neck and shoulder. I felt the heat of her nearness, heard the sudden hitch of her breath. And time stopped in that moment, before her lips brushed mine.
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Brett wrote: "I have to say, I’m really loving this month’s pic, it was so much fun to work with. Can’t wait for everyone else’s stories! ."Brett - wow! I wanted to write mine before reading anyone else's but I needn't have done that here. What an unusual take on the picture! No overlap at all - very cool story.
So amazing, Kaje!!!!! I loved how you fit the part with the blindfold in :)
Thank you Brett & Kaje, brilliant stories!I was trying not to read these before I finished mine, but as writers block hit last night I decided what the heck... really glad I did :)
Kaje, that ending was awesome :D I really enjoyed Candice's brain. Her internal realizations were great. And I usually don't like large timeslips, but that one worked well, providing enough to give Candice's crush some backbone. I also found it cool that Midori and Adara both have teal belts...because really, how does someone explain carrying a blindfold around.
Wow, Samantha - very nice. I love that twist at the end, and the emotions in it. Great story!
Thanks=) I'm about halfway through your first story, great so far!
Kaje wrote: "******I picked a spot that was as good as any, and started looking for the oval leaves and sparsely-pronged trunks of the buckthorn. It was no problem to find some. In fact there was one that h..."
okay---aside from the obvious--smokin hot story!!!, I loved how introspective this was--Candace felt like every teen moment I had all rolled into one! Really nice Kaje!!!
All these stories are just full of awesome sauce. You all are sooo talented.
Samantha wrote: "Just a short little something for the story board.*************Petra****************
Petra hovered over the girl, taking in her alabaster skin and raven colored hair. She was beautiful,..."
This was so clever!!! I really liked the turn about of the classic Peter Pan--very cool!!
Ha ha, thanks! I was about halfway through Kaje's story and it just struck me that the pic reminded me of Peter Pan.
*Checks diary* Oh look still February! Thank goodness! :)Ok, very short story... no title as I am useless at picking them!
K
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The day was oppressively warm, with no breeze the air felt heavy. As had become habit since we moved here a couple of weeks ago, I turned up my nose at the breakfast offered to me and wandered out into the garden. I sat in a patch of sunshine on the patio and groomed my long ginger fur until I was sure the rest of the family had stopped watching me, before slipping quietly through the hole in the hedge.
By sight and scent, I found Terri where I expected her to be; sitting on the ground, her back against the sun warmed bark of the old apple tree, the e-reader balanced on her knees. She didn’t notice me as I silently stalked across the lawn, my chest lowering to the grass as I moved. I waited, my tail thrashing from side to side, then, with a chirruping “meow”, pounced playfully on the purple nailed toes that peeped out the end of her sandals.
She laughed as I rubbed my head around her ankles, then reaching forwards she pulled me onto her lap, where I continued to nuzzle her hands as she scratched around my ears.
“Good morning Cat,” she said warmly as she bent down to kiss my head. I nuzzled against her chin, breathing in her scent even as I marked her with mine.
It was too warm for us to settle into our usual positions, where I would curl up on her lap beneath the e-reader with her hand stroking gently along my back. Instead I slipped off her knees to one side, lying full length alongside but not quite touching her leg on the warm grass; unconsciously her hand continued to stroke the soft white fur on my belly as I purred us both to sleep.
The first rumble of thunder woke us, the air charged with static that made the fur rise along my back. It was still just as warm but the sky was no longer blue, the sun hidden by heavy black clouds. Rising swiftly Terri scooped me up and cradled me in her arms as she ran for the back door of her house. I could feel her heartbeat hammering in her chest; she didn’t like storms anymore than I did. As she reached for the door handle the thunder rolled again, in my head I started to count, just ten seconds later the dark sky was split suddenly by a blot of lightening. The storm was approaching quickly.
The door wouldn’t open. Terri hammered on it with her knuckles, but no one came. With me still held fast in her arms, she turned away and started to run towards the far end of the garden and the shelter of the wooden summer house. Scrambling up the shallow steps we tumbled through the open door as the first fat drops of rain began to fall.
Her hands were shaking as she lowered me carefully to the ground. I purred as loudly as I could as I wound my way around her ankles, trying to relieve her anxiety as well as my own with the continued touch and sound.
The storm was getting closer, the gap between thunder and lightning growing ever shorter.
“I can do this,” Terri’s tone was determined but I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me or to herself. I sat and watched as she lifted the lid of the wooden storage box and pulled out an old picnic blanket which she spread on the wooden floor.
Sinking down cross legged onto the blanket, she put out her hand towards me, rubbing her fingers together.
“Come over here Cat,” I could hear the slight tremor in her voice as she spoke. Slowly I moved towards her, as I did the thunder cracked directly over head, followed instantly by a flash of lightening which for a second illuminated the summerhouse brightly. The rain began to fall harder, sounding like a heavy drum beat on the wooden roof. Instinctively my ears flattened out sideways, my tail hung low, twitching slightly, I ran towards her.
She pulled me onto her lap and I snuggled into the gap between her crossed legs seeking both warmth and reassurance. Although her hands caressed my head I couldn’t bring myself to purr, the ability crippled by my own anxiety. Together we sat and silently watched the storm raging outside the window.
After a while Terri began to fidget, her hands leaving my back and rubbing her temples, I mewed an enquiry at her.
“Headache,” she said shortly. Lifting me from her lap she slowly removed the green shirt she’d been wearing and rolled it up into a strip which she tied over her eyes to block out the sight of the lightening flashes, that still split the sky at regular intervals. Slowly she lowered herself onto her back on the blanket and lay still.
I watched over her as she slept. I felt some sort of connection, an attraction, to this girl; I had since the moment I first found my way through the hole in the hedge.
Maybe it was because neither of us were particularly happy. Hells I was downright sulking at being forced to leave the home and school I loved just because my father’s firm had decided relocate him. I’d pleaded that as I was seventeen I was grown up enough to be allowed to stay with friends to do my final year at school, but no, it was deemed to dangerous for me to be away from my family.
I wasn’t the only one unhappy with the move. The house we’d moved into had been the home of Terri’s, until then, inseparable best friend, the person with whom the hole in the hedge had been created. She was angry and missing him badly, taking out her frustration by engaging in bitter arguments with her parents which invariably resulted in her being sent out to sit in the garden and calm down.
Over the last two week’s we’d spent most days together, with me curled up on her lap whilst she read, or talked. She’d told me of her loneliness at missing her friend, of her feelings towards her family, of past girlfriends and boyfriends, of hopes and dreams. As she’d talked I kneaded her leg with my paws, purring gently, trying to sooth. Part of me wanted to change form, to be able to put my arms around her and hold her, to touch her with a hand rather than a paw.
I watched her breathing become slow and even, as she fell into a deeper sleep. The longing to touch her grew within me until the desire was impossible to ignore.
Carefully moving away from her I gathered my focus inwardly and formed an image of myself in my mind, before slowly beginning to change. The change isn’t a painful process, but holding the image you are moving into is both difficult and tiring. It was some minutes before the change was complete and I came to, lying on the wooden floor panting slightly.
My hair fell untidily round my head and I fought the automatic feline reaction to lick my hand and use it to smooth the hair into place as though I was grooming. Slowly I rose to my feet and as quietly as I could began to move towards Terri.
Crouching down beside her I noticed the differences between my human and feline senses. Her skin was much paler than I remembered, almost a porcelain white. Her scent was still as attractive, but much softer. As I slowly leant over her my hair fell forwards onto her chest, her lips curled into a smile but she remained still. I froze waiting to see what she would do.
“Hello Cat,” she said warmly, her smile widening. Her breath felt warm against my face.
“You knew?” I asked softly as I hung over her still unmoving.
Still smiling she nodded. Her hand, which had been resting beside her head reached up towards my face and gently stroked my cheek in almost a reflection of the gesture she’d made when I was in feline form. Her hands were soft, warmer on skin than on fur.
“Do you want to kiss me?” she asked
“Yes,” I purred as I moved towards her.
K wrote: "*Checks diary* Oh look still February! Thank goodness! :)Ok, very short story... no title as I am useless at picking them!
K
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The ..."
OMG--that is so freaking clever!!!! What an incredible twist on this photo---K--I love it!!!
K wrote: "*Checks diary* Oh look still February! Thank goodness! :)The ..."
That was just cool - I was waiting for the girl to appear and then, twist. Loved it.
:o) Thank you both, I'm glad you enjoyed it... and didn't pick up on the twist till the endK
K wrote: "*Checks diary* Oh look still February! Thank goodness! :)Ok, very short story... no title as I am useless at picking them!
K
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The ..."
That's a great story, K!!! And what an awesome twist at the end :)
