trapezechimpanz
Well-Known Member
Title is subject to change. I'm not entirely happy with it because I came up with it on whim so that it had a title when I posted it.
Soul is a book I am writing, obviously. I decided to post it on here so that I could get feedback from people other than my friends. The story isn't based off of any videogame or anything else, it is completely from my mind and my own ideas. I hope everyone who reads this will enjoy. So without further ado, Soul:
- Chapter 1 -
I have learned to deal with the fact that I’m blind. It really isn’t all that bad – although, the darkness does get very boring most of the time. As I was saying, I have learned to deal with my blindness by using other things to help me cope with it; like sarcasm and a knife. Just kidding. I may look like the kind of person that would cut, but I would never result to that kind of outrageous behavior. Although that urge has come up many times before just to use on the occasional annoying person, that really seems to brighten up my day, not myself.
Now, ever since it had happened; I’ve lived a very uneventful life – luckily for me, that would soon change. My Aunt Lela was really nice, sometimes too nice, but I didn’t mind living with her. She was always making sure I knew where things were, and she would help me get around the house – a little too over protective. It gets very annoying sometimes, because like I said before, “I have learned to deal with being blind.” I can get around anywhere without my walking stick now; I can tell where everything is. It is almost as if I sense everything around me, like everything gives off an aura so I can tell where I am. Being blind is the least of my worries.
I was sitting in the backseat of a yellow Volkswagen Beetle. I nearly choked at the site of this; my mom and brother were sitting in the front seats. I still just sat calmly in the back staring blankly at the dark void of night. I wanted to shout out and cry, but my body wouldn’t do anything I willed it to. It made me frustrated – why do reunions have to be so complicated?
My brother sat in the passenger seat as casually and quiet as I was sitting. He stared out the window, tracing the dark blurs of pine trees with his bright-green eyes. He seemed so interested in the mountain scenery even though there wasn’t much to see, and I was sitting right there! Occasionally he would flip his blonde “surfer-dude” hair out of his face, and then pop his bubble gum. I used to find that loud click annoying – he would do it just to bug me – but now, I found it the most beautiful sound I had heard in years.
My mom didn’t care that I was in the back just as much as my brother. She kept her blue eyes fixed on the road, her expression full of fear and anxiety. I knew she hated driving, it only got worse at night and on a long, winding mountain road lined with steep cliffs. She had her window rolled down, despite the cold and sprinkling rain, with one arm hanging out. It made her long wavy blonde hair blow wildly around her face, like one of those blown-up characters that flopped around in front of car dealerships.
My mind was racing with thousands of things to say. What do you say when you haven’t seen someone for four years? (Especially when it doesn’t seem like they care either). We had so much we could talk about, but my mouth thought otherwise. No matter how hard I willed it to burst open and start shouting out the past four years at lightning speed, nothing happened. My lips stayed completely shut together.
Something was really wrong with this picture; most people have complete control over all of their body movements, and usually their hand doesn’t have a mind of its own – my hand, apparently did. It was over by the window, drawing little pictures of bunnies and flowers in the condensation like it did this all the time. The one thing that stood out to me more when I looked at the window was my reflection.
I looked odd and not exactly how I remembered me looking. For starters, I looked very young. For not knowing how I looked most the time, I knew I wasn’t this small and innocent. My curly red hair was braided and parted down the middle – I usually still wore it like that. Large freckles sprayed across the pale skin of my face, and my big, aqua eyes were full of questions and wonder about the world. My feet barely hung off the edge of the seat – I knew I was short, but not that short. I was wearing a short tan skirt, a pale yellow shirt with a pink flower in the lower right corner, and cute little black and white tennis shoes. I remember this being my favorite thing to wear when I was little.
That’s it! I must only be a little kid, maybe eight or so – that makes me four years younger than I am now. Oh crap! I thought. If this was what I thought it was, I wanted it to stop right now – reliving this nightmare again would really suck!
“Clair, honey,” the sweet angelic voice of my mother flew into the backseat, “Are you okay? You haven’t said anything since we left the cabin.”
This is what I had been wanting, to hear the voice of my mother. It was even better than the memories I had – and sometimes, memories were all I had to get me through a day. Her voice was like the heavens opening up and singing just for me, or all the music ever invented in the world pouring upon me! I wanted to keep this conversation going, and all my worry about the dream flushed away. That was a mistake, I should have woken up.
I was about to talk, when my mouth did it for me, “I’m fine mom,” I said, “I’m just a little sad that summer is over.”
We used to always spend the last two weeks of summer in a cabin up in the mountains. It was the most fun I’ve ever had in my life, even though I hate the mountains…now.
“You always say this sweetheart, but summer does have to end. We will be back next year.” my mom exclaimed. She always had to be so optimistic. I already knew we wouldn’t be coming back.
“Next year is too long to wait!” Again, this was not me saying this. If I had any control over what my body was doing I would be yelling, “Turn back now!” I knew what was coming, but I couldn’t get myself to wake up.
“Ah Clair,” My brother Joseph said, “Next year will come in a flash, and we will be up here and relaxing by the lake in no time!”
“Fine…I’m not sure I believe you though, it’s a whole year!”
“Trust me!” Those were the last words I heard my brother say before I sprawled out – well, as much as a short eight-year-old can – and quickly fell asleep.
CRACKA-BOOM!
I jumped awake and bolted into a sitting position at the sound of thunder. I usually didn’t mind thunderstorms, but this wasn’t your ordinary storm. It was a freak storm! The clouds were this odd purplish-grey and they seemed to glow. I always thought that you couldn’t see the clouds at night, but these clouds were as bright as if it was noon. I could see bright bolts of lightening dancing everywhere across the sky; everywhere I looked, and thick sheets of rain slammed against the car, the sound of pellets hitting metal.
CRACKA-BOOM!
Another heart-attack inducing crash of thunder, it was like every violinist in the world had decide to play their instrument tonight…badly. I began to cry both myself and my body. I knew what this horrible storm meant; my younger self was just afraid.
“Clair! Don’t cry” My brother said comfortingly. “It’ll all be over in a second.” He had no idea how true his words were. If only he could add the word “literally” to the end of that sentence, but he wouldn’t have known.
I kept crying anyway, screaming sentences like: “We’re all going to die!” and “Make it stop!” Is it possible to punch your self and tell yourself to shut up, when your body isn’t listening to a word your mind is saying? No…I would say it isn’t. That is exactly what I felt like doing, but all I got out of my body was more crying and screaming. Was I really this much of a baby four years ago?
“Clair, sweetheart,” My mom was trying to sound as calm as possible, but I could tell she was worried and a little scared. Her body was tense, and her eyes stayed fixed on the turns in the road ahead – her grip on the steering wheel strong enough to make her hands a pale white.
We weren’t out of the mountains yet, so I wasn’t asleep long. The steep cliffs still lined both sides of the road. There was really no way out if something got in our way, there was a wall of cliff on the left and steep drop into the forest on the right. We were trapped.
“I need you to be quiet and calm down, sweetheart,” my mom finished. I calmed down just a little and stopped screaming. I still cried, and hard to; I could barely breath.
Joseph unbuckled his seat belt and hopped over into the backseat with me, followed by a bunch of complaints and shouts from my mom. I was glad to see my brother’s big grin that he always wore as he sat next to me and pulled me into a bear hug. Joseph could always comfort me, even when I was the most scared I had ever been. He had strong arms that felt like he would never let me go; he looked so much like our dad – except for the blonde hair.
“Clair…I won’t let you go…ever! I promise,” Joseph whispered in my ear. I took in a deep breath and snuggled up against his arm.
CRACKA-BOOM!
That was loudest crash of thunder I’ve ever heard – I can’t even think of words to describe the sound that even the deaf probably heard. It came immediately with a flash of lightning that seemed to touch down right in front of our car. It was a bright fluorescent purple flash that left my vision white for seconds afterward; I’m not even sure it was actual lightning; it could have been a truck or something else.
The next thing I knew was that our small car was taking a sharp turn to the right and started screeching against the metal railing. Joseph slammed into the window making it crack, but never does he loosen his strong grip around me. The weak metal of the railing wouldn’t hold our car forever; it was as if something was pushing against the back of our car. The metal began to creak and there was a loud snap!
We started racing down the steep mountainside. Think of the worst roller-coaster you’ve ever been on, and then times that by fifty and you will experience exactly what I am. Strangely enough, nothing got in our way as we sped down the mountain we just kept gaining speed. Everything happened so fast, it made me dizzy.
All sound drained out, leaving me with a small ringing in my ears – I knew we were about to die. I felt my mouth open and I could tell I was screaming; Joseph and mom were screaming too. I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t hearing…there was just ringing. Joseph still held on to me, as we zoomed through the darkness.
CRASH! BOOM! SNAP!
The sound was back.
We slammed straight into a large pine tree. The windshield shattered and sent small flecks of glass everywhere. An intense pain filled my face and it began to feel warm and wet. My eyes were burning with the feeling you get after opening your eyes underwater, and I couldn’t see a thing. I reached up and touched my face, all I felt was a warm sticky liquid; I assumed it was blood. My mom’s seat was flung back on top of me crushing my legs and torso; it was getting hard for me to breath. I felt for my mom in the seat, she had warm blood all over her face and she lay perfectly still.
I began to cry out in pain. I could barely breath, I was covered in blood and my head was pounding as if it had just been the victim of a very bad drummer. I began to feel nauseous and very dizzy. My eyes shut and I was out cold.
* * *
I awoke still being unable to see. I could feel my mother’s seat on top of me, and the warmth of the morning sun beating down through the sun roof. The blood on my face had crusted over, and my eyes still burned. I ached all over; the pain was enough to knock me out again.
I groped around in front of me to feel for my mom. I found her face; it was cold, and she didn’t react when I touched it. I could feel dry crusted blood, but even new warm blood. My mom was freezing cold, and I knew instantly she was dead. I began to cry, when I noticed Joseph wasn’t holding me, or even in the car.
Joseph didn’t keep his promise.
-----------------------------------------
I'm going to try and post Chapter Two later today, probably after people comment on this.
Soul is a book I am writing, obviously. I decided to post it on here so that I could get feedback from people other than my friends. The story isn't based off of any videogame or anything else, it is completely from my mind and my own ideas. I hope everyone who reads this will enjoy. So without further ado, Soul:
- Chapter 1 -
I have learned to deal with the fact that I’m blind. It really isn’t all that bad – although, the darkness does get very boring most of the time. As I was saying, I have learned to deal with my blindness by using other things to help me cope with it; like sarcasm and a knife. Just kidding. I may look like the kind of person that would cut, but I would never result to that kind of outrageous behavior. Although that urge has come up many times before just to use on the occasional annoying person, that really seems to brighten up my day, not myself.
Now, ever since it had happened; I’ve lived a very uneventful life – luckily for me, that would soon change. My Aunt Lela was really nice, sometimes too nice, but I didn’t mind living with her. She was always making sure I knew where things were, and she would help me get around the house – a little too over protective. It gets very annoying sometimes, because like I said before, “I have learned to deal with being blind.” I can get around anywhere without my walking stick now; I can tell where everything is. It is almost as if I sense everything around me, like everything gives off an aura so I can tell where I am. Being blind is the least of my worries.
I was sitting in the backseat of a yellow Volkswagen Beetle. I nearly choked at the site of this; my mom and brother were sitting in the front seats. I still just sat calmly in the back staring blankly at the dark void of night. I wanted to shout out and cry, but my body wouldn’t do anything I willed it to. It made me frustrated – why do reunions have to be so complicated?
My brother sat in the passenger seat as casually and quiet as I was sitting. He stared out the window, tracing the dark blurs of pine trees with his bright-green eyes. He seemed so interested in the mountain scenery even though there wasn’t much to see, and I was sitting right there! Occasionally he would flip his blonde “surfer-dude” hair out of his face, and then pop his bubble gum. I used to find that loud click annoying – he would do it just to bug me – but now, I found it the most beautiful sound I had heard in years.
My mom didn’t care that I was in the back just as much as my brother. She kept her blue eyes fixed on the road, her expression full of fear and anxiety. I knew she hated driving, it only got worse at night and on a long, winding mountain road lined with steep cliffs. She had her window rolled down, despite the cold and sprinkling rain, with one arm hanging out. It made her long wavy blonde hair blow wildly around her face, like one of those blown-up characters that flopped around in front of car dealerships.
My mind was racing with thousands of things to say. What do you say when you haven’t seen someone for four years? (Especially when it doesn’t seem like they care either). We had so much we could talk about, but my mouth thought otherwise. No matter how hard I willed it to burst open and start shouting out the past four years at lightning speed, nothing happened. My lips stayed completely shut together.
Something was really wrong with this picture; most people have complete control over all of their body movements, and usually their hand doesn’t have a mind of its own – my hand, apparently did. It was over by the window, drawing little pictures of bunnies and flowers in the condensation like it did this all the time. The one thing that stood out to me more when I looked at the window was my reflection.
I looked odd and not exactly how I remembered me looking. For starters, I looked very young. For not knowing how I looked most the time, I knew I wasn’t this small and innocent. My curly red hair was braided and parted down the middle – I usually still wore it like that. Large freckles sprayed across the pale skin of my face, and my big, aqua eyes were full of questions and wonder about the world. My feet barely hung off the edge of the seat – I knew I was short, but not that short. I was wearing a short tan skirt, a pale yellow shirt with a pink flower in the lower right corner, and cute little black and white tennis shoes. I remember this being my favorite thing to wear when I was little.
That’s it! I must only be a little kid, maybe eight or so – that makes me four years younger than I am now. Oh crap! I thought. If this was what I thought it was, I wanted it to stop right now – reliving this nightmare again would really suck!
“Clair, honey,” the sweet angelic voice of my mother flew into the backseat, “Are you okay? You haven’t said anything since we left the cabin.”
This is what I had been wanting, to hear the voice of my mother. It was even better than the memories I had – and sometimes, memories were all I had to get me through a day. Her voice was like the heavens opening up and singing just for me, or all the music ever invented in the world pouring upon me! I wanted to keep this conversation going, and all my worry about the dream flushed away. That was a mistake, I should have woken up.
I was about to talk, when my mouth did it for me, “I’m fine mom,” I said, “I’m just a little sad that summer is over.”
We used to always spend the last two weeks of summer in a cabin up in the mountains. It was the most fun I’ve ever had in my life, even though I hate the mountains…now.
“You always say this sweetheart, but summer does have to end. We will be back next year.” my mom exclaimed. She always had to be so optimistic. I already knew we wouldn’t be coming back.
“Next year is too long to wait!” Again, this was not me saying this. If I had any control over what my body was doing I would be yelling, “Turn back now!” I knew what was coming, but I couldn’t get myself to wake up.
“Ah Clair,” My brother Joseph said, “Next year will come in a flash, and we will be up here and relaxing by the lake in no time!”
“Fine…I’m not sure I believe you though, it’s a whole year!”
“Trust me!” Those were the last words I heard my brother say before I sprawled out – well, as much as a short eight-year-old can – and quickly fell asleep.
CRACKA-BOOM!
I jumped awake and bolted into a sitting position at the sound of thunder. I usually didn’t mind thunderstorms, but this wasn’t your ordinary storm. It was a freak storm! The clouds were this odd purplish-grey and they seemed to glow. I always thought that you couldn’t see the clouds at night, but these clouds were as bright as if it was noon. I could see bright bolts of lightening dancing everywhere across the sky; everywhere I looked, and thick sheets of rain slammed against the car, the sound of pellets hitting metal.
CRACKA-BOOM!
Another heart-attack inducing crash of thunder, it was like every violinist in the world had decide to play their instrument tonight…badly. I began to cry both myself and my body. I knew what this horrible storm meant; my younger self was just afraid.
“Clair! Don’t cry” My brother said comfortingly. “It’ll all be over in a second.” He had no idea how true his words were. If only he could add the word “literally” to the end of that sentence, but he wouldn’t have known.
I kept crying anyway, screaming sentences like: “We’re all going to die!” and “Make it stop!” Is it possible to punch your self and tell yourself to shut up, when your body isn’t listening to a word your mind is saying? No…I would say it isn’t. That is exactly what I felt like doing, but all I got out of my body was more crying and screaming. Was I really this much of a baby four years ago?
“Clair, sweetheart,” My mom was trying to sound as calm as possible, but I could tell she was worried and a little scared. Her body was tense, and her eyes stayed fixed on the turns in the road ahead – her grip on the steering wheel strong enough to make her hands a pale white.
We weren’t out of the mountains yet, so I wasn’t asleep long. The steep cliffs still lined both sides of the road. There was really no way out if something got in our way, there was a wall of cliff on the left and steep drop into the forest on the right. We were trapped.
“I need you to be quiet and calm down, sweetheart,” my mom finished. I calmed down just a little and stopped screaming. I still cried, and hard to; I could barely breath.
Joseph unbuckled his seat belt and hopped over into the backseat with me, followed by a bunch of complaints and shouts from my mom. I was glad to see my brother’s big grin that he always wore as he sat next to me and pulled me into a bear hug. Joseph could always comfort me, even when I was the most scared I had ever been. He had strong arms that felt like he would never let me go; he looked so much like our dad – except for the blonde hair.
“Clair…I won’t let you go…ever! I promise,” Joseph whispered in my ear. I took in a deep breath and snuggled up against his arm.
CRACKA-BOOM!
That was loudest crash of thunder I’ve ever heard – I can’t even think of words to describe the sound that even the deaf probably heard. It came immediately with a flash of lightning that seemed to touch down right in front of our car. It was a bright fluorescent purple flash that left my vision white for seconds afterward; I’m not even sure it was actual lightning; it could have been a truck or something else.
The next thing I knew was that our small car was taking a sharp turn to the right and started screeching against the metal railing. Joseph slammed into the window making it crack, but never does he loosen his strong grip around me. The weak metal of the railing wouldn’t hold our car forever; it was as if something was pushing against the back of our car. The metal began to creak and there was a loud snap!
We started racing down the steep mountainside. Think of the worst roller-coaster you’ve ever been on, and then times that by fifty and you will experience exactly what I am. Strangely enough, nothing got in our way as we sped down the mountain we just kept gaining speed. Everything happened so fast, it made me dizzy.
All sound drained out, leaving me with a small ringing in my ears – I knew we were about to die. I felt my mouth open and I could tell I was screaming; Joseph and mom were screaming too. I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t hearing…there was just ringing. Joseph still held on to me, as we zoomed through the darkness.
CRASH! BOOM! SNAP!
The sound was back.
We slammed straight into a large pine tree. The windshield shattered and sent small flecks of glass everywhere. An intense pain filled my face and it began to feel warm and wet. My eyes were burning with the feeling you get after opening your eyes underwater, and I couldn’t see a thing. I reached up and touched my face, all I felt was a warm sticky liquid; I assumed it was blood. My mom’s seat was flung back on top of me crushing my legs and torso; it was getting hard for me to breath. I felt for my mom in the seat, she had warm blood all over her face and she lay perfectly still.
I began to cry out in pain. I could barely breath, I was covered in blood and my head was pounding as if it had just been the victim of a very bad drummer. I began to feel nauseous and very dizzy. My eyes shut and I was out cold.
* * *
I awoke still being unable to see. I could feel my mother’s seat on top of me, and the warmth of the morning sun beating down through the sun roof. The blood on my face had crusted over, and my eyes still burned. I ached all over; the pain was enough to knock me out again.
I groped around in front of me to feel for my mom. I found her face; it was cold, and she didn’t react when I touched it. I could feel dry crusted blood, but even new warm blood. My mom was freezing cold, and I knew instantly she was dead. I began to cry, when I noticed Joseph wasn’t holding me, or even in the car.
Joseph didn’t keep his promise.
-----------------------------------------
I'm going to try and post Chapter Two later today, probably after people comment on this.
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