literature

Bound by Birth Chp. 5: The least of Your Worries

Deviation Actions

Published: Jan 17, 2015

297 Views

Literature Text

Chapter 5: The Rain is the least of Your Worries...

Mary shivered as she shuffled her way down the sidewalk with an umbrella clasped tightly in her hands. She paused, looked up at the sky warily before opening it and raising it above her head.

"The weatherman always lies." She muttered as the rain began to patter lightly on her umbrella.

She continued on her way, wearing a slight pout on her face as she thought of her now ruined plans to play on the swings in the park. It wasn't often that she visited the park. Ever since the start of the games she had found herself suddenly drawn to it and would try and visit it as many times as possible. Her anxiety hadn't worn down since April had begun; which only brought memories of her innocent ignorance on the matter of death when she was a smaller child. How precious did the subject of life become to her the moment it became an object that could so easily be torn from her grasp.

Within moments she had arrived at her destination. Mary twitched her nose slightly in disappointment as her eyes ran over the soaked playground equipment.

"What a pity." She murmured.

Mary jumped as the silence was suddenly broken by the sound of the swings creaking. She turned sharply to find a dark haired girl in a raincoat swinging slowly; a dull look set about her face. She came to a stop as Mary approached her, her expression slightly shifting to wariness as she shuffled in one of her coat pockets for something. Mary arched a brow as she watched the odd girl's evasive behavior though relaxed when she recognized it as characteristics of shyness.

"Here." The girl muttered barely audible as she stood and handed Mary a small vial before retreating back to the swing. Mary turned the bottle in her hands, her mouth drying at the sight of the purple liquid within.

"Um...What is...?" She began though noticed the girl was walking towards the tunnels and hastily followed.

Standing before the entrance to the plastic maze of tubes and slides, the girl muttered inaudibly to herself several times before meeting eyes with Mary.

"I'm Anya." She stated meekly then gestured towards the vial in Mary's hands. Mary stared at her blankly for a few moments before she realized Anya wanted her to drink it.

"It's poison isn't it?" Mary thought as she reluctantly opened the vial and downed the contents within. She was pleasantly surprised to find it tasted like a mixture of berries than her initial horror of a bitter after taste. After checking that the vial was indeed empty, Anya motioned towards the entrance to the tunnels.

"Find the antidote. I'll be waiting out here."

Mary nearly choked at the straightforwardness of her statement.

"A-Antidote....?" She muttered feeling her throat tighten up.

"I'd hurry if I were you."

Mary stared dumbfounded at Anya; her unwavering expression unnerving her. How could she remain so calm when she just poisoned someone? Of course she was a "child" so this behavior was to be expected, however her expression lingered between deep thought and dismay; that which could only be placed on one whom had undergone some turmoil in their life.

Without wanting to waste any time, however much she had left that was, she made her way into the tunnel. Immediately, the light in the area was snuffed out and she was forced to shuffle forward with only the light sound of rain pattering on the plastic roof overhead reminding her there was still a world outside. She crinkled her nose as she came to the first turn; light filtering in between the screws on the walls allowing her to see the color of the plastic tunnel change from a dim yellow to a deep green.

As she was about to turn, she felt her stomach clench tightly in a knot and shouted out in dismay as a sharp pain wracked her tiny form. She sputtered and gasped as she forced herself to move forward, little white dots appearing before her vision with her every movement. Before long, strange colors began hanging low in the air; dancing about like northern lights.

"This is not good." She thought sluggishly as she entered another circular section that broke off into two separate tunnels. She stared into the one on her right and felt her throat tighten. There was something blocking up the tunnel a short distance away and it appeared to be slowly dragging itself towards her. She muffled a scream and practically dove into the blue tunnel on the left.

The colors before her vision heightened as she crawled forward in a panic. Her heart was pounding so heavily in her chest that it blocked out the sounds of the rain overhead. Momentarily blinded by a wisp of pink light that streaked across her vision, she slipped and slammed her head straight into the overpass. She felt the blood rush to her head as she collapsed over into yet another circular section room. She tucked her knees into her chest, her hands flying to her throbbing head, as she tried desperately to not lose consciousness. Tears welled up in her eyes which streaked down her face and fell upon the filthy floor below her.

Finally her adrenaline kicked in and the pain subsided to a dull throb. Hazy eyed and exhausted from the pain, she let her hands fall limply to the floor. What she didn't expect was to find a rough piece of cloth at her fingertips. Curious, she forced herself to sit and held the object between her hands.

"A blindfold?" She muttered, gritting her teeth slightly as the sound brought her head to throb once more.

She didn't have time to inspect it further for the tunnel she had just come from erupted into a low rumble. She gasped as she saw the dark object from before; color draining from her face as she recognized it. The figure crawling rapidly towards her appeared to be corpse-like with stretched arms and fingers. She stifled a scream and crawled into the tunnel on the right; the blindfold clutched tightly in her right hand. To make things worse, she became nauseous from her crawling and the colors dancing constantly before her eyes. She had all but forgotten she had been poisoned with a strange substance.

"If it's anything like the objects before..." She thought sluggishly as her crawling slowed. "It might just...."

She was cut off by the horrific scream the corpse emitted directly behind her. Shaken and finding nowhere else to go, she turned back to watch it inch towards her at an alarming rate. She took the blindfold in both of her hands and quickly tied it around her head across her eyes just as the corpse reached for her.

Mary sat there in silence for several minutes; her breathing short and raspy. It was a horrible thing, waiting, and she wanted nothing more than it to all be over. She gasped slightly as the sound of light rain broke the silence and ran her hands along the tunnel around her. She shivered as the cold air from outside pressed against her back. It somehow felt... soothing. She turned around and began to crawl upward as the tunnel inclined slightly. Within seconds she was outside, the cool rain kissing her cheeks as she turned her head upwards towards the sky. Blindly, she ran her hands along the metal grated floor beneath her until her fingertips met with a small glass vial. She fumbled it in her hands as she uncorked it and downed the liquid. This time it only tasted like water tinted with lemon. She sighed in relief and undid her blindfold.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust and she used the railing to push herself onto her shaking legs. Her heart dropped as she found the tunnel she had entered and exited left her a mere several feet away from where Anya was currently standing; her eyes staring directly at her with a complacent, unwavering expression on her face. There was no way in hell the tunnel system was that short.

"Hey Mary!"

She jumped sharply as a laugh erupted to her left and turned sharply to find Juno making a face at her before he smiled broadly and fled down the slide.

"Don't do that." She said sharply beneath her breath as she covered her face with one hand in an attempt to compose herself.

"It was an illusion." Marcus said, leaning on the rail next to her with a slight grin of amusement on his face. Mary jumped again and huffed in his direction. His smile only widened. "You make the cutest expressions dear Mary."

She rolled her eyes and ran her hands through her hair. She had had about enough of this for one day... Though she couldn't help but laugh as Juno flipped over on the swings; irritating Fiorella who had just appeared on one. Maybe it was the after rush of surviving another game but she wished the moment would last just a bit longer.

"Good job..." Anya said softly as she slowly climbed the ladder and joined Mary and Marcus on the play set.

"Thanks." Mary said with a genuine smile in her direction, though it faltered when she turned to find a look of concern knotted on Marcus's face.

"What is it?" She asked him softly though noticed Anya immediately withdraw as she spoke.

"I have to warn you." He spoke with the utmost severity in his tone. Mary's eyes hardened and she nodded; her focus set entirely on what he was about to say.

"The others... won't exhibit a shred of mercy on a kid. You can't trust any of them." He never dropped his gaze from hers as he spoke; his eyes practically pleading with her to believe him. Despite not knowing him very long, or if she could trust these "children" at all, she had an instinctive feeling that he was telling the truth.

"I believe you." She said as she leaned on the railing. He visibly relaxed and gazed upwards at the sky.

"The next game begins May 22nd.~" Fiorella hummed as she floated up from the ground to meet Mary's gaze; a slightly twisted grin spread across her face. "How do you feel about running?"

"Lovely..." Mary said dismayed.

"Then we'd better get started!~"

------------------------------------------

Amidst a darkened room sat four figures; seated evenly across from each other at a table. One shifted their weight as they reached over to turn on the lamp light; disturbing the woman in green who complained with much dismay.

"Can a woman get some sleep for one damn minute?" She spoke gruffly' rubbing one eye with the end of her green scarf.

"I do apologize dear Anneka, but there are things that must be discussed." The light haired man replied, a playful grin dancing on his lips.

"Oy, Mikhail. Get on with it." The man in red seated across from him spoke with as much ferocity in his voice that he could muster.

"Oh I will be brief, Aaric. There's a matter of the, ah, rules of this year's game that need to be discussed." Mikhail spoke softly though there was a dark glint in his eyes. His lips twitched slightly as he gazed over at Giacinta, who was calmly seated across from Anneka; her hands folded delicately on the table before her.

"The children..." He began, making a clear attempt to hide his rising anger, "seem to think it's ok to assist our little leaper." He added an extra hint of malice as he mentioned leaper.

"The children were playing their games as they do with any other." Giacinta spoke calmly with an air the grace. This only seemed to agitate Mikhail further.

"Yes, however the fault does not lie on them alone..." He spoke coldly in her direction.

"Leave her out of this." Aaric hissed in his direction.

"Ah but I was merely bringing up the fact that they are being too soft on the players. They seem to be taking a liking to this.... Mary." Mikhail replied lowly, a visible stream of breath escaping his lips as if the room were well below fifteen degrees... "And you would do well to remember your temper..."

Aaric slammed a fist down on the table, cracking it in several places; his teeth grinding as he watched Mikhail look upon him with disinterest. He flinched slightly as a hand was laid gently on his forearm and looked over at Giacinta who was still facing directly forward. Within seconds he visibly calmed and let out a low sigh.

"I may not be able to see," She spoke evenly directing her voice at Mikhail, " though I know my children have not overstepped the rules set before them. There is no one set at fault Mikhail. If you want difficulty for the leaper, Aaric's underlings will give her more than enough of a challenge."

With that, Mikhail was left grinding his teeth out of slight irritation though straightened himself out soon enough.

"Fine. The children can have their fun with her for now..." A knowing smile appearing on his face. "Though I'm sure you're aware of Jennifer's record..."

Anneka gazed over at Mikhail, a blank expression set across her face. "Can I go now?" She said flatly.

"Yes dear." Mikhail said with a short laugh as he turned off the light; darkness once more consuming the room...

End

Ohoho~ A chapter after 3 weeks of writer's block? I believe the rest should flow smoother than this one. The breaks between sections of the stories are apparently going to kill me.

Previous-->

Bound by Birth Chp. 4 Lost in March

Chapter 4: Lost in March
The dull hum of fluorescent lights filled Mary's ears. How she loathed the sound. For what felt like hours she had been roaming around her dull school's library trying to find something to occupy her mind as she waited for the next game to begin. Unfortunately, a majority of the material available to read felt like poorly treated hand-me-downs and after sitting through a couple pages of uninteresting dialogue she threw the fantasy novel aside with disgust. It was no wonder this place was always empty.
She leaned forward, resting her head on the wooden table's cool surface. Closing her eyes, she exhaled slowly and tried to think of a solution to her dilemma. She jumped as a book was slammed down on the table near her head and looked up to find a boy her age with light blonde hair staring down at her; the corners of his mouth turned up ever so slightly in a smile. She leaned back in her chair, eyeing him warily bef

Bound by Birth~
Property of LHS

Comments0

Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In

Bound by Birth Chp. 5: The least of Your Worries

Deviation Actions

Literature Text

.:: Find Her ::.