(DNP!!) Erin's Diary

[jolteon]

You were so caught up in reading the diary, that you almost didn't notice the small squeak behind you. You turn around and see a red and embarrassed viscet who is looking at the diary. It must've belonged to her.

You give her a small apologetic smile, before handing the journal back to her, and bidding a goodbye. She was definitely an interesting one, although a bit shy, but still interesting nonetheless.

[jolteon]

This is a flashback to one of Erin's worst memories.

The new job was wonderful! I definitely had a great time, there were a few customers but I was too nervous to talk to them myself. Good thing my boss was there to handle them.

I'm going home currently. I worked my full shift at the library, I can't believe I stayed for 8 hours! It definitely felt like time had flied.

Once I got home, something felt a bit off. The house felt... empty, or sad. I was confused. "I'm home?" I called out to my parents, I was pretty sure they're home.

They came out of the living room to meet me. Tears were running down my mother's face and my dad looked sad and angry. "What's wrong?" I asked, about to tear up myself. I can't handle it when someone else is crying.

"Your brother," My mother paused. I feared for the worst. He was currently stationed out overseas. "KIA. Killed in action. Terrorists ambushed their base," she couldn't continue before sobs wrecked her body, and she hugged my dad for comfort.

I stood there paralyzed. What? "You've got to be kidding," The tears were streaming down my face. My mother shook her head. This can't be happening.

"No." I whimpered out before stumbling upstairs. I didn't want to believe it. I ran to my bedroom and crashed onto my bed. I started bawling. Thoughts were racing through my mind.

I calmed down a bit after a while, trying to let my thoughts process. He's dead, I can't stop repeating, What do I do? The house felt lonely when he was away, now it just feels.. worse. It lost part of it's soul.

I get up and walk to my brothers room. It was clean and tidy, just how he left it before leaving. Dust free too, my mom regularly cleans his room as well, during cleaning days.

I looked around and saw his Nintendo DS laying on his desk, along with a few game cases neatly stacked up beside it. I walked over and picked it up. I quickly checked what game was currently inside, and booted it up. Animal Crossing.

I started tearing up again. This game was one of my most fond memories that I've shared with my brother, I loved watching him play the game when I was little.

I walk around the virtual town. It was gorgeous, although a bit dirty because of weeds. As I plucked the weeds using the avatar my brother had created, I decided. I'll continue the game for him, I'll keep the pixelated village looking beautiful.

[jolteon]

Erin was sitting at her desk in the library, peacefully reading a book, when suddenly her best friend busts through the doors excitedly.

"Erin! Apparently there's an abandoned bomb shelter close to this town, and everyone's saying it's haunted. You up for exploring it?" Erin's best friend, Tonbo jumps up and down, eager for her response. Erin hesitated.

"Um. I'm not sure if I'd.. like going to a place like that," Erin started, but seeing her friend's dejected look made her falter. "--Oh. I bet it would be fun!" Tonbo's eyes sparkled.

"I knew you'd say yes! Let's go buy some supplies for exploring!" The cat-like viscet grabbed Erin's paw and they took off to the nearest store, not before Erin quickly bookmarking the page in the book she was currently reading.

-

"I was thinking that we should get some flashlights, you know in hat form? Those are cool," Tonbo was currently looking at the said hats, and grabbed two of them. She put them in the shopping cart Erin was pushing.

"Maybe we should also get some masks also? For air pollution or whatever," Erin pushed the cart in the direction of the masks. "The place is probably crawling in asbestos."

"Yeah, probably should. I'll be looking at the toys while you go get those." Tonbo disappeared to the toys aisle, leaving Erin alone. She sighed and continued her way to the aisle containing the masks. Once there, she grabbed two and headed back to where the other viscet was at.

"Hey, I got the masks--" Erin stopped. Her eyes immediately targeted the plushie. It was an Isabelle plushie, from her favorite game Animal Crossing.

The woolly viscet's eyes lit up. "Oh!! I didn't even know these plushies existed!" She grabbed one and placed it in the cart. Tonbo also came up with a cat plushie in her paws.

"Ain't it cute? Almost has the same colors as my pelt." Tonbo threw it in the cart. "I think that's all the supplies we need!" They headed for the checkout lane, and bought all of the items that were in their cart.

"This is gonna be real cool!" Tonbo jumped eagerly. Erin didn't feel as enthusiastic about it.

-

Erin followed Tonbo all the way to the bomb shelter, as she didn't know where it was located herself. Their gear was inside their backpacks which were slung across their backs, along with bottles of water and a few other small things.

They stopped when what seemed to be the bomb shelter came in view. Apparently it was dug into the side of a hill. There was a steel door broken off it's hinges right next to the entrance.

"Huh. Wonder how they managed to break that door down." Tonbo thought out loud as they continued their hike.

They finally arrived at the entrance. Inside there was a long hallway, the walls covered in vulgar graffiti. Both viscets put on their masks and headlamps, before heading into the hallway.

"I heard this is a huuuuge bomb shelter. To fit the whole town in-case of emergency apparently. We got a lot of exploring to do." Tonbo quips. Great.

"Ah. That's awesome." Erin tried her best not to seem nervous.

Erin decided to distract herself by looking at the graffiti. Most of it contained bad words, but there were a few puns sprayed on the walls that made her smile. There were also random items strewn about, such as dirty articles of clothing and empty bottles.

The hallway led to a room. It seemed to be some sort of waiting room? Either way, it wasn't all that interesting.

They continued through a door located to the left of the room. It led to what the two viscets assumed was a mess hall. Dirty and cracked dishes were randomly scattered about on rotting picnic tables. For some reason, there was an odd ticking sound in the background.

"This is kinda creepy..." Erin muttered. Tonbo nodded in agreement.

They advanced to the doorway located on the opposite side of the large room. It was a long hallway with many doors on each side. Bedrooms must be behind those doors.

"We should check each bedroom! What if we find hidden treasures?" Tonbo's voice sounded through the eerie silence. Erin hesitated but nodded anyways, as if Tonbo could notice the motion with the dim lighting; courtesy of their headlamps. The cat-like viscet took her silence as a yes, and started with the door closest to her left. Erin decided to split up, and took the door on the right.

Nothing so far. "Find anything yet?" She spoke up to the viscet in the room across from her's. "Nope! This is lame, it's all dusty." Came the response.

Erin was currently checking her fourth bedroom. Right on the bed was the most creepiest thing she has probably ever seen. It was a cracked porcelain doll, laying dusty and limp on the dirty sheets. "Jesus.." The viscet quickly exited the room.

"Whoa! Take a look at this!" Tonbo emerged from her room, something in her paws. It was an old violin, a bit scratched up and chalky. "Who would leave such a random item in a place like this?"

"Wow.. It's wonderful! We should bring it out with us." Erin loved violins, they were one of her favorite instruments. She clapped her paws together with glee and turned around. "Stuff it in my backpack, please?"

The other viscet complied, and zipped up her backpack, the fingerboard of the instrument sticking out. They continued looking through each bedroom, not finding any other goodies. So they walked on.

The next room was a huge shower room. Each shower head was rusty, some were leaking, broken and even missing. There was a room sectioned off containing toilets and sinks. There was a hole in the wall in the far back of the room.

"Should we check that out?" Tonbo looked from the other viscet to the hole.

"I honestly don't think we should... It seems dangerous." Even though Erin was opposed to the idea, Tonbo went forward.

The sounds were getting louder. Erin was sure she heard voices once or twice, and it terrified her. As they peered into the hole with their headlamps, a sudden crash scared the living daylights out of the two viscets, causing Tonbo to let out a surprised shout.

"Oh, jeez!" Erin yelped as they both scrambled out of the room, hopeful to get out of there as fast as they could; hearts racing fast. Passing the long hallway of bedrooms, dirty mess hall, waiting room, into the graffiti-filled hallway, to the exit. Relief flowed through their bodies as they collapsed onto the ground next to the broken steel door.

"Please. Let's never do this again," Erin knew this place was bad news from the beginning. What even was it that caused that crash?

"..Of course. No more creepy abandoned places." Tonbo hastily agreed, also shaken up from the startling sound. "--But hey! You got a nice looking violin, eh?" She pointed to her backpack, in which Erin breathlessly laughed at.

"I guess you're right! Not sure if I'd like to learn how to play it though. I'll keep it as a decoration in my home." Both viscets got up, each grabbing a bottle of water from their backpacks and set off back home.