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Sorry if this story ends up being super long. Also, I would like criticism, if you would. I'm always looking for ways to improve my stories! Please and thank you.
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Username: Kandyrock
Prompt 1
First person
Word Count: 1,724 words, 8,691 characters
Enjoy!--------------------------------------
I couldn't believe it. My friends and I were caught up in a big storm in the middle of the ocean. There was four of us, all stuffed into a sailboat, trying to catch fish to survive ever since we left home. I told them to wait, I sensed something coming, but they said I was crazy. Look who's crazy now.
"Alice!" someone yelled, "Alice, what do we do?!"
I didn't respond. Even though I was basically the captain, since I was the only one who knew how to sail, they all knew we couldn't get out of this. This would be the end of us, and no one would ever notice because no one else cared about us. I let the wave just come crashing down on us, knowing that no matter what happens, I still made some good friends.
Our bodies washed up on shore the next week. A man that sounded like he was in his thirties, who was helping to clean up around the beach after the storm found us. He called over one of other volunteers, and they called 911. I let out a cough.
"She's alive!" I heard one of the paramedics say. They pulled me up onto a stretcher and put me in the vehicle. I couldn't tell whether they got my friends or not. All I hoped for was that they were alive.
The ride to the hospital felt like forever. All the CPR and pulse checks was a pain. I could breath fine, even though I couldn't really see. Though, several times they said they were losing me, but I didn't believe that. I felt more alive then ever before.
We arrived at the hospital and they rolled me into a room. Once everyone had left, I stood up and took the iv they had put in me out of my arm. I didn't need that. I still couldn't see though, and that was starting to worry me. I knew my eyes were open, so why couldn't I see? A nurse came into the room and screamed. I turned my head to the sound of the voice. She had fainted. I could tell by the fact that there wasn't any footsteps running away from me. I walked out of the room to go find my friends. I needed to see what happened to them. I walked over to the receptionist's desk.
The receptionist looked up at me and gasped. "Excuse me miss, but you need to get back into your room,"
"I'm looking for Andy," I told her. If anyone knew what was happening to me, it would be Andy. He's pretty smart and seems to be able to figure out anything.
I could tell that she was looking at me with a smile, "I'll call the doctor and see if he knows what room he's in."
I nodded and waited as she whispered into the telephone. I wondered why she needed to whisper. The only other person here was me. Then it hit me like a pile of bricks. She was calling security on me. I reached over the desk and slapped the phone out of her hands and grabbed her by her shirt and pulled her in close.
"Please don't hurt me," she squeaked.
I stared at her for a moment then started to whisper. "You will take me to Andy, or I will end your life right here," I could tell she didn't know who Andy was, but she seemed willing to take me to him.
I put her down and she started to walk with me to random rooms to go find Andy. I kept one hand on her at all times, making sure she wouldn't run away. When we were walking down the hallways, I realized that I knew the layout of this hospital, even though I have never been in here before. I could sense we were getting closer to him. "There," I said in monotone. I pointed to a mostly empty room, with only a person and a bed inside of it. Did they think he was dead?
I told the lady to stand outside while I went in. I closed the door behind me and locked it, just in case she decided to call security. I felt a great amount of power coming from him. "Alice," a voice mumbled. I jumped, startled. I went closer to Andy.
"Andy? Are you in there?" I whispered as I came closer to him. His eyes fluttered open. I gasped and backed away from him. I could see him! Except, something was wrong. His eyes were all black, like someone had decided to pour ink over them.
"Alice... what's wrong?" he asked, searching my face to see what I was so terrified.
"Y-yo-your eyes!" I stuttered. His face scrunched up in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"They're black, black as ink," I whispered. Andy stared at him with those cold dead eyes. He grabbed my hand and started to whisper in my ear.
"This is what you made us into." I could feel needles pricking my back, and I started to lose sight of Andy. I didn't understand his words. What did he mean? I thought right before I dropped to the floor and lost conscious.
Earlier that month...
"Alice! Hey, over here!" Andy was waving his hands in the air, motioning for me to come over.
I ran over to the bench he was sitting at. "Hi Andy! What's up?" I smiled and sat down next to him. He looked nervous, but I couldn't tell why.
"Nothing much... I just wanted to tell you something," he looked over at some of his other friends for a moment, then back at me, "will you... go out with me?"
I wasn't sure what I wanted to say. I didn't want to hurt his feelings... but I wasn't sure I liked him in that way. "Sure!" I lied. I felt guilty, but it made him happy.
He wrapped his arms around me and I became stiff as a board. He let go, smiled and ran off to go to talk to some of his friends. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. He might have been happy, but I felt like something just died inside of me.
~~~
I awoke back in Andy's room. I felt guilty, guiltier than that one day I lied to Andy. We were still dating at the time of this tragedy. I wonder if he ever found out about the fact that I was lying. That would explain why he was so mad. Wait- where was Andy anyways? I looked around the room, and saw no evidence of Andy.
"She's in here, sir," I heard a voice coming from outside the door that I had locked earlier. I heard a click and footsteps entering the room.
"Miss, are you okay? We heard screaming but we couldn't unlock the door," a man explained. He had a deep voice, which made me think he was big, but it was also very soothing to listen to. He picked me up when I didn't respond. I needed to find out what happened to Andy, though.
"What happened to the boy in this room?" I asked.
"What boy? Are you okay?" He sounded confused.
I groaned out of frustration and decided to try again, "the boy... you know. He washed up on shore a day ago. He was checked into that room."
"No one has been checked into that room for the past year. Anyone who goes in there dies, or gets severely injured. You're lucky you're okay," but I wasn't okay. He laid me down in my bed and walked out of my room, locking the door behind him.
I tried to get up, but a force seemed to be keeping me in bed. Where could Andy be? Did he die in that room? Why doesn't anyone remember him? I had so many questions. Andy seemed to be fading from my mind... I could barely remember him. The only thing I could remember was when he asked me out. I also felt the guilt. Guilt and regret. If I had only told him that I didn't like him like that. I wish I could fix that.
I heard a knock on the door. I heard the doctor whispering to someone next to him, then he spoke to me, "Hello, Miss, I'm Dr. Scratch. I came here to talk to you. I'll start by asking you your name."
I could tell that was command,"I'm... A-Al." I was starting to consider whether I should actually tell him my name or not.
"Al? Is that your name?" He asked. I could tell he had a pen and paper in his hand. I nodded. "Well, Al, I heard you were on the beach when they found you. Why is that?"
"I don't know," I lied. I tried to seem as clueless as possible, so he wouldn't suspect anything.
"Are you sure about that? Think hard."
I think he saw past my lies, "I'm sorry, but I really don't know." I looked around the room, nervous.
"Do you know who Belle is?" the doctor asked. I tried to hide the excitement in my eyes, but it was too late. I knew Belle. She was another one of my friends. She was the one person I could talk to. "I'll take you to her."
We walked into the hallway. The doctor paused for a moment then ran down the hallway with me. We entered a room that had an eerie feel. I turned around and
saw Belle punch the doctor and knock him out.
"Alice! I missed you," she smiled and I came up and hugged her. I looked at her face with joy. She felt cold, though. I pulled away from her. "What's up?" she frowned and looked at me.
"You're freezing. Why?" I questioned. She should feel warm, like any other living human.
"Liar," she hissed. I felt the same feeling I felt when I saw Andy's eyes. Before everything went black, I caught a glimpse of her black eyes.
When Alice was little...
I hated this one girl in my class named Belle. She always talked to me and followed me around. It was
super annoying. I glared at her in my free time.
"Hey, Alice! How are you?" she asked, walking up to me.
"I'm doing great," I said with a ton of sarcasm.
"I just got a new board game! Wanna play?" she took out her game from her backpack and showed me. It was a game I was waiting to get for my birthday. I really wanted it.
"Yeah, I'll play," I exclaimed.
"Okay- but you'll have to agree to one thing!" She smiled and gave me part of a necklace, "be my best friend!"
"Sure, whatever," I took the necklace and put it on. We played the game any time we could.
What I didn't know is that in the future, Belle would really become my best friend.
~~~
I awoke in the bed in Belle's room. I felt different... I could see! Well, really, I could only see random blobs of color, but I was getting my vision back. I put my feet on the floor and felt something sticky. It was blood. I could make out the colors of body on the floor and a knife. I felt something too. I felt hatred. Like that day when I first became friends with Belle. Then I felt regret that used her to play the board game. I noticed Belle was gone too. She was starting to fade away from my mind, and my head was spinning.
"There!" I turned to the direction of the voice and saw someone pointing at me. A security man ran towards me and tackled me. I pushed him off me and jumped out a window.
I was free. But there was still someone I had to find. I landed on a balcony on a lower floor. I think I broke my arm from the impact of the fall, but I didn't care. I needed to find Austin. Austin was the toughest guy I've ever met. He was my brother as well. I didn't want to drag him into this mess, but he said wherever I went, he went.
I ran through the hospital, yelling out Austin's name. Multiple people tried to stop me along the way, but I just brushed them off like they were flies. I hated them for preventing me from finding Austin.
"Alice, stop," I was in the middle of attempting to shove someone out of my way when I heard him. "Alice, I need you to stop. You've hurt too many people with your actions."
I turned around in a primal way. I tackled him.
"Stop! Please, Alice! Don't!" He was the only thing I couldn't make out that was around me. His eyes were black. That's the only thing I could tell. My brother was affected by this plague as well as everyone that mattered to me. Now he was gone.
Before they went out to sea...
"Alice, what are you doing?" I turned around to see my brother next to the wooden boat me and my friends were planning to escape with.
"I'm... building a boat."
"Why?" he narrowed his eyes.
"Because... I want to go sailing." I could tell he was very suspicious of me, and he had a right to be.
"That's not true. Now tell me the real reason you're doing this," before I could explain, my friends came running towards me.
"Alice! Mrs. Cadlily is kicking us out! She said she needed to make room in the orphanage, and that we were old enough to be on the streets alone. We need to get out of here," Belle explained.
"You're planning to leave!? And without me!?" Austin yelled out of anger. I shrunk back from him in fear.
"If we got hurt or lost, I didn't want anything to happen to you," I squeaked.
"Well, you're hurting me if I won't see you again."
"Who says you aren't going to see me again!" I yelled.
"I know you won't return! I'm coming with you!" He stomped away. I felt sad. Sad that he could die. Sad that I hurt him.
~~~
I awoke in darkness. There was nothing around me. Everyone I knew was gone. I was upset with myself. I should have never let anyone gone. I was the oldest. I was supposed to protect everyone. So why didn't I? I regret all the decisions I made. If I could, I would start over. I know I would. Now everyone was dead. I couldn't fix that. No one could.
An image was burned into my eyes as let everything slip away from me. If this is what death felt like, then I hated it. The image was me in a hospital gown, with completely red eyes. In a grave. I know I had died in that hospital.
There was no denying it.