The year is 2066. The world looks like it is better. The countries are at peace with each other. Since the peace treaty many diseases were cured. Big rebellion, new world order, and renegade groups are destroyed. From the outside looking in it looks like the world is perfect. Its not

Gangs are at an all time high. Some gangs are growing so rapidly they will be clans in the near future. Global warming was never dealt with. And many bad happening have been going on. It is rumored that demons were released into the world that’s why there is chaos.

Stephanie is a girl that goes to school in a man made island which is also a small town. She is the most popular girl in school also the smartest and nicest. She is very beautiful too. Long blond hair and the bluest eyes you’ll ever see. She is 20 and studying to be a nurse. Although her looks are amazing she never had a boyfriend. All the boys that like her are the fake bad boys and the really depressed kids. Her parents left her as a child of 13. She still have nightmares of that day.

Although she has no parents to help her out she has kept herself alive for 5 years and counting. She use to work for one of the last clothing company that actually used human labor. She now works at a coffee shop. Where almost daily she is asked out. Since mechanical labor has been booming. employers have been paying a lot for people. It seems that machines will never beat people in making the customers time more enjoyable for some reason.

It is the middle of then night. Stephanie is dreaming her nightmare. But it is different tonight.

Stephanie came back from school. “Mommy! I’m home!” She sees her mom and dad at the table. “Oh no she’s here already,” Stephanie walks in more with a wondering what’s going on?” She asks
“baby, we love you we really do, but…. but we have to leave,” Her mother says trying not to cry.
“Wh…. What! What! No! Why?” Stephanie shouts while bursting out in tears.
“We can no longer have you with us,” Her father says whale lighting a cigarette, “ We tried to find an orphanage, but they are all full,” He looks away when he sees the fear in her eyes. “We left you 5,000 dollars and we got you a job at the clothing industry, and before you ask why we are leaving,” He gulps. “We have busyness to take care of and we fear for your safety.”

They start for the door when she dashes to them, but is stopped by someone pulling her shirt. She is picked up and when she looked behind herself horror struck her. She sees an ugly figure in front of her. Black spiked hair and grey skin. Purple lips. This thing is very tall with wings with a huge wingspan. Its eyes though were amazing easy to get lost in them. “I’ll take good care of you,” It says while chuckling deeply. She sees it has fangs. It sticks out a long tongue. It licks her neck. “Delicious very delicious,” it says while it closes its fangs on her neck. Then she wakes up sweating. “I got to get to work,” she gets up and takes a shower then gets dressed in her uniform which she hates so much.

She gets there and sees a co worker Lin on her laptop. “Lin you know the boss don’t like us not working,” Stephanie said.
“Come on Stephanie were not even open yet and he’s not here,” Lin says while still staring ant the screen.
“what you looking at any way’s Lin?” Stephanie asked.
“ I’m on mytube looking at videos of that demon thing,” Lin says with a blank look on her face and hair hanging in front of her face.
“Wow you believe in that?” Stephanie said while giggling. Lin looks over her shoulder. “come on look at this video this looks real,” Stephanie watches.
“What ever,” Stephanie said

The day went on smoothly no accidents normal boys staring at her and when she looks at them, they start blushing. When an old man comes in things change. Stephanie puts on her sweet, sweet smile. “may I help you sir?” she says.
“why yes just get me water I just came here to rest a bit, dang arthritis,”
“Okay sir,” She says when she walks away. A few minutes later she comes back with his water. “This is such a fine little town,” he says
“It sure is ain’t it?” She says with that wonderful smile.
“I remember a long time ago there were a lot of cities like this,” The old man said while sipping his water, “although the technology has changed a lot its nice to see a small town again.”
“It has been nice talking to you,” She said while walking away still with that cute smile. Then… oh it gets interesting.

“Stephanie, what would you do if I can tell you what happened to your parents,” all of a sudden her smile faded. She turned pale. Who is this guy? How does he know me? And most of all. Does he really know what happened to her parents?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Black box
She sits. “Okay sir, who are you?” she lost her cute loveable smile.
“Well my name is Stephen. I bet your wondering why I know your name,” he says while she nods. “If you want some answers come with me.” She follows him forgetting all about work and her manager. They go outside and she sees that he wants her in the shotgun seat of his car. “If you think you’ll try to score with this 20 year old girl you got another thing coming!” she tells him.
“Don’t worry I am not into that,” He says while opening the door for her. She gets in and he goes around then gets in.

The car ride was going smoothly. She was not afraid of being raped at all. He was trustful. “So wh…” she was interrupted. “we will talk later,” she nods.

They pull into a parking lot. She feels a little more secure to see there is a police station out neighboring the building. Since he has arthritis he has a ground floor room. She walks in and Stephen looks at the clock. “5:00,“ He says, “My wife is usually cooking buy now.”
“Okay old man lets cut to the chase what happened to my parents?” She told him.
“Well your quick to the subject that I’m old,” He replies.
“Just tell me already!” She shouts.
“Fine fine fine,” he says, “sit down will you please?”

She sits, “have you ever seen a black box in your house?” He asks.
“Yeah I think so,” she says while calming down and sinking in her seat, “I tried opening it but my dad caught me.”
“Well thank lord he did,” he stated when he got her curiosity going.
“what do you mean?” she asks.
“Well that box has a special ability,” he chokes up, “to grant one wish.” She sits up and turns pale.

“Your kidding me,” she says with a shocked look on her face. He takes a few pills. “Nope I am going to give it to its rightful owner you, But before you get too excited I got two things to tell you,” She nods. “One your parents died a moth after leaving you and two you won’t be able to bring them back.” She starts crying.

“I’ll give you a moment to let all this settle in,” He tells her as he puts his pills away. She just stared at the ground her hair fell down. Tears just fell off her face. She remember this sadness. It was the same sadness she felt since the day her parents left her. She looks up at him and he sees the sadness and the pain.

“Okay sir,” she tries her best at putting herself together, “What happened to them? Why did they leave me? How do you know them!?,”
“Okay, Me and your father were close together,”
“How close,”
“As close as father and son could be,” Stephanie looked at him in astonishment. “Grand…pa?,” He shook his head up and down.

She looked at his eyes and saw they were the same as her father’s. She started to cry again this time it is from joy. She slips out of the chair and falls on her knees. She gets up and gives him a hug. He feels the tears fall on him but these tears were from happiness he felt the warmth that radiance off her. He was surprised that she still felt the emotion of love after all of these years of being alone.

She sat back down. “Your dad was such a nice boy he was always running around and had all of these zany stories. When he met your mother there was a huge spark that when they were together everyone felt it. They were just perfect together,” He smiles thinking of them, “After about a year they had the most beautiful wedding ever the scene was just perfect. A well cut young man, a beautiful young woman, and a beautiful church it looked like a cover of a wedding catalog.”

“Soon afterwards the young woman was pregnant and was expecting a baby girl, You. They felt that you were a special baby and when I came to visit I felt the most loving feeling I ever felt before. We all felt there was something special about you. After you were born I visited to see you and that was the last time I saw you until now. But yet again that loving feeling is still strong,” the smile faded from his face.

“What is it?” she asked.
“This is where things went bad,” he started too look down a little bit. “I was going to visit but when I got there nothing, Your parents moved without even letting me know. For the longest time I was angry at them. They never spoke to me again until one day they sent me a package. After reading the letter I felt fear for you. I have it here.” He gives her the letter she looks at him. “When you finished reading this many of your questions will be answered. She begins to read.

The letter read

Dear Dad,

I bet you are wondering why we left without telling you. Well as you know my wife has prophetic dreams.
I warn you this may sound crazy but believe us.
She dreamt of our daughter Stephanie and her glowing energy as a beacon of light bright enough to light the whole world. She said it was a beautiful dream but then it turned ugly. She saw as the bright light got dimmer and dimmer around her cradle then an evil creature coming after Stephanie! It was a horrible sight she said. She felt it was true so we left.

We ran for a few years but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it wouldn’t stop coming then we came to a decision we had to become a diversion for what ever this thing is. We cant leave her much barely enough to keep her alive but I know she’ll make it through.

When you read this dad, I feel almost as if we won’t be around anymore. I fear many things now but if I have to move on for my daughter I will not fear it. I know she’ll do something important and if I can help accomplish it I lived my life good.

If we don’t send a new letter find her in the year 2066 (when she’s 20). I made a message that will be sent on her 20th birthday that will send you her location. When you get it please go find her as soon as possible and give the black box to her. It’s rightfully hers. You know the story of that.

Yours truly,

Your son.

She could not believe the words she read. It was so crazy, no too crazy to be real. At this point she couldn’t cry anymore. “So umm grandpa, What is this mystical magical black box?”
“Okay you may be thinking I’m crazy but it really is ‘mystical magical’.” He pauses and pulls out this shiny black box that looks the same as when she saw it before.

“This… this is very powerful. Your parents bought this at an old shop. The owner told them that the box was legend that it granted wishes. They didn’t believe in such fairy tales and bought just because it looked good. It had a three on it. Later on they were talking about the global issues and that they should wish for peace in the world as a joke. So they got the box and told it that they wished for peace between nations.”

He took a long breath. “Little did they know in a matter of years nations started having peace with one another. This freaked them out so much when the picked it up again it had a two on it. They researched it and found the legend of the box it stated that ‘Thy owner could be granted wishes, but death and revival of life wishes shall not be granted. The number in the box is the amount of wishes left. When thy last wish is granted the box will disappear and the soul trapped in it will be freed’.

“When they came back to the box it had a two on it. They decided to stow it away in a safe place,” He paused then yawned. She could tell he was tired. He continued, “When they had to leave they pulled the box out and wished that you would survive this hard time without them. That is how you are alive today.”

He had a weird grimace on his face, “You see this is where it gets bad. There might be someone or something hunting you and destroying anything to get to you. I don’t know anything about this but this… it killed your parents looking for you. It is probably still searching. It may be closing I. You need to be careful.”

He looks at the clock, “It’s getting late. Do you want to stay here?”
She replies softly, “no… no I want to go home.” They look at each other for a second. The look on her face was so helpless, so sad it would bring an angel to tears. “If its what you want I’ll take you home.” He drove her home. No words were exchanged during the ride. The silence was unnerving. They said bye to each other and she went into the house.

She falls on the floor in sadness. She got up and went to the bathroom to the shower. She was taking a shower trying to hide her tears from herself. It didn’t work. She kept on asking herself why? She got out of the shower and started getting dressed but didn’t finished. She just walked out of the bathroom in a shirt and her underwear.

She sat on her couch and turned on her TV. She was watching some old television show called Law & Order trying not to think of anything but her mind couldn’t stop going back to her parents. She kept on readjusting trying to get comfortable, but it was impossible. She turned off the TV.

She tries to walk to her room so she can sleep so maybe her pain can be halted for at least a night. She used sleep as a break from pain but it never lasted. She didn’t make it. She fell on her knees. She shouted, “What have I done to deserve this pain? Why am I being tormented so much?” She is lying their in crying silently when she hears the faint sound of children laughter. She sat up and shouted, “Oh now what? Who are you? Where are you coming from?

The laughter grew intense and unbearable. Her mind seemed to shake around. “Make it stop please someone make it stop!” It stopped and her attention grew on a picture of her and her parents at a water park. “Don’t look at me like that!” She got up and walked to the picture. As she walked she said, “Why dad? Why mom?” She picked up The picture, “Please tell me… please.” She just looked at the picture with tears falling on it.

She grew angry, “Tell me now!” She shouted. She looked to her right where there is a full length mirror. She looked at her slim but fit slightly dressed body. Her long damp hair has slightly fallen over her face. She could see the sadness on her face. It disgusted her. She hurled the picture at the mirror and destroyed it.

She went to her book shelf and wrote in her diary. She was crying on the pages. She wrote her sad emotions on those pages. There was several pages written in that diary. It was ended with a terrifying statement. ‘I’m not worth it’.

She ran to the shattered pieces of the mirror and picked a piece up cutting her hand in many places. Blood started dripping from her hand. She put her other hand firmly around the piece of mirror cutting her other palm. She felt someone come behind her and put their hands on hers. “Let me help you, you pretty girl,” the person said in a gruff low voice. She felt a cold breath breathe down her neck. The hands grew a firm grip on hers.

As the hands tightened on hers they started to make her hands rise. The clammy palms and that cold breath was terrifying her. The blood was pouring from her palms. She couldn’t resist the mysterious being. It was as if she had no control over her body. She can’t even turn her head. Was it fright that kept her paralyzed or was it something else?

As the sharp edge of the bloodied shard of mirror grew higher her blood was running faster through her veins. She started to sweat when the sharp edge just slowly moved closer and closer. “Almost there pretty girl,” the thing said. She began to cry in fear this time. Never before has fear like this swept above her. Then the front door opened.

“Until we meet again, pretty girl,” the thing said when it let her go and walked away. Stephanie turned her head to see Lin with a shocked expression on her face. Stephanie had her whole body covered in blood. Her eyes were red showing that she was crying for a while. “Oh hey l… l… li… Lin thank the lor… lord y…” She suddenly falls over and Lin rushes to her side and calls 911.

“Steph stay with me!” She shouted when Stephanie was fading out. Her eyes were beginning to stare at nothing. “Oh my… hello operator my friend… she’s bleeding and… glass all over the floor and… blood oh dear so much blood!” she can’t handle this situation. “The address? Yes! 4482 South Obama street.” She starts panicking more. “Yes on the island please hurry!”

“Please, don’t die!” That’s all she said. She repeated that until the chopper came. Traffic would take a long time so a chopper would be appropriate. Stephanie was fading still. The medics came in and quickly got her on the Gurney. They put her and Lin on the chopper. They wire her up and start proper bandaging. It looks like she will live. Then her heart stopped. The chopper grew silent. Lin digs her face in the chest of a paramedic. “May she be with God,” whispers a paramedic.
Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
Psalm, 23:4

It’s warm. She opens her eyes. She is surprised to be standing. She looks at herself she is still in her panties and blood stained shirt. She looks around and sees there is a funeral going on. She starts to walk forward down the isle. She starts to smells roses and hears a faint sound, “And she broke your throne and she cut your hair. And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah…” It was her favorite song. She saw Lin crying.

“Lin, Lin! Why are you crying?” She gets on her knees and tries to push her but couldn’t. “Hey girl she can’t see you and you can’t mess with her.” Stephanie turns her head and sees an unusual person.

He is a man with a dark get up. Black slacks, dress shirt, boots, and cowboy hat. He has two revolvers on his sides in holsters. She did not fear them though. He had smoky grey eyes and a cigarette in his mouth. “What do you mean, sir?”
“Well you are dead. You are not a part of this vision.”
“Vision?”
“Yes this is just a peek in the future.”
“Then why am I here?”
“I do not want you to die, It is not your time yet.”

They just looked at each other for a bit. “Okay so how do I get my life back?” she asked.
“Actually it is just one little thing but I must tell you this first”
“Tell me what?”

He takes in a puff of his cigarette. “Well, you brought into this world to fight this evil thing. It is fate that you are possession of that one wish. Although it is not fate that you will succeed against it. It is up to your will to demolish this thing.”

He takes in a deep breath, “I have looked over you your whole life. I guess you can call me a guardian angel. It is my duty to help you shape up so you can stand a chance against this thing. You’ll have to go through trials that your heart will be pushed to the limit.”
She cannot believe what she is hearing. But she agrees to do what ever it takes. He points to the casket, “There, you are in there.” “You must mend your broken heart.” He gives her a needle and thread. She walks over to her casket and finds a heart shaped fabric in two pieces. She begins to sew them back together. When she made the final stitch and closed her eyes. She heard the mysterious man say, “you will learn more along the way!”

Lin has her hands to her eyes. The paramedics started to cover her body when she lifted up her arm in the air and said in a soft voice, “I… I am no… not dead, yet,” then collapsed.

She opens her eyes. She finds herself connected to a bunch of tubes. Her body was aching from the trauma she has been through. Her hands have been bandaged tightly. “Oh good you’re awake,” Lin says, “Why did you try to…”
“It wasn’t me something, something more powerful. Its hard to explain it.”
“I won’t push you…”

The doctor walks in he is a handsome well cut person which is something you don’t see now. “Ah you’re awake!” He comes to her and puts his hand on her shoulder. “You gave us quite a scare miss Stephanie. You’ll be happy to know the most serious damage are done to your hands.” You should make a full recovery in no time!”
“Thank you doctor.” she says still half asleep.

“I can tell you are still tired I’ll let you rest, call a nurse if you need anything!” the doctor said when he left. “So you want to know, huh?”
“well…” Lin was saying until the mysterious dark cowboy from the vision walked in.

“Who are you?” Lin asks.
“My name is Roland,” He takes off his hat and shakes Lin’s hand. “I’m an associate of your friend Stephanie. I came as soon as I could!”
“I’m Lin it’s nice to meet you sir.” she says while trying not to blush but failed at it.
“Nice to meet you miss, could you let me talk to Stephanie alone for a minute?”
“Sure can sir.” she walks out of the room red as a tomato.

“You were close there you almost made a bad move.” he says.
“What do you mean?” Stephanie asks.
“That thing is following you it is probably listening to us now. If you tell miss Lin about this thing it will kill her so you can get no help. As long as she doesn’t know she will live. So what she doesn’t know wont hurt her. Get the picture?” He asks when she nods yes. “good yes! I’ll see you around!”

He starts to head out the door when he comes face to face with Lin still red. “I got to go until we meet again, Lin.” He walks down the hall and lights a cigarette even though he’s in a hospital. “Man Lin you have a weird taste in guys!”
Lin gets defensive, “I do not like him!”
“that’s not what the drool is saying!”
“Very mature Steph, well at least you still have a sense of humor.”

At the end of a very long and painful week in the hospital she was released. She goes and stays with Lin for a while. It makes her feels better not being alone. It was then one day when Lin left for a family get together things changed.

The night was a dark, windy, stormy night. The darkness would engulf you if you even looked at the door. The night fit an Edgar Allan Poe story. Stephanie was wondering if a Raven will lift her spirit nevermore. Or if a heart beat will torture her.

She sits on the couch watching some random infomercial when a cold chill goes down her spine. A faint wind goes past her. The wind leads up the stairs like a child running off to bed. The worse past through her head. Has it come back. She is terrified of the thought of meeting that thing again. She trembles gut gets up.

She follows where the winds led up to. The slight scent of rotting meat hung at the bottom of the steps. She looks up the steps in terror of what horror waits for her. She makes her ways up to the second story. With every step the scent grew more intense. So did the terror coursing through her body.

At the middle of the stairway the terror grows to hellish proportions. The fiery intensity of it would make the bravest soldier on the beach of Normandy retreat in terror. The thought ran through her head faster than she could think of it. She moved herself up. She had to.

She finally made it to the top she saw a door at the end of a hallway. She knew that the end of the hallway was a terror just waiting to pounce on her. It was the fox and she was the rabbit. She knew if she ran away it would be horrible.
Before she could think she ran down the hall to the door. If she thought for one second she would stop and run. She made it to the door. She looked back at the terrifying night. The shard of mirror edging close to her throat. That was a horrible night. She sweats and turns around. She starts to walk away. “he… help,” someone in the room says.

She stops. She heard the plea. She remembered when Lin came in that is what she herself sounded like. She turns around. If this thing is trying to kill someone else she has to help. She holds her breath, and sprints to the door, And quickly opened it.

The lightning struck and she saw its face. It was from one of her dreams she had long ago. The hair, lips, skin and those eyes they are all the same. The tall lanky figure was more terrifying then she remembered. “Ah its nice to see you! Or is it nice to see me?” It says. “Why there are no reasons to look in my eyes girl the real show is below.” She sees this young man on the ground. He is curled up in pain.

It looks at him, “I sent this stupid child to finish you off but he didn’t want to oh how he pleaded ‘no please I can’t do it’. That angers me. So I decided to let him go for good. It makes it so much better you can watch this.” It looks at her with an eager look on his face. “I hope you enjoy the show pretty!”

Before he could do anything she ran to the boy and covered him. “No!” she exclaimed, “You will have to get through me before you can hurt someone else! I’m your target!” She looked at him terrified.
“Why you are a feisty one aren’t you? I like that! Well have at thee lets see if you can handle the heat!” it says when a blue flame sparks in the room. The evil thing disappears but she can hear the laugh of it.

“Be resilient Stephanie,” she looks up to see Roland in the middle of the inferno. “Test number two resilience, no threads attached you have to stay here! It won’t hurt you if you don’t move. It doesn’t matter how horrible the site is if you move both of you will die.” He fades away. She sees Lin open the door. “Steph lets go we got to leave hurry!” Stephanie just looks away and hears a crash and sees a rafter fall upon Lin. “Steph help! Why are you not moving?” Lin pleads with Stephanie to help her but is drowned out. Stephanie cried while hearing the begging of Lin then nothing. Lin is not moving anymore.

The rest of the scene seeing the house burning down was hard to watch. Stephanie probably cried enough to put the blue flames out herself. The laughter of the thing starts again. It appears in front of her.

“I like you girl you have a lot of pain in you! You are a very strong girl I want to see how long this can last. Although your not compliance is starting to bore me I mean why wont you move!” The scene ends and everything returns to the way it was. It was dark and Lin was gone. “I’ll let you have that disgusting excuse for a boy. Until we meet again little pretty.” It touches her long blonde hair. “before I go here’s a treat. Her hair changers. From a beautiful blonde to a dark raven color. “Good bye, pretty!” It disappears.

The change didn’t bother her. She turned the boy over and saw his face. It was a good looking face covered by a little light brown hair. There was no blood but she could tell he was being tortured by that thing. His eyes opened. “Y… you saved m… me? Why did you do it?”
“It was the right thing to do.” She said then smiled.
“Thank you so much.” He replied then smiled back
“Why don’t you stay here and rest?” she asks
“I guess you won’t let me go if I said no,” he laughed.

She helped him up to the guest room she stayed in. And ser everything for him. “You are so nice Stephanie,” he says.
“Well you seem nice too um,”
“Brian! My name is Brian.”
“Brian okay got it! Well get some rest!” He passed out before she could finish.

The next morning he seemed better. They were at the table having breakfast she made. Lin walks in, “Hello Steph… erm… everybody!”
“Don’t worry Lin I brought him in the other night because he was beat up bad.”
“It’s nice to meet you I’m Linda or Lin for short who might you be?”
“My name is Brian it is nice to meet you!” they shake hands.
“Okay Steph what did you do to your hair you know what I don’t want to know!” she sits down and tells them about her wacky family.

============================================

Later on in the day Brian pretty much passed out while sitting. He was carried up to the room where he was at before. They are at the living area. Both sitting on a beautiful couch. Lin pulls out a cigarette and lights it. “You are a freaking saint you know?”
“Huh” Stephanie replies.

“You took that poor boy in when he was hurt you need a prize.”
“Well no I don’t. It was the right thing to do.”
“I know,” Lin replies while taking a puff of smoke. The smoke flies to the ceiling. “Hey Stephanie that boy is pretty cute huh?” She looks at her with a smile. Stephanie immediately turns her head. “Maybe he is why should I care?” Stephanie says defensively.
“Girl turn your head!” Lin says when she tries to nudge Stephanie to move her head.
“Fine!” she turns her head to show a blushing face.

“Okay he is so cute! There you happy?” She turns her head to look at a coffee table in front of her.
“I knew it! To tell you the truth I never seen you into any guy! There were many at the coffee shop but you ignore them.” Lin says when she finishes her cigarette.
“But he can never bee into me even after what I did with my hair,” she says when she starts to panic.
“Don’t worry I have a feeling he might like you too.”
“I doubt it,” Stephanie says.

A few weeks later Brian starts to get better. He gets to be able to leave. Stephanie is at the door “What should we do? That thing it will attack us.”
“I don’t know I… I am scared.” he replied.
“I think I know we have to leave here together. Maybe to my place for now,” she says.
“I see,” he says.
“I’ll tell Lin we are leaving.”
“Okay.”

She tells Lin they are leaving back to her house. Lin wasn’t happy but she accepted it. After a few days they made it to where her journey began. She has mixed feelings though she pushes forward. She opens the door and sees the room. She sees the scene cleaned up by Lin. Her blood was still visible. The TV was probably showing another Law & Order episode if she checked.

She went to the book shelf and took out the diary flipped to the page that said ‘I’m not worth it’. She looked at Brian who fell on the couch in exhaustion. She whispers to herself “I am worth it.” and puts it away.

She makes her way to her room. She sees everything the same. Except a picture added to her bed. The frame was cracked from when it shattered the mirror. She sits down on the edge of her bed. She looks around the room that was not anything special. There were a chair next to her bed and a dresser on the far end. Everything were beige or some brown color. The thing that stood out the most was the picture.

Later that night Stephanie was in the living room watching another really old show called N.C.I.S. She was enjoying the night when Brian came to the room. “Hey Stephanie,” he says when he sits down next to her.
“Oh hey.”
“What a nice house you got here”
“Why thank you,” she said then giggled.
“Lovely place really and…” he stops
“Hmm?”
“I don’t know why but I feel good with you.” He looks into her eyes.

Stephanie starts turning red. “Wow, well to tell you the truth I feel the same way about you.”
“Wow, I don’t know what to say.”
“I do… I feel safe with you and I think you do too.”
“I guess I do. I mean yes I do.”

They just looked at each other. Both of them were blushing at the time. Brian said, “Well like I was saying, lovely place really like… its owner.” She looked at him. Her heart was beating like crazy in excitement. She got up and he followed. They make it to an archway where she stops. She turns around.

He puts his hands at the small of her back. She looks him in the eyes. She holds him close to her. Then they kiss. The hold that kiss for what seemed like forever. The sparks flew like fire works. Her fingers dug in his back. His hands fell down further.

Their lips separate. They are both in shock of what happened. They knew that there is something between them that is serious. There eyes were filled with lust. They were longing to meet each other for their whole lives.

She goes for another kiss. He doesn’t fall back. After that one they sit down. Heart to heart and hand in hand. They spend the night together in peace.

======================================

In the morning they greeted each other with especially extra happiness. They sat down at the table and didn’t say much at first. They looked at each other happy and fulfilled. They had empty terrifying lives. Then last night they feel like they can face the world together.

“I believe we were meant to be together,” Brian said.
“Me, too. I always here people falling in love at first site like some Romeo and Juliet thing. But it never seemed to be real”
“Seriously.” He says and kisses her.

She giggles. They just hold hands on that table. The light fell through the blinds and splattered on the wall. The quaint kitchen had a home feeling to it. It was warm and inviting. Like any kitchen it had the cliché pictures of flowers and stuff. Life couldn’t get any better.

So it seems.

“So you think that you can face anything,” the evil thing says. They look around. “Now I’m getting serious!” the thing says then they hear a screech from outside. They get up and run outside. The horror runs through them, it’s a car crash. Stephanie covers her mouth. Lin falls out.

She runs to Lin’s side. She is hurt bad. “Brian go call 911 now!” he runs inside. “Lin are you okay?”
“Tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door; but it's enough”
“Lin stop joking your really hurt!”

Lin starts breathing heavy. She looks like she’s fading out. She is bleeding uncontrollably. “Don’t worry Lin help will be here soon!” Stephanie says trying to fight back tears.
“Don’t try to fool yourself Steph. You know and I know there is nothing that can be done.”

“Don’t say that Lin!” Stephanie shouts.
“Please be honest I… I won’t be… around much longer.” Stephanie doesn’t answer. “Steph I understand everything. As I crashed that Roland guy told me everything. It was weird. It was all in an instant but I understand it.”

Lin was getting worse. “I am so sorry for the pain you went through. I… w… wish I could have been more help.”
“Don’t say that Lin you were my only friend for a while. You are actually the reason for why I’m still alive.”

“Thank you… I am glad I could help,” Lin coughs up blood.
“Lin!” Stephanie shouts.
“Its okay, please… Brian I know that you are in love with him. Stay with him. I know he is your soul mate. Boy d… do I sound corny?”
“Don’t worry Lin I understand.” Lin starts to fade away for good.

“Lin I’m going to miss you,” Stephanie says.
“As w… wi… will I. Don’t c… come visiting t… too soon Steph. ” Lin drew a heart on the ground with her bloodied hand. Her hand collapsed. She has died.

Stephanie sat there balling. She puts her head down on Lin’s chest. She could hardly believe Lin is gone. She sat there crying. There wasn’t anything she could do. She lifted her head To look at Lin. Her eyes were open a bit looking at Stephanie. She closed them.

“Please God. Let her rest peacefully,” she looks at her face. It is bloodied but peaceful. She pulls out a piece of cloth she had in her pocket and cleans up her face a little bit.

“I made a big mistake,” Stephanie looks up and sees Roland. “I under estimated it. That might have caused our lovely Lin’s early passing.”
“Don’t blame yourself Roland,” says Stephanie. “No one could have seen that coming. This is a painful reminder of how low this thing will get.” She sees a tear go down his cheek. She doesn’t say anything though.

They can hear the propellers of the chopper and sure enough the chopper lands. They come rushing out. “She is dead,” Stephanie said. One of the paramedics went to her. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“Mark! She’s right.” He looks at her.
“I’m sorry for your loss ma’am, please if you could sign a few papers it would be appreciated.”
“Sure.”

As soon as she starts signing the papers Brian comes out. She finishes then look at him teary eyed. He knew that she has gone. He didn’t say anything. They put her on board and flew out. To Stephanie it was like seeing an angel take her away to the promise land.

After a few days they had the funeral. It was a lovely sight. The flowers were bountiful in amount and beauty. Roland even made his appearance. It went on without a hitch until Stephanie made a speech outside. “Thank you all for coming. I am glad to see all of your beautiful faces here today. Linda here was my best friend. I thank her for everything. I especially thank her for me being here. I would no doubt about it be dead if it wasn’t for her.”

She looks among the crowd and in the back she sees it. It has a disgusting grin on it’s face. She just went on trying not to cry. “She was always a beaming light when this world that is sometimes grey. I think that everyone here can agree on that fact. I don’t have much more to say but when she died she made sure I was happy as possible.”

She collects herself. “It was weird to the end of her life she looked out for me. I see some of you are about to cry please try not to. She would want us to continue with life without stopping to grieve. Thank you” She looks at the crowd and doesn’t see it anymore. She sits down and continues the funeral.

When she got home Brian rushes up to her and holds her in his arms. He brings her to the couch. They hold hands. She kisses him. Brian asks, “Tell me more about Lin?”
“huh?”
“I want to know more about her. If it’s not too much.”
“That’s okay. I’ll tell you.”

=============================================

It all started when I was a freshman in high school. I was an outcast. My parents were killed and I could not come forward to old friends or to make new ones. I just sat at a wall during lunch period. I was alone always.

It was then one day it was raining. Everyone was running around to get to class fast. But I wasn’t in a hurry. It was then I saw Lin a sophomore at the time came up to me. “Well why aren’t
You hurrying to class?” I just looked at her.
“I don’t care if I get wet.”
“Well now that you mention it I guess it isn’t that bad mind if I sit with you?”

When she said that I was surprised. No one has ever talked to me and asked me anything. I didn’t answer but she insisted on sitting next to me. I then say “Why aren’t you going inside?”
“Well if you can sit out here so can I.”
“okay.”
“What is your name?”
“It’s Stephanie,” She shakes my hand.
“Mine is Linda or you can just call me Lin,” It was weird I was knowing I made a friend there quick. There was something about her personality that made me unable to resist her company.

We hung out a lot since then. I finally got a reason to leave that wall. With her help I got through the rest of her life. I remembered then how to be close to a person. The next three years went by good. My Senior year was a bit bad. I had to pass this extremely hard test in order to walk.

If that wasn’t bad enough I was being harassed big time. Everyone at school knew what happened to me. Most of the people were polite and didn’t mess with me. There was this one girl though. She was a pretty big girl too. She wanted to mess with me bad. All four years of high school were filled with teases by her but my last year had the worst.

It was a hot day near the end of my final year. Lin was gone that day then she, Lisa, came to me. “Hey Stephanie!”
“What do you want?”
“Nothing Orphan!”
“Don’t call me that!”
“Shut it Orphan!”

I was getting tired of it. “Lisa Lez you better get off your high horse or you might just kill it with your weight!”
“Orphan! You don’t know who you are messing with,” She was like a raging bull ready to hit.
“I know who you are! You are an overweight cow woman who can stay under 400 pounds even if you gave her a steak as a reward. But at least you are the fastest runner ever if someone left crumbs at the finish line,” at that moment I knew I struck a chord.

She took an angry deep breath and said, “I know who you are! You are an unlovable little girl. You are so unlovable in fact that your parents left you. That is sad. You are sad. Do everyone on this planet a favor and kill yourself!”

A sudden burst of shock went through me, “No! That is not right! My parents loved me!”
“Sure they did! They loved you so much they had to leave you!” I couldn’t handle it anymore. I ran crying while she laughed at me. I went through the rest of the school day sad. I went home wondering what to do. I was a wreck. I could only think that she was right.

I then pulled a knife out and held it firmly in my hand then put it near my wrist. I was trying to over come the fear. I tried my hardest to end it and couldn’t. I threw the knife in floor and sprawled for the phone then called Lin.

I explained what happened then she came right over. I was so glad I had a friend to talk to then otherwise if I didn’t already I would have killed myself. I had a safety net then and still do.

Stephanie looks at Brian, “I still have you! My dear.” She kisses him. He smiles, “I will always be here, my love!”
=============================================

They were sitting on the couch together holding each other watching a TV show. They did not care about anything or anyone else. They were in heaven even though the path was hard.

To tell you the truth there was no reason for the TV being on. They were too preoccupied with each other they didn’t even knew the channel was in Spanish. It was a game show where undoubtedly no one got. They are both thinking back.

They still can’t believe that the person looking themselves can cause life to be perfect. They had each other. Even though The challenges are rough and will be rough they have each other and that’s all that matters.

They were just sitting the day away. Chatting about the little stuff in life that makes them smile. Which made those things better. They would tell little jokes which her charming. It was looking perfect.

On the TV the host Maria called out Loco Poco the clown. He rode in riding a unicycle and the audience loved it. He then made his way to the camera with a smirk on his face. Something here was seriously wrong.

He shouted, “Stop eyeing that boy Pretty! Daddy is coming!” They look at the TV in horror. It then proceeded to crawl out the TV. It took two seconds and he was out. “Here I am Pretty and Useless!”
“No! leave, you won’t phase us we are too close to be broken!” Stephanie got up and shouted at the clown.
“Now that is why I am here!” The clown sits down. “You see I don’t recall hearing Useless’s story,” it then snap his fingers having clowns hold them down. “Okay kiddies welcome to Brian 101 or what I’d like to call the truth!”

While trying to break free from the clutches of the clowns Stephanie looked at Brian, “What is it that thing talking about?”
“Steph I do… I’m sorry,” Brian looks down it defeat.”

“Quiet class quiet!” the thing says. “Now let’s begin! Brian was a boy adopted by a wealthy Jewish family. He had a good child hood but here is the kicker!” he looks at another clown with a drum while he does a drum roll. “Brian was around during world war II!”

Stephanie looked at Brian. His head was looking down before Stephanie could say anything Brian says, “Yes, Its true I’m over one hundred years old,” Stephanie didn’t say anything.
“But it has just started Pretty!” It says.

It continues, “So his family had a heirloom from many generations. You know this thing well. It is a little black box ring a bell?” Stephanie is shocked. “It was cursed. Although it did grant wishes the first person to use it would unleash me! Not much of a curse if you ask me!”

It lights a pipe and smokes bubbles. After a long drag of his bubble pipe he continued. “The Nazis came in through his community. They killed all of the Jews even his family luckily Brian over here was adopted and was spared an awful fate. He then pulled out the box!”

It throws the pipe in the trash, “I persuaded him to wish me free and I would help him for his vengeance! He did so and I did so! I gave he the inability to die!”
Brian shouted, “but that didn’t help at all, It made things worse!” Stephanie looks at him worried.

Brian continues, “I still feel pain. The most horrible pain ever.”
“Oh my dear Idiot you should of said the inability to feel pain!” It said.
“It didn’t matter you would still give the ability to feel pain! That is how you keep me under control!” Brian shouted.

It smiles turning back into the hideous thing from before. “Thank you for reminding me about it!” he laughs wickedly, “Let me get their fool!” He pauses for a second to make Brian sweat. He looked at him with a crazy smile.

It continues, “So after he freed me he tried to eliminate the Nazis by himself with his new ability. But the idiot got shot a lot! He wasn’t blessed by death so he was sent to a camp. He swore loyalty to me if I got him out. I did he served me well in murders, genocides, suicides, and straight out holocausts!”

Brian looked at Stephanie. He couldn’t see her because the raven hair was covering her face. He was scared of what was to come. The pain he was going through for a century felt worse.

The thing gets up and walks away. It turns around and it is a silhouette. It says, “My time here is done just remember Brian, I own you! I can control you!” It disappears. It speaks again from behind Stephanie. He is now holding her.

It speaks again, “And you Stephanie! You are special to me!” It takes out its tongue and licks her neck up to her ear. He does it slowly as if to savor the flavor. She struggles against him. “Oh! So rich, sweet, tender, delicious!” She cries silently. “You will be mine!” Its grip along with the other clowns end. It is gone.

Brian gets up quickly. “Stephanie I was going to tell you soon! Really! But I was afraid to say it! Plea…” Stephanie hugs him tightly.
She says, “Shut up silly! I don’t care.” She looks up at him. “I wouldn’t care if you killed people by writing in a book I still love you. I want to be with you ‘til the day I die!”

They look at each other for a second. She closes in a lands a real kiss on him. It was different this time. She wasn’t scared she was more than confident. Then something magical happened. Her raven hair was turning blonde. They stayed there for a bit. Brian says, “Steph your hair!”
“I know!”

Then all of a sudden, “Test number three: Love complete,” says Roland. They look at him confused. “It was a test she was to complete by herself, and she did.”
“But my hai…”
“The darkness melted with the sadness in your heart when you fell in love with him. I’ll let you be but I got to let you know…”
“The next time we see the beast, it will be the last time…”
=============================================

They stayed out of the house a lot since then. The house was where most of the attacks were happening. So they felt safe little did they know they were far from it.

They were at a park during a nice summer day on the fourth of July. The children were playing on the monkey bars at the far end of the playground. The swing set was empty and there was a huge sand box that a few little ones sat in. Then there was the little girl that celebrated her 8th birthday.

The atmosphere smelled of barbecue and fourth of July. The children were having a blast. Running around with sparklers. Then a fire work show started. It was odd that they started during daylight. Then it happened.

A firework landed in the middle of the large park. The flames were purple. Brian and Stephanie run for bushes. “Oh my lord why here? Why now?” Stephanie asks.
“Baby I don’t know but we can do this,” Brian says.
“It is time to end this once and for all.” Roland says. He hands Stephanie the revolver from his waist and the black box.

“This revolver and black box are the only things that will work on it. You are our only chance. God be with you!” He disappears. They Look upon the purple flames and see it rise from the inferno.

It shouts, “It is me Übel!” The children starts screaming and Parents and children flee the sight. “Where are you Stephanie? Join me! I can bring your mommy and daddy back!” Then Stephanie’s eyes opened wide.

Just like that she sees them! Mom! Dad! They were there calling out for Stephanie. She loses it and drops the gun and box to run there. “Steph no! it’s a trap!” Brian calls out. She walks up to Übel. It steps out of the fire and says to her, “They can be yours if you submit.” She didn’t say a thing but he got the message.

It then picked her up. “I always did like the blonde better, Pretty.” She quivers. “It then licks her neck again. “Ooh! This will be goo…” Übel was then shot. “Why you little brat!” Übel shouts. Brian steps back the two clowns ambush him.

“Now Stephanie! Come back to me,” Übel shouts.
“No I wont!” She shouts, “it’s an illusion like the first death of Lin.”
“Fine, you will join the harlot in the after life!” Übel shouts while kicking her.

She rolls a little bit in great pain. It walks to her and picks her up by her hair. “Tormenting you sick little body was fun but I got to finish this.” Übel smacks her on the face a couple of times then lets her go.

Übel gets a menacing grin on its face. The beatings get harder and faster. She screams in pain. He then gets down to her level, “One final chance! Join me or die!”
Stephanie coughs up blood and says, “n… no freak.” Übel then nods and the thing takes one final blow. Stephanie lifts her hand then collapses.

Meanwhile Brian has been holding his own with the two clowns. He lines them up with the high powered blessed gun. Then fires. They incinerate there. He turns to see the horrible beating that Stephanie got. He then run at Übel. He sneaks up on it fires and knocks back the thing.

Übel quickly gets back up and attacks Brian. He drops the gun. Übel then says, “You see that girl? She is dead. Take a good look at her! I’ll make the rest of time painful for you!” Brian sees the limp body and gives up. He falls on his knees.

Übel then starts kicking Brian. He screams he shouts but nothing. He was glad that Stephanie could be blessed with death and takes the beatings. The thing starts laughing maniacally. It would appear as if Übel has won.

Roland stands over Stephanie and sheds a tear. It was truly a sad sight. He looks down at her. He notices something odd. She is moving! She gets into a prone position.

She reaches for the gun with her last strength she calls Übel, “H… Hey! Su… Pr…. Surprise!” Übel looks back in shock and then says these words, “Well this place had good apples. That’ll be something to tell that guy Ryu…” Stephanie fires before he can finish. She fires every last shot.

Übel then shouted as he burned away. He cursed everyone who was involved, “Linda! Brian! Roland! Stephen! Nikki! Light! Lin! And Stephanie!” Übel then burns into nothing. Stephanie wonders who Nikki, Light and the extra Lin were.

There was no time to wonder she pulled out the black box and then, “I wish… B… Brian was free from the curse.” The box then dissolved into nothing. She saw a glow surround Brian. She then collapsed.

Lin dragged Brian to Stephanie, “Boy this guy is heavy!” she complained. “So will they umm?”
“Yes, they will!”
“Good sir!” Stephanie’s father said.
“I am glad our girl turned into such a beautiful strong woman,” Her mother said.
“You didn’t fail Mr. and Mrs. Umm I forgot!” Roland tried to remember their last name.
“You are so silly Roland!” Lin says as she grabs him by the arm. He laughs nervous because he likes her(but doesn’t know if she likes him) and says, “I’ll tell them tomorrow about their new normal life and how Brian can continue to age again from where he is. For now let’s let the enjoy the night.”

Just like that they wake up. They sit up together then hug. “I thought that I wouldn’t see you again!” Stephanie said while crying tears of joy.
“Me too!” Brian said. They then kiss when the real fireworks go off. The night was beautiful like the children they have after marriage. Yes they had children, Roland and Lin.
The end

Fiction: 03/13/09 | Posted By: joshanime2 | 2 comments | Personal