Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Tabula Rasa

Chapter 10

"Let me work my magic rookie."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“FINLAND?!”

“Yes.”

“What kind of cases live in Finland?!”

“Cold-proof ones?”

“Not funny!”

To my huge shock, our next case is located in Finland. But Malice seems to like the idea of the frozen country in the middle of the north-pole.

“Where’s Finland anyway?”

“You really don’t know Sam?”

“No! But I heard that penguins live there!”

“No they don’t. And Finland is between Sweden and Russia. Penguins don’t live even on the same side of the planet!”

“They don’t?”

“No, they don’t.” Kaoru sighs.

“So why are we going there?”

“Ah, that’s something we have to talk about: this one is a case we have to prevent from an early death.”

“But aren’t we supposed to deal only with…you know…already dead cases?”

“Not always. From time to time we gotta make sure some people don’t become our cases.”

I sigh.

“So what do we do to make that happen?”

“We spend time with them.”

“WHAT?! But…we’re already-”

“Dead? Yeah, what about it?”

“…how can we possibly spend time with them like that?”

“Easy. We become solid and visible to the human world.”

“What?!”

“Oh chill out, it’s only temporary.”

“…why doesn’t that make me feel any better?”

“’Cause it came from the mouth of the evil woman?”

“Shut up redhead. This is none of your business.”

Sam pouts.

“C’mon Sam, let’s go.” Kaoru grabs Sam’s arm and starts dragging her towards the door. Sam waves at me before the door closes and leaves me and Malice alone in the room.

“So, any more questions?”

“What kind of person are we dealing with then?”

Malice smirks.

“You’ll see.”

~*~*~*~*~

After the quick visit to the teleportation house we have arrived in…somewhere.

“Malice, where are we?”

“This lovely little town in the middle of nowhere is Koria.”

“Korea?”

“No, Koria. K-O-R-I-A.”

”Okay, I get it.”

”Great. So now off to our case.”

“Which is…?”

Malice points at a house on the other side of the street.

“Over there.”

“And we get there how?”

“We won’t go there.”

“Then how do we -”

“We meet up with her at school.”

“School?”

“Yup, school. Surely you know what school is?”

“Yes, I do.”

“So no problem.”

“…so when do we-”

“Go to her school? In exactly…” she looks at her watch “5 minutes.”

“What?”

Then I notice where exactly we are. A bus stop. And yes, there come the teens.

“How do we get this done without having to explain why we both speak only English?” I’m panicking right now.

“Relax. We can speak in all languages now that you have your powers. Just focus on what language you wanna speak and the rest is easy.”

I don’t get to answer her because the kids are already too close to us.

They’re chatting and laughing and doing all the normal stuff.

Malice pokes me and points at one girl behind a group of boys.

She has a short blonde hair and grey eyes. She’s wearing a dark blue blouse and jeans. She has a black bag and she’s staring at the ground while walking.

Well this sure looks promising.

“Hei, ketä te ootte?” (Hey, who are you?) So people have already noticed us.

“Ei kuulu sulle.” (None of your business.) Malice sounds almost too confident.

“No kyl se meille kuuluu. Ootteks te te uusii tääl vai?” (Well it is our business. You new here or something?)

“Joo mut kyl me pärjätään.” (Yeah but we’ll be fine.) The bus arrives. All the kids go in.

~*~*~*~*~

“Now what?” I whisper to Malice, who’s sitting next to me.

“Better move to mind-talking.”

“To what?”

-Mind-talking.-

I jump a little. I can hear her in my head.

-How do you do that?-

-It’s easy, just focus on what you think and I hear it. Not that I wouldn’t hear it all the time whether you focus on it or not.-

-Like this?-

-Yeah.-

-So what do we do now?-

-We go to her school. We’ll be attending all her classes. Let’s try to get close to her for now.-

-Oh. Okay.-


Our case is sitting next to us. She’s listening to her mp3-player and looking out the window.

-Doesn’t look too social.-

-She isn’t.-

-So how exactly do we get close to her?-

-Let me work my magic rookie. Just try not to blow us.-

I pout. We sit quietly for the rest of the trip.

~*~*~*~*~

Once we arrive to our destination and get off the bus Malice starts to walk towards the school building right behind our case.

We follow her to the classroom 15. Sitting in the classroom is a girl with pretty boyish clothes.

“Moi.” (Hey.)

“Moi. Kuule, mä unohin tehä läksyt ja-” (Hey. Listen, I forgot to do my homework and-)

”Taas vaihteeksi.” (For a change.)

”No joo. Mut saanks mä kopsata sulta, pliis? Muista YYA-sopimus!” (Well yeah. But can I copy yours, please? Remember the YYA contract!)

(A/N: The YYA stands for ystävyys, yhteistyö, avunanto (friendship, cooperation, aid) and it’s a contract between the Soviet Union and Finland. It’s a complicated thing to explain, but mainly it was about the Soviet Union helping us if we go to a war and the opposite but it was to be negotiated first. We had to learn that stuff in history class. My friend uses the same thing but now it means that she can copy my stuff if she needs to. That’s the aid. I have no idea how the rest of it works. )

“Joo joo.” (Yeah yeah.)

The girl smiles widely.

The rest of the class enters. Well, the rest of the girls. I don’t see any guys.

The teacher enters.

“Te ootte varmaan ne uudet tyypit. Oottakaas hetki nii mä esittelen teidät.” (You must be the new guys. Wait a minute so I can introduce you.)

She looks around the room.

“Missäs pojat on?” (Where are the boys?)

“Kytiksellä taas.” (On a look-out again.)

(A/N: The guys in my class do that. They wait in the main hallway for the teacher so that they don’t have to come to the classroom so early. A very stupid system.)

The boys finally enter the classroom.

“Kytiksellä taas vai?” (On the look-out again huh?)

“Ei kun ne on ollu tupakkanurkalla!” (No they’ve been to the smoking corner!) (A/N: A place where all the smoking students go sate their need for nicotine.)

The guys laugh confidently, like they own the world. The teacher shakes her head.

“Menkääs ny istumaa meillä on täällä uusia oppilaita!” (Now go sit down we have new students here!)

“Tässä ovat Maria ja Salla, he ovat uusia oppilaita tässä koulussa.” (These are Maria and Salla, they’re new students in this school.)

A few mumbled heys can be heard.

“No menkääs ny istumaa vaikka tonne taakse nii päästää alottamaa.” (Well go sit down in the back so we can get started.)

We go sit down. Our case is sitting right next to us.

-Well this is a start.-

Malie doesn’t say anything.

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

A/N: So now we get some Finland! ^^ Koria is the place I actually live in. And it's pronounced in pretty much the same way as Korea, so don't mess those two up.

And this chapter had A/Ns in the chapter too since there were mentions of some things we have in Finland but not in any other country and stuff that you can't translate so that you'd understand it. I hope those didn't bore you to death.

Also, the Finnish in this chapter wasn't (mostly) the proper Finnish. I used the local slang (which looks incredibly stupid when written). The perfectly written Finnish and the spoken Finnish have a huge difference.

And as usual, all questions and comments are welcome! ^^

P.S. TR is now 74 pages long (on Windows Word)! WOOT! This is the longest piece I've ever written!

Guestbook signings: 15
Total visits: 44

...I need more visitors. Got to start spreading the word...anyone wanna help me? *does the puppy-eyes*


Comments (1) | Permalink

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Announcing the upcoming project!

So the new work I've mentioned.

I'm planning on writing a series of one-shots. All of them will be inspired by Breaking Benjamin's album Phobia. So I'll be writing a one-shot for each song on the album (well not Intro and Outro) and the title will be the name of the song.

So here are the upcoming titles:

The Diary Of Jane
Breath
You
Evil Angel
Until The End
Dance With The Devil
Topless
Here We Are
Unknown Soldier
Had Enough
You Fight Me

Now I haven't written anything yet with the exam hell still going on and my allergy kicking my ass =.= All the last exams will be on next week and then I'm through with those. ^^ So I'll be able to write more.

And no worries, Tabula Rasa will continue. I have all sorts of new stuff planned! ^^
So be patient for it will be rewarded!


Comments (1) | Permalink

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Tabula Rasa

Chapter 9: part 2

"What the hell was that?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Just watch and learn from the pros.”

I wonder what she meant by that…

Meanwhile Kyoto and Malice have arrived to the center.

“Any rules?”

“The first to faint or to be qualified as already lost in a real fight loses.”

“Great! Shall we?”

“Absolutely.”

Before I can blink the duo has disappeared.

“Where’d they go?”

Sam points at the wall.

“There’s Kyoto! Now where’s-”

We find out soon enough when Malice appears out of nowhere. She has her cross-necklace in her hand. It’s glowing the same way Sam’s ribbon did when-

“Oh they’re getting serious!” Even Kaoru’s excited.

As I expected, the cross starts to change its form. Soon Malice is holding a rapier.

Kyoto isn’t far behind. He’s already holding a Zweihänder.

Both start running towards each other.

Kyoto blocks the first attack with ease and Malice backs off a little. But Kyoto isn’t letting her get away. He’s already running towards her and raising his sword.

But Malice has something else on her mind.

Her backing off starts to look like some absurd dance. She just keeps spinning around.

But that’s when something starts happening.

Her shadow. There’s something wrong with it.

It doesn’t move with her. It stays in the ground like black paint on a paper.

But now it’s moving.

It grows and turns into a huge dog with six red eyes.

It charges towards Kyoto. Kyoto dodges in the last minute. The dog misses him but turns around and attacks again.

Malice stops and smirks at Kyoto.

“Hey Kyoto! Remind me to thank mother dearest for taking me to that stupid ballet class!”

“Well see if you’re in the condition to thank anyone after we’ve finished!” With that Kyoto blocks the dog with a orange, see-through field. Once the dog hits it, I can hear a deep, gong-like sound. The dog lets out a low howl and disappears. Malice doesn’t seem too fazed and starts dancing again but this time with a different choreography.

Kyoto seems to be up to something too. He starts swinging his sword above his head in a clean circle.

Malice’s shadow looks like a weird drawing now. It’s a huge black circle with some kind of a symbol in the middle.

The circle Kyoto is making with his sword is glowing and starts multiplying into many orange circles.

Malice seems to be done with her dancing. She stops in the middle of her black circle. The circle starts glowing in a deep purple shade.

Kyoto is now surrounded by orange circles. He stops swinging his sword and points it at Malice. The circles fly straight at Malice.

The circle around Malice starts to rise to the air and then split into smaller pieces and flying straight at Kyoto.

The circles and black pieces hit each other and disappear.

The duo charges at each other.

The rapier and the Zweihänder clash.

Both fly from their holders’ grasps.

While in the air the rapier turns back into a cross-necklace.

The Zweihänder turns into a simple ring.

Both land on the ground.

Malice looks at Kyoto.

“How about we call it a draw?”

That’s when someone runs to the ruins.

“Hey! Malice and Anya! You have a case to take care of!”

Malice walks to the necklace and picks it from the ground. While tying it back on she says:

“Well that was fast.”

Kyoto lets out a laugh while walking to his ring.

~*~*~*~*~

“What the hell was that?” We’re walking to the Office.

“What was what?”

“That…that…”

“I think she means the circles and your puppy.”

“Figured as much. That was just some of our powers.”

“Powers?”

“Yup. After a while you can do stuff like that too. Not the same kind of stuff though.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Since Kyoto and Kaoru here belong to the Spirit group, the redhead to the Forest group and I to the Shadow group. The group you belong to defines what you can and can’t do with your powers.”

“So what group am I in?”

“That’s something we have to find out sometime. Right now we have a case to deal with.”

Meaning that I can’t ask any more questions regarding anything outside the case.

Oh well. The case now and the questions later.

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

A/N: Okay now everybody must be wondering what are a rapier and a Zweihänder.

"A rapier is a relatively slender, sharply pointed sword, used mainly for thrusting attacks, in use in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries."

So if you've seen The Three Musketeers you might have some kind of picture.

"A Zweihänder (also called Bidenhänder or Bihänder) is a two-handed sword primarily of the Renaissance."

It was invented in Germany. It's difficult to move quickly while holding one.

And as I said, this was my first real fighting-scene. Be nice. ^^'


FAQ

The comment:
Woot! Action! Awesome! I'm excited! Oooh...you're plotting another thing? Neato! So I have a question.. Would you ever show this story to anyone else?
-Simpleplanluver

Answer:
Would I show this to anyone else...well I'd need a definition on anyone else...I mean, I don't usually show my writings to my family (my dad visits my other site and he read some of the writings I had posted there. I didn't like it at all) and I'd show it to my friends if it were in Finnish.

But I post this thing here so that people can read it.
And I wonder what you mean with that question, it's kind of difficult...

The comment:
It just keeps getting better an better
-Zim236

Answer:
A Devil May Cry line? lol Sorry I don't think you meant that. But thank you for the support! *hugs*


Until the next chapter!


Comments (0) | Permalink

Friday, May 11, 2007

Tabula Rasa

Chapter 9: part 1

“This should be interesting.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tap tap tap.

“Sam.”

Tap tap tap.

“Yeah?”

“Quit it.”

Tap tap tap.

“Quit what?”

“The damn tapping! I’m getting sick of it!”

“Oh. Okay.”

Yawn.

“It’s been pretty boring lately.”

“You don’t say?”

“Don’t start with the sarcasm Anya.”

“Seriously! When I finally have some powers to use, nothing happens!”

“Did I hear right? Rookie wants action?”

Anya glares at Malice.

“Any suggestions, oh mean one?”

“Might be. Is the redhead interested?”

“Hell yeah! Anything to get out of paper work!”

“So it’s a deal.”

~*~*~*~*~

Ever seen those really old ruins? Where there’s pretty much nothing left but some pillars and a few rocks?

If you have, you might be able to tell what our little training area looked like.

“So what are we doing here?”

“Training rookie.”

“How?”

“We have a duel.”

“WHAT?!”

“Yes.” She turns to look at me with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. “I wanna see if there’s a warrior in the little schoolgirl.”

“Well look who we have here.”

“KYAA~A! KAORU!”

“SAM GET OFF ME!”

“Hey Sam.”

“KYOTO!”

Sam has already found a new victim.

“Someone get this crazy woman OFF ME!”

“Good luck with that bro.”

“HEY!”

“Don’t look at me I have to deal with her everyday!”

Looks like the twins are talking to each other again.

“MALICE! HELP!”

“Okay kiddo, off the four-eyed one.”

“Off the WHAT?!”

“Okay!” Sam lets go.

Kyoto rubs his neck. Kaoru doesn’t seem to notice.

“So what are you doing here?”

“I should ask the same thing.”

“It’s boring.”

“Welcome to the club.”

“What happened to all the cases?”

Malice shrugs.

“I dunno. They’ve just disappeared. So while boring to death we decided to come here and let some steam out.”

“She wants a duel with me!”

“Don’t panic rookie, I won’t go with full force on ya.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

Malice smirks.

“It’s best not to believe her under any circumstances.”

“Look who’s talking! You’re the one who cheats in every card game!”

Kyoto shrugs.

“I don’t know how I’m related to that guy.”

“You’re my twin unfortunately.”

“I know. And unfortunate it is.”

Kaoru turns back to me.

“So Malice wants a duel? So what?”

I’m hissing to her as quietly as I can.

“She’ll slaughter me!”

“No I won’t. Just burn a little but you’ll recover.”

“No she won’t. She’d get fired if she’d do any serious damage.”

“What, you up for a fight four-eye?”

“If you insist. And the name’s Kyoto.”

“Let’s make a bet: you win and I call you Kyoto.”

“And if you win?”

“You’ll be my personal slave.”

“Hell no. That’s not fair.”

“Fine, soil sport. What do you suggest?”

“…let’s not make a bet at all.”

She looks disappointed.

“Fine. Wanna start during this century?”

“Gladly.”

Both start walking towards the center of the ruins.

Sam pokes me.

“Let’s step aside. Don’t wanna get hit, right?”

Sam, Kaoru and I walk to the other side of the ruins.

“This should be interesting.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, the mean woman is one of the top people around.”

“So is Kyoto.”

“Is it good or bad?”

Kaoru smirks.

“Just watch and learn from the pros.”

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

A/N: Alright, as the intelligent people probably noticed, this chapter has more than one part. Part two will be posted tomorrow, and it'll be all action. My very first fighting-scene, so be nice. ^^

Also I've been plotting a new writing project...but it's still under development.

Well that's all for now folks.


Comments (2) | Permalink

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Tabula Rasa

Chapter 8

"Does it hurt? In your heart? That they’re worried?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So how long have you lived here?”

Anya and Dinah were sitting on Dinah’s bed. I noticed that I didn’t need to sit down, my legs weren’t tired at all.

“I’ve been here all my life.”

“Oh really? I just moved here last week.”

“Why?”

Dinah shrugged.

“My mother wanted to move here because the hospital would be closer. I didn’t care about it much.”

“What do you mean?”

Another shrug.

“I’ve never had friends and since everybody knows about my “illness” they don’t want to be near me either.”

She stands up and looks out the window.

“Would you like to go outside? It’s a nice weather.”

Anya nodded.

Everything went black again.

~*~*~*~*~

“She really got to you back then didn’t she?”

I give Po a puzzled look.

“Oh not remembering yet? Oh well...”

The world starts to get a shape again.

“But I bet this will...”

~*~*~*~*~

“There’s a new kid in town.”

Anya was sitting in a café with Jenna.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah! And people say he’s weird.”

“What do you mean weird?”

Jenna leans closer.

“They say that the kid has...problems.”

“Problems?”

“Yeah, problems, now stop repeating everything I say.”

“What kind of problems?”

Jenna looks around as if someone would try to spy on us.

“People say they’ve seen him around some very weird places...”

“That doesn’t make him weird.”

Jenna shrugs and looks at Anya.

“Well say whatever you want. But you’ll know what I mean if you see him.”

~*~*~*~*~

“Did you see him?”

“Man he’s CUTE!”

“I want him!”

“Me too!”

“Me three!”

Giggles.

“He looks weird…”

“Yeah, like he’s ON something…”

Whispers.

“Did you hear? He’s transferring to our school!”

“No way!”

“And he’s going to be in class F!”

“Ohmigod!”

Anya looks at Jenna.

“What’s with everybody? He’s just a guy. A student like the rest of us.”

“That’s not what most would think.”

“Well he won’t be in our class.”

“Bummer. I would’ve liked to get a close look…” Jenna sighs and goes dreamy.

“Earth to Jenna! The bell rang!”

~*~*~*~*~

Lunch break.

“Hey I’m gonna go grab something from the bakery, you want anything?”

“No thanks.”

Jenna starts running like she’s trying to beat some record.

“Well she’s fast.”

Anya turns to look at the guy behind her. He’s got brown hair, dark eyes and a slim form. He’s wearing jeans and a long-sleeved grey turtleneck. Nothing unusual about him really. Well except that he’s white. Not just pale, he’s as white as a piece of paper.

“Yeah. What’s it to you?”

“Nothing.”

“Then why’d you say anything about it?”

He shrugs.

“No reason.”

Anya sighs.

“Well at least you’re not fawning over the new guy…”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh c’mon, no way you haven’t seen how everybody’s talking about him.”

“Actually I haven’t. Care to tell me what they say?”

“All girls wanna go out with him. And apparently all the guys want to see him too.”

He raises an eyebrow.

“Didn’t know I’d be that popular.”

“What do you mean-”

The realization hits.

“So you’re the talk of the day.”

“Didn’t intend to be, believe me.”

“So how come you be here all alone?”

“I can look after myself. Thanks for the concern though.”

“I wasn’t concerned.”

“Oh really? Well that’s a first.”

“What do you mean?”

He shakes Anya’s hand.

“Hello my name is Noah Thomason. My parents are alcoholics, I basically take care of myself while my parents are out of it. How about you?”

Somehow that didn’t shock me or Anya.

“Well maybe people get worried if that’s how you introduce yourself to everybody-”

Noah raises his hands.

“Hey the teacher asked me to tell something about myself and I did. That stuff would’ve gotten out sooner or later anyway.”

“And sooner is better?”

“Well that’s how I see it.”

“A narrow point of view.”

“No one asked you.”

Anya shakes his hand.

“Hello my name is Anya Wales. My friend killed herself some time ago, I have to deal with a person suffering from a multiple personality disorder everyday plus the same girl’s other personality Jonathan likes me in that way. I have a habit of getting too close to suicidal and depressed people and Jenna, the girl who ran off when you got here, is the only friend I’ve got who’s even close to being normal and stable.”

Noah laughs.

“That’s something, alright. Maybe a bit long though.”

“It’s not like I’m someone worth mentioning anyway.”

“You underestimate yourself.”

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.”

“You think too fast for your own good, don’t you?”

“Hell yeah.”

Noah’s about to say something back when Jenna returns.

“Hey who’s this guy?”

“The guy you wanted to have a close look at.”

“What are- You can’t be serious!”

“Well she is.”

“You’re the new guy?”

“Flesh and blood.”

“…you’re freaky.”

“Thanks. You’re a very charming person too.”

“Anya how long have you two been talking?”

“He got here a little after you left.”

“Shoot!”

“You could say that.”

“Oh shut up, you’re not that great.”

“Maybe.”

“Well I’ve got class so I guess I’ll be seeing ya. See you sometime.”

With that he left.

“Anya. Who was that?”

Anya and Jenna jump at the voice. Dinah.

“Hey Dinah I didn’t see you.”

“Obviously.”

“Hey who do-”

“And I’m STILL. NOT. TALKING. TO. YOU!”

Jenna glares at Dinah and then looks at Anya.

“See you in class.”

And she’s on the run again.

“Who was that guy?”

“Noah Thomason. He’s new here.”

“Do you like him?”

“Actually he’s nice.”

Dinah’s face darkens.

“What’s so good about him?”

“None of your business.”

“Yes it is.”

“We’re not dating if that’s what you’re implying.”

“How should I know?”

“Well that’s your problem not mine.”

“…sorry. I shouldn’t have started questioning…”

“It’s alright. But we’ve got class now so let’s go.”

“...alright.”

~*~*~*~*~

The school ends.

Anya’s walking home alone. Jenna’s got work.

“Hey where’s your bodyguard?”

“She’s got work. And she does have a name.”

“Oh what is it?”

“Not funny Noah.”

“Seriously. How did you two meet again?”

“We’ve been friends since kindergarten.”

“Oh. I’ve never had any friends. Except you of course.”

“Oh how honored I am…”

“No need for the sarcasm.”

“I think there was.”

“You’re really getting difficult on me, aren’t you?”

“No I’m not. I’m always like this.”

“Fine Miss Shut-off, whatever you say.”

“What did you say?!”

Noah stops.

“To be honest, you seem a little shut off. Not just from that friend of yours but from everyone.”

“And why do you think that?”

“I’m like that too.”

“…”

“Really. I don’t mind talking about my parents being alcoholics but it doesn’t mean that I like it. But people think what they want and it would be impossible to go and try to change their minds.”

“So you say.”

“You know that’s true.”

“Yes, I do. But that’s just what I think.”

“You’re not stupid.”

“No.”

“You’re actually more than you look like, aren’t you?”

That stops Anya. Noah turns around.

“What are you saying?”

“How much do you think of other people than yourself?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Just answer the question.”

“…not much.”

“That’s not true. You don’t think about yourself, do you? Try to be honest to yourself for once.”

“What do you think you know about me?”

“More than you might think.”

“And that’s because…?”

“Your mom told me about you.”

“WHAT! How do you know my mom?!”

“She lived next door the place I used to live in.”

“…she never told me.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“I’ve been living on my own.”

“I know.”

“Mom just sends me some money every now and then. But otherwise I’m on my own.”

“She mentioned that.”

“So what do you want from me?”

“Who said I want anything?”

“Don’t try me. Everybody wants something from me.”

“Not me.”

“Well that’s a first.”

“So your mom said.”

“How much did she say anyway?!”

“I’m not telling you that right now.” He turns around the corner. “Well we’ll split here. See ya at school.”

Darkness.

~*~*~*~*~

“Well?”

“…what?”

“Who was he? A boyfriend?”

“…no.”

“Then he was…?”

“…my best friend after Jenna moved away.”

“And…?”

“…what?”

“He was more than that, huh?”

“We were…more than friends. But in a sibling kind of way.”

“Right. No romance. It’s sad that you didn’t get any true love in your life.”

“Why would I have needed one?”

“Don’t we all?”

“Who says we do?”

“I don’t believe in true love.”

“Obviously.”

“Can we go on now? I want to get this done.”

~*~*~*~*~

“So who’s Dinah?”

Anya was sitting on the grass with Noah. Jenna had moved away two weeks ago. She and Anya still kept calling and e-mailing each other though.

“A friend I guess.”

“Isn’t she the girl with the multiple personality disorder?”

“Yes.”

“And she’s walking towards us right now.”

And sure enough, Dinah was walking towards them with an evil gleam in her eyes.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Talking with Anya.”

“Get lost.”

“Nah, I don’t think so. It’s a free country and I can talk to her if I want to.”

“No you can’t. Go away.”

“What’s this now, is someone jealous?”

That really hit Dinah.

Enough to make her punch Noah.

But he was quicker and dodged.

“Dinah!”

She turned to Anya.

“It’s Jonathan. Not Dinah.”

“Oh another personality?”

“Shut up you bastard.”

“And a personality that has a crush. Now that’s interesting.”

Dinah tried to punch him again.

And he dodged again.

“How about you cool down already?”

“Jonathan, stop it!”

Dinah stopped on her tracks.

“You defend that bastard?!”

“He’s my friend so of course I defend him!”

She turned to Anya. She stared at her for a while and then walked away.

“Ouch.”

“You said it.”

~*~*~*~*~

Anya was walking home alone again. Noah had to go get his parents’ Antabuses.

To Anya’s surprise Dinah wanted to come along with her.

“I’ll forgive you for today.”

“Huh?”

“For choosing your friend over your boyfriend.”

“You’re not my boyfriend.”

“Yes I am.”

“No, you’re not! Dinah, Jonathan, whoever you are, you and I are not in a relationship!”

“Yes we are. Don’t try to deny it.”

“You’re really insane!”

“You didn’t mean that.”

“Yes, I did! Stay away from me from now on, get it!”

Anya started running away. Dinah stopped and stared after her.

Darkness once again.

~*~*~*~*~

“She didn’t stay away for long, now did she?”

“No. She just kept coming back.”

“Never believed you.”

“…so what next?”

“We go through the last day of your life.”

“And then I can have my powers and get out?”

“…yes.”

“Well let’s do this then.”

“You sure? You can quit you know.”

“I won’t quit. I won’t let something like this get the best of me.”

“Fine.”

~*~*~*~*~

“Anya.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t lie.”

“I don’t.”

“Yes you do. I hate liars and you’re lying through gritted teeth.”

“Am not.”

“Yes you are. Tell me what’s the matter.”

“Nothing’s the matter.”

“Liar.”

“Bastard.”

“You sound just like Dinah.”

“I do not!”

“Yes you do! I know she hasn’t left you alone! I can see it! So quit the act and tell me the truth!”

“There’s no truth!”

“You spend too much time covering it up!”

“So what! It’s none of your business!” Anya’s close to tears.

“I care about you Anya. You’re like a sister to me ad I’m worried. Just spill it.”

“Why can’t you all just leave me alone?!” Tears start rolling.

“Anya-”

“LEAVE ME ALONE NOAH!”

He grabs her shoulders.

“Anya you have to stop this, I don’t wanna hurt you!”

“Then let me go!”

“Like Hell!”

“To be honest to myself, that’s what you told me to do! This is me, this is how I am!”

“No it’s not.”

“How would you know?!” Anya manages to pull away. Then she starts running.

“ANYA!”

~*~*~*~*~

“So he wouldn’t let go again.”

“Go away Dinah. I told you to get lost.”

“I won’t back down that easily.”

“So I’ve noticed. Go away.”

“Sorry love it’s not that easy.”

“And stop calling me love, I HATE IT!”

“No you don’t.”

“For the last time Dinah: go away.”

“Does it hurt?”

Anya stops.

“What?”

“Does it hurt? In your heart? That they’re worried?”

“What are you talk-”

“You shout at them and you keep them all at a distance. It hurts, doesn’t it?”

“No.” She sounds like someone’s strangling her.

“Yes it does. You’ve worked so hard to get them to appreciate you and this is what you get.”

“Shut up.”

“It’s all you’ll ever get Anya.”

“Shut up.”

“You can either submit to that sad fact or you can join me.”

“Join you?”

“Join me on the other side.”

Anya laughs.

“Yeah, like that would ever happen!”

“It can happen.”

“How?”

“I have cyanide in the storage room.”

“How did you get that?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“And what are you saying?”

“Let’s go have some tea. We’ll put in some cyanide and it’s over.”

“Will it hurt?”

“No. I’ve tried.”

“So why are you still alive?”

Dinah looks disappointed.

“I failed. Someone found me and called an ambulance.”

“Oh.”

“Shall we?”

Anya looks at her.

She looks in the direction where she left Noah.

She turns to Dinah.

“Okay.”

~*~*~*~*~

“Why are we here?”

Anya and Dinah were sitting on the swings in the schoolyard.

“No one suspects two girls drinking tea here.”

“Oh.”

“So this is it.”

She casually lifts her cup.

“See you on the other side.”

Anya lifts her cup too.

“On the other side.”

They both drink their teas on one gulp.

Both faint at the same time.

Only one voice is heard.

“ANYA!”

~*~*~*~*~

I was crying.

I was actually crying.

“Well?”

I was stupid.

I wasn’t myself.

But I can’t turn time back now.

“You see now?”

I also know who the little girl from my dream was.

Kate.

Dinah still can’t let go.

“Yeah, I do.”

“Well then there’s only one step left.”

“…yeah.”

The world goes black and then turns into a white room. There’s only one door out.

“Shall we?”

I walk over to the door and open it.

I can see nothing. Only white light.

“You know now. Don’t forget it.”

I nod.

“And use that knowledge and all you’ve learned now in the future.”

I don’t understand that.

“You will. Goodbye Anya.”

~*~*~*~*~

The light goes away and I’m standing on a platform.

“So how’d it go?”

Malice is already walking towards me.

I can’t stop it anymore.

I start crying.

Hard.

I fall on my knees.

I just have to let it all out.

Malice stops. She doesn’t say a word.

I just keep crying.

Crying my heart out.

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

A/N: Waaah, I know this was a bit crappy chapter. *tears* It's 7.33 PM, I have a verb test in Swedish tomorrow, haven't read one bit. Plus a pile of other exams coming up. So the updates bit not be that frequent for a while.

And to all who don't know: Antabuse is a medication alcoholics use to get rid of the habit. When you take antabus you can't drink alcohol, because when ethanol (a.k.a. alcohol) reacts with antabus it's not pretty. You get headache, throw up etc. In one word, you get an instant hangover. Not nice.

FAQ:

Comment:
haha you evil person you!! I hate cliff hangers!! Nonetheless it was really good. ^^ Hmm...Dinah sounds interesting. At first I was confused. But now I'm not. Woot! Hmm...I was wondering do you write about things that happen in your life or is this all from your creative mind? haha O_O Anyway I can't wait to read the next chapter!

Answer:
Well let's not forget that I'm very much alive over here. lol Seriously, some of the things in Tabula Rasa have something to do with my life (my parents aren't alcoholics, I say it now before anyone asks) and some are the combination of my creative mind and some psychology books (I love those). That's all.


Well until the next chapter! *flees to study*


Comments (3) | Permalink

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Tabula Rasa

Chapter 7

“We do this so long that you understand why you’re here.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damn Malice.

Well the red ocean didn’t do me any harm but the landing on a cold white marble floor certainly did.

I slowly get up and am immediately blinded by a bright white light.

“So you’re Malice’s rookie?”

“Yeah, one I have a name and two turn down the light a little I can’t see!”

The light turns down. Now I can see that front of me is a white cat.

A talking white cat.

“Sorry, that happens a lot.”

“Blinding people?”

“Yeah.”

I rub my eyes a little.

“So my name is” she says a long and complicated word “and I’m here to guide you through your test.”

“How about I just call you Po?”

“Okay. But remember, I’m here to GUIDE you, NOT to fight for you.”

“I HAVE TO FIGHT?!” Panic time.

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

That doesn’t comfort me at all.

“Well we should get going now. Get up and through that door over there.”

I get up and notice the door Po was talking about.

A big white door with a lot of detail carved on it.

I open the door and go in with Po right behind me.

~*~*~*~*~

“-and so we come to the conclusion that a²+b²=c².”

Oh my-

“Yes, that’s your old class right there.”

“Po. I’m not a complete idiot, I can see that.”

I let my eyes swipe over the classroom.

Oh yes. There she-or should I say I am.

The girl in the back.

Whispering with another girl next to her.

What was her name again...oh yes. Jenna.

The bell rings.

“And for your homework exercises 478-490.” Desperate moaning from the class. “Now hurry along before I have to start giving you even more homework!”

Oh yes, our math teacher was a strict case.

I follow myself and Jenna down the hallway.

“So how was your weekend?”

“Had a hole-party on Saturday so just working.”

“Hole-party?”

“Funeral, Anya.”

“Oh. Right.”

“You?”

Anya shrugs. “Nothing special really.”

It’s really weird to see yourself doing the things you always used to do.

I don’t even remember how long it’s been since I had that conversation…

“So have you heard the news?”

“What is it?”

“We’ll be having a new student in our class.”

“Is it good or bad?”

Jenna shrugs. “I dunno, never seen the girl before.”

As I and Jenna walk along I can’t keep walking. My legs just stop. And everything goes black for a second.

“Any idea what we’ll be doing here?” I almost forgot about Po.

“Don’t tell me-”

“-that we’re going to dig through your past? Bingo.”

The world goes back to normal. We’re in a classroom.

Next to our homeroom teacher is a girl. She has brown curly hair and big dark eyes. She’s pale which makes her look a bit scary. She’s also thin and looks a bit fragile.

“Class, I’d like to introduce your new classmate Dinah Willows. Dinah, you can go sit there next to Anya.” The teacher points at the seat next to me.

She doesn’t say anything, just gos to the back and sits next to me.

Jenna tries to start a conversation.

“Mm, hi.”

No response.

“I’m Jenna.”

No response.

“So did your family move here recently or something?”

Finally she raises her head.

“What family?”

“Surely you have a family.”

“No, we don’t.”

“We? You have siblings?”

“No. We don’t have siblings.”

“Why do you say we?”

She looks straight at Jenna.

“We are we. That’s all.”

Jenna gives up.

~*~*~*~*~

“What’s her problem?”

Jenna, Anya, me and Po are on the yard. It’s lunch hour.

“She’s not we.”

As if that was some sort of call we see Dinah walking towards us.

“What now? Can’t she play all by themselves?” Jenna says sarcastically.

Dinah arrives. She just stands next to Jenna and Anya. Her eyes look weird.

“What’s your name?”

“I already told you-”

“Not you.” She looks at me. “You.”

“Anya Wales.”

“You were sitting next to us in the classroom.”

“Yeah, what’s it to you?”

Dinah turns to look at Jenna and starts speaking in the most malicious voice I’ve ever heard:

“We’re still not talking to you. If you don’t have anything intelligent to say, we suggest you leave. We have no business with the likes of you.”

Jenna gasps. Then she picks up her bag.

“Fine you freak, I’ll go. Anya, you coming?”

Before she can answer Dinah is talking again.

“No, she’s not coming with you. We have something to talk about.”

Jenna glares at Dinah and walks off. Dinah sits right where Jenna was just a while ago.

“So what do you want to talk about?”

“I think you’re cute.”

“What?”

Dinah just stares at her.

“Are you lesbian?”

“No.”

“Bi?”

“No. I’m straight.”

“If you’re straight you-”

“I’m a guy.”

“No Dinah you’re a girl.”

“Oh. I’m not Dinah. I’m Jonathan.”

Jonathan?

Dinah is still staring at her.

“But I still think you’re cute.”

“Erm, listen...Jonathan, I-”

“Yes?”

She’s still staring at Anya.

“I gotta go now.”

“No you don’t.” She grabs Anya’s hand when she tries to stand up.

“The lunch hour isn’t over yet.”

“I have to catch Jenna-”

“Oh that girl?” She lets out a laugh. “You don’t need her.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We’re enough.”

“We?”

“Me, Dinah and Kate.”

“Who’s Kate?”

“You’ll meet her too.”

“Dinah, this isn’t funny, let me go!”

“I told you, I’m not Dinah.”

Anya pulls her hand away.

“See you in class Dinah.”

She walks away. Dinah just sits and stares after her.

~*~*~*~*~

“Class. I have something I have to tell you all. It’s about Dinah.”

The whole class is sitting quietly. Dinah left school during the last lesson.

“Some of you might have noticed her rather...strange behaviour.” The whole class starts nodding and whispering.

“Well the reason for that is that Dinah has a multiple personality disorder.” The whole class stirs.

“What!”

“Why’s someone like her in our class?”

“In a normal class in general. She should be in some institute or something!”

“Now students, calm down. The staff has been informed about this, and her...illness doesn’t affect her studies or other abilities. If something notable does happen, you have to inform the closest staff member. This also is not a reason to start closing her out or anything and as you all know I won’t tolerate bullying. Is this all clear?” The class mumbles something close to a yes.

“Fine. Now take out your math books and turn page 159...”

Jenna leans closer to Anya.

“I knew there was something weird about her. What did she want to talk to you about anyway?”

“School stuff. The usual.”

“You suck at lying, Anya.”

“Stop asking, okay? I don’t wan to talk about it.”

Jenna goes back to her math book and so does Anya. The world goes black again.

~*~*~*~*~

“Okay, Po, what does that have to do with anything?”

Po walks around my feet.

“PO!”

Po stops.

“Oh sorry. I can’t tell you that.”

“What’s the point in all this?”

“You’ll see.”

I can’t ask anymore questions because the world goes back to normal again.

~*~*~*~*~

We’re in someone’s house.

“Sara, this was not one of your best ideas…”

Sound of someone throwing up.

“That’s it, just get it all out.”

More throwing up.

“Anya...”

“I think that’s it.”

“Anya, I’m sorry...”

“It’s okay. Just try to get to the couch.”

Someone flushes the toilet and a pale girl comes to the living room. She falls on the couch.

Anya walks in a bit after her.

“Sara, we’ve been over this haven’t we?”

“Yeah...” Sara sounds weak.

“When you feel like "that", you...?”

“Call you.”

“Right.”

“I couldn’t find my cell...”

Anya sighs.

“Sara-”

“I tried Anya, I really did! But I can’t keep going anymore!”

“Sara calm down.”

“No I’m not calming down! Tomorrow that bastard comes back and-and-”

“Taking an overdose of depression medication is not a solution to your problems-”

“THE FUCK YOU KNOW ABOUT MY PROBLEMS!”

Silence.

“You should go.”

“Sara-”

“Just go. And don’t tell anybody, okay? We had a deal.”

“I know. But this is getting out of hand and-”

“Go Anya. Just go.”

Anya gives up and gets up from the couch. Then she goes to the door.

The world goes black again.

~*~*~*~*~

“Remember what happened afterwards?”

Yes. I remember.

“I can’t read minds Anya. What happened to Sara after you left?”

“...she cut her wrists open.”

“Right.”

“Why are we doing this?!”

I’m almost crying. Sara wasn’t even the worst that happened to me.

“So that you understand why you didn’t go to Heaven nor Hell.”

“What-”

“Your life is the answer. It always is.”

“...how many memories do we have to go through?”

“We do this so long that you understand why you’re here.”

“That didn’t tell me anything.”

“Not my problem.”

~*~*~*~*~

“-and now let’s have a quiet moment to respect Sara Andresson, our dear classmate and-”

We’re in the class. The whole class is quiet for a minute. Then everybody goes back to gossiping and all the normal things.

“Who was she?” Dinah is looking at Anya with her big eyes.

“Your friend?”

“...yeah.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You didn’t know her.”

Dinah is quiet for a while.

“Would you like to come to my house today?”

“Huh?”

Dinah nods.

“To my house after school. Would you like to?”

Anya nods. She doesn’t have anything to do at home anyway.

Dinah smiles.

“Great.”

~*~*~*~*~

Dinah’s house is big. We enter her room which is white and has nothing on the walls.

“So what do you think?”

“It’s nice.” Anya looks at the bed. There are tens of stuffed toys on it.

“Oh those are Kate’s. She likes to play with them.”

“How old is she?”

“Six.”

“And how old is Jonathan?”

Dinah shrugs and looks out the window.

“A year or two older than we are.”

Then she looks at Anya again.

“He really likes you. He thinks you’re nice.”

“Oh really.”

“Really. Would you like to have some tea?”

“Sure.”

“Anything particular you’d like?”

“Darjeeling. It’s my favorite.”

“Coming right up.”

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

A/N: Oooh evil cliffhanger! I'm sooo evil. lol
No it'll be continued in the next chapter.

It might seem weird to read, but I wasn't sure if I should talk about the past Anya as I or her since the present Anya was there too. And this is from Anya's POV. Complicated. @.@

And the word monttubileet (hole-party) is a word my friend uses.

Until the next chapter!


Comments (1) | Permalink

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Tabula Rasa

BIG NOTE:

This chapter is from Malice's POV. So you don't have to wonder why it seems so strange.


Chapter 6

"Yes, nostalgic. That this place is."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another day. A day just like all the others.

Wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, go to work, get home, eat something, go to bed.

The same happens every single day. Minus the vacations.

And here I thought that when you die you get out of the never-ending circle.

But no.

The only difference seems to be taking out the lost souls and all the other demons everyday.

But even that gets boring after a while.

Being almost immortal has its good and bad sides.

But I wasn’t thinking of that when I got here.

Well better here than in Hell I suppose.

...and then there’s rookie.

Yeah, I know she has a name. But someone has to keep her on her toes.

She’s too much of a human anyway. And humans need to be slashed at every once in a while or they get used to things being good. But even when things are good they complain. It’s like they want everything to go wrong.

And when it does, they complain some more.

Sheep, that’s what humans are. Stupid and close-minded sheep.

They always need someone to point at the direction to go to and they don’t give a rat’s ass even if it were the wrong one. Hey they have someone to blame for that too!

God, Satan or whatever they “believe” in. Hah. They’re just looking for someone to blame for their flaws. Because the man is never at fault. Even at the time when God was perfect and innocent the man was never at fault.

The woman was.

Women were always “the ones to turn to Satan” and “away from God” and always “easy to trick to committing sins”.

Never the men. Men were loyal to God, perfect, strong and women were their underlings and servants.

And of course women started to fight the fact AFTER I died.

Bad luck or some sick revenge from God or whoever?

I don’t care really. When life kicks you, you gotta kick it back.

That’s the reason I’m here in the first place.

~*~*~*~*~

The rookie is late. Great, I get to grill her again.

She’s high above the clouds and I’m the one who snaps her back to reality.

But I never asked for a partner anyway. I’m not her beast friend or anything. This whole arrangement is just plain business as always.

Ah there my victim- eh partner is.

Looks like she hasn’t slept too well. Well that ain’t my problem.

“You’re late rookie.”

“I know, you don’t have to tell me that!”

It’s not like I’m too happy about this either.

Well someone’s gotten up on the wrong foot this morning.

“Just make sure it won’t happen again.” To my surprise she goes through her bag and throws a folder at me. I easily catch it.

“I was late because I finished that stupid report!”

And that took ages so you better NOT complain! Plus I haven’t been sleeping well, I skipped breakfast to get here as fast as possible and I do NOT need you to start bitching at me about it!

I suppress a laugh. Maybe she’s got guts after all.

~*~*~*~*~

“When am I going to get my weapon?”

Well that one sure got me off guard.

“Huh?”

“Yeah Sam told me that you should’ve given me one already!”

“So the nutcase redhead told ya? Well then I guess I don’t have to explain it to you.”

“Well how about you do so that I know what I’ve been missing!”

“Not much I can tell you that.”

“So when and how am I going to get my weapon?”

Geez she’s like a persistent little kid.

“When? I was thinking of today but since you’re in that mood...”

“Sorry. I’ll calm down.”

“Nah just kidding. How? That depends. It’s different for everybody.”

She nods.

“And you have to go get it alone.”

“WHAT?! You won’t help me?!”

“Nope. You gotta make it through this one all by yourself.”

She looks horrified. Great.

“Plus you won’t get just your weapon. You get all your other powers too.”

“Powers?”

“Yup. Powers.”

“So when do I get them?”

“As I said, today.”

And there’s the movement she does every time she gets nervous. She starts scratching her arm like she has a rash or something. She doesn’t even realize how much of the stuff she does tell how she’s feeling and what she’s thinking.

“In a few hours to be exact. But we can go grab something since you skipped breakfast and all.” She looks horrified. I grin. “You really need to work on those thoughts of yours and how to keep them to yourself.”

“I can do that?” She looks surprised.

“Sure. But it requires concentration. Which you don’t have.” She pouts.

“Cheer up. There are a lot of people who don’t.”

“Okay. No work for you today?”

“Nope, how’d you know?”

“You’re wearing a skirt and you can’t run with those shoes.”

Damn observer.

~*~*~*~*~

After eating we enter the elevator.

“So where are we going?”

I saw that coming.

“The lowest place of the whole Office.”

“Which is?”

“Floor D.”

“Okay.”

The elevator goes lower and lower. I’m getting a nostalgic feeling from this.

“How long does this take?”

“To get to the bottom or getting your stuff?”

“Getting my stuff.”

“Depends. It took me a few hours but you might take longer.”

“Why?!”

I give her a neutral look.

“You’re weak and not just physically.”

She looks like I hit her with a bat.

“Face it. I’m not here to comfort you or give you courage. I’m here to make sure you get out alive. It’s my job.”

She looks down again. Well there’s nothing I can do about it, it’s her problem.

The elevator stops.

“Well we’re here.”

We step out in silence.

~*~*~*~*~

I’ve seen this place before so it doesn’t bother me anymore. But this is the first time for rookie.

I remember how shocked I was when I first stepped on the platform and saw the endless red ocean.

So is rookie right now.

“Well what are you waiting for?”

“Huh?”

“If you’re ready, then jump in.”

“In THERE?!”

I sigh. She’s not too bright sometimes.

“Yes. You won’t drown in there. And you’ll get out when you’re done.”

She looks reluctant to jump in. I guess I need to give her a push.

Literally.

“Good luck rookie! Make sure you survive okay?”

She opens her mouth and I push her off the platform.

The ocean swallows her. She disappears from my sight for a minute and then the water clears. She’s getting up from the floor.

I sit on the edge of the platform. Yes, nostalgic. That this place is.

~*~*~*~*~

“Amanda! We have to get going, the service is about to begin!”

“Why do I have to go?”

“Don’t start that again, the whole town is there!”

“That’s not a reason.”

“Why didn’t I have a normal daughter? First you start fencing then you refuse all the men I brought here to get to know you-”

“They’re all just spoiled rich boys with an intelligence of a duck.”

“Mind your tongue, girl, you never know who’s listening.”

“I have no intentions of getting married!”

“You will get married voluntarily or God help me I will drag you to the church myself!”

“Well then you try to do that, because I’m NOT. GOING.”

I get a slap from my mother.

“Listen. This is not for you to decide. Now grab your coat and off we go. Act like a normal daughter for once in your life. Do it for your family’s sake if not for yourself.”

I grab my coat and off we go.

The mood in the church is even more depressing than usual. Still I sit down next to my mother and try to block the words coming from the priest. It’s not like I believe that bullshit anyway.

Now that’s a though my mother would kill me for.

“Dear congregation, I have horrible news.”

Everyone goes quiet. Now what is it this time?

“We have found something from the woods. We have found evidence of a horrible sin, we have found evidence of the practice of WITCHCRAFT!”

The whole church stirs. Even I look at the priest.

“And we have a sinner right here among us! Yes, a wolf disguised as a sheep! Servant of the Devil! And we have witnesses!”

Some black coated men bring in 3 girls. All of them have hated me since my family got here. Last week they came to me and said that they “know what I do at nights”. Right, they’re all just spoiled brats. If I could do magic I would’ve made them suffer already.

Now I got the picture of what’s going on.

And I think I know what happens next.

And sure enough, one of the girls points straight at me.

“It was Amanda! She did it! She came last night! She made us sign the book of the Devil! And then she left, she flew away!” she screams hysterically. Now of course the whole church turns to look at me.

“Get her!”

~*~*~*~*~

I wake up from my memories and take a look at the ocean. Rookie’s doing alright. I sigh.

Guess she’s better than I though.

But the hardest part is still ahead.

It was for all of us.

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

A/N: So we had a peek in the mind of Malice. Interesting? Boring? Let me know if it was bad and I won't do it again.

Now I don't have anything against religion. I don't hate people for believing. But Malice isn't that much of a believer character, so I write according to her character. So don't start flaming me for it.

See I know it's a good character when it starts to live a life of it's own meaning that I sort of know what it'd do or say. Malice, Sam and Kaoru are characters like that. Anya is still developing though.

Also I've done the Rowlings! Meaning that I know how the last chapter of Tabula Rasa will go (it's not coming up for a long time, don't worry!) and how some of the later chapters go as well.

And I'll have a special chapter up at some point and it (hopefully) won't be so...angsty since we all need some humor every once in a while, don't we? ^^

So as usual, all comments and questions are welcome!


Comments (1) | Permalink

Friday, May 4, 2007

FAQ

3 comments! WOOT! Yeah I know authors who get like 10 comments per every chapter but...*sigh*


The comment:
"Woot! This is gettin' good! Real good! I have one questoin. I'm kinda confused but can people see Sam and Anya and Malice and all them? Or do they just make them sleep so they can't see them? Anywayyy x-rated writing is good! haha >_< I want some! O_O lol. Anyway I can't wait to read more! ^^ "
-Simpleplanluver

Answer:
Me: Thanks, I'm glad that you like my story! Comments like that keep me writing. ^^ And now that question of yours...
Anya: A tricky question really...
Sam: We need an expert! KAORU!
Kaoru: *sigh* You want to hear it the short or the long way?
Anya: Short, please.
Kaoru: Well the thing is that yes, humans can see us...it would be too much trouble to put all the humans to sleep...and it would be too chaotic to put humans to sleep everytime they see us.
Sam: If we would we'd have to do that about every minute, right?
Kaoru: Right. So we don't use sleep spirits unless we really have to.
Anya: OK, I think they get it now.


The comment:
"I really liked this part of the story!!!"
-mizuki-13

The answer:
Me: Thanks, I worked a total of 3 hours on it!
Anya: She wrote it, pasted it here, put all the HTML-stuff...
Me: Re-wrote some parts too. But the more time and work it takes the better the quality, right?


The comment:
"I love your storys they're really good! I like the weird dream that Sam had."
-Zim236

The answer:
Me: Well I have only one story in-progress right now.
Sam: Wait I didn't have any dreams! What's she talking about?!
Me: It was Anya who had the dream.
Sam: Not me?
Me: Nope.
Sam: Oh. OK.
Me: Just to make it clear: if not told otherwise, all the chapters are from Anya's POV. I'll write some chapters from other POVs but I'll let you know when I do.
Kaoru: Not from my POV you're not!
Me: Why not?
Kaoru: I have enough trouble with that one nutcase.
Sam: I'M NOT A NUTCASE! *weeps*
Kaoru: See?
Me: Okay, no chapter from Kaoru's POV.


So that was all for now. I'll write another chapter soon (maybe even today) and it's weekend, so we'll make some progress here, shall we? ^^


Comments (2) | Permalink

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Tabula Rasa

Chapter 5

"Wanna play with me?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dark. Lots and lots of dark.

A little light. In the middle of the light a table. On the table is a tea set.

Around the table there are four chairs.

On one of the chairs is a little girl.

A little girl in a white dress.

With a hammer in her hand.

She picks up a cup and places it in front of her.

Hits it with the hammer.

Looks at me with a bright smile.

"Wanna play with me?"

~*~*~*~*~

"RISE AND SHINE!"

"AAH!"

I land on my floor with a loud thump.

"Mornin'!"

I look up.

"Hi Sam."

"Get up, we're gonna have a busy day! Lots of cases! Lots of paper work! Lots of-"

"Sam."

"Yeah?"

"...take a look at my clock and tell me what time it is."

She looks at my clock and freezes.

"Eh..."

"Yes, Sam. What. Time. Is. It?"

She rubs the back of her head.

"6 AM."

"And my alarm goes off at...?"

"7 AM."

I sigh.

"It's not my problem that you're so lazy. You should get up earlier."

I glare at her.

"Sam, go take a run. A LONG run."

"No. Let's have breakfast, I'm starving!"

"Eat at your own house then."

"Eh..."

"Don't tell me. Your fridge is empty?"

"...yeah."

I sigh again. Sam's a nice person but tends to forget the important things like getting food. Well I'm already up, no point in trying to get any sleep...

Sam's already bouncing towards my kitchen. How can anyone be so disgustingly cheery this early in the morning?

I enter the kitchen. Sam's already making herself a sandwich. A big one.

"Hurry up!"

"Sam, you're starting to sound just like Malice." She shuts up.

"Anyway, what are you being so hyper about?"

She beams again.

"We have a team assignment!"

I stare at her for a while.

"...what?"

"Yup, you, me and the evil woman are a team!"

"Again, what?"

She smacks her forehead.

"Oh yeah. No one's told you." I still stare at her.

"See there's been a mass suicide. A lot of lost souls are running around. The local forces have it all out of control."

"I didn't know that could happen."

She looks at me like I just said that Japan is in the middle of China.

"It can happen. Not too often, but it does happen. And since lost souls don't move in big groups they're harder to catch when there are too many of them. And sometimes they kinda...absorb each other."

"And that means...?" I grab two slices of toast and put them in the toaster.

"That, my friend, means that they get bigger, nastier and potentially more dangerous. Even when just one lost souls absorbs another one it gets nasty." She shivers. "I saw that once. Not nice."

"So why are we a team?"

"Kaoru said that of the 68 lost souls only 13 have been caught, meaning that we have 55 lost souls on the loose. So we've been put in teams to get those things caught before any worse damage can happen." She waves her hand at the look on my face. "Don't worry, we won't be the only people there, of course there are other teams as well."

I take my toast from the toaster and start putting marmalade on them.

"So what happens if we can't catch them?"

"They start taking over people and make them kill themselves and others. And that would be very bad. So we just gotta catch them before anything can happen." She bites her sandwich. I'm not that hungry anymore.

"Well eat up and we can get going."

I reluctantly take a bite of my toast.

~*~*~*~*~

Once we arrive at the Office I remember once again how big this building really is. Thankfully Sam knows the way.

Sure enough, Malice is waiting for us. She looks at her watch.

"Took you two long enough."

She's wearing black jeans that have few chains on them and a long-sleeved black blouse. I take a look at my ragged jeans and white blouse. Sam's wearing a bright red T-shirt and green slacks.

Now who doesn't fit in?

"How about worrying about our assignment instead of our clothes rookie?"

"Huh?"

"Sam, she reads minds."

"Seriously? Is that why she's so cranky all the time?" Malice looks like she's going to say something really vulgar so I change the subject.

"Yeah, so our assignment. Where is it?"

Malice glares at Sam for one last time and turns to me.

"London. And we have a change in plans."

"What is it?"

"We have another person joining us."

"Who?"

"Over here."

I look on my right and there is standing who else but Kyoto.

"Kyoto! What's up? Long time no see!" Sam's happy about this.

"Nothing out of the ordinary really." He shrugs. He's also wearing the same clothes he was wearing the last time I saw him. Plus he has glasses this time.

"Enough with the talk! We have some lost souls to catch." Ah. Back to the point. While walking to the transporting house I get curious.

"So we're heading to London? What exactly happened?"

The answer is provided by Kyoto.

"Some suicidal people gathered at the London Underground and jumped in front of an on-coming train." He gives a dark laugh. "Damn classic."

"Most of them got away and have spread near the London U. So we better hurry." Malice turns to Kyoto. "Someone's already informed the local forces of our arrival. They can't keep this under control anymore."

"It's been happening a lot lately. What the heck have they been doing if they can't even isolate the lost souls on time!"

I turn to Sam and whisper "Isolate?"

"Yeah, it means that they form a power field around the area and don't let the lost souls get away. They also put all the humans to sleep and wake them up after the souls are taken care of. Humans won't remember anything about it and can go all hysteric again" she whispers back. We've arrived at the transporting house.

~*~*~*~*~

Once we arrive in the London U I can see lost souls almost everywhere. Kyoto looks around.

"It's worse than we were told! Where're the local forces?!"

"No time for that, we have to get a move on. Girls, you go there and release the sleep spirit. Me and Kyoto will make a field around the souls." Sam is once again dragging me off. We walk a little while and then stop.

"So what do we do?"

Sam takes a small glass jar out of her bag. Inside is a little blue butterfly. It's glowing.

"This is what we do." She opens the jar after aiming it towards the closest person in sight. The butterfly goes right through the man and goes on from another person to the next. After a while all the humans are asleep. Sam whistles and the butterfly comes back. Sam catches it and puts it back in the jar.

"What about the people coming in here?"

"Another team is playing police officers and keeping humans out of the way."

"Oh. So what do we do next?"

Before Sam gets to answer a purple wall begins to move around the place. The lost souls seem to understand what's going on and start moving. The purple wall begins to lock the souls in.

"We have to get out now!" Sam grabs my arm and we start running out of the place.

Unfortunately some souls decide to follow us.

We get out before the wall closes. But so do the 2 souls. We turn around and stare at them. They've stopped in their tracks for some reason.

"What the-" Sam goes pale. "Enma!"

One of the souls turns to the other one. It starts glowing a bright yellow. The other souls starts to glow too. They go closer to each other and…turn into a ball. The ball starts to glow a bright orange. Sam starts acting.

She takes out a ribbon and puts her hands in front of her. The ribbon starts to glow.

"Hurryhurryhurry..."

The ribbon starts to change its form. It becomes a bow. Sam takes the bow in her hands and pulls her hand through the space where an arrow should be. From between her fingers comes a golden line that shapes into an arrow. She aims at the glowing ball and fires.

The arrow hits its target. The ball splits into two lost souls. They start glowing again. Sam aims again.

"Oh no you little devils not this time!"

Sam fires another arrow and it hits the other soul. Quickly she charges another arrow and shoots the other one. This one dodges and speeds off. Sam starts running after it.

"Anya, take a jar from my bag and take care of that other one!"

I start to dig through her bag. I find the jar and look up. There's a dragonfly flying around.

Not knowing what to do, I just go with my instinct and try to catch the bug in the jar.

The bug is quick though. It starts flying around me.

I've never liked bugs. Especially the big flying ones.

The dragonfly suddenly aims for my face. I squeeze my eyes shut and clap my hand together: the jar in the other one and the lid of the jar in the other.

The bug gets caught inside the jar.

"OI!"

I open my eyes and see Malice running towards me. She sees the jar with the dragonfly.

"Good job, now where's Samantha?"

"She ran after the other soul that got out..."

Malice curses. Then she looks over her shoulder.

"Kyoto should be here any minute." She looks at me. "You stay right here. Don't let that thing out OK?"

I can't do anything else but nod.

"Right. Now where did she go?"

I nod at the direction Sam ran off to.

"Great." With that Malice starts running.

After a while Kyoto shows up.

"If that jar is closed you can give it to me now." I shakily hand over the jar.

"Alright. So where're Malice and Sam?"

"Sam went after a soul that ran off and Malice went after her."

Kyoto sighs.

"Doesn't sound like Malice told you anything. OK, so here's the deal: we got the souls. They're being sent upstairs right now. Minus the two that got away of course. The local force showed up and told us they were on an assignment at the other end of the country. They said that when they got there they were told that nothing was wrong: no lost souls, demons, nothing! So they head back and heard about the little chaos no one was taking care of."

He looks away and sighs. "Either we have a communication problem or someone's messing with the system." He spits on the ground. "And I highly doubt the first option."

I don't know what to say.

Thankfully that's when Sam and Malice arrive.

"So did you get it?"

"Yeah. A fast little devil, but I got it." Sam grins.

"Don't let it go to your head. I did most of the catching anyway."

"But I shot it!"

"And I caught it. End of story."

Sam pouts. Kyoto turns to Malice.

"Maybe we should head back. We've done what we could."

Malice nods. "Alright, let's go."

~*~*~*~*~

After sinking the bugs to the pool we got to go home. I'm laying on my bed while Sam does some yoga moves on the floor.

"Sam. What was that bow you used at London?"

"Oh that! It's my weapon. Surely you have your own, don't you?"

"..."

She takes her legs from behind her head.

"You don't have a weapon?!"

"No, I don't."

"Then what the hell has Malice being teaching you?"

"Pretty much theory."

"No weapon?"

"No."

"No any kind of training?!"

I shake my head.

Sam puffs.

"Should've known. Well Malice will probably taking it all out on ya soon."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll find out."

She gets up from the floor.

"Well I better get going already."

"Bye."

"Bye. See ya tomorrow!"

I hear the door close. I roll on my stomach.

Malice should've given me a weapon already, why hasn't she said anything?

I sigh.

Guess it can't be helped though. When she decides something there's no changing her mind.

I close my eyes and feel sleep getting closer and closer...

~*~*~*~*~

A hammer breaks another cup.

"Wanna play with me?"

"What are you doing?"

"Playin'. Wanna join me?"

"No. That's not playing."

The girl pouts.

"You don't like my game."

"What game?"

"The same game people play everyday."

"No they don't!"

"Yes they do."

The girl stands up from her chair.

"They break pretty souls all the time. They enjoy it."

She waves at the tea set with her hammer.

"Pretty souls. Like those pretty tea cups over there. All crashed and shattered."

She turns towards the table.

"All shattered."

She raises her hammer and smashes another cup into pieces.

"Why are you doing that?!"

She looks at me with empty eyes.

"Don't play all innocent, you've done it too."

"Done what?!"

"Broken people, smashed them into pieces."

She drops the hammer to the ground.

"And on top of it all you even pretended that you helped them. You didn't help them. Not even a bit!"

She kicks one of the chairs.

"You may think that a sorry will make everything better, but guess what, IT WON'T!!!"

A chair falls down.

"YOU NEVER HELPED US! YOU WEREN'T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED YOU TO BE! YOU RAN! YOU NEVER CAME BACK TO US!"

She picks up the hammer and starts smashing the chair.

"HOW DO YOU THINK IT MADE US FEEL?! TO KNOW THAT THE ONE PERSON WE THOUGHT CARED ABOUT US RAN AWAY AND NEVER CAME BACK!!! IT FUCKING HURT!!!"

She throws the hammer away. Then she turns around, walks up to me and looks at me with tears in her eyes.

"We really thought that you liked us...that you wanted to be with us..." She sniffs.

"...that you loved us..."

"What are you talking about?"

She looks at her feet.

"So you forgot huh...forgot about us..."

Another sniff.

"But it's okay...you'll remember us soon...we'll make sure you'll remember..."

She smiles wickedly.

"And then there'll be only us...no one else...just us...and we'll be happy together...oh we will..."

The girl raises her head and looks at me. The wicked smile hasn't disappeared from the pretty face.

"Won't we, Anya?"

"How do you know my name?!"

The smile grows wider.

"I've known you for years, Anya. You were there for years."

She lets out a small laugh.

"Years of Heaven after that Hell...that's what it was."

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, I don't even know you-"

She waves a finger at me.

"I know you don't remember us now, but no need to be so rude!"

The smile disappears.

"But don’t you remember anything? Even the tea set? The swings in the schoolyard?"

I shake my head.

"...I see."

She walks back to the table.

"We can wait. We've been waiting for years, we can wait a little longer."

She takes a cup and a tea pot and pours some tea into the cup.

"Want some? This is your favorite, you told me so."

"No thanks."

She shrugs.

"It's not poisoned or anything, I'd never do that to you."

"And why should I believe you?"

Hurt crosses her face.

"You didn't mean that...you said that you trust me..."

"And when did that happen?"

She takes a sip from the cup.

"Answer me."

She's staring at the table.

"...you didn't say please."

"What!?"

She looks at me.

"You always said...that you have to say please...otherwise you won't get what you want."

"Alright. Answer me, PLEASE."

She smiles.

"That's better!"

She gets up from her chair.

"When did I know you?"

She sticks out her tongue.

"Promise me you'll play with me next time and I'll tell you!"

"OK, I promise I'll play with you next time."

"Say it so I can hear you!"

"I PROMISE I WILL PLAY WITH YOU NEXT TIME!"

"Anything I want?"

"ANYTHING!"

"So it's a deal!"

A big smile comes to her face.

"Oh you're waking up soon...don't worry, we'll come to you next time...and remember, you said you'd play anything with me..."

She giggles.

That's the last thing I hear before everything goes black...

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

A/N: Hey, another new character! WOOT! lol Alright, the author has two tests tomorrow but had an inspiration and wrote another chapter. Now the author's back is being a pain and she needs to go study.

Simpleplanluver: Lesbians? Well I've thought about it...but I won't promise any lesbian-hotness yet.

Malice: She'll be banned if she writes anything X-rated.
Kaoru: But X-rated wouldn't be that bad, would it?
Sam: *grabs Kaoru* So off to womanhunting we go! ^^
Kaoru: -.-' Someone please get her off me.


And also thanks to mizuki-13 and Zim236 for commenting. Comments always make me wanna write more! ^^


Comments (3) | Permalink

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Like a porcelain doll.

Curly hair, tidy clothes

and pretty eyes, pale face

covering a fragile thing

with no name.

Silent, doesn't argue

but won't play nor laugh either.

Noise of something breaking.

What is it?

It's very much like me

though it's something people can't see.

No cries, no tears

just an empty smile that never falters.

What does it look like from the inside?

It's a porcelain doll

with a broken heart and a shattered face.


In 5 ways

In 5 ways

I can say thank you

I love you and goodbye.

Kiitos. Minä rakastan sinua. Hyvästi.

[Finnish sounds hard, with words sharp like knives.]

Tack. Jag älskar dig. Farväl.

[Swedish is like spears: either sharp or dull. When it hits the right place it'll hurt anyway.]

Danke. Ich liebe dich. Auf Wiedersehen.

[German is soft words with sometimes very bitter meaning.]

Merci. Je t'aime. Au revoir.

[French is spoken quickly, so that you won't understand the meaning behind the words or sometimes you can't make them out at all.]

But now they're all the same

the kind and loving phrases

now bitter and pained.


Anteeksi

I didn't plan it

I didn't mean it

but still I hurt people

without even seeing

in how much pain they are

and how they don't want to hear from me.

So to put it simple

anteeksi

entschuldigung

I'm sorry.

Förlåt mig

forgive me

excusez-moi

I'm still so sorry.

But asking to be forgiven is far easier than forgiving.


Comments (2) | Permalink