Creator

I used to live my life day by day. A quick shower in the morning, breakfast, a walk with my friends, school, lunch and dinner followed by a night’s worth of television and homework. Always the same like clockwork.

 

It is perhaps some kind of maniacal inspiration that led me off the beaten path. Instead of left I went right and rather than forward I ventured off the routes familiar, talking to others once part of a faceless crowd rather than those I knew. As my thoughts told me then, variety is the spice of life.

 

….

 

However, I begin to find certain... irregularities off the beaten path. I find myself obstructed by barriers unseen, and strangers I try to bring into my life became even more faceless and disjointed, as though everything around me is malfunctioning. 

 

I try to go back to my old life, to the same routines in an attempt to return to normalcy. But the people around me feel so distant now. Don’t I talk to them every day? Weird... I don’t remember their faces being so molten, so unrecognisable. What is happening to the world around me? 

 

Am I losing my mind?

 

And now that I think of it, how long have I been in Tenjin High? It’s like I’ve always been here every day of my life. I don’t remember anything before. I wrack my brain as hard as I can, but the memory eludes me. Perhaps… perhaps it was never there to begin with?

 

….

 

Just what the hell is going on? Now, I see the walls that were once invisible. They are so dark and so cold and yet they are something far more unfathomable for any form of an adequate description. I can’t go anywhere without seeing them. And even as I watch them, I feel then watching me, just like how everyone around me has turned to faceless, shambling dolls. I want to touch my surroundings, but they give off a foreboding that tells me that if I do, something awful would happen.  

 

Only my room is safe now. Even my parents have become no different from them. In fact, who exactly are my parents? I shouldn’t be silly. How can I not know my mom and dad? 

They’re...

 

….

 

How long has it been now? I haven’t been to school in what seems to be forever. I want to cross the days off the calendar on my desk, but words and numbers mean nothing to me now. It has all become gibberish, cryptic figures and scrawls that do nothing but frustrate. I don’t know why. Don’t I know how to read and write? Of course I do, when I...

 

When? I... I don’t remember. Everything feels so alien now. I huddle in a corner now, trying to seek solace within isolation, but it is only a fleeting respite, a denial of the inevitable madness that watches me, prying for even the slightest lapse in concentration.

 

….

 

I hear a knock on the door. The rapping against its wooden surface jolts me from my thoughts, a much needed respite. Perhaps my friends know of my plight? I miss them so much. Even so, this is strange; I cannot help but feel, for no one has ever visited me. 

 

In fact, who are my friends? I wrack my brain again for names, faces, anything remotely resembling kinship, but once more, I can’t remember.

 

I open the door, and come face to face with a lady my age. Or at least what I think is a lady, for her physical form seems to be in a constant state of collapse and reconstitution, an unending cascade of multicoloured crystals forming and falling to the floor. I try to register her face with my eyes but it is.... confusingly alien, like something beyond this existence. But at this point, I don’t trust myself to make sense of anything anymore.

 

“May I come in?” Her words were surprisingly crystal clear, as though they were made for me, and me alone, the only thing recognisable ever since my life became warped beyond recognition.

….

 

I want to say something, but I remain silent, stepping to the side meekly to let her through. She smiles (or at least what should resemble a smile) before looking directly at me while I close the door.

 

“I’m sorry about the past few days. It should have never happened and I should have prepared for this day. I just didn’t expect it so soon.” She said in that same crystal-clear tone she had greeted me with. This time however, I can sense a tinge of annoyance in her words, as one would to a wayward pet.

 

“Huh? What the hell do you mean?” I blurt out loud, my frustration and confusion taking center stage. In the face of this uncertainty, she seemed so sure of herself, a luxury I had lost and could feel nothing but resentment for.

 

“You’ve unravelled the threads holding this closed space together through your probing. Naughty, naughty mouse.”

 

“What the hell are you talking about? Are you crazy like the rest of them?” I yell, my patience straining my voice into a delirious pitch.

 

Hearing this, she laughs, a snide laughter that reeked of condescension, as a man would to a mere worm.  

 

“Don’t you know? Your life is a drama that I’ve penned.” She mocks, bringing her face up close to mine as her hands rub my shoulders. I felt her fingers caress my cheeks, like the gentle strokes of a fine paintbrush upon canvass. 

 

Eyeing my reaction intently, she laughs once more. Bringing herself even closer to my ear, she whispers a single, lilting phrase that stills my heartbeat like a strangling arm.

 

“Would you like me to show you?”

 

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

I did enjoy this chapter.
“Don’t you know? Your life is a drama that I’ve penned.” She mocks, bringing her face up close to mine as her hands rub my shoulders. I felt her fingers caress my cheeks, like the gentle strokes of a fine paintbrush upon canvass. "
The above lines. Perfect. Make the story have greater meaning and purpose. Thank you for sharing the excellent chapter.
Coyote

[Ted Kniffen]

Not bad, Aura. I like the point of view for your protagonist and the interaction with his 'Creator" good job.

[Beautiful Intentions]

There is something about this piece that had felt quite anime, very manga-like to me from the initial start of this which had instantly sparked within my joyous imagination. As the tale unfolded before my eyes viewing this in a colorful graphic novel with a subtle twinge of shadows that adds just the right amount of eeriness to this artful, captivating story. To be utterly frank, I found this completely inspiring from several points of views. Your leading character (whose name I do not know), is perfectly solid, relatable and believable which to me is the foundation to a great story and exhibits the writer's honest skill and devotion to their creations. Was a little sad that I had came in on a later chapter without realizing it until I finished reading this one. But definitely excited that there is more! All I got to say is bravo and encore!

[rowanfaet]

I really really really hope there will be more to this. It will make an EXCELLENT story. And you seem fully capable of laying it out in a way that leaves mystery and makes me want to read so much more. The cliffhanger at the very end is killing me inside. I want to know more. If that was your goal you reached it perfectly. Aside from my personal intense curiosity, the chapter is great. I really do hope to hear more.

[Aurafiex]

Thanks! In the meantime, do check out the other chapters!