Chapter One- The Warehouse District

Meet Jamie Carlson, social outcast of Alcara Next Chapter: Brawl in the Warehouse

 

Koudelka and the Dawning Awakening

Chapter One: The Social Outcast meets a Stranger

“Honestly, James. I don’t understand why you keep on doing this. You know your father doesn’t like you failing school like this.”

“Mom, why the hell would he care? He’s never cared before. Why would he now?”

“It’s your senior year, the most important year of your high school year. If you don’t do good this year, you’ll never get into a good college and you’ll never get a good job. Besides that you’ve never had a friend come over here in years. Why-“

“Because they are backstabbers…”

“Maybe if you were a bit more social and were a bit more outgoing, then maybe-Where are you going?”

“Out for a walk…”

“No you are not! You still have homework to-“

The door slammed before his mother could finish her sentence. Jamie sighed and ran a hand through his short dark brown hair. He couldn’t stand his mom’s nagging about how he should concentrate more on his schoolwork, how he should try and get more friends. He couldn’t stand it when his mom called him James, it sounded way too “stern” for him. He liked it way more when his mom called him Jamie and when she and his dad actually got along.

Hey, but that’s just like asking Hell to freeze over, now is it.

He took a deep breath and walked out away from his house and to the sidewalk. Lately, a nighttime walk would calm him, especially after an argument with his mom. He couldn’t wait till he turned eighteen, then he could drop out of high school, move out of this horrible city and hopefully get a job as a famous actor and not as a burger flipper till the end of time. Jamie scoffed. Then he could truly rub in these morons’ faces; his parents, his former friends, his ex-girlfriend, his teachers. He walked into the downtown district of the city, and sure enough, it was blooming with activity. He saw a handful of people from his school off the bat. He dared not talk to him, not wanting to risk being ridiculed just for taking a small walk.

He looked up and noticed that he was nearing the park. He remembered when he was a kid, how he would go there and read books. For the past few years, it was a safe haven from his parents’ loud verbal arguments about money and the accusations of adultery. He walked under the Iron Gate and followed the stone-pavement path the center of the park. For such a nice late summer’s night, the park had barely any life wandering the grass and paths.

Perfect, more of a chance for me to think to myself…

He walked to an old wooden bench that was directly under a street lantern. He slouched onto the seat and rested his head on the wood, closing his eyes and taking in the silence. He took three deep breaths and opened his eyes, looking up at the star sky above.

Then, he heard footsteps, lifting off and on the path delicately. Jamie looked down from the sky and looked over in the direction of the footsteps. His eyes widened at the sight of the person walking towards him.

It was a girl that looked about his age. He never seen this girl before, not even at school, so he guessed she was new or something. She was tall, very tall, maybe almost six feet tall. Her body was slim, but strong, like she worked out or something.  She had long, orange-red colored hair that went to about the middle of her back. Her eyes were gray and almond-shaped. She was wearing a black tank-top, dark blue jeans, and black flats. Jamie’s jaw dropped as he looked at this stranger. Clearly, she was beautiful and it didn’t take a genius to say that she was walking right up to him. He was thinking this girl would turn tail and run, just like the others. But, instead, she smiled at him and walked up to him.

She said kindly. “Why are you out here all by yourself? It’s a glorious night out.”

“Um…uh…aren’t you going to run away? Most people don’t like me.”

The stranger laughed musically. “Why? We don’t even know each other.”

Jamie smiled a little, but lost it quickly. “Um…are you new?”

The girl shrugged. “Maybe…maybe not…”

She started to walk away. Jamie quickly stood up and reached his hand out to try to touch her.

“Wait! I don’t even know your name.”

She looked back at him and gave him a small smile. She waved faintly at him and said quietly, “See you later…”

She walked out of the park. Jamie ran after the mystery girl but she was no where in sight. It was like she got up and disappeared. Jamie growled and kicked a fallen twig.

“She was probably just a figment of my imagination or something stupid like that,” He said angrily to himself.

Suddenly, a scream came out. A lady’s scream. By natural instinct, Jamie turned to the direction of the scream. That was when even more broke out. It came from the direction of the old warehouse district, the place where a bunch of lowlifes and escaped prisoners.

Why should I care? There is a crime there at least twice a day…

But, something felt odd. The scream was a usual scream of sudden shock, the kind that was normally heard when it came from there. This scream was more like a pure terror scream, like what you hear from the poor unfortunate souls in those terrible slasher films.

That was when more screams broke out, and a tidal wave of people came running from that direction. Jamie was hit, stomp on and trampled over as the wave of terrified people came past him. He felt his eardrums burst with all of the screaming of the scared people of the city. After the surge went away, he finally saw one police car go by. Jamie scoffed as the vehicle zoomed by, lights flashing violently.

Finally they leave the freakin’ doughnut shop.

He was about to turn around and go home. But now, he was actually curious to see why all those people where freaking out. It surely had to be pretty interesting, especially if all those people were scared. Jamie shrugged and walked towards the warehouse district, ready to see whatever was there.

The streets of the warehouse district were very wide, wide enough to fit two semi-trucks going by. On the sides of the street were abandoned warehouses and some depots that were still in business. Back in the day, this area used to be booming with activity. Now, this was just a place where prostitutes do business and where escaped convicts go after the big escape.

Jamie walked down the empty, unpleasantly quiet sidewalk. A streetlight flickered and a cat jumped off of a trashcan, but Jamie didn’t stir. He just continued to walk.

Then, he heard a deep, eerie, scratchy moan come from one of the warehouses. Jamie jumped at the sound, but quickly settled. His mother’s warning about the warehouse district echoed loudly through his ears and head, but he ignored. He pulled out a small pocket knife from his jeans, flicked out the blade and preceded into the abandoned warehouse, now overcome by curiosity.

The warehouse smelt old and dusty and wooden boxes were scattered everywhere. It was an old storage room, Jamie thought. He looked over at the broken window, from where a flickering streetlight’s light vaguely shone through. He looked up and saw a dangling broken light bulb. Clearly that wasn’t going to help. He walked across the room to a broken down door. He walked over the debris and into a larger storage room, littered with more broken and dirty wooden boxes.

Jamie sighed and rested himself on the concrete wall. It was all a scam, nothing was in here. If there was anything, he would’ve been jumped by now.

Jamie grumbled something and turned toward the door. Then, he heard something scatter across the floor. He turned quickly, knife pointed out away from him. Jamie’s eyes looked around the room quickly, but he was the only one there. His muscles were tense, his breathing quick.

“It’s okay…” he assured himself quietly. “Just a cat or a rat.”

He backed himself to the doorway, eyes fixed on the large open room.

Then, he heard a liquidy growl and from the shadows came a dark mass. Jamie tried to focus on what it was, but the lighting couldn’t help. But this is what he could see. A tall, dark monster about ten feet tall with black, oozy skin with tentacles coming from its body. It had four glowing, malignant red eyes where its face should be. For it’s left hand was a thick, sharp blade that almost touched the floor. Jamie couldn’t see its right side, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to get the hell out.

He turned toward the door but tripped on his own footing and landed on his stomach side. He turned onto his back and saw the oozing monster advancing towards him slowly. Jamie crab-walked backwards, feeling deathly afraid of this slow moving monster. He was going to die. He was going to be killed by this strange monster.

He closed his eyes and thought of his family and waited for the monster’s final blow.

Author's Note

Ignore grammar and spelling errors
No flames, constructive criticism please
Enjoy!

Reviews

[Renee Hubert]

Hmmm, nagging Mom, mystery girl, then monster, hmmm. Jamie has much turmoil going on here, not a bad thing. Nice cliffhanger. Maybe the fact the monster hasn't killed him as quickly as the convict will be resolved in the next chapter....is the monster, the girl? Intriguing...
I'd cut out the "people run away from him" entirely, it is not believable to me. It is believable enough that he would be so dumbstruck that the beautiful mystery girl would talk to him. But maybe I just don't know something yet to make that clearer.
I cannot "see" Mom or Jamie in the beginning, granted your probably trying to get to the good bits, but it wouldn't hurt to see Mom shake her severly straight blonde hair at him, or gesture with her well-manicured nails, lift her briefcase in exasperation or Jamie let his dyed black bangs swoop into his face to sheild him from his mother's nagging. If that's anything like how you would envision them. A description of his mother might give the reader a clue as to how she might treat him or other's on a regular basis.
I like the character Jamie who is reluctant, morose, cynical, apparently curious.
Keep going, good stuff : )

[Sean M. Addams]

i lked this alot thought the storyline was great and the character development was done well too... overall thought this was impressive so far can't wait to read more!!

[Skyman]

Hmm, in the prolouge you made this monster seem really fast by taking the villain by surprise. Or its just me.