Zemia Chata: Uninvited Visitors

 

Cast awoke to what seemed like his first day alive, he jumped up and gasped for air. His eyes blurry at first, like that of a new born child. Eyes dilated, he felt like he had not eaten in years. At first he thought yesterday was a dream until he saw the stained shirt on the floor and the remains of Lucy's lip stick on his lips. Cast ran down stairs to see the food was put away and breakfast was on the stove, pancakes, bacon, and eggs let out a peaceful scent around the house.

"Who could have made all this" Cast muttered, looking at the stove, watching the grease from the bacon pop, he heard laughing and talking coming from inside of the living room, he walked into the living room and stopped. "What are you doing here?" he said, angrily.

"That's not a nice good morning or welcome, I cooked you breakfast, come hurry up schools about to start and we need to talk," Alex said, with a smile. Alex had a relaxed expression on his face and stillness in his voice.

“Cast you didn’t tell me Alex was back,” Cast’s mother weakly said.

“Why are you two welcoming him? You know what his father did!”

 

The room stood quiet for awhile, but Cast’s detestation was enough to fill the room with hate.

"Come on Cast," Alex replied calmly, walking towards Cast.

"How could I trust the son of my father's killer?" he thought, as he watched Alex get closer. Joey looked up at him in wait of his answer, his face pale, but he was still able to maintain a smile. Cast fell to the floor; he felt a large amount of pain in his head. It felt like someone was trying to push him out of his own body. He closed his eyes, falling into a small trance.

“Cast are you okay?” Alex put his hand on Cast’s shoulder. A pulse of energy went through both of them. It felt the same as when Dawn touch him, a sudden twitch, and then nothing. The room was once again silent, time had frozen. Cast could still feel them even with his eyes closed, their regret, sadness, and pain. His eyes opened like a dead hatch, he saw everyone staring at him.

“I’m okay. I’m just hungry,” Cast recovered to his feet. The pain went away as if it were never there.

"Fine then eat up," he said, pointing to the food on the stove. "Your mom told me you didn't eat and you still didn't show me around."

Cast made his plate, no one spoke. He finished his meal, but it felt as if he still yearned for something. "Are you ready?" Alex asked, while he picked his book bag off of the hard wooden floor, the house had an awkward fill to it as Cast could feel Alex stare burning through his chest.

“I wonder if he felt it too,” Cast thought, but immediately snapping out of it after Alex had thrown his book bag at him. "Yea, I guess I’ am ready."

They both walked out the door; Cast glanced back at the rusty axe next to the door that was once owned by his father. He never seen his father use it, but it was the only thing that was left after he died. They walked down the narrow streets; shadows following behind like pesky burdens, the sun was working its way up to the sky. The shade gave the building and houses around them a grey and ominous look.

"We are a little early, don't you think?" Cast scratched his head, he faced Alex who was looking at the sun slowly rise.

"Cast remember when we were kids and we wondered what heaven was like," he asked, still looking at the glory of the sky painting it self.

Cast scoffed "Always with your head in the clouds, but yea I remember,” he let out a small sigh “You always thought that heaven was filled large white clouds and hundreds of angels.”

“What? You don’t think so?”

“It just that all of that seems unreal” Cast placed his hands into his pocket and shook his head. “A fairytale”

“Coming from the person who believed that he had a guardian angel watching him all the time” Alex looked at Cast who was deep in thought. He was thinking about Lucy and all that had happened yesterday. "You’ve changed, but at the same time you didn’t, you know what I mean?"

"Yea, I guess I have. I mean I know that there is no body watching me and keeping tabs on me every second of my life."

“Always so dramatic” Alex laughed. There was a brief pause between the two; they both wonder off into their own thoughts. "Cast, I....I’ am sorry, I’ am sorry for what happened." Cast stood silent, he didn’t even turn to look at Alex. “You don't have to accept it, not yet" Alex assured.

"Thank you Alex" he thought. He found himself smiling at his old friend, but then stopped. "Where are we going?" Cast asked, still following behind Alex, they both turned a corner leading away from the school, the houses started to change from the pattern a block back. The house looked older and rusty, people sat by trash cans on fire.

"Why are we in Kados, this is the second to last worse place in Jeramiah other then the abandon city" Cast whispered, flinching, the pain in his stomach started to come back.

"Well this is where me and Dawn live, most of the people here are from York Island" he explained, turning to Cast who was now holding his stomach. The people looked sad and hopeless, the sick had dirty wet rags on their heads. Garbage was scattered around the city. They stopped at a house, it didn’t look as bad as the others, but the paint was chipping off and the bricks where cracking. Alex knocked on the red door.

"This is insane. This place is-“

“Hell?" Alex interrupted; he didn't even turn around. “I rather this place then York Island.”

Cast wanted to ask him what happened on York Island but before he could, a sweet old voice came from the other side of the door. "Hold on," The door opened and a small old lady peeked out.

"Hello Mrs. Wenshi" Alex greeted, holding his hand out to shake hers.

"Oh, hello Alex, who is your nice friend?" Mrs. Wenski asked, pulling out her hand and shook his.

"This is Cast; he is a good friend of mine,"

"Hello" he waved, shyly. Mrs. Wenshi opened the door to let them in, both of them walked inside, the house looked better on the inside then the out, it almost looked new. The house had a strong aroma of tea surrounding it. The couch was draped in plastic that reached down to the pink rug. The living room held a small fire place, and a brown coffee table that centered it all.

"Dawn should be down soon" Mrs. Wenshi assured, pouring herself some tea. Steam erupted from the tea pot as she did so.

"Is Alex here, you can send him up" Dawn called down stairs from her room; they walked up the carpet covered steps. Cast went past a room where he heard humming, the door was closed but the humming stopped when he fully past the room. They both entered Dawn's room too see her putting her shirt on facing the window, scars covered her back, she turned around in surprise to see Cast.

"Hey....Cast," she said, confusedly.

"Hey," He looked behind him when the humming started again, but then turned back around when Dawn hugged Alex.

"Hey, are you ready?" Alex asked.

"Yea hold on don't you want to say hi to Megan?" she said, excitedly, grabbing his arm and dragging him to the room where the humming was coming from. Dawn opened the door with Alex behind her. Cast stood down the hall, and his stomach felt as if it was eating him alive.

"She has Crilof? She looks as healthy as you and me."

“It’s the medicine she has to keep taking. She keeps on complaining about seeing things,” Dawn said, sadly. Cast walked into the room, he saw a little girl coloring and humming; she turned around and looked at Cast, her face turned pale as she screamed.

"It's a demon; It's a demon, save me Dawn. Don't you see him?" Megan screamed, scattering behind Dawn. Alex looked at Cast who was still holding on to his stomach, the drawings on the floor that Megan made floated up into the air, a drawing hit Cast in the chest and fell into his hand. He looked down at the drawing and saw a man standing on a hill of dead bodies with tears in his eyes.

"Megan! He's not a demon calm down" Dawn yelled, while grabbing her and wrapping her arms around Megan’s head.

“It’s him Dawn! It’s the one that takes you from us.”

"Cast, I think we should go" Alex suggested, fearfully. He pushed Cast out the room.

"What the hell is going on" Cast thought, as he hit the hallway's wall. Alex closed the door behind them, the screams of Megan traveled through the walls. Sweat gently ran down his cheek and his eyes started to burn.

"What's going on with you, you seem sick" Alex observed. Cast looked away from Alex and looked down at the floor.

"I think I did something, something wrong" Cast admitted, while he slid down the wall and sat down.

"What do you mean?" he asked. The screaming stopped and the only sound that was left was the sound of the clock on the wall. Megan's bedroom door opened up, Dawn walked out of it with a needle in her hand.

"I’ am sorry about that, I put her to sleep. I have to do that most of the time; she keeps saying something is coming after her and that it's a demon. After she gets started she won't stop screaming. We should go to school now," she suggested, her face was tainted with sorrow as she walked down the steps. Cast and Alex followed behind her. She put the needle on the desk at the end of the staircase. They walked out of Dawn's house. The sun was now completely out and shining on them.

"Has Crilof really reached New Heaven?" Cast asked; he saw a old man chopping wood in his yard.

"Yea."

 Cast stopped, it felt as if a knife had stabbed him in the heart. He started coughing uncontrollably, his body could not take anymore pain; his vision began to get blurry.

"Are you ok" Alex asked, he went to put his hand on his shoulder, but Cast moved out of the way.

"Yes, I'm ok? I'll meet you two at school" he assured, forcing a smile onto his face.

"Are you sure?" Alex looked up at Dawn to see if she had stopped walking. Dawn turned and a worried look appeared on her face.

"I'm ok really, I' am, just go please" he pled, while walking away from them, he waited until he was not able to see them anymore before running into an alley, he then fell on his knees and coughed up blood.

"Get out of my head, get out, and leave me alone!"

"You wanted this, you need to do your job, you need to feed," The voices came. He stopped and looked at a man who was walking alone down the alley.

"Please no!" he begged.

"Then I will do it," A voice yelled

"I understand" He was in a trance; he then picked up a pole off of the ground, he ran and hit the man in the leg, sweeping him off of his feet. Cast kept on pounding and pounding until the man didn't even shake from getting hit anymore. He watched as the man’s eyes went dark, a black blur slipped out of the man's mouth.

"I see it, is this it, is this his soul?" He thought, he grabbed it and saw the man's memories, his pain, and his wishes. Cast felt stronger and the pain went away.

"Soon you will be able to do that without even laying a finger on your victim," The voice faded. The pole was dripping with blood; he dropped the pole in a puddle of blood. The splash echoed through the alley and his head. He walked out the alley, and the dead man caught on fire and disappeared. Cast walked towards the shore and sat down on the sand.

"Cast" Sara called; she was wearing blue jeans with an orange blouse.

"Hey."

"What's wrong? You have been acting weird" Sara said, she then sat down next to him and rested her head onto his lap.

"Sara. I don’t know if I can do this."

“Do what?”

“Save me” Cast whispered back, as he fainted; he could here Sara screaming his name while he blacked out.

 

   Cast woke up in the nurse's office inside of school. He looked around the room; his head had an ice pack on it.

"Are you alright now?" Lucy asked.

"There's no way you could be here" he said stunned.

“So that was your first, huh?” her light yellow eyes folding down on top of him. He turned to see Lucy inside of a nurse’s outfit. Lucy dove next to Cast, her dark red hair flowing and slapping him in the face.

"So how did it feel? The soul I mean. I didn’t expect you to faint, but I also didn’t expect it not to hurt."

“Ho-how did I get here?"

"The girl brought you here," she licked her lips deviously . “She is very persistent.”

“What did you do with her?” his voice rose. Lucy let out a small smile, like she had just won a game.

“So you do care about her?”

“That’s not answering my question.” He replied back. Lucy returned to her feet and walked over to a desk between two medicine cabinets. “She was okay the last time I seen her” she shrugged. Cast got up from the nurse's bed, he got to the door and put his hand on the door opening; he looked at the floor and saw his reflection.

"This feels like a bad dream" he said, as he turned around and looked at Lucy. "I can't go back can I?” his eyes were dark red, but then turned back to normal.

"Do you know what’s the difference between a beginning, and the beginning," Lucy replied. She was writing something down on a piece of paper, her hair had a vivid glow to it inside of that dark room. “One has weight to it, significant. That would be the beginning. A beginning is a random start, a story that can be replaced at anytime. You must decide which to choose with the opportunity I gave you. You can choose to be a strong factor in this fight or an expendable memory.”

"I have to kill her don't I?" he asked sadly.

"I forget that I’m working with a child. Hah you’re just like him" she paused, going into a trance of deliberation.

“Just like who?” he asked.

“No one” she countered. “That girl is a prophet; she can see inside of you and can give away what you really are. If you want to change this world to what you want you have to take away it’s previous mistakes. Once the girl learns about here true potential you might not be able to stop her at your level ” she tried to rationalize with Cast’s judgment.

"Remember what you’re trying to regain." She pulled a picture out from the inside of her bra; it was a picture of him and Suzie.

"I borrowed this from you, so she was two years younger then you, how sweet" Lucy teased, as she threw the picture at him.

"Lucy, I need to ask you something, while I was sleep I heard this voice, it was the same voice that told me to take that man’s life" he asked, as he looked at the picture in his hand.

"That was you, it's was your soul calling out to you" she elucidated, her eyes again on the paper.

"I thought you had my soul, I mean I did sell it to you right?" he asked; he sat down on the edge of the wooden desk that Lucy was using.

"Yes, you did but I didn't take it, well not yet, I opened up your soul's hunger so you could have power" she placed the pen on her lips, while looking up at him. “Now that I think about it. Your hunger it acting quickly” she groaned.

"Here's a pass, go to class, I can't work with someone stupid" Lucy said, with a smile on her face, as she handed him the pass. Cast looked down Lucy's legs and saw a tattoo, it read 666; he then took the pass.

 

"Can I ask something else?" Cast asked, as he took the pass away from her.

"Go ahead" Lucy said back.

"What's up with the tattoo?" Cast asked.

"Hm, oh, this is a seal, this disables me from taking souls myself by force; that's why you’re here. When enough souls are collected the seal will break" Lucy responded, while Cast walked away.

 "You can also stop looking at my legs" she retorted, Cast walked out the room; he felt a strong aura coming towards him. A boy walked past him with his head down, the boy walked into the nurse's room. Cast stopped and turn back around towards the nurse's room. He stood next to the door to listen to the conversation.

"Hello Sean, how are you?" Lucy's voice came. Cast put his ear onto the door.

"My soul….please stop it. I can barely stay in control" Sean muttered, he sounded sick.

"If you can’t beat it yourself then you're weak. You know I can't have someone that is weak" she replied.

"Shut up" Sean yelled back, he grabbed his head and banged it against the wall.

"I’ am sorry Sean, If you can't control it then I have to kill you" Lucy said back, she held out her hand and the room started to shake. Cast heard the sound of glass breaking, he then ran down the hall into his class.

 

Later that day, Cast sat down in the lunchroom and put his head down, he was drifting off to sleep, but he then heard Alex, Sara, and the others coming towards his table.

"Kill me" Cast murmured to himself; he put his head down on the table. Moments later, Cast felt eyes staring at him, departing with an awkward presence, he looked up to see everyone looking at him.

"What do you want" Cast sighed, as he lifted his head.

"Hm, he seems all right. He looks to be his normal impassive self" Lorey perceived, her shirt hanging over her tray as she leaned over to take a closer look.

"What happened to you earlier?" Dawn asked, while sitting down next to him, Alex turned to see the expression on Sara's face change when Dawn sat down next to Cast, Alex took three steps back.

"I' am glad to see you are better Dawn" Cast said, ignoring the question that was given to him.

"Thank you" Dawn said with a evil smile, "but that's not the question I asked you" she thought. Cast looked at Ronald who still has not said anything.

"Hey, Ron what's up?" Cast asked; he saw that something was on his mind.

"Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about something" Ronald answered back.

"Something like what" Cast asked.

"My grandfather, he, um, died yesterday, he died inside of a small grocery store, they tried to recover his body but the store caught on fire when rescue came" Ronald explained. Ronald took a small bite out of his sandwich, but then put it down.

“No he can't be talking about that crazy old man I..... Killed. well I think I did" Cast contemplated.

"I hope who ever was pathetic enough to do this pays for it" Ronald said, the tone of his voice sprung a chill up Cast's spine.

"Well I better get going" Cast said, as he got up and walked away.

"Wait, Cast, we are going to the beach tonight, are you coming?" Alex asked.

"No, I have to do something," he replied, as he walked out the school. Cast was four feet away from his house when he saw Joey at the door, he was crying with his head down, Cast dashed over to him.

"What happened, what's going on, where is mother?" He questioned without delay. Joey picked up his head and put it on Cast chest.

“They took her, they took mother to the hospital. Mother had a heart attack" Joey yelled, as he pounded on Cast's chest.

Reviews

[Darruesh Eetraydes]

I like the new dialogue. Cast doesn't seem as mean in this one haha. keep it up