Mad World Chapter 1

Amyl's life revolves around her own mind. Her life IS her mind. Why is this? Is the culprit to be severe mental troubles? Or perhaps she is hiding away from the darker secrets of her past?

Everything was a duck.

Amyl was the goose.

This explains everything.

 

“So… you shot the alarm clock?” Asked Archie. Archie had spiky white hair and pale skin, and his eyes changed with his mood. At the moment they were blue, which meant he was calm.

Amyl, a red-haired, blue-eyed girl with tan skin, looked bewildered, “Uh, no? I bought that alarm clock, why would I shoot it?”
“Because you said you would if the snow turned pink again.” Mumbled a figure in the dark. “And besides, I’m the one who bought it.”

Amyl rolled her eyes, “I told you, you were reading Dr. Seuss, B.”

B snarled, “I was not, I threw those books away ages ago.” No one had ever seen B, so that obviously leads to conclude that we cannot describe his appearance. Except for his purple eyes which could be seen from time to time.

“Then why did I find some under your bed?”
“I don’t have a bed.”

“Would anyone like some tea?” A boy named Hunter shyly interrupted . Hunter had brown, fluffy hair and soft green eyes, which held a constant worrying expression.

Archie, Amyl, and B- whose purple eyes you could see glowing from the darkness, all turned and stared at Hunter.

Hunter laughed sheepishly, “Of course, carry on.” He nervously sipped from his tea cup.

B shrugged, or one would think he did since no one could see, and turned back to the conversation. “So who shot the alarm clock then?”

Archie glared at him, suddenly looking menacing and crazed, his eyes now red, “How do I know YOU didn’t shoot the alarm clock?!”
B narrowed his eyes, “Because I lost my gun in that shadow over there…” He pointed to the farthest wall.

Amyl gasped, “B! I thought we agreed no one would ever travel that far!”
B shrugged, “I take risks. I’m an extremist.”

Archie looked calm again, his eyes blue once more, “B, you never had a gun…”

Hunter timidly interrupted again, “Er, how about some turtle cookies?” He nervously held out a plate full of them.

“Are they made of turtles?” Asked B in a gruff voice.

“N-no, of course not…” Stuttered Hunter.

Archie shrugged, “Okay, I’ll have one.” he took a cookie and bit into it. An extremely pale, spidery arm reached out and took one. One would suspect that was B’s arm. Or it might have just been a hungry zombie. It was better to give them cookies then have them eat your brains.

Soon everyone had a cookie. The cookies had an odd flavor to them. They tasted like cookies, but with a slight extra tinge to them that Archie suggested was chicken. Though that may have been true, they tasted oddly nice.

Amyl, who was crunching away at one, took something out of her mouth. She was surprised to find that it was a feather. She looked up at Hunter.

Hunter sighed, mumbling to no one in particular, “I finally took care of those sea gulls. No longer will they ruin my tea parties…”

Amyl, feeling sick, put the cookie back down and coughed to hide a gag.

Then the sound of footsteps up a staircase could be heard.

The three boys jumped, looking at each other.

Archie turned to Amyl and said, “Dream caramel dreams…” And with that the three boys vanished, their smiles the last to disappear, along with the darkness and the cookies. Amyl was left alone in a flowery bedroom, with stuffed animals all around her. Her hair had turned back to brown, and went back to being the frizzy mass she was born with. Her eyes turned back to the dark, dull brown they usually were. The paleness of her skin returned, as well as the her eye-circles and other drawn-out features. She only looked the way she wanted to in her world. In this world, she knew she was ugly.

Amyl sighed and, still sitting on the floor, turned toward the door. It opened and her dad came in.

“Uh…” He started awkwardly. “It’s time for school. Did you forget to set your clock again?”

Amyl mumbled, inaudible to her father, “It was Archie, I know it…”

Her father blinked, and then cleared his throat and said, “Right, then, the bus comes in a few minutes…” And with that he left in a rush and closed the door behind him.

　

Amyl sat in the moving bus, drawing in her art book. She was drawing a picture of Hunter killing sea gulls and stuffing them into cookies. No one sat next to her, but no one ever did. She didn’t care though, she felt no connection to anyone around her. Sometimes they all just disappeared. Her world was dark, and nothing else was there except shadow and stagnantly feeling-less air. The air was not cold nor warm; as if it simply did not exist at all. In Amyl’s world, anything she could think up could appear from thin air. Nothing was there except her drawings which, although at home, she could envision floating in the air around her. In her world, nothing was there except for Archie, Hunter, and B, who all appeared to her once and a while even if she didn’t call upon them. Currently, they were all elsewhere. Her world may seem strange, and perhaps a bit creepy compared to the colorful world filled with scents and noises that we are all used to. But you know what? She loved her world so much better.

Then Amyl felt the bus stop, and the light and sound returned to the world. She sighed as she put her drawings into her heavy backpack and stood up. It was amazing that schools hadn’t yet been sued for ruining adolescent backs every day. You know how old people are always complaining about their ‘aching backs’? They probably didn’t have several large books on multiplying radicals, slope-intercept form, and the complete history of Hinduism. Arthritis was nothing on these backpacks. It was like having a whole kindergarten class forcing piggyback rides all at once. She slung the bag over her shoulder with a grunt of effort and walked down the bus, being shoved by several students, and almost knocked over. She didn’t notice it though. Amyl simply slunk out of the bus and into the school building. In her world, the school looked like nothing but a gray prison. The silly, childish paintings on the walls turned into the disturbing images Amyl willed them to be, and the doors all had bars.

　

Archie, his eyes currently brown, decided it would be nice to help Amyl out with her history class. So he sat on the floor next to her desk.

“So, can anyone tell me who the first American was to discover the natives of Africa was? Amyl?” The teacher called out.

“That was Jesus, of course.” Archie told Amyl.

So Amyl repeated intelligently, “Jesus.”
The class laughed for some reason and the teacher gave that “I need an aspirin” look.

Amyl whispered to Archie, “Are you positive?”
Archie nodded vigorously, “Of course! Jesus did everything. If anyone asks you who did something but you don’t know what the who was, just say Jesus. You’ll never be wrong.”

“That makes sense. He was a pretty famous man, after all.”

Archie’s eyes suddenly turned purple and he fell over on the floor, laughing insanely. This wasn’t, of course, directed at anything in particular, so Amyl wasn’t offended. Instead, she patiently waited for him to be done. When he sat up again, he was shrouded in a shadow, his eyes still purple. Then he asked, mimicking B’s voice accurately, “Tell me, who discovered Iceland?”

“Jesus?”
“No, Beethoven of course.” He pronounced the name true to its spelling- Bee-th-oh-ven.

“Oh, alright then.”

This kind of situation often happened in class. It was a wonder the teacher hadn’t given up on calling on her to answer questions yet. Archie was usually the one to suggest answers to Amyl, and help her with those pop quizzes. Or just played pranks and generally be a nescience to the other students and teacher. B just usually sat in a dark corner to observe the class silently, while Hunter always seemed to know when Amyl was hungry and brought random treats. All in all, no matter what they did, Amyl was grateful for the company among so many blank, humanless faces.

Students used to stare at Amyl. They didn’t anymore, because they were so accustomed to her, and what they considered to be her ‘strange behavior’. But whenever a new student came along, they were the one staring. Hunter always muttered about how rude that was.

 

At lunch, Amyl sat alone. Or what appeared to the average student to be alone. She had her very own table, since everyone thought her to be eccentric and thus did not sit anywhere near her. Amyl didn’t mind, though, more room for herself and her real friends.

The boys were currently looking over Amyl’s homework, and generally making a large mess of it. Amyl supposed that didn’t matter, as long as it got done.

Hunter was looking over her vocabulary sheet for English class. He was concentrating very hard on remembering the definition for each word.

“RUTHLESS.” Hunter paused, and then answered himself in a sophisticated tone. “To be without ruth.”

“But who is this, ‘Ruth’?” Archie asked, his eyes a glittering, dangerous black.

Hunter shrugged. “Isn’t she in the Bible?”
“Probably, but I knew a John from the Bible too, and there wasn’t a JOHNLESS in the dictionary for his name.”

“Well, maybe Ruth was more special.”
“That’s discriminatory. The Bible wouldn’t stand for discrimination.”
“The Bible doesn’t stand at all.”
“It does if you make it.”

“But that’s an illegal force of action.”

“Teachers make students stand up all the time.”

Amyl grumbled, “All the more reason to sue schools…”

Hunter looked down at the paper again, and read the next vocabulary word aloud. “BERTH.”
Archie looked down at the paper, his eyes blue as he glanced at the spelling, and stated, “That’s obviously derived from birth, which is the event of being born.”
Hunter frowned, “But what does that have to do with ships?”
Archie rolled his eyes, sitting back, and said, “My brain is like a parachute, dear Hunter. It only functions when open.”

Amyl looked at him quizzically, “But wouldn’t that result in blood loss?”

Archie scoffed, his eyes a pompous green. “Of course not, my atria stores the blood when my head doesn’t need it.”
Hunter shook his head, taking out Amyl’s Biology quiz paper. “The ventricle stores the blood, Archie.”

Archie’s eyes turned to a hypnotically dangerous, swirling black and red, and he slammed his fist on the table. “When I say it’s the Atria, dear Hunter, it’s the atria!”

Archie’s fist had indeed caused a rumble through the table. A few students glanced their way, only seeing Amyl sitting calmly by herself. Many of them understood that odd things happened around Amyl, and this wasn’t the first. Most associated the strange happenings with logical explanations, of course. Currently, there was apparently a small earthquake that only erupted under Amyl’s table.

Hunter looked quite offended. “Well, dear Archie, I happened to be the one listening intently in Amyl’s biology class, while you were watching a Celtics game on the wall. It‘s quite clear to be the ventricle.”

“So? It was a legendary match against the Lakers, 30-2. Besides, it’s the atria, and I know this because I play tennis.”

“What has that got to do with anything?”
But Archie’s eyes had turned to a sparking blue, and he rocked back and fourth saying quietly, “If dogs and cats were bald, they wouldn't be cute. If dogs and cats were bald, they wouldn't be cute. If dogs and cats were bald, they wou-”

The bell erupted through the loud noise of the cafeteria, and the crowd was immediately dispersing. Archie’s eyes turned a regular blue again, and he smiled cheerily as he helped Hunter stuff Amyl’s papers back into her bag. Amyl sighed. The bell always seemed to know just when to ring…

　

In English class, Archie continued to be with Amyl. Hunter had disappeared, muttering something about finding Nessie. B had taken his place, sitting in a shadow close to Amyl’s seat. He and Archie were deciphering the discussion, which was about the Seven Wonders of the World. Amyl made no sense of that, since it seemed more like a History discussion rather then an English. Still, Algebra class was always talking about pie. She supposed lessons veered off track when they had nothing else to say.

“Why is there only seven wonders? I’d say the world is full of wonders. At least eight of them.” B complained, his purple eyes glinting.

Archie agreed, nodding vigorously, “Yah, and seven is a scary number, so why not just round it off?”
“Yah. I could easily round it up.”
“Oh yah? What makes you so special in order to be a wonder of the world?” Archie glowered, his eyes black yet again.

“Well, I’m devilishly handsome, I can count to infinity, and I can fly.”

“I can’t even see you.” Archie said, rolling his eyes.
“You know, if you keep rolling your eyes like that, their just going to keep rolling.”
Archie blinked, and his eyes turned to an excited pink. “Really?! Omg, I could be a chameleon!” He jumped to his feet in a swift motion and skidded right beside Amyl. “Amyl! I’m going to be a ninth wonder of the world! I shall be known as…” He paused for dramatic effect, and kept pausing. But then his excitement got the better of him. “CHAMELEONMAN!” He kept on rolling his eyes to prove himself.

Amyl stared at him, and then went to respond, about to let him know that he had a problem with his eyes, when the teacher asked her a question. “Amyl, who do you think could be a good human addition to the Seven Wonders of the World?”

Amyl was thrown off guard, her mouth already open from the start of her sentence to Archie, who looked at her encouragingly. At least, one would believe that so, if his spinning eyes didn’t give them motion sickness.

So, Amyl gave the only answer she knew. “Uh, Jesus?”

The teacher was speechless for a moment, as she was trying to register the fact that Amyl had just spoken articulately, and not about something completely random and unrelated. Archie whispered, “See? It’s the best answer anyone could give. Leaves them astounded.” After recovering herself, the teacher decided to press on, to see if Amyl had anything more lucid to say. “A-and, why do you suppose that, Amyl?”

Amyl stared at her blankly. Usually teachers only asked one question and moved on. She must have given a really good answer. She decided not to be so amazing next time. “Uh, because he was really famous?” She tried.

“Famous for what, Amyl?” The teacher asked excitedly.

Amyl was really started to hate the attention. All curious eyes were on her, and she felt like 54 hair straighteners at full heat were pointed in her direction. “…being a really religious guy?” She said lamely, in a quiet voice.

The teacher sighed. She supposed it was just a false alarm. But still… She wondered if perhaps they had made a little progress after all…

 

****

 

Every day was always the same. But we can suppose that Amyl didn’t mind. You see, she wasn’t effected by the everyday monotony; 6 hours of lectures and then coming home with a termite mound of homework. She wasn’t effected by the fact that she had to get up in the morning, and trudge off to another 6-hour day filled with ‘learning’. The normal high school student may find their average, repetitious life as a teenager to be quite droning. But Amyl, obviously, was rather different. Every day she experienced something new. Whether at home, or on the school grounds. Archie, B, and Hunter all made her life so much more interesting. Their constant meaningless bickering in itself was quite entertaining, but they also happened to take her on adventures to far away places. Perhaps the average human’s daydream was always interrupted, and couldn’t always be resumed contently. But Amyl was rarely disturbed, due to her eccentric reputation. And when she was interrupted, that adventure was always on pause, just waiting for her to return.

In summary, Amyl could just drift away from the nonsense of everyday life. She wasn’t bothered by grades, and no one bothered to bother about her vacancy to bothering about her grades. She didn’t even think about the fact that she would have no future, and would probably spend the rest of her life in her father’s house, jobless and lifeless. And if her father suddenly had a meltdown and lost his temper, kicking her out of his house, she’s be just fine on the street. Unlike regular hobo’s, Amyl had a loyal food source. Hunter was very handy in his portable kitchen.

Even if Amyl was admitted to a mental institute, nothing could cause her discomfort. Solitary confinement would suit her just fine.

In every case, she could always slip away to her little world, with her friends. She could slip away to any location on the planet, or any location in the universe. She could slip away to any place she could possibly dream up and desire.

Archie was glaring at a bird outside the window. “Why is this duck looking at me crossly.”

Author's Note

A small warning: The dialogue in this story is completely and utterly random. Or is it? At first glance, Lewis Carrol's literature may appear the same. But that ingenious man had a story and a scientific explanation behind every word. Perhaps I do as well... Perhaps not a particularly scientific or ingenius story, but each word holds a story nonetheless.