chapter one

A Chapter by mondriel andrews

The breeze was cold as it touched the face of the lifeless TV screen. The room was darkly shaded and the furniture seemed to melt into the background of the intense blackness that was the small cabinet of a room. The floor was a dark blue, but it was hard to tell if it was the real color, or if the carpet had been tainted by the deathly touch of the moons harsh neglect.

The single wide bed was flat and desolate like Kansas plains before the Indians thought it was a good idea to settle there. The beds peaceful flatness was only disturbed by the bump in the middle of the bed that seemed almost as bleak and desolate as the meager hotel room that housed the bed that was the temporary home to a walking time bomb.

The bump in the bed stirred slightly. It moved just enough so that you could notice a section of pink hair that looked like fresh cotton candy. Soon this odd ball of hair and blankets began to move and arms and legs soon appeared from the ball of blankets. After about ten minutes of awkward stretches and yawns that sounded like whales swimming defiantly from the harpoons of angry seamen, she rose from her bed as if she was a corpse breaking free from the soil that was feeding off of her fragile undead body.

From the door she heard the sound of reckless knocking and quick shouts that came from a gentle but slightly agitated voice. “B, please hurry up. Sea world isn’t going to wait for you to put on pants.” After about ten seconds B replied “well then sea world shouldn’t expect me to wear pants.” Be smiled as if her mother was actually in the room. Noticing that she wasn’t actually in the room B hurried and ran to the door. She opened the door and saw her mother trying her hardest to hold back a smile as she saw her daughter post bed appearance. “Gosh.” B’s mother exclaimed “you look like you were robbed.”

B rushed to the mirror to see her pink hair in a ball on the top of her hair that looked like the brightest pink turban in the entire world. She soon started to attack her ratted hair with a series of different combs and brushes. The battle of hair and comb took about thirty minutes before B came out victorious, her hair combed over to the right so that you could see the section of her head that was shaved and revealed her actual hair color which was far from pink.

She then turned to the closet in her room and pulled a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt from her suit case changed from her green tank top and pink pajama bottoms to tight fit jeans that hugged her tightly. Her jeans where a dark blue with holes on the thighs and on the knees. Not the holes that you pay for, but the holes that you get from falling. A lot. She then buttoned up her red flannel shirt and rolled up the sleeves to her small elbows and then she slid on her black Toms.

B packed her rather large bag and tossed it on the bed with all the strength a 15 year old girl could muster before it finally landed on the bed with a large bounce. She then unplugged her phone and laptop form their respective chargers and put her computer in her messenger bag, and then she nestled her phone into her back pocket. She then put her chargers in the side pocket of her messenger bag. She then grabbed both of her bags and moved to the door struggling to keep her balance with the bags on each side of her body. After reaching her door she exited the room and went down to the lobby of the hotel where she saw her mother decked out in her best safari gear. Needless to say, she looked like a total idiot considering the fact that they were going to SeaWorld and not the zoo or Australia, or something.

B took the elevator down to the lobby. As the elevator neared the first floor she plugged in her earphones and started listening to system of a down (her second favorite band) and then moved to the center of the lobby where her mother was sitting in a chair against the wall. She wore a smile so large that it made her teeth look like solar panels.

B’s father walked up to them form the front desk of the hotel and said with a grin “whose ready to go to SeaWorld? B raised her hand at the same time as her mother and they both jumped smiled and borderline screamed about the immense joy they felt about going to SeaWorld. Bs joyous face was mostly pretend. She didn’t care about SeaWorld, she just wanted to see her family happy. Which seemed like it got harder and harder for them to stay happy every day.

B walked behind her mother and father as they moved toward there minivan that screamed wealthy white family and she started to think about how painfully white she was. Not that she hated her skin color or anything, it was just that she was a part of that stereotypical white family. The loving family, the athletic older sibling. And then there is the younger sibling who is an outcast and looks like he or she should be outside of a hot topic selling drugs to soccer moms. The only difference in this case was that B’s brother wasn’t in the picture anymore. He has passed away exactly three years ago, on his birthday. Which is why today was the day that B’s parents dragged her to SeaWorld. Her brother Bryan always wanted to go to Sea world, but after his accident he never got the chance. B’s mother thought it was a great idea, but B thought it was kind of a smack in the face to Bryan. He spent years negotiating this trip. An after he died they just hopped on the wagon and decided to rub it in his decaying face that he would miss out on these family get togethers that he enjoyed ten times more than B did. B started to tear up as she thought about her brothers decaying hand flashing them the middle finger as they went to his favorite place in the entire world. It was thoughts like this that made it hard for B to enjoy her life. She decided not to share this thought with her parents, she didn’t want them anymore emotionally destroyed than they already where.

After getting into the spacious minivan B buckled her seat belt and imagined that she was the first punk chick to travel to mars. She envisioned that her mother was a pilot and her dad was an engineer. They were both twisting knobs and barking commands and the imaginary system control as the spacecraft started to launch. While they were in air they waited for B’s command to turn on the crafts main engines and start the long voyage to mars. B gave the signal in a rush of excitement as she envisioned the pure joy that she would receive once she reached mars, but her commands where too soon. As they hit the engines they crashed directly into an asteroid where the vastness of space disappeared and B was left sitting there watching her parents die as the oxygen quickly got pulled from the lungs of her beloved parents.

B quickly snapped out of her day dreaming and focused on not having an anxiety attack. Her imagination was a blessing and curse. She would see some of the most interesting of things. She could imagine an entire civilization where she was the ruler and everything was peaceful, but as if by some stroke of chance she would always manage to destroy everything that her mind would build. Needless to say B was an emotional train wreck that always seemed to crash right into her parent’s happiness. Whether that was all in her mind or was an actuality B hadn’t really decided. She didn’t want to risk it though.

B and her family got onto the highway and started to accelerate in speed as they neared the fast lane. As they reached there desired speed everything was sound. The wind pushed against the minivan like it was trying to keep them reaching their destination. B’s parents talked about car payments and work, while B listened to her music and attempted to draw on a piece of scratch paper she found in the bottom of her bag. This didn’t go to well for her as she nothing really came out of it other than a really crappy smile face and pissed of facial expressions that where worn by her like new shoes that we too small and didn’t feel right.

The exited of the highway onto a smaller road, there speed didn’t change much considering that they were about to get onto another highway. They reached the exit and it was now time for them to merge onto the highway. B’s mother successfully got onto the hallway and look into the rearview mirror and said “now you see why your dad lets me drive.” She overdramatically winked to father insult her father. He responded with a smile and a hint of laughter in his strong deep voice “shush Cathy.” He pulled back blonde hair and let it rest back into its normal position. “I only let you drive because I enjoy sleep rather than driving.” After saying this he passed out almost instantly. B at first thought this was a joke until she heard his ungodly snoring.

B soon dozed of too, leaving her mother to take the task of driving all by herself. Which Cathy didn’t really mind, she enjoyed the time to think about what ever moms think about when every there driving a tacky blue minivan down the highway to visit there dead sons favorite spot on the entire planet.

As B slept she dug deep into her own mind and she started to picture a large forest. The trees where large and ancient, the bark of the trees was a deep brown that help onto the trees like a dependent lover, holding only even though the relationship was old and worn out. The leaves where young and green. The wind touched every single leaf, pushing them one way or the other causing them to rustle that sounded like the hallways during passing period.

The ground was filled with life. Grass grew around the base of the trees and around the bushes and faded into the path that B stood at. The path was nothing more that moist dirt that went directly through the forest and seemed to never end. The dirt was soft and welcoming as it touched her bare feet. B moved her toes around, digging them into the dirt. She took a deep breath and smile as she began to walk down the path.

Birds buzzed by, not worried about B, they flew by her head as if they were trying to tell her gossip. B tried to listen but the birds buzzed by her before she could hear them. Frogs jumped beside the path. Their skin was bright green and had a sliming shine to It that made B want to touch them. And she probably would have if she wasn’t terrified of them. She continued to walk down the path as she witnessed nature at its best work, all the animals peacefully mingling as if war was never a thought in their minds.

B reached a clearing that held a small cottage in the middle of it. The grass around the house was a bright green and the bushes that where in the front of the small cottage where a brownish green that was dark and welcoming. B walking up to the house in an attempt to see if the door was locked. She put her hand on the door knob and turned it. The knob was cold against her small fragile hands, the chill ran up her spine and caused a sharp sense of panic. Despite this fear she opened the door and stepped inside.

The front room was not large, but it wasn’t too small either. There was a love see that sat against the wall and looked as if it hadn’t been sat in in a while. There were a series of paintings on the wall about it that looked like family photos but you couldn’t tell who was in the pictures because of the dust that covered them. B noticed the cold of the room. It was unnaturally chilly and the room got colder every moment. There wasn’t any kind of electricity in the house so and air conditioner couldn’t be the cause. B shivered and looked for an open window or something but all of the windows and doors were closed. Despite this a faint gust of wind brushed past the bs face. The breeze was followed by the faint smell of rotten flesh. Horror stuck B’s face link a punch from Floyd Mayweather. Fear crept up the side of B’s leg and moved up to her face, paralyzing her legs and arms. As she stand there frozen with fear she tried to look towards the next room but she couldn’t will herself to let her gaze fall on the door.

Her heart started to pound in her chest as if it was trying to punch through her rib cage. B was afraid. But the worst part was that she had no idea why she was afraid. She looked at the door again and decided that the needed to do something. Like any reasonable person she decided that she should leave to cottage and never return. So she walked to the door to front of the house, walking slowly so that she didn’t make too much noise. She reached the door and touched the knob cautiously. When she gripped it she felt a searing hot pain that burned the palm of her hand. She let go of the door handle and looked out the window.

The clearing was now engulfed in flames that stole the grasses green welcoming shade and replaced it with ash. The bushes where now nothing more than burning stumps. B’s face turned pale while she witnessed everything that she just saw filled with life now being reduced to ash and death. The frogs that where once stunningly shiny and green where not brown lumps of burned skiing and cooking blood. The birds where rushed pass the cottage screeching with sadness at the loss of their forest and their eggs that where not burnt to a crisp.

B turned away from the horrifying images that burned into the back of her head and rushed through the door that took her to the next room. She closed the door and looked around. She was in a small dining room where there was a table that seemed a little too big to be in the room. It was made out of a dark colored wood that smelled like it had just be carved hours ago. Four chairs sat around the table all pushed in except for one.

She stayed still while she watching the table. Inspecting it before making any rash choices. She decided it would be better to not sit down at the table. She instead walked around it carefully looking at it. Her body shook as the smell of burning flesh lingered in her nose. Her hands trembled as she collapsed to the ground and starting crying. Her tears ran down her face and rolled to her chin and then fell to the ground like a drop of rain into the desert. As it hit the ground there was a loud smacking sound in the center of the table that made B step back and flinch. When she opened her eyes there was a medium sized body on the table.

The body was face first on the table and wearing a black suit with a white shirt. You could tell that his suit was fresh out of the dry cleaners because there was still the tag on it. The body on the table had brown hair that was molded into a fo- hawk that could cut through a diamond. B reached over to turn him on his back only to see his face was covered in just enough dust so that she couldn’t tell who it was.

Just then b jerked as her minivan halted sharply waking her up from her nightmare. The look of shock on her face didn’t hide the true terror she felt in her chest. She trembled in her seat because she was confused on whether she had really woken up or not. Her mother turned around and noticed the worry on B’s face and said “I’m sorry hunny, I forget how sensitive you are to sudden movement and stuff.” Cathy smiled faintly. “I’ll try to be more careful next time.” B looked at her mother’s reassuring face and responded with a quick smile. “Its fine mom, I was just having a bad dream.”

Her mother turned around and pretended that she believed her daughter. B could feel that her mother didn’t fully believe her. Her mom could normally read better than anyone else, not that many people tried to or anything. B had only two real friends that she saw in person more than 20 minutes a month. Sam was her fast talking Asian friend who always kept her updated on whatever current event was going on and made sure to be possibly the nerdiest girl in the entire world. Jenny was as punk as possible, she wore her hair in a fashion similar to B’s. The only main difference between them was that jenny’s hair was black, other than that they almost looked exactly alike.

B started to get anxious as her space shuttle of an air craft got closer and closer to SeaWorld. She thought about all of the sea animals and about the dolphins. B loved the dolphins most of all. When she found out about the trip to SeaWorld she learned as much as she could about those magical beasts just to piss of any tour guides that might be there. They would be utterly amazed at her knowledge about dolphin rape caves and the utility purposes of a dolphin’s penis. B giggled and thought you herself “the internet if a weird, weird place.” Her thoughts where interrupted by her mother’s giddy screams as they entered the SeaWorld parking lot.