spiderlillies2010

[spiderlillies2010]

The Curse of Death - The Demon Queen

Chapter 1

The sound of chilled, evil, cocky laughter filled the September air of the courtyard. I could smell the pine trees that surrounded the school.

I looked up at the tall, eleventh grade boy who howled like a wolf. Tom Wilkinson, son of the principal. 

He was 6 '3 and about a foot taller than me, making me have to crane my neck to look at him. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to look at. He had greasy tanned skin, his shoulder-length blond hair horribly unmaintained. 

Despite the fact that we wore the same uniform, we weren’t the same. Tom was sixteen, I was twelve. My skin was a milk chocolate brown, relatively clear, not pimply or greasy. I maintained my silky, dark brown hair well, keeping it short and neat.

“Nicholas the killer!”

His loud, idiotic voice boomed through the courtyard. People were laughing and chanting around us, waiting for a fight. Or, more accurately, waiting for him to pummel me into the concrete.

I wasn’t a killer.

I wasn’t.

My black dress shoes stuck to the ground like they were being held by superglue. My body was shaking, my fists balled with rage.

“Nicholas the-”

Just as he was about to speak the next horrible, untrue word, I leaped into the air, just high enough to reach him, and swung my fist. Teeth and blood fell from his mouth almost immediately.

His eyes widened as he began to fall back. I saw it happen, life seeming like slow motion now.

The life disappeared from his eyes before he even hit the ground. When he did, it was clear to everyone that he wasn’t going to get up.

The crowd around us stopped laughing and chanting. Suddenly, it wasn’t so funny anymore, now that I wasn’t the one on the ground.

Now that Tom was dead.

I couldn’t move, my body stuck in a state of paralysis as I stared down at the unfortunate body. His skin was much paler and ashier now. Blood continued to drip from his mouth. 

He looked… cold.

“No…” I finally managed to say, my voice hoarse. “Not again.”

Finally, I began to move toward the body. Tom’s mouth was slightly agape as his lifeless eyes stared up at the cloudy sky. I knelt down, and as I touched his dead, cold hand, I felt… powerful.

“Not… not again.”

At this point, the courtyard was empty, though I knew there would be teachers on the scene soon enough. 

“Tom, wake up,” I said as I began to shake his hand, though I knew it was pointless. “Get up! Come on, just… just wake up!”

Still, there was no use. He was dead. I killed Tom Wilkinson with my own hand.

I slowly began to move away. Tom couldn’t move anymore, he was dead and lifeless on the pavement. He couldn’t fight back or run away from his demise, he was stuck dead. 

No…

I turned around. The only thing separating the school and the forest of pine trees was a chain link fence, which was only about five feet tall. As I placed my shaky hands on the top of the fence, I began to climb over it.

In only seconds, I was on the grass, my leg sore as I stood up. I suddenly heard the voice of my math teacher, who gasped at the sight. 

“Nicholas?” She asked in shock, and I couldn’t bring myself to turn around. She was scared. She was scared of me.

“I’m sorry,” I choked out. What was I supposed to say when I couldn’t even look her in the eye?

I began to run into the forest of pine trees. I just couldn’t look back.

It was now that I was running away from the murder of Tom Wilkinson that I regretted skipping track meets. I was already incredibly out of breath.

Luckily, I was far enough that no one could see me unless they walked into the forest. And no one was going to walk into a forest, totally unprotected, with a killer in there.

Oh god, I thought. I really am Nicholas the killer.

Rain began to pour as I slowed to a walk. About fifteen minutes after that, it was pouring. My burgundy collared shirt was drenched with rainwater.

I was going to die out here. Either that or in a prison cell when the cops eventually came to take me away. 

I fell to the muddy ground and sat up against a tree, wrapping my arms around my legs. There was an ache in my right leg from when I climbed the fence.

Here’s where I die.

I began to sob. I could feel death approaching. I didn’t know how I knew, I just did.

“Nicholas,” a feminine, motherly voice whispered to me. I looked up to see the outline of what seemed like an adult woman, highlighted in pure white light. “What pains you, my child?”

“God?” I asked, my voice strained.

“No, child,” she said. I could faintly make out an amused smile on her face. “My name is Elveryn. I am your mother.”

“Mother? No, my mom is- she’s-”

“Dead?”

My eyes widened. How could this lady know that?

“You have much more important things to worry about than who I am or what I know, child,” Elveryn said, floating closer to me like a celestial goddess. “Police will be here in roughly fifteen minutes. Police dogs will devour your face and you will die.”

“Fifteen minutes?” I asked, hearing my own voice crack.

“And, if you listen to me, there will be nothing for them to see, young one,” she said calmly. The figure of light held her hands up and there appeared a bright purple light.

I crawled closer to the light, mud soaking my khakis more than they already had. It was a portal.

On the other side I saw a forest made of marble-like trees with colorful gems that hung from them like fruit, and red moss that covered the ground like a blanket. The best part was the sky, with pastel blues and pinks that looked like cotton candy.

“You will be the savior of Inbahta, young one,” Elveryn spoke, her words a firm prophecy. “Or this will be the end of the road for you. Either way, we will meet again.”

“Wait, Inbahta?” I asked. “What’s that?”

She chuckled and gestured toward the portal. I took another look at the world, so much more beautiful than mine.

“That is your home, my child,” she said softly. “Inbahta. But alas, it is your choice to make. You’ve got five minutes.”

I looked back up at Elveryn. She wore a sad smile on her face, still a blank white silhouette of what could be a human mother.

I looked back at the portal into the other world, raising my hand to it.

“Wait,” she stopped me. She moved closer to me and placed the silhouette of lips on my forehead, making me feel warm with light. “Just fall through and you’ll be just fine, my son.”

Then, Elveryn disappeared.

I looked back to the beautiful purple portal. As soon as I put my hand through it, I felt myself being sucked into it fully, without any warning.

My body seemed to be moving at a thousand miles per second. I felt nauseous as I traveled, too fast for any human to comprehend, through the purple portal.

Just as I was about to reach the other world, I lost consciousness.