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[starrysights]

The Days with Coen Major

First Preview

The thoughts were here. They never showed mercy. He could imagine all the ways he could have stood his ground against Ms. Puffy.

“I’m better at piano than you think, I just didn’t want to mess up!”

He could’ve said that.

“Stop laughing at me. There’s no reason to. We’ve all heard “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” before, what’s the difference between then and now? In fact, I bet none of you knew it was popularized by Mozart - he never “made” it exactly.”

He could’ve said that.

“I’m not doing any of this for attention. I’m hurting. I’m in pain, can you help me?” He could’ve said that, too.

“I could hurt you all. So badly. Like you’ve all hurt me.”

He could’ve said that, but those thoughts were bad. And they bruised him until he was bleeding out of his ears and mouth, until it flooded under his skin and battered his body. Like right now. It was painful just to move.

What was the point in alternate options – in daydreaming of success - when Coen couldn’t live it? It only hurt more to think of what he could’ve done, but then he would’ve ended up in more trouble. A deep, darkening pit tore in Coen’s body, and despair poured into him, filling him with anxiety and dreadful thoughts. The bottomless gash was painful and infectious. That was also why people hated him – no one wanted to be around the weird, depressed kid. But Coen was rarely aware of how sad he looked most days. Coen curled in on himself and shivered, forcing back a violent sob as he did his best to ignore everything.

He reached for his iPhone and opened the Netflix app. He streamed episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and replaced hideous taunts with his own laughter, these memorable characters that made him forget who he was - if just for 48 minutes and 23 seconds.

Coen stayed in bed all night, unwilling to move. Tomorrow was another day to check out the roof.

The Days with Coen Major by Thantler

RELEASE DATE: Unknown (Delays)

[starrysights]

All Melts All Returns Eventually

Fourth Preview (Taken from Chapter Three: Bravery from Sweet Flames)

Faith took a step back and angled herself up with the door.

“Get away from the door!” She screamed just as she kicked it.

A shot of white-hot pain tore through her legs as she glared dangerously at the heated wood. Collecting herself, Faith tasted the sweat that pooled down her forehead and ignored the ever-intensifying heat. She braced herself for the pain again and poured all her strength into her leg. She aimed near the hinges and let all of her power out. Without hesitation, she kicked the door and watched as it shattered into two pieces, and then reality hammered into her.

Faith quickly moved out of the way as fire combusted out of the door and into her view. She met the ground face first and coughed, inhaling smoke that shouldn’t have been there. Weakly glancing over her shoulder, Faith saw a girl run out of the classroom, then a boy, then a girl, then the entire class, including the teacher. Faith coughed and sputtered, pushing herself to her feet but ended up kissing the floor again. Her vision turned a deathly crimson as she shivered under the flames that were all around her.

Faith’s hearing blurred and the world disconnected itself with her. She felt the blood pound in her ears and her heart began to race with panic. This was the end, she realized. She was going to die. No one was here. No one...

Suddenly, Faith felt herself rising. Blurred wooden eyes looked around, but only saw red and black, a sudden sweet darkness beginning to consume her being.

“They had doughnuts this time. But they blew up before I could get one.”

With a low and weak chuckle, Faith descended into darkness, multiple footprints mixed with dying screams faintly echoing away.

[starrysights]

All Melts All Returns Eventually

Third Preview (Taken from Chapter Ten: Breakthrough, my Beloved)

All eyes fell on Faith. The graduate sighed and chose her words carefully. "The people aren't going to be as wild as they were before. Something Dean told me, about them up there... they were passing away.”

People back at the chapel are dropping dead like flies. One by one, two by two, four by the dozens! They’re all just DYING!

Faith coldly recalled Dean's words and looked absolute at her friends. "Trust me."

“Trust Dean?” Christian sighed, running his hands through his hair with rough ease. “Do you really think he’d tell the truth?”

“He had no reason to lie.”

Christian closed his eyes and thought idly to himself.

"Do you really want to put Peyton at risk again?" asked Leon.

"I won't be. We all will make sure of that," Faith said. And she was right. Even if she were wrong, she'd face the hysterical people upstairs again if she had to – for Peyton's sake.

Leon stared at Faith and blinked. "What do you think, big brother? Big brother?"

The younger Romano groaned as he saw his brother dragging a very unconscious Dean by the back collar of his suit. "Let's go."

[starrysights]

All Melts All Returns Eventually

Second Preview (Taken from Chapter Eleven: Reality is Who it is)

The dimly lit candles that aligned the walls allowed for some sort of sight. The orange glow of the candles reflected sinisterly off the healthy shine of the chandeliers, giving off dull heavenly streaks of stiff orange and gold lights to illuminate the entire chapel. The lights bounced off the walls where windows would be and glistened off the undead people. The null mixture of orange and gold made Faith sigh. Nothing was harmonic anymore. Faith looked to the sweaty and scared church members. ​Nothing will be harmonic after this...

“Faith Armonia Filmaim, do you realize the troubles you’ve put me through?” Before Faith even realized it, her aunt was standing in front of her, fumes bulging from her nose as she glared. Faith paid little attention to this. She didn’t care anymore. Right now, all of Faith’s focus was on the bodies... all of them. How did they all die? And so quickly... They had been gone for little less than an hour...

“All these people were blaming me for this,” Aunt Melody seethed. Faith looked past her aunt and felt her heart sink.

People were already lining up in small masses, not a single smile on anyone’s face. Faith slid a little over to Peyton, covering her. Christian moved in front of Peyton too, roughly dragging the Deacon and ignoring his well-deserved groan. Even Leon slid over a bit. Faith felt a swelling of pride; they all had the same idea in mind.

[starrysights]

The Chemical Equation for Destruction

Fourth Preview (Taken from Chapter One: The Meeting)

Andy balled his hands, frustration built in the caverns of his mind. How could Anthony just do this? He was their council president, the student leader of Eden High School, and he was telling other students to do their drugs somewhere else?

Didn’t he see the damage he was causing? Andy knew the caught students would get in trouble, but half of them really did have an addiction. This was a serious, life-threatening epidemic and Andy simply wanted to identify those who were going down the wrong path.

But with Anthony in the way... this will prove tough. How else could the plan progress? First step: ignite rage and mistrust between students and teachers, then wait for an accident.

The small boy sighed, rubbed the back of his neck, and drank in the ringing alarm of the release bell. He headed home immediately with a grin. Andy swung open the front door to his house, ignored his parents’ bickering in the living room, and darted to his room. The door slammed shut and locked, giving Andy the much needed privacy he wanted.

On his wooden desk was a ViewErPoint — the key threshold to virtual reality. Andy yanked on his headphones, blinded his sight with the ​virtual simulation gear, and spoke his activation code:

“Armageddon Fantasy. Username: Altor, Top Wizard. Password: password. Log in.”

[starrysights]

The Chemical Equation for Destruction

Third Preview (Taken from Chapter Four: The Theory of Cinderella)

Andy quickly wiped his tears on his wrinkly sleeve, but more came to replace those. He cursed himself, instantly hating himself for crying in front of Cinder - his crush and first girl to ever love. Cinder was glowering at him with unreadable eyes that Andy tried his best to avoid looking at because he was such a weakling and a coward and a useless bag of shit.

Andy cried harder, twisting his fingers around his neck and tightening them. He tried his best to stop. but the sobs came on harder, they cut into him and deepened into his raw and tender heart. The heart that was pounding and flustered in his ribcage, begging to be ripped out and stomped on, because that’s what he deserves—he didn’t deserve to look at Cinder, he was only a coward and a clown, he couldn’t do anything right because he always messes up, and—

“Andy, stand up and meet my eyes.”

Her voice was ice on his blistering ears. Every thought begged Andy to stay down and avoid her because this was so embarrassing, and why would she want to see him crying like a baby. But Andy, nonetheless, with buckling legs, with a heaving chest, with red eyes leaking, with arms clinging to his body like a lifeline, with a pained twisted frown, with blurry vision, did stand up.

He looked Cinder straight in the eyes, because he would always do what she wanted. He loved her like that, of course she couldn’t love him because he was an ugly weakling with nothing to him. Andy felt her eyes burn his core, her piercing gaze was sharp and hostile, but not exactly towards him.

“Why on Earth are you crying over what that fool did?”

Andy hiccuped, his words caught in his strained throat. It hurt to talk, the pressure building in his trachea made it harder to sob and whimper, like someone was tugging at his veins and cords.

Andy gulped down the pain, steeling himself to tell her why, why he was crying? Why? Because, because the words were harsh and cut Andy back into reality.

“I-It’s true... ev-everyone wants me dead...” Andy forced out.

Cinder tapped her foot and scolded, “Everyone? I don’t need you dead, I need you alive and kicking. I need that mouth of yours to keep working and for your body to breathing, Andy.”

“Y-you can’t count.”

“And why Heavens not?”

Andy choked on more tears, gasping, “B-BECAUSE! You - you’re not everyone! You’re your own, and amazing and above everyone!” The passionate cry, though laced in sorrow, spoke his truth. Andy blinked back his pain and gazed into Cinder’s eyes. “Everyone is everyone who is not you! The teachers, my parents, the students, my neighbors, Beel and Rose-”

“Do you think they want you dead?”

Andy remained silent, but hesitantly nodded.

“I don’t believe that. I’ve seen how much Beel and Rose love having you near them, but if you need confirmation let’s go ask them right-”

“NO!” Andy couldn’t stop the word before it came out. He shuffled his feet, uncomfortable, and sealed his lips.

Cinder narrowed her ruby eyes, they cut Andy deeper than any word could ever.

She was angry with him, he could see that, and couldn’t blame her, because he was irrational and helpless—always weak minded and useless to her.

But didn’t she just say that she needed him?

“C-Cinder, you need me?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself,” she responded, pulling a strand of hair shyly behind her ear.

Andy’s hand went to his heart as if to keep it from falling out. Maybe it would’ve, well actually not, but that didn’t stop Andy from clenching his heart and smiling a cheeky smile. Cinderella Alloyon, the most lustrous woman Andy had ever seen in his life, had a talent for honesty. She—she wouldn't lie to him, so Beel and Rose needed him too, they liked him too. They didn’t want him dead.

“Andy, stop thinking about trivial matters. Especially your parents. They don’t matter anymore.” Her cool voice broke his thoughts. Andy beamed at her, nodding. However, she extended her hand to him and added, “I want you to promise me such.”

Andy took her hand without a moment’s thought. Oh, she was warmer than Andy would’ve thought. He took this moment to feel the smooth texture of her glowing skin, the pristine clarity of her perfectly polished nails, just her hand was stunning and Andy couldn’t hold himself back any longer.

He went down on one knee, gracefully holding her hand in his like a pearl and planted a gentle kiss upon her knuckles. She smelled of passion fruit and vanilla, Andy hummed at the sensation tingling on his nose and mouth. God, she was just so beautiful, a goddess beyond compare. His aphrodite.

“‘What’s in a name that which we call a rose...’” Cinder spoke in a light tone. Andy looked up to meet her eyes, shining their purest and beauty. “‘By any other name...’”

She stopped, expecting Andy to finish up and, sure enough, he knew exactly what to say. He grinned against her hand and mused, “‘Would still smell as sweet,’ milady.”

[starrysights]

All Melts All Returns Eventually

Second Preview (Taken from Chapter Nine: Ride)

“Damn boy,” Dean faintly screamed, grabbing his jaw even tighter as he groaned. "Who do you think you are?"

Faith felt strong arms wrap tighter around her as she looked up. She had never actually looked up to see who saved her until now. Somehow she wasn’t surprised; in fact, in her heart, she was relieved that it was him and no one else. Smiling down at her with sea green eyes, Christian sighed and brought Faith closer to him. “You know, usually when I say be careful, I really do mean be careful, or were you late on realizing that too?”

“Shut up,” Faith mused.

Christian chuckled.

“You brat.” Christian jolted, the smile on his face vanishing completely as he scowled at the Deacon. Dean brought himself to his feet, arching forward a bit, and held his hand to his broken jaw. “I’ll–”

“How ​dare you.”

Dean cringed, his expression becoming darker. “What did you say, boy?”

“How dare you touch her.” Christian targeted his eyes on the Deacon. Faith cringed at his cool, low voice. She could practically feel the anger glowing off of him. He held the righteous anger of a Greek god.

“This is my woman!” Christian screamed, holding Faith closer to him. “And you ​will understand that.”

Slowly, he began to pull Faith away from him. Faith cringed and resisted against this, clenching Christian’s tuxedo as tightly as she could. She wasn’t going to let go... not again. Never again. Christian swallowed a snicker, feeling Faith’s stubbornness, and wrapped one of his arms around her, slowly getting to his feet as she did so too. Faith stumbled on her feet, her legs buckling together, and leaned further into Christian, his arm supporting her upwards.

“And who are you to say that?” Dean hissed with a confident smirk. The church administrator snickered quietly and looked sharply to the right of the floor. He gasped.

“Hm? Were you looking for this?” Christian snarled, raising the crowbar that occupied his other hand. “Idiota (idiot), what do you think I hit your sorry ass with?”

Dean growled. When had he been able to get that? “Well then, boy, what do you plan to do with that?”

Faith flinched, the change in tone... the sudden death of sweetness... innocence... it all just vanished...

Christian looked down at Faith and she met his gaze. Within seconds, she understood through their silent communication what she had to do. With all her heart, Faith loosened the arms that were around her dearest and bit her lip, letting go of the young man. Faith took small steps away from him and flinched as a small hand slipped into her palm. Faith looked down.

"Come on," Leon whispered, wide emerald eyes gazing intensely at Faith. "Brother's pissed. He'll handle this. But your friend... Peyton..."

Faith's mind rushed a mile a second. How could she forget? Faith ran and fell on her knees to Peyton's side. Immediately, she pressed her ear to her chest, relieved to hear her strong heart still beating vigorously.

"Thank God..." Faith silently uttered.

"She's alive?" Leon asked. Faith looked into his small, worried face and grinned.

"As alive as you and me," Faith said, "And him."

She tilted her head to Christian, who in turn glanced over his shoulder while keeping a firm eye on the wounded Dean. "She's alive."

Christian smirked and chuckled. He turned back to Dean and lifted the crowbar in his hand, balancing the weight of pure iron in his hold. Dean glared angrily at the older teen.

"The hell are you waiting for? Do it. Get it over with," Dean cursed rather loudly. Slowly, Dean rose to his full height, putting on a brave front even though the pain aching through his face made him cringe. The older man scowled horribly. "Be a man and finish it. Be the man you think you are!"

Christian smirked and slowly walked towards Dean, the crowbar in his hand screeching the cracked floor with icy disturbance. The noise echoed all around the chamber and Faith was unable to look upon Christian's actions any longer. She couldn't watch anymore. She couldn't bear to see him lose control again. She couldn't watch that pure, naked hatred burn in his eyes again as he became something less than human. But even worse, horrifyingly enough, Faith couldn't bear to watch Dean in pain.

Faith chuckled bitterly. Even she was calling him Dean now... his real name.

"Who the hell do you think I am?" Faith shivered at the strength Christian's voice held. “Usually, when I want to beat someone within an inch of their life, I would've done it already. You'd be writhing on the floor right now in your own piss. There'd be no talk. Just blood. But quite frankly, I don't want your blood. It reeks of your mother's breast milk, you sick scopare (swine)."

Dean growled so loud that it sounded animalistic; gurgled and vicious like a demented monkey. "Easygoing brat! Don't look down on me like tha-"

CLANG!

Faith shuddered. The first strike.

Dean howled in pain, his screams wispy like a lost soul freezing for eternity.

“You touch my woman. Lie to my face. Hurt my friend. And have the audacity to sneak into MY town, contaminating our air with your breath, and fooling OUR people!”

CLANG! The second offense. Another scream of agony. Christian's voice rose to a new baritone, sounding nothing like him at all. "NOT AGAIN. Worms like you will NEVER fool these people EVER AGAIN."

Dean cowered and raised his hands to his face, faintly baring a scowl in the midst of pain. “S-stop it! Damnit! This hurts!”

[starrysights]

The Chemical Equation for Destruction

Second Preview (Taken from Chapter Three: The Teacher’s Opposing Argument)

“Look at yourself, Andy. What are you? Just some loser piece of shit that everyone wishes were dead. All you do is cause trouble. You’re like a cancer that just keeps coming back and growing stronger.” Andy gagged, Anthony was pressing his arm further into his throat, holding him off the floor and against cold, edgy metal. “Well, you know what? I’m the surgeon around here and I’m going to cut you down until you’re nothing but a shriveling pile of dung.”

“L-Let g-go-o...” Andy wheezed, utterly scared and with every second that passed was losing his breath. “P-Please-”

“Your own fucking parents don’t want you, Kingsland. No one wants you. Why don’t you do us all a favor and go. Fucking. Kill. Your. Self.” With every word, Anthony was punching his elbow into Andy’s gut. The smaller boy whimpered out pitiful cries of pain, his breath was coming back but was forced out in rough, agonizing gasps.

Shit. This is what he gets for being so stupid, but why was it always him? Why was he the one to get his phone taken up when everyone else had theirs out, why was he the one to always be forgotten and never loved, why was he the one who always tried his best and would always fall short because someone just didn’t like him peeking his head into glory?

Anthony pushed Andy on the ground, the smaller boy coughed wildly and started spitting on his own clothes, desperate to heed away the pain in his bruised, growling stomach. With a grunt, Anthony kicked him in the ribs and stepped on his face, “If you ever snitch on anyone else, I’ll ruin your fucking life.”

And the council president stomped off. Andy didn’t bother to look up, he curled into himself and felt the pain radiating through his body and heart. Oh, he was so weak, so useless and it was hurting so much. Everything was hurting. His ruffled brown hair slid over his eyes, barely covering the stormy greys as they began leaking his pain.

So fucking pathetic.

[starrysights]

The Chemical Equation for Destruction

Preview (Taken from Chapter Ten: The Chemical Equation for Destruction)

“This is so simple, not even you can screw this up Andy,” Rose commented. Andy rolled his eyes and dug into his pocket, fishing out another Tylenol. He popped it in his mouth and swallowed, he’d been eating these things every hour like they were candy. The pain he felt all through the night was enough to risk the overdose warning.

“Are you ready?” Rose snapped her fingers with a devious smirk. A small flickering flame ignited on her finger. Andy nodded his head, his part was simple. Just locking everyone. No one will know they were even there.

However, Rose barked a laugh and slammed open the door. Andy broke out into a nervous sweat as he knew what Rose was planning immediately - wait, planning? Rose just acted on pure impulse, nothing more! Her hands burst into flames as she glared at the mix of the dozens of surprised students and teachers. “We’d hate to interrupt this subtle meeting but you’re all going to die! It’s nothing personal we just needed a... first step to bring chaos to this town. Really, you all should be glad you wont be around to see the end of this world!”

The headache Andy had blocked out any of the cries of distress and anger the honored had. His eyes narrowed just enough to see many angered people stand up then back up, fear frozen on their crinkled faces. Rose was showing off her pyro skills, such a showoff. “Come on, Andy, don’t you want to get in on this? Look at their faces! Filled with such horror and despair, it’s beautiful!”

Rose was definitely a sadist. Well, Andy already knew that but he didn’t think she’d go this far with it. To actually boast in the faces of people who she was going to kill, no wonder Cinder loved her so much. He watched Rose, with her demented smile, snap her fingers at a teacher Andy knew she hated with all her guts. That teacher cried out in pain and fell backwards, fire protruding from his mouth and crawling to the rest of his face.

“Hey dweeb, I bet you didn’t know the tongue is the fastest burning body part did you?” She laughed, “It’s like a literal explosion in your mouth!”

Others tried their best to help the fallen teacher, they scrambled and cried out in horror. Falling over each other in the process. “Susu-hmpn, oh no, I shouldn’t laugh...” Andy covered the smile that was splitting his lips.

“And why not, dweeb? Comedy is made to be laughed at!” But Andy held back the chuckles, glaring at Rose with annoyance. Yet he knew she was right. Why shouldn’t he laugh? This was funny, really funny... why not just let himself go?

Suddenly Andy was pushed backwards, out of the room. He grunted in pain when hitting the cold floor and looked up, glaring in the eyes of his greatest enemy. Anthony didn’t waste time, he started punching Andy endlessly with flurries of heated hits. He was screaming, loudly, “You cocksucking motherfucking freak! You and that bitch! We’re not dying, you hear me? Not for you, you worthless—”

And so on and so forth. Andy was thrashing underneath the president but nothing worked. In the corner of his eye he spotted Rose slam the conference door shut, plopping her body as a barricade to hold it shut. For the first time Andy saw panic in her eyes as she struggled to keep back the teachers and students who were trying to escape. “Do something, dweeb!”

“Help me,” Andy coughed out, still struggling against Anthony.

“I-I can’t focus!” Rose grunted and fell forward but quickly pressed her body against the door again. “They’ll get out... I-“

Can’t multitask, can you? Andy mentally cursed the situation. Antony wasn’t letting up and Andy could taste the metallic flavor on his blood overflowing his mouth, dripping from his broken nose. He wanted so badly to get up and fight back but Anthony was the bigger... weakling.

For a split moment, time froze and Andy used that time to think about what he did before when he beat up Anthony. Yes, he beat him up one other time when he hurt Cinder. He tried, just like he’ll try again... for Cinder’s sake, and Beel’s and Rose’s. And his own, because Andy really, really wanted to end this world and everyone in it. No matter what the cost.

[starrysights]

“All Melts All Returns Eventually”

Written By: Thantler Bortnik

Preview (Taken from Chapter Four: Breath and Life Began it All)

“Leon,” Christian said in a soft tone. “We know he’s gone, but right now... I need you to keep it together. Okay?”

Listening closely, Faith could hear the pain in Christian’s voice. He was basically telling Leon to steel himself, and that was the last thing he wanted to say to his baby brother in this moment. Faith looked to Peyton and saw the conflicted expression on her face, the scar crinkling with dismay and hurt.

For a moment, no one spoke or moved and only waited for the young child to answer. His head lowered, causing locks of bistre to cover his eyes again. A few minutes went by and Leon still didn’t voice his answer. Christian sighed and stood up, Faith and Peyton following after.

“Christian,” Peyton solemnly said, voice low to make sure Leon didn’t hear her.

“Yeah?” Christian grumbled.

“Will he be alright?”

Christian rubbed the back of his neck and groaned. “Not completely,” he answered, adding quietly under his breath, “But he’s handled worse...”

Peyton raised an eyebrow. “Every room in this freaking church went up in flames except here.”

“Really?” Faith asked.

“Yeah. You were unconscious when the announcements set in,” Peyton said quietly. Suddenly, the door to the chapel was flung open and a handful of men came walking through.

“And speak of the devil, here are the messengers now,” Christian mumbled through a small grin. Leon stumbled away.

The trio watched as every resident in the chapel became utterly still. No more sobs sounded as a single tall young man walked in front of the group, a conflicted look of sweat and worry mixed on his face, and fumbled with his hands, eventually deciding to close them together in front of him.

“Ladies and gentlemen...” He sounds nervous, Faith noticed. “We have... extinguished every fire and searched through... every room...” He was fumbling with his hands again, but this time eyeing every man, woman, and remaining child carefully, and continued. “And... throughout our search... we have found that every door has been... melded shut and locked... And our calls to the police cannot be reached... ambulances will not be coming, and... we are stuck in here until someone finds us...”