This is what I have so far of Loren's history, though I've renamed him as Mark on request of my friends who are reading this IRL also xD I'm no where near finished, and this first chapter isn't even done, but this is what I have of it so far. Tell me what you think of it! =D
P.S. forums HATE indentions, so it's all weird lookin'. Ah well. Also, I have some edits that I'd like to do on this chapter if/when I even finish it. But right now I'm gonna accept crap until I get a bit more into the story, lol
P.S.S. This takes place in England; the year is roughly around 1709. Another thing I need to add in here, ha.
Prologue.
I knew it was going to happen… I always have. To think that I traveled the Atlantic just for this. Why did I ever leave England in the first place? Here I was, three-hundred years later, facing my final demise, and all I could think about was her. Why? I don’t know exactly, but it was enough to put a smile to my lips. The thought of her wouldn’t leave my mind; all I could see was her face smiling up at me, as happy as always, calling my name. Her sweet voice echoed throughout my mind, resonating within my being. There death was, right above me, pinning my arms to the ground. My life was about to end. I couldn’t go down like this; I didn’t want to think of her when I died. She didn’t deserve a monster like me to remember her at a time like this; she deserved so much more than that. I had to do something. Turning my head to the side, I caught his eye and he froze. Then… Everything went numb.
Chapter 1.
“Come back here! Thieves! Robbers!” The voice behind us seemed to be breathing down our necks as we sped our way down one of the cobblestone roads to freedom. I clutched the chicken breast to my chest as tight as I could, not daring to lose such a precious meal. I glanced to my right, where Gus was holding a rather large piece of bread, and then to my left where Oliver had a path of sausage trailing behind him. I could hear Allie’s feet striking the ground behind me as we ran for our lives. We’d lost Frank somewhere along the way, but with the catch that we had now we weren’t able to turn around and go back for him.
“Go left!” I heard Gus’s voice ring in my ears, somehow still audible over the shouting of the woman we’d just stolen this food from. My body reacted immediately and I barreled down a tight alleyway right behind Oliver. We jumped over a small creek and dove for cover under the bridge that went across it. The shouts that had been following us had disappeared somewhere back there, much to my own relief. Allie, curled up at my side, looked up at me with those wide brown eyes of hers. I swallowed hard and carefully peeked out from our cover to see if anyone was following us. I was greeted with nothing but a lonely stone path and the small village beyond it. Sighing with relief, I smiled to myself and returned my gaze to my companions, only to see… No Gus. Oliver was there, on the other side of the small brook, panting. Allie was at my side, hungrily looking over what food we had gotten. But Gus and Frank were no where to be seen. Panic overturned my body and I felt my eyes widen as I looked hopefully at Oliver. “Where’s-”
“They’re coming,” Oliver answered easily, not even looking up at me. “Gus went back to get Frank, I’ll bet; don’t worry ‘bout it.”
Uneasily, I relaxed my tensed muscles and stared at the chicken breast I held in my dirty hands. What a steal! This was the best we’d eat for a few days.
“Man, I can’t believe we were so lucky,” Oliver mumbled, studying his line of sausage, seeming to echo my own thoughts.
The sound of footsteps put all three of us on edge, and I peeked out of our shelter once more. Gus and Frank were walking calmly toward our home, both of them were smiling and laughing. Gus was still holding his piece of bread, but Frank didn’t seem to have any food with him. Once they scrambled their way inside and sprawled about, Oliver was quick to ask them what had happened.
“Frank says he got himself lost,” Gus answered, punching his buddy in the arm.
Frank shrugged and laughed. “You guys left so quick I couldn’t keep up. An’ that lady looked like she wanted to beat me upside the choppers, she did.”
The whole group laughed then, a hearty well-meaning laugh that we’d needed for some time. Life on the streets could be unforgiving, and it was moments like that that reminded me of how close we really were.
“Let’s see our loot then,” said Gus finally, getting to his knees within the cramped space beneath the stone bridge. Obediently, I held out my prize chicken, Allie held out her small apple that was all she managed to nab at the time, and Oliver handed over his long line of sausage. “Well look here!” he exclaimed, his blue eyes were wide with happiness. “We won’t have to go hungry for days, boys! Good job nabbin’ that chicken there, Mark,” he praised me.
My pride rose it’s head under the leader’s praise, and all I could manage to do was smile happily at what I’d done.
Night came quickly upon us, and after making the smallest fire imaginable and cooking that chicken for hours, we all had full stomachs. The sound of their snoring buzzed through my head as I stared blankly out from under the shelter of the bridge. IT was completely dark outside, the only lights I could see were those few that were in the village.
Allie stirred at my side, grumbling in her sleep. Looking down at her, I couldn’t believe she was still alive. She was so small, and getting weaker every day, despite this huge meal. She just wasn’t meant for the streets.
“Mark?” she asked, and I refocused my gaze to see her staring back at me. I’d dazed a bit, it seemed.
I gave her an easy smile. “What, sis?”
She was quiet for a moment, and looked down at her hands before she spoke. She seemed uneasy. “You… Never told me what happened to momma.”
I felt my face harden at her question, but I tried to be gentle. She was so young then, she wouldn’t have understood. Still, I didn’t have the heart to tell her what really happened. “Mom left for a little while,” I answered, my voice strained. “She left me in charge of you though, so go to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow.”
Allie was sleepy, I knew she was. She didn’t object, and turned on her other side, facing way from me. “We always have a big day tomorrow…” she mumbled quietly. A few moments more and I heard her breath even out and slow.
Lying on my back in the damp dirt underneath the bridge, I sighed and stared up at the stone above. I closed my eyes slowly, calmed by the rhythmatic sounds of the guys snores, and eventually lulled to sleep.
The images that followed quickly after my closed eyelids weren’t something I wanted to go to sleep to, but I wasn’t able to wake myself up. I was in my old house. The one we lived in before… That happened. I was standing at the front door beside my mom and Allie. They were both waving at something in the distance. Turning around, I saw the retreating form of my father dissipating into the darkness that lay beyond our threshold. Horror struck me; I knew where he was going. This was when he first went off to war. At the time, I’d been just as happy to see him off as my mother and sister had been, but not now. I opened my mouth to scream after the figure, and ran out into the darkness with outstretched arms.
Suddenly the dream changed, and instead of outside, I was inside my house. Allie was no where to be seen, nor was my mother, but all around me were the sounds of her sobs. They seemed to echo within my ears hollowly, growing louder. I raised my arms and placed my hands over my ears in hopes of blotting out the deafening cry, but it didn’t even phase the sound. The noise was so loud that I soon found myself on my knees, tears rolling down my face. It felt like I was going to explode.
As soon as it had begun, the noises evaporated into the normal sound of my mother sobbing somewhere within the bowels of the house. I looked up and wiped the tears off of my cheeks. Getting to my feet, I stumbled across the room, following the noise. When I reached our room, since we all shared one room at the time, I peeked inside timidly. The sleeping form of Allie was in one corner of the room. My mom was sitting on the end of her mattress, clutching my father’s old handkerchief. He used to carry that around with him everywhere, but left it with us when he left as a sort of reminder. Now it only caused pain for us all. The broken form in front of me drew in a ragged breath and straightened up somewhat. I opened my mouth to speak; yet no sound came out. Confused, I tried again only with the same result.
I stepped into the room and came around to sit at her side. She didn’t seem to take notice of me, and continued crying with that little red cloth in her shaking hands. I felt my eyes well up at the sight, and reached out to embrace my mother in a well-needed hug. The only thing I grasped was air. Looking up, I saw the pain in her green eyes. She didn’t know I was here at all. I reached up to touch her face with one of my hands, and it only passed right through.
Something caught the moonlight that streamed in through an open window, and in her hands revealed a small knife. Fear overcame my body and I immediately knew what she was going to do. Frantically, I attempted to grab the knife out of her hands as she raised it. As expected, my body only passed right through. I waved my arms in her face and attempted to yell, but once again with no result. I took off for the corner of the room where Allie had been sleeping and bent down to pick her up and carry her with me, only to no prevail. I glanced at my mother and the gleaming pointed object with sadness and ran for the door.
I woke in a sweat in the middle of the night. My eyes flew open and I immediately looked around at my settings. Allie was sleeping peacefully at my side just as always, safe and sound. The snores of Gus, Oliver, and Frank could be heard within the darkness close by. Breathing hard, I reluctantly relaxed and lay down once more. No way would I be able to sleep after that.
The night seemed to drag on slowly after that, and I constantly drifted into a conscious and unconscious state of light slumber. Allie snoozed peacefully at my side throughout the night. Thankfully the darkness had brought with it warm weather, or else we’d all be huddled up with one another in fear of freezing to death. It was unlike me to miss out on sleep, but I simply wasn’t able to shake those gruesome images from my mind.
Morning came finally, seemingly a century later. My eyes were droopy and bleary as I glanced across the slowly lightening world around me at my friends who were rousing from their slumber. The first one up was Gus, who parted his jaws in a long, drawn out yawn and chewed it sleepily at the end. When his eyes found me, confusion colored his tone. “You not get much sleep, Mark?” he asked.
I shook my head, propping myself on my elbows to push myself up into a sitting position. “Nightmare,” I replied in a tired voice.
Gus only grinned his mocking grin. “Looks like we got us here a baby,” he teased. I knew he meant well; he was Gus. But right now I was in no mood to deal with his mouth, especially after that horrifying flashback the previous night. I narrowed my eyes and prepared a sharp comeback, but Allie rustled about in her sleep, signaling her arrival into the waking world. I closed my mouth bitterly. It was a good thing, too; if I’d have spoken back to the leader like I’d wanted to I’d have gotten reprimanded for it for sure. And Gus didn’t play around when it came to insubordinates back-talking him.
A warning glance meant that he knew what I was about to do, but he didn’t rest on the subject. Instead, he crawled on his hands and knees and scrambled his way from under our shelter. All I could see of him was his ankles from under the bridge.
“Good morning,” I heard beside me. Allie’s voice. That lightened my mood, and I couldn’t help the small smile that followed. I replied with a good morning as well, and she eventually scrambled her way out to join Gus outside. Sighing to myself, despite my exhaustion, I crawled out after her and was greeted with the bright early morning sun that beamed down upon the Earth.
I blinked my eyes at its staggeringly bright appearance, and then thanked the heavens when the bright orb disappeared behind a few gray clouds. Rain? I scanned the skies, and it sure didn’t look like it had yesterday. Dark gray clouds loomed above us as we gazed upward in awe. Rain hadn’t been present for a few weeks now, so this was something somewhat new. To the right of me looked particularly nasty; thunder could be seen within the dark masses that threatened to unload its fury on the creatures below. To my left looked sunny and beautiful; a picture perfect sunrise.
Rainstorms weren’t something that was particularly good for us. In fact, it was a rather bad thing. The rainwater causes the water levels to rise, and that included the small brook that ran underneath the bridge that we called home. If it rained too much, we’d have to move until the water receded.
“Looks like it could be bad,” Gus murmured quietly, gazing up at the ever encroaching gray mass.
I nodded, not entirely happy with this news. Why did it have to be tonight when I got no sleep?
A noise sounded nearby, and the rest of the gang entered into the bright English morning. We all stood and watched the dulled flashes of lightning concealed within the clouds that still had a ways to go before reaching us. Today would be interesting.
Sun Feb 07, 2010 8:28 pm