The Everlasting Darkness

[Minnysota]

<<OOC: Note, this thread is completely closed off and I would like there to be no posting other than mine. This is a story that I am writing independently, so I would prefer if there was little interruption. If you have questions, telegram me. Thanks to those on #Ellorea who have helped me iron this out.>>

Index

• Act I - Hidden Shadows

[Minnysota]

Act I - Hidden Shadows

A cold, melancholy breeze moved throughout the room. Darkness blanketed the concrete chamber, but a light managed to glimmer in the center of the enclosed box. A hanging lamp oscillated from side to side as its rays casted down onto a steel-frame bed with a grungy mattress. The illumination also revealed a weeping teenage woman. Her skin was pale and her hair was only down to her shoulders; despite the dullness in the room, it reflected beams of light even into the darkness. Tears seeped out of a pair of bright blue eyes and sped down an innocent face. Her weeping filled the room with despair and noise, and with these emotions the flare above began to fade.

The light went out, yet her weeping continued, the sounds of her yelps echoing off the walls. A door in the distance opened and closed, which caused the bulb to flicker until it barely casted anything at all. The girl looked up, and the despair and sadness on her face immediately dissipated. The light above gleamed even brighter until it stretched to a person's foot. Although the person was still in darkness, she recognized him and called out to him.

“Victor! Where did you come from?”

‘Victor’ stepped into the light. His countenance seemed to return the girl to depression, as he obviously showed no signs of recognition.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know you,” he raised his arm and rested his chin in his hand as he thought, “although… I do recognize you from somewhere!”

Joy returned to the girl’s face as she wiped tears from under her eyes. “Of course you do silly! It’s me, Rachel! You know, your best friend?” She let out an innocent laugh and the despair in her face, along with the paleness of her skin, went away. Victor chuckled, but he still could not remember who she was. Rachel continued to laugh, which seemed to coincide with the light growing more powerful. The darkness receded, and Victor stood in the light, his entire body revealed to her. The light reflected off of his abs and torso and also seemed to flatter Victor's arms. She looked flabbergasted by his physique as her eyes darted to each corner of his body. He stood there uncomfortably and attempted to cover himself with his hands. Seeing this, she chuckled. Rachel looked up at Victor's face and noticed his rosy cheeks. Innocence once again left her face as she drooled over his structure. Noticing every detail of his face, she seemed most interested in his firm jaw, perfect nose, and deep, brown eyes.


“Where did you come from, Victor? You never answered me earlier.”

He looked at her with a look of confusion and fear. Although it was mostly because she was near drooling over him, it was also because he didn’t know how to answer her.

“I… I don’t know. I was at my house and in a split second, I ended up here. I was outside this room for the longest time, listening to my own thoughts as they raced by. Then, I heard you crying and saw the door. That’s when I met you.”

She paused from admiring his physical features and looked back up at him. “That’s weird,” she admitted. She chuckled once again and then looked into his eyes once more. “Victor, I never knew you looked so great without a shirt.” She winked at him and stood up, her short skirt barely passing the middle of her thighs. Her pink tank top was all that concealed her breasts, and Victor quickly noticed this. She walked up to him and brushed herself against his body. Reaching for the bottom of her shirt, she lifted off her blouse and went to kiss Victor. Against all of his judgment, he moved to kiss her as well. Then, it all went blank. Victor stood in the same stance and in the same condition, but in a state of nothingness. He saw something nothing but blank space, and then, he woke up. He was sweating all over his body and his sheets were now drenched. He looked to his right and saw a picture of him and his two best friends: Rachel, the girl from the dream; and Dylan, his long-time friend that he had known since he could walk. He looked up at the ceiling again and began to lightly bash his head.

“Why do I keep having dreams about her? This can’t be right, she’s like a sister to me!”

He sat there for a few minutes, silently contemplating what his dream meant. It felt like an hour had passed, yet as he looked over to the clock, he realized that only four minutes had gone by. Fuck, he thought to himself. His mind raced and prevented him from returning to sleep, although this was also because he did not want to dream about Rachel anymore, not like that, anyway. In order to cure his boredom and help lullaby him to sleep, he turned on his television. The first channel to show was the local news channel. I want to sleep, but this isn’t worth it, he thought to himself. Just as he moved to change the channel, a story came up about a car crash nearby. This usually wouldn’t concern him, but something about his dream challenged him to listen to the tale.

“Earlier tonight,” the reporter began, “a couple were killed by an accident on Brooklinger Drive. At approximately 11 PM, the couple, identified as Brian Jones and Elizabeth Jones, were hit by a drunk driver speeding at over ninety-five miles per hour. The impact killed the passenger instantly and the driver was killed after the suspect drove them into a wall. The suspect was also killed and has yet to be identified. However, these photos were offered by relatives of the victims.”

Victor sat with his mouth hanging open; he was in a state of awe. Rachel’s parents were dead. He had considered Mr. and Mrs. Jones to be second parents to him for his entire life, and now they were gone. Tears of his own began to roll down his cheeks, and he let out a soft whimper. He shut off the TV before they could report on the story anymore and crashed back against his mattress. Staring out the window at the dark sky, Victor began to think about Rachel. In his silent mourning, he mustered the strength to mouth, “Rachel, I’ll be there for you soon. I won’t let you fall on your own. And maybe, you can be my own someday.”

[Minnysota]

Victor shot forward as his alarm blared. Sweat was running down his forehead and his body, and his sheets were still wet from his dream about Rachel. He sat in the bed contemplating what had happened to him, and whether what happened last night really happened. Rubbing his temples, he tried to ease his tension and stress. It had to be a dream, he thought, there’s no way Rachel’s parents are dead. He lightly chuckled to himself and swung his legs off the side of the bed. As he prepared to stand, his phone began to vibrate. Checking who sent him a message, Victor saw that the message came from his other best friend, Dylan.

The message read: “Victor, I’m heading over to Rachel’s house soon. I’ll stop by and pick you up, but be ready. I don’t think she will feel any better if only I show up. –Dyl”

Victor’s heart sank and he fell back into his bed. Once again, he began to silently cry to himself. How could this happen? How could Rachel’s parents be dead? Thoughts raced through his mind until the sound of a car door closing brought him back to reality. He looked out the window and saw Dylan walking up. Although it was still kind of dark at only six thirty in the morning, he could make out Dylan’s complexion quite well. He was just as tall as Victor, standing at six foot, two inches; he had layered dirty blonde hair that he kept swept over his forehead; he also had the same build as Victor. When Victor registered that it was Dylan walking to the door, he rushed to his closet and put on a clean red shirt and some black shorts. He ran down the stairs, slid on his sandals, and ran outside to meet Dylan at the door.

Dylan’s eyes were bloodshot and he looked like he had been crying for some time. Victor noticed this and gave in to his emotions too. The two turned to walk toward Dylan’s car.

“So… it really happened?” Despair clouded every word that came out of Victor’s mouth.

“What do you mean? Of course it did.”

Despite Dylan's harsh response, Victor was still determined to vent out what he was thinking. "Dylan.. I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" He snapped back, the impatience in his voice becoming quite obvious.

Sitting silently and motionless, Victor stared out the front of the car as they continued to drive along. His skin was becoming pale and his eyes lost their depth. Closing his eyes in an attempt to garner the strength to say what he wanted to say, Victor tried to confront Dylan about his feelings. "I haven't been sleeping well lately." Color and expression returned to his face, but on the inside Victor was beating himself for lacking the confidence to speak his mind.

“That’s really fucking unfortunate. In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve got bigger problems right now.”

Victor knew that Dylan wasn’t mad at him; he was just frustrated and didn’t want to talk. For the rest of the ride to Rachel’s house, the two sat in silence and didn’t even look at each other. Dylan turned the last corner and soon Rachel’s house was within sight, and so was Rachel. All alone, she was sitting on her porch, weeping into her hands as she slowly swung back and forth on the swing. When Dylan and Victor pulled into the driveway, she barely lifted her head to see them. Victor noticed how different Rachel looked. She was pale, just like in his dream, and she was crying. He registered the similarities quite quickly. Her maroon hair, however, failed to reflect the light like it did in his dream. Dylan led the way onto the porch and sat next to her, putting his arm around her as he began to rub her right arm. Victor followed suite and did the same thing, just on her left side.

“I already feel better just with you guys here,” she let out a laugh and looked at both of the boys, but she continued to cry. “I just can’t believe that they’re gone..”

“Neither can I, Rachel,” Victor quickly responded, “but Dylan and I are here for you. You don’t need to worry.”

Rachel started to ball even more. Noticing this, Dylan pulled Rachel closer to him and she started to lean on him. Seeing this, Victor felt a twinge of envy. A dark expression began to cloud over his countenance and he began to slightly frown as his teeth began to grind against each other. He wanted her to be leaning on him, not Dylan. How dare he try to steal her? He narrowed his eyes and looked at Dylan, but quickly pulled his vision away. He realized what he was doing, and what was happening. No, it can’t happen again, not after this long, Victor thought. Wanting to comfort Rachel, he placed his arm on her and began to rub her back.

A few minutes of silence passed as the trio sat on the bench. Rachel still sat there crying into her palms as the two boys tried to comfort her. Dylan looked over to Victor and nodded, which prompted Victor to do the same.

“Hey, Rachel, we should go to my house for now. There are too many things to remind you of your parents here.”

She lifted up her head and sat straight up, attempting to look strong, but Victor could still tell that she was weak. “That sounds good,” she replied.

Following Dylan’s lead to his car, Rachel climbed onto the back seat and laid down. After climbing in, Victor looked behind him to watch Rachel. As he looked back at her, a new countenance took over his face. Looking past her emotionless, blank face, he saw her conventional beauty. Her eyes became bright and lively as they usually were; her smile always stretched across her face; and a hint of interest in her countenance to show you that she was listening. As he thought about this, Victor realized how much he missed that sense of security when talking to Rachel, how she wouldn’t reveal his secrets and how she would remember everything he told her. He spent the entire car ride embracing the truth: he was falling for her.

“Alright, we’re here. I’ll go get some food ready for you Rachel,” Dylan said as he looked back to talk to Rachel.

“Thanks,” she sat up and smiled at Dylan.

“Alright, I’ll help you in,” Victor said.

“Thanks, Victor. You know, you two are the best friends anyone could ever have. You’ve always been here for me, and I don’t know how to pay you both back.”

“Yeah... we’ll never leave your side,” he responded and looked into Rachel’s eyes. As he stared at her with awe, his mind began to replace the misery on her face with joy and the dullness of her condition with liveliness and beauty. Her eyes met his as they came to the door. Victor felt a hint of tension as she looked up at him again. As she walked into Dylan's living room, Victor let out a light sigh and bit down on his tongue, trying to hold back his urges. Walking in to the home, he immediately realized how dull and melancholy the room was. The walls were an ugly shade of brown and there was little light. Much of the furniture was old, although considered antique, and gave off what Victor felt was a depressing vibe. He was shocked to notice that Rachel was enjoying the environment, thinking that instead the lack of diversity and color would bring her down even more. Dylan walked in with a tray of soup and crackers and tried to give it to Rachel.

“Actually, Dylan, I’m not that hungry right now. Thanks, though.”

Dylan stood up and began to walk the food back to the kitchen, “No problem at all, Rach. If you need anything, you know that I’m here for you.”

Victor smiled slightly when Dylan said this, but expression left his face almost immediately after Dylan finished his sentence. Rage compiled within his eyes and mind as color once again left his face. Nostrils flaring, his countenance quite blatantly revealed the rage building up within him. His hands moved down to his knees where they grasped the caps with ferocity, refusing to let go. Dylan walked in and failed to realize the rage building up within Victor, which this time he failed to suppress. Watching as his best friend sat next to Rachel and swung his arm over her shoulders, Victor clinched his jaws together. His stare moved from Rachel to his best friend as Dylan charmed Rachel's beauty and seemed to flirt with her. As he began to let out heavy, irritated breaths through his mouth, Victor returned to reality when Rachel called over to him.

“Victor, there’s a cold seat right next to me. I think I’d feel better if you filled it.” She let out another innocent laugh as Victor paced over. Emotion and color still had not returned to Victor's face, but he figured Rachel and Dylan wouldn't notice. They are too busy flirting, he thought. As he sat down, Victor fixed his hate-filled eyes on Dylan, who still failed to notice him.

[Emus Republic Of Australia]

oh your at the back? Time to waste a decade of work.