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 Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 11:44 am
Heartless
Copyrighted to Ashley Weston (Darkest_Inc)
Here is where I will post the makings of my character's story. I hope you make this a place you normally come, and I wish that you enjoy you're time here as you read!
<3
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Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 11:46 am
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Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 11:47 am
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Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 11:55 am
Chapter 1
In The Beginning....
It was in the middle of December, the twenty-ninth to be precise, and the cold weather had already become a severe complication for the inhabitants of the small, yet busy city of New York. It had been snowing since the beginning of November and some people were already beginning to doubt that it was anything to bare fear for; naught but the normal, at least. Forecasters for the most part disagreed, believing that winter was simply making up from it's past shallow seasons and that it would end in a few more weeks, if not less. They sent out graphic details through a televised radio station and warned everybody to stay calm. There was absolutely nothing to worry about......aside from the overly large piles of snow here and there, of course.
The white cold-cotton fabric had blanketed itself thickly all over streets, providing an eerie white gleam to anything it could touch; even the air seemed to hold onto more than it could bargain for. The water around the island, although shifting, seemed to be coated with a thick layer of ice. There were no clear signs that New York hadn't had weather like this in ages, yet it was clear that the abnormality of the situation was indistinguishable.
For fisherman Adidan Ebe, however, this was just another normal day on the docks. Only colder.
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Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 11:57 am
"Bloody fish," the man of fifty eight growled thickly, lips pursed beneath his thick white mustache as he heaved a large crate onto the deck of a small ship which, written in black, smudged letters on the side, read 'Evenings Glory.' Ebe was an old man in his late fifties with broad shoulders and muscular arms from working so rashly for so many years. He had practically grown up at the docks working for less pay than he deserved; non-stop for endless hours, stretching on into the chilling darkness, even though it reached below zero strikingly more than often at nights. He never seemed to complain out loud. He knew that he was lucky to have a job that paid, and he regarded himself with being satisfied with that.
This past year, Adidan had been assigned to Evenings Glory; caring for it and cleaning up after the young brutes who intentionally tried to make it a party barge. Regardless of it's name, it was less than 'glorious.'
The tiny ship swayed threateningly with the weight of the crate and the thick layer of packed snow that had gathered in the various spots where he hadn't been able to reach. The old man made a loud grunt as glass bottles of whiskey and rum rolled lazily down the deck with the slow motions, clinking lightly when they collided with the sides, or just fell off completely. Bright confetti and colored flags swayed with the icy winds, stiffening in the cold and shuddering each time the wind picked up. Plainly, the ship was a complete wreck. It would take him at least a week, maybe two, to get everything cleaned up, mainly due to the 'winter wonderland' that had suddenly replaced his warm, cozy home in New York.
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Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 11:58 am
"I can't believe 'dis," Adidan barked in a gruffly hoarse voice, sighing as he wiped his brow in the most irritable manner imaginable. " 'ey were supposed t'clean up a bit b'fore I got 'ere. Looks like 'dey just up 'n left me 'ere af'er a 'urricane." Groaning, he kicked one of the bottles, and just as quickly let out a loud yelp as he slipped on a bit of snow that had gathered somewhere beneath his feet without his knowing. He reached out and groped for something to hold on to, but everything seemed to go further away from him as he slid clumsily towards the weak wooden railing that would undoubtedly give way to his weight.
Dreading the depths of icy water he would soon be dropped in, he turned to his side and his hand caught a sturdy piece of the wood railing, swinging him to an abrupt stop. He was thankful that he had been proven wrong about the strength of the ship's appendages. Evenings Glory quivered beneath his sprawled weight and lurched to the side momentarily as he gasped, filling his lungs with the cold evening air, a sigh of relief welling greedily in his chest.
Slowly, after regaining his composure, he pulled himself up to his feet and leaned over, cursing and wishing he was at home in front of the fire. His tongue went dry and he swallowed briskly, imagining the satisfying warmth as it eased it's way through his body.
But, amidst his dreamy temptations, his wondering eyes settled upon a dark form drifting in the water just a few feet from the Glory, it's outline white as it quickly gathered thin layers of snow.
"What in'a name of-" He started slightly and his wary eyes widened in shock and curiosity. There was something sickening to way it just floated there like an ominous, lifeless mass. He faintly wondered if his old age was fiddling with his sanity. The side of his mouth quivered into an unbelieving smile.
".....prob'ly jus' some dead fish that those ruckus makin' blokes threw in'a water.....yeah, jus' a big fish, it is...." He muttered to himself for over ten minutes before loosening his grip on the railing. If he wanted to ease his rapidly beating heart, for it beat an unsteady tattoo against his insides, he just had to go see it for himself. Hey, it's not like it was going to kill him, was it?
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Posted: Tue May 30, 2006 12:00 pm
He had made it half way to where he had seen the unmoving mass when his stomach made a violent lurch. It wasn't there anymore; well, not exactly in the same spot. It was moving slowly towards the shore, pushing roughly the chunks of ice that got into it's way. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as it drew closer. No matter how much his head told him to turn and make a run for it, his legs were plastered forcefully to the ground, and all he did was watch in a dreadful manner.
Through the falling snow and beneath the dark water, he could make out two dim blurs of light moving slowly back and forth in a steady motion; perhaps flashlights, he began. With that in mind, it suddenly occurred to him that it was probably a person who had accidentally fallen into the water, and he started slightly.
With a gasp, he walked quickly to the ship and grabbed a spare floating device, beads of sweat forming and falling down his face and burning his eyes crudely. Limping back over towards the slowly ascending person, he threw out the doughnut shaped device and held tightly to the rope, waiting for the person to grab onto it. They stopped moving, and a fear grew in his gut that the person was already dead. He pushed those dreaded thoughts back.
" 'ey!" He yelled desperately, trying to see clearly through the curtain of ice surrounding him. He felt as if he was waisting his voice. The person had probably been in the water for countless minutes, maybe even hours. But, he thought reproachfully, I must try.
" 'ey, are you a'right? Grab on t' the floater an I'll pull y' up!" He still received no response. Suddenly, the form disappeared into the thick black water and he swallowed hard, his hands sweating as he searched the surface again, hoping he was mistaken and the person wasn't even there in the first place. Reality, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
As if time itself had stopped, Adidan's muffled scream of horror did not come clearly; only a dissatisfied groan of disbelief.
"My God....."
----End of Chapter One----
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 3:04 pm
Chapter Two
Standing in front of the old man, paralyzing him to the spot, stood a woman with black hair and menacingly narrowed eyes that emitted a strange glow that cut through the thick snow with a ferocity unlike any other. Ebe's mouth moved as he tried to utter something, or perhaps to scream; yet, still, nothing came out. He shuttered, still clutching desperately to the rope as if it were his lifeline as his eyes wondered to the tattered woman's hands. He struggled to turn and run backwards, though his legs still didn't seem to want to obey him. He was seeing flames. It looked like flames; he still wasn't quite sure if he had control of his sanity anymore.
Licking at both the woman's hands, almost affectionately, were bright sapphire flames; writhing around her fingers and twisting about her wrists. She looked as though she didn't feel them burning at her skin. In fact, she seemed oblivious to the fact that they were even there. All she did was stare at him, the flames sparking and withering in the heavy fall of snow. He was taken aback slightly by the sight of the glow and remembered the two dim shadows of light bobbing around beneath the water......but fire couldn't survive in such moisture....could it?
With a new found courage, he straightened, the sides of his mouth still twitching scarcely. The old man's hands were wrapped thickly around the band of rope that trailed out into the water, wavering with the motions of the floating device as it danced on the smooth waves.
"W-Who're you?" He managed to say, a tint of fear embedded solely somewhere in his deep voice as he tried to keep it steady.
He gained no response; he might as well have been talking to a wall. Something about how the woman just stood there emotionlessly quiet made him shiver; less of the cold, and more of his blunt fright. He wished now more than ever that he was back in his house, drinking down some warm apple cider or some hot chocolate.....
"I'm not in'a mood for ya' games, lass," he said defiantly and took a step forward. When his foot touched back down to the ground, at the last possible second, he regretted getting out of bed that morning.
The woman's hand was wrapped tightly around his neck. The moment his foot had touched the ground, her flaming fingers had latched tightly around his tender skin, threatening to crush his windpipe as if it were already a crumpled piece of paper. There was a irritating stinging on his skin before, due to his luck, his whole head burst into flames. He let out a yell of agony and dropped the rope, grabbing on to the woman's wrist as his feet left the ground.
I'm dreamin', he thought desperately, I'm only dreamin'! He remembered that in dreams, there was no pain. And all he could feel now was unmistakable agony.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 3:05 pm
He gulped desperately for air, but only ended up with a mouthful of fire. He tried to prize off the woman's fingers. In the end, it was to no avail. It wasn't hard to tell that this woman was not human; she couldn't be, not with her holding him up like a rag-doll with one hand and literally burning off his face.
"P-Please......p-p-please.....," he cried out, though it was more along the lines of many shriveled cries of tortured bellows. Ebe opened his watering eyes and saw the flames dim dramatically around both of the women's hands.
Everything stopped. It was like the woman had just been hit across the head with an anvil, for it was surely the only thing that could stop her. She released him and fell limp to the snow laden ground, her once brightly ambered hands now dim with discord. Her glowing eyes shut away from the world's view in a deep sleep-like state.
For his sake, Ebe prayed she was dead. That seemed to be the case, he calculated, because she wasn't breathing. He sat there for what seemed like an eternity, grabbing snow and tenderly exposing it to his shriveled face and neck. To his relief, it numbed the pain a great deal, and he was able to breath satisfactory once again.
"Oi, Addy! What happened?"
Ebe looked around frantically, thinking someone else had come to strangle the lights out of him, until he saw a great young friend come rustling up to him with an outstretched hand as he leaned on his sodden white cane, which blended almost perfectly with the snow.
He couldn't've 'ad better timin', he thought breathlessly and grunted as he was pulled up to his feet. The fisherman was surprised he could stand, even though the woman had done nothing to his legs. He still shook slightly, his eyes averting back to the lifeless form of his attacker with unease.
"I was attacked, I was," He growled hoarsely, taking in a sharp breath of air as his throat began cursing him with pain as if the woman's fingers were still tightly gripped to his skin. His hand went to his neck and he rubbed it sourly. The young man who had helped Ebe up, Mr. Alexander Deluge, who looked like Ebe when he was at least thirty years younger, followed his friend's gaze to the woman's pale and, now that the two men could see clearly, bloody appearance. Immediately, Mr. Deluge's eyes quivered slightly as his bright eyes gazed at the dim flames shifting unfathomably on her hands.
".....w-what happened? She doesn't look-"
"-normal? Yeah, I know," Ebe interrupted.
"But.....but why did she attack you?"
Ebe shrugged and felt his face again, frowning. He could only guess that it looked terribly disgruntled; it couldn't look as worse as it felt, he supposed.
"I saw 'er floatin' 'ere in'a water an' I guessed she'd been in'ere for a while," he said shakily, prodding her hand with the tip of his foot, which abruptly caught on fire. Grunting, he dug the burning leather into the snow and felt the heat die down almost as quickly as it had come to life.
What he said was mostly truth. He did see her floating in the water, unknowingly thinking she was a giant dead fish, and had also noted that she'd been there for quite a while......even though he had still thought her a fish.
"Gave me quite a scare, she did."
" 'ey, mate, she gave you more than that." Deluge let out a stifled laugh as he eyed Ebe's face and bruised neck, which was clearly painted blue and black from where her griped had been the tightest.
Ebe didn't seem to catch on to the joke. He let out an exasperated curse and glared down at the woman, muttering shrude words under his breath.
"We need to call the police," Deluge said quickly, trying to change to subject. He had a young face an a wide grin, but a bad leg that didn't do him justice, what with all the rough work he did. It wasn't hard to tell that everything that came out of his mouth around his old-as-a-bat friend came out completely the opposite of how it was intended.
"No," Ebe said stiffly, frowning and increasing the lines near his mouth, which had become obviously clearer since he no longer bore his great white beard.
"We need to contact the higher authorities. They'll want her."
"How do you figure?" Deluge asked inquiringly, blinking down at the flames, momentarily glancing at the woman's bloody form with a slightly twitch.
"Trust me, Alexander.....they've been looking fer somethin' like 'dis for a very, very, long time...."
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