Hey everyone, I'm back! finally, after several technical difficulties (no matter how untechnical they might seem to be) I have the first official chapter posted. I have to admit though that this should have been up last Monday, but implications wrang out and blah. So, here you go guys, the first chapter of Light Up The Darkness. Please, also, don't send me anymore OCs, I still need to pick for Electric and Water, plus I was hoping to strike up a deal with authors for the other types. Anyway, don't forget to R&R!
The darkness of the night is infectious. It claws at your vision, consuming all thoughts until all that is left are the stars, randomly splattered overhead on that ever expanding blanket we call the sky. Well, the stars shining down on Earth would be the case in nice, calm, and peaceful places like the countryside. Places that do not suffer from what is known simply as light pollution; places like Cherrygrove City, for example. Yes, a life in the country may seem fine and dandy, but it has its own dangers as well.
But, that's beside the point, for in cities like Saffron, not a single star is visible in the night sky; not a single glimmer of hope. Children growing up there, living their entire lives in big cities like this, will never truly be able to glance at the stars. They will never be able to make wishes on those shooting meteors with tails of beautifully glowing space dust, and will often time mistake airplanes for them. No one dares to tell them that they are wrong and to expel all hope they held in that one wish; that one wish that, if granted, could change their entire lives.
Let us take tonight for example; the only natural light coming from above shone down on Saffron City from the moon. Surrounding clouds left wisps of fog as they danced across the night sky, leaving an air of mystery around the moon. Her beauty sang out to the heavens and she smiled in all her glory. Or at least, she would normally be smiling. Tonight, her heart rang in mourning for another lost soul, another lost hope.
But, soon enough, her celestial greeting was overcome by clouds, fierce like dogs of hell, and with a sudden clap of thunder the rain began. Still, she managed to reach beyond the clouds, and light up one particular part of the city as if to give hope. That single strand of light rang true in the nightly abyss; a beacon guiding that lost soul to what waits.
. . . . .
Ever so slowly, I blinked my chocolate brown eyes open and, for the second time tonight, became accustomed to the harsh darkness. Still unaware of where I was and what I was doing in this place, I noticed from my peripheral vision a lone streetlight.
Flicker
Buzz Flicker
The single bulb providing what little light there was in this vast expanse of darkness kept flickering; from iridescent, neon orange to abysmal, hopeless black. The sudden flashing hurt my returning vision, and caused me to squint my eyelids open and close involuntarily.
Flicker
My mind, fogged up and hazy with no recollection of tonight's events, only brought forth the idea of a strobe light, something that this annoying light post wasn't nearly as dangerous as.
Flicker Dim
Buzz
Splash
With each passing second, I could feel myself becoming more aware of my surroundings, and little by little I could hear again. It was as if my ear lobes had been thoroughly cleared of all deeply residing earwax by a gigantic ear swab; no matter how gross that sounded, I really felt that way. Anyway, I could hear all the sounds that I couldn't before, no matter how soft or how far away. It's kind of like my ears become super sensitive or something.
Splash
Buzz Screech
Flicker
The sounds became more apparent. First, the occasional car just passing by, leaving soothing sounds as its tires created friction with loose road gravel, other times screeching along the slim road like during sudden stops in a drag race. Another sound, the pitter patter of raindrops hitting against the pavement in a monotonous rhythm.
Splash Flicker
Scream
Smash
Dim
More noises: the faint music coming from a nearby 24 hour bar; an arguing couple whose raised voices spouted out utter nonsense, adding insult to injury; a car window smashed, the sound of the glass splintering into millions of pieces overtaken by the blaring of the car alarm. Together, they created a sort of musical melancholy.
Screech Shatter
Buzz
Blare
Splash
But, I ignored all that extra noise and focused on the raindrops, their sound echoing by my ears. Footsteps? No, just the water creating the type of sound you'd hear when walking on pavement, shoe sole slapping against concrete every couple of seconds.
Splash
Drip Drop
Drip
And with this, my feeling returned, my sense of touch. Each icy water drop that splattered against my skin felt like a needle pricking montage; like an acupuncture massage. More surreal than that was the sudden notion that the rain, creating puddles everywhere, crawled around me like a siren's tantalizing touch. Cold to the bone.
Drop
Splash Drip
Throb
What's worse was that, as suddenly as the wonders of being able to touch and feel again came back to me, also came upon me a massive headache, starting from the back of my head with the pain also traveling all the way to the core of my heart.
Thump
Throb Splash
Drip
The pulse of my heart throbbed madly and continuously, sending little shockwaves throughout all the nerves in my body. But, the beating most amplified in my skull. The backside of my head felt sore and bashed in. I could imagine a poor tree being hacked away at by a single ax. Each powerful strike sent another migraine to my brain.
Thump Thump
Throb
Quickly I brought my left hand to the hurt area, feeling an already growing bump. Anticipation clawed at my slowly returning thoughts, which propelled my other hand, as if by magic, towards my chest. I fumbled around for my wallet, my identity.. but it wasn't there.
Throb
Thump
Fumble Sift
I sighed in agony. My wallet was my piggybank; it held all my money, credit cards, receipts, cash orders, and even my bankbook. Ok so that may have been foolish of me but it was really easy to carry and I thought it would be harder to steal since I took good care of it. Wait a minute..steal?
Fumble
Drip Drop
Throb
Splash
Why did I think of someone stealing it? Carefully, I slid my right hand up the front of my torso to do another once over for the wallet, when unexplainably I felt something sticky cover my palm and finger pads. Wondering how I didn't notice this before, my nose brought to my attention a strange, metallic scent. Like metal rusting in constant streams of sunlight or from being hit over and over by waves of dangerous sea water.
Splash
Drip Thump
Trickle
Fearing the worst case scenario, I brought that hand to my lips and bravely sampled the substance. A slight breeze ruffled my hair as I horribly realized what it was that I was covered in.
Thump
Blood; there was no doubt in my mind. But, I wonder who's? Then, as if a piano had just crash-landed on me after being dropped from 50 feet like in those old cartoons, all recollection of where I was and what exactly had happened before I woke up fell back into place. One thought after the other came back, filling my mind. Roll after roll of pulverizing waves crashed upon me on all sides.
Throb Trickle
Flicker
Buzz
Attacking that heroin addict, getting into a marvelous fistfight, stumbling slightly, and then…
WHAM!
A steel pipe to the back of my head, something the guy randomly grabbed in the darkness and knocked me out cold with. Oh yeah, and then he took my wallet to assumingly buy more drugs. Everything rushed back at once, just like the after effects of a well-worked brain freeze.
Throb
Splash Drip
Screech
Slowly glancing to my left side I took notice of a pool of rain swirling its way toward a nearby drain, along with it taking an ever flowing amount of my blood as well. A snake, the trail wound its way along the ground to the sewer grate creating startling patterns in its wake that would have elicited laughter in a different situation.
Thump Splash
Drip
Glimmer
In the midst of that misshapen pool I could make out the faint shimmer of steel: My dagger. So that's it, the addict took MY dagger and stabbed me to the brink of death with it, after I was knocked out and he looted my money that is. Spectacular failure number 2.
Screech Buzz
Splash
Flicker
Inside my consciousness I could feel thoughts fly, caught up in a tornado and colliding to form useless, senseless ideas. It was ironic really; the fact that I was in this situation, battered, bruised, and bleeding with no hope of rescue from the immeasurable pain. Every action I did; everything from the way I dressed to the way I acted around different groups of people; the person I became and the façades I threw on were all supposed to help me in some way and to ultimately keep me safe from 'harm'.
Drip Drop
Smash
Dim Thump
Yet, here I was. What exactly was it that brought me to have such a fate as this? I don't know. Depending on the people it could change. A lot, I suppose. So, once more I turned my eyes up. They focused innately on the moon, whose beautiful light went in and out of focus. It fell upon me in a kind of serene grace. The rain drops hurt my eyes when they collided against open irises, but still, I stared.
Sting
Splash Drop
Buzz
Emerging from the fray, from the back of my thoughts came forth a low sound, growing louder and higher pitched each passing moment. The single note flew into a flurry of others, and that unconscious melody formed a song. A sad blues/jazz mix. The melody spiraled. A harmonica.
Thump
I pictured myself lying back on a vast carpet of lush green grass. Not that fake artificial kind, but the good stuff. I could smell the imaginary dew, and saw it sparkle, creating fragmented rainbows as it caught the light from the sun shining overhead. I was playing that tune while a sweet zephyr blew across the field's expanse, swaying the beautifully grown blades back and forth gently, as well as tousling my short black hair.. well whatever it could since my hair happens to be tightly curled.
Thump
Splash
Trickle
Back to reality, I could feel the once rhythmic pulsing of my heart start to slow, octaves falling alongside speed. Life is cruel: This wasn't what I had planned. And, as spastically as I came to after getting beaten by that heroin addict, from my throat rose a deep, low chuckle. Steadily, it progressed into what's known as a mad scientist's maniacal laughter. But, a sharp intake of air halted any further noise.
Flicker
Buzz Drip
Splash
Slowly but surely, I could feel my senses start to weaken, to give out. My eyes kept going back and forth, in and out of focus. Sudden flashes ripped across my vision. Spots of black, dashes of white, and slashes of red appeared, then disappeared again.
Thump
Glimmer
Smash
The song lost its tune, and the harmonica's notes, my harmonica's notes, tumbled incoherently, memories flashing by with each fall.
Thum-
. . . . .
In the damp, desolate alley, a single ray of light shone down on the boy as the lone streetlight's light bulb finally burned out. The music stopped; came to a halt. The area was consumed by an eerie tone, sirens blaring faintly in the distance. Too late.
The harbinger had already appeared.
Silence.
How was that? Our first character is introduced, and his identity will be revealed next chapter. Exciting? I hope so. I was trying to create a surreal feel with all the Thumps, Throbs, Flickers, Splashes, etc. I realize that using this technique may be a bit distracting, I was hesitant to use it at first as well. But then, I went for it after playing it in my mind for a few lines and the way I read it made it seem good to me. Sorry if you didn't like it, the only thing I could say is maybe you were rushing to read it and didn't really put yourself in the situation as the character. Also, I don't know about you guys, but to me it's not audio: It's Onomatopoeia. Let me know what you thought and as always I will take your comments into consideration for how to improve. Till Next Time!
-Torrie
PS - Sorry for the short authors note. Mother was forcing me to get off the computer to go to the beach. Which I really hate. And she threatened to turn off the computer on me while I was typing. So sad. =( I got a bit burned too. Blah. The next update should be up by Friday if conditions permit. If it isn't up by Friday then it is safe to say that I was kidnapped by Mimes and taken to Mime land, forced into eternal silence.
;)