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[cramajoki]

An Endless Road - Part 6

8:00 am, Friday

It was morning again. Still dark though. Odd, it should have some bit of daylight by then. I did check my phone and my car, though either one could’ve been out of whack at the time. 

I know that I was fully rested, and so I drove on through. Hopefully I would see some light or a town soon. 

10:00

I stopped to eat some more of my food and check the time. I had been driving for two hours and it was still dark. Dark this late into the morning. In the summer. Why? Why was it still dark? What’s going on? Did I read the time wrong? Did I sleep through the day? Did I go to sleep earlier than I thought I did? Is there something wrong with my phone? What’s going on?

My mind was racing as fast as my heart. I couldn’t process why anything like this would be happening. Was my mind slipping? Did I get a concussion? Is this what a concussion is like? Am I dreaming? I have to be dreaming right? But I just drove for two hours. Two hours on an empty road. My dreams are a lot of things, but not mundane. 

I couldn’t think straight with everything going on and could hardly control my breathing. What was I doing? I had to do something. Move forward. Drive Onward. Anything. I was sitting there. 

I tried to start my car again. It wouldn’t start. Lovely. Looks like I had to try and walk the rest of the way on foot? As if. I’d wait a little bit before I resorted to that. No point trying to walk to the next town if it’s been taking me this long.

I looked around at the plains surrounding me. Nothing. As usual. That was until I noticed to white blobs in the distance to my left. I squinted my eyes trying to make out whatever it was that I saw. They were coming closer. Wait… they were coming closer. 

It was them! The two girls who tortured me as a kid. I froze in my seat, seeing them walk closer to the street. It had to be my imagination, a dream. A dream where I felt this much anxiety, sweating and crying like this… 

I heard them laugh.

I had to turn the car on and get out of there, but of course it wouldn’t start. So instead I jumped out of the car and ran the other way. 

They laughed. 

There were so many rocks and shrubs in the path that I could barely see. I was stumbling all around, but I had to run. They were just behind me. Ghostly figures. “Get away from me!”

“What’s the matter, can’t take a joke?” They laughed together. 

Soon I came to a large enough bush that I hid behind, hoping they wouldn’t see me. I was shaking where I was, breathing heavily. I had to calm down or else they’d hear me. Slowly I breathed in and out, managing to keep my breathing under control. 

And so I waited. 

Were they gone? 

Then one stuck its head out from around the corner of a bush. “You look so dumb shaking like that!” I backed away screaming, hitting my head against the sharp branch. 

After rubbing my head, the two pulled me into the bush, forcing it to scratch all over my face. I was screaming in pain. I tried to shake them off, but they were just as strong as I remember. 

One of the girls laughed. “Wow. You can’t even break free from us as an adult? What’s wrong with you?”

 I couldn’t help but cry as my face was scratched up by the thorns of the bush. 

Soon they pulled me out of it as they stomped down on my chests, continuing in their giggles. All I could do was lie there in pain, wanting it to stop. 

They dragged me off into the desert, eventually getting to the edge of a short cliff leading to a river. They were going to throw me in. “Don’t do this! What did I ever do to you?”

“You were pathetic, that’s what.” One laughed. “Can’t take a simple joke.”

“Please, I want this to stop.” I begged.

“What a baby.” The girl chortled. 

They threw me in. 

I hit that cold water with a hard splash. It hit my back as if I had just landed on cement. The water poured into my lungs as I struggled to breathe. The currents pushed me to and fro.

[cramajoki]

Apparently my account was hacked for a second, but I fixed that... Hopefully?

[cramajoki]

An Endless Road - part 5

12:00 am

Still driving. It didn’t seem like it would end. I was getting tired at this point. Though my eyes were bloodshot from tears of stress, I decided I could manage sleep. 

Why was I so stressed? I do have anxiety, so intense I’d freak out in any normal job. Not just any time, but randomly. I started out fine enough, but as they kept demanding more and more from me, I started slipping. And then, they’d laugh at me. Not my coworkers, but my managers. The one’s who’d give me the ost intense jobs and expect it to be perfect in the fastest amount of time possible, no matter how new I was. 

Eventually it got so bad they’d move me to less and less stressful tasks, but eventually, even the most basic things were messing with me. My friends said I should go to therapy, my therapist said I should get friends. Eventually I gave up on all of that to travel the states, get away from everyone, maybe then I’d relax. 

I probably shouldn’t have gone to Wyoming, too many intense memories with my family disappearing, and those two girls torturing me… 

When we were at the river they laughed at me, saying there were leeches in the water. When I ran away, they laughed at me. I tried to leave the river, but they wouldn’t let me. They blocked the path up the bank. Either step I took they would walk in front of me. 

“Say, maybe you’d like to go for a swim!” One suggested, grabbing my arm. I tried to pull away, but with both grabbing me, I had no way of escaping. They pulled me into the river, and then… kept me there. Forcing me under as I shook. 

No one came to help. 

Another time, I was sitting on that bridge, the one that went over that river and headed to a trail. The two girls came by to laugh at me. I froze in place, not knowing what to do. When I didn’t talk to them, they told me I was rude and then started pushing me off the bridge. 

I grabbed hold of the railing grasping tight to prevent them from knocking me over. It didn’t work. 

My mom was too busy worrying about my dad and sibling to notice much. The police weren’t being too helpful, I remember. Though I didn’t care about that much. Maybe I should have… maybe I was being too selfish expecting my mom to comfort me. 

Not that she wholly wasn’t. She tried, but I get why she couldn’t help much. Her husband and first born were missing, maybe dead. I was probably asking too much of her.

[cramajoki]

An Endless Road - part 4

10:00 pm

When I woke up it was dark outside. I wasn’t sure how long I was out, but I was still on that road. I picked myself up and headed back to my car. There it sat as I left it, ready to drive. Over to my phone I went to check the time. It was ten. I was out for roughly two hours there. Maybe I took an hour or more to eat, I don’t know. I couldn’t take it. 

With all of my stress built up that day, I sat there, fists clenched up and my eyes closed. With a scream I started beating my steering wheel and the seat next to me before hitting my head. I stopped myself short though, wanting to calm down. My heart was racing, and for what? A road being longer than expected? Being out for whoever knows how long and probably needing to go to the hospital? Why should I care about that? Huh? Act like an adult for once, you waste of a human life!

My breathing was heavy, but I had to drive. I had to get off this road. Soon I calmed myself down, somewhat. Not as much as I probably should have, but I managed it a bit. Starting up the car wasn’t working for a moment, but I got it running, and driving down the road again.

[cramajoki]

An Endless Road - Part 3

8:00 pm

The hum of the car was the only thing heard outside of a few bumps in the road. No squawks or squeaks from any animals. The sky ever changing, the scenery just going on and on. I stood there calmly, looking forward at that empty road. 

And then I started gritting my teeth and gripping the wheel tightly. The long drive had been stressing me out, but soon I breathed, letting it out. It’s fine. I told myself. Only a few more hours left until you get to the next town. Positive.

By this time, the sun was getting low, and my patience getting lower. I decided to take a break from driving for a bite to eat, making myself a sandwich and eating a banana. It wasn’t much, but it was something. 

As I relaxed there, I pulled out my phone again, still no signal. I played a little game to help relax, but was soon caught off guard by an image in the mirror. The girl again. 

Quickly, I got out of the car, spotting her in the street this time. “You! Who are you?”

She laughed before running away. 

I followed right there after her, as fast as I could. She was just a small girl running in a dress of all things and i was a full grown adult! No way was she going to outrun me! And yet… she did. 

I don’t know how far I ran before I started breathing heavy and slowing down, but soon my running came to a stop when I tripped on a rock, slamming face first into the road.

[cramajoki]

The World of Verité

This is a fantasy world I'm developing for my story Wizards and Robots which takes place in the country of Verité. The rest of the countries... exist... and may be explored in the future, but Verité is ultimately the most important one.

I've gone through to name various countries here and hopefully haven't given them any problematic names. If there's something I should change for the better, let me know. Or if you think it would just be neater to have some other name for a place. And please don't just give me a joke one that may be offensive as I probably won't be able to call it.

I have yet to name the planet, just kind of giving it a default "Terra" or just "Earth" though clearly it is not our Earth, even if it has some similarities. Many similar landmarks to Earth just mixed up.

We have the Kandor Ocean and its many islands, the empty Jalaun Ocean, and a colossal amount of countries and Unions. We can see various island nations about with Wutan, Nipala, and Kire'Tal.

In the midst of the Gnabi ocean there is a glowing spiral known as the Umiikot which has unknown origins and is very dangerous. It is well known about but kind of just accepted as a dangerous landmark on the planet. There's also the spiral island of Halimaw Pilitpit which isn't inhabited by anyone, just full of various animals, many of which being dangerous to deal with. There is the nearby country of Dugo Pagposok which is home to many fishers.

Here are some 3D renders of the planet to give a more accurate scale to things.

Now to talk about the country of Verité, a United States sort of country who are neighbors to a country known as Xarak, and another named Francesca. They also are near the country of Tsuki, which has its own complicated history.

So people had already been living in these countries for years before suddenly the people of Wutan, Nipala, and the other midwest islands started moving west after sea travel became more accessible. Soon after, a group of those immigrants had started populating specifically the island of Tsuki. While it is quite a ways, this was over a few hundred years known as the "Great Migration" which aboriginals of Verité, Xarak, Francesca, and Tsuki will correct as colonization.

Later on, Wutan had specifically expanded their empire into the east portion of what is now Verité forming various new states and territories. This upset the native population, kicking them out, sending them into slavery, or slaughtering them. Later on some were forced into assimilation, but others escaped westward or north.

Centuries later, the country of Andorra, setting to expand their empire, traveled across the Jalaun sea to make trades with the various countries. In the process, colonizing Tsuki, and some of East Verité. At the same time, the Franks had decided to colonize much of the land as well. After some disputes, the Franks took the West side and Andorra took East of the Recloy Sea.

This sent Andorra into a war with Wutan over disputes of the land, both sides forcing the natives to fight for them as disposable soldiers. This eventually led to Andorra winning. They wound up being even worse rulers of the land, leading to a revolution in the north, setting up the country of Xarak, home to a mixed culture of Natives and abandoned Wutan people. This however did not spell the end of the exploitation of the land or the people.

Saxo had decided to jump into the colonization game as well, forming New Tesera, Grand Island, Ortho, Mabel, Stanley, Newt, and Poly.

New Tesera was host to most famously a privatized capitalistic company town that went up in flames as well as a town full of religious zealots who eventually spread further through the country, making a variation of their religion the default one within the country eventually.

There were some border disputes with the Franks, but ultimately the Franks sold their territories to Saxo in exchange for Saxo to help them in a war happening closer to their homes.

There was more disputes and bloodshed with the native population, who were among many different tribes, with Saxo taking more of Xarak over time. Francesca was also all that remained of the Franks' colonies, though much of it was taken back by the native people in their revolution.

The Saxo colonies soon took part in their own revolution, forming the country of Verité, based on the proposed name for the country under Frank rule known as Vérité. This revolution would be glorified throughout their history much like the religious zealots, though the revolutionaries weren't really associated with those zealots at this time.

Anyway, they formed a Republic across the western side of the Recloy Sea before slowly over the next century colonizing the rest of the country, which did get them into troubles with the Andorrans, starting a war to take control of the East side of the Recloy Sea, with Verité winning. They mainly wanted the east side for its extensive resources.

Slavery was rampant through the country at the time, even as it was becoming less common throughout the rest of the world. This would lead to a civil war which did end the legalization of slave labor. Though it would still be used for prisons and various places in Eastern Verité, with companies also outsourcing it across the globe and seeing no legal action to stop them.

The next century saw a rapid amount of change for human rights, dealing with a lot of systemic issues. However most of it wasn't actually fixed but rather just reworked so that the law wasn't explicitly racist, sexist, or the like. The century also saw an influx of immigrants from across the world.

Despite these bandaid solutions, this led to a country which prides itself on its mixed diversity and cultures which intertwined, though many of the Saxons find themselves culturally approiating many of the cultures around. The native cultures, the Andorran cultures, and the Franks cultures. Though the Franks kind of don't care as they, along with many other northern countries near Saxo, have had their cultures melt together as a generally white culture. The Andorran population has drifted away from their old country and found new identities.

The people of this country found themselves in a lull, many believing that the country was only on a constant path of progress, especially the white population, though as the decades went on more were accepting of the way things were.

There was then a rise in mechanical technology for cybernetics and robots supposedly. A figure known as Alexander Defino being a prominent figure in developing that cybernetic technology, though after many legal disputes, he was cast into obscurity and eventually went missing.

During this time, panic was growing of a rising population of people using the pollen of this plant for various activities. It started popularity among stoner college students, but spread across the country as not only could it get you high, but it was seen as an excellent performance enhancer.

Many underground rings were formed utilizing it for fights as people competed to see what they could do with it, eventually finding their skin change color with it and later they found they could shoot out bits of energy.

Rapidly, people figured out how to optimize this power, but meantime police were cracking down on it. Using tech by Alexander Defino, they were able to detect if people had traces of the pollen in their systems. This wound up catching a lot of people. People who used it recreationally to get high, and people who had never even tried it.

The religious public were vocal about their distaste of the magic of this pollen, calling it satanic and evil, and the politicians they voted for were eager to pour more money into hunting down these magic users, as they called them. This led to them investing in a new force of militarized machines to hunt down the magic users.

Thus the war began with the magic users calling themselves witches and wizards, and whatever the non binary people decided to call themselves, and the machines being called robots. The Witches and Wizards and NB magic users took part in figuring out their magic, needing to for survival.

Many homeless people and others in poverty found themselves forced to take part in the movement as well to survive. Various activists joined in to help guide the movement for the better, with many factions forming arguing how to move forward. Some argued they just needed to take out the robots, especially the new Red Robot who was the new leader of Verité, but others argued this was all caused by more underlying problems that have been in the nation since its inception and that a bigger revolution was needed. Either way, they all found themselves in a war between Wizards and Robots.

[cramajoki]

An Endless Road - Part 2

12:00

Been driving for over an hour, the sun is now directly overhead. I take a swig of water to keep me going as I continue down this long road. No other cars or anything in sight. It’s all empty aside from the road. 

I lick my chapped lips as I go for another drink of water, then I see my phone again. Out of range for data. This happens a lot out here. No towers for miles. It’ll just dip in and out at times, nothing you can really do about it. And I thought it was just like one of those times. 

Far out to the horizons were plenty of cliffs and plateaus. All jaggedy and rough. Walked around some before, though my sibling would’ve tried to climb it. They were quite adventurous, taking after our dad, but even he wouldn’t be as bold as to climb one, even a few feet. 

I would just run around in a small area near the car or something. I remember those two girls showing up once around there too. Pushed me into rocks, and made me cry. Haha… I wonder how they are now. Hope they’re not as big of brats as back then. Hmm… 

“Ah!” I screamed, realizing I had drifted off into a daydream as I was driving and almost drove into a ditch. 

3:00 pm

How long is this road? Shouldn’t I be there by now? I thought to myself. Surely, I had been driving far enough at this point. I pulled over to the side of the road, stopping for just a bit. Pulling my phone up, I looked at the map. Nothing. No data. No GPS signal. It didn’t know where I was. Great. 

I started breathing in and out for a moment, almost hypertilating. My hands clenched up as I closed my eyes and slowly breathed. Surely, I was almost there. Surely, I was almost to the next town. 

I looked at my phone again. Why was the gps out? I know the data goes out a lot, but the gps tends to be be fine, to  point. Never this bad nowadays. I sighed and shrugged at this, deciding that I would just carry on as I had been. 

As I got situated in my seat, I started checking my mirror, and in one I saw a small girl. Looking behind me, I saw no one, but I couldn’t start without getting out and checking for sure. Out of my car I went and around the car I stepped. No one there. 

There was a bush though. Perhaps she was behind that bush? I headed over to check… no. I guessed I was just dehydrated was all, and started heading back to my car. Then I heard a laugh.

I spun around in a panic, recalling the laughs of those two girls. How they pushed me down into the hard ground covered in rocks, sharp rocks, mocked me, and… no. No. No, there was no one out here in this vast desert. I was alone. 

I remember seeing my mother in the car as I waited by the tent as the night grew dark. She was illuminated by the light in the car as she cried to herself. Her hands up to her eyes. Tears streaming down them. I didn’t know what to do as I lay there, tired in my sleeping bag. Soon I rolled over, back to the lumpy floor of the tent, waiting for morning.

[cramajoki]

An Endless Road - Part 1

It was 10:42 on a Thursday. 

I had been traveling across the country, heading west, and found myself going through Wyoming. It’s one of the most, if not the most desolate states in this entire country. Tons of desert for miles on, with long stretching roads. Rocks dart the ground with tiny shrubs here and there soaking up what little water was out there. 

I had been sleeping in my car for the past few months, evading the sight of others. Went to a grocery store the other day and to some hot springs. One of the only exciting things in that state and still there are better ones elsewhere. 

It was a part of my childhood as we traveled the states to see our relatives. None lived in Wyoming, it was just on the way. We’d camp out, go on hikes, and explore the land. I remember one time my father and older sibling went missing one time and we sent the sheriff to find them. Only… no one was found. 

During that time, these two weird girls would pick on me as I played in the river nearby. It was full of rocks and under the bridge that led to the trail. Never went too far on it, always staying in the water… 

I made sure to pack myself some food and water, staying sane through the trip to the next town. Some fruits like bananas and oranges. Then there was the jerky. A bit salty, but it stayed fresh.

I was at the cash register when the cashier was making small talk. “Where you heading?”

“South.” I wasn’t much for words, though neither of us seemed to be.

She looked at me, a bit concerned. “Needing anything down there?”

“Just traveling.”

“Well… it’s… a nice day isn’t it. Seen the hot springs?”

“Yep. Already pretty hot though, a bit redundant to bathe in hot water when the sun is beating down on you.”

“Ah, well, it’s going to be a long drive. You’ll need water.”

“Got plenty.” 

She paused for a moment trying to think, a bit flustered. “Have a good trip then.”

“You too?” Wait, that’s the wrong thing to say. 

Something seemed off about what she was saying, as if she didn’t want me to go down this road. Couldn’t think of a reason why. The road’s open, no debris in the way. Not sure why there would be. 

As I was heading out of town, I was stopped by a couple of officers. Politely, I slowed down and listened to them. One walked up to me with his burly moustache and spoke. “Hey you… you know you were driving a little funny just a moment ago?”

“Was I?” I wasn’t. 

He asked for some of the usual things, before moving onto this question. “Could you step out of the car, so we can have a chat?”

“I… I… ” I froze up, uncertain of what to say then.

“Just step out of the car.” He demanded, gruffly. 

“Okay…”  I complied, but shook the way through. I should know better. No reason to be afraid. So stupid for being afraid. Just stop it. Stop it. 

Shortly before leaving town I had checked my phone to look at the weather and maps. The weather was fine, going to be clear as ever. Tons of sunshine… too much. As for the maps, nothing seemed out of the ordinary about the road. And so, I headed down it.

[cramajoki]

Here's my 2023 Bingo card, let's hope it's a good year

[cramajoki]

The Town that was One Block Long - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Escape this Nightmare

I was out the door, heading down the street, looking for my brother and Beatrice. They were standing at the other side of the block, just getting out of a store. Beatrice put her hands on her hips as I approached while George hid behind her.

“There you are, young lady.” She glared at me. 

“Guys! I’m sorry I left, but there’s--” I started.

“Don’t you think you need to apologize to someone?” She gestured towards George.

“Oh…” I had forgotten by now. “George… I’m… I don’t hate you. I sometimes get frustrated with you… but I don’t hate you. And I don’t wish you were never born. I was the one being stupid and irrational… due to stress… but that doesn’t excuse it. It’s… I’m… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have treated you like that.”

He still hid behind Beatrice, not wanting to look at me. “Yeah, I get that. I shouldn’t have treated you that way… and I get it if you can’t forgive me… but know that I’m sorry.”

George got out from behind Beatrice and slowly started walking towards me. Soon he found himself at me and hugged me. “Thank you, Abby.” 

Beatrice smiled at this. “It’s good to see you make up like this.” She then knelt down to me. “Now Abby, I know you were stressed and all that, but running away from your problems isn’t the way to go. You got it?”

“Yeah.” I said. 

“Alright.” She stood back up. “So, what was it you wanted to talk about?”

“Oh yeah, so Mildred… Well, Susan? Whatever her name is. She’s also a witch. Susan has everyone here trapped and is using time travel to harvest their life force, leaving them decaying bodies like the one we found in that apartment.”

“Oh… well, we better tell Charlotte.” Beatrice insisted. 

“Tell me what?” Charlotte walked up behind Beatrice.

“Susan is a witch who has everyone trapped here to harvest their lifeforce.” George repeated. 

“I should’ve guessed.” Charlotte said. 

We all looked around, seeing Susan walking out of the jewelry store. She looked at me. “How did you escape?”

“I don’t know, I just kept trying. Your grandma really encouraged me.” I said. 

“What? That’s impossible.” Susan exclaimed.

“Apparently it’s not.” Charlotte said, walking over to Susan. “Now what do you have to say for yourself?”

Susan sighed. “Well, since I’m going off to magic jail I guess I can say I’m-- Psyche!” Susan punched Charlotte, disappearing into the air. 

“What happened?” I asked.

“She walked into a pocket universe.” Charlotte explained. “I’ll go after her!”

“Okay, I’ll stay here to take care of the kids.” Beatrice said, turning around. We waited for a second, but began to notice everyone in the town walking towards us.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Hmm…” Beatrice thought for a moment, before turning to see the moustached fellow. “Hey, is this something I’m not aware about?”

“Get out of the way.” The moustached man shoved her aside. 

“Hey! What are you doing?” Beatrice pushed him away from us as more people came closer. Some women grabbed her by the arms, pulling her away. 

“Wait! What’s going on?” Beatrice asked.

“Susan would like to have a word with you.” The moustached man laughed. 

Quickly, I grabbed George and we started running out of town. However, there were a bunch of people in the way, heading right for us. Everywhere we looked there were people. Except one place. That alley.

I ran ahead, towards that old apartment building. Shortly after, hearing the voice of George behind me, tripping. “Abby!”

I turned around quickly, swooping him off the ground, and heading back to the alley. He ran with me as we went through that new fence, and up the stairs. Behind us a thousand people, laughing. 

I grabbed the door, but it seemed to be locked. “Great! George, what color are my eyes?”

“What?” He asked.

“What color are my eyes?” I asked.

“Brown?” He said.

“Great… of course my powers aren’t working while I’m stressed. I’ve got to relax.” I did my best in the situation, breathing in and out. The people were still coming up the stairs.

“Abby!” George yelled.

“I’m trying to calm down, okay?” I said.

Still, the people were coming. “Abby!” George screamed.

I looked at him. “Look. I’m doing my best!”

“Your eyes!” He said, pointing to them.

Quickly I decided to try to open the door, and there it was, opening. Going through, I closed it quickly behind us. But the people were still there.

“What do we do now?” George asked. I couldn’t answer, surely they’d get in eventually? George yelled again. “Abby!”

“I’m thinking! Okay?” I paused for a moment. “Maybe we could climb out the windows?”

“What? Aren’t there more of those people out there?” He asked.

“Well, we’re in a pocket dimension, maybe they only exist on the other side of the door right now? I don’t know.”

With the door beating behind us, we had no other choice. George looked at me, nodding. Soon we headed over to that apartment door. I tried to open it. “Oh come on!”

“What?” He asked.

“It’s not opening!” I told him.

“The other one opened, can’t you open this one?”

“I’m trying, but I have to be calm to use these powers!” I quickly explained as the door kept beating. 

“Well, get calm!” He insisted.

“I’m trying!” I said as my eyes watered up. I did my best to breathe in and out there, focusing on my thoughts. But the door kept banging.

“Abby !” George yelled.

“I’m trying!” I repeated. Trying my best before trying to open the door to the apartment. “It’s not working! Why isn’t it working!”

The door behind us kept beating on and on, before suddenly it stopped. “What was that?” George asked.

“Are my eyes green?” I asked him.

“No.” He said.

“Huh…” Slowly… I walked closer to the door, looking at, curious as to what was behind it. Soon we heard the knob turn.  Quickly, I grabbed my brother and screamed as the door opened up. 

On the other side, though… was our parents. “Well, hey, what’s there to be scared about?” He asked. 

“Dad!” George and I rushed up to hug him, glad to see him again after this nightmare of a day.

“Well, I’m glad to see you too!” He said.

“What’s going on here?” Mom asked.

“Mom!” George and I rushed to her as well. Afterwards, I talked. “It’s a long story, but I’ll explain it later.”

“Is that scary lady still here?” George asked.

“What scary lady?” Dad asked.

“Susan… I mean Mildred.” I explained.

“Who?” Mom asked.

I sighed. “Thank goodness… she’s gone. It’s over.”

“I wouldn’t quite say that.” A voice from lower in the stairs said. Up from it came… my dad… but an older version of him?

“What’s going on here?” I asked.

The man laughed. “It’s good to see you again, Abby! Come on!” The man headed down the steps and soon we all followed him down the steps. Except, the steps didn’t lead to the streets this time… but an underground cave. 

Along the walls laid tons of graffiti for some reason, all with their own designs, some with arrows, other with X’s on them.

“Where…. Are we?” I asked. 

“What’s going on?” My mother was freaking out.

My other dad explained. “This! This is where Abby and I have been traveling for six years now.”

“Six?” I asked. “I’ve been wandering with you in here?”

“Yep. You sure have.” Came a figure leaving one of the tunnels. 

I looked at this all in horror. “No! No! Why won’t this nightmare end?”

[cramajoki]

The Town that was One Block Long - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Breaking Down the Door

My fist kept beating on the door. “Let me out!” I screamed, but no one could hear me. 

I could see nothing out the windows but a black void. Whether they were covered up or were a black void, I don’t know. Nothing makes sense anymore. 

I was struggling to keep myself together as I fell to the floor crying. “George… I’m sorry… I should never have said those things to you…”

My strength was gone by this point. I had been trying to push that door open for what seems like an hour at this point. “It’s hopeless, that witch has me trapped in here forever.”

I was the only one there. Everything else was quiet. But in the midst of the silence, I heard a voice. “What was that, child?”

I paused for a moment, unsure of what I heard. Soon, I got up and started walking to the grandmother’s bedroom. Sure enough, that old woman was there. “I doubt you could help me. Mil--that witch told me you were just a prop of hers…”

“What’s a prop, deary?” She asked.

“You can barely hear me and if I yell it’ll hurt your ears.” I commented. “What’s the point in doing anything at this point? I can’t do this! What would I even do if I left this apartment?”

There was a pause before anything was spoken again, but the next person to speak was the grandmother. “You can do it.”

I chuckled. “Thanks, but I doubt you know what’s even going on. Your mind is so gone… I don’t even know if you’re real. I don’t know if any of this is real. It’s just… I don’t know what anything is anymore.” I sat down and cried.

I couldn’t help but cry, but here this grandma was still chatting on. “Don’t cry, dear, you’ll get yourself out of this.”

“How? How can I possibly get out of here?” I looked up at her. 

“Well, have you tried the door?” She asked.

“Yes. That was literally the first thing I tried, have you not been paying attention?” I asked her.

“Well, perhaps you’re not trying hard enough.” She suggested.

“Really? And how hard should I try? Should I get the kitchen knife and tribe to stab it open? Maybe throw a mallet at it? I know! The kitchen sink has got to work!”

“You don’t have to do any of that.” The old lady said.

“What would you know? Huh? How do I know you’re not just a figment of my imagination or a construct of magic or whatever is going on here!”

“I can tell you’re sad.” She spoke.

“Really?” I asked, sarcastically.

“I can tell you’re confused.” She went on. “But maybe you’ve just got to try another way. Maybe it isn’t here you’re trying to leave, but yourself.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“You are like my granddaughter, are you not?” She brought up. “Maybe there’s some parts of you that you need to accept. But I wouldn’t know. I’m just an old lady.”

I sat there for a moment, thinking, realizing what was up. Soon I got up from my spot and returned to trying to break down the door. Turning the knob, pushing on it, pulling it. Still nothing working. Then I thought for a moment.

I headed over to the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror. My eyes were brown right now. I had to turn them green. 

I grasped the sides of the sink, trying to focus on doing something. I wouldn’t know what, just anything to turn my eyes green. Nothing.

“Don’t hurt yourself over there, dear.” The grandmother said.

“I’m just trying to figure out how to turn my eyes green.” I said.

“Don’t focus on that. Try something else. Try focusing on something specific you want to do.” The old woman suggested.

“Like getting out of here?” I asked.

“Hmm… maybe something smaller.” The old woman said.

“Like what?” I asked myself before looking around at the sink. And there was some soap. Maybe I could try transforming it a bit? It’s worth a shot.

I grabbed it, trying to squeeze it in my hands. It transformed alright. Were my eyes green yet? Nope. From the other room came that Grandma’s voice. “Don’t stress yourself out so much, just let it happen.” 

“Relax? How can I relax when I’m trapped in here and I don’t even know if my brother will be okay?”

“What was that, dear?” She couldn’t hear me… but I guess I had no other choice but to try.

And so, I breathed a sigh of relief, trying my best to relax. Breathing in and out. Then I proceeded to look at my hand, the squished bar of soap in it. “What could I turn it into? A duck? A flower? No… probably just return it back to… the original… shape?”

As I was thinking through what to turn it into, I saw the soap slowly return to its original shape. That rounded black of creamy colored sanitation. I then looked at myself in the mirror, and my eyes were green. “I did it! Look mildred I--” 

I headed out of the small restroom, looking into the room that the old woman was in. She was gone now. Outside the windows, I looked, finding the outside world instead of darkness. Over to the door I went, and there it was… unlocked.

[cramajoki]

The Town that was One Block Long - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: In the Woods

I don’t know what to do. No one knows what to do. Everyone keeps saying they know what’s going on but they don’t. I’m tired of cleaning up George’s snot all of the time. I’m tired of being told what to do. I’m tired of being helpless in this world. 

I ran into the nearby woods, away from everyone else. Maybe there I could escape from all of this. I don’t know. I don’t know anything. All I could do was sit there and cry.

“You sure are pathetic.” I heard a voice behind me. Turning, I saw Susan. 

“Susan?” I questioned.

“Susan, Mildred. Whatever you want to call me.” She stated.

“Wait I thought your grandma was…” I started.

“That old prop? No.” She laughed. 

I couldn’t help but be confused. “Why are you here?”

“Well, when Charlotte suggested you might have some magic powers, I had to check it out. And it would explain a lot.”

I then noticed her eyes were glowing green again. “Your eyes, they’re…” 

“Oh yeah, they change color when using magic. Fun thing, really. Right now by the way I’m creating a little pocket dimension to prevent anyone from finding us. But you know, having powers yourself you should be familiar with changing eye colors.”

I raised an eyebrow. “So wait… why are you going after me? Why not that other witch?”

“What? You think I’d reveal to Charlotte that I’m here? She thinks what’s going on is residual magic. Let her think she’s solved the case before I trap her in my own little box or sneak away without her ever noticing I was here.”

“So why are you revealing yourself to me?” I asked.

“For one thing you can’t do anything. You barely understand your powers despite constantly using them as it seems.” She shrugged. “But… I also have an offer to give you. One time only!”

“What?” I questioned.

“I could let your family go free. You, your dad, your mom. All of you leave on your own, forgetting this day ever happened. I mean, you wouldn’t forget having magic and all, but you know…”

I took a moment to think it through… “And George?”

“I’m sorry, but… I can’t. Due to neuro atypical nature if I got him out of here his mental state could worsen.” 

“I… uh… couldn’t you make him better?” I asked.

“Well, human psyches are more complicated than that. Sure, I can change people’s memories around, but I can’t change who they are. You either leave without him, or you don’t leave.”

I thought for a moment. “I… but what about everyone else?”

“Sorry, I’m keeping them around.” She explained.

“Why?” I asked.

“Simply because I need them to survive. I’m harvesting their life force through this little time travel scam.” She shrugged. 

“... Why? Why would you do that?” I asked, scared. 

“Because I need their life force to live. To continue using magic.”

“I… I can’t let you keep doing this. I need to tell Charlotte!” I started marching on back to the town, but was suddenly stopped.

“Sorry.” Mildred started. “Can’t let you do that.”

I tried to move but my limbs were frozen. Slowly, Mildred walked around me to have a look at my face as I spoke. “What did you do to me?”

“Wow, managing to talk. Well, it’s just a simple binding spell.”

“How did you do that without talking?” I asked, as Charlotte always spoke her spells.

“Oh you don’t say it with your regular tongue, but your silver tongue. And really, it’s more like typing. Ever tried typing with your tongue? It’s really hard.”

“What?” I said, managing to turn my neck.

“Ah, impressive for someone who hasn’t trained.” She laughed. “But kid, I already explained my options to you. You’re enough trouble as is. So what? Are you going to make the deal or do I have to trap you somewhere so you shut up forever?”

She presented her hand out for me, with a smile, letting me be free of her binding spell. I thought for a moment, beginning to cry. “Look… I can’t let you hurt these people, but I really want to go… however… I know my brother gets on my nerves a lot, but I wouldn’t be able to leave without him.”

“Your options are leave or be another pawn for my harvest. Which will it be?” The witch stared at me with her glowing green eyes. 

“I… I don’t know.” I cried. 

“It’s okay. I can always put you aside for a moment to let you think.” The witch snapped her fingers and suddenly everything around us in the forest transformed into her grandmother’s apartment… or perhaps hers. I don’t know. The trees would widen, filling the space of walls as some rocks formed into the furniture and counters. A door appeared, leading out of the apartment. “If you change your mind, give me a call, but Charlotte ain't getting you.”

[cramajoki]

Witch of the Dark Lovely Eyes

A piece I worked on back in December just before my laptop got fixed and then after it. I have more variations up on my Patreon if you wish to check that out: https://twitter.com/RecloySo/status/1605152950346584064?s=20&t=PtsM8bC74BLWFayJjkMVLw

[cramajoki]

The Town that was One Block Long - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Lucidity

After lunch we met back up with Charlotte, who explained to us what she found. “The apartment was locked but inside it looked to be any other apartment. A family of four living there, their last name being Roberts.”

“Our last name is Roberts.” George commented.

“Maybe they’re your relatives.” Charlotte shrugged. “However, something was off with that room. As happy as they were, it seemed fake. And so, I used the lucidity spell to see if there was anything they were hiding. There was.”

“Everyone fell onto the ground in a panic, freaking out about something… that they’d waste away here…. Saying another child of theirs disappeared some time ago. My first guess as to where it could’ve disappeared to was in a pocket dimension. So I checked, walking through the room into another plane.”

“How does that work?” I asked her.

“It is much like walking in another direction that you haven’t before. Although for us it looks as though you’re simply walking forward, but instead of moving across the floor like you normally would, the world changes around you, every piece of the room shifting on its own. Much like that flower I showed you before.”

“And here it transformed easily into that decrepit room you described. A hole in the middle of the floor, and an old photo on a desk. And then, behind the couch laid the body. The body of someone who’s been thrown through time over and over again. Their life force having been sucked out.” Charlotte described. 

“If I don’t get these people out of here, the same may happen to them.” Charlotte noted. “To all of them.”

“What can I do?” Beatrice questioned. 

“None of you can do anything. However… I am curious how you found that body.” She turned to me.

“What? What’s so odd?” I questioned.

“The body was residing in a pocket dimension, you shouldn’t have been able to find it. I also inspected the door and… it was also locked. I don’t see how you could’ve busted through it yourself.”

“George helped me.” I mentioned.

Charlotte looked at George. “George, were you the one looking to explore this place?”

“No. Abby was.” George said. “She went ahead of me.”

Charlotte turned back to me. “Look, I don’t think you knew what you were doing, but I think you might have--”

I started laughing at this. “What are you even talking about? No. I don’t know how I found that body. I don’t even know if I did at this point.”

“But we did.” George insisted.

“No.” I insisted. “No. It’s… I don’t know. I don’t know what’s been happening today. I don’t know how I found that body when apparently I shouldn’t have been able to! I don’t know what I’m doing here!” I was crying. “Look. I just want to go home. If you’re so magical why don’t you take me back? And George.” 

“I can’t just send you back until we get your parents and I can’t get your parents before we free everyone else.” Charlotte explained.

“Why? Why not?” I asked. “Why can’t this just all be over? This Nightmare! That’s exactly what this is! Just some nightmare! Some random string of events that my mind is throwing at me! It just keeps going and going! And it won’t end!”

“Look, I won’t pressure you into anything, if this is--” Charlotte began, but I wasn’t going to let her finish.

“Shut up! Just shut up all of you! This isn’t real! This is just a dream! I’m going to wake up eventually and we’ll all be out of here!”

“Abby…” Charlotte began.

“JUST SHUT UP!” I yelled at her, storming away. Down the street I went, not knowing what to do. I just wanted to go home, to get out of here. They were never going to listen. They don’t care about me. 

George ran up to me, tears in his eyes. I looked at him with disgust and swatted him away. “Get away from me you freak!”

He fell to the ground, feeling the pain on his face and the bruise on his rear, with that and the stress of the day he couldn’t help but cry. Good. “What’s that? Going to cry like a little baby? Grow up!”

“Abby! Stop. That’s no way to treat your brother.” Beatrice insisted, having followed as well.

“Stay out of this, whoever you are. You don’t have the right to tell me what to do or how to treat my brother! I’m sick of being nice to him and consoling him on every little issue! You know how much stress I’m holding back? A lot. I can’t take it anymore. And stop forcing me to.”

“We know you’re stressed, Abby, but you don’t have to take it out on your brother.” Charlotte calmly stated.

“And you! Some kind of witch? Really? Just stop. I can’t take this… I can’t take any of this…” I shook.

“Abby!” George screamed.

“Shut up! I wish you were never born so I wouldn’t have to put up with all of your nonsense!” I stormed off, leaving all of them where they stood. I made a bit of a scene in that street, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to put up with any more of this.  Why won’t this day end?

[cramajoki]

Zachery

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Paula the Bartender

This is Paula, the strong witch who bartends the restaurant that Zenee and her friends go to in Witch of the Dark

[cramajoki]

Corrupted Zenee

This is an AU thing, where if Zenee decided to take on Jemyaia's powers and title as queen. It's not integral to the story and I just did it for my #vilifiyOC thing on Twitter