[writing] Project Epsilon - Sweet Dream Are Made of These

[djtenku]

Title: Sweet Dreams Are Made of These
Word Count: 1599
Summary: Sunflowers. Destruction. Trapped.

“Flowers”

 

The spring sun was high, marking the time around noon, and the air was crisp, filled with the aroma of sunflowers. The sunflowers themselves swayed as a little girl pushed them aside, stopping briefly as she heard her name being called somewhere in the distance. Oh, I’m going to be late! she despaired. She glanced down at her dress – it used to be yellow with a white bow, but now the edge of her dress was tattered, and the bow was missing. Worse, mud smeared it, along with white sandals. To top it all off, her cherry red hair was mussed and her hat was missing. I’m really gonna get it now!

“I’m lost!” the girl cried in frustration. It was then she stumbled into a clearing. There was a small pond with a lone water lily pad which a small purple frog sat on top of, clearly sullen. The frog looked at her questionably as she approached cautiously, almost in a comical manner. The girl tilted her head; it looked like it could talk but the idea in itself was absurd! But, it couldn’t hurt to find out. “Do you know the way out?” she asked, sweetly.

The frog blinked lazily and croaked. “That depends,” it answered sourly. “That depends if you get out alive yourself. There’s a lion roamin’ about, and the last time I’ve seen him, he’s mighty hungry. I should know, he ate my friends.”

“A lion?” she exclaimed in disbelief.

“Yep.” The purple frog jumped off the pad and floated, still looking sullen. “If I were you, I’d run.”

“Run where? Wait!” The girl went after the frog, sticking her hand in the murky water. She ended up pulling a handful of sea weed and threw it away in disgust. She heard the distant voice again and she began to cry. She was sure to be eaten by the lion now.

There was a rustling noise and she cried even louder, too frightened to move. She closed her eyes shut, just waiting for the lion. They shot open as something grabbed her hand. “Hey, are you alright?” a voice asked. The girl looked up and saw a dusky blue haired young boy about her age and no taller than her, wearing blue overalls and barefooted. For such an age, his ultramarine eyes were intense but warm with concern.

The girl couldn’t find her voice, and instead, shook her head up and down. “The lion!” she finally blurted as he began to guide her. “It’s going to be here any moment!”

The boy smiled, but didn’t say anything else. The girl wondered just where he was leading her, and wondering where the lion that the frog spoke of. “I have to stop here,” the boy said suddenly, letting go of her hand.

“Why?” she pleaded. “I’m sure you want out too?”

The boy shook his head. “No, not right now anyway. But, I have to stay here for a while.” He kissed the girl’s forehead, causing her to turn into a complete shade of red. Gently, he edged her out of the sunflower field and into a meadow-like area.

“What about the lion?” the little girl asked, turning back.

“Oh, don’t worry about ‘em,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “It’s a big field; I’m not gonna worry about it.”

There was an odd feeling when the boy smiled, like she had seen it before. “What’s your name?”

“Ah, it’s Leonardo,” he replied, before disappearing into the stocks.

Leonardo, the girl echoed silently, right before being scooped up by a strong pair of hands. “There you are!” It was her older brother, dressed in a white and black robe, looking at her with slight scorn. “Where have you been, Shina? It’s almost dinnertime! Mom’s gonna kill me when she sees you like this…”

Shin pouted as he placed her on his shoulders, “You’re the one who got me lost in the first place, Shizuma!” She looked at the field of sunflowers again, and saw a hand wave back at her, and she smiled.

* * *

Shin woke up with a small sneeze, bringing her back to reality and darkness. She sighed, and brushed her fingers on her ever expanding belly. Leonardo…that’s a good name, she decided, shifting onto the other side and drifting back to sleep.

 

 

“Creeping Shadows”

 

                Screams filled the air, as did smothering black smoke. Occasionally, a person would knock into him and he barely budged an inch. He gazed about, seeing destroyed buildings and ruins. Just what the hell was happening?

There was an opening directly ahead of him, and he saw a small girl on the ground nursing her leg, crying. How come no one saw to her? Did anyone bother to look at the ground? As he started for her, a dark shadow emerged from behind her, its ‘arms’ spreading out. Red eyes glared back at him and it opened his mouth, showing an infinite amount of sharp teeth.

An unfamiliar emotion welled within him. He was so paralyzed he had stopped breathing completely. Everything began to slow down though as he broke from his trance  and continued for the girl – it seemed forever to reach her, and as he did, time became normal. The sound of screaming was nearly deafening as he shielded her from the inevitable attack. To his chagrin and relief, it never came. He glanced over his shoulder; the monster was gone. “You’re safe now,” he told the girl with a wan smile. “C’mon, let’s…”

The girl’s expression changed from frightful to the very same as the shadow’s within a split second and laughed as her arm formed a blade. “Foolish man,” the distorted voice mocked as the blade punched home and through his chest. The girl then drew him closer and whispered in his ear, “You cannot save everyone. It is… impossible.”

There was no pain at all as the girl withdrew the blade and rose, arm drenched in blood, and smiling down at him. Numbness consumed his body, until he just simply died.

* * *

“Kento, wake up! Wake up!”

Kento shot up with a start, gasping for needed air. It was some time before he managed to calm down, wiping away sweat, and it was then he realized the lamp light was on, and Shin was looking down at him with genuine concern. “What the hell just happened?” he asked groggily, gazing about. His back was aching again and he felt terrible in general. Somehow, he was on the floor with the majority of cover. “An earthquake?”

The expression didn’t change and he sighed, unable to shake that creeping feeling. “Oh, that…” Kento gathered himself and the covers from the floor and sat on the edge of the bed, bowing his head slightly; Shin moved beside him and allowed him to rest his head on her shoulder. “It’ll be alright,” Shin said softly.

“Yeah,” he answered distantly, remembering the voice and its words. Kento glared at the wall clock. 3:46 A.M. It was going to be hard going back to sleep.

 

“Nowhere Near”

 

                Rowan was awake, wide awake even. Bouts of insomnia had plagued him for weeks,  sometimes to the point of him being up four days at a time with about twenty minutes of sleep each day, if that. He didn’t mind it at first; it gave him time to paint and draw. But now, it became a nuisance. He was running out of things to draw.

 Sketchbooks, pencils, and brushes were strewn about on the floor and coffee table. Rowan glared at the blank wall, wondering what he was going to create next while he prepared the watercolors on a spare plate. Yukinko, the small black and white cat he had rescued last year, was curled up on the couch next to him, content and asleep. Rowan envied the cat a little bit.

In any case, he went to work on the wall, outlining with red until he felt a crawling feeling on the back of his head, growing with intensity. Rowan stopped and closed his odd eyes shut, wishing for it to stop. It was nowhere near the full moon, why is this even happening now?

It didn’t stop at all.

When he opened his eyes again, darkness swamped him. An invincible hand – a thumb – pressed against his throat and its fingers wrapped around his neck, choking him. Rowan tried to fight it off, but he was paralyzed. Light soon pierced his vision, but it only revealed murky, green water. To his dismay, Rowan still couldn’t move, or breathe for that matter. He did see a distorted shape of someone just outside the water, standing there.

The person laughed, a muffled and shrill sound. “Ah, this is wonderful. This is what happens when you disobey me.”

Darkness set in again; Rowan managed to reach out, fingers meeting a slick surface before losing consciousness.

* * *

Rowan snapped to, coughing hoarsely for several moments before he could get a hold of himself. That was too real, he thought as he brushed his hand across his throat, looking at the bottom of the  mirror. “Wait,” he said aloud. He glanced around, and he was in the bathroom, pitched over the sink. “How did I get here?” Rowan looked at the trail of destruction, red streaks on the wall, his eyes following to the mirror itself. In his own scratchy handwriting, it read

You will suffer the consequences.

You will die.

Rowan never felt so terrified in his entire life.