Chapter 1 - In the Woods
Submitted December 8, 2006 Updated May 28, 2007 Status Incomplete | Everybody thinks that the Old Town in the woods outside the city is burned down and abandoned. Matt Reed, in a desperate struggle to escape his own life, learns otherwise. [Future shounen-ai]
Category:
Fantasy » Misc. Fantasy |
Chapter 1 - In the Woods
Chapter 1 - In the Woods
So I ended up getting something good out of all the paaaaaaain of school work XD
1. This is a shounen-ai story (those of you who know me could have predicted it >_>). Don't like, don't read. Very, very simple. And don't flame the story based on this aspect; your comment will just be deleted.
2. I'm going to try and update as often as possible (with Christmas Break creeping around the corner, it shouldn't be too long ^^).
3. Reviews are much appreciated ^^ even if it's constructive criticism.
~Sei-chan
The Keeper
by V. Gainsborough
He lit the solitary oil lamp on the nightstand, pushing aside the crumpled papers to make room for the small pitcher of cold water. He took the cloth he had laid across the woman's forehead and immersed it in the pitcher again. She had her eyes shut tight but smiled up at him warmly. He returned it, reaching out to gently touch her cheek; she felt feverish. Wringing out the cool cloth, he replaced it on her head, dabbing lightly at some beads of sweat that had accumulated there.
"I'm sorry I can't stay with you any longer, my dear," she murmured, suddenly turning sullen. The boy looked downcast, knowing she wouldn't last the night, despite how well she had resisted succumbing to the sickness in the past. His smile withered and saddened as he shook his head.
"You don't need to apologize, Miss. I know that it's merely human fate." The lamp flickered, sending the shadows dancing across the walls and their faces as they basked in the comforting silence and each other's company. She opened her mouth to speak moments later, her eyebrows knitted in concern and hesitation.
"You won't let anything bad happen to--"
"No, of course not," the boy replied, shaking his head. He took her hand in reassurance, trying to ignore how unnaturally cool it felt in his grip. "You've taught me better than that."
Her eyes slowly slid open, looking forlornly at him. "I have, haven't I?" she chuckled, which slowly turned into a raspy cough. It pained him to see his pillar of strength reduced to something so weak. As her eyes slid shut again, he squeezed her hand and whispered:
"I won't ever leave them. I promise you."
***
"Matt, I can't figure this out!" his sister cried through his bedroom door, which he had locked for privacy. He wasn't sure when he began doing it, but it had become more habitual lately. Matt Reed put down the comic he was reading and opened the door. Velia, though five years younger than him, was starting to catch up to him in height. He noticed this because of the close proximity of the harsh glare she was giving him now. "Why did you lock the door? Are you doing something naughty in there?" she asked him, smirking gleefully.
Matt flushed. "I wasn't. And I thought you said you needed my help."
"I didn't say that; I just said I couldn't figure out this problem!" Velia whined, holding her math workbook hardly an inch in front of her brother's nose. He shoved it out of the way.
"I hope you don't expect me to do it for you, Vell."
"No, I know you better than that. Just let me in." He relented and moved out of the doorframe. Velia bounded into his room and launched herself onto the bed, landing amongst the wildly strewn sheets. Matt took a seat at his desk, turning the chair so he was facing his sister on the bed.
"What are you studying now?"
"Quadratic equations."
"In 7th grade?"
"Don't go on about how much sooner you learned them and help me, Matt," she replied, tapping her pencil noiselessly against his pillow. Matt sighed and flipped through her workbook. He wouldn't really call himself a math prodigy...mainly because if he did, his circle of friends would certainly lose its shape and eventually dissipate into a single point. He cringed internally at this. Even his metaphors for friendship were mathematic in nature!
"Here's where you screwed up. Before you do the square root, you take the opposite of the "b" value. You didn't change this to a negative." He handed the workbook back to Velia, with a circle around her error. Before taking her eraser to correct it, she quickly skimmed the rest of the problems she had done and sighed.
"Oh, jeez...then I messed up these problems, too," she groaned, letting her head slump onto the bed in exasperation. "How did you survive middle school, Matt?"
"Barely," Matt quipped, "it's one of the worst times in the 12 years of education before college. Your only consolation is that it doesn't last forever."
"How very philosophical of you," she mumbled, the sarcasm evident even through the fabric of the comforter on his bed. "How is that supposed to make me feel better, big brother?"
Matt raised his hands as if under accusation and grinned. "I wasn't aware that I was meant to be making you feel better. I was simply answering your question." He grabbed the comic he was reading and flung it at Velia. She, facedown on the bed, made an easy target and the book connected with her head. "Get out, you lazy bum, and go do the rest of your damn homework."
"Hey! I'm gonna tell Mom you swore in front of me!" Velia taunted, racing out of the room and right for the stairs. Matt sighed and ran after her, even though he knew his mom couldn't care less about something like swearing.
***
He wasn't exactly anticipating going to school the following day. He hadn't gotten much sleep due to studying, and he was feeling more lethargic than usual. Possibly too lethargic to hold up both his real visage and the one he had created for himself to keep his oldest friends.
"Yo, Reed. Have you seen Caitlin today? She's not here," one of the friends he made by showing his real self came up to him before class. He held two Styrofoam coffee cups in hand and set one down in front of Matt, sipping from his own.
"Haven't seen or heard from her since yesterday," Matt replied, not looking up from his manga, "Maybe she's sick or something. She mentioned having a headache on the walk home." So Caitlin, his real best friend, wasn't here today. That means I can probably go hang out with Mag and the others in the Old Town Woods after school.
"Is that the latest one?" his friend, named Alex, glanced over Matt's shoulder to examine the comic he was reading.
"The series has been over for a while now, but no. This is the fifth out of eight."
"I can't believe you have the guts to read all that subtexty shoot. It's for chicks!"
"Subtext is just subtext, Alex; it can be ignored. I like the artist's style and the supernatural element."
"Three guys who constantly get their asses kicked and kidnapped, and just happen to be a post-cog, an aura reader, and some freaky white mage wannabe. Sounds like a great read." (1)
"Don't knock my tastes in reading. I read violent stuff too, you know."
Before Alex could argue this point anymore, the bell rang, signaling the students to head to their homeroom classes. Alex grabbed his now empty coffee cup and chucked it haphazardly at a garbage can a few feet away, disappearing into the sea of students before Matt could tell him he'd missed the can by a mile. Matt sighed, picked up the crumpled Styrofoam and tossed it into the can, succeeding this time. He gathered his books and set off, tucking the comic into the deepest possible compartment of his bag.
***
Stuffing his books in his bag as best he could, Matt ran outside to catch up to his friends, who were already shouting for him to hurry up. Darting past parents' cars and other student's (and narrowly avoiding getting hit by a metallic blue minivan), he reached the hill where his friends were waiting. It was from here they started their trek.
Mag, Rave and Ezil had been friends of Matt's since elementary school; they maintained their friendship throughout those years. During that time, a more innocent and carefree time, Matt had felt more at ease with a small group of friends than he was with middle school. It was amidst these years that they began to drift apart.
No, Matt quickly amended himself. It was more like I drifted from them. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, I just tried to blend in with their changing interests. He sighed and fixed his gaze to the twigs and leaves crackling and receding beneath his shoes as he trudged further into the woods beside Rave.
"The hell was with that, Matt?" Rave asked, raising an eyebrow.
He blinked. "The hell was what?"
"What was up with that huge sigh you just let out? Tired already, Princess?" Rave snickered, giving his friend's right arm a light punch. Well, what he thought to be a light punch. Matt rolled his eyes and mumbled a quick "shut up," rubbing the targeted arm tenderly.
"Rave, chill. And hurry the hell up, you two! We don't have all the freaking time in the world!" Mag shouted to them, pointing to their usual spot beneath a particularly large tree. He delved his hand into a knot near the base and produced a pack of cigarettes, taking out four and replacing the pack inside the tree.
"God, I hate this forest. Smells disgusting," Ezil grumbled, lighting his cigarette and brushing a sandy blonde lock out of his eyes.
"You do realize the irony of you saying that while smoking, right?"
"Shut up, Matt," Ezil tossed Matt the lighter, a little more forcefully than necessary. He flicked it open and lit the cigarette, just letting it hang from his mouth for a moment as he stared blankly out at the forest.
"This forest smells bad cause most of the buildings got torched a while back, remember? Mostly houses and shoot, nothing important. Old Town's abandoned, anyway," Mag told Ezil, taking a long drag from his cigarette. "The fire department made our school hold an assembly on the dangers of having open flames in a wooded area and blah, blah, blah..." he pretended to gag in accordance to his trailing off.
Ezil cringed. "Oh, yeah. I skipped out on that. I haven't attended a school assembly since 8th grade graduation, man."
"It's a wonder you even got invited to that one!" Rave sniggered, flicking some ashes at the blonde. Ezil just glared at him and swiped at his hair.
Matt had become a wallflower when he hung out with these three. I don't connect to them. I don't want to break rules; I just want to go through my life like a damn normal kid. Is that so much to ask?! He'd been trying to tear himself away from Mag - his closest friend of the three - for a while now, but he just couldn't bring himself to. Like...he wasn't ready to give up the daunting task of managing two circles of friends.
He reminded himself of everything he and Mag had done as kids...they were inseparable. Catching frogs at the creek near Mag's old house, spending whole summer vacations at each others houses, wrestling over video game controllers, camping out in each other's backyards, swearing they would be friends forever... It seemed so distant to Matt, comparing that Mag to the person he was now. Unkempt blonde hair with faded red dye barely clinging to life at the ends; practically black eyes that seemed fairly easy to drown in. Matt, however, had done nothing except cut his reddish-brown hair, letting it fall to chin length. Mag had had a growth spurt early in middle school and now was slowly creeping over six feet tall (Matt and Ezil lagged at around 5'7'', Rave slowly catching up to Mag at 5'10''). All in all, one of the most intimidating people at Day Town High School.
Why was he even hanging out with him now? Matt couldn't figure it out. The cigarette still hung limp in his mouth, a single tendril of smoke spiraling from the ember tip.
"Yo Matt, you still in there? Matt!!" Ezil waved a hand in front of Matt's face, threatening to swipe the cigarette out of his mouth. Matt bit down hard enough on the end to keep it in place.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," he muttered. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "Guys, I'm gonna head back."
"What, already, Matt? Total mood kill, man," Rave said, staring at Matt as if he had some monstrous mutation.
"Shut up. I'll see ya tomorrow." Matt trudged off towards home, not looking back.
When he thought he had gotten far enough away, he veered from his home and walked on, to Old Town.
Ever since the fires a few years back, the forest surrounding Old Town had retained a rather gloomy appearance, as if time had suspended around those fires. Like Ezil had pointed out, it did have a smoky scent, especially heightened when it rained. Matt had once made a promise to himself that he'd come here during the rainy season, just so he could know what it felt like to be in the middle of the Old Town Woods, submersed in the rain and smoke.
There was nothing of great import in this forest; though Matt could admit that he hadn't seen much of Old Town in it's time. He didn't know anybody who lived there, nor did he ever even visit it. Hell, as far as he knew, the place was nothing but rubble! Matt knew that parts of the town did have great historical merit that none of his friends - real or fake - would particularly care about.
Velia had always been interested in the idea of the town, and wanted to go there on her own when she was old enough. Matt had insisted that it was too dangerous to go into the Old Town Woods by herself, knowing firsthand what punks could be lurking out there, just waiting for a lone female to lose her way.
He wandered aimlessly for a long time, his gaze fixed on his own shoes. His thought process was interrupted, however, by a looming shadow that caught his eye. He looked up and was caught off guard by two very palpable facts:
He was in a part of the woods that he didn't recognize, and the shadow at his feet came from a large building atop a solitary hill.
"What the...hell?" Matt blinked for a few moments, as if unsure if the building was real or a mirage. Against his better judgment - and the time on his watch, which now read 5:30 - he decided to investigate it himself and trudged up the hill.
The building was clearly abandoned, judging by the thickness of the dirt and grime that had collected on the large windows. Almost all of the bricks that made up its structure were chipped or cracked. "What kind of building is this?" Matt wondered aloud, squinting through the smudged windows. All he could see were giant...cases? Huge monoliths, arranged in large aisles. An old market, maybe? No...The place was too big. Matt suddenly realized what is was and grinned.
"...It's a library." He glanced around the sides of the building. "The door's probably locked. I wonder if there's another way in..."
He scaled his way around the library, examining the bricks and the windows carefully. The place looked tomb-tight from the side and back, but he finally found a broken window on the right side. Perfect. I should be able to slip in. I wonder if there are any books left in there. He shook his head and chided himself. The owner probably just relocated and took the books with them. Oh, well. It's not like it could hurt to check the place out. All Matt figured that was probably left were some old papers, bookshelves, and maybe some beer cans and discarded cigarettes from other delinquents who had broken in. Probably the ones who broke this window in the first place.
Matt carefully wrapped his fingers around the windowsill and hoisted himself off the ground, forcing his foot up onto the sill. Minding the glass that still clung to the edges, he crouched on the ledge and leapt through to the other side.
***
Yes, I'm going to be evil and leave it there o_o I am the mistress of evil cliffhangers!
So, there it is! ^^ What do you think? Good? Bad? Too emo? >_>; Reviews welcomed!
(1) - Virtual cookie and a plushie of your choice to whoever knows what manga Matt is reading ^^
***
1. This is a shounen-ai story (those of you who know me could have predicted it >_>). Don't like, don't read. Very, very simple. And don't flame the story based on this aspect; your comment will just be deleted.
2. I'm going to try and update as often as possible (with Christmas Break creeping around the corner, it shouldn't be too long ^^).
3. Reviews are much appreciated ^^ even if it's constructive criticism.
~Sei-chan
The Keeper
by V. Gainsborough
He lit the solitary oil lamp on the nightstand, pushing aside the crumpled papers to make room for the small pitcher of cold water. He took the cloth he had laid across the woman's forehead and immersed it in the pitcher again. She had her eyes shut tight but smiled up at him warmly. He returned it, reaching out to gently touch her cheek; she felt feverish. Wringing out the cool cloth, he replaced it on her head, dabbing lightly at some beads of sweat that had accumulated there.
"I'm sorry I can't stay with you any longer, my dear," she murmured, suddenly turning sullen. The boy looked downcast, knowing she wouldn't last the night, despite how well she had resisted succumbing to the sickness in the past. His smile withered and saddened as he shook his head.
"You don't need to apologize, Miss. I know that it's merely human fate." The lamp flickered, sending the shadows dancing across the walls and their faces as they basked in the comforting silence and each other's company. She opened her mouth to speak moments later, her eyebrows knitted in concern and hesitation.
"You won't let anything bad happen to--"
"No, of course not," the boy replied, shaking his head. He took her hand in reassurance, trying to ignore how unnaturally cool it felt in his grip. "You've taught me better than that."
Her eyes slowly slid open, looking forlornly at him. "I have, haven't I?" she chuckled, which slowly turned into a raspy cough. It pained him to see his pillar of strength reduced to something so weak. As her eyes slid shut again, he squeezed her hand and whispered:
"I won't ever leave them. I promise you."
***
"Matt, I can't figure this out!" his sister cried through his bedroom door, which he had locked for privacy. He wasn't sure when he began doing it, but it had become more habitual lately. Matt Reed put down the comic he was reading and opened the door. Velia, though five years younger than him, was starting to catch up to him in height. He noticed this because of the close proximity of the harsh glare she was giving him now. "Why did you lock the door? Are you doing something naughty in there?" she asked him, smirking gleefully.
Matt flushed. "I wasn't. And I thought you said you needed my help."
"I didn't say that; I just said I couldn't figure out this problem!" Velia whined, holding her math workbook hardly an inch in front of her brother's nose. He shoved it out of the way.
"I hope you don't expect me to do it for you, Vell."
"No, I know you better than that. Just let me in." He relented and moved out of the doorframe. Velia bounded into his room and launched herself onto the bed, landing amongst the wildly strewn sheets. Matt took a seat at his desk, turning the chair so he was facing his sister on the bed.
"What are you studying now?"
"Quadratic equations."
"In 7th grade?"
"Don't go on about how much sooner you learned them and help me, Matt," she replied, tapping her pencil noiselessly against his pillow. Matt sighed and flipped through her workbook. He wouldn't really call himself a math prodigy...mainly because if he did, his circle of friends would certainly lose its shape and eventually dissipate into a single point. He cringed internally at this. Even his metaphors for friendship were mathematic in nature!
"Here's where you screwed up. Before you do the square root, you take the opposite of the "b" value. You didn't change this to a negative." He handed the workbook back to Velia, with a circle around her error. Before taking her eraser to correct it, she quickly skimmed the rest of the problems she had done and sighed.
"Oh, jeez...then I messed up these problems, too," she groaned, letting her head slump onto the bed in exasperation. "How did you survive middle school, Matt?"
"Barely," Matt quipped, "it's one of the worst times in the 12 years of education before college. Your only consolation is that it doesn't last forever."
"How very philosophical of you," she mumbled, the sarcasm evident even through the fabric of the comforter on his bed. "How is that supposed to make me feel better, big brother?"
Matt raised his hands as if under accusation and grinned. "I wasn't aware that I was meant to be making you feel better. I was simply answering your question." He grabbed the comic he was reading and flung it at Velia. She, facedown on the bed, made an easy target and the book connected with her head. "Get out, you lazy bum, and go do the rest of your damn homework."
"Hey! I'm gonna tell Mom you swore in front of me!" Velia taunted, racing out of the room and right for the stairs. Matt sighed and ran after her, even though he knew his mom couldn't care less about something like swearing.
***
He wasn't exactly anticipating going to school the following day. He hadn't gotten much sleep due to studying, and he was feeling more lethargic than usual. Possibly too lethargic to hold up both his real visage and the one he had created for himself to keep his oldest friends.
"Yo, Reed. Have you seen Caitlin today? She's not here," one of the friends he made by showing his real self came up to him before class. He held two Styrofoam coffee cups in hand and set one down in front of Matt, sipping from his own.
"Haven't seen or heard from her since yesterday," Matt replied, not looking up from his manga, "Maybe she's sick or something. She mentioned having a headache on the walk home." So Caitlin, his real best friend, wasn't here today. That means I can probably go hang out with Mag and the others in the Old Town Woods after school.
"Is that the latest one?" his friend, named Alex, glanced over Matt's shoulder to examine the comic he was reading.
"The series has been over for a while now, but no. This is the fifth out of eight."
"I can't believe you have the guts to read all that subtexty shoot. It's for chicks!"
"Subtext is just subtext, Alex; it can be ignored. I like the artist's style and the supernatural element."
"Three guys who constantly get their asses kicked and kidnapped, and just happen to be a post-cog, an aura reader, and some freaky white mage wannabe. Sounds like a great read." (1)
"Don't knock my tastes in reading. I read violent stuff too, you know."
Before Alex could argue this point anymore, the bell rang, signaling the students to head to their homeroom classes. Alex grabbed his now empty coffee cup and chucked it haphazardly at a garbage can a few feet away, disappearing into the sea of students before Matt could tell him he'd missed the can by a mile. Matt sighed, picked up the crumpled Styrofoam and tossed it into the can, succeeding this time. He gathered his books and set off, tucking the comic into the deepest possible compartment of his bag.
***
Stuffing his books in his bag as best he could, Matt ran outside to catch up to his friends, who were already shouting for him to hurry up. Darting past parents' cars and other student's (and narrowly avoiding getting hit by a metallic blue minivan), he reached the hill where his friends were waiting. It was from here they started their trek.
Mag, Rave and Ezil had been friends of Matt's since elementary school; they maintained their friendship throughout those years. During that time, a more innocent and carefree time, Matt had felt more at ease with a small group of friends than he was with middle school. It was amidst these years that they began to drift apart.
No, Matt quickly amended himself. It was more like I drifted from them. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, I just tried to blend in with their changing interests. He sighed and fixed his gaze to the twigs and leaves crackling and receding beneath his shoes as he trudged further into the woods beside Rave.
"The hell was with that, Matt?" Rave asked, raising an eyebrow.
He blinked. "The hell was what?"
"What was up with that huge sigh you just let out? Tired already, Princess?" Rave snickered, giving his friend's right arm a light punch. Well, what he thought to be a light punch. Matt rolled his eyes and mumbled a quick "shut up," rubbing the targeted arm tenderly.
"Rave, chill. And hurry the hell up, you two! We don't have all the freaking time in the world!" Mag shouted to them, pointing to their usual spot beneath a particularly large tree. He delved his hand into a knot near the base and produced a pack of cigarettes, taking out four and replacing the pack inside the tree.
"God, I hate this forest. Smells disgusting," Ezil grumbled, lighting his cigarette and brushing a sandy blonde lock out of his eyes.
"You do realize the irony of you saying that while smoking, right?"
"Shut up, Matt," Ezil tossed Matt the lighter, a little more forcefully than necessary. He flicked it open and lit the cigarette, just letting it hang from his mouth for a moment as he stared blankly out at the forest.
"This forest smells bad cause most of the buildings got torched a while back, remember? Mostly houses and shoot, nothing important. Old Town's abandoned, anyway," Mag told Ezil, taking a long drag from his cigarette. "The fire department made our school hold an assembly on the dangers of having open flames in a wooded area and blah, blah, blah..." he pretended to gag in accordance to his trailing off.
Ezil cringed. "Oh, yeah. I skipped out on that. I haven't attended a school assembly since 8th grade graduation, man."
"It's a wonder you even got invited to that one!" Rave sniggered, flicking some ashes at the blonde. Ezil just glared at him and swiped at his hair.
Matt had become a wallflower when he hung out with these three. I don't connect to them. I don't want to break rules; I just want to go through my life like a damn normal kid. Is that so much to ask?! He'd been trying to tear himself away from Mag - his closest friend of the three - for a while now, but he just couldn't bring himself to. Like...he wasn't ready to give up the daunting task of managing two circles of friends.
He reminded himself of everything he and Mag had done as kids...they were inseparable. Catching frogs at the creek near Mag's old house, spending whole summer vacations at each others houses, wrestling over video game controllers, camping out in each other's backyards, swearing they would be friends forever... It seemed so distant to Matt, comparing that Mag to the person he was now. Unkempt blonde hair with faded red dye barely clinging to life at the ends; practically black eyes that seemed fairly easy to drown in. Matt, however, had done nothing except cut his reddish-brown hair, letting it fall to chin length. Mag had had a growth spurt early in middle school and now was slowly creeping over six feet tall (Matt and Ezil lagged at around 5'7'', Rave slowly catching up to Mag at 5'10''). All in all, one of the most intimidating people at Day Town High School.
Why was he even hanging out with him now? Matt couldn't figure it out. The cigarette still hung limp in his mouth, a single tendril of smoke spiraling from the ember tip.
"Yo Matt, you still in there? Matt!!" Ezil waved a hand in front of Matt's face, threatening to swipe the cigarette out of his mouth. Matt bit down hard enough on the end to keep it in place.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," he muttered. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "Guys, I'm gonna head back."
"What, already, Matt? Total mood kill, man," Rave said, staring at Matt as if he had some monstrous mutation.
"Shut up. I'll see ya tomorrow." Matt trudged off towards home, not looking back.
When he thought he had gotten far enough away, he veered from his home and walked on, to Old Town.
Ever since the fires a few years back, the forest surrounding Old Town had retained a rather gloomy appearance, as if time had suspended around those fires. Like Ezil had pointed out, it did have a smoky scent, especially heightened when it rained. Matt had once made a promise to himself that he'd come here during the rainy season, just so he could know what it felt like to be in the middle of the Old Town Woods, submersed in the rain and smoke.
There was nothing of great import in this forest; though Matt could admit that he hadn't seen much of Old Town in it's time. He didn't know anybody who lived there, nor did he ever even visit it. Hell, as far as he knew, the place was nothing but rubble! Matt knew that parts of the town did have great historical merit that none of his friends - real or fake - would particularly care about.
Velia had always been interested in the idea of the town, and wanted to go there on her own when she was old enough. Matt had insisted that it was too dangerous to go into the Old Town Woods by herself, knowing firsthand what punks could be lurking out there, just waiting for a lone female to lose her way.
He wandered aimlessly for a long time, his gaze fixed on his own shoes. His thought process was interrupted, however, by a looming shadow that caught his eye. He looked up and was caught off guard by two very palpable facts:
He was in a part of the woods that he didn't recognize, and the shadow at his feet came from a large building atop a solitary hill.
"What the...hell?" Matt blinked for a few moments, as if unsure if the building was real or a mirage. Against his better judgment - and the time on his watch, which now read 5:30 - he decided to investigate it himself and trudged up the hill.
The building was clearly abandoned, judging by the thickness of the dirt and grime that had collected on the large windows. Almost all of the bricks that made up its structure were chipped or cracked. "What kind of building is this?" Matt wondered aloud, squinting through the smudged windows. All he could see were giant...cases? Huge monoliths, arranged in large aisles. An old market, maybe? No...The place was too big. Matt suddenly realized what is was and grinned.
"...It's a library." He glanced around the sides of the building. "The door's probably locked. I wonder if there's another way in..."
He scaled his way around the library, examining the bricks and the windows carefully. The place looked tomb-tight from the side and back, but he finally found a broken window on the right side. Perfect. I should be able to slip in. I wonder if there are any books left in there. He shook his head and chided himself. The owner probably just relocated and took the books with them. Oh, well. It's not like it could hurt to check the place out. All Matt figured that was probably left were some old papers, bookshelves, and maybe some beer cans and discarded cigarettes from other delinquents who had broken in. Probably the ones who broke this window in the first place.
Matt carefully wrapped his fingers around the windowsill and hoisted himself off the ground, forcing his foot up onto the sill. Minding the glass that still clung to the edges, he crouched on the ledge and leapt through to the other side.
***
Yes, I'm going to be evil and leave it there o_o I am the mistress of evil cliffhangers!
So, there it is! ^^ What do you think? Good? Bad? Too emo? >_>; Reviews welcomed!
(1) - Virtual cookie and a plushie of your choice to whoever knows what manga Matt is reading ^^
***
Comments
You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment
kenchan on January 31, 2007, 12:57:10 PM
kenchan on
Ok I only read this story you wrote.  But Favs/AuthorsÂ