....
"I can't believe I wrote all that!"
A girl inside her strawberry filled room rocked her chair back and forth, traumatised from what she had read on the sheets of paper. Many of them were scribbles of her younger self as she wrote all of her thoughts inside that ragged notebook.
'Embarrassing' fit her situation well as she went over each of the stories she had in mind.
As the teen browsed the dirty-white pages, she saw nothing but grammatical errors and incomplete sentences in her plots. The description was off the mark and unpleasant, paradoxically strenuous to understand, even for a grade school student. She doesn't even know if her tales were that valuable to begin with.
But one day, her hard work had finally paid off after publishing a book about murderers, bloodshed, and gore. She had multiple narratives up to this date, and all of them are popular with the audience.
Her ranking rose like a blazing fire, scorching the other nominated books in a flash. It was as if they did not have the chance to compete with her novels as she continued to excel in her career.
....
"How about that for an introduction to your journal?" The woman wearing a black suit asks while jotting down the information she has said. "I'd bet that would make yourself even more popular with an emotional background."
The grey walls enclose me with my every breath as my editor asks me with a crooked question. As I pan my eyes from left to right, I greet the vacant chairs inside the classroom. Even the ticking of the wall clock lingers inside my ears and lets me count the time remaining for my drafts.
I can feel my heart racing after such words throw in front of my face, telling me that plot inside the journal of hers is what I want the most. Once I give a shake, my lips retorts with a sneer.
"Are you completely out of your freaking mind?" My mind dashes inside of me as I ejaculate what I feel about my journal. "Do you expect me to accept these insults and walk away without batting an eye?"
"I do." The editor trudges to the exit and answers my question while reaching for the front door. "I bid you farewell, Yuki."
With a creaking sound coming from the gate, my body snatches something before me. An epiphany exclaims at my fore, with the surprised image of my editor and her head glancing back to see me.
"Hey! I am still talking with you." My hands tug at the ends of her coat, hopelessly wanting to withdraw her statement earlier. I do not want those pieces of information to be out in the journals.
"If you don't, then you leave me with no choice but to." I try and warn my editor about her actions, but she turns around to face my gawking eyes.
She raises her hand and gently releases my grip off from her cloth before swivelling behind.
"But to what?" The confident editor folds her hands and utters, cornering me using my set of words.
"Resort to violence?" I move back and add, concluding what I have mumbled.
"Cut me some slack, will you? Besides, you have dozens of chapter to work for the rest of the day."
I turn around and rummage through my back and find all the unfinished chapters yet written for today. Every volume that I have on a contract has its release schedule. As I look at the wall clock, I know I am already behind my timetable.
"Why do I have to make time and talk with my editor, especially for today!" Regret comes crashing inside my skull as I head over outside the classroom and run as fast as I could over the crowded hallway.
The leaves outside of our open windows welcome the students passing by the corridors. Even the humming of birds and the gentle breeze of the wind adds to the noise of the people. Despite the mixing echoes surrounding me, I do not mind nature at all. My eardrums filter the untuned music like it is nothing but beautiful air. It is the only instruments that my ears listen to as I resume my stride.
Students wearing the same uniform as mine engross themselves with their head burying in front of their phones. Hearing their gossip, I find out that most students read the latest chapter of the book that I have written with the title 'Crime Legacy'. The story is about a criminal who have escaped from his cell, seeking his revenge towards the police. He slaughtered the entire police force; the end.
"I can't believe the MC (protagonist) did that!"
"Remember that one time he got away from that car? Damn, I really love that scene so much!"
And the crowd goes wild as I continue to stroll the corridor with all their globes glueing directly at their gadgets.
It is a sight to behold. Never have I expected these avid fans wishing to know more about the storyline.
"Yuki, over here!" A familiar voice in the distance calls out my name with her arms feverishly waving up high for me to see.
"One second, Roxy." I gesture her to wait for me at the end of the tunnel as I squeeze myself between the canned bodies of students obstructing the hall. It is the only thing that I hate the most whenever I post my chapters. Thus, where all of them would simultaneously read the book before our class' dismissal.
After finally arriving at the set, my closest friend tags my hand and escorts me to the empty streets, back to my humble abode.
"You need to write all three chapters of your novels," she orders while tossing the one-hundred-page reference for me to scan. "What do you need me to do? Bath me with ketchup? Sliced onions to make you cry?"
"No, you don't have to be that overboard," I interject, while turning my laptop back on and hitting the electric notepad.
"I can kidnap women and men and bring them here, inside your room. I will do anything for you, my love~,"
"As much as I want to agree, all you need to do is sit on tight and play any console that you want there inside the box." I lift and point my finger on the carton that seems to burst at any second. "No need for abducting someone, Roxy."
"Aye, aye, captain!" She gestures her hand and salutes before ripping the package open.
She picks up a portable device and hastily switches it open. Suddenly, a mixture of colours welcomes our eyes as it introduces us to the game.
"I have never played in years!" Roxanne exclaims while crashing her body on my sully bed as if she owns the entire place.
Roxanne has always been visiting my home, and for the last few years, she feels like a sister to me. Living inside this house with both of my parents working sometimes makes me feel alone. Like a bird trapped inside a golden cage, I make myself busy by entertaining my thoughts through writing stories.
"What's your plot going to be about?"
"Hmm, I haven't really thought about it yet," I answer with enthusiasm while sticking out the tip of my pen near my mouth. "Probably killing another main protagonist or chopping off his leg."
"That's amazing, Yuki," The lazy girl sarcastically comments as she smashes all the buttons of the console at once , fighting the first boss of the game. "You never cease to hate your characters and fans, don't you?"
"That's how people love my stories. They buy atypical things, not some run-of-the-mill themes, trying to copy and paste generic plotlines that you see every day."
As our conversation dies out, the usual routine eventually flows. Roxanne would wait for me to finish my deadlines while she idles all day trying to play every game that I own.
I do not mind her intrusion one bit. It is always fun to watch Roxanne feel afraid about some menacingly frightening monster chasing her at the ends of the Earth.
She is more entertaining than those streamers out there on the internet.
Time passes by quickly, and luckily for me, I finish all my due dates of delivering these chapters on the writing platform. With the grey screen confirming my texts, I can finally relax for the entire night.
"I have fulfilled my quest. Thus I shall get my rest!" I blabber, while stretching my stiff arms upwards. "And it miraculously rhymed."
I scooch over to my side and find Roxanne silently dozing off while hugging my cherishable cushion between her legs. I would occasionally scold her for doing that and toss her over to the streets where her parents can pick her up. However, before attempting to make a move, I notice a tear sliding down her cheeks with mumbling, inaudible sounds.
"I don't want...to go outside," She repeats to herself while erratically shaking her head in various directions.
"Hey, Roxanne. You can finally go home now." I shuffle myself beside her sleeping body and grip her hand onto mine, allowing Roxanne to calm herself down before snapping back into our reality.
"Mmhg…" Her moaning sounds aroused every cell inside of me as I try to keep a steel figure in front of my friend.
"Get up now, or things would get wilder than you think," I remark, while carefully pushing her upwards in a sitting position.
However, the more she moves, her sexual wails bring me pleasure in anything else I have experienced.
'No. I have no romantic feelings for this girl,' I tell myself while slapping my cheeks enough to hurl me towards the side.
"You're adorable as ever," Roxy rises from the bed and deliberately crawls in my direction, with her tongue-twisting seductively.
I instinctively gaze up and observe the dull ceiling, avoiding the temptation at the scrumptious meal in front of me.
"Aren't you excited?" She teases me with a question, with her eyes twinkling like a set of ignited stars.
"No," I croak, hoping she could not see through my lie. "Not even a bit, I guess."
"Bwahaha!" After having enough of her act, she stumbles back on the bed and bursts into tears, trying to hold out her impeccable laughter.
"Hilarious. Look at me, I am dying right now because of how humorous it was," I utter with a blank expression carved beneath my face.
"Do you even know what time it is?"
"Around 9:00 P.M., I suppose?"
"Wrong!" She replies, imitating what a buzzer would sound like when the contestant answers something incorrectly.
"It's midnight," Roxanne corrects me while fixing her things back inside her knapsack before walking towards the front door.
"Thanks for letting me stay here, Yuki."
"Do you mind if I tag along?"
I rush downstairs and see her off from the gates, wanting to accompany her in the middle of the night.
"There might be bad people lurking outside." I couldn't suppress my concerned feelings as I examine the area for anything dubious.
"I literally live right next door," She retorts while withholding her smile with a cramped bag.
"See you again tomorrow,"
With a quick nod, Roxanne carries off towards the street and runs by three flickering light posts. If it is not for the motors driving this late at night, I could have offered her a flashlight.
The dark area of the hall greets my eyes as I turn around. I have forgotten that I have already switched the lights off from before, and only the lamp inside the room paves away the darkness.
"It's about time that I got to do this," I mumble to myself and kneel on the ground, getting into the position of my favourite, unorthodox stance.
"On your mark, get set, and-," Before I can finish my sentence, my body races forward and runs at the wooden steps, allowing me to hurl inside my room.
"Go." I can feel every inhale of my lungs, gasping for air, after cursorily arriving inside my lit bedroom.
The door shuts in an instant, as if someone has already known that I am aghast and shivering. Pushing my dread to my side, I open my laptop and surf the net, trying to shift my focus inside my haunted room.
"It's all inside your head, Yuki. There are no ghosts, goblins, or any fictional monsters inside your home." I tell myself while scanning the hellish-almost disgusting images of corpses that have minced into pieces.
The high-definition quality of every picture depicts the gory scenes as if you're witnessing them first-hand. Countless people could not handle this sight, but I have a stomach made of gold that allures me for watching some more of this bloody setting. After all, I will need these pictures as a reference for my next chapter, where the detective would find someone close to him dead on arrival.
"I still need a couple of these bad boys before getting that damn beauty sleep," I utter and nod to myself, completely neglecting my fear that I have once earlier.
While flicking through the innumerable pages of the site, an ad that piques my interest takes form in front of my screen, disrupting my educational research.
"Move out of my way!" I scream while spamming the right square of my wireless mouse at the scarlet exit button.
However, much to my surprise, the window refuses to fade. No matter how many times I force my way to eliminate the screen, it will always revert its way before me.
"Strange," Heaving out a sigh of defeat, I allow the internet to take over and finally click the cursed advertisement, hoping it would not give me any virus in my computer.
Upon loading its content, my orbs broaden in amazement and discern familiar faces and sceneries.
Two people are standing at the centre, battling against zombified humans with their bare hands. It incapacitates some dead bodies at their feet into nothingness by these lifeless monsters. I recognise all the buildings that I have written in my novel.
"Wait, a minute." I push my chair back near my bed, denying everything that I have witnessed just now. "How dare they turn my story into a manga without asking for my permission!"
My shallow scream wakes up the neighbours soundly sleeping at 2:00 A.M.