Updation. Wink and complete. At times, I even scare myself. "...You know," Jake's mom said after a long pause, after she awoke again, "she has some language to be around an adult." _______________________________ She landed much like she had last time, on something soft and pliant, pleasing to the touch. She observed her surroundings. She was in the middle of a clearing. Surrounding her was grass; it the most beautiful, pure, serene green she'd ever seen. A dense, omniscient forest loomed around the edges of the grass, the beauty of the clearing disappearing into the dread-inducing forest. She wasn't sure why she'd associated the clearing with wonderment and magnificence, and the forest with fear and darkness. Overhead, the sky was a clear blue. No clouds marred the sky, and a slight breeze stirred the grass and ruffled the leaves on the trees. All was peaceful. So why the oppressing feeling? Why the feeling that something terrible, something absolutely horrid, awaited her in the forest? Unwillingly, she stood up and crept toward the forest. Slowly. Slowly. Step, step. Ever so slow and silent, she reached the edge of the clearing and peered into the forest. Through it's density, you could see or hear nothing. No birds were chirping, no crickets calling. There was no rustling of the branches, no signs of life. All was still. She peered into the forest, deep in thought. While, unbeknownst to her, a figure in the forest crept closer and closer. Zephy shivered, the hairs on the back of her neck raised. She felt as if she was being watched. But all was still, all was quiet. A slight breeze began to blow, swaying the trees, picking up Zephy's hair, blowing it out slightly behind her. Closer and closer the creature crept, never taking it's eyes off of Zeph. Stalking, it stayed hunkered down low, almost crawling on the soft grass. Closer. Closer still. Zephy stood at the very edge of the clearing, unmoving. Something, someone, was watching her. But what? Her breathing came quicker and her heart rate sped up. The forest began to come to life, as if in response to her emotions. Branches began to creak, knocking into one another as a strong wind began to blow. Zephy's hair whipped her in the face, strands going in all directions. Strange, animal-like sounds began to come from the forest, reverberating around her. Noises came from all direction, motions all around her. The creature was a few feet in front of her. Crouching, it stopped. It would give her a little...warning. Just to be fair. Life wasnt fair, no, but this wasn't life. "Zephy," it called, it's voice deep and foreboding. "Zephy," she heard, and gave a loud shriek. A voice was calling, loud and clear. Threatening her and beaconing her. It called to her and terrified her. "Zephy..." it said again. "Welcome to the Forest of Dreams." The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. She spun around, checking her back. But no one, nothing, was behind her. She spun around again, facing the forest. The creature crept forward until it was mere inches in front of Zephy. His eyes closed, he could smell her fear. She turned around, checking her back for an enemy. 'Silly, silly Zephy,' it thought. 'She won't know until it's too late.' She turned back around to face him, not knowing she was scant inches from her enemy. He, who hated her. He would kill her. She would not, could not, walk the Earth, alive or dead, another day. She was a threat that must be annihilated. But first, she must know. She must know him. He gave a slight smile at the thought, then stepped forward, stooping to touch his nose to hers. "BOO!" he shouted playfully, lifting his eyelids. At the touch and yell, Zephy screamed, then laughed. Brilliant, familiar, loving green eyes shone back at her. Zeeke!
HECK YEAH MAN!!!!! UPDATATION!!! I would feel bad about this. Isn't it slightly a cliché? What I've written, I mean. Is it? I thought...and then I said "Who the hell cares?" This was totally impromptu, I worked on it ad much as I could, and this took me almost two freakin hours, but I can finally say: this update. Eet eez finute.
And post! I...erm...forgot. Dern. "ZEEKE! You scared me! Gosh. Give a girl some warning next time! ...Why am I here again?" she asked him, taking no breaths between sentences. "What? You didn't want to see me again?" he pretended to be hurt, pouting slightly. But he couldn't hide the smirk lurking at the corners of his mouth. Soon, he told himself. Very, very soon. "No! You know I love seeing you! I'd missed you so much!" Zephy quickly reassured him. "But still...why?" "Am I not reason enough for you, Zephoria? Is there a reason you didn't want to see me? Did you find someone else? Is that it? I've always been there! Didn't you notice? Watching over you, seeing everything you did. I caught you when you stumbled. When you hit that pole? I was there, beside you. And I took care of the driver. He'll never hit another pole again." Of course, everything he was spouting was complete bullshit. He'd never watched over her. Why would he protect her from herself? She should've died years ago. Two, to be exact. Two years ago with the rest of those she loved. "Zeeke, is something wrong with you? We were never 'together,'" making air quotations, she studied him. "What are you talking about?" He sighed. He couldn't tell her, of course. Not yet. Where would the fun in that be? He needed to get closer... "No, nothing is wrong with me. And just because we weren't together doesn't mean that I never wanted to be." He ambled up to her, slowly, a small smile on his face. He placed both hands on her shoulder, then thought better of it and moved one to lightly tap on her nose. But he wasn't close enough. Not yet. "And I never said that I didn't want to be with you. I thought we were dating." He stopped tapping. His little taps had become hard enough to make her flinch. He knew she was tough. He must've been hitting her hard. What he really wanted to do, though, he couldn't yet. He couldn't lodge her nose in her brain. Couldn't shove a knife through all of her organs, twisting it painfully each time, hitting her heart last. Couldn't shoot her, first in her knee caps, slowly making his way up to her head. He wanted her to suffer. "I mean...we were always together," he clarified, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close. She wrapped her arms around him automatically. "I just figured...I was the closest one to you...I just thought we were...that you wanted to..." She laid her head on his chest as he purposefully stumbled over the words, waiting for her to pick them up. "Zee, you know I always loved you. But not...not..." Pick them up she did. But not the way he wanted her to. The bitch was messing it up! She WOULD be crushed, killed, by her best friend. Her love. She would NOT fucking mess this up. He leaned back slightly, dislodging her head from it's resting place. He effectively stopped her words by putting his finger under her chin, lifting her face, studying her quickly. He knew. He knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to... This would work. Perfectly. "Isn't love enough for you?" he asked her, looking deep in her eyes. He adopted a hurt expression. Emotions were so fucking hard. "It is!" Zephy hurriedly reassured him, wiping the hurt from his face. He began to smile, the corners of his mouth lifting. "But I don't feel..." "Then love is enough." He bent down to her eye level. Moving his hand behind her neck, he pulled her closer. She dropped her arms and stared at him. He wanted to...wanted... He touched his lips to hers. She was unmoving, remaining motionless while he threaded his other hand through her loose hair. He wanted...he wanted to rip out her hair. To break her fucking neck, to snap it in half. He moved closer to her, pressing his lips against hers harder, harder still. Her head leaned back from the force of his kiss. She wouldn't notice...she couldn't notice... He curled the hand in her hair into a fist and pulled. Zeph gave a short gasp, a slight scream. Shit. He let up, relaxing his hand slightly, kissing her deeper. She was too tense... Fuck it. He tightened the hand in her hair and twisted it, pulling her down at the same time. She fell back, automatically twisting as she went down to try to alleviate some of the pain. Aware of strands of hair being ripped from her head, she held her head back, closer to his hand. He yanked again, pulling her back onto her butt, her head tilted at an odd angle. She cried out, tears swimming in her eyes. How could Zeeke...? She looked up into his eyes and raised her fist. She didn't care who he was. There was no way some asshole, no matter if he was her best friend, was going to push her around. Zeeke should know her better than that. Fist cocked, she was about to move her hand, until... His face. That fucking face. She thought back. Thought about that face. Those eyes. Those dark, chilling, heartless eyes. That hair, his hair, as dark as the sky was black. The sky had been black for a while after she had seen him. She'd laid in bed for weeks, no light penetrating her room, the windows covered. She hadn't slept for days on days, until her body couldn't handle anything more and she had collapsed. She remembered lying awake, reliving that nightmare over again. She watched, a helpless bystander, as she saw herself and Zeeke on the porch. Saw the car go by. Saw Kiara stop dancing only to fall fall to the ground. Saw Zeeke sprint off the porch. The last time she had seen that face. The last time she had seen Zeeke and Kiara alive. The face in her dreams, her worst nightmares. The face of the man who had killed her best friend and little sister. She saw his face. And she grinned. She didn't smile. Didn't cower in fear. She looked up into his face, into his eyes. And for the first time in a long time, she grinned. She would kill this mother fucking bitch.
Meh. Malice. That was the first thing he saw when he looked into her eyes. Malice, hatred, and vengeance. She grinned up at him, evilly. But...wait. What?! She was supposed to be confused, in pain, scared as hell, and dying. Not grinning at him! The fuck was wrong with her? ...When in doubt, best to ignore. All would go well. "Do you remember? Remember what I did to you? I've been watching you, Zephoria. Watching you and waiting." He'd watched her for months yet. Since he'd died, taken out of the equation after being seen and not getting rid of a witness. It was all this bitch's fault. She would pay. "Did you know I tipped off your friend?" he continued. He would make her break. Make her cry for her loss, for her betrayal. "He was so happy to take the little bit of money I offered him to run into that pole. That pole that killed you? I was already dead by then." Zephy had slowly, throughout his tale, stopped grinning and began frowning. What the hell was he talking about?! "All it took was a simple flick of my wrist. A simple..," he demonstrated what he meant, moving his hand as if he were closing a book. "As simple as that. And you died!" He giggled at her misfortune, the knowledge that he had killed her, had gotten rid of the reason he'd died. "I was so glad to be forever rid of you!" His hand began to loosen in her hair. She smiled to herself and waited, waited. Waited. "But you came back." He frowned at her as if it were her fault. "You weren't supposed to come back. You were supposed to be dead. But you weren't! You came the back! Bloody hell, what does it take to get rid of you?! I asked myself. Because I would. Permanently. And I would not fail." His hand continually got looser in her hair, allowing her movement. He was staring off into space, unfocused on her. His words spilled from his mouth. She began to slowly ease away from his hand as he spoke. "You will die. You WILL...." She tuned him out as she eased. Just slight movements...slight...little by little... She slowly removed herself from under his hand. His hand untangled from her hair and dropped limply to his side. He never noticed, still ranting. "Mother never even let me out of the house! And then YOU and your..." She tuned him out and gracefully lifted herself to her feet in the blink of an eye. His eyes turned to focus in her, his dark, soulless eyes zeroing in on her face. "You BITCH!" He screamed at her. She swiftly cocked her hand back and smashed it forward, toward his face. It had been a while since she'd fought on the streets... But she couldn't forget. Zeeke had taught her well.
Bump... I haven't forgotten this. But I've been busy. Too much work to do, too many allergies to deal with. It's STILL not cold enough to get down the pollen count. He was actually really...small. He'd transformed; he'd been a teenager with bright green eyes declaring his love, but had morphed into a black-eyed soulless monster. A monster that she would destroy. Zephy didn't cringe when he yanked at her hair. Her grin never faltered. There was no doubt in her mind that she would kill him. And it obviously showed. The hand in her hair loosened slightly, shock flitting across her aggressor's face. Why wasn't she crying? he roared internally. Why wasn't the bitch crying?! The loose hand was all the opening she needed. Swiftly, gracefully, she brought her legs back, then jumped to her feet. As she pulled free, she figured that a few strands of hair had been dislodged from her head, but she didn't feel it. Didn't feel anything besides the need to get even. She couldn't kill his family, but she could kill him. Make him suffer like he had made her suffer. It was like she was looking through a scope. The man, that monster, was directly in her line of fire. She was deeply focused, watching him watch her silently. This was going to be a showdown. And, she knew, she would not lose and continue to live in this life after death. If she lost, he would ensure that she never saw the light of day again. And, if he lost, she would do the same for him.