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Note from the Author
This book contains and mentions sensitive material relating to mental illnesses, several personality disorders, suicide, suicidal thoughts, post-traumatic stress disorder, murder, gore/violence, death, alcoholism, self-harm, and depression. Reader discretion is highly advised and it is important to practice self-care during and after reading. There is foul language, substance abuse, multiple types of abuse as well. Some of the events, people, and timelines are based on true aspects of my life, so keep a clear mindset.
To my inner angels who kept fighting against the demons of my mind, I want to thank you for it. And to those inner monsters of mine, thank you for being my inspiration for the nightmares that came out of these stories. To the angels who stood beside me while I battled the evil inside of under my own skin that I kept covered, these books and stories will represent how you have been there for me.
And to the younger me, who probably didn’t know that they were beautiful in their own body; you were going to do great things. Don't you ever look back and question the choices that lead you to the me that I have become...
Cody woke up to a sharp pain in the back of his head. After he took in his surroundings, Cody choked on his own breath, due to the scene before him. The gray stone walls of the room were covered in blood and the smell of it met his nose. The brick floor felt wet and sticky. In the corner, full of darkness, Cody saw one thing, the body of a woman. She looked like a china doll with a blood-soaked nightclub dress that was once the color of deep blue like a stream. Cody recognized the woman from the news; she was the drunk driver that killed a cheerleader in the next town over and got all charges dropped. In the woman’s hand was a tape recorder that had Cody’s name on it. Great! Just great. I’m trapped in a fucking horror movie, thought Cody as he pushed the play button. A boy’s voice came out of the recording. Trying to move was pointless, his feet were rooted to the floor by pure fear.
“It’s nice to meet you, Cody Reef. You and your little friends know who I am and my new powers, so I have to get you all out of my way. As you could see before you, I only want to bring order and justice into this world. You, Cody, are a tool to stop me, so no hard feelings.” And then, dead silence. Cody dropped the recorder and stumbled back, worrying about the others. Fear and anxiety were the only things that Cody knew. Panic took over and the next thing he knew was his legs forcing him to run. He took off running into the darkness, he let the fear be his guide. Cody, not focusing on reality, ran into a door with a hard smack. After regaining feeling in his face, Cody opened the door only to find a room full of nightmares. His older brother, Simon, had been hooked up to the tailgate of a running car that was halfway in the air, so when the back came down Simon would be ripped in half and dragged. Ashton laid down beneath the rear triers meaning he would get crushed. Ashton looked unresponsive and looked like he put up one hell of a fight; his face and arms had a few bruises and there was a trail of dried blood from his nose.
“Stop fucking staring and HELP US!” screamed Simon. Cody bolted to the front end of the car. There was another tape recorder and a man who also was unresponsive but he looked like he was barely breathing, sitting in the front seat. Cody took a shaky breath and pushed the play button.
“Hello and welcome to your first test, Cody. A little birdie told me that you are poor at Decision making under pressure. The man in the front seat has the key to the chains that your friends are in, but it is in the open wound behind his left ear. You will have to dig a little bit into the wound to get it out, but he won’t get the medical attention to survive through it. He was a heroin addict that robbed a woman for her handbag which had her medications in it so she ended up dying in the chase, so don’t feel too guilty for killing him. There is a knife on the dashboard for you to use if you need it.”
The recording ended and the car slowly started to be lowered by the chains. At that moment Cody had to choose between saving the people he loved or doing what he could to try to save everyone...
The man stood in front of the two high school boys while the third boy lay on the cold pavement, unresponsive. Cody looked down at Ashton’s cold lifeless body while the tears streamed down his cheeks. The man had told Cody that Ashton had several massive head injuries that might have been from the thing that knocked him out or the fight with his attacker.
“There wasn’t anything you could have done to save him,” the man said with a grim expression, “It is obvious that whoever kidnapped us didn't know how much force to use to knock us out with, so the kid probably woke up in the middle of being tied up and put one hell of a fight to get to you and the otherP,” he continued. Simon nodded and turned to face his little brother, “We should try to find the others.” Cody nodded and pulled out his pen of fate; The pen of Rebirth and Creation. He held it close to his chest as the three of them headed to the next room. Cody kept replaying those moments in his head if he could have saved Ashton...
Cody opened the car door and carefully removed the man from the car and onto the pavement. He then looked around for something or anything that he could use for medical treatment, besides the knife on the dash broad. Then the idea hit him, what if he cut away at the edges of the wound to then make a patch from the cloth on his tee-shirt. With unsteady hands holding a knife that is not made for this kind of job, Cody took a ranged breath and worked away. The car was almost completely on the ground when the man started to wake up. Cody then applied a piece of his tee-shirt to the man’s temple. Cody then pulled Ashton out from beneath the car and unchained Simon. The man kneed down to check Ashton’s pause, then his expression softened and tears flooded his eyes...
The three of them came upon a metal door with red paint spelling the words “Two girls, but only one choice.” Simon locked eyes with his kid brother, afraid of what was behind the door. Cody nodded and slowly placed his hand on the doorknob. The man took a shaky breath as Cody turned the knob. The three of them stepped into darkness, letting the mental door slammed behind them and locked them in. Simon and the man pushed the door, trying to open it.
“It won’t budge,” Simon sighed, while the man pulled out a lighter from his blood-stained jeans. After wandering through the darkness, huddled close to the small light, they came to a living nightmare. Liz and Tina were hooked up to two tanks of clear liquid. There was another tape recorder on one of the tanks. The man picked up the recorder and pressed play…
“Welcome to your next test, Cody. There are two tanks on the table; one is tap water and the other is acid. Each girl has a tube in their mouth that is connected to the tanks. You will have to choose which tank to unplug to retrieve the key for the girls’ restraints before both of the tanks’ contents flow into the tubes. You will have five minutes to decide.”
As the recording ended, Simon and Cody rushed over to the girls’ sides; looking to unplug both tanks. Simon’s eyes landed on the right side of Liz’s chair where she was restrained. There was a folded note. Simon’s hands shook as he unfolded the note and read out loud, “You can only save one girl because it takes five minutes to unplug one tank.” The man tried to take one of the tanks off the table to break and dump out the liquid, but as he started to lift up the tank he pulled his hands away and let out a horrified scream. Cody and Simon looked at each other after looking down at the man’s hands. The flesh on them had already started to melt off, leaving bright red meat unprotected. Cody’s body moved faster than he knew he could towards the tubes in the girls’ mouths. He pulled the tubes out of both girls just as a timer lent off. Simon and Cody jumped onto the chairs, pulling the girls’ legs off the floor as the tubes let acid flow out. Cody turned to the man, “RUN!” he screamed as the acid started to flow towards the man. The man turned and ran back into the darkness where they had just come from, leaving the band of teens to save themselves. Simon pulled out the pen that Adaline had given to him, the Pen of the Quest Takers, which aids the holder in any way it can, and pulled the cap off the pen. Inside, where the ink should be was a rolled-up piece of paper. Cody’s eyes landed on the paper in his brother’s hand and he knew what he had to do. Cody took his own pen and started to write, using his brother as a desk...
Ethan was surprised when no one at the school remembered who Ashton was or that he was dead. There was no evidence that Ashton even existed. When Ethan went to the Winger’s home, Mrs. Winger was holding a baby boy who had one of those hospital baby hats that have the name on the rim: Ashton. So, this is your pen’s power, Cody, Ethan thought to himself...
Lason spoke up, "Artie's death and rebirth was not your fault, Cody. We will get through this, and Ethan will lose. Liz, you will take Ashton's pen. Tina, you are now part of the student body, so we can get information on Ethan. Cody and Simon, we need a war plan." Cody, Simon, and the other assassins stood in the club room, along with the masked girl, while the twins went to get dirt on Ethan.
“What is our next move, Lason?” Simon’s brown eyes twinkled with a look of rage.
“I can tell Mother to go to another world and bring back more allies, but that could be risky. If Ethan found out that there are other worlds and the one that they are from is the only real one, he would try and kill himself due to feeling lost in meaning,” Simon interrupted blurting out, “Then, let him. He fucking killed Ashton, Lason! Why does it matter if he dies by his own hands? It would be easy to get the damn Pen back,” Angel put up her hand to silence him, “Mother created all of us, yes, but in all the world's only a handful of people can live the way the Pens wrote in the Book of Stories. Ethan’s story must end with a victory by our hands and with no suicides on both parties.” Angel’s eyes froze over as if she had dropped out of reality. When the group left and Angel was alone in the club room, her knees came out from under her. She sobbed on the ground to herself, “Why did you not help him?” A low growl echoed in her mind...
Tina was the new vice president and knowing Ethan’s eyes were watching her see if she knew what happened to Ashton and what the next move was. Tina closed her eyes to think back to what Ashton had said...
“Ethan is trying to find out the pen’s powers and weaknesses. To do that he has to know who the pen affected. So, act like everyone else and try to get one of the classes to do a school dance so we can see the Eval family to find out if they know anything about the pens.”
Tina looked at the Reef brothers, “How would a dance help us?”
Cody smiled, “One of the girls will go out with Ethan, or I can because of two reasons: (a) I’m the only gay guy in the club and (b) I need to do this for Ashton. That way someone on our side can learn Ethan’s secrets.”
Tina opened her eyes and thought to herself, Liz will never go to the dance with a psycho. As Tina walked into the student council room, all eyes locked on her. The president, Aaron Damson, the older brother of Phoenix High’s band’s lead singer, Ruth or “D.J”, stood staring out the window.
“Excuse me, Aaron. I have an idea for the school’s festival.”
Aaron turned to face Tina with a smile, “Well, if it wasn't my childhood friend who saved my life.”
That’s one of Cody’s changes. Instead of saving Ashton, I saved Aaron. That was probably Lason’s idea so we could have an Ace in the hole, Tina thought as she stood in front of the student body.
“I think it would be fun if the school had a dance during the festival.”
Aaron took his time to think hard about his answer, “That is a great idea, Tina! What should the theme be though?”
“Leave it to my club, Aaron. You could ask D.J for the music choice for the dance. Maybe her new song?”
When Tina walked out of the council room, Ethan was waiting by one of the hallway’s windows.
“Hey, you’re Lizz’s twin sister, right?” Ethan’s voice sent chills down Tina’s back as she stared back into his dark green eyes, “Yeah, I’m Tina Willer. You’re Ethan, one of the sophomores from class 2-C.”
“That’s right. Liz was telling me that you have feelings for me,” Ethan said. Tina cursed under her so Ethan wouldn’t hear, Liz, if you can hear me. I’m going to get back at you. Tina then smiled, “Well, this is easier now that you know. I was hoping that,” she stopped and looked at the ground, unsure of how to form the words. Ethan smiled half heartedly, “Yes, I would love to go to the dance with you.” Little did either of them know that Liz was watching the whole encounter, holding the Pen tightly in her hand…
Later that day after school got out for the weekend, Ethan was waiting for Tina by the gate.
“Hey.”
“What’s up, Ethan?” Tina tried to hide the confusion when she spoke. Ethan smiled, “I wanted to get to know my date for the dance, so I can return your feelings.”
They walked to nowhere in particular, stopping at a playground so they could rest. “Well, my older brother is deaf and our dad was a cop till he died in a car chase years ago,” Tina sighed. Ethan looked at her with those wickedly beautiful green eyes, “Sorry. I didn’t want to bring up any painful memories.” Tina looked at the ground, “Liz and I moved on, but Bonnie, our brother couldn’t. He wants to solve the last case dad was working on.” Ethan looked up at the sky, “I had an older sister, but she died when we were little. Our mom put us in abusive situations and she locked us in a shed. My sister tried to keep me warm but ended up freezing to death. I was put into a foster family who loves me, but I can’t understand why Abby had to die.” Tina remained silent. Abby was the name of the classmate Ashton tried to save. Who knew that she had a younger brother. Tina looked at Ethan, understanding why he was killing. He wants to save people like his sister. He killed Ashton because he was worried that we would stop him. Tina’s heart was moved by Ethan’s heart and the way he thought about the world.
“Ethan, is there anything that you would change about the world?”
Ethan put his arm around Tina without even understanding why. What’s going on? They both thought at the same time as Ethan pulled her close to him, “I might change the way criminals are punished for their crimes.” While Tina realized that she had fallen in love with a psycho who had a hero complex, Ethan had an unfamiliar emotion in his chest…
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