The Pens of Fate (Chapters 2-3 remake)

When Artie got home, his pen lay on the desk in his bedroom. He rolled over to his desk and started to flip a yearbook that lay beside the pen. Artie had been looking for the missing pen. It has to be someone he knows, he thought. Artie pulled out a packet of paper and started writing. His plan is to change each student to see who isn’t showing their true self. He had already made it to the letter “E” and still had made no luck. As Artie read through the names, one stood out from the others; Ethan Eval. 

I will keep fighting, and protect everyone. That is my destiny. I’m sure you are a pen holder. I won’t hurt you if I can’t change you- only you can change yourself then, Artie thought. 

The next day, Artie rolled his wheelchair beside the freshman named Ethan Eval. “Hello. Are you Ethan Eval?” 

The boy’s long brown hair blew in the November wind as his green eyes twinkled with worry like he had committed a crime.

“You’re the student body president... d-did I do something wrong?”

“No, in fact, your grades are spot on and you are a top student. I need to talk to you alone and out of earshot about something else. Now, if you can follow me.” As they crossed the courtyard in front of the school, Ethan’s body language changed from calm to completely fearful. 

As Artie explained to Ethan the power of the Pens of Fate in an empty classroom, Ethan’s green eyes changed from kind and loving, light green to a dark, power lusting emerald. I can’t change him, Artie thought as he backed up. Ethan started to laugh dementedly as if he had completely lost his mind. 

“I know what I must do now,” Ethan smiled when he spoke, “I must kill for the good of this world! I WILL BECOME A GOD OF JUSTICE!”

“No, Ethan. Please listen to me. This is not some anime TV show and if lives are lost because of you trying to play god you will be just as bad as the murders you killed! YOU’RE NOT A DAMN PROTAGONIST- YOU CAN’T JUST KILL PEOPLE WHO HAVE DONE CRIMES! THAT’S NOT JUSTICE!”

Ethan’s face went back to normal, but his eyes still had an evil tint in them.

 “Right, sorry. I guess that all that power went to my head. I promise not to use the pen and bring it to you.” After saying that, Ethan turned around and left him. 

He is lying, Artie thought...

After Ethan left Artie in the unused classroom, Artie pulled out his phone and started to punch in numbers unaware that Ethan was right outside the door, listening.

“Hey, it’s me. We need to have a club meeting.” 

Who else knows about the Pens? thought Ethan as Artie began to make his way to exit the classroom. Ethan bolted around the corner just in time to avoid Artie. As Ethan followed Artie, making sure he kept space between them, Artie made his way to a classroom. The door was opened and on it was a poster with a serial killer wearing a baby face mask, standing in front of a cornfield. Also on the poster was the Blood Moon with lettering: The Midnight Horrors- A club for young writers. Enter at your own risk.

Those last words had been made to look like blood dripping down.

Well, that’s a great place to hide magical pens that could cause the end of the world, thought Ethan sarcastically, as he peered through the door. Standing in the center of the room, was a group of teenagers in the school’s uniform. Two girls weren’t students of Phoenix High though. One was wearing a plain white mask and talked like she was from England during 1835. The other looked like any secondary character in a movie. She didn’t say anything or look at the rest of the group. 

“So, Ethan Eval has the Pen of Life and Death,” said Tina Willer as she looked at her twin, Liz, and continued, “What do we do now?” 

Everyone turned to look at a boy named Cody Reef, “No. Stop looking at me! You all know that I can’t make choices under pressure!” The girl who was staring into space turned to face Cody, 

“Cody, what do you hold dear?”

“Uh?”

“Your pen can fix the damage caused by Ethan’s pen. Therefore you are our ace in the hole. Ethan won’t stop ‘til justice is served by his hands and that’s why he needs to be stopped.” 

Ethan left with a sinister look in his green eyes after hearing the girl speak. That night, the game had begun... 

Cody Reef woke up in a dark room. 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 with blood and mud from the backyard. 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 Saw movie, thought Cody as he pushed the play button. Ethan’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 friends know who I am, 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 took off running into the darkness, worrying about the others. 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. Artie laid down beneath the rear triers meaning he would get crushed. Artie looked unresponsive and out cold.

“Stop 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 look 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. 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, 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 Artie’s cold lifeless body while the tears streamed down his cheeks. The man had told Cody that Artie had a head injury that might have been from the thing that knocked him out. 

“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,” 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 Artie...

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 Artie out from beneath the car and unchained Simon. The man kneed down to check Artie’s place, 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 slam behind them and locking 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 was melting 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 into the darkness, 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...  

Ethan was surprised when no one remembered who Artie was or that he was dead. There was no evidence that Artie even existed. When Ethan went to the Adams’ home, Mrs. Adams was holding a baby boy who was named Artie. So, this is your pen’s power, Cody, Ethan thought to himself...