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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, 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 those doors that I kept locked, these books and stories will represent how you have been there for me.
And to the younger me, who probably didn’t know that she was what scared the devil; 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...
Adaline and Zach found themselves in a winter cabin with no electricity, internet, or phones. Adaline’s eyes widened, “No. No. No. We need to get out of here, now.” Zach turned around to face them, “What dream is this? What’s so bad about a cabin?” Adaline ran into the small kitchen, looking for the knives, “This was my happy place,” they spoke fast as if there was no time to talk, “It holds my childhood fears, traumas, and things that I want to forget and locks them away in this world. That’s why I am not jumpy while watching my horror movies.” Zach’s face grew pale, “What fears?” As soon as he had asked a thud came from outside. Adaline put a finger to their lips. Zach slowly moved to the window.
There was snow everywhere making the scene peaceful. Zach turned, “There’s nothing there-,” before he could finish, a gray hand slammed against the window. A ghoulish girl stood with a grin right outside. “Zach, meet one of my inner demons,” Adaline said as they pulled him away from the window. Zach’s eyes looked like they would pop any second now, “WHAT IS THAT?!” Adaline shouted as they drove under a small table to hide, “IT IS ONE OF THE VOICES IN MY HEAD! When I started to have depression, she was the one telling me to kill myself,” they turned to Zach as he blocked the door, “WHY IS SHE HERE? I THOUGHT YOU GOT HELP!” He shouted back. “THIS ISN’T A CARTOON. THE VOICES DON’T GO AWAY, THEY JUST GET IGNORED! SHE IS A PART OF ME!” Adaline started to hyperventilate. Zach turned his attention to the window. The demon was gone. Zach turned to Adaline and the demon was there. Zach stood in fear. The ghoul’s mouth was moving, but only Adaline heard her, “You failed. You let Ethan take the pen. You are useless and weak.” The demon’s raspy voice echoed in Adaline’s ears.
Adaline smiled but their eyes were teary, “I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK!” The ghoul was stunned, and Adaline turned to the living room, “NOW, GUYS!” The sounds of footsteps echoed through the hallway. A pair of blonde twins came running through the doorway with their angel wings fluttering behind them. The ghoul went into a battle stance and that’s when Adaline grabbed Zach and took off, went out the door, and into the snow...
After catching their breath, Adaline and Zack sat in the snow, hiding from anything and everything. Adaline’s eyes continued to water, “She was right, you know.” Zach turned to face them, “Who? The ghoul girl of crazy nightmares?”
“It was my fault. Ethan got the Pen of Death because of me,” Adaline continued to tear themself down, that’s when Zach noticed it. A few feet behind Adaline, a devil-like boy was crawling like a spider towards them. The closer the demon freak got the more Adaline broke down like a five-year-old who got lost at a supermarket, “I’m useless. I have blood on my hands.” The ground began to crack, separating Adaline and Zach. The tree that they were hiding behind came crashing down nearly flatting Zach. Zach spit out snow as he looked up. Zach’s eyes lit up, the door to the real world was right there. Zach’s face changed from joy to worry, the crack that pushed Adaline away from him was now a ravine. There was black ink that was either rising or Adaline’s ground was sinking. Zach glared up towards the sky, “Thanks a lot god. Thank you so much,” he mutters sarcastically.
Zach took off towards the door. Don’t worry, Adaline, I’ll find help, Zach thought to myself as he went through the door...
Zach jumped out of the little brown leather book and slammed into a row of school lockers. Don’t give up, Addie. Fight it while I get help, he thought as he shook off the pain that shot through his shoulder. Zach braced his arm to stop the pain as he paused to see if Adaline’s book had anything on what to do if something happened to them. He flipped open the book to the table of contents.
Chapters 1- 5 were all about the rules of the book and how to use them. Chapters 6- 8 were about dating people in another world and how to prank the other you. Zach rolled his eyes, That’s Adaline for you, he thought as he continued to read through the contents. There it was, Chapter 22; “What to do in a case of an emergency”, but when he went to the page number the pages where chapter 22 was supposed to be were completely blank.
“No, no, this can’t be right,” Zach said, flipping through the pages frantically, but there was nothing in the guidebook about this- he checked it twice. As he took a wheezy breath, the world began to spin.
The club room’s doors opened behind Zach as he lost feeling in his legs. James and Arthur quickly caught Zach before his legs gave out beneath him. The two boys dragged Zach into the room where the others were waiting. Vivienne looked and Zach then looked at the book in his hand, “What happened?” After the explanation, James looked at Lason, “You are in charge till we bring Ada back. Start planning a way to get the Pen back.” The group then opened the book…
When Zach opened his eyes, the room that they were in was completely dark. “Don’t worry,” James extended a hand for the switch, but the lights didn’t come on yet, “I’ll find the lights.” He reached further into the darkness and his fingers landed on some kind of old-fashioned oil lamp. They were in the same cabin, but this wasn’t the one that Zach was familiar with. The walls were covered in bloody handprints. The group took several steps back, causing Vivienne to trip over a pile of bones that were stripped of flesh, “ZACH! WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE?!” she yelled as she quickly stood up, kicking the bones away. Zach moved into the kitchen area. The kitchen was no worse than the room that he had come from. The sink looked like a complete disaster zone; it looked like the garbage disposal had been used as a meat grinder. Spread throughout the cabin golden angel-like feathers littered on the dark, sticky stained floor. “What the hell happened here,” Arthur muttered quietly under his breath. Zach knew exactly what happened. “When Addie gave up, letting their personalities get out of control, and started to listen to what the demons were telling them, that must have meant that angels lost the fight against that demon girl.” Zach turned to leave when he bashed his toe into a wooden box that was blocking the doorway. “Ah- who put this here?” Grace moved to see what was in the box. When Zach opened the box, a cloud of dust poofed out. “Hey, there's a note,” Grace pulled an envelope out. It looked like it had been in the box for years. “It’s addressed to Adaline,” she then started to read. “Cool, this from their future self and all of the old letters from themselves to their grandmother.” As she continued to read, her eyes narrowed, “This might be the way to save Addie and most of their personalities.”...
Adaline was hugging their knees well and the ground beneath their feet started to sink even faster into the black ink that bubbled below the surface. Five more demons appeared beside the ‘Spider Boy’. The ghoulish girl stood with a grin right behind Adaline. “You are a pathetic waste of space,” the demon continued to tear Adaline’s heart in pieces, but something had stopped her from saying the next hurtful thing. A gunshot rang through the woods as a band of teens stood in the horizon among the trees. Adaline took in their surroundings in a series of glances as if they had regained control. Then an idea popped into their head.
The ghoul was stunned, but then reclaimed her composure, “GET THEM!” The demons charged as Zach pulled the wooden box around like a little wagon. The closest demon ran right up to Zach as he slapped a letter onto the demon’s face. It paused before it let out a blood curdling scream in pain as it started to burn. The others started to do the same as Zach, turning demons into burning corpses. James pulled a letter that had been sealed out of the box. He recognized the date on the envelope and slipped it into his pocket. He then made his way to Adaline.
While the ghoul was distracted watching the other demons fail, Adaline moved over to the edge. The creak was a pretty good size of a gap, but in measurements, it was probably 4 or 5 feet wide. Adaline could use the broken ground as footing, after all, there were 6-8 feet between the flat ground and rising ink, but her weight was also a big factor in their plan. Ignoring all logic and science, Adaline just rushed into their plan, just as the ghoul turned around.
Their legs barely made the jump, causing them to do a belly flop on the hard icy ground. Adaline wheezed as they pulled themself up. After replacing the air that got knocked out when she hit the ground, Adaline started to stand up when something then grabbed them, pulling towards the edge.
“I AM NOT GONNA LOSE AGAIN TO YOU, LITTLE BRAT!” the ghoul was holding on tight to Adaline’s legs. The ghoul was dangling over the edge and was trying to take Adaline with her. Adaline took a glance at the black ink, it had begun to shape-shift into a human-like form;
Anna Angel, who had discovered Adaline's notebook and Bible when she had misplaced them when they took a little vacation in Anna’s world, which then led to utter chaos. They weren’t ready for the truth like Ethan.
“You did this…” Anna’s face began to melt and change into Ethan’s face, “Now, you get to watch your work burn in front of you.” Adaline kicked with their platform boots the ghoul in the mouth which caused her to jerk her head back. Not realizing the force of her movement would cause her to fall off the edge, the ghoul lost her balance.
“AHH!”
Realizing that their leader had just plummeted to her death and drowned in ink, the rest of the demons scattered like rats.
“Addie!”
The others took off towards Adaline, leaving Zach behind, and passed out from exhaustion. Between jumping through different worlds and fighting demons, they were all pretty sore. Adaline cracked a few smiles while they started to pull themselves up. James was the first one there and helped Adaline up onto solid ground. After letting them catch their breath, James handed Adaline the unopened letter before the others could see…
Ethan stood looking into his closet, where photos of the students in the writing club hang. The photo in the middle was connected to all of the others with a little red string; a photo of Adaline. “Who are you, Adaline?” Ethan asked as he twirled the pen of death in his fingers...
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