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Aki Ame Okami Soul Thief 12/22/15
History:
I crawl in bed and wait for my Grandfather to come tuck me in. This is my first night away from my parents after their accident... I trail off in thought until my Grandfather comes into my room.
"Are you ready to be tucked in, Coal?" He asks sounding a little uncertain.
"Yes Gran-pappy." I say my voice full of innocence. He smiles and tucks my blankets in around me, then he checks under my pillow and frowns.
"Where is your gift?" He asks. I stare at him confused.
"What gift?" I ask. My Grandfather pulls out a pocket watch with a weird symbol on it. He slides it under my pillow.
"There, Now you have a gift." He says sounding accomplished.
"What do I need a gift for?" I ask, still confused.
"Well, you see. If a monster comes for your soul you can offer him the watch instead. It is a family heirloom and very valuable. You should always keep a gift with you otherwise they might steal your soul." He says in the "matter-o- factly" way. I think about this for a moment and ask,
"Can I live without a soul?" My Grandfathers face darkens a little as he thinks of how to respond.
"To be with out a soul is to be a monster. That's why they want to steal them, because they don't have their own." With that he gets up and leaves my room. His words will be something I remember for a long time.
~~~10 years later.
History:
I crawl in bed and wait for my Grandfather to come tuck me in. This is my first night away from my parents after their accident... I trail off in thought until my Grandfather comes into my room.
"Are you ready to be tucked in, Coal?" He asks sounding a little uncertain.
"Yes Gran-pappy." I say my voice full of innocence. He smiles and tucks my blankets in around me, then he checks under my pillow and frowns.
"Where is your gift?" He asks. I stare at him confused.
"What gift?" I ask. My Grandfather pulls out a pocket watch with a weird symbol on it. He slides it under my pillow.
"There, Now you have a gift." He says sounding accomplished.
"What do I need a gift for?" I ask, still confused.
"Well, you see. If a monster comes for your soul you can offer him the watch instead. It is a family heirloom and very valuable. You should always keep a gift with you otherwise they might steal your soul." He says in the "matter-o- factly" way. I think about this for a moment and ask,
"Can I live without a soul?" My Grandfathers face darkens a little as he thinks of how to respond.
"To be with out a soul is to be a monster. That's why they want to steal them, because they don't have their own." With that he gets up and leaves my room. His words will be something I remember for a long time.
~~~10 years later.
I check the time on my pocket watch as I hurry to get dressed. My bus gets here in a few minutes. I can't wait till I get my license on Friday. Its my birthday. Friday the 31. I will be 16 and street legal. I hear my Mother yell up to me that the bus is early.
"Crap." I mutter to myself as I rush down the stairs buttoning my black shirt.
"Have you eaten?" My mother asks as she hands me my backpack.
"Don't have the time. I'll eat tonight." I say with a smile and head out the door. I don't like worrying her like that but I didn't have a choice. She always gets a little more protective around my birthday, ever since they had that car crash 10 years ago on my birthday. It really is just a drag.
I get on the bus and see the same delinquents that I usually do. I head towards my normal seat in the back, I notice one of the school jerks is trying to trip me. I evade his stupid prank and slap him upside the head. He turns around and scowls at me as I take my seat. I smile and shrug at him as I put my earbuds in. He attempts to get out of his seat but the bus driver starts driving again so he can't move. This makes my smirk grow bigger.
School is as boring as ever. Except lunch, that is never boring. That is probably because I have an unreasonably late lunch. 2:30 in the afternoon only half an hour before I get to leave this prison. Its pointless.
I take my usual seat in the corner of the large cafeteria, I slide my earbuds in and look at the slop on my tray. I go to take a bite of what I hope is mashed potatoes when a hand flips my tray onto my lap. I rip my earbuds out and look up. Great, its the jerk from the bus.
"What the heck is your problem?!" I ask while standing up, letting all the spilt food fall off of me and onto the floor. He is smiling and has his arms crossed. It's a stupid stance, he can't use his arms to block as fast. He is big and stupid and that's just the way I like them.
"You thought you were gonna be smart on the bus this morning. Show me up in front of my girl." He says while winking at a trashy girl standing next to him. Inside I throw up a little, how could he think I would be attracted to something that would be so easy.
"So you spill my food? What the heck man. Don't take it out on the janitors." I say. I honestly couldn't care less about a schmuck like him. He takes offense to me not being offended and decides to get physical. He grabs my shirt collar and shoves me into the wall. I am forced to exhale. He is a little stronger than I anticipated. The entire cafeteria goes silent.
"What, no witty comment?" He asks mockingly. Where the heck are all the teachers? I think to myself.
"Sorry man, Didn't realize you and the janitor had a thing." I spit out, against my best interests. Some people have a fight or flight feeling, I have a 'tick the poor idiot off as much as you can before the fight happens' feeling. This time the cafeteria bursts into laughter, making the goliath in front of me even more angry. He doesn't attempt to come up with a come back and just slams me to the ground.I use the time it takes him to adjust to a beating stance to roll out from underneath him, letting him slam his fist into the hard tile floor. He lets out a cuss word and looks up at me. I was already on my feet and ready to rock. He stands up and I launch my first attack. I slam my fist into his gut then hit him with an upper cut as he doubles over. He stumbles backwards in pain. I advance on him, pinning him to the wall by his throat. I hold him there for what only seems like a moment before he starts choking and trying to pry my hand away from his throat. A teacher comes over and pulls me away from him and throws me to the floor.
Another teacher is checking on the jerk whom I am just now noticing has blood dripping from his neck. I glance at my nails and realize I must have dug them into his neck.
I zone out thinking about all the diseases this guy probably has, I can tell the teachers are yelling at me but I am to lost in thought to listen.
It is a long car ride home.My mother is yelling at me but I am not really listening. Crap like this happens a lot, Someone starts a fight with me and they end up being a victim. Something my mother says strikes a nerve.
"You have been like this ever since your grandfather died! You and that old fool were always strange, but what you did at his funeral... I should have been a better mother. I don't know how you ended up like this." She says with a hint of disappointment in her voice. We get home and I storm inside. Even if she is my mother she shouldn't talk about grandpappy like that. On my way up the stairs I yell over my shoulder,
"The watch was mine!" The watch is mine. At the funeral I couldn't resist claiming it from my grandfathers hands. He had given it to me and it was mine. Still my mother has always been bitter about it. Maybe she wanted the watch? No, it was probably just the fact the funeral home charged me with grave robbing. I hear her slamming the cabinet doors in the kitchen. Yeah she was pretty upset.
I go get the first aid kit and nurse my wounds. I turn on my music and I make it loud. Spiteful? Probably...
My mother yells from outside my bedroom door,
"Just wait till your father gets home! This is the last time!" Yeah, I really did it this time. I glance at the crusted blood under my nails. I should really wash that off.
I head to the bathroom to cleanse my hands when I hear my father come inside. Things got quiet. Not good. Time to ease drop, I sneak down the stairs and listen at the door to the kitchen.
"He did what?" My fathers voice.
"He sent the other boy to the emergency room! We are lucky they talked the parents out of filing charges." My mother.
"We should send him to boot camp." My father says in a determined voice that reminds me of grandpappy.
"Yeah, let him hone his physical abilities. Great idea Todd!" She said getting a little louder.First name basis is bad. I decide I have heard enough and head back up to my room. I throw myself on my bed and put in my earbuds and turn them up, letting them pull me into a deep dark sleep.
A cold chill wakes me from my dreams. I sit up a little and rub my eyes. The wind was coming from the open window. I never open my window. Adrenaline runs through my body and I sit straight up in my bed frantically searching my room. I can't see anything different. I calm myself down, which is easier said than done, and lay back down. I sink back into my pillows and blankets and the warmth of sleep. I take one last look around the room and throw my head back, I have a clear view of the ceiling.
"What treasure do you hold, mortal?" The beast suspended from my ceiling asks. I don't respond, I can't. I am frozen where I lay sprawled out on the floor. The beast has fangs like a wild animal but features like a human. Except the claws coming from its hands in an incredibly painful looking way. It drops from the ceiling, landing on my bed.
"I said, WHAT DO YOU HAVE, BOY!" He yells, a growl in his voice. I start to respond and choke on my spit. I try again, mouth getting ever drier.
"I- I have a watch.. A pocket watch. It's incredibly valuable.. It's under the pillow." I say, gesturing to the pillow beside the monster. He glances at the pillow than back to me in a questioning way. He uses a tail, which I hadn't seen before, to move the pillow. To my surprise the watch is gone. Wait, I had it with me before school.... Oh no! The beast turns back to me and lets out a yowl.
"LIAR! I hate liars. They taste terrible." He says coming towards me and then licking his lips for effect. I back away as much as I can on the floor, I bump into my dresser and a picture falls off. It's a picture of my family. That's valuable, right?
"Wait! Please, I have other valuable things! What about this?" I ask, handing him the picture. While he examines the picture I examine him. There is no way I could win this fight.
"I except." He says and then walks off into the hallway. I sit there puzzled for a moment until I hear a scream. I rush into the hallway to see my parents door wide open. I run down to them just to find the monster a midst what use to be my parents. The walls are coated in blood. The monsters eyes glow as he looks toward me.
"That was a fair trade. Their souls were far more tasty than yours would have been." He says with a smile. I can see the blood and flesh in his fangs. Rage swells inside me and I take a step toward him. My foot splashes in blood making even more of a mess. My legs feel frozen and I feel dizzy.
"NO!" I say outloud, willing myself forward. I look at my feet picturing them moving, I look up when I hear movement. The monster is nose to nose with me. His eyes burning into my memory.
"Boo." He says and he headbutts me. I fall to the ground and blackness sets in. I can't see anything but I can still hear a little. I pass out to the sound of a demon cackling.
"Crap." I mutter to myself as I rush down the stairs buttoning my black shirt.
"Have you eaten?" My mother asks as she hands me my backpack.
"Don't have the time. I'll eat tonight." I say with a smile and head out the door. I don't like worrying her like that but I didn't have a choice. She always gets a little more protective around my birthday, ever since they had that car crash 10 years ago on my birthday. It really is just a drag.
I get on the bus and see the same delinquents that I usually do. I head towards my normal seat in the back, I notice one of the school jerks is trying to trip me. I evade his stupid prank and slap him upside the head. He turns around and scowls at me as I take my seat. I smile and shrug at him as I put my earbuds in. He attempts to get out of his seat but the bus driver starts driving again so he can't move. This makes my smirk grow bigger.
School is as boring as ever. Except lunch, that is never boring. That is probably because I have an unreasonably late lunch. 2:30 in the afternoon only half an hour before I get to leave this prison. Its pointless.
I take my usual seat in the corner of the large cafeteria, I slide my earbuds in and look at the slop on my tray. I go to take a bite of what I hope is mashed potatoes when a hand flips my tray onto my lap. I rip my earbuds out and look up. Great, its the jerk from the bus.
"What the heck is your problem?!" I ask while standing up, letting all the spilt food fall off of me and onto the floor. He is smiling and has his arms crossed. It's a stupid stance, he can't use his arms to block as fast. He is big and stupid and that's just the way I like them.
"You thought you were gonna be smart on the bus this morning. Show me up in front of my girl." He says while winking at a trashy girl standing next to him. Inside I throw up a little, how could he think I would be attracted to something that would be so easy.
"So you spill my food? What the heck man. Don't take it out on the janitors." I say. I honestly couldn't care less about a schmuck like him. He takes offense to me not being offended and decides to get physical. He grabs my shirt collar and shoves me into the wall. I am forced to exhale. He is a little stronger than I anticipated. The entire cafeteria goes silent.
"What, no witty comment?" He asks mockingly. Where the heck are all the teachers? I think to myself.
"Sorry man, Didn't realize you and the janitor had a thing." I spit out, against my best interests. Some people have a fight or flight feeling, I have a 'tick the poor idiot off as much as you can before the fight happens' feeling. This time the cafeteria bursts into laughter, making the goliath in front of me even more angry. He doesn't attempt to come up with a come back and just slams me to the ground.I use the time it takes him to adjust to a beating stance to roll out from underneath him, letting him slam his fist into the hard tile floor. He lets out a cuss word and looks up at me. I was already on my feet and ready to rock. He stands up and I launch my first attack. I slam my fist into his gut then hit him with an upper cut as he doubles over. He stumbles backwards in pain. I advance on him, pinning him to the wall by his throat. I hold him there for what only seems like a moment before he starts choking and trying to pry my hand away from his throat. A teacher comes over and pulls me away from him and throws me to the floor.
Another teacher is checking on the jerk whom I am just now noticing has blood dripping from his neck. I glance at my nails and realize I must have dug them into his neck.
I zone out thinking about all the diseases this guy probably has, I can tell the teachers are yelling at me but I am to lost in thought to listen.
It is a long car ride home.My mother is yelling at me but I am not really listening. Crap like this happens a lot, Someone starts a fight with me and they end up being a victim. Something my mother says strikes a nerve.
"You have been like this ever since your grandfather died! You and that old fool were always strange, but what you did at his funeral... I should have been a better mother. I don't know how you ended up like this." She says with a hint of disappointment in her voice. We get home and I storm inside. Even if she is my mother she shouldn't talk about grandpappy like that. On my way up the stairs I yell over my shoulder,
"The watch was mine!" The watch is mine. At the funeral I couldn't resist claiming it from my grandfathers hands. He had given it to me and it was mine. Still my mother has always been bitter about it. Maybe she wanted the watch? No, it was probably just the fact the funeral home charged me with grave robbing. I hear her slamming the cabinet doors in the kitchen. Yeah she was pretty upset.
I go get the first aid kit and nurse my wounds. I turn on my music and I make it loud. Spiteful? Probably...
My mother yells from outside my bedroom door,
"Just wait till your father gets home! This is the last time!" Yeah, I really did it this time. I glance at the crusted blood under my nails. I should really wash that off.
I head to the bathroom to cleanse my hands when I hear my father come inside. Things got quiet. Not good. Time to ease drop, I sneak down the stairs and listen at the door to the kitchen.
"He did what?" My fathers voice.
"He sent the other boy to the emergency room! We are lucky they talked the parents out of filing charges." My mother.
"We should send him to boot camp." My father says in a determined voice that reminds me of grandpappy.
"Yeah, let him hone his physical abilities. Great idea Todd!" She said getting a little louder.First name basis is bad. I decide I have heard enough and head back up to my room. I throw myself on my bed and put in my earbuds and turn them up, letting them pull me into a deep dark sleep.
A cold chill wakes me from my dreams. I sit up a little and rub my eyes. The wind was coming from the open window. I never open my window. Adrenaline runs through my body and I sit straight up in my bed frantically searching my room. I can't see anything different. I calm myself down, which is easier said than done, and lay back down. I sink back into my pillows and blankets and the warmth of sleep. I take one last look around the room and throw my head back, I have a clear view of the ceiling.
"What treasure do you hold, mortal?" The beast suspended from my ceiling asks. I don't respond, I can't. I am frozen where I lay sprawled out on the floor. The beast has fangs like a wild animal but features like a human. Except the claws coming from its hands in an incredibly painful looking way. It drops from the ceiling, landing on my bed.
"I said, WHAT DO YOU HAVE, BOY!" He yells, a growl in his voice. I start to respond and choke on my spit. I try again, mouth getting ever drier.
"I- I have a watch.. A pocket watch. It's incredibly valuable.. It's under the pillow." I say, gesturing to the pillow beside the monster. He glances at the pillow than back to me in a questioning way. He uses a tail, which I hadn't seen before, to move the pillow. To my surprise the watch is gone. Wait, I had it with me before school.... Oh no! The beast turns back to me and lets out a yowl.
"LIAR! I hate liars. They taste terrible." He says coming towards me and then licking his lips for effect. I back away as much as I can on the floor, I bump into my dresser and a picture falls off. It's a picture of my family. That's valuable, right?
"Wait! Please, I have other valuable things! What about this?" I ask, handing him the picture. While he examines the picture I examine him. There is no way I could win this fight.
"I except." He says and then walks off into the hallway. I sit there puzzled for a moment until I hear a scream. I rush into the hallway to see my parents door wide open. I run down to them just to find the monster a midst what use to be my parents. The walls are coated in blood. The monsters eyes glow as he looks toward me.
"That was a fair trade. Their souls were far more tasty than yours would have been." He says with a smile. I can see the blood and flesh in his fangs. Rage swells inside me and I take a step toward him. My foot splashes in blood making even more of a mess. My legs feel frozen and I feel dizzy.
"NO!" I say outloud, willing myself forward. I look at my feet picturing them moving, I look up when I hear movement. The monster is nose to nose with me. His eyes burning into my memory.
"Boo." He says and he headbutts me. I fall to the ground and blackness sets in. I can't see anything but I can still hear a little. I pass out to the sound of a demon cackling.
The events listed above are fictional and are my creative property, please contact me with any questions or concerns at akiameokami@gmail.com
Ani-Maze-Me has permission to use this post.
