February 14th, 2008

    As snow falls down to the mostly quiet world, a boy runs past the many flakes, grasping a red heart-shaped box tightly in his hands. A big, goofy smile appears on his face as his run turns into a skip. Any passing adult would probably immediately be hit with a large wave of nostalgia, a reminder of when they were a child. For today is the day any couple, teenager, and child looks forward to. Valentine’s Day. And, like any Valentine’s day, someone, of any age, has someone they have their eye on. Same for this boy.

    And it all started in  November when he finally turned to his right and asked the girl he waits for the bus with how her morning was. She gave a simple answer; “Fine.” It took a couple weeks before fine became, “Oh my gosh, my mom is so weird.” Soon after, they were pretty much best friends. They both had visited each others house at least once and shared some pretty common interests. So, once his mom reminded him, Ralph Fredrick, that Valentine’s Day was on the way, she was the first person to come to mind. With that, Ralph went to work, learning everything he needed to do to be as charming as possible. He conversed with his mother, bought a box of chocolates, and even wore a fancy shirt that he always complained about being boring. Of course, this didn’t immediately matter, because his dad made him wear a winter jacket that even covered the top of his jeans.

    Much like the skip in his step, his heart was skipping beats, and the closer he got to his bus stop, it simply got quicker, to the point it felt like his heart was at the back of his throat. Once his eyes caught the sight of the park’s fence, he went from skipping to sprinting, growing closer to the girl of his interest. “Sarah!” The girl turned to look at him and smiled. Her short brown hair and red scarf were blowing in the winter wind, and her face was chilled red. She rose her arm, covered in a red winter jacket, and waved to him with a red mitten. “Hey, Ralph! You’re later than usual!”

    When he arrived next to her, he smiled as well. “Well, my mom wanted to make sure I looked perfect.” The two strike up a conversation on the previous day’s activities. “Hey, what’s with the box? Oh, don’t tell me....little Ralphie’s got a crush on somebody!” his face turns red and he begins pouting. “Don’t be mean!” Sarah starts laughing.

“A-anyway, what do you care?!” Ralph inquires. “I hold an interest in knowing everything about my friends.” Silence. “You’re weird.” Ralph responds. “Ha, that's rich coming from you.” Ralph shakes his fist wildly. “So, tell me, who is it?” The boy snaps out of his fit of embarrassment. “H-huh?” “Come on, tell me!” The boy scratches his head. “Uh…uhhhhhh…” He gulps. “Yes, yes, just tell me.” “Y-you.” Her prodding ends, and her face switches to one of shock. “Eh...EEEEHHHH?!” He jumps. “I’msorryIdidn’tmeanitpleasedon’tkillme!!!” He guards his face with the heart-shaped box.

     He shakes, anticipating some kind of violence. Instead…”Ahahahhahahhahahahahahah! The-the-that was priceless!” He looks up from behind the box, seeing his best friend holding her stomach, busting a gut. “I-it’s not funny!” She keeps going, trying to speak, and failing. “I’m sorry, it isn’t!” She finally calms down, looking at the boy. “I’ll be your Valentine.” The boy feels his heart rise and lets his eyes widen. “R-really?” She shakes her head. “A-awesome!” He hands her the box in his hands. “A-and if you aren’t busy, I would like to take you to bowl tonight...is that okay?” “Of course it is. Who says no to bowling?” her response makes him chuckle. He sighs, letting all the embarrassment from before flow out of him. “You just have to let me use the lucky blue ball.” the rest of the wait for the bus was then spent in a heated argument.

…

    The sound of the teacher’s lecture passes through one ear and out the other as Ralph stares at his paper, doodling unintelligible lines and circles. While doing so, someone taps him on the shoulder, causing him to jump, and making the whole class turn to him. Trying to ignore the piercing stares from his other classmates, he turns to look behind him. His teacher was standing there, looking at his paper. Ralph looks back to the front of the room and sees his teacher no longer there. “Uh…” Ralph’s brain stops working long enough for his teacher to begin talking.  “Doodling again, I see?” Ralph looks away. The man pulls up a chair, taking a seat next to the boy. “Alright, now, when you multiply, it's almost like addition. Except, instead of adding the two numbers together, all you’re doing is adding one of these numbers to itself as many times as the other number tells you to. So for example, let’s take 2 x 3. What do you do here?” Ralph stared at the problem. “Um...you add two-three times?” The man shakes his head. “What number do you get when you do that?” Ralph answers, “Six.”The teacher gives Ralph a big smile. "Correct, Ralph. See, it’s not that hard, is it?"

    "No, I guess not." Ralph admits, writing the answer down on his paper. “Hello, what’s this?” The teacher grabbed Ralph’s worksheet, reading one of the doodles Ralph had scribbled on it. A crude picture of a girl in a red jacket with red mittens. The man then begins scanning the room and then gets an Oh face. “Oh, Ralph, you never told me you were going after Sarah. Picking stuff out would have been so much easier.” The man rolled his eyes as he said it. “G-give it back!” Ralph tried to reach for his doodle sheet and the teacher allows him to grab it. “How’d she react? Did she prefer caramel like I thought?” Ralph looks at the next problem, pouting. "That wasn’t funny, Mr. Terrier." “Alright, I’m sorry.” The man grins a little as he watches the boy work. His eyes go soft before something clicks in his mind. “Alright, class. Once everyone has finished their worksheets, you can begin exchanging candy.” Once they heard this, the class went completely silent, save for the sounds of multiple pencils vigorously writing.

    Now that he understood what he was doing, he got to work, slowly making his way through the worksheet. “5x8.” He scratches his head with the eraser at the end of his pencil. “I believe the answer you’re looking for is 40.” Instead of jumping, Ralph simply turns his head. “Oh, hey Sarah.” The two exchange warm smiles before she plops into the seat just next to him. “Wait, are you allowed to move seats?” She puts a finger in front of her lips while winking her left eye. “Rule Breaker.” The two giggle. “Wow, how are you not done with that yet?” She peaks over his shoulder and begins reading his answers. “You got 2 wrong. It's actually 42.” He erased his answer and wrote down the correct one. “Sorry, I’m not uber smart like you.” His eyes suddenly droop. “Oh, no, I’m sorry If I upset you.” The two enter an awkward silence. “So, what time are we going bowling? I’m not sure if you told me.” His eyes quickly go back to normal. “Oh. My dad and I will pick you up around 5.” She nods her head. “Thanks for deciding to come with me.” Ralph adds. She responds, “Thanks for inviting me.” His cheeks go red. “O-oh, don’t mention it.” His mouth attempts to avoid making a rather goofy looking smile.

    Once he finishes his worksheet, the students each get out the paper bags they had decorated in art class before walking around the room, placing pieces of candy they had brought in from home into the bags. It took only a few minutes for everyone to finish giving out candy before they ran back to their seats and scavenged through the goodies inside their bags. Ralph and Sarah both chat away while sucking on lollipops. The bell rings, signaling the end of the school day. While the two grabbed their bags and rose from their seats, Mr. Terrier walked over to them, holding his books and binders in his arms with his laptop bag slung over his shoulder, but also seems like it could fall at any second.

“Sorry to interrupt such pure young love, but Ralph, can you please clean the chalkboard today?” Ralph looks at Sarah, who nods him on. “Okay, sir.” The man gives Ralph a handshake before rushing out of the classroom door. “Always get brownie points when you can.” Sarah gives him a thumbs up and toothy grin. He rolls his eyes. “I’ll try to be quick.” “No, take your time. I need to talk to someone anyways. I’ll meet you at the entrance, okay?”

    Ralph nods to her request and she leaves the classroom. With that, he grabs the cleaning spray and a paper towel and sprays the board. While he was washing the board, he heard the door next to the teachers desk slowly open. The classrooms of the school are split into five areas. Each area is circular shaped,with six different rooms, three on each side with doors leading outside at the back and doors to the halls at the front of the area. The three classrooms on each side are connected to each other. The woman who entered the room was an assistant teacher, named Miss Clarice, who often came in to check on the students and give them their afternoon reading class. Her long brown hair came all the way down to her chest, or just slightly above Ralph’s height.

    Something that gave the boy concern, however, were the heavy bags under her eyes. Her usually soft, kind eyes, had been replaced by a stern, cold gaze. When she turned to look at him, he averted his gaze, continuing his job. She doesn’t say a word. She simply plops a letter down on Mr. Terrier’s desk and leaves. Once he hears the classroom door to the hall close, he lets out a loud sigh. After that, Ralph throws away the paper towel and places the liquid on his teacher’s desk before grabbing his bag and opening the classroom door. He puts his bag on his back before walking into the crowd of bustling students. The sounds of multiple students yelling with excitement for the weekend made Ralph’s ears ring. He covers his ears and looks to his left. By some coincidence, his eyes had met the giant window looking into the main office. In there, four people seemed to be standing in the middle of the room, having some sort of serious conversation. There was a woman (the school’s principal), a man with pale, wrinkled skin sitting in a wheelchair, and two teenagers from the high school a couple miles away from here. The pale man’s eyes flicked to the right, staring right at Ralph.

    He averts his gaze, hoping nobody noticed and thought he was weird for staring. He continues walking through the crowd, keeping an eye out for his friend. He takes one last turn and arrives at the school entrance. To his surprise, she isn’t there. “Sarah?” He calls her name, but no one responds. “Sarah?!” He calls her name a little louder. ‘Ok, calm down. She’s probably still talking to her friend.’ He takes a deep breath, lets his shoulders slump, and breaths out. He sits on the bench next to the doors, cracking open Arthur in Insanity Land. ‘Yeah. Everything’s okay.’ Ten minutes pass. ‘I’m sure she’s just running late.’ 30 minutes pass. A teacher from a lower grade taps him on the shoulder. “What are you still doing here sweetie?” He puts down his book, now halfway through it. “I’m just waiting for my friend.” The teacher wracks her brain. “I believe everyone has already left for today. Maybe she left before you?” The boy’s face droops. “I-I guess that’s the case.”

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    “Do you have someone coming to pick you up?” He gets up. “I’ll just walk.” Head down, he walks down the sidewalk and away from the school. Despite taking the bus to school every morning, he was committed to walking home every afternoon. Mostly so him and Sarah could stop at the nearby pizza bar to buy a slice each and laugh at each others stupid jokes. ‘I’m so stupid. Why am I upset?’ He sighs, slaps his cheeks and puts on a big smile. ‘Besides, I have a valentine! That's all that matters!’ His walk turns into a skip, making his way down the sidewalk. The path to and from school took him down many different roads, most of which where cluttered with corner restaurants, pawn shops, and, best of all, a candy shop, home to the world's best jawbreakers. The sight of the store always made the boy a little bit happier. In fact, he’d been there just a day or two ago.

           Originally, his father had planned on taking him, but an extended shift kept him from doing so, and his mother, well, she never really stopped working. Then, while Ralph was slowly losing hope, Mr. Terrier had stopped by for Ralph’s tutoring that day, and offered to take him. Ralph’s teacher had become a friend to the family, so both of the boy’s parents had signed off on the idea. And so, the two made their way to the shop, observing the many isles,of sugary sweets. “Hmm…” Ralph had been eyeballing a box of mint chocolates for quite a while, and Terrier soon took notice. “Mint, huh?” Ralph nods his head. “Well, Ralph, I can agree mint has its place, but I would suggest you go with this instead.” Terrier places a heart shaped box in Ralph’s hands. It was a box of caramel chocolates. “Trust me, if there’s anything I know best in this world best, it’s chocolate.” Ralph nods his head. “You might be right. I mean, I was just thinking because she’s...cool?” the boy's teacher gives him a raised eyebrow before chuckling. “Keep that up and you'll be a ladies man in no time.” Ralph puts on a smile, puffing out his chest.

           ‘Speaking of Mr. Terrier, what was up with him? Don’t tell me he owes the mob or something.’ Ralph bites his lip, deep in thought. “SNAP!” He jumps, biting into his lip. “Ow ow owie!” he yelps in pain and surprise. ‘What was that?’ Ralph slowly observes his surroundings. Nothing. No snapped sticks, no people, no dogs...no cars, either. “Oooook. Not creepy at all.” he laughs, still looking for the noises source. After a couple minutes of seeing nothing, he decided to keep moving. After a couple more steps, “SNAP!” He looks under his feet before looking again. “H-hello?!” Still no response. Again, Ralph notices the absence of people and automobiles. “H-haha! This prank is real funny! You all can stop now! Please!”

           “...hello.” A faint whisper reaches his ear. “Hello? Hello!” he looks around and around, seeing nobody. “Over here.” The boy turns to his right...nobody. At least, that’s what he thought until he looked down. In the snow was a set of two footprints. They weren’t a part of a path or anything. They were just there with no sign of who created them. The footprints appeared to belong to a pair of winter boots. “I-Is someone there?” this time, the response is immediate. A new footprint appears, and another, and another. The path was leading him down the sidewalk toward the park gates. He first thought, ‘I'd like to run as far away as humanly possible.’ However, one last phrase caught his attention. “You don't know where your friend is. Let me show you.” With that, he froze. He weighs his two options in his head. ‘Oh...gosh darn it!’ he sighs, before beginning to follow the path of footprints.

…

           The footprints had led the boy through the park gates and past the many pieces of fun, colorful equipment. Now, he Is standing in front of a large collection of trees known as the White Wolf’s Forest. ‘Why do they call it that anyway?’ he shrugs his shoulders and continues following the invisible figure. As he went deeper into the forest, the feeling of isolation continued to crawl up his spine. His feet felt heavier, probably from the water in them. He felt his lungs constricting and his muscles tense. “Where are we going?” the question Is not given any form of response. “Who are you?” the footsteps stop, making him flinch. The boy looks at the footprints. The last set where pointing to his left. When he turned to see his destination, he saw a small shack. It looked weathered, as if no one had lived in it for quite some time.

           “What would Sarah be doing in place like this?” a laugh is heard. “You mean, what would people be doing with her in a place like this?” he stops breathing. His eyes go wide. “People...Sarah?!” He walks forward, grabbing the door handle. He turns it, pulling with all his might. The door smacks him in the face, sending him into his butt. “Ow!” he rubs his butt, looking up. His jaw drops. “Sarah…” her body was slumped to the side in a chair. No signs of a bullet or any physical contact besides a couple of bruises on her exposed arms and...a cord was attached to her right arm, and the cord was also attached to a jar, that seemed to hold some weird looking liquid. Ralph’s mind stops working. His muscles loosen and fall numb. Tears fall down his face as he stares at his friend’s limp body. Not breathing, moving, nothing.

           “Sarah Ret has left this world. How unfortunate.” Ralph doesn't know how to respond. He feels a pinch on his arm. His eyesight gets fuzzy. “S-Sarah.” Another laugh invades his ears. “You know, she screamed your name. She begged, pleaded, that you would save her, anybody. Poor boy. Don't worry. I’m sure you’ll make this right. In hell, of course.” the voice disappears, leaving the boy in an uncomfortable silence. As his consciousness begins slipping, he hears a familiar voice call his name. Her voice. He smiles as he drifts away

P.P.F Re:

CHAPTER 1

A boy named Damien

February 14th, 2012

The sounds of traffic pass through the cafe window. The chilly winter air seeps into the building through the crack under the door, making the boy near the front of the cafe shiver. “Grrh…” frustrated, he clenches his fingers, and then releases. His fingers go back to tapping away on his keyboard. Word after word, sentence after sentence, his smile grows after every percent of progress. He switches from the document he was typing on into an internet tab. He scrolls down, checking the site views. “Really?” He lets out a sigh. 5 views this week. “Why do I even bother?” he switches back to his document and continues typing. While this is happening, a man enters from the back of the shop, shivering severely. “D-damn snow. Damn winter. I hate this state.” He takes off his coat, hanging it on the coat rack, before reaching for his apron. “Kid, you here?” He hears an affirming, “Yep,” and smiles. He ties the apron around his waist and walks out. “Talk about cold. I’m surprised you didn’t just hole up under your covers again.”

    The kid nods his head. “Alright, the usual?” Again, the boy nods. “Alright. Coffee with creme and sugar.” The man plugs in his brewer and grabs his supplies out for the day. “Hey, how’d you sleep?” The man asks. “Fine.” The boy responds. “Good. How’s school?” “Almost done with my Health course.” The man sighs and bites his lip. “Well, I suppose that's good.” Silence. After a few minutes, the man pours the freshly brewed coffee into a mug, drops two sugars in, and adds cream. “Alright. Here you go.” The boy whispers a thank you, sips the happy juice, and continues his writing. “Oh, how’s your new blog thing going?” The boy lifts his head. “Pretty good, actually. I’ve been having a hard time concentrating on it what with classes.” The man nods along. “Well, I’m sure it will be great when it’s finished.” The boy smiles. “Thanks.” The man turns to the clock. “We’ll be opening soon. You wanna take the afternoon or the night shift?” the boy stops typing and looks,intently at his computer screen. “Night. I'll be busy this afternoon.” The man raises an eyebrow. “Oh, right, that book thing. What, you think you’re gonna make it there on time?” The boy nods and plugs in his earbuds, opens up youtube, and begins playing classical music. “Definitely.”  The day goes on and customers go in and out, ordering food and drinks, or just meeting with friends for the weekend. Still, the boy never moves from his seat, continuing to type away. As the hours pass, he completes assignment after assignment, while also making sure to write out his next blog post. At about 1 o'clock, the boy gets up and stretches. He waves at the man behind the counter before opening the cafe door. The sharp winter wind nips at his face as he walks out into the snow.

    The snow stands all the way up to his lower leg, while the road seems to be mostly visible. He continues marching down the sidewalk, grumbling under his breath. The wires of his earbuds hang down to his knees, hitting against them as he keeps walking. Once he reaches the end of the sidewalk, he turns onto the crosswalk. The green light signaling his ability to cross the road flashes to a red hand. Once he reaches the other side, a car just barely misses slamming into him. “Douche.” he mumbles under his breath. After a couple more empty threats, he lets the situation leave his mind, and turns toward a big, white building. A sign was hammered into the ground in front of it. “Market St Library.” He walks down the shoveled path to the front door and pulls it open. Inside, people sit at the many wooden tables, chatting and drinking hot cocoa. He sees the employees holding trays and talking to people. His eyes zoom around the area. There’s a man in the back flirting with a girl, a woman sitting in a bean bag chair, snoring loudly, and a couple people stand at the shelves looking for books. He stops his observation and walks forward. “Hey, what’s up with that guy?” “Yeah, who wears a black duffle jacket?”

He rolls his eyes and keeps walking. He walks all the way to the last row, with a sign at the top reading, “New Arrivals.” he turns into the row slowly making his way down it, scanning every shelf. “Come on...come on...damn.” he looks at the tips of his shoes in defeat.

           “Gone...of course it is.” he turns around and bumps into someone. He stumbles and falls on his backside. “Ouchers!” a rather immature word reaches Ralph’s ears. It’s enough to make him chuckle. He picks himself up off the ground. “Hey, watch where you-...” he pauses, his entire body going numb in shock. “I’m sorry, I should’ve been watching where I was going.” the person, a girl, more specifically, picks themselves up. Her hair was dyed an aqua blue, and tied up into a bun at the back of her head. Her eyes were a sparkling green, much like a pretty emerald. Her uniform was composed of an orange t-shirt with a grizzly bear and polar bear eating a meal together, (referencing a scene from Pawn of the Goddesses: Land of the Bears,) and a pair of black jeans. “N-no, I’m sorry! Are you olay-I-I mean okay?” He responds, his feet shaking in his boots. She gives him a strange look before laughing. “I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” her nonchalant attitude ours him at ease. “Ok, that’s good, then.” he buries his face in his jacket, his face turning red. “So, I see you in here a lot. An avid reader, I presume?” he meekly nods his head, his eyes scanning the area. “Oh, right. Here you are.” she reaches into a laptop bag that has been hanging across her and pulls out a book, holding it to him. “...you’re joking, right?” his time causes her confusion. “No? I figured you liked these books, what with how often I see you reading them, and figured I’d hold onto it for you.” He feels sweat forming in his brow. “Thanks.” he grabs the book with trembling fingers. Nothing. He takes the book from her grasp, and nothing happens. “Huh?” he looks around again. No one jumped out from behind a corner, she didn’t force some kind of condition onto him, nothing. “Hey, are you okay?” he nods his head. She smiles, holding out her hand. “The names Chloe, mate!” he stares at her hand, a chill going up his spine. He takes hers with his own. “D-Damien.”

           It was at this point that the end of the world became an unavoidable conclusion.