the world's end

Chapter 1: Realm To The Dead1

We were the world’s only hope. We were young, spiritual, unknowing. The world believed in us, trusted us, and we failed them all. So let’s go back to where it all began, and the Earth was under siege… again.2

The sky was dark. Darker than it should’ve been in the middle of May. I was over at Eren’s house, making a video with her, autumn and Eras. Eras looked at the sky. “It’s an eclipse.” She stated, staring at the sun, unblinking. Eren stared at Autumn. “What’s wrong with Eras, Autumn?” she asked. She was scared. “It’s ok, Eren. Eras is just… studying.” Eren started to cry. Eras snapped her head away and hugged Eren. “It’s ok Eren, it’s alright.” She told her, smoothing her hair and wiping her eyes. I looked at Eras, and mouthed the words, “Does she know?” She shook her head.3

“Hurry up and dry your eyes. We’re going to miss the movie.” Eras yelled in the bathroom at Eren. Eren envied Eras, but she didn’t want to get her angry, ever. She was known to have a bad temper. She had beat up a group of jocks once, before Eren had become a part of our group. People from cheerleading and the Dance Team combined with Emos and Goths. Not the best fit group, but we can do some damage. Some of the 12th graders found that out the hard way. 4

“This is the weirdest show…err… movie, I’ve ever been too.” Autumn said, ripping a piece of Spider Web Cotton Candy off and putting it in her mouth. This was the fourth “Realm To The Dead” show she had been to that year. She really didn’t care for them, but Eras made her come along this time. “Today, we are choosing audience members travel with us to shows around the world. But we can only have four people.” Eras looked at us. We nodded, and then we raised our hands. Mr. DeVancy ran up the bleachers with a microphone. He handed me the mike. The camera was focused on us. “Tell us your name, and why you want to be with our group.” “My name is Aryle, and I would love to be part of this group.” I passed the mike over. “My name is Eren, and… Aryle took the words right out of my mouth. And, this is Autumn,” she said pointing, “ And this is Eras.” The camera turned toward them. They smiled, and waved. The camera focused back on him. “There is one more question. Am I awesome, and what is your favorite show?” The camera zoomed out so it could see all of us. We yelled, “Mr. DeVancy is so awesome!!! And we love Realm To The Dead!!” But what we didn’t know was, we would soon regret that decision. 5

Chapter 2: Locked in6

We left our parents at the airport to board a plane to Rome. Or so we thought. They where trying not to cry. We know how sad it must make them feel, but they tried to smile. “We’re so happy for you, really girls.” Eras’ mom said, wiping her eyes with a hanky. “We are, we just… we don’t want to see you go!” They all started crying. We hugged them, for a little while. Mr. DeVancy pulled us away. “It’s time to go. We’ll miss the plane.” We waved our goodbyes as we pulled away from the airport. When we were high in the air, so far that we couldn’t see them, Eren started crying again. “We’re going to die. The plane is going to crash and we’re going to die a horrible fiery death.”7

“All right, gals.” Mr. DeVancy said, holding out nametags and black dresses. “This is your outfit. Each day, you get a different black dress. But one of you will be my assistant. Who wants to be it?” We looked at each other. None of us wanted to do it. But I didn’t want them to be embarrassed. So, I raised my hand. “I guess I’ll do it.” I looked at Eras. She smiled gratefully. He smiled. “Alright, assistant.” He handed me my outfit. Thank god it wasn’t as short as I thought it was going to be.8

We landed in Europe at 11:00 the next day. The sky was still dark, but businesses where already opening and people were getting in their cars. Mr. DeVancy walked us across the bridge to a large clearing. The trees where dead, and the leaves that where left was being blown around by the harsh cold wind. But it wasn’t the trees that bothered us. It was the place itself. The cracked windows, peeling paint, and busted doors. We stepped on to the covered porch, and entered the house. 9

The house was dark. Even when the door opened, no light entered. After Mr. DeVancy turned on the chandelier, it wasn’t that dark anymore. Rain fell on Erens’ head. She looked up. There was no roof!! Water was pouring down, and he didn’t seem to notice. “Sorry, you’ll have to stay here for a moment. My freaks are getting your room ready.” Eras got mad when he said this. “ It’s not nice to call people freaks just because of what they look like. it isn’t fair.” Mr. DeVancy smiled. “Life isn’t fair, love. And they’re not called freaks because of the way they look. It’s what they are that makes them freaks.” Eras looked at him, angry. “And what are they, then, Mr. DeVancy?” “They’re not part of this world. They are known in folk tales and legends, but not in life. Well, not the moral one, any way. They’re creatures of the night. Monsters, werewolves, vampires and sirens.” He nodded toward the basement. “And they all live down there. If you want proof, go down those steps. I’ll follow you all, that is, if you’re not chicken.” Eras turned and walked toward the door. “Nobody calls me a chicken.” She said, walking down the stairs. We followed her. She opened the door, and went in. We went in behind her. We turned towards him, just before he shut the door in our faces. 10

Chapter 3:They’re back… from the dead11

“Hey, open this door right now, I’m not kidding!” Eras said, shaking the door and twisting the knob. “It’s locked. This isn’t fair.” She shook her head. “No one would deserve to die this way…” “Especially not you all.” We turned around. No body was there. “Who are you? What do you want?” Autumn said, pulling her diamond-handled cutlass out of its hold. A group of boys stepped out of the darkness. Autumn gripped the handle tighter. “Your not going to use that on me, are yah, Autumn?” she dropped her sword. “Mat? Is that you? I thought you was killed in your family's car crash two years ago.” He put his hand on her cheek. “I ran when I saw the police coming. I thought I would die if I was the only one left after the crash. Everyone thought I had burned to death. They even had my jacket and watch buried in the Aumunsville state park.” She nodded. “Your favorite place.” Eras let out a muffled scream. Eren and me turned toward her. Someone was trying to give her a gift. She ripped it open, and squealed. “Ah, Spike, you shouldn’t have.” Aryle was envious. I wish I could get something like that. Ah, well, the only one I could ever love is Ray. And he was… “Hey, Aryle.” The sound of that voice cut into her thoughts. It can’t be him, I thought he was… “Dead? Yes, a lot of people thought I was dead, Aryle. And it burned me alive to leave you alone. But now I’m back. So you don’t have to worry anymore.” Ife hid her face. 12

“Ok, now, if ya'll are done, how are we going to get out of here?” Ife said, standing by the door. Eras pulled away from Spike and smoothed his collar. “That’s the question, isn’t it?” she stated, looking around the room. There was rum barrels and month old candle wax on the floor. Spike pulled a lighter out of his pocket. “I have an idea.” He opened a rum barrel, and lit the wax, shut the lid, and threw it at the door. Nothing happened for a few seconds. Then, it exploded. The impact threw us to the ground. When the smoke cleared, the door was gone. Eren put her head out the door. “The coast is clear.” She whispered back at us, and stepped over a few shards of the still-hot rum barrel lid. She ran down the hallway towards the door. She wiggled the handle, and the door opened. “Let’s go.” 13

Mr. DeVancy sat on the love seat. He was glad that the house was quiet, for now. They would soon figure out that the door was unlocked, and he would have to explain to them why it was locked, and what their boyfriends were doing in the basement. He sipped quietly on his Russian black tea. He smiled. He remembered the look on Ife’s face whenever he shut the door. Then it got jammed. He liked her, and she didn’t know it, so maybe she would cut him some slack if he told her he loved her. But he was wrong… dead wrong.14

He slowly made his way to the basement door. Much to his surprise, the door was blown to bits. He should have suspected that when he heard that loud boom earlier, but anyway... He followed the soot footprints and they ran to the yard. He stepped around the corner of the house, and was hit in the head by a shovel. Ife drug his body too the back, and dumped it in a hole. "Sorry, love," she said, tossing flowers onto him, "I just couldn't help myself."15

He wasn't dead when she drove away from her small town home. She had to get away from there, find somewhere new. Maybe New York. No, they would probably know me there. She would move too Florida. That was that. It wasn't the most preferred spot, but it was better than living here in this hell hole..