writing Unknown Destinies

[ZomBrony 347]

I had a story idea on my home from school, unfourtunately it isn't pony-related but I know bronies are always great support so I want to know what everyone thinks so far. This is also a WIP that I can't guarentee I'll work on constantly. I'll also be using a spoiler because it's fairly long already.

 

Chapter One - The Awakening

There is this kid under control from some form of powerful magic. He had lived his first 12 or so years unaware of this but at 13 he started having strange thoughts, visions, and started dreaming about an abandoned, post-apocalyptic world. Now, at 15, he is beginning to suspect that he might actually be living in the post-apocalyptic world he had been imagining for so long and somehow, for some reason he’ll likely never know is under control and only seeing the world as he is wanted to see it, that kid is me. My name is Seth Proteskli and this is my story.

 

Just recently, this morning actually, I woke up to find my family gone. I went downstairs to check for my parents’ cars or a note telling me where they were but I found neither. I’m the kind of person that always has crazy ideas and expects the worst from everything that can go wrong. So when I didn't see my parents’ cars I assumed I wouldn't find any other cars outside, at first I thought that was just one of those crazy assumptions but when I went outside, it was true. There were no other cars anywhere in the street so I went around to the convenience plaza, the schools, and the library, everywhere in my neighbourhood I knew, but there weren't any cars anywhere, I was looking for people or any other signs of life as well but I didn’t find anything.

 

At that point I was getting scared but then I remembered the visions. There were never any cars in any of those weird visions, but there was also abandoned buildings and reckless destruction in those visions. Everything besides there being no cars anywhere was still normal so I felt a little better about it and likely from desperation I told myself that there was probably just some big event in a more major area then Kitchener and I decided I’d go to a more major city. But there was a problem, even though I’ve been living here for 8 years. I’ve never done much exploring further then the Optimist Club so I don’t know my neighbourhood very well. I decided I’d go home and log onto my computer. I went online and looked for the quickest walking route to the most major city in Canada I know, Toronto. This is where I am now, heading to Toronto.

 

 

Chapter Two - The First Realization

Just now, as I’m walking towards Toronto I’m realizing there’s none of the usual “nature” sounds either. No breeze, no birds chirping, no distant laughter or conversations, and obviously no cars speeding by. I’ve never heard my neighbourhood so quiet and although I don’t normally give into fear, I feel very scared right now. I know there won’t be anybody there to help me if I get attacked or anything like that, I do know self defense and some basic fighting things but I’ve never been in a real fight. But now I’m remembering, there’s nobody here, maybe not for miles, maybe even nobody period, what am I worrying for? Then I heard a rustling nearby, I never completely believed it when I read about it in some of the books I read but right then, I’m pretty sure my survival instincts kicked in. I snapped towards the sound and realized there was nothing there, not even a bush that someone or something could be hiding in. I must be hearing things, I thought to myself.

 

 

I continue towards Toronto, I’ve been on Homer Watson for a while now and I think I finally see a turn-off to the recommended route, Derry Road. As I turn onto Derry Road I think I see a car on the side of the road in the distance. Feeling excited I run towards the car, as I get closer although I know it could just be my mind playing more tricks on me, the car seems to move further away. I skid to a stop and cup my eyes to eliminate the glare so I can see if the car is driving. It wasn’t. I continue running towards the car and watching in anger and confusion as it seems to keep moving further. I give up after a while and walk to the nearest street sign to make sure I’m still on Derry Road. To my relief, I see I am.

 

Just as I was about to go back onto the sidewalk by force of habit, I swear I heard some talking and laughter from behind me. At first I was startled because I was so used to it being quiet already, but then I remembered that any other people might be able to tell me what’s going on. I spun around to check behind me and to another great relief saw that there were some people behind me. I called to them but they either didn’t hear me or ignored me so I went closer and tried again, they still didn’t respond. I walked right up to them and yelled to the male “Hey, buddy! Why are you ignoring me?” They continued to ignore me and walked literally through me. I turned around after recovering from the shock of not making contact only to see they were gone. I cursed myself for falling for another one of my mind’s tricks and continued along Derry Road.

 

 

Chapter Three - New Living Conditions

I saw a few more people that ignored me and disappeared after passing me and have decided to call them “ghost-people” from now on. I never did see that car again. I stop walking after what seems like forever and thought it must be getting late so when I looked up and saw it was night-time I wasn’t too surprised. But there still weren’t any houses or cars anywhere nearby and I realized that Derry Road must be a side road without many houses or stores nearby. I am completely surrounded by trees out here though so even if I doubt there will be any cars passing by, weather may still apply so I’ll have to build one or find some convenient trees for shelter throughout the night. There may be no other people or anything anywhere around me but physics still apply and I need sleep.

 

Even though it’s summer it still rains sometimes so when I walk off the road I look for an area that is dense enough to protect me from the rain, open enough so I can build a fire, and any bodies of water for fishing, assuming there are any fish that is, there’s been no kind of any other animal so far. It must have been beyond midnight by the time I found a satisfying area for shelter and I’m very tired so I’ll have to go to sleep without eating, it’s not like I’m not used to it. I don’t have bad parents or anything like that but I always stay up late during summer vacation and my parents work, so many times before I’ve gone 1-2 days without food, or at least enough food to be considered a meal. I have sleeping problems so it takes me a while to fall asleep without my medicine but I managed to.

 

In the morning I’m much hungrier than I expected and decide I will have to find a river or something and try to catch some fish. Before leaving my makeshift shelter I pull some branches and leaves off nearby trees to make a landmark for it. After setting up my landmark I trudge off deeper into the woods looking for a river. While exploring I notice that I can hear birds chirping again and as I’m listening to them, I continue walking and it’s not too long before I hear the rushing water at the rapids of a river a fair way away. I continue listening to the birds and water as I approach the river, those are two sounds I always loved. I’m actually listening so closely to the birds and less to the water that I almost fall in when I find it. I quickly regain my balance and strain my eyes to look for fish in the water, the river is much deeper than I imagined and I can see some fish near about the middle depth-wise of the river. I walk along shore to a shallower area that I’ll be able to wade in, take off my shirt and pants and go as deep into the water as I can. I crouch there and watch, listen, and feel for more fish. I don’t know a lot about hand-fishing and my first few attempts were miserable failures but I eventually realized that I was moving too much and scaring the fish away. I started moving slower and more carefully and still failed. Just before I was ready to give up and look for some other source of food, I had another idea. I will put my hands in the water, keep as still as I can, and wait for some poor fish to swim into my hands. I had my doubts at first but I did catch some fish. Luckily for me there were some rocks on the banks by where I was fishing so I could kill the fish and keep them there before getting back to my camp-out. After catching about 10 fish, I killed them all and kept their corpses by the rocks I used. I was about to try to go back to my shelter when I realized I was still in my underwear which was now soaked through, I also realized I couldn’t carry 10 fish without some kind of container. I finally had an idea that seemed like it could work and went off into the woods to collect some twigs and leaves, when I got back to the rocks I used the twigs to tie the leaves together and put the fish in my makeshift basket. My underwear was still wet and I knew it would soak through the rest of my clothes so I went back upstream to where I left my clothes and sat on the shore until my skin had dried decently but my underwear was still uncomfortably wet so I took it off and put the rest of my clothes back on.

 

I thought I saw some other animals on my way back to my shelter but it could’ve been just my mind playing more tricks. When I got back to the shelter I went into some of the closer areas of the woods looking for rocks and wood big enough to burn but small enough to be broken by hand. I collected enough rocks and wood to make a medium sized fire then looked for a good strong, clean stick and some more rocks to make a roasting stick for the fish. I knew some of the precautions of making fish but I didn’t have all the tools or patience to go through them so I cooked the fish, ripped most of the scales off by hand and ate around the bones. After I had eaten a satisfactory amount of fish I felt kind of tired and had a little nap. I slept much longer than planned and it was dark again when I woke up but I couldn’t get back to sleep so I’d have to travel at night.

 

 

Chapter Four - Breaking The Law

Travelling at night without any streetlights is just about as difficult as one would expect but I didn’t have to worry about cars or any people that would want to hurt me so I continued along Derry Road, at this point I had forgotten the route and while struggling to remember what directions I was supposed to go in, where to make any turns if any, how long the road is, and things like that so I just kept going straight, or at any forks, taking the middle one.

I had foolishly left the few fish leftover at my shelter and was starting to get hungry again so I was very happy when I found a gas station. I went up to the front doors and got a little dismayed when I realized they were locked but then I remembered it seems like I’m the only living being around here so I can just break in. The woods had started thinning a while ago but they were still thick enough that I knew better then to go too deep in so I just looked along the side of the road for some rocks. I eventually found some and when I did I went back to the gas station and broke the right front door, I also grabbed a stick from the side of the road and used it to brush away the remaining shards of glass on the bottom of the door’s sills than reached in through the broken area and opened the doors from the inside. Just as I had expected and hoped there was some food that could be considered healthy and I knew I’d be travelling a long distance so any healthy foods are good. I left with five cans of brown beans, two bags of milk, some All Dressed chips, and dumped out a container for Subway ingredients to carry everything in.

 

In the back of my mind I was lecturing myself about theft and worrying about what the cops would do if they found out but at this point I could simply shrug things like that away telling myself I’m the only living being quite possibly on Earth. I continued on my way and drank some of the milk to keep awake; I couldn’t see any good places in the trees so I’d have to keep walking until I found a town. Quite a while back I saw the “Now Leaving Kitchener” sign so I knew I must be doing fairly well. Eventually I got too tired to continue walking and I wanted to save my milk for later since I didn’t know exactly when I’d arrive in Toronto, assuming I would, I’m also an easily discouraged person. When I was sure I couldn’t walk another step I half-crawled, half-tumbled off the road into some bushes to sleep for the night, I knew my feet would be sore tomorrow.

 

I was right, when I woke up my feet were so sore I couldn’t even stand up right away. Thankfully, I had landed in a comfortable position in the bushes so I just lied there a while waiting for the pain to go away or at least lessen. When my feet felt good enough to get out of the bushes I walked back up to the road only to realize I had left my things on the road last night. I was worried at first but then I remembered I’m the only person I’ve seen for days, all my stuff was still in the basket and I could see a road sign ahead. I approached the sign and it read “Welcome to Mississauga” I was quite happy when I found out I had made it all the way to Mississauga already. I looked down at myself in disgust and thought about all the things I would be able to do once I got into the actual city part of Mississauga, I could get some better food, new clothes, maybe break into some random house and use a computer to check how well I’m doing on the route. With a burst of new-found energy I ran along the road until I saw the first of the buildings. It wasn’t until I got closer that I realized the major problem here.

 

 

Chapter Five - It Begins

Another thing I never quite believed while reading, jaw drops. But I understand them now. I saw one of the signs from my visions, a lot of the buildings around where I was were badly damaged; cracked, collapsing, already collapsed, and there were more cars but they were blown up, crashed into various objects, flipped over, falling apart. These were all things I had seen in my visions, I looked around for any random billowing smoke and checked to see if the sky was red but neither of those signs were true, at least not yet. I checked out my surroundings some more still not quite believing that so much could have happened over night. Then I started wondering if I had somehow slept more than a night. I had a watch at home but I rarely wear it, this is one of the few times I wished I had since it had the date on it as well.

 

I travelled further into the town seeing with some relief that most buildings were still safe enough to enter, it was mostly houses in this area but although they were abandoned there good be some food that was still good, one of them most have a computer, I know for a fact that in at least one of them a guy must have lived there so I could get some new clothes and every household will, or should have a shower in them so I can clean up too. Of course I’ll have to break in again but you get kind of used to that even at just two. The first house I get to is locked as most of them will be and I couldn’t see any rocks big enough to break in, I checked a few but none of them had any rocks and I couldn’t see any computers through the windows, I decide to keep going further into the town until I find some stores and I can get something heavy enough to break glass.

 

I have to go pretty far into town to find a store that might have something I know I’ll need but I eventually run into a gym called “Fitness Dynamix” I can see some weights just through the windows but there’s still no rocks big enough to break glass so I take my shirt off, wrap it around my strong arm and charge into the window, it takes multiple attempts but I eventually fall through the window. I got cut pretty badly around my waist but I’m used to pain the way my brother’s raised me. I grab some of the weights and head back to the residential area shirtless, thankfully it’s a nice day so I don’t get too cold. The first house I broke into didn’t have a computer or any boy’s clothes that would fit me but just as I predicted it had a shower and there was some peroxide behind the mirror which was a hidden cabinet. I grab a nice long shower then pull the shards of glass that stuck into my waist out. I used the peroxide and my dirty pants to clean up my waist then I walked into the first bedroom I saw and found a dress that was made out of a suitable material for dressing wounds. I know I’m on my own but I still feel weird and nervous walking around a stranger’s house naked. I go into the kitchen and look for some scissors I can use to cut up the dress to make some dressings for the cuts around my waist, I go back up to the washroom and clean out the cuts with some more peroxide and water. Then I use some duct tape I also found in the kitchen to hold my home-made dressing to my waist.

 

 

Chapter Six - The First Encounter

I still have a strong feeling of being the only person in the world but I’m too nervous to continue my journey. I keep trying to come up with a better excuse than nervousness and decide that it can be medical. Even with how hot summer is I would be more vulnerable to diseases without clothes. I look around the house more carefully but I still can’t find any clothes that will fit me comfortably. I decide to look around for a broom or something instead. I find one in the closet in the room you enter into if you were to use the door. I also take some shoes that manage to fit me then go outside naked and break into the next house using the weights I took and the broom to clear the glass so I can enter safely. The second house still didn’t have a computer but it had some clothes that fit me.

 

I’ve always had a weird obsession with nudity but I had never been forced to be unwantedly naked for so long so it’s a relief to be wearing clean clothes. I opened the door from the inside and continued looking for a computer so I could check my progress and I also decided that I’d like to know what day it is. I know I left my house on a Friday and I think it was June 15^th. I broke into many more houses and was really surprised to see how many houses didn’t have computers. I had lost track of time again so I was also pretty surprised to see it was night time when I left my most recent house. I just went back inside that house and tried to sleep there but I couldn’t. I lied there for about 15 minutes without moving or even thinking but I just couldn’t fall asleep. I checked the alarm clock to be sure it was 15 minutes and was kind of happy to see an exact time again. It was 1:33AM. I’ve stayed up much later before but never because I had to and I always had my video games then. You never really realize how much you miss those things if you’re a casual gamer like me.

 

I try to sleep for another ten minutes but just can’t for some reason. I decide to look for a mall, grocery store, clinic, or hospital to find some Melatonin, which is the medicine I mentioned earlier that I usually need to fall asleep. As I’m going outside I realize how uncomfortable the pants I’m wearing are without underwear. I add to my mental checklist to find some new underwear or different pants. I venture far into the town to find a plaza and from the hill I’m on I can see a Goodwill which if anyone doesn’t know is a thrift store. I’ve worn used clothes before but I was never very fond of the idea of used underwear so I decided at that moment that new pants would have to do. Once I get closer to the store I’m surprised to see that the lights are still on and the doors unlocked. I remember thinking that the store must have been open when everyone disappeared but then I saw some movement from inside, I got more excited than I had been in years and sprinted inside only to find out that the movement I saw wasn’t from a human. I push my shoes into the ground so hard I almost fall flat on my face but I catch myself before my head can hit the ground and the impact sent a burning pain a throughout the core of my body and it is so unexpected that I can’t move right away, maybe even paralysed. Then it turns around and to my horror and great surprise it looks almost exactly like me but it’s full of scars and all it’s features are darker. I watch from my position on the floor as it glides towards me, that’s right glides it wasn’t touching the floor. All I can do as it hovers closer and closer is watch with my mouth agape in horror. It finally reaches me and I black out.

 

 

Chapter Seven - A New Foe – The Swannoire (Incomplete)

I wake up much later, with barely any memory of what happened earlier. I have no idea how long I was out, where I was, what I was doing, nothing. All I can remember is that horrible near-identical figure gliding towards me; it plays over and over in my head. My memory starts coming back but I still can’t think of anything except that figure. I sit there for no account of time, all I know is it was a long time. I just sit there trying to remember. I have no idea how long it takes but my memory finally comes completely back. I am somewhere in Mississauga heading to Toronto. My name is Seth… Seth Prodigy? Seth Philomore? Seth Plankwasta? Proteskli! My name is Seth Proteskli, I am 15 years old. Once I remembered my basic information I felt a chill and looked down to realize I was naked again. I jumped up and looked desperately for a way to cover myself. I run around the store frantically for a while before remembering that I’m on my own. Only two other beings I know of exist, the Ghost People and, those horrible shadowy look-a-likes, I decide to call them the Swannoire, Black Swans, Swanorri for singularity. I ran into my first Swanorri last night and I still have horribly vivid memories of it. I know I should try to avoid them from now on if I run into any more.

 

After all this thinking about Ghost People and the Swannoire, I remember again that I’m naked and although I don’t really care I feel a need to get some new clothes. I walk around the Goodwill find some comfortable stretchy shorts and gray and darkblue tanktop that’s fairly heavy for keeping me a bit warmer on a colder summer day. I am about to go back outside barefoot when I remember that I will be breaking into more houses for food and water and decide to go back inside to get a couple pairs of socks and a pair of shoes. I find 3 pairs of really comfortable light socks that I always called cloud socks and a nice heavy-duty steel-toed workshoe for kicking in windows as opposed to using rocks or charging them. I head back outside and see another sign from my visions, there are random billowing clouds of smoke in random places all over the city and the sky’s starting to tinge red. I see some ghost people walking by across the street and disappearing around a corner. I’m always reminded of the horror movies I used to watch when I see them and am almost tempted to follow them since ghosts that show themselves always seem to be trying to help people in movies but I also remember how often they just lead you into traps. I hear a ghostly wind whistling around the corner and get the sudden urge to hide, I dive behind the nearest toppled car and peek through the windows on my stomach. I look towards the sound and freeze as I see his shadowy feet drift around the corner of the Goodwill. It’s a Swannoire, my Swanorri! I get the feeling that I’ll be running into my Swanorri much more often and other Swannoire. –TO BE CONTINUED-

 

Like I said before and in the seventh spoiler, Chapter 7 isn't done yet but I am, at least for tonight

 

I love all these replies I'm getting.

 

Time to advertise!

 

Getting discouraged now...

Edited October 29, 2012 by ZomBrony

[The Temporal Twins 89]

It needs a bit of revising and editing.

It could also due with some better transitions at the ends of the chapters.

But other than that, you've got a good solid story right here.

 

One question though;

What do YOU do when you get writers block

Because I'm trying my hand at writing a story myself, and I'm stuck...

 

If you want to take a look at it so far, I'm going to send you a PM with the link to it, as it's in it's early stages, and I'm not quite ready to release it yet.

Let me know what you think...

Edited November 20, 2012 by The Temporal Twins