HOME | DD

Description
It was… warm. Cozy, actually. After weeks of sleeping on the ground, the soft bed and blanket were like heaven to me. I just curled up in my bed, relaxing in the soft glow of the early morning light. Outside my window, the sky was blue, a color that I’d missed for a long time. I enjoyed relaxing, but after a while, my alarm clock went off. I got out of bed, turned the alarm off, and looked at its flashing display.

7:00 AM 7/13/2060

I smiled in relief at that. It was the day after I’d “left,” so I thought that I couldn’t possibly have gone anywhere for any length of time. It must have been a dream, or so I thought. Already my mind was making up excuses for what I thought had happened. I must have been more injured than I had thought from that bicycle crash, so I blacked out and had that crazy dream. May must have found me and brought me to my room. It felt so good telling myself none of it had happened, and that there was no Anemonae, Manfred, Soul Collectors, or Samaiel. Best of all, May was waiting for me in her house up the street.
“Well, now I know what to write for my English project,” I muttered to myself. I walked over to my computer and booted it up. The poor girl was getting on in years, and it took a good five minutes or so for it to do anything, so I grabbed a bowl of cereal from the kitchen.
I checked my class webpage with a mouthful of cornflakes. That English project was due that day, so I opened up my word processor and started typing.

Hello, Weiss.

Funny… that wasn’t what I’d typed. I deleted the line and started over.

You can’t get rid of me so easily, Weiss.

I quickly closed the program, more than a bit unnerved. I thought it was just a virus, so I started my scanner and hopped on the Internet. None of the pages would load. I checked my e-mail, to find my inbox completely empty, except for one message. It was entitled Hello, Weiss, with one word in the Sender field.
Schwarz.
I’m not sure what compelled me to open the message, but I did.
”Ah, good, you’ve decided to listen. You know who this is. All I have to say is… don’t get too comfortable.
I stared at the message on my computer screen, cereal spoon hanging out of my mouth, for a long time. The door bell broke me out of my stupor, relieving me once more. Nobody ever visited me except for May, and if she was here there couldn’t be any Schwarz. It was just a virus with one hell of a coincidence for a name, I told myself. I got up, threw on some clothes, and answered the door.
A tall, muscular man with long, black hair greeted me with a somber face. His skin was pale, and there was something a bit off about him. I think it was his eyes… they looked glazed over, almost as if they were dead.
“Weiss,” he said flatly. “Your friends need you.” His voice was deep and rich. I didn’t recognize it because of his face, which was kind and gentle, very unlike the one who shared the same voice.
“Anemonae and the man you call Manfred are soon to be in great danger,” he went on. “I must make some preparations of my own, so I am afraid I cannot accompany you, but-”
I interrupted him. “Woah, hold on. Anemonae and Manfred? Oh no, no way. I’m not getting anywhere near those two freaks…” I trailed off as it hit me like a punch to the gut. It all really had happened. She really was gone. “No… May…”
The man nodded. “I am truly sorry, my friend, but she is lost now. I have seen the girl, and I know of her fate. There is nothing that can be done for her. For now, Weiss, you must assist Anemonae.”
“No! Why would I help her? If you’re telling the truth and not just messing with my head, Anemonae’s the one who ruined my life!” I was shouting, and a couple of my neighbors looked out of their windows to seen what the commotion was. The man shoved me inside my house and onto the couch. He was ridiculously strong, pushing me aside like a piece of paper.
“Look,” he said in an intense whisper. “Anemonae needs you right now, and I need her, so if you don’t want your life to be ‘ruined’ even further, you are going to make sure that no harm comes to her. Understand?” Faced with such an intimidating person, I couldn’t help but nod. “Good,” he said. “Now, head to Materas Laboratories. Hurry, time is short.” With that, he turned and walked out of my front door.
I was a bit dazed, and it took me a while to make a decision. For one thing, I had no idea at the time who had just told me to leave my home and go to an abandoned, potentially dangerous laboratory. On the other hand, things could get bad if I did nothing and Samaiel went unchecked. But what could I do? I was just your average kid. Sure, I could wave my hand and maybe cut a branch off of a tree, but something told me that wouldn’t really do much against Death himself. If I went, I would be risking my life… and would May have wanted that?
I felt an intense pang of regret. She was gone. Not just gone, turned into a monster. How could I go on without her? She was the only person in my life that really mattered, the one I cared about, my only friend, my love. She had always been there for me, and she always understood my problems, since we had such similar lives. Since we were little kids, we were completely inseparable, and now she was just… gone. I couldn’t really comprehend it, and my mind wandered to other places.
There was something else that bothered me. What had happened before, in Samaiel’s courtyard? At the moment, I was sure that I was doomed. I had felt the mask come out of my mouth and nose, and then talking to that Schwarz guy… I could feel something inside me, this restlessness, an urge to just snap and start destroying things. I’d never felt that way before, and it worried me. I wanted to know what was happening to me, and I couldn’t get answers by sitting on my butt at home.
Mr. Frye’s English project could wait. Perhaps against my better judgment, I packed some supplies into my backpack and started off on the road. The old Materas Laboratory… they hadn’t even ordered demolition on it yet, ten years after the disaster. That was probably because they were scared of whatever had caused it. Nobody had been there in over a decade, and I was about to waltz right in. As I caught a cab and rode towards the center of the city, I thought about what I was going to do.
Was I crazy? I had seen the dangers that this life brought, and yet here I was, going right back to it. What did I want? What could possibly be gained from throwing my life into the frying pan like this? Maybe that was it. Maybe I wanted to throw my life away, now that I’d lost May. Or maybe I longed for some companionship in the form of Manfred and Anemonae. Was it that I still wanted some adventure, even after seeing firsthand what I could lose? Or was it that feeling inside me, trying to break to the surface?

The imposing tower of the Materas Laboratory loomed overhead as I told the cabbie to pull over, handing him a wad of bills and telling him to keep the change. I had a bad feeling about this. I felt that it was very likely that I was going away again… perhaps for an even longer time than before. I looked around, making sure that nobody saw me, pulled open the sliding door of the laboratory, and walked into the darkness.

Description
It was… warm. Cozy, actually. After weeks of sleeping on the ground, the soft bed and blanket were like heaven to me. I just curled up in my bed, relaxing in the soft glow of the early morning light. Outside my window, the sky was blue, a color that I’d missed for a long time. I enjoyed relaxing, but after a while, my alarm clock went off. I got out of bed, turned the alarm off, and looked at its flashing display.

7:00 AM 7/13/2060

I smiled in relief at that. It was the day after I’d “left,” so I thought that I couldn’t possibly have gone anywhere for any length of time. It must have been a dream, or so I thought. Already my mind was making up excuses for what I thought had happened. I must have been more injured than I had thought from that bicycle crash, so I blacked out and had that crazy dream. May must have found me and brought me to my room. It felt so good telling myself none of it had happened, and that there was no Anemonae, Manfred, Soul Collectors, or Samaiel. Best of all, May was waiting for me in her house up the street.
“Well, now I know what to write for my English project,” I muttered to myself. I walked over to my computer and booted it up. The poor girl was getting on in years, and it took a good five minutes or so for it to do anything, so I grabbed a bowl of cereal from the kitchen.
I checked my class webpage with a mouthful of cornflakes. That English project was due that day, so I opened up my word processor and started typing.

Hello, Weiss.

Funny… that wasn’t what I’d typed. I deleted the line and started over.

You can’t get rid of me so easily, Weiss.

I quickly closed the program, more than a bit unnerved. I thought it was just a virus, so I started my scanner and hopped on the Internet. None of the pages would load. I checked my e-mail, to find my inbox completely empty, except for one message. It was entitled Hello, Weiss, with one word in the Sender field.
Schwarz.
I’m not sure what compelled me to open the message, but I did.
”Ah, good, you’ve decided to listen. You know who this is. All I have to say is… don’t get too comfortable.
I stared at the message on my computer screen, cereal spoon hanging out of my mouth, for a long time. The door bell broke me out of my stupor, relieving me once more. Nobody ever visited me except for May, and if she was here there couldn’t be any Schwarz. It was just a virus with one hell of a coincidence for a name, I told myself. I got up, threw on some clothes, and answered the door.
A tall, muscular man with long, black hair greeted me with a somber face. His skin was pale, and there was something a bit off about him. I think it was his eyes… they looked glazed over, almost as if they were dead.
“Weiss,” he said flatly. “Your friends need you.” His voice was deep and rich. I didn’t recognize it because of his face, which was kind and gentle, very unlike the one who shared the same voice.
“Anemonae and the man you call Manfred are soon to be in great danger,” he went on. “I must make some preparations of my own, so I am afraid I cannot accompany you, but-”
I interrupted him. “Woah, hold on. Anemonae and Manfred? Oh no, no way. I’m not getting anywhere near those two freaks…” I trailed off as it hit me like a punch to the gut. It all really had happened. She really was gone. “No… May…”
The man nodded. “I am truly sorry, my friend, but she is lost now. I have seen the girl, and I know of her fate. There is nothing that can be done for her. For now, Weiss, you must assist Anemonae.”
“No! Why would I help her? If you’re telling the truth and not just messing with my head, Anemonae’s the one who ruined my life!” I was shouting, and a couple of my neighbors looked out of their windows to seen what the commotion was. The man shoved me inside my house and onto the couch. He was ridiculously strong, pushing me aside like a piece of paper.
“Look,” he said in an intense whisper. “Anemonae needs you right now, and I need her, so if you don’t want your life to be ‘ruined’ even further, you are going to make sure that no harm comes to her. Understand?” Faced with such an intimidating person, I couldn’t help but nod. “Good,” he said. “Now, head to Materas Laboratories. Hurry, time is short.” With that, he turned and walked out of my front door.
I was a bit dazed, and it took me a while to make a decision. For one thing, I had no idea at the time who had just told me to leave my home and go to an abandoned, potentially dangerous laboratory. On the other hand, things could get bad if I did nothing and Samaiel went unchecked. But what could I do? I was just your average kid. Sure, I could wave my hand and maybe cut a branch off of a tree, but something told me that wouldn’t really do much against Death himself. If I went, I would be risking my life… and would May have wanted that?
I felt an intense pang of regret. She was gone. Not just gone, turned into a monster. How could I go on without her? She was the only person in my life that really mattered, the one I cared about, my only friend, my love. She had always been there for me, and she always understood my problems, since we had such similar lives. Since we were little kids, we were completely inseparable, and now she was just… gone. I couldn’t really comprehend it, and my mind wandered to other places.
There was something else that bothered me. What had happened before, in Samaiel’s courtyard? At the moment, I was sure that I was doomed. I had felt the mask come out of my mouth and nose, and then talking to that Schwarz guy… I could feel something inside me, this restlessness, an urge to just snap and start destroying things. I’d never felt that way before, and it worried me. I wanted to know what was happening to me, and I couldn’t get answers by sitting on my butt at home.
Mr. Frye’s English project could wait. Perhaps against my better judgment, I packed some supplies into my backpack and started off on the road. The old Materas Laboratory… they hadn’t even ordered demolition on it yet, ten years after the disaster. That was probably because they were scared of whatever had caused it. Nobody had been there in over a decade, and I was about to waltz right in. As I caught a cab and rode towards the center of the city, I thought about what I was going to do.
Was I crazy? I had seen the dangers that this life brought, and yet here I was, going right back to it. What did I want? What could possibly be gained from throwing my life into the frying pan like this? Maybe that was it. Maybe I wanted to throw my life away, now that I’d lost May. Or maybe I longed for some companionship in the form of Manfred and Anemonae. Was it that I still wanted some adventure, even after seeing firsthand what I could lose? Or was it that feeling inside me, trying to break to the surface?

The imposing tower of the Materas Laboratory loomed overhead as I told the cabbie to pull over, handing him a wad of bills and telling him to keep the change. I had a bad feeling about this. I felt that it was very likely that I was going away again… perhaps for an even longer time than before. I looked around, making sure that nobody saw me, pulled open the sliding door of the laboratory, and walked into the darkness.