Skip to main content

Dread Falls(4-15-18)


[OT] Sunday Free Write: Leonardo da Vinci Edition [Link to post.]
"Dread, what are you doing?" Liv Hansen walked into her nine year old son's bedroom. His blond hair bounced as his head whipped around toward her. He shrank back and put his arms in front of him to try and cover light purple dress he'd borrowed from one of the girls at school. 

 "Nothing Mama. I just thought it was pretty." His face flushed red, highlighting the messy blush he tried on his cheeks. Liv's heart went out to her son, she shook her head with a smile. 

 "We can talk about it later. Change and go meet your father outside, it's time for your lessons. Don't forget to wipe the makeup off so he doesn't see." Liv stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her. Dread ran to his restroom and washed his face, then changed into jeans and one of his father's old shirts. He eyed himself in the mirror admiring the faded red t-shirt with a giant yin-yang logo in the middle. Instead of black and white fishes, a red tiger prowled down from the top, and a blue shark swam upward from the bottom, both of them moved counter-clockwise. He felt ready for training and ran out of the house to the backyard where his father waited for him. Arik Hansen leaned against a large tree, next to a pile of lumber.

 "You should have been out here five minutes ago," Arik said. He grabbed a 2'x4' from the pile and walked to Dread. Without another word his hands glowed with golden light and he swung the wooden beam like a baseball bat against his son's head. The boy's head did not move an inch, though the wood splintered and broke where it struck his cheek. 

 "Sorry Papa," Dread said. The boy reached up and rubbed his cheek, more for show than anything. He did not want to tell his father that it didn't hurt anymore. Arik nodded. 

 "You know I don't like punishing you son, but you must build your discipline." Arik dropped the broken wood and hugged Dread. "You're going to be the strongest man in the world, and you must have the discipline to control your strength." Dread nodded and hugged his father. "Now, let's practice." Arik guided his son towards a young, scrawny tree. The hundreds of leaves sprouted in all directions, sparsely covering the branches. 

 "Right now this tree looks like your uncle John. I want you to take all the leaves off so that it looks like your uncle Lars," Arik said with a chuckle. Dread nodded and began to inhale deeply. The older man clapped a hand over the boy's mouth. "One at a time," Arik said, then he moved his hand away. Dread looked at his father confused, but the man just nodded and smiled. "Go on, you can do it. Focus." Dread faced the tree and concentrated. He inhaled a short breath and let loose a short yelp at it. His piercing scream broke several branches on the tree. They remained connected, but now hung down at a 90 degree angle. "Softer." Arik said. "Aim." 

 Before Dread tried again he noticed a small, light brown head of hair in the corner of his eye. He turned to see Astrid entering the gate to their yard. Dread's eyes went wide, but he did not react in time to stop her. 

 "Dread! I need my dress back!" she yelled. She lifted a light yellow cloth. "You'll look pretty in this one tho-" she stopped when she noticed Arik standing off the the side behind the house. Dread turned to see his father enveloped from head to toe in a golden aura. His eyes stared at the blond boy. "I'm sorry!" Astrid yelled and ran out of the yard. The man spoke in flat anger.

 "Why are you wearing dresses? You are meant to be the strongest *MAN* in the world!" He took a step forward. Dread ran. He wasn't afraid of his father hurting him, Arik wasn't strong enough to. However, he'd never seen his father angry like that before. He leaped over the fence, the shame of disappointing and embarrassing his father pushed him to keep running. Dread ran towards his favorite spot; a sheer cliff overlooking the calm blue ocean. He sat on the cliff with his legs hanging over it and admired the sea. 

 He felt something grab his foot and looked down. A skeleton held his foot and used it to climb up out of a pitch black hole floating horizontally at the edge of the cliff. He recognized it instantly as a portal. His father had told him many times about other Earths, and described the portals to him. Before Dread could pull himself back another skeleton appeared and grabbed his other leg. They began to climb up him, pulling him down in the process. 

 After they got high enough another pair of skeletons grabbed each leg and began to climb out. The first two that reached the cliff ignored Dread and began to walk towards town. 

 "Mama!" Dread exclaimed. He knew his father was not powerful enough to deal with too many of these. His family was in danger. Dread decided quickly. He looked down and yelled as loud as he could. He crumbled the cliff under him and fell into the dark hole. He smiled to himself, happy he kept his family safe. The skeletons would not be able to climb out using him or the cliff anymore. 

 ***

 Next Chapter: Dreaded Homecoming
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lunch Jitters (6-23-18)

[WP] You are the greatest villain in the world. When you come face to face with your only rival, he says, “Do you want to grab a coffee before we start? I’ve haven’t eaten all day.” [ Link to post .] "I'm so glad you said something, I started late today too," The Shade said. He patted the heavy, dark leather coat over his stomach, then leaned closer to whisper at SunKnight. "Kayla's teeth are coming in, and Lucille's out of town for that thing." He shrugged, then pulled off his black, featureless hood. "I needed an extra 40 winks. Let's do a lunch, meet me at the pizzeria in 20." Keith Slinny, the man under The Shade's mask checked his watch. The rest of his black costume dissipated from his body; black smoke wafted from him like steam escaping a body in winter. "At this point, we'll end up putting it off until tomorrow so I need to book the babysitter now." "The wedding's tomorrow, remember? Let's take t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Heckin' Opportunity (6-20-18)

[WP] You have a shoulder angel and a shoulder devil. This is somewhat unusual, but what makes it worse is that everyone else can see and talk to them. [ Link to post .] "I have an appointment with Mr. Johnston," Michael explained his presence to the short-haired secretary. He stood in front of her desk wearing his nicest suit, and his light brown hair combed as neatly as he could manage it.  "If you take a seat, he'll be right with you," she said as she pointed toward the row of colorful, plastic stiff back chairs on the other side of a small coffee table. Michael nodded, then sat in a red chair. He grabbed one of the dozens of Acting magazines spread on the coffee table. He mumbled to himself while he flipped through the magazine. "This is a bad idea," he said. Then he felt the familiar weight of a tiny angel on his right shoulder. Righty wasted no time in encouraging Michael. "That's just fear talking. This is a great opportunity, i...
1 comment
Read more

Luck be a Lady (10-18-17)

You alone have the ability to give any "power" you wish to anybody any time... but you're also really petty and use it for revenge / personal amusement [ link to post ] “No, it’s fine, go ahead and cut me off you bastard. Obviously you’re more important than I am,” I whined at the green truck that suddenly decided it needed to be in front of me to catch a turn. I needed to pump the brakes a bit, but it was more annoying than dangerous. I breathed deeply, trying to calm down. For my wife’s sake I began taking anger management courses, and they seemed to be working. I calmed down and forgave the rude bastard. It felt good to forgive him, and I smiled to myself when I decided I wanted good things for that person. “Your safety is now a major priority for all policemen within a 10 mile radius of you,” I said aloud. I was alone in my car. Speaking helped me focus, though I did not need to say the words aloud. It was not long before red and blue flashing lights appe...
Post a Comment
Read more