My name is Xena. I am currently 16 years old. I’m a Straight A student, but I’ve hated school since middle school. To be honest, I have been trying to get out of attending school entirely and focus on writing as my main profession. I love reading, writing, video games, puzzles, and anything involving music! I am not that athletic, my running speeds are relatively normal. I’m pretty decent when it comes to leaps and distance, and I’m incredibly flexible. The thing is, I am unusually skilled with weapons, especially knives and weapons like that. Don’t ask me how I know this, I wouldn’t be capable of providing you with a satisfactory answer. Even as a young girl, I was never really close to my parents. It’s not like I don’t see them, it’s just that they are always sneaking around and intentionally concealing things from me. When they actually choose to talk to me, they just make eerie comments that typically come off as creepy.
October 26, 2019
It was early, about 4 or 5 in the morning. My alarm went off, same time as it usually does. Nothing new. I sat up angrily, trying to figure out why in the world I live the way I do. Stuck in an unpleasant situation, with every day pushing me closer and closer to the edge. Attending school, every day. Every… Single… Day. For 11 years. From seven in the morning to three in the afternoon, I would be sent off to school, my parents without a care in the world. The reason I still wake up around four or five, despite the fact that school starts around seven, is because I lack time to write. Writing is a hobby I picked up a long time ago, and while I could simply write when I get home from school, I don’t. That’s because my house is so noisy. Long story short, I was being forced into my own eternal damnation and day by day I sat there and accepted it. For a moment I even adapted to this lifestyle, but sooner or later my demons would escape my head and I would snap. It wasn’t a matter of if; it was a matter of when.
I reached out for my glasses, that were routinely placed on my desk right next to my bed. Sadly, there were no glasses… and no desk. W-What? I thought as my whole body collapsed under itself and a sudden sign of whiplash followed. My head spiked down onto the hard, cold wood floor. The horrid sound of a deafening crash coursed through my house. My unconscious body contorted slightly. Broken and concussed, I lied there.
I regained consciousness after about 15 minutes and was confused as to how I was still alive after a tragic fall like this. What the heck just happened? Am I still in my room? This is my room, Right? Of course it is, it’s where I last remember myself being. It is my room… probably. I thought. At that moment I realized my parents heard all of this, they were fully awake and aware of the fact that I was unconscious. Profound sadness struck me like lightning. Despite this profound sadness, I reluctantly decided to stand up. It took all of my strength, but I did. And it was undoubtedly the most regrettable decision I’ve ever made.
I rose to my barely functioning, but surprisingly cold, feet. I rose to discover a vacant room. All of the contents of my room had vanished, all except my bed, my alarm, and myself. I couldn’t see correctly, I wasn’t functioning correctly, the only thing I knew for sure was that there was the laughter coming from the other room. Was this just some sick prank my parents decided to pull? Well, that’s what I believed, and I was sorely mistaken.
I bent the corner into the hallway, in search of my cackling parents. Though it only seemed to be my mother laughing at that point. I ran up to my parents’ door, which was locked of course, and counted to three. I braced myself and pushed the door down. You may be thinking this idea was absolutely absurd, and yes it was. Head first I went onto the unforgiving wood floor once again. What an idiot I was, what an idiot I am. I had collapsed onto the door, bracing the fall a bit. This was not enough though, because, for a second time, I would get to lie there, broken and concussed, this time with cold feet.
I soon woke up once again, this time facing the cracked ceiling. I was still surprised as to how I was still alive. I was fortunate then, or so it seemed. My battered body was so tense, and I still wasn’t functioning correctly. I struggled to move. I struggled until I gradually regained my vision, but I couldn’t move. At that moment, I realized I couldn’t move even if I wanted to, I was restrained. Knowing this, I continued struggling desperately. I had always believed in fighting until the bitter end, so I did. After a few breathless seconds of fighting as if my life depended on it, I noticed I was no longer in my parents’ room. Well, at the very least, I don’t think so. Instead, I was lying down, dead weight, in a dingy chamber.
I looked up to feel a sharp pain in my left leg and a masked lady in all black retreating into the darkness. Where am I? How did I get here? Who was that lady? Where in the world are my parents? All questions that flowed through my head in that exact moment. My main problem at the moment, though, was that my unnaturally restrained body was going numb. The lady had injected something into my leg, I was bleeding at a rapid pace. I started freaking out. I wasn’t prepared to die, not yet! My vision was being lost. Slowly… Slower… I could no longer feel anything. I couldn’t hear, I couldn’t see. I let out a piercing cry, trying to regain feeling in my body. Suddenly, my whole entire body twitched, and then continuously shaking. I felt the restraints start to give out thanks to the constant quivering of my frail body. As the restraints gave out, I had the ability to move more, which allowed me to regain controlled movement in my body. With this, I continued struggling until the restraints finally came loose. I forcibly broke free of the unusual restraints and sat up for a moment to figure out what was going on. I saw nothing but darkness and a spacious chamber around me. There weren’t any other people, or maybe I merely didn’t see them. After examining the area, I hopped to my shoeless feet.
After stretching a bit to lose the numbness in my body, I decided to further explore the contents of the chamber. I never regained proper feeling in my left leg, though. After a few precious seconds of actually having fun exploring the place, I heard a loud crash… and got so frightened that I accidentally jumped into a large bucket. The bucket crashed to the ground and then rolled with me inside of it. I had landed on my knees, I just barely possessed enough strength to push myself and the bucket back up. It was becoming more and more clear to me, this was not my day. I must have a serious problem with jumping to conclusions because as soon as I assumed a stable position inside the bucket, I heard footsteps. I didn’t move, I didn’t breathe, I didn’t even think, everything in my body completely froze. I believe I heard a female yell, “Find the intended host immediately!” causing me to have a panic attack. Shortly after, they decided to give up and search elsewhere. My mind was still in the gutter from the shock of the experience. If I get caught, what will they do to me? I was so panic-stricken I fell face first out of the bucket. I was still conscious somehow, I just got to taste the floor for a while. I regained the strength to climb out of the bucket and rose to my feet once again. To this day I still can’t fathom how my brain wasn’t severely damaged by all of these falls I experienced. I was lucky to be alive.
I began wandering around the chamber, roaming around in the ominous shadows. Until I stumbled upon a closet. It seemed to be exactly like my parents’ closet. Maybe this is still my parents’ room after all! I still don’t get how that is possible. Curious, I decided to walk up to the closet. I slowly opened the door. To my surprise, a bloody and mangled body fell out. It wasn’t just some random body, it was my father. Turns out my parents were in this together, that is why I overheard them laughing. I guess my mother didn’t want my father ruining her true plans because shortly after, my mother viciously murdered my father and positioned him in this closet. His entrails were everywhere. There was blood splattered all over the floor as well as the walls. My mother and my now deceased father’s shrill laughter turned into the cackling of my mother after a gruesome murder. It’s sad to think about. I think the loss of my dad will mortify me for years to come. I was hurt, I am hurt. Lord knows why my father was killed, but I think I am fairly sure that my mother is the killer. I would never want to assume, though.
My situation wasn’t the best, and I could feel parts of myself starting to slowly slip away. I was losing touch with myself, and I knew it because I didn’t immediately abandon that closet. I took things from my own father’s corpse. Without remorse, without regret. Digging through his body, spreading his remains all over around the closet. Taking a knife he had on him, and some of his safety items, he clearly didn’t utilize those when needed. I rooted around in his corpse until I found nothing but blood and gore. I already felt like I was going to be scarred for life after this. Still not affected much by the loss of my father, I continued exploring this hellacious place. I walked around in the shadows until I discovered a note. The note read, “The woman is INSANE! Never let them get near you! The Wrists!!! The Wrists!!! You will be tortured and killed. We are human subjects for their insane experiment! We are their redemption! I can’t take this anymore! If somehow you are reading this, it means that you’ve been captured as well. All hope is lost! Take this throwing knife and the contents of my backpack and RUN!” This note was found next to a body, a body at which carried a throwing knife still located on his slit wrist and a backpack. It had nothing but bandages and a few small knives, or so it seemed. I opened the second part of the backpack, which contained a 9mm pistol with a lot of ammunition and another throwing knife. Then I heard more footsteps, but there was no bucket or any hiding place near me for that matter. The only hiding spot was far away. My only choices were to fight or hide.
I stuck to the shadows for a second and heard a bit of conversation. I believe I overheard a young man, probably 17 or 18, shout,
“We need to get out of here now!” followed by the sound of a resounding smack, probably directed towards someone’s face. “We can’t! She’ll kill us too!” responded a girl that looked to be about the same age as that other guy, she had an incredibly soft voice, like a little girl.
“We can all–” their conversation was shortly interrupted by multiple gunshots fired across the room.
Everyone was killed except that one young man, who got very injured. He was able to climb under a nearby hiding spot. He was bleeding at an increasing rate, if I abandoned him he would surely die. I jumped out of the shadows and pulled the guy into a safe location. The people who discharged the guns nodded to each other as a signal that the job had been done, and they walked away shortly.
“Who the–” he questioned.
“Shut up and let me help you really quick,” I responded. I pinned him against the wall. I covered his mouth and applied bandages to his wounds. I think he was in lots of pain, he groaned more than once.
“Who are you?” he asked,
“I’m just as confused as you are,” I replied, giggling, “I’m Xena. Who might you be?”
We both laughed for a second or two, and then he wouldn’t answer. He was gazing at me. I began snapping in his face a few times, checking to see if he was okay, and then he finally said, “Oh, sorry. I’m Aero!” Then I smiled and helped him back up and we continued with this journey.
“So, how did you end up in a dump like this? What is this place anyway?” I asked Aero.
“Well this place was originally made for cures and other stuff but then corrupt people overthrew it and use it for genetic mutation,” he told me. “As for how I ended up here, I genuinely don’t know. I just woke up restrained on a table one day. What about you?”
I don’t know why I’m here. I just woke up restrained one day as well. I had done nothing to deserve any of this, yet this is exactly what I got. This has nothing to do with me, there is something else going on here. I don’t know what… I really don’t know, and I am not quite sure if I want to know.
“I knocked myself out and ended up here. Maybe I did something that led me here, I dunno,” I lied, not realizing that I had done so, “The funny part is that I also woke up restrained on a table!” we both chuckled, even though this was a very serious matter. Oh, how childish we were.
We wandered hopelessly around the large chamber. Everything was completely fine until we stumbled upon a secret hatch. We began to think that it was a trap for the curious, but then again, if it wasn’t a trap then what lies down there? This question needed an answer, and we were going to be the ones who figured it out.
“You first, Xena!” Aero requested, “I’m not in the condition to be doing these things,” he pointed to his wounds from the previous shooting.
“What a gentleman you are…” I somewhat joked. “I’m kidding, I don’t care, but how in the world are we going to open this thing up?”
“Gimme a second,” Aero said as he took a bobby pin out of my hair and bent down towards the hatch. “All I have to do is pick this lock.”
Aero struggled and struggled for about five minutes. He didn’t give up because apparently he had too much pride and didn’t want to lose it. Honestly, he lost his pride anyway because I laughed so hard. I gave up for him and decided to take control. I knelt down to join Aero next to the hatch and grabbed the bobby pin from his sweaty hand.
“Just let me do it,” I offered. “I don’t wanna see you struggle anymore, it’s sad.”
“Yeah… Well, you’re sad…” Aero whispered under his breath, but I still heard him.
I took the bobby pin and popped open the hatch in a matter of seconds. I gave Aero a blank stare. He was disgusted by my pure skill, I bet he was jealous. Black smoke emerged from the hatch.
“Alright, since you opened it, I’ll go first,” Aero suggested.
“There you go, that’s a gentleman!” I giggled as he stepped into the hatch cautiously.
Only it wasn’t a trap, it was a living nightmare.
I stepped inside awaiting the worst possible outcome. Aero froze in place. He wasn’t moving, but his eyes became pop-eyed at the sight of this room. He vomited, it was everywhere. Oh please tell me he isn’t throwing up right now, please? This whole day has been terrible, please cut me a small deal and make that not be vomit. Tell me I’m being deceived. Nope, my eyes were seeing 100% correctly, that was vomit. It was a vibrant yellow color and had chunks of something that was a completely different color. I ran behind him to avoid getting thrown up on. “Oh god… I’m fine,” he stammered. We continued to explore the room. Sadly, Aero’s puke wasn’t the worst thing we had seen. There was nothing but even more blood and gore. Entrails were everywhere. It’s everywhere, it’s gross. I thought silently to myself as if I knew Aero was thinking the same thing. Eyeballs, amputated fingers, and rotting heads. I explored the room, stepping on all sorts of things. It was one of the most disgusting things I have ever done, and will ever have done. Then, I looked down. I felt something squishy like I had just stepped on the right side of a hollow skull. I… actually did. It was a skull, the flesh was open and exposed, there was blood everywhere. The head in question had been badly bruised, so stepping through it was as easy as squishing a grape. I had no shoes on, I felt every last second of the squishy, cold, moist insides of a human head, but there was only one thing that caught me by surprise. The head looked newly decapitated, the owner of the head might’ve just been murdered. I looked closer… The closer I looked, the more it started to resemble a familiar face. I glared… I glared harder… At that point it was clear to me who’s decapitated head I just stepped on, being that I had stepped through the left side of the head, I could tell that it was my mother. I think I had such a hard time processing this information because I thought she had killed my father. How did she die? I thought she was behind this whole thing. I fell to my knees, now covered in other people’s Insides, in shock.
No no no no no no no no no, That cannot be my mother. There’s no way! It’s not possible! My eyes are lying to me, that’s all! That’s not real… That’s not, It’s Not Real! IT’S NOT REAL! I needed a second to process what I just saw. Both of my parents are gone… Both of them. I’ve lost it all. I don’t deserve this! I am a good person! What did I do?! Someone, please tell me! What did I do?!
Unlike my father, my mother had actually worn a kind heart on her sleeve. She was creepy but kind. She was strange yet caring, or at least I thought so. My father was, for lack of a better word, cold-hearted. As I said in the past, my parents never really talked to me, I often felt neglected, Especially since I have no brothers or sisters. I’ve just been alone. I loved my parents the same, though. They raised me, and it wasn’t fair, even if it was warranted, to hate them. We carefully stepped out of that living nightmare of a hatch, regretting every second of having ever seen such a thing. Hopefully, this was going to be the worst thing we see in this horrible place.
“Seize them immediately! I will not stand for even one of them escaping! I don’t know how many there are, but if they aren’t all dead by the time we are done here I will have you all put to rest!” I have no clue who said this, but it sounded like a woman. It was really hard to believe otherwise, even though I hadn’t known for sure. There were 3 girls, 6 guys. Each girl was equipped with a Cold Steel machete and a 9mm pistol just like the one I had. It seems as if the guys had butcher knives, chains, and a Glock 22. The moment I collected this information I quietly handed Aero my 9mm, simply because he was more agile than I was. I held two throwing knives in each of my hands, ready to throw them, and we crouched under the bed of shadows. Aero raised his gun, his hands trembling. He began to get sweaty. They were looking around for us, they knew we were here. Aero panicked, he aimed the gun and missed his target. The moment he missed the shot I ran, signaling for him to follow, but he didn’t. Are you trying to get us both killed? Are you an idiot? Hurry up and follow me or we aren’t escaping this with our lives. We’ve gotta go, we won’t make it any other way. I had been found out, my location was compromised. I aimed and threw a single throwing knife, the knife had met a girl’s flesh. The blade sank deep into the girl’s skull, causing her to scream, and eventually, die. Their guns were fired at me. A bullet had punctured my shoulder. The guys had all ran at me with their large, shiny butcher knives. Little did I know, Aero picked the gun up once again. This time he wasn’t nervous, he knew that if he didn’t do something know then I would surely die. He fired once. He fired twice. Two of the guys had been stopped in their tracks, they had been shot and killed. The person that wanted this deed done had discovered Aero’s location. “The Shadows!” They yelled, “They are hiding in the Shadows!” There were six of them left, not counting their leader. I wasn’t sure if she had weapons, she probably did. Four of the remaining men had still been running towards me. I didn’t know what to do, I could only think to use my knife skills. I was basically tackled by one of the guys, but I managed to have the guy land on one of my knives, launching the knife into his throat, he bled out slowly. I threw him off of me and another person threw himself onto me with their butcher knife in hand. I was aware of the butcher knife, but one simple thought hadn’t crossed my mind in the heat of the moment; That wasn’t their only weapon. He grabbed his large chain and wrapped it around my throat. I couldn’t fight back anymore. The light was being drained from my eyes, I could no longer breathe. I was shaking, clenching the chain as tight as possible and attempting to pull it away from my neck. I failed, I always failed in the end. I was flopping around like a fish out of water, and in all of that flopping, I accidentally kicked the Glock 22 of the first dead guy directly to Aero. He jumped out of the shadows prepared to fight and—
A stray bullet had shot straight through his thigh. He groaned and fell to his knees. I was still being choked and was moments away from drifting off into nothingness. Click… Click… BOOM! I didn’t know what had happened. I was choked until I was no longer in the conscious state. I woke up with Aero standing over me, trying to check for my pulse. His thigh was bandaged, but I was still befuddled by what had happened. “Aero… Aero What Happened? D-did we win?” I asked. “Yes, Xena. We’ve won the battle, but as for the war, I’m not so sure.” He responded with uncertainty. But How? All signs pointed to death, at that moment. I was as close to the void as I had ever been. I thought I had died, I embraced my death. I can’t still be here, It’s not possible. I didn’t ask anything else, but I did say one more thing, “We will win this war. I will see to it that you make it home safe,” I promised. He smiled, and gave me an excited hug. “You better be telling the truth!” he grinned.
Suddenly, gas filled the room. I could do nothing but cough. We tried to run, but saw no methods of escape. Perhaps it actually is over… Perhaps… “She might’ve killed the rest, but there was no way she could kill me.” That was the voice of none other than the leader of that group that had previously attacked us, they were actually discovered to be a female, just as I had speculated. “I won’t let this get out.” Let what get out, Lady? What are you talking about? What do you want with us? Why am I so sleepy? My head crashed to the floor once again, but this time I was not alone. Aero was right by my side. The gas had apparently been a sleeping gas, one made to knock you out, not take you out. How lucky that was. Haha, That’s not luck. This isn’t luck. Sorry to say it buddy, but this is the epitome of bad luck! Just let me die already, I don’t care if I die. Aero deserves to live, so if he dies I will haunt the mortal that killed him. Just, if I’m gonna die, make it quick… I finally went to sleep.
I woke up restrained on a table–
What’s with all the table restraints they have here? This is a serious problem.
–once again, this time next to Aero. We were in such a dark room, I couldn’t see much of anything. Everything that happened next was a blur. I was informed that we were going to be testing a method of lethal injection. We panicked, struggled, and did anything we could to break free, but nothing worked. I began screaming. “I didn’t do anything wrong! Why do I have to die! Why does Aero have to die? He’s not a bad guy! He did nothing wrong, we did nothing wrong!” I yelled hoping someone would understand. Moments later, that mysterious lady walked up to us once again, she was wearing a dark hood disguising her face, and it was so long that the rest of her body had been covered as well. I assumed she was a lady because she had long burgundy hair.
“You’re wondering why you’re here?” She said Cheerfully, with a smile creeping across her face.
“Obviously,” Aero and I responded.
“Haha, Alright,” she giggled, “See, the thing is, I’m afraid we don’t have much time left. We were going to use you guys long before this, but you guys just had to prolong the inevitable. Let me explain what is actually going on. This place, this ‘Chamber’ you’re in right now, this is called TERAX. This place was originally used for curing diseases, but everything has changed. I am here to try to change this place back to the way it was before.”
“I’ve had to kill many people along the way, and people probably fear me for this, but if this place becomes solely for cures then I’d have saved more people than I’ve killed. And for that, it’s all worth it. This place is now used for genetic mutation because of an accident that happened on February 16th, 2009. It wasn’t as much of an accident as it was a cruel act. Not many people know about it yet. It’s been ten years. Ten long years. And nothing has been fixed… People are dying. The death toll has gotten higher and higher… year by year. It has not gotten any better. And I’m very sorry you guys had to be involved,” she grieved with a tear running down her face.
“You don’t seem to be a terrible person, so why are you so feared?” I asked, “And where is your little girl now?”
“Yeah, I mean my friends were so scared of you!” Aero agreed, “Honestly, I had never even met you, but I still feared you.”
She looked confused as if she didn’t understand what we just said, “Your friends?” she questioned.
“Yes, my friends and I heard a lady with a voice similar to yours,” Aero explained, “Not so long after that all of my friends were shot and killed, leaving me here to find Xena moments later.”
“Yeah, that was fate, now what happened to your little girl?” I continued.
“Oh, well you’ll see Xena,” she answered. “I’m so sorry about what’s to come.”
The lights turned on and four men in white lab coats ran into the room, with each one more intimidating than the other. Our eyes adjusting to the sudden contrast of light. They told us to calm down. Calm down? You expect me to calm down? Just like that? At will? Four big men just walked into the room where a guy I just met and I are both tied down talking to some hooded lady in all black, yet we’re just expected to be quiet about it? I don’t think so! I don’t even know why I’m here, let alone what’s going on. It’s like depriving one’s mind of its inner thought, simply not fair. One man slowly approached me, another approached Aero. The others blocked our only route of escape, though there was really no need. We were tied up, this was game over. A needle was slowly inserted into my arm. I knew I shouldn’t have been calm! I should’ve found my way out of this! Now I’m going to die because I didn’t fight back. I’ve gone against my morals, which is the root of all my problems. Again and again I tell myself to listen to my gut, but I don’t. That’s why I always end up like this, Broken and unwanted. Aero ended up with the same fate, with a needle just like me, but his was inserted through his neck. Poor Aero, I’m sorry we couldn’t get out of here as I promised. The back of my mind whispered in hopes that Aero could somehow hear me. “Shhh…” The man whispered to me as the light faded from my eyes, “This will only hurt you for a moment.”
October 30, 2019
“You may awaken now,” a familiar voice informed.
I woke up once again, this time next to the hooded lady and Aero. Aero was still unconscious, but the hooded lady was wide awake. We were not restrained, But we were in a white room with no entrance and therefore no escape. There was nowhere to run to, this time.
“Finally…” The hooded lady said. “I get to tell you about my little girl.”
“Well, yeah but why couldn’t you tell me before?” I asked.
She never responded to me. Instead, she removed her hood. And to my surprise, and my demise, It was my previously deceased mother.
“Is… is that you mom!?” I uttered, “I thought you were dead!”
“I don’t understand how I didn’t notice that it was you before.”
“I saw your disembodied head!”
“I know I did!”
“How are you here now? That’s not possible!”
“All I remember is that I was going into your room to see if you and dad were okay, and—” My eyes lit up immediately right after I said those words, “Dad…”
“What did you do to my father?” I questioned as tears filled my eyes.
“I’m sorry, Kid,” she mourned, “I had to do it! I had to kill him! It was for my safety, and it was for yours, and my safety matters to me.” I made a blank face and tried not to seem as confused. “He was going to kill us both,” she continued, “I had to do it… I had to… It was the right thing to do, I know it…”
You Broke my heart and all you could say was sorry? You are a murderer, a filthy beast. The fact that you still have a place on this Earth is asinine at best.
I didn’t know what to do with this information. My mind went blank and was rightfully thrown into thoughts of pure hatred. I didn’t say a word, I couldn’t say a word. I know my father wasn’t the best, but he was my father. Losing him still hurts nonetheless. I closed my eyes to process the magnitude of the situation, but the only thing I could stand to mutter was “Okay.”
“Well, I still don’t understand where that chamber was, or… is, and how I got there.”
“Oh yeah!” she remembered, “Well that chamber is actually a secret chamber hidden underneath the house. It’s really hard to see without knowing it’s there. Maybe that’s why you never noticed it.” She laughed as if this situation had been funny in any way, shape, or form, “And as for where you are now, well we’re in another hidden room. It wasn’t originally like this, the room was originally black. But that’s nothing some white paint won’t fix!” she shrugged. We shared a minute or two of silence, and finally, she decided to speak. But even before she uttered any more words, I knew something had changed. Her eyes dilated and the smile of a psychopath crept across her face. “You can’t escape, I won’t let you.” She had come to a realization that would ruin my life. “I understand now what your father was thinking. It was never my ideal mission to kill you, but I see what I must do now. You will be my test subject. But no matter how hard I try, I could never destroy something I created and dealt with for 16 years straight, maybe even longer. So… my new serum. You will be testing it out with your friend over there like I had planned before you idiots ruined everything.” She laughed uncontrollably, with her eyes turning bright red, and spit flying from her mouth, as well as sweat forming on her forehead. She pulled an object from her hood, the object turning out to be a needle. Promptly, she pinned me down with the razor sharp needle in her hand. She stabbed me with it… a small leakage of blood trickled down my neck. Everything went numb until I felt nothing but excruciating pain. My spine split apart, and so did everything on top of it. Out came wings… or maybe tentacles, I still don’t know to this very day. I just know that they were the size of my back and my legs combined. The tentacles burst out of my back, splattering gore everywhere and knocking me the ground. I couldn’t move them, they were just there. My eyes changed, their color went from milky white and forest green to black and blood red. My teeth changed into fangs. My nails became razor sharp, and my hair grew past my lower back. I could feel every second of all the pain. I was leaking black blood. I began vomiting crimson, and I could see nothing but a crimson hue for a moment or two. At this point, I was in a state of catatonia. I couldn’t feel a thing except for all the pain, but I could see better than ever. It turns out that we also gained freakish strength and speed. “You’re next, young one.” My mother assured as she lunged onto Aero and stabbed him as well. “And don’t worry, you won’t be alone.” He finally woke up from cold sweat-inducing sleep, but he did nothing but scream as he suffered the same fate. He developed the same things as me, but, unlike me, he stood up seconds later.
“I’m sorry, Xena.” Aero cried. I could only see the pain in his eyes. He could only see the pain and the hurt my mother caused as he held his hardened, newly grown, tentacle high above his head, and, numb with anguish, launched it into my mother’s abdomen. Aero fell to the floor in pain. “Truth is, Xena, You were nothing but an experiment this whole time.” My mother’s last words were like a dagger, cutting deep into my chest, wounding my heart for years to come. At the moment of impact, blood sprayed everywhere, my now mangled mother, choking on her own blood. Doomed to die in minutes. Whilst my mother’s entrails were slipping out of the huge holes in her stomach, the entrails made a satisfying slopping sound as they hit the ground. I could finally move again, just after he had killed my mother. After gaining my movement again, I immediately went to check for a pulse, which was no longer there. The pain was still there, But at least I could function. I cried, I cried and cried and cried. I didn’t know what else to do. My whole way of living had been taken from me in a matter of days. Aero sat there, in pain, yet silent as I cried loudly to myself. At some point, he got tired of hearing me cry and went over to help me. He wiped the tears off my face and grabbed my hand. “Let’s get out of here, okay?” He suggested. I nodded and proceeded to break the walls of this bloody room with our tentacles in hopes that we would escape, and we did. I turned around one more time to witness my mother’s mutilated body, that’s when I got a warm, happy, content feeling.
After losing everything I once had, I decided to live life the way I wanted to. I could do whatever I wanted, school was no longer an issue, and now I’ll always have time to write. An eternity spent watching my loved ones live and die. TERAX’s serum was a success if this living nightmare was their goal. Aero is also immortal, he’s stuck suffering with me. He and I are still together, actually, we’re married. After a while, we realized that it would hurt too much to leave each other for someone else. Just awaiting their death day, knowing ours would never come. Plus, he helped me through I really tough time in my life, letting go of my past.
In the end, the war was won, but at what costs? I have been doomed to roam the Earth as a monster. That’s why I’m able to write to you now, on July 16, 2086. One day you will grow old, and eventually, die, whether you’re happy with your fate or not, but Aero and I will be here together forever. Suffering…
