“CHANGE IT! CHANGE IT!” She cried to her mother. She had never felt as much fear and loss of sanity as she does now.
2 DAYS EARLIER
Just like any other day, she was walking home from school, ready to put the “Goody two-shoes” act in front of her mother. “Hey Mom, I’m home!” She says, informing her mother. “Hey Marana, anywhere to go today?” The mother asks. She usually asks this question because she believes her daughter is in a photography club, taking pictures of glorious sites every week. “Yup. Today I’m going to the Wilderness of the Desert” Marana says in a sarcastic and jokingly way.
“Oh shoot! I better leave now or I’ll be late for the bus! See ya later mom!” The door shuts behind Marana, leaving her mother a smile of sanity before returning to her daily routine. Marana arrives at the bus, but is greeted by her friends in a rusty truck. She joins her friends, riding into the Wilderness with no regrets. At least not yet…
The last thing she remembered was a fire, lighting up what was dark and her friends dancing. But to what? She doesn’t remember what happened, but she does feel pain. It was the only thing she’d wake up to. She thought she had tilted her head on something sharp, like a beer bottle or some other type of object.
She ignored the pain, and thought to her self where she was. She stood up and felt the sand fall out of her hair onto her back, then turned around and looked at the fire that had died out. She looked around to see if her friends were close by, but she couldn’t see anything from miles away. She look back at the fire pit and immediately jumped back in fear. She saw four human skeletons trying to get out of the sand, as if it would help even more to struggle. She slowly stepped back, hopping the carcases don’t move anymore than they already have.
Then, hoping she was out of their sight, ran as fast as she could, opposite of the sun rising. All she wished for was to see her mother again. She came to a stop, trying to catch her breath before the carcases appear out of nowhere again. She bent down and looked at her shoes, then rested her arm on an object in front of her. She looked up and again she fell back, surprised a red and glass wall filled her sight.
She stepped back and circled the box. It seemed suitable for a human being, so she looked up to see if it had any signs of the sort. She saw, written at the top “Telephone Booth” and had a feeling of hope. She opened the door and stepped inside to inspect the phone. She thought it would still work, so she dialed her mother’s number. Ring ring, the phone said, informing the mother she had a call. “Hello this is-” the connection to the telephone was very poor, and was cutting put very easily. The mother’s voice returned with “how may I help you?” Marana replied with “Mom! I’m so glad to hear your voice! Listen, I’m sorry I was late, but I’m stranded in the middle of nowhere and I want to go home. There is a path leading to where I’m at so follow it! At the end, you should see a phone box or something, just hurry!”
The mother was relieved at the sound of her daughter’s voice, but before she could say anything in reply, Marana hung up. She sat on the floor of the box, waiting for her savior to retrieve her. She started to think how she could have avoided this predicament. BRING BRING BRING her thoughts were interrupted by the annoying sound of the phone. She went to the phone and picked it up to see if her mother was calling for more directions. Surprisingly, it was someone else. A voice so deep and raspy was on the other line, and said “Tell me…-” the connection was cutting out again, creating an atmosphere more fearful and shady. “Are you worthy of the title?”
The question hung in the air like a stench you wish not to breath. She didn’t reply with an answer, so he kept talking. “Let me show you who the last one was.” All of a sudden, she felt pain on everyplace on her body. She heard screams of women, children, and men. She tried moving but it only hurt more. Suddenly, her surroundings changed to the front of a building that was practically demolished and buying into ashes. It was so quick, that it was as if she teleported to a different place, as if she had power which knew what she wanted. She turned around and saw fresh corpses of people who seemed to suffer the worse death possible. Blades through their throats, hearts being stolen from their lifeless husks, and it was worse when it happened around people who could’ve stopped it.
Marana didn’t want this, so she pleaded to the voice to make it stop. But… It didn’t. She felt every pain that was put on the people, having no mercy on her and the people. After what seemed like hours of torture, her surroundings returned to the phone box. She fell to the floor not knowing what to do after the things she saw. She looked up at the phone, then down again. “You seem to be scared. Are you not worthy of the title?” Said the voice, surprising Marana. “Out of most of the others, I thought you would fall for the… temptation…”
Out of habit, Marana stood up and screamed “YOU CALL THAT TEMPTATION!? I HATED THAT EXPERIENCE! I DON’T WANT THE STUPID TITLE, SO JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!” After her outburst, she fell to the floor and cried. A cloud of darkness started to rise from the phone and leaned over to Marana. “Those who aren’t worthy of the title… Aren’t worthy of living.” She raised her head to the mist and started to feel her life drain out of her soul. She fought and struggled against it, then she broke free. She ran as fast as she could away from the mist, but being as weak as she had become, the mist had become even stronger, so it was only a matter of time when she would fall. The mist had caught up to her and was ready to finish what was started.
But out of nowhere, a car had drove into the mist, forcing it to disappear to those who don’t carry the title. When the mist disappeared, the sand off the desert then took its place and hid the car. A silhouette of a person then appeared in Marana’s vision, moving closer and closer, calling out her name. The voice was familiar to Marana, yet she still didn’t reply. “Marana! Marana, is that you!? What was that cloud thingy? Did I kill it or something?” The dust disappeared and Marana saw her mother walking over to her with her hand over her eyes, trying not to get blinded by the sand. “Mom! You came just in time! We need to leave right now, and I mean now!” Said Marana in excitement then frustration. The mother quickly rushed into the car with Marana, making sure she wasn’t sick from being in the desert for so long.
When they arrived home, they had a long discussion about Marana’s day in the desert, but she didn’t mention anything about her title, or the skeletons, or how the mist tried to kill her. She tried to explain that some powder from her camera had mixed in the dust, causing the black cloud to form. The mother didn’t punish Marana, and they kept living happily… Until the next day of course…
1 DAY LATER
Marana woke up, and went to school. She expected to see her friends there, but she didn’t. She thought her “experience” from before was just a nightmare. She was fine up until biology class, the course Anatomy. The moment she saw the skeleton, she had an episode of the carcases in the desert. Her eyes drew over to the black cloud in the corner, repeating the words Marana, Marana, Marana. She found herself screaming for her life and falling to the floor. When she woke up, she was on her room surrounded by her friends on her bed. She looked relieved but confused at her friends and their expressions. She asked her friends what had happened and they replied with “Well, first you gave that sekelton a weird look, then you gazed over to the corner of the room and started screaming like a maniac! Oh! Then you fell dead on the floor!”
Marana quickly realized that none of her friends were at school, especially not in her biology class. She wasn’t sure what to do but then said “But I’m not dead, see?” She raised her hand to her heart acknowledging that it’s beating, keeping her alive. Then the group of friends changed their expression to a souless demonic face. Then their bodies dropped to the floor and started to decay to skeletons right in front of Marana. Her eyes widened and left from the carcases to the black cloud rising from their bodies, as if it were controlling their lifeless husks.
Marana started screaming, thinking that she would find herself in the hospital from having another episode. The mother ran into the room, looking from Marana, to the carcases, to the black cloud, then back to Marana crying and screaming for her life. Marana pleaded that she will change her name so there’s no need to kill her. She ran to her mother yelling “You have to change it! You have to change my name mother! CHANGE IT MOTHER, CHANGE IT!” The mother seemed to have enough, and replied with “No! I don’t have to do anything! I gave you that name, so your going to live with it!” Then, Marana replied with a whisper “But I won’t live for much longer…” After just barley hearing her whipser, the mother had felt extreme pain and immedeiate death, having a spear thrown at her throat. The mother was hanging on the wall, being held by the spear, leaving Marana to the cloud. The cloud replied with “That would be blasphemy to the title.” Then the cloud stole the rest of Marana’s lifespan, leaving a pile of ashes on the floor, never to have anyone speak of it again.
