Patrons of Capes

Taylor 1.1

Brockton Bay, USA
Winslow High
January, 2011

Getting back from winter break, Taylor was needing to grab her books for the first period. She noted an odd smell nearby. Did someone leave their gym bag in their locker over break, whatever it was, it was ripe, and near her locker. Opening her locker, it became clear the source of the smell.

What could only be described as several trash bags worth of used tampons and sanitary pads that were filling her locker. Just the door being open released a stench that made her eyes water. She curled over and vomited, everything in her stomach was thrown onto the old, gross products. Before she could get away, a hand gripped her hair, and she was pushed face first into the mess that was her locker.

She threw up again, eyes watering, the smell was so bad, it was what she thought a rotting body would smell like, the gross mushy substance moved around her, the sensation of bugs crawling over her body, it was bad. Then the door shut. She tried to move the latch on the inside, finding it had been locked.

No, No, No! They stopped, now she was targeted again. Taylor panicked.

"Please! Somebody!" She cried out, banging on the locker door, pleading for anyone to help her.

The bugs moved over her, she coughed, the putrid aid made it hard to breathe.

"Can anyone hear me!?" She cried, coughing more, then feeling as if she needed to puke more, her already empty stomach heaving, making it hard to get a good breathe of air.

"Please! LET ME OUT!" She screamed.

More time passed, screaming, her voice started to get strained, throat hurt. No one was helping her. Her body ached, itched, hitting the locker door over and over, tears that streamed down her face. Why was this happening? What did she do to deserve this?

"Please. Anyone...help me." She said, feeling despair, something happened.

She was no longer in the locker. She was looking at....something, she was in space, she saw hundreds of thousands of shapes reflecting light as they moved, spiraling around. They moved towards her, slow, the shapes growing and shrinking at the same time. Then she found herself in the locker, just for a second, then, everything felt worse. An intense buzzing, a mess of colors, sounds made no sense, even moving, somehow it was worse, everything was overwhelming, she screamed, and felt pain rock her body, her head slamming against the locker door hard.

She found herself somewhere else....was this a delusion? Was she going insane? What was going on? She was in a forest, no it wasn't that, there wouldn't be waterfalls coming into the sky. She moved forward just a bit. Grass wasn't supposed to flow with colors.

Just moving didn't feel right. Creatures flew through the sky without wings, moving like an aquatic mammal more than birds, they moved through the sky with ease. Taylor noticed the grass glow as she walked through it.

"What is this place?" She asked herself out loud, the grass glowing brighter as she spoke.

She spotted trees in the distance. She felt something, it was in those trees. The forest seemed so far away. Wading through the grass, she took maybe 10 steps before she found herself in the forest, that was more like a shrubbery.

Taking a few steps, she suddenly fell down, sliding down a cliff and then stopping at the bottom of the slope that appeared. She looked up and found that she was not in the shrub bush she expected, now in what images of the Redwood forest looked like. Standing up, it was like it went from midday to near dusk.

Looking around, Taylor kept walking, confused. "That didn't make any sense. Is this like a lucid dream? Come on. Fly!" She said, jumping only to nearly fall over.

"Can't fly. Ummmmm, forest split. Show me my way out." Taylor said, worried now, as she waved her hands, the trees were not moving, however there was movement from above, it moved fast, leaping from tree to tree, moving down in her direction.

Running from it, Taylor scrambled to try and get away. Looking back, the creature looked as if it changed how it was shaped, instead of leaping, it was swinging from branch to branch, landing only to run after her. Suddenly it stood up and the only thing she could tell was a mask that looked like a skull of some sort.

The thing shouted something, it didn't make sense...it was a mess of sounds. It got close, nearly grabbing Taylor. Taylor fell again, and the ground went from solid dirt, to muddy dirty water. Taylor wanted to scream but she only got a mouthful of dirt flavored water. Failing to swim, she was pulled out of the ground, and was face to face with the bone mask, a set of eyes glowed through the cracks in the bone.

Again, there was a demanding tone, with no idea how it was stated. Taylor grabbed the arm, fearful as she was held up feet off the ground.

"Where am I? What do you want from me?" Taylor asked, fearful.

Just as quick as she was there, she was back in the locker. The door opened and she fell on the ground. She pushed herself away, trying to get the feeling of the bugs off of her. She screamed, screamed as she saw the thing with the bone mask looking around, drawing a sickle, and looked at Taylor. She moved quickly, towards her.

"Get away! Stop! Get away! SOMEONE HELP ME!" Taylor cried, scrambling to her feet and tried to run, pushing through the crowd, looking over her shoulder to see the thing chasing her.

It could pass people quickly, moving fast, agile, people didn't seem to see the thing chasing her, but only watched.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME! IT'S A MONSTER!" Taylor screamed, before something impacted her, someone was holding her down.

"Calm down you crazy bitch!" the guy shouted, as Taylor struggled against him.

Taylor tried to kick, seeing the thing stand over the guy's shoulder. The thing reached towards her face, before it looked around, shaking it's head...thing. It raised the sickle and was about to swing down.

Taylor closed her eyes tight, and then, nothing happened. Opening one eye, she saw the thing passing its hand through the other people, as if it was testing itself against the world. It moved away, confused, pressing against a wall, not able to move through it.

It turned, and looked around, before a pair of green eyes glowed under the mask. Taylor, overwhelmed by everything, the visions, the ghost, the locker, she passed out.

When she woke up, Taylor could only look around, she wasn't at Winslow any more. She saw her dad, by the side of the bed she was in, she was at a the Hospital.

"Dad..." She said, her throat hurt.

He hugged her.

"Taylor, I got the call from the school, you were manic, I was so worried." He said.

Taylor, however, was looking at the thing again, that thing with the mask. She began to breathe heavily, why was it here, what did it want with her.

"Common....a tongue I haven't spoken since well before last March. How did you bring me here...what plane is this?" it said

"What?" Taylor asked.

"I asked if you knew who might have pushed you in the locker." Her dad asked.

"I...I don't know. Who is that?" Taylor said, pointing at the figure.

Her dad let go of her, just so he could turn and look at where she was pointing, seeing nothing where she was pointing.

"No one but you can see me, nor hear me. Even magic eludes me in this plane. So now I am tied to you. I also feel my magic flow into you, but....something else is there too." it said, approaching, phasing through her dad and looking at Taylor.

Taylor didn't know what to say, this figment of her imagination, or, something else entirely.

"Can....I get some water?" Taylor asked

"Sure can kiddo." her dad said, getting up and picking up the ice cup and walking out of the room.

"What are you?" Taylor asked.

"I am a druid, one of the Feywilds. Since you have become my conduit of power, I suppose I will have to have you learn the druidic arts so that I may return from this....unusual bindings." the ghost...druid...hallucination explained.

That wasn't a terrifying prospect.

"What do you mean, I can have powers now?" Taylor asked.

"You are a sapling compared to the world tree I am. The claim of power is minimal at this time. But with time, I can help you grow." they explained.
Taylor smiled, looking down at her hands.

"What should I call you?" Taylor asked.

"Call me teacher. Now....Let's see if you can properly channel my power. I will start with something simple." They said, "sitting" on the edge of the bed, and holding out a hand.

Taylor moved her hand so that it was "held".

"This is a power, known as Primal Savagery. Feel deep inside of you, the old urges that you suppress. The part of you that you resist. Grab it, hold it, channel it into your hand."

Taylor tried, she felt like it was weak, but...that feeling did exist. She closed her hand and opened it, she looked at it...her nails were longer now, they were like claws. Just as soon as she started examining them, they returned to normal.

"Hmmmm, not quite right, like the claws of a kitten rather than that of a lion. Perhaps once we are beyond this prison of stone and metal, we will be able to truly bring out your potential as a druid. Is there a sacred grove or other place of great spiritual power we could meditate in, connected to the nature of this plain." She explained

"That might be hard....we're in a city...a park might be the best I can do, right now." Taylor explained.

The door opened and Taylor saw her dad, holding the cup and helping her drink from the cup. Taylor however, was excited, she was able to be a hero, even if it was....unusual.