The Order of the Dark Lands (Wattys2015)

Chapter 2 Part 1

DO SKIP ALL THE BOLD WORDS. BECAUSE I AM RAMBLING HERE. THANKS FOR READING. This will be short by the way.

First, Chapter 1 sucked and it's embarrassing (I wanted to delete it after I posted it), I felt that it was short and it needed more in depth explanation and definition of the whole situation that is happening there. Second, Guia (our main character) needed more personality and character strength. Third, there were a lot of errors due to my excitement to publish it. I didn't edit, I'm so sorry, I will edit it though soon. You guys may point out errors I missed (you may do so for every chapter too)

I will be eternally grateful for your patience with me and this story. HAPPY READING!

Dad was about to open the door of our pod when everything went quiet. The gunshots and cries were muted to silence. This scared me even more. It made us hold our guns tighter. I was wearing my oxygen mask but I felt like suffocating. Outside I will kill for the first time. The bullet from my gun will travel to someone's head or other body parts. Or it will be me who will die. Someone's bullet will penetrate my head. And I will be that person's food. I hope I don't taste good. I am skinny and pale. My brothers often tell me I look like that scary Japanese ghost Sadaku, I am the western version. People who are skinny and pale are not delicious. Cannibals, I am only going to give you stomachache. Spare me. And my family too.

My heart was hammering inside my chest. Thump thump thump. It sounded like the rain hitting the roof. Mom gripped my right arm. Her nails digging on my pale skin. I tried not to wince and I looked at her and she was looking up.

Thump thump thump. Wait. The sound wasn't my heart. It was coming from the roof. And it really did sound like raindrops pelting our pod. What the hell.

"Does that sound like what I think it sounds like?" Jonathan whispered, his eyes wide.

I wish the pod had windows. If it really is raining, I wanted to see it. If weren't for the cannibals I would run outside opened mouthed. I would drink the rain until I'm bloated.

"Take cover. I'll go check." Dad ordered us. Mom kissed his cheek and I suddenly remembered their last anniversary that we celebrated. It felt like it was hundreds of years ago.

"We should go buy football tickets." Vincent was smiling smugly.

What a stupid idea. I kicked him from under the table. Ryan yelped and kicked Billy who was about to retaliate but Dad glared at him. Oops, wrong brother.

"You should just buy her another sweater Dad." Eric suggested.

"Yeah. A pink one with a cat." Billy agreed.

The others nodded eagerly. Idiots. I tried hard not to pull all my hair out.

"You give her pink sweaters with cats every year Dad." I pointed out.

"Yeah so? That means Dad is consistent."

"Ugh. You guys are dense oafs." I rolled my eyes. "Don't you have any romantic bone in your buffy bodies?"

"We'll take that as a compliment." Jonathan flexed his biceps at me.

"How about a romantic dinner? It's cliché but I know Mom will love it if we all prepare it for her. I can bake a heart shaped cake." I suggested.

They all perked up at the sound of cake and Dad shot me an appreciative look as he sighed in relief.

There was one flaw in our plan. None of us know how to cook. We thought googling a good recipe and following it will be a piece of cake. I'm sure the beef stew was not edible. And the mash potatoes were extremely salty that Dad had a coughing fit after tasting it. My cake wasn't any better. It got stuck in the heart shaped tin and when I forced it out it crumpled into what resembled a broken heart. The only right thing that we did was the cream cheese frosting.

"This is a disaster." Dad was massaging his temples.

I nodded while licking the cream cheese frosting off of the beaters. It was really good.

"Uh oh. Mom is on the way home. She and Aunt May finished early." Jonathan was looking at his phone in horror.

We started to panic. Someone slapped Billy with frosting and all hell broke loose. Dad couldn't contain us. My long black hair was now a buffet of stew, mash and frosting. I was grabbing anything I can reach and flinging it at whoever brother is closest. Ryan gave a battle cry and smacked a handful of mash potatoes in Vincent's face. I laughed and someone shot a piece of cake into my open mouth, almost choking me.

The kitchen is now a disaster. Ryan used all of the food inside the fridge and aimed it everywhere. Even Dad is joining us now.

Amidst all the commotion we all heard this single gasp. When we all turned towards it and we found Mom, and she looked horrified.

"Milly!" Dad wiped his frosting covered face. "I'm so sorry.. We tried making dinner for you.. It's our anniversary and I wanted to do something special, the kids are helping me and it turned into this.. I'm really sorry. I did buy you a sweater though. It's pink and it has a little hedgehog and a kitten.." Dad wouldn't shut up.

To our surprise Mom laughed, ran towards Dad and gave him a kiss. Which is sweet if they weren't our parents.

And now, just seeing Mom give a simple peck in Dad's cheek means the world to me. I can never wish for that kind of love now. My main priority is to survive along with my family.

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Disbelief. Inability to accept the truth.

I forgot that I was supposed to be taking cover when Dad open the door of our pod. I stood, completely visible and unbelieving. Outside, from what I can see through the open door was rain. I took shaking steps towards Dad as he stood frozen. The sky was covered in fat dark gray clouds. The clouds were spitting heavy raindrops unto earth. Angry and unashamed.

The rain coated everything in a gloomy hue. Yet I found myself crying in joy.

Little did I know that this wasn't a good sign at all..