cobalt

cobalt :: 5

I awoke in a sweat. My body was forcing air from my chest, my hazel eyes wide with fear.

My brain was aching with a force I've never felt before. I jumped up, searching frantically for my mom, for my research, for the voice.

My feet and hands were quivering violently as I leapt out of bed; jumping when I heard something make a loud thud behind me.

"Prism! Breakfast is ready. Stop loitering and get down here before you're late for school."

I couldn't feel my body, I couldn't feel my heart, I couldn't feel my mind.

"M-mom?"

It was so odd. I felt lost in a never ending labyrinth, no markers or footprints left behind to guide my way.

My eyes swept the floor, looking for the mysterious object that had caused a commotion.

It was a journal. But not mine.

I anxiously reached out for it, feeling the cold leather upon my skin.

Old, slightly rotting. A large, golden coin was locking the strap that held it together. Excess pages hold on for dear life as a long, red ribbon peels out.

The strangest thing was the coin.

It was a knife, holes through the blade. As though an acid flowed down and ate the thin material the knife was composed of.

The next thing I knew, I ripped the coin off the journal. Paper rustling and a loud metallic echo sounded in my ears.

"Prism! Get down here, the bus will be here any minute!"

But I didn't care. I made sure to take the few steps needed to lock my door.

Flipping to the first page I can find that was fully intact, I read the smooth black letters aligning in sentences. It seemed that the one who wrote these words had a gift for calligraphy, and perhaps a taste in writing.

"Journal Entry #42:
I've been searching for the same kid for nearly three months. I can feel my body deteriorating. I still can't believe I've made it this far with the chemical in me. Maybe I'll make it through this."

That was all that was on this page.
I flipped through more, finding a page that seemed somewhat complete.

"Journal Entry #65:
He's mocking me. I sense him hiding around corners and can  feel the sickening vibrations of his laughter leaking through his chest.
I don't think I have much time left. I tried to eat one of the compressed pieces of bread I was able to collect, and vomited. It was this unnatural royal blue color; speckles of red coating it.
I can honestly say that I'm scared. I have to go through with this. I have to save my people.
Even his name was filled with violence. It's hard to even write down, but I'll tell you. It was

The yellowed paper was torn, cutting off the rest of the message. I hoped I'd find the man's name somewhere within these ink coated words.

I gently grabbed a handful of the frail pages, and flipped through to the last page with his handwriting gracing it. Maroon blots coated the paper, a rather menacing smell being released into the clean air. I also noticed thick drops of an auburn substance coinciding with, what I assumed the other liquid decorating the paper menacingly was, blood. I believe that the brown specks were trails of earthy, wet soil; mud.

"Journal Entry #97:
He's found me. There's nothing I can do. My body is reacting violently to the toxic liquid churning within me.
He had blonde hair. Just as I remembered him.
Of course, cruelness was etched  into his features.
You could clearly tell he was the prince of the Cobalt Bloods.
He was holding the sword that caused so much fear to linger throughout my mind and body.
He's here. I must go."

My hands were trembling, teeth chattering, knees growing weak.

Was he or she dead? Did... Did the man in my dream kill them? Are they perhaps the teen male that had the sword kill him in one single blow? And...

Cobalt Bloods?

"Hello, Prism. I see you've finally found my journal.
My name's Arsenic."