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Billy leaned against an old tree in the middle of a field. A beacon of green in a sea of gold. Wasn't like that anymore though. He looked up lazily at the branches above him. He remembered when they were smooth and brown and lush. They were claws now. Rigor mortis was an ugly thing. Well...no...it wasn't. I mean, it's kinda up to the eye of the beholder and all, after all. There was a clarity to it. What could be a more clear signal that it was over, the fight was finished? You lost.

"Yo shit'ead! Wake up!"

Billy rolled his head down and looked out into the field. There was a girl out there, she was far away, at the base of the tree's root where the thin grass gripped and gropped like the hands of zombies. They were loud and obnoxious when he walked out here, yelling in there cracking voices. He'd thought about how it was before, when they were nice. They were sociable and courteous, bending easily and sighing or laughing in that windy sorta way. Their conversations were long and...very...beatiful. Billy nodded his head. He like these memories that were so clear to him. They lulled him to dreams that made him smile and feel better whenever he'd awake, though he wouldn't remember what it was that made him feel so. It was nice to dream like that. It was nice to think about friends long gone and not feel sad.

"Fuck you, Bones. I'm gonna tell mom on you!"

"Will you also tell mom what you said?" Billy replied, never bothering to open his eyes. He was hoping to still fall asleep, though he knew it wouldn't happen. Not with her around.

"I swear I will!"

Billy shifted himself a bit and yawned again. "So, you are saying you will run aaaall the way back home, so you can tell mom on me, then come running aaaall the way back here, only to find that I am gone and most likely am already on my way back to the house?"

The girl did not reply immediately, momentarily confused by the question. Frustration and impatience, however, quickly resolved the matter.

"Whatever ya freak. Go home! Mom said so."

"As if you've ever been the one to do what mom says."

Silence.

Billy smiled and opened his eyes at last. He'd won this conversation, although he probably shouldn't have been so glad about it. He'd learned to not care about things like that. He let himself go.

***

Nancy wanted to tell him what for. She always wanted to, but she never could. Skinny lil shit just made her mad. Really mad. A lot more mad than other little brothers made their older siblings. They annoyed their older siblings, they didn't make them mad. Not the really mad kinda mad. A long time ago she realized that if her brother were in real bad trouble, she wouldn't help him. That was how mad.

"It's your fault." He told her once. "I remember when you were mean to me for the first time. I thought it was okay, because nothing bad happened and it only happened once. But you kept on being mean to me and I realized you weren't going to stop. I gave you the benefit of the doubt, as dad would say. But then you tricked me. You made dad beat me with his belt for something you did and when it was over, I came to you to see if you were sorry. You weren't. You weren't sorry at all."

Nancy didn't remember much of what Billy had said to her, only that he had said it was her fault. Bullshit. So she played pranks, big deal. He was so friggin pampered, he could use some roughing up. That's what the real world was like after all. Let him piss and moan, it wasn't her fault. Beside, she stopped playing pranks a long time ago. God, she was ten back then for shit sake. Screw him!

She stamped her foot and glared up at the boy laying on the branch. He'd gone limp. The bastard was going to sleep on her. She stormed up the root of the tree with her fists and teeth tightly clenched. Who cares what mom'll say, she was gonna tear the brat apart. She looked up and saw Billy fall off the branch.

"Fuck!"

Her eyes wide, she leaped off the root of the tree and dove for the falling child. She caught him, but his weight knocked her breath away and she hit the ground hard. Stars exploded in her eyes and a headache in her head. She groaned and pushed her brother off of her.

"Billy...you lil..." She limply reached over and grabbed the shirt, and shook him weakly. The body was limp and unresponcive.

"Billy?" She sat up and looked to the boy next to her. He wasn't moving.

"Billy!" She jumped up and leaned over her brother and began to shake him harder. "Wake up Billy! Billy wake the fuck up you stupid bastard! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

"Not quite dead yet lady..." a soft voice said. Billy coughed and took in a noticably deep breath of air. "Pick me up...I need a pair of legs."

Nancy didn't pick him up. Nancy cried.


Okay, there's more when I think it up. Now I'm gonna play games at school.



"I'm

This post has been edited by Narratorway on 14th January 2004 01:15

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Intriguing.

I hate to be a grammarian, but I can't help it. If you want to clean up some of the grammar, etc., issues, let me know.

(I know no one's perfect. Denise caught a bunch of glaring errors in my fiction. It happens. But I think that good presentation is just as important as a good story.)

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Veni, vidi, dormivi.

It's a really interesting start, NP. I admit that there are grammar problems, but I know it's not something you normally do in writing. You just get like that when doing kids, I think.

I'm anxious to learn what this has to do with FF6 :-)

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I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

Home was so far away, too far. Nancy couldn't even see the edge of the town yet accross the expanse of dead grass. Oh that fucking grass, how it aggrivated her. It was like walking accross needles that were almost as tall as she was. Always they poked and prodded and crunched. She hated them. She hated them coming out here to find her brother, now she hated them carrying him back home on her back. Oh she hated it all. She fucking hated it!

With a shout of rage, she stamped at a bush in her way.

"Kickin at the grass are you?" Bill asked lazily, "They can't hear you, y'know. They're just the angry souls of a different world." Bill said lazily. His head bobbed up and down like a dead wieght, hitting the back of Nancy's quite often, furthering her anger.

"Shut up. Just...shut up." Nancy seethed with pent up fury she could not unleash.

Billy sensed his siblings boiling point and a sudden feeling of loss flowed through him. It took him completely by surprise, so unexpected was it. He knew there was a time when he onced cared for his sister as a brother should...as a brother always should. He lost that love and in this moment, Billy missed it. Was there a reason?

"Nancy."

"What?" Nancy replied sharply. She did not yet notice the soft tone he'd taken.

"There was a time when you tricked me. Years ago...do you remember."

"Which one brat?" Nancy smiled. At least that was one thing she had over his words. Never had she failed to trick him into doing something that would get him in trouble in one form or another.

"The first one I guess. When you wanted candy from the top shelf and you asked me to get it for you. It was the first time dad took the belt to me. Remember?"

"No." Nancy swallowed.

"You're lying." Billy suddenly felt Nancy let go of his hold of him and she twisted away from his grip. His balance was undone and he fell backward onto the ground. Dust flew up from the dry ground and his eyes watered and were temporarily blinded. When his vision cleared, he looked up to find Nancy glaring at him. Her eyes were almost mad with rage.

"Hey fuck you! Fuck you, you god damned freak! I hate you! Do you fucking understand? I hate you!"

Billy nodded slowly. "I know. But I don't hate you. I did, early on, but I don't now. Now I do not care. I do not care about you Nancy. If you were to die, right now, because of some wandering beast, I would not weep for you. Nor would I feel glad. I would feel nothing. I might be annoyed though, considering I would've lost my ride and would now have to crawl back home."

"Then crawl." Nancy seethed and her voice was ice. She turned her back to her brother and walked away.

"Wait!" Billy cried. "Please wait! I must say this. I must finish!" As soon as he realized Nancy was going to ignore him, desperation and a kind of death panic overcame him. "Nancy if you leave I will stay here until I die! Do you hear me! I will stay here and then you will have to deal with mom and dad! I shit you not!"

Nancy stopped, but did not turn. The anger in her was lessened with this victory over her brother. To have him begging so pathetically was grand indeed, but it was also suspicious. Many were the times she'd made this threat, although this was the first time she'd truly been mad enough to actually abandom him, despite the consequences. Could that have been it? It would seem so. There was no denying the desperation in his plea. She turned around.

"Why should I believe you? You're nothing but a lying cripple."

Billy ignored her as he pushed him self off the ground to sit up. "I need to say this to you Nancy, before it runs away from me. It prolly won't change things, but if I don't try, what's the point?"

"What are you rambling about?" Nancy asked irritably. The anger was now furthered lessened by a growing kind of curiousity and finally Nancy noticed that her brother did not speak in his usual bitter and poisonous tone. What was his game?

"I say I hated you and I did." Billy stopped and gulped. His stomach felt as if it was two feet to his left. "I say I don't care about you and I don't. But before the indifference, before the hate, there was love. I loved you Nancy, very much. I know when I began hating you, but I don't know when you began to hate me." He stopped and for the first time felt the tears that were falling of his cheeks. Why was this happening now. He continued, "Maybe it's too late. Maybe it doesn't matter anymore, but I remembered that love when you were carrying me for some reason and now I know that I want that love back if I can have it. I just...I just want to know when you started to hate me. I'd ask why, but I think I have that figured out already." He coughed. He'd been looking down at the ground for awhile now, and found that he didn't really want to look up. He waited.

"You..." Nancy started, "You think that you know me that well? You think that you can apologize out here, in the middle of nowhere away from mom and dad and it'll somehow make everything better? Nothing can excuse what you've done to me. To my life!"

"What we've done to each other Nancy." Billy corrected. "And it's not an apology, far from it. An apology isn't selfish, just the opposite. My goal is completely selfish. I wish to feel love again, the kind that comes from a complete family, that's all. I didn't hate you for very long Nancy, because I didn't have the energy for it. I'm too old."

"Oh that's so much bullshit." Nancy sneered, but her tone was odd. "You're only ten."

"My body is the only thing that's ten years old and you know it." Billy coughed again. The dust had settled, but he was tired and it was getting on to evenening. A chill wind had begun to blow. "I wanted to think that you hated me because of other reasons. I wanted to think you were different than everyone else, that you were somehow better than such common hatred. But you're only human."

"Shut up. Shut up!" The tone was clear now. It was fear.

Billy laughed. It was a lilting laugh. High and childlike, yet there was an ironic sound to it that no child would have the knowledge to make. Billy lolled his head over to its side and looked at the dusty ground. He reached out and grabbed a handful of earth and brought it to his lips and gently blew on it. The dust scattered and floated before him, but did not drop to the ground. Instead it slowly began to whirl into a miniature dust devil that eminated from Billy's hand. Billy snapped his free finger and the dust collected against each other to form solid dirt clumps. The clumps came together and so forth until a spider like shape was formed. The spider began to crawl across Billy's fingers and he twisted and spread them, playing gingerly with the earthen creation. His eyes were fixed to the creature and a strange half mad smile was formed on his lips.

"Only human." he muttered.



Well, that's it for now. I guess I should mention this is kind of a practise deal. It's been awhile since I've written and I just want to kinda refresh my writing mind, if ya get me. This a very stream of thought project and I'm making it all up as I go, so I'm not sure myself how it will fit with the FF6 world. All I can say for certain is it takes place in the world of ruin. If there are grammar problems, so be it. As far as I'm concerned, if I can say it aloud and it makes sense to me, then it works, English professors be damned!

P.S. I guess I better make it clear right out now, in case this leads to any confusion. Billy boy here lost the use of his legs during the end of the world catastrophe when the floating continent fell. This will prolly come into play later on...maybe...

This post has been edited by Narratorway on 14th January 2004 08:34

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If he lost the use of his legs, how did he get to the tree in the first place, to be yelled at by Nancy? I think I missed something.

Looks good so far, aside from that, anyway.

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I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

Billy woke up. He'd long ago gone to sleep. Doing things like that was really exhausting. Things...things? What would he call it? Magic perhaps, but he didn't think so and he feared what would happen if it was. Magic was a killing word, the uttering of the word was a capitol offense. Lord knows what would happen if his family thought he as a magician. He wondered vaguely why he even thought up that stupid little spider. He looked around.

He was lying prone on the kitchen floor next to the back door of the house and his head was keeping the door from closing. If he tilted his head back, he would see an upside down view of the fields behind his house leading out into the wilderness. Instead he looked into the kitchen, where Nancy was yelling at mom. Screaming in fact. Must mean dad wasn't home. Nancy wouldn't pull this kinda crap if he were here.

"How long are you going to let him trick you?" Nancy shouted, "For the love of the godesses he was more than five miles away when I found him mom! Five miles! For a kid who can't use his legs, he sure gets around don't you think?" Nancy laughed in a rather desperate manner."

Billy looked at mom. As usual, she was trying to stay calm, but she was shaking all over. "Listen to me Nancy. You may not understand your brother, but he is still your brother."

"He's not my brother! He's a liar! He's a freak!" Nancy was slapped across the cheek by mom. Billy raised his eyebrows in suprise. Mom wasn't one who could be pushed to violence easily. Nancy was shocked to silence.

"Now..." Mom stammered. She was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane now. "Now you listen to me young lady. He is your brother and if I ever see you dragging him home by his ankle again, me and your father will punish you in a way that you'll remember for the rest of your life."

Billy stared at mom. The threat was rather empty, and he didn't think the delivery was very good. The anger, however, was geniune and that made up for everything else. Mom may not have known what kind of punishment she'd administer, but she was all to willing to make it a nasty one. But something was tugging at him again. Things weren't adding up somehow. Didn't matter Billy boy...it doesn't matter. Make sure you keep telling yourself that.

Billy chuckled. He wasn't sure why he did it, but oh well to that right? He looked up at the two women who now locked eyes on him. Nancy was still pissed, natch. Mom was terrified. Her hands were clasped over her mouth and her eye were squinting. She was right out of a horror novel. Billy smiled cause now he knew why he'd chuckled.

"Mom you look funny." He said with a tone vaguely reminiscent of a toddler.

"Billy...did you..."

"Yeah..." He half grunted, half sighed, pushing himself up to a sitting position and shrugged the door off of him. "Somewhere along the point where I was tricking all of you." He scratched the back of his head and emitted a great big yawn. "What time is it? Smell's like I missed dinner."

"Uh...yes..." Mom uttered faintly. She cleared her throat nervously. "Y-yes dear. But I'll reheat your meal for you after I finish talking with your sister. Nancy, help him into his chair. Until then Billy, I want you to play in your room."

"Is it okay if I get my chair? I'm tired of having her lift me up. She keeps poking my underarm."

"Okay Billy, just go now okay?"

"Okay."

Billy grabbed his prone feet and placed them accross each other before lifting himself up and hobbling accross the room. Whatever odd feeling he was getting in the back of his gut, he was feeling exhaustion up front and it took precedent. He quickly hopped up on his chair, specially fitted with wheels, and rolled into his room. He would wait till they were done with whatever they were gonna scream about and then he'd have a talk with mom. Let the problem come forward then.




This post has been edited by Narratorway on 15th January 2004 05:08

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Billy woke up with a start. He was panting for breath. He'd must've been dreaming, because he was covered in blood. He looked down at the sheets and no spot was white. The floor was shiny and black. He leaned over to the bedside lamp and lit it. The yellow glow seemed sickly to him. He tossed aside his blood soaked blanket and pushed himself off the bed and onto his wheelchair. He rolled over to his bedroom door and left.

It was silent and dark in the living room. Moonlight shone brightly through the window and created all kinds of abstract shapes. No lights were on. He'd missed his chance.

"Dammit!" He cursed lightly.

"Billy?" A shape stired from the sofa.

"Mom?" Billy rolled over to sofa. "What are you doing up? What time is it?"

"Oh I couldn't get to sleep, so I came down here to read a bit. Must've dozed off." she yawned and stretched. She was laying across the couch and sat herself up. "What about you young man? It must be well past midnight."

"Maybe. I have some work to do. I think I had a dream." he heard his mother gasp. She must've finally got a good look at him. "Don't worry, it's just blood."

"Just...how..." his mother stammered.

Billy just snorted, "Oh come on mom! This has happened before and nothing bad came from it. Why can't you just...I don't know...stop going into hysterics when it does?"

"But Billy..."

"But Billy nothing! The worst this does is cost me a day cleaning the floor and sheets, nothing more. Hell, it happened five times before you found out, and you were happy enough before, and this'll be the third time since. It's no big deal. Although it does smell...I will give you that."

"Oh Billy don't make jokes about it." Billy couldn't see it, but he could tell his mother was close to crying if she wasn't already. "It's...it isn't natural...it isn't right!"

Billy only stood there, frustrated that he couldn't reach out and comfort her, covered in blood as he was. He could only rely on his voice. "It's as natural as giving birth mom. As for whether it's right...who knows. Many things aren't right in this new world, yet they still are. Now I'm gonna go outside and wash myself off and then I'll be right back here. I actually want to talk with you about this and I guess the fates agreed." He laughed hoping to lighten the mood, but wasn't sure if it worked. His mother seemed more composed at any rate.

"Very well, my son." Billy couldn't see it, but he could hear the smile from her.

***

Billy washed himself of gore and tried to take stock of what was going on. It was practically a daily thing now. He'd wake from a dream he couldn't remember and something would be different. His dresser or some other room object would be moved to thrown to the floor perhaps, or maybe archaic writing would be written on the ceiling, marked in the wood as if carved by great claws. And of course the blood. Many different things would happen, some many times, some never again...so far, and the blood fell somewhere in between. It was, however the most consistent. Always the floor, the bed, and him and always it would disappear from the floor and bed, but not from him. Did it mean something? Who knew...

Billy shook his head and shivered at the cold water. It was beyond freezing outside tonight without cold water chilling the bone. By all rights, he should be suffering signs of hypothermia right now, but he'd done this many times before with no harm done, so he wasn't worried. He grabbed his towel and dried up.

***

More later...gonna hafta take this one in snips.





Damb, it's almost one. This'll hafta wait till tomorrow.

This post has been edited by Narratorway on 18th January 2004 22:46

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