TW: Blood, death and mentions of war.
Red. It's all I could see. Kinda ironic given my name is Red Lewis. Or should I say was...
My vision swarmed as I could feel my blood boiling. I had never felt so much pain before. A cry of pure pain and fear left my body as I felt blood rising through my throat and spurting on to the floor...
I looked up from the pool of my own blood j was currently bathed in. Only to see the red Poppys growing in neat ordered lines. Poppys... The plant which grow on old war fields...this certainly felt like the war. Except this time I had no one to help me. I was alone.
I shook my head trying to clear it of those thoughts. I was not about to let my last memories of this world be centered around the war. I turned my head away to find something different. I didn't know what exactly but when I saw it I'd know.
Then I saw it. It was a painting. My family painting. My mother in her sleeveless red dress... My brother and father in their red suits... And me and my sister both wearing crimson dresses with red bows holding our dark hair back in an elegant plait. I smiled remembering the day it was taken. 'Red!' my mother would yell telling my to stopping fiddling with my hair... My sister laug-
i doubled over. My vision blurred. My breathing grew weaker as my arms gave out forcing me to hit the floor. Suddenly I couldn't breath. Then I couldn't hear anything but eerie silence and a high pitched whistle.
Red. All I can see as my eyes closed for the final time. All I could see as my chest rose and fell for the final time.
TW: death
She felt power surge through her as she was hit by the electric bullet….
1 MONTH LATER: ‘Lily-Anne can you come down here please?’ the girls mother called up to her. She walked over to the bedroom door when her legs gave out and she collapsed her. She looked at her arms only to realise they were shaking more than they had ever shaken before. Veins pulsed a range of colours. Reds. Yellows. Blues. And finally changed and stayed golden. She looked at the ground and saw her hands sparking with golden electricity. She felt waves of pain pulsing in her head as her vision blurred. She slowly stood up and tried reaching out to the handle again. This time when she touched the handle pain shot through her unlike anytime before… she screamed in pain as lightning strikes flew out of her body from all angles.
She heard her mothers foot steps running up the stairs. Presumably alarmed by her scream of pain. Her mother opened the door just in time to see her daughter let out another cry of horror. In that moment time seemed to slow down. Lightings continued to explode out of her. One bolt hit her mother square in the chest. She hit the floor with a thud and never moved again.
Lily-Anne saw her mother collapse onto the floor. She screamed again. But this time not out of pain but out of sadness and despair. The last thing she saw the body was her mothers lifeless body.
TW: lgbtq+ themes(for all the people who don’t support it) and death
Elizabeth held on to Kyra’s cheek. ‘Where do you go Every night ky? What do you do that gets you so injured?’ She said gesturing to Kyra’s blood soaked arm. Kyra looked to her wound then back to Elizabeth. ‘It’s not important Lizzie ok? Just drop it.’ She responded turning around to leave. ‘I’m not leaving until you tell me.’ Elizabeth said stubbornly. Kyra approached her slowly. ‘Lizzie if I tell you. Your life will be in danger. You will never be able to live the same again. The way you see things would change. The way you see the world. The way you see me.’ Hee eyes were brimmed with tears at the thought of losing her girlfriend. ‘Then we’ll face it together.’ Lizzie said. Kyra stood there. Thoughts flooding through her brain. ‘Fine… I’m…I’m…-‘she never finished her Santa’s an explosion burst the side of their apartment wall.
Kyra sat up coughing from all the debris led around her. ‘Lizzie?’ She cried out scared, ‘LIZZIE?’ She saw the lifeless body buried under the rubble. She pulled out her limp girlfriend sobbing. ‘I’m sorry Lizzie…I told you you’d get hurt… I’m…im The Shadow.’ The last words escaped her lips as a deep laughter echoed out through the gaping whole in the wall…
‘It’s almost like the figures are moving!’ And ‘the brush strokes are beautiful.’ We hear these words on a daily basis. What they don’t know is the figures actually are moving. Ever heard that Mona Lisa follows you with her eyes? Yep that’s probably true. Us paintings move and feel things the way you all do.
The painting up there? That’s ‘The field of greens and reds’ my home. It’s amazing isn’t it? The trees bend around me as I run through the blades of grass. I heard the birds chirping in the distance. Their sweet song ringing through the meadows. I reach the tree in the centre of the meadow and begin to climb, only ripping small parts of my perfectly painted dress.
I sit on top of the tree. This is where I spend most of my time. I can see all of the land from here. You want something more abstract just a 10-15 minute walk from the tree. I forget how beautiful it is up here. The butterflies flying in the wind. The orange and red trees swaying in the cold breeze. I think I’ll stay up here. Just for a bit. Until I next hear those words ‘that painting is so life like.’
TW: death, execution
Princess Artemis: ‘Your highness?’ I heard my maid call out as she came hurriedly into my room, ‘Your highness we have to leave immediately. The attack has already began. You’re parents and sister…’ she trailed of sadly but I was able to fill in the rest of the sentence. Putting my emotions aside I stood up and began to head towards the door being closely followed by the maid. As I pulled the hood of my cloak up I heard a muffled scream. I turned around to see a rebel knight holding the maid by her hair with a sword to her throat. ‘Go…Princess…Artemi-‘ before she could finish the rest of the sentence the knight sliced her head of with one hit of his sword. I turned around to run, ‘Princess Artemis please. I am not going to hurt you.’ I looked at the head of my maid he was holding in his hand, ‘Well I seriously doubt that.’ I said. ‘Please your highness Im trying to save you.’ I went to argue back saying that he was still holding a decapitated head. However I realised that without the maid I didn’t know the way out through the servants tunnels. So I’d have to run out of the main get which was almost certainly going to get me killed. ‘Fine,’ I said, ‘lead the way.’
Rebel knight: I climed up the stone cold tower and looked inside the window just as an old woman ran into the room ‘Your highness’ she said, ‘Your highness we have to leave immediately. The attack has already begun. Your parents and sister…’ a look of grief flashed on the princess’ face as she walked towards the door. I couldn’t let her walk out there. That wasn’t part of the plan. But I couldn’t risk anyone seeing and alerting the palace guards. There was only one thing to do. I climbed into the tower and grabbed the woman by her hair. I lifted my sword to her neck as she screamed and the princess turned around. ‘Go…princess…Artemi-‘ I killed her before she could finish. The princess turned to run away but I called out after her, ‘Princess Artemis, please. I don’t want to hurt you.’ I saw her eyes dart to her decapitated maids head hanging in my hand. ‘Well I seriously doubt that.’ She retorted. ‘Please princess I’m trying to save you.’ She seemed to be thinking about the way she would most likely survive. She turned to face me and said, ‘Fine. Lead the way.’
Maid: I heard the king cry out in pain as he was stabbed in the chest. I had to find the princess. She was our last chance of survival. I had told her about the upcoming attack and that I would lead her out of the servants tunnels when it was time. The only issue being that the attack had started earlier than planned. I glanced in the throne room only to see the youngest princess Aria being executed. I held back a sob as the 9 years olds cold lifeless body but the ground. I ran to the princess’s room praying she hadn’t already been found. I ran into the room ‘Your highness?’ I said as I closed the door behind me. ‘Your highness we have to leave immediately. The attack has already begun. Your parents and sister…’ I couldn’t finish the sentence but she seemed to get the bigger picture. I watched a pained expression appear temporarily on her face. This disappeared as she walked to the door. I went to follow her but was grabbed and held in place by my hair, a sword to my neck. I didn’t know who I was being held by but I did know that this was the end. Before I died and left this world forever I said, ‘Go …princess…Artemi-‘ and everything went black as a terrible pain filled my body.
Lady Bella passed the teapot to her brother. She then passed the plate of sandwiches to her mother. Her mother took the plate and added to her pile of food. ‘M’lady?’ Lady Bella looked up from her plate and looked at lord George, ‘Yes, my lord?’ She asked looking into his eyes. For a second she could’ve sworn that she saw them glow. ‘Would you mind if I had a red velvet cake?’ She smiled as she passed him a slice. As Lord George went to grab it, it fell through his hand. His entire arm began to shake and disappear, the way a hologram would.
‘Sir?’ The scientist said he looked through the one way glass, ‘Project 1357 is malfunctioning.’ He put the phone down and stared as his experiments began glitching and ripping each other limb from limb…
‘Aria!’ She heard her name called down the long empty school corridor ‘Quinn? What’s wrong? My dads here I should really go.’ She said as the blonde ran up to her ‘I know, I know. But it’s the winter holiday and I’m not going to be able to see your for months.So I thought I should give you this.’ He passed her a box. She accepted the gift, feeling a swirl and mix of feelings inside her. Yet when she went to thank him. He had gone.
She sat in the back of her dads car looking at the box. One tiny peek at what it was wouldn’t hurt right? It was her gift after all. She put the box in her lap and opened the lid. Inside was a rose and a note.
She picked out the note and began to read ‘Aria,
I have never been able to tell you how I feel and now I fear it may be to late. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have the right to know. I love you Aria Hill. I always have. I want to hold you and hug you and call you mine. I want to share memories together and go on adventures. I want to be more than what we are now.
Quinn xx’
She stared at the letter. This was Quinn Jordan. This was her childhood crush since year 7/6th grade. She felt her face turning red and had to face out of the window so her dad wouldn’t see her. She closed her eyes and pictured what they’re life would be like together. She saw a house in the suburbs, 3 kids running around, two boys one girl. She opened her eyes and muttered under her breath ‘I love you too Quinn.’
When I look in the mirror she stares back. When I look in the mirror I see all my fears reflecting. I looked like my mother. Her midnight black hair curling around her. Her chocolate brown eyes glaring into mine. It’s a reflection. That’s all it is. It’s just me. I’m the lease scary person you could ever meet. Yet something tugged at me. What if this wasn’t a reflection? What if it was a warning? There’s got to be a possibility right?
Then the reflection opened its mouth and smoke rolled out of her. I had seen this before. When she killed my… no I can’t go there, not with her watching me. I sank to my knees as a sob escaped me. ‘Leave me alone, please. I didn’t do anything wrong!’ I heard my name whispered as the wind picked up. I screamed as black fog surrounded me. Then everything went black.