text: It all started when the world seemed at peace. I guess we all got too comfortable; because what happened next nobody expected. I live on the most southern border of Detroit; a city riddled with crime. You got to be tough to grow up in Detroit. We all carried around switchblades in our pockets. My older brother Apollo steals for a living. We grew up poor on the streets after our parents died. I was little and they took me to the central park. We came home and I ran to the street corner. Suddenly I was cornered by a man who put a gun against my temple. I felt metal against my skin, cold and hard. I took one last look at my surroundings before everything went black. I shivered as I prepared for the worst. I had heard that death by gunshot was quick, but I wasn't ready to die. Not yet; I took one last breath and waited. Nothing happened. Am I dead? I heard a scream and ripped off the blindfold and saw my Mom dead. The man had his gun to my Dad who jerked his head slightly; indicating me to leave. The man pulled the trigger and I stayed in place trying to scream; to say anything. I finally dragged my legs and ran away until I collapsed. Chapter 1 I woke up later in a small plain room that I had never seen before. There was a small wooden shelf next to the bed I laid on. In the corner, there was a small bucket. I opened my mouth but no sound came out. Next to me laid a small china cup so thin it looked as though you could break it by staring at it. There was an unmoving black inky liquid inside. I smelled it and gagged. Just then I heard footsteps. I hid under the blanket as a sweet voice burst throughout the whole room. “I know you’re awake deary. You can come out!” I shuddered but knew I was busted. I slowly took the blanket off from the corners and slowly raised my gaze. I didn’t know what I had expected but it sure wasn’t a sweet old lady with graying hair. I checked to make sure she didn’t have any weapons on her. She looked safe. I slowly lifted my eyebrows. Something seemed off about her. I looked into her soulful chocolate eyes and couldn’t set that feeling aside. But something in her dimpled face made me want to trust her. I guess it might just be the fact that I grew up in a harsh place, but something about this house, this lady; didn’t seem right. I swallow and give in. She cant be a criminal. I walk around the house. It is ordinary looking. Everywhere I look is wood. She has no accessories or trinkets lying around the house. There is a trapdoor, a locked vault, and an attic that I noticed when walking around but don’t let on. I feel like I’m being watched in this creepy house. There are portraits of people lining the plain walls. The halls were thin and bare and they lead into a small corridor with a domed glass roof. There were weird walls in the observatory that looked like they pull away. Was it really just my imagination or is she hiding something? I suddenly hear a creak behind me and jump. It’s only the old lady. She looks at me with weird eyes. Her eyelids were drooped and you could only see the whites of her eyes. She walks with a cane that thumps beside her. She is wearing a black shawl over a black blouse. Her voice is much deeper than before as she speaks. “Come down for dinner now! You are not allowed to be in here. Only your bedroom, the kitchen, and the living room! Now child!” I run down before she can come. There is something strange about this lady. I need to find out more. I sit down at the table and notice something gold sticking out. I can’t do anything with the women around, but make note of it. I make note of every time she leaves and when she comes back. I am confined to my three bland rooms, and there is no entertainment. There are some books, but those are big dusty volumes of biographies and fantasies that take place in outlandish worlds with fairies and pixies. There are books written in Greek and Latin. Then I see a big book with a dusty cover. It is so covered I cant see the cover. I brush off the dust with my hand and read the cover. It reads How to Get Away with Murder. Chapter 2: Girl I shudder as I stare. I can’t look away from the big, bolded words in front of me. I hear a door slam and jump away. This woman is crazy! I know I have to run away but I don’t know-how. The next few days I oblige to everything the woman says. I stay in my room. I don’t do anything that might make me a target in this weird house. I know that something is happening when she comes into my room and says she will allow me to come to the market with her. Chapter 3: Lady I could tell as soon as I graciously let her into my humble abode that she was suspicious. I could tell as she glared at me and would not talk. I knew she found out something as she was snooping around my house. After I let her in! I started to show my true self as I knew I couldn’t hide anymore. I tried to be nice but I could tell she knew and didn’t like me. I wanted her to feel safe. I was going to kill her at first, but I couldn’t. She was too much like me. I knew she grew up horribly and when I saw her passed out with tear-stained cheeks I knew I had to do something. I admit I’m not the sanest person and have made a living off of theft and murder, but I have to. I grew up with three siblings and no parents. I got thrown into jail at fourteen and tortured into insanity by the inmates. I learned the secret to life was to not care, and that human lives matter, but they are plentiful and many. It is easier to not care, and not get hurt. I took the girl in because she and I were orphaned. And maybe I could get her to turn her ways. Chapter 4 So I let the girl come to the small central town with me. I brought her to a small gas station with boarded windows. I looked for security cameras. There were goodies and drinks for snacks. I took the girl aside and told her to rob the store. She obviously got nervous. “I cant do that!” she exclaimed. “Why not?” I asked. “It’s quite simple.” “No! That is my brother’s job!” “Here; tell me what he’s like?” I asked sympathetically. “Well;” she exclaims “He is small and skinny. We grew up together on the streets and he raised me. Then one day, he left me and never came back! I haven’t seen him in years!” I look at this girl. She had to grow up without her parents, or her brother. I looked at her face as she pretended to be strong. She had to be, growing up in Detroit, on the streets, with no family. I took her hands and showed her how to steal. She was a natural. We then stole fifty-dollars and went out to eat. The kid seemed to trust me more after that. And it was kind of nice having someone like me around. Chapter 5: Girl I started to trust her after I told her about my brother. We went to a restaurant and she let me order anything I wanted. Half-way through dinner, she left to use the restroom. I sat in the booth and waited as she came running out. We left suddenly without paying. There was some hacking behind us on the way out, but I didn’t pay any attention. That was my first mistake. I didn’t pay attention to anything but the lady. She seemed eager to get out of there as if she knew something I didn’t. We raced back to the house. For the rest of the day, I sat in my room. At dinner, I tried to get out but my door was jammed. I tried wiggling the doorknob but it wouldn’t budge. The woman came and started to tell me that I would be locked in my room. I tried to go to sleep early, but my imagination kept me up. I finally fell asleep, and when I woke up there were bars on my window, and pancakes sitting on a plate on the floor. I ate breakfast and tried the windows. The bars were so thick and impenetrable that no one could have broken through them. I roared and beat my fists on the walls and door all day but to no avail. My fists were bloodied but by the end of the day, nothing worked. For the next three days, I was left in my room with nothing to do. Finally, after a week I got toys and a television. What I saw changed my life. There was an outbreak of some disease that was going around. It caused people to forget their morals and become savages. The world was turning barbaric as people fought with each other, stole, and beat each other to death. The television screen flashed to a bloodied mess with mass murderers and chaos taking over. She shut off the television and shuddered to think about what had happened to humanity. She would get food every day, and plenty of toys for her to occupy herself. After a month of this treatment, she started getting restless wandering around her room. I whined one-day thinking if I complained enough she would allow me to leave. I watched as two months in it was so bad and the human population was down. People hid and murdered each other. It was like a big game of hiding and seek where if you got found you either fight or die. I was glad to be locked in my room I just wish I had gotten a little more freedom. Chapter 6: Lady I felt really bad for the girl. I hated locking her in her room, and when I heard her whine I wanted to let her out and tell her its okay. I am not as cruel as people think. I wanted the girl to be safe and not know how horrible I am, and how this started. I try to give the girl toys and trinkets so she won’t get bored, but I can’t expose her to the outside world. She would probably die, and it would be my fault. I don’t want the blood on my hands. I have barely run out of food but have put off getting more. I run down to my basement under a trapdoor and go to my holding cell. I have hidden extra food underneath the floor in my bunker. In my basement, there is a bunker, food storage, and holding cell similar to the one I was in when I was fourteen. I remember those days and I remember that when I found the little girl she was scared and crying, with a big gash and bruises all over her body. I took her in and healed her; putting her on medication. I was going to kill her or keep her for work, but I couldn’t do it. Human lives are valuable and I have always hated my job, but if I don’t kill: Ill be on the streets for good. Chapter 7:Girl I was sick of waiting in my room. The old lady would come to visit me once in a while. I would get three meals a day, although the portions have gotten smaller. I licked my lips as I thought of a big home-cooked meal. I knew I wasn’t getting out of here anytime soon so I thought about my childhood home. I started crying, and once I started I couldn’t stop. I threw my pillow against the wall. I shivered uncontrollably as I spat all over. The woman ran in and sat down. I choked and sputtered, trying to make out words, or anything. However, nothing came out. Finally, my shaking stopped and my head stopped pounding. “I killed them!” I yell. “I killed them!” “No sweetie! You’re fine, you’re good.” she comforted. “Shh...” I calmed down slightly as I rolled back and forth shaking a little to comfort myself. She held out a soft brown blanket and I held it close to my body as I hugged it. I slowly started feeling better. “I don’t want to be stuck in here anymore!” “I know sweetie, it won’t be long now.” If only that were true. Chapter 8 After three months of being stuck in my room, I began to get bored. The lady gathered books and I would spend all day reading. I did that for months. I wanted to go out, to live a little. I was so bored cramped up in the little wooden room and my muscles tightened up daily. I spent the next few days talking to myself and making up stories. After about five months I started talking to myself and thinking about things. My thoughts started getting scattered and messy. My thoughts turned psychotic and I felt like the dusty leather book on the shelf. For the next two weeks, the lady still hadn’t come. It felt like an eternity but eventually, October passed by followed by a crisp November, and I still wasn’t allowed to leave my room. The news showed chaos and bloodshed as the “plague of attack” continued. People referred to it as the plague of the century or the “plague.” The old lady was nice, but I was so bored. I started talking to my bedpost and imagining it talking back. Finally, December rolled around with the bare minimum of food. I was so bored I started mumbling and pretending I was a model on a red carpet, with cheering adoring fans surrounding me. After a year and two weeks, I was let out of my room and I went to the trapdoor. I walked in and there was a swift breeze as a bunch of airborne drugs came blowing out of a cracked airpipe. I felt my body shiver as if being taken over. My face swelled as my eyelids drooped. I felt different, stronger. I felt my pulse rippling through my veins and I knew something was up. I had watched the news for a year. So, I went to find the lady. ---------Pitch Black------------