ShadowPast

[Apache_Longbow]

Okay, this is a new thing I thought up, its basically a story about how Mandy from S0 went from normal girl to shadowrunner. There'll be plenty more to come, but enjoy this little intro for now.

__________________

ShadowPast




“Please Daddy? Everybody’s gonna be there!”

“I don’t care what everybody else is doing young lady. I don’t want you going to parties. You’re only 17, for goodness sake!”

“But Daddy, Emily’s mom and dad are letting her go…”

“Well go live with them then. I’m not Emily’s dad, I’m your dad, and this is my house and my rules. If you want to live here, you will abide by them.”

“But Dad-“

“But nothing, Amanda. I was 17 once, I know what happens at parties, and I don’t want you near that stuff. That’s final.” With that, the man pushed his eyeglasses back up to the top of his nose, spread out his newspaper, and began reading about yesterday’s stock market activities.

Amanda Jersey let out a loud groan, then stormed out of the room and went directly to her room, where she preceded to slam her door shut. She didn’t seclude herself off fro everybody else until she got the last word in, though.

“I hate you!!” she shrieked through the gigantic house, much to everyone’s dismay. Her father took the time to look up from his paper and shake his head.

“That girl is nothing but trouble these days. I don’t understand why she got her hopes up. She knows our policies about things like that.” The comment was directed towards his wife.

“Yes, but she thinks we are too strict Jonathon. I think she’s hoping that we’ll lighten up at some point.”

“Well she can forget about it. She isn’t going to any parties on my watch. I don’t need to have my little girl come home drunk or pregnant or both.” He looked back down at his paper, and then commented again. “There was another shootout in the slums. Seems that some people got on a group of Dasaika troopers’ nerves. Fragging stupid people, can’t understand they don’t have the power to take Dasaika on.”

* * *

On the other side of the house, Amanda was lying on her bed as big teardrops fell from her eyes and soaked the white sheets. She had been dealing with that fragging man for too long. She couldn’t stand her father anymore, couldn’t fathom why he didn’t trust her and why he was so overprotective. Just because it was a party, and there might be alcohol there, didn’t mean she was going to have some. She was a responsible young adult, and she could make decisions on her own just fine, except that drek of a father she had wouldn’t allow her to. And she hated it so much!

The door creaked as someone walked inside. Amanda was in too bad of a mood to want to talk to anybody. “Go away. I don’t feel like talking.”

“It’ll do you more good than bad, though.” Amanda recognized the voice immediately. It was her older sister Jennifer. Jennifer had always been the ‘good’ one, her dad’s favorite who always seemed to cooperate, even though Jenny hated him as much as Amanda did. Amanda had found out over the years that Jennifer had realized early on it was easier to cooperate than argue, and Amanda had actually tried it, but found it not to her liking. And now Jenny was standing in her doorway, trying to calm her down like she always did after Amanda and her dad got into one of their many fights. “C’mon Mandy, just talk it over with me, and I promise you’ll feel better.” Amanda knew she was right, too. Jenny had a way of talking to anybody – not just Mandy, but absolutely anybody – and making him or her feel better about anything. Amanda was thoroughly convinced that Jenny could make somebody who’s best friend had died be in a better mood, and maybe even happy.

“It’s just that he’s such a dumbass! Why doesn’t he trust me?!” Amanda said between sobs. She always got like this, and hated it. Jenny just simply put her arm around Mandy’s shoulder and tried to calm her down.

“Look, I know Daddy can be a slitch sometimes, but that’s just him. He does it ‘cause he loves you and he doesn’t want anything to happen to you. Trust me, he doesn’t really mean to be a fragging pain in the arse, it just kinda’ ends up that way. Deep down, he only does it cause he cares.” Amanda was already starting to calm down. Jenny was good at this.

“Yeah, but still. He could be nicer about it…”

“Look, no matter how he says it you are gonna be mad, so he just doesn’t take the extra time to sugar coat it. He doesn’t mean to be rude and mean, like I said it just comes out like that by accident.” Mandy had now quit sobbing. She was still upset with her dad, because nothing five minutes of conversation could do would mend the rift between them, but Jenny had at least made her feel better for the moment.

“Thanks Jen,” she said is she blew her nose with a Kleenex and dried off her eyes with the sleeves on her sweatshirt.

“No problem sis, but I gotta’ go now. I’ll see you later tonight.”

“Yeah, I guess. It looks like I’m gonna be here all night.” Came the disappointed reply. Amanda gave her sister a hug and then went to the living room to watch TV, all the while making sure she wasn’t crossing paths with her father.

[Artificial Idiot]

Should be interesting to see where this goes... just remember not to kill her/maul her for continuity purposes :p

[Blue Aurora]

Smooth and sleek Apache....I'm still waiting for the next chapter of Forgotten Soldier though. :D :\

[Apache_Longbow]

Amanda sprung out of her slumber as the piercing ring of the phone going off woke her up. She glanced at the clock. It was already 12:30 at night, and she had been in bed for over an hour. Who would be calling at this time of the night? She almost brought her arm out from under the warm covers to answer the ringing machine, but heard rustling in her parent’s room across the hall and decided that she’d let them handle it. She had been tired all day for some reason, and since she wasn’t going to the party, obviously, she decided she’d catch up on some sleep. A muted “hello” came from her dad, from the sounds of it, and she decided that the phone business was taken care of and slid her head back onto her pillow and began to drift back in to sleep.

“Amanda, wake up!” Mandy jumped out of her skin at the voice right next to her ear. It was her dad, shaking her in an attempt to quickly get her out of her bed. “We have to go.” Mandy was still too groggy and tired to comprehend the situation.

“Wah…..?” she said, as clearly as was possible as she yawned with exhaustion. “What’s goin’ on?” As she replied to her father she looked at the doorway to her room. Her mother was standing there with Mandy’s coat, as well as her own, with a worried look spreading across her face. Mandy could tell something was wrong, and as she turned back to her father her heart began to pound. This wasn’t good.

“Mandy, honey, Jen was in an accident. We have to go to the hospital to go visit her.” Mandy jumped to attention as the words hit her ears.

“Is she gonna be alright Daddy? Nothing’s gonna happen to her, is it?”

“No, sweetheart, everything will be just fine.” Her dad smiled, a smile that Mandy could tell was falsely put on to try and convince her. Everything was not going to be all right. “But we have to go now, so just go jump in the car and you can go back to sleep in the backseat on the way there.” He smiled the same smile once more, but Mandy could see through it. His eyes showed worry, and she couldn’t help but notice her mom was on the verge of tears.

“Ok. Lets go.” She rustled out of bed, put on her coat, and they walked
out to the car.

* * *

Amanda sat in the sterile smelling, bone-white hospital room as thoughts swirled through her head. Her dad had said they were going to visit Jenny, but they’d been here for over and hour and hadn’t moved from the waiting room. Mandy had quickly wrapped the coat around her and sprawled across a few changes, being able to catch a little more sleep before she was awoken by a janitor. Now she couldn’t get back to sleep. Something was going on, and she was worried.

She had been studying her parent’s behavior ever since the car ride over. They had immediately went to the front desk when they reached the facility, and although she couldn’t hear what news the attendant had delivered, it wasn’t good news because her parents had turned more tense than ever afterwards. Her mother was now sitting down, reading a random magazine for women that she had picked off of the table in the hospital, but she wasn’t paying attention to it. She was just staring at the page. Mandy hadn’t seen her eyes move from left to right, to left again, or seen her turn a page, in over twenty minutes, and she still had that same shocked look on her face as when they had left the house. Her dad, on the other hand, was extremely fidgety, constantly moving around in his chair, or getting up to get some coffee, check on Jen’s status, or go to the bathroom. He was noticeably uncomfortable, with sweat glistening off of his forehead even though it was cold inside the hospital – chilly air occasionally was blown in when someone arrived or departed – and he had no coat on, or even a sweater. Mandy had been jumping to conclusions over what had happened, and she hoped that her fears weren’t true. She sat in the hospital waiting room, and prayed that her parent’s fears were just natural worries and not justified for the situation. And even though she knew her parents weren’t the kind to go crazy with worry, she still held onto some hope. That is, until the doctor walked through the double doors.

Amanda had seen soap operas and movies where someone tragically died, and although some of them featured great actors, no one could truly mimic the disposition of a doctor about to drop a bombshell filled with bad news on a devastated family. The doctor was old, maybe in his early 60s, was starting to go gray just a little bit around his ears, and was experiencing some newfound hair loss as well. He didn’t wear glasses, which only helped in not disguising the pain and sorrow in his eyes. The expression written across his face was a bad one, and his frown told the three people waiting for the news what they needed to know sooner and more clearly than words ever could. The wrinkles on his face seemed to sag lower than what they normally would have, and as he walked through the doors his stride and body language seemingly whispered the words I’m sorry throughout the room. Mandy’s heart sunk as he approached their family.

“Hello, are you Mr. and Mrs. Jersey?” His voice quivered, and the tone was depressing.

“Yes, that’s us.” All three members of the family stood up and stared intently at the doctor.

“I’m afraid I have some bad news. We rushed Jennifer in as quickly as we could, but the car was hit and skidded into a guardrail, on the passenger side. Jennifer was pinned, and by the time we got her out she already had major damage to a few organs, including her lungs. We did everything we could possibly do, but we lost her a few minutes ago. I’m sorry.”

As Amanda heard this, she experienced a feeling that she assumed was the equivalent of slamming into a brick wall at an insanely high speed. This couldn’t be happening, it just couldn’t be…

Oh grudd oh grudd oh grudd thought Mandy. Jenny was gone. She’d never see her sister – her best friend too – ever again. She’d never see her face, watch her as she smiled, hear her as she laughed, sit and watch as she talked her through another fight with her father. She felt like she’d been gutted, there was just emptiness inside her and nothing could fill the void, not anything…

She looked over at her parents. Her mother was crying hysterically, while her dad sported a blank, confused expression as he tried to comfort a mother whose child had just died. Mandy turned and stared into space, trying to think through the situation, but all she noticed was the sudden blurriness of her eyesight, and the moisture around her eyes as the raw emotion she was feeling burst out. Mandy sat down in a chair, curled up, and cried until she couldn’t anymore.

[Artificial Idiot]

Pretty fine writing there AL :)

Personally, I think you captured the doctor magnificently. In fact, the whole hospital scene was very well written :)

[Wesforce]

Sorry for not responding sooner. Its great, as AI just said, alse great to have people fleshing out their characters like this.

If I have one critiscism, its that its not very futuristic, but meh, tis but a small quibble.

More!!!

[Blue Aurora]

Yes, more, more, more!! I like this! :hyper: (but when are you going to continue Forgotten Soldier Apache? Just curious.)

[Apache_Longbow]

Mandy picked up the phone, only moving her arm so that she could keep reading the her magazine, as well as keep her comfortable position on top of her bed intact, while she got the receiver. She grabbed it, switched it on, and put it in front of her, the magazine still open and behind it incase the conversation got boring. She looked at the screen of the vidphone. It was Jermaine.

“Hey good-looking!” he said in a playful manner, a smile wide on his face. Mandy just laughed. Things were finally getting back to normal, or as normal as was possible. Mandy had spent the first handful of days after the crash in shock. She hardly remembered the funeral; the time was like a blur to her. It might have been partly because her sight had been constantly blurry from the waterfall of never-ending tears. She thought about all the crying, the reminiscing, the countless boxes of tissues she and her mother had gone through. Seeing Jennifer buried was the most gut wrenching, though, knowing that her body was in that coffin and that after she was under the dirt she wasn’t coming back. Mandy thought back and realized she hadn’t smiled for weeks, even for a while after the funeral. The constant sorrow had loomed over her like oncoming rain clouds, always at the back of her mind having her worried. And of course, when her father had been late picking her up from school, or her mother had come home late after work, worry would rush through her body as she thought about what might have happened, terrified that tragedy would strike her family again. But now she realized that she had seemed to finish grieving, and although she would always carry the sadness and the memories of Jennifer with her, she could now smile and get back to her life. And that was a good thing.

“What’s up Jermaine?” She smiled back at him. Jermaine was her best friend of the opposite sex, and he always had a knack for making her cheer up, no matter what her mood was (although his talents hadn’t been working for a while, or so it seemed).

“Nothin’, just wanted to invite you to my house. I’m havin’ a party, you should come. You haven’t been out in a while.”

“I know J, but my parents and the word ‘party’ don’t exactly get along too well.”

“C’mon, you haven’t seen us in a while, besides at school. Just ask your old man, he might understand.”

“I don’t know, J. He’s isn’t the type of guy who ‘understands’ much.” She frowned. She wanted to hang out with her friends more than anything right now, but her father wasn’t too inclined to let her. Jermaine was right though; it was worth asking at least. “OK, I’ll be right back.”

Mandy jumped up from her bed, placed the vidphone on it, and ran to the other room. She found her father sitting lazily in his chair, closely watching the evening news.

“Dad?”

“Hey pumpkin,” he said with a soothing voice and a delicate smile. “What can I do for ya?”

“Well Dad, Jermaine just called, and he wants to know if I can go over to his house and just hang out there with some friends…”

“By ‘hanging out with friends’, do you mean a party?” Jon Jersey looked up at his daughter, and she realized that his face had gone from soft to stern in almost an instant.

“No Dad, it’s just a couple of friends…”

“No Mandy, you aren’t going to a party. Jennifer ‘just went to a party’, and now we’ve lost her. I don’t want to lose you too.” There was a tinge of compassion in his voice, but not even remotely enough to hide his firm, irritated attitude.

“But Dad, just because it happened to her, doesn’t mean the same thing will happen to me! I miss her just like everybody else, but we have to move on and get back to normal. I haven’t seen my friends outside of school in a long time. Please, can I go just this one time?”

“Amanda, don’t push me. I said no, and I meant it. If you want to see your friends, tell them to come here for a while. I don’t want my only daughter” – he paused for a moment to let the word ‘only’ sink in – “getting into trouble. You aren’t going Mandy.” He turned away from her, watching the sports segment of the newscast instead of waiting for Mandy’s rebuttal.

Mandy froze. She had no idea whether she should storm out of the room, beg her dad to let her, try to argue her case in an angry manner, or just give up and cry and yell and scream until she couldn’t. Why was he such a drek all of the time? Couldn’t he be nice just once? She stood in front of her father, saw how he seemed not to care at all, how sports or weather or whatever the hell was on TV was more important to him than his own daughter. She just slowly turned and walked out of the room, a paralyzed scene of confusion written across her face. She trudged slowly to her room, sat down on the bed, and turned off the ‘phone. And then she layed down and cried.

He doesn’t care about me. He doesn’t want me to have fun, he’s just too scared. I’ve learned out of this that I have to make the most out of life, why can’t he see the same? She reviewed her options, and then slowly dried her eyes, flipped open the vidphone, and pressed her index finger on the redial button. In a few moments Jermaine’s face appeared on the screen.

“Hey, can you come and pick me up?”

“Yeah, sure Mandy. Do you want me to?”

“Yeah, I’ll be waiting for you. Just turn off your lights when you come up to my house. My dad said I couldn’t go, but frag him.”

“Okay, I’ll be over in a few.”

“Thanks J.” With that Mandy closed the ‘phone once more. She quickly walked to her closet, picked out an outfit, and changed into it before she open her window very quietly and climbed out.

[Artificial Idiot]

Damned stroppy teenagers, should be taught a lesson. All of them! :shifty:

[/enddirtyoldmanmode]

Keep it up AL, it's going pretty well (if a bit slow atm) but I'm sure your next installment will have us HANGING OFF THE EDGE OF OUR SEATS!!!!

[Blue Aurora]

Good job. :)

[SirSnake]

nice work!


i for one like the build up pace. its not too fast, but like aliens, it makes the part when it takes off all the better.


frankly its a brilliant piece of work IMO.

[Apache_Longbow]

Okay, it's really long, and I wrote this at 2 AM so bear with me :p





The tires cracked over small stone pebbles that littered the road as Jermaine pulled up in his car. It was an older bubblecar, with a design that had been made before Mandy had even been born. The engine was luckily still electric despite the car’s age, and Mandy knew that had it been an old gasoline-powered internal combustion engine, her dad might have heard it. Instead, he was inside none the wiser as she walked around the front of the car and towards the passenger door, lightly flicking it open as she hopped into the vacant seat.

“Hey there,” said Jermaine as he smiled, although his eyes did betray a small bit of concern. “What’s wrong with you and your dad?”

“He’s just being his normal, asshole self.” Replied Mandy as she clicked her seatbelt into place. Jermaine then hit the accelerator and his car started moving forward, towards Mandy’s friends and away from he enemy. “So who’s gonna be here?”

“Everybody who’s anybody, Mandy. You’ll have a good time, I promise.”

“Thanks J. I need it. I don’t think I’ve laughed in a month.”

“Don’t worry. If you are stilled bored after an hour or two, come to me and I’ll get you something to do.” He winked as the car cruised silently through the night.

* * *

Mandy strolled through the crowded, smoke-filled rooms of Jermaine’s house. People filled up the muggy room, making it hotter than it already was, and filling the dense, musky air with never-ending chatter about sports, chicks, guys, clothes, TV, video games, or whatever else their young minds could think of. Each small group of close friends occupied a circle, talking amongst themselves and laughing as they sipped on a drink or inhaled smoke from a cigarette, which they thought was cool but only helped in stuffing up their lungs.

She saw Jermaine across the room, talking to a girl she had never met before. He was smiling as he took a sip of beer – everybody at the party was underage, but at this time of night the cops were too busy worrying about the firefights in the slums to come and arrest a few teenagers for kicking back and “relaxing” with a drink or five. She walked over to him slowly, saying hi to a few people as she brushed past them on her way.

“Hey. Great party, huh?” The expression on Mandy’s face would have been convincing to a stranger, but to Jermaine it was clearly put on. He could tell that something was bothering her.

“Come on, you don’t have to be fake with me Mandy. Still not having a good time?”

“No not really. It’s not the party – it’s just me, I guess.”

“Here, follow me. I want to show you something.” Jermaine set his drink down and grabbed Mandy’s wrist. He led her across the living room, into the hallway, and up the stairs.

“Wait Jermaine,” stated Mandy in a rather nervous and surprised voice. “What exactly are you planning?” Jermaine just laughed. The look Mandy was wearing was unmistakable, as well as mistaken.

“Don’t worry Mandy. Nothin’ to do with me and you and doing anything. You know me better than that!” he winked as he began moving once again towards his bedroom. He opened the door and sat Mandy down on the bed. “Hold on right here.”

Jermaine fished through his closet, which was piling over with dirty, worn clothes. He flung a few old socks and a pair of dirty boxers out of the pile before reemerging with a small item in his hand. Mandy saw it and just stared.

“J..J..Jermaine…How’d you get…that thing?”

“Don’t worry about it. Look, I wouldn’t even offer you this normally, but I think you need an escape from everything. I’m not telling you that it’s the right thing to do, I’m just letting you know if you want to use it you can.” In his hands, he held a simense player, along with a single Better Than Life chip. “What do you say?”

This is insane. I can’t do drugs, my dad will kill me, and its illegal on top of that. And it’ll frag me up! I just can’t do it, I don’t need to and I won’t. But as she said this to herself, Mandy saw her reflection in a mirror on the wall, across the room. She looked on her face, a perfect blend of facial features which created a beautiful young girl whose eyes betrayed her deep sadness. She hadn’t been happy since Jenny had died – and she didn’t foresee herself being very joyful in the near future. Nothing had been going her way, and Jermaine was right, she did need a break. But this can’t be the right way. Drugs? I can’t do fragging drugs…my parents will tear off my head if they find out!

Her parents. She hadn’t thought about them. About how her dad had treated her, and about how she didn’t care what they thought anymore. So what if she took drugs? If they didn’t like it, oh well. It was just too bad for them. This was her life, her choice, definitely not theirs. She wasn’t going to get caught and arrested, so why not? It might be the only way for her to be happy again. She turned to Jermaine.

“Ok, I’ll try it.”

* * *

Mandy took the simense device and attached the BTL chip. Jermaine had shown her exactly how to use it, and then left her by herself, so that she could experience it without interruption, but he promised he’d check in on her in a while, to make sure everything was ok. She nervously set the device on the bed as she began hooking up the neural sensor. After everything was properly set up, she lifted her arm and, with a violently beating heart, trembled as she activated the chip. Immediately things started to get foggy, and she started to drift out of consciousness…

Suddenly, everything snapped to clarity. Mandy was sitting in a room with a few people. As she took all the sights in, she realized it was a room in her house. The family room. And the people – it was her family. There was Mom, and Dad, and even Jennifer was sitting next to her on the couch. The 3DTV was tuned to a popular program, where a man and a woman bickered comically over something so trivial you were amazed at how people might actually think anything similar at all could even happen. Everyone was smiling, too. Jennifer and Mom were joking at the end of the couch, while Mandy sat having a conversation with her father. They were talking about everything from school to work, and it was great! Her Dad was so fun to talk to, and they never seemed to run out of topics. Her family shifted from talking to one another to watching the program on the ‘TV, which was rather witty by itself. It was absolutely phenomenal! Mandy had never seen her family so happy, but it was now a dream come true. Everything was perfect. Even the room was without fault – it was spotless, the walls a blinding, clean white, while the carpet was a soft, supple blue. There was no dirt anywhere, and light seemed to gleam off of everything. The 3DTV reception was crystal-clear, and even the pictures hanging on the walls were perfectly straight. It was so great, so unbelievably great, Mandy thought she must be dreaming. But she pinched herself, and nothing happened. Everything stayed the same, everything was still perfect, the smiles were still plastered on everyone’s faces, and…

Mandy shook upright in shock. The chip had burned up, ejecting her from the ecstasy of the dream world without a warning. She looked around at the bedroom and everything began flooding back to her. How her dad was a slitch, how Jennifer was dead, and how she had just used fragging drugs. The emotional weight slammed into her from all angles, and she felt like she had been hit by four cars, all hitting her from different directions in the middle of a busy intersection. She kept remembering how great things had been, and now she burst into tears at the realization that it had all been a fantasy world and that none of it would ever be true. She wasn’t sure what was more astonishing: That she had actually experienced the joy of her dreams coming true, or that she would never, ever, feel remotely the same happiness again. She realized she had been ignorant not to expect this feeling, because as everyone knew all highs had to be balanced out by equally negative lows, but it came as a shock to her all the same.

As she thought about all of this, she noticed she was becoming dizzy. The drug had worn off too fast, or maybe it was just because it had been her first use, but she felt an emptiness in her body as it detached from the artificial neural control. All she could think about was the nauseating feeling as she fell back onto the bed and passed out.

[Artificial Idiot]

Once again, great work AL. You did a good job of catching the evils of BTL chips... now if only they'd be used more often in the RPG...

Keep it up you dreked up son of a fragging slitch! :p

[Wesforce]

Nothing's stopping ou finding a good dealer and buying some, y'know :p

Once again, good stuff AL :color1:

[Apache_Longbow]

Mandy sat on her bed, trembling. It had only been three short days since Jermaine had found her knocked out on his bedroom floor. He had picked her up and waited until she came to, then taken her home and helped her climb through her window so that her dad wouldn’t catch her. That night, Mandy had experienced some of the best sleep of her life, due mostly to exhaustion, but the next morning she woke with a headache so unbelievably painful that she thought she might overdose on painkillers before it subsided. Things had been hellish the past few days as well. She had been in a grumpy mood after the ordeal, and was in no mood to deal with the random and senseless rantings her father produced daily. It seemed that the tattered relationship they put up with at this point was slowly becoming worse, and Mandy couldn’t stand it. What was the point? As she slowly fought her way through the long, uneventful days, she only came to one conclusion:

She needed to go back to her fantasy world again.

She couldn’t describe the intense happy feeling she had felt while she was plugged into the chip. She knew it was just a dream, no more real than aliens or ghosts, yet it had seemed so life-like that she didn’t care. It had been so amazingly wonderful that she just wanted to go back. She didn’t care about getting caught, by the police or her parents. She didn’t care about the adverse effects it would eventually have on her brain. She just didn’t care. All she cared about was going back.

Which is why as she sat on the bed, she decided to call Jermaine. Her parents were gone for the evening, out to some dinner party for her father’s company, and she had the house completely to herself. Her parents had of course told her not to have anybody come over, but they wouldn’t find out, and Jermaine had what she wanted. She grabbed her vidphone and dialed his number. The screen quickly flashed to life, with Jermaine’s face set squarely in the center.

“Hey there Mandy. What’s going on?”

“Nothing at all J,” was her reply. “Hey, do you want to come over here and just hang out? And” – she smiled her most persuasive grin, and put a look of pleading in her eyes – “could you bring over some, um, chips?” Jermaine’s face blinked with a knowing look as he heard the last words.

“Sure Mandy. I’ll be over in a few.”

“Thanks! I’ll see ya’ then, I guess.”

“Yep. Bye!” Mandy pushed off the ‘phone and sat on her bed, waiting for Jermaine and her dream world to arrive as butterflies filled her stomach.

* * *

Mandy sat alone in her room. The trembles had subsided now, and all that was left was a feeling of intense anticipation. Jermaine had given her the chip and then retreated to another room to watch some TV as he waited for Mandy to get done. Now Mandy ‘plugged’ the simense player in, just as she had before, and fired up the chip. Once again, a thick fog enveloped her thoughts, and she began to feel a bit sick as she got lightheaded and thought she would pass out. And then, just as quick as before, things switched to a feeling of ultimate clarity.

They were all there again. Mom and Dad were sitting together on the couch this time, and Jennifer sat in a chair. Mandy was on the other sofa, sitting next to someone. She couldn’t figure out who it was, but she knew somehow it was her boyfriend. He was absolutely stunning, a deep tan contrasting with his bright blue eyes. His arm was wrapped around her, and although it seemed a bit strange, it felt just right. Mandy sat there with a smile on her face, watching the things around her. Again, the room was spotless, but it seemed even better this time: The carpet was softer and thicker, and the furniture seemed to take the word comfortable to another level. Mom and Dad were talking between themselves, joking and laughing like a married couple should. They even looked younger – wrinkles, accumulated from years of stress, seemed to have vanished. They both looked skinnier, and they just had an aura about them that matched the youthful twinkle on their faces. Jennifer was happy, too, as she chatted with Mandy’s boyfriend about how their days had gone. Soon, Mandy’s boyfriend said that he had to leave, and she got up to accompany him to the front door. Jenny tagged along, and they both said goodbye. Mandy received a quick kiss before her significant other departed, and she looked on as he got in his car and left. Despite his absence, she didn’t feel lonely or sad, or even disappointed. Jenny quickly stated she would check the mailbox, and trotted out across the street to look. Mandy watched with a smile on her face and a warm feeling in her heart. Could things possibly get any better? This was just so awesome, and she couldn’t wait to get back with her mom and dad so they could talk some more.


She glanced at Jenny. She had picked up the mail out of the mailbox, and was now walking back across the street towards the house. But as Mandy looked to the right, she saw a car racing through the street, on a collision course with Mandy.

“Watch out!” she screamed, but nothing came out of her mouth. Everything seemed to go fuzzy as the car gained ground towards Jenny. Again she yelled, but still Jenny didn’t hear her words. The car was going to hit her! She took a deep breath as things started getting darker and darker, and again tried to yell, but she seemed to be losing touch with the world…

Mandy blinked and looked around. She was back in her room. The chip had been used up and had burned out, but why then? Something was going to happen to Jenny, and she had to save her. She jumped as the door burst open, with Jermaine’s face poking through.

“Hey, Mandy, your parents just called and left a message. They are on their way home, so I’m gonna jet. Are you done with the player?”

“Errm, do you mind if I keep it overnight?”

“Yeah that’s cool. I don’t really want it tonight anyways. I’ll call you tomorrow and come pick it up, ok?”

“Yeah, ok. Thanks J.”

“Hey, no prob. See ya later beautiful.” He grinned, and then walked off with a wink. Mandy fell back onto the bed. She was tired, and the first chip had been enough for now. But she had to go back later. There was no option to it: She had to go back so she could save Jenny.

[Artificial Idiot]

I KNEW something bad was going to happen! Booya! Score one for aies!

This is getting better and better AL. An enjoyable read, keep it up man! KEEP! IT! UP!

[Wesforce]

Mandy hits the slippery slope, and starts to slide...

Like the way this is unfolding :color1:

[Apache_Longbow]

The chirping of the crickets echoed through the space right outside Mandy’s open window, giving life and personality to an otherwise bland and faceless night. Her parents had arrived home a couple of hours earlier, smiles blazoned across their faces as they retreated to their bedroom, tucked out from a fun night on the town. Now Mandy lay alone in her lifeless bedroom, laying on her bed and staring straight up at the ceiling, not able to fall asleep.

Jenny. I’ve got to save her.

Mandy slowly moved from her position, flipping the covers off of her body and aside on the bed as she slowly climbed out. She stood up, putting her weight down on her feet, her plain white pajamas fallen around her as she made her way to her closet in the darkness. She slid open the door and pulled down on the light cord, and then shielded her eyes from the intense brightness the uncovered, luminous light bulb produced. Mandy crouched down slowly, rummaging through the cluttered floor of the small space. She tossed a few pairs of shoes and some dirty clothes away before finally coming upon her designated object: the simense device.

Mandy couldn’t describe the intense yearning she had to go back now. She thought that it had been fairly difficult the first time, but it was no comparison to the immense sense of sorrow and frustration she had knowing what was about to happen in her little fantasy world. She was in a state of mind where she knew it was fake, that none of it could happen, but somehow she wanted it to happen so bad that while she was in the fantasy world it was real to her. And now she sat there, alone in her room, ready to go back and make everything right again, so that the thought of Jenny being run over would cease to torture her constantly, and so that thinking about the place would be a surge of pure ecstasy instead of an ocean of worry.

The funny thing was, Mandy couldn’t explain her infatuation with the BTL chips. She was a bright girl, and she knew very well that the world that the drug took her to was just as advertised: purely fantasy. But even though she knew that, she didn’t seem to care. It was like an abnormally realistic dream. She could control what she did, but not the tings around her, just like in real life. It was so much like normal, everyday life that it amazed her. She could feel the couch she sat on, taste food she ate, see Jenny standing there laughing like old times, hear all the conversations around her, smell the fragrances that filled the house. It was real in her mind, and that was all that counted, because for all she knew “real life” was only real in her mind as well.

Mandy looked around the room, and listened to see if anybody was awake. When she had sufficiently been satisfied that nobody was awake to catch her in the act, she hooked up the simense player and once again switched it on.

She was standing outside her house, watching Jenny cross the road. She immediately remembered what was about to happen, and yelled out. This time her voice was as clear as it ever was.

“Jenny, watch out for that car!” Her sister looked up, and responded quickly.

“Don’t worry, I see him Mandy.” She had already stopped walking forward and backed onto the curb. The car cruised by harmlessly, waving at both of the girls before moving past the house. Jenny then proceeded to walk gracefully across the street without harm, meeting up with Mandy outside the front door before they entered together.

“We’re in here, girls!” shouted their mom from the kitchen. The two sisters walked into the room and were greeted with the smell of freshly baked cookies. “I decided to whip up a batch. Go ahead, help yourself.” Lynn Jersey smiled as she picked up a plate stacked with cookies, offering them to the girls.

“Thanks Mom!” said an elated Jenny as she grabbed one off of the plate. Mandy’s thank you and grab was next.

“Hey girls,” said their father as he walked into the room with them. “What do you ladies want to do now? How about an idea Mandy? Mandy, Amanda…” he said as he shook her. She looked at her dad. What was he doing? But the shaking continued. “Amanda!”

Mandy jerked out of her fantasy world, and back into her room, where she sat on the bed staring directly into the fiery eyes of her father.

[GMP]

Ooooh this is so damn interesting. KEEP IT GOING! I MUST N0EZ!!! :p

:)

[Apache_Longbow]

Please don't spam this up. Either read the story and comment, or don't post ;)

[Artificial Idiot]

HEE HEE! HA HA! HO HO! She's really in trouble now! :p

It's really picking up pace AL. However, it probably needs more metas :p

[Apache_Longbow]

It's short, but its an update dammit :p

I'm going to start this thing up again, I was too busy in the past to carry it on but now I've caught the writing bug again and Aies told me to finish this thing instead of starting something else. I apologize if it's bad, it's been a while. Enjoy :color3:


“What in the frag do you think you are doing?!” Jonathon Jersey’s face was twisted and beat red. The words came out spasmodically, accompanied with a barrage of spit. The expression of his face, as well as his body language, was that of sheer surprise. He had taught his daughters well, told them right from wrong, told them not to do fragging drugs. And then he walks into his daughter’s room to tell her it’s time to eat and she’s sky-high on a BTL chip.

“Ummm…well, I….umm…” The words flowed from Mandy’s mouth with all the smoothness of sandpaper. What was there to say? She had been caught red-handed doing something she knew extremely well she wasn’t supposed to do. She fought her clouded mind to try and make an argument for the activity that sounded half-decent, but she realized right away the sad truth – there wasn’t one. “Its just that Jenny was gone and I missed her and you yell at me and I needed to get away from it all and-“

“That’s no excuse!” bellowed Jonathon as he took in his daughter’s hastened words. He now had a dead daughter, and a deadbeat daughter, and only one of them could be saved. He didn’t know how long this had been going on, but he was determined to find out, and it would stop tonight. If it didn’t, he wasn’t sure what would happen, only that Mandy wouldn’t like it at all. “How long have you been doing this?!”
“Only once or twice Dad, that’s it! I just needed to get away from it all, go to a hap-“

“I don’t care why you did it. It doesn’t matter because there is no reason anybody should ever go on these damned chips. You think it’s good but you don’t realize what they’re doing to you!” Jonathon voice lowered, and he delivered the next phrase in a string of firm, monotonous voice. “Mandy, if I ever catch you doing this, ever, ever again, you won’t..."

“I won’t stop Dad.”

The look on everyone’s faces after these words was that of sheer shock. Mandy couldn’t even convince herself that she had actually said them, but she knew she had, because it was true. She honestly didn’t care about the risks, about her parents, about her life. She needed those doses of electronic euphoria like someone with anorexia needs food. She couldn’t describe it, she knew within herself that it was wrong and bad and she should stop, but the chips had an invisible, haunting power over her that compelled her to take a hit again, and again, and again.
“Pack of your stuff and be out of the house by 10 o’clock tonight then.” Jonathon Jersey essentially kicked his daughter out of his house and ruined what had been her life in a few seconds with a sentence that was delivered with a level of emotion equal to that of a rock. After the words ceased from coming out of his mouth, he turned and walked away, leaving Mandy alone in her room, there to contemplate quitting something she had to have, or going out on the streets as a teenager with nothing.

[Artificial Idiot]

Ah, even after all this time, you never disappoint!

Keep it up my friend! Finish this, FINISH THIS NOW!

[Wesforce]

The power of Wesforcia COMPELS you! To write more

[Toxic10x]

most intriguing AL - who knows where she'll end up. Keep it comin :)