Leaning into Fantasy with River

Welcome to the world of fantasy with Freshman Media Communications major, River. Each week they will immerse you in a new world with anecdote that will transport you somewhere you've never been!

Don’t End Up Like Them

By: River Porter

Characters: Rhino, Violet, Issac, Clara, Edith, & Nova

Rhino, Violet, Issac, Clara, & Edith have been friends for a year. Rhino believes that they will always be friends, but will they? Lately Rhino believes that their friends are keeping a secret from them, but what could they be hiding?

Today, my friends want to take me to an abandoned building, but I don’t know if I want to. Lately they’ve been weird, acting secretive. But, tomorrow is Violet’s birthday, and I won’t be able to see her, so I guess I’ll go.

An hour later

I parked my bike a mile away from the building and walked until I saw my friends.

“Hey guys!” I said to them, they turned around and smiled, except for Issac, he never showed emotion or spoke.

“Hey Rhino! How are you today?” Violet asked.

“I’m okay. My parents were fighting again last night but whatever.” I responded. They all gave me a hug.

“Well, let’s head inside, shall we?” Clara asked. We all agreed and headed in.

We started to walk around, being careful of the fallen ceiling parts. I looked into a few of the rooms. It looked like a business building. As the others kept walking, I started to hear crying. I looked behind me and heard it coming from a closet. The others didn’t notice I stopped, so I headed in there by myself.

I open the door and walk in the closet. I see a girl around my age lying on the floor. Her clothes are dirty and ripped, her shoes are terribly torn, her hair is messy, and a pair of broken glasses lay beside her. She looks up and our eyes meet.

I walk towards her, “Are you okay?”, I asked her.

“Run, before you end up like me.” She said she sounded desperate that I leave.

“Why? What happened to you?” I asked. She reached out and slightly touched my hand. Suddenly I’m in her perspective, in front of her I see her walking behind my friends. I hear her voice as this goes on.

“I was friends with them too, a couple of years ago, I grew up in the system and I had no friends because of it. Everyone hated me. They were the only ones there for me.”

They led her to a dark room. Inside was a ritual looking circle.

“But that’s exactly what they were looking for, someone who wouldn’t be missed.”

Issac picked her up and put her in the middle of the circle. The other forced her hand in a block which locked her hand shut.

“Issac never wants to do it. But they made him, he lived a life where he couldn’t say no, and they're taking advantage of that.”

I then saw them with big horns and cloaks. Violet held a book, and began to chant. She started screaming, I could feel the pain in my own body.

“They took my soul. It was extremely painful. I’m not the first, but I want to be the last.”

I blinked and was back in my own perspective, but she was gone. I began to panic. I knew it, I knew they were hiding something from me. I have to get out of here. I ran out of the closet and ran towards the nearest exit I could find.

“Rhino! Get back here! She’s lying to you!” I heard Violet cry out. But I knew she was far away, this sounded close by.

Edith came up behind me, “Get back here Rhino!”, she yelled out. I ran toward the exit.

I tried to open the door, but it was locked. Edith was standing behind me. I frantically kept trying to open the door, when I heard something crash into the wall behind me. I turned around to see the girl from earlier.

“NOVA! WE TOLD YOU TO STAY OUT OF THE WAY!” Edith yelled. Her

name was Nova, I heard the story of her disappearance when I moved here. She was right, no one cared about her, no one cared that she was gone.

“You did, but I don’t care.” Nova said. She turned around and opened the door for me. I ran outside and turned back.

“Come on! Let’s go!” I told Nova. She looked down at the metal at the bottom of the door and looked back up at me.

“I can’t. I can’t leave. It won’t let me.” She whispered before closing the door. I ran towards the door to try and open it again. I don’t want to leave her here. She stepped back and turned around to face the others. Issac quickly switched sides and stood with Nova.

Violet, Clara, and Edith turned into their true forms. Their eyes glowed with fire, causing pain to Issac and Nova.

“ISSAC! NOVA! STOP HURTING THEM!” I yelled from outside. I kept trying to open the door, but it still wouldn’t move.

Isaac looked behind at me, “Run, please Rhino, just run.” I don’t know why, but I listened and ran back to where I parked my bike.

I biked all the way home. When I entered my parents were both sitting on the couch. They looked serious.

“Hey kiddo. So, we’ve decided to finally get a divorce. Your father is moving back to Idaho, and you are old enough to decide who to live with. I won’t be made if you choose to live with him because I understand that you miss living there.” My mother said in an understanding tone.

“Yeah, I would like to live with dad.” I said, to be back in Idaho and live away from what just happened would be nice.

One month later

My dad and I board the airplane to head back to Idaho. I sit down and look out the window, and see Isaac and Nova. They look worse than before. But they still smile and wave. An airplane parked right where they were, and they were gone.

I sat back, feeling bad about leaving them, but it’s what I need to do. I’ll miss them, but I won’t forget about them.

End