Alice Mare - Pasts von Paperstar ================================================================================ Kapitel 1: Letty & Rick ----------------------- Once upon a time there was a little girl, named Letty, who lived with her parents in a small house at the edge of their village. They were a happy family until the girl’s mother died. Some years later, the father married another woman. This woman did not like the little girl, since she resembled her mother so much. So she made fun of her and the dead mother and treated Letty as badly as possible. Years later, the family had problems, since the father could not afford to feed them all properly. So his wife schemed a plan. One day, she took Letty by her hand and led her to the forest. "Stay here while I collect some herbs. I’ll be back soon.",she told the girl and went away. Letty obeyed her mother. She had no clue were she was and just sat there in the silent, lonely woods. She waited. And waited. And waited. No one came. "Mother didn’t forget me, did she?" she asked herself. Frightened by this thought, she started to search her way out. It was already dark. "I have to get out soon… but I can’t." The girl got desperate. "I will never see father again." she cried a little. Why does mother hate me that much? Tears ran down her cheeks as she turned left and right to look for someone or something that could help her. "My, what are you doing here?", a voice asked. Letty jumped out of surprise. She did not expect someone so near. "I’m sorry, I did not intend to scare you!", the voice said. The girl finally looked at the person who talked to her. It was a boy, probably her age. Surprisingly, he resembled her with his white hair and the violet clothes. "No… I… I just didn’t see you come." She shyly took a step back. "Oh, that’s it. Well, I thought I heard someone, so I took a look. Are you alright?" "Uhm… I’m kind of lost, I guess. Do you know how to get out of here?" "Sure, just follow me!" Letty was relieved when he said that. "I won’t die here", she thought. "Let’s go!", the boy told her. She nodded. "Erm…", the girl hesitated a bit, "may I ask your name?" "My name? It’s Rick!" "Nice to meet you Rick, I’m Letty" "Nice to meet you, too, Letty!" Rick smiled brightly. "Now, we should really head out of this place." Letty nodded again. "May I?" The boy stretched out his hand to ask for hers. Letty grabbed it without hesitating. They both found their way out of the forest hand in hand. Letty’s step-mother was not pleased when the girl came back safely. Her father, on the other hand, was relieved when he saw her. Although he was confused by the story his daughter told her. "This is Rick, he helped me to find my way back!", she introduced the boy happily. Unfortunately, no one seemed to be able to see him. Only Letty saw him and talked to him. "I wonder why it is like this" the girl thought. But she never asked the boy. They both started to spend much time together. Where Letty was, there was also Rick. Although people could only see the girl. But it didn’t matter as long, as Letty could see him and talk to him. They shared the same interests and the same hobbies. They shared their love for sweets. Sometimes, they imagined to find a house, made out of chocolate so that they finally had enough to eat. “Father could stop worrying about feeding us all!”, Letty said. “But then… the house would disappear”, she tought. One day, the step mother found Letty talking to Rick again. She was annoyed by the girl who was more loved by her husband rhan she was. And furthermore it was a girl who talked to phantoms. "Letty, what are you doing?!", she yelled. "I’m playing with Rick!", the girl answered. "Stop being ridiculous. There is no one." "That’s mean, he is right here!" Letty poimted at the place on the bench. "See?" "No I don’t see anything. You are talking to no one. Stop imagining things. Just grow up, Letty." They often had this kind of discussion. But this time, Letty seemed even more upset. "Don’t say this in front of Rick. You are hurting him!" "Oh, I’m hurting a phantom, I’m so sorry" the step-mother said sarcastically. "He. Is. No. Phantom." Letty glared at her. "That’s it young lady, you musn’t talk to your mother like this. Go into your room." Letty let out a sound that sounded like a supressed swear. "See you later, Rick" she murmured and went away. Her step-mother shook her head. "What should I do with this girl?" Letty didn’t get out of her room for a long time. It was not like she did not wanted to, but she was not allowed to. Her stepmother tried to make her stop meeting Rick. "You have to understand. He does not exist." Letty didn’t listen. She was just worried that Rick would be upset, since she couldn’t contact him and inform him about her situation. The girl got more and more angry and upset the longer she was trapped in her own room. "Let me out!", she screamed like mad. Her father tried to convince his wife to let their daughter go out. But she did not listen. "We have to make her realize how ridiculous her behaviour is. Just let her be, she’ll be alright." But she wasn’t. Letty got nearly crazy, locked up in her room. “I have to meet Rick.” she thought desperately. “Talk to him… about everything…” One day, she searched for again for a way out. All she found was a box of matches. “That’s it. I guess I have no other choice.” As it went dark, the girl used one match. It immediately went off. “Damn, hopefully I have enough.” She used another one and another one. Finally, she was able to get a proper flame. “Let’s do this.” She close her eyes and moved the match near her blanket. It immediately went into fire. "Ok, now let’s call them" She stood up and while hammering at her door he screamed: "Help! Father! Mother! Let me out of here! It’s burning! Help!" After a few minutes, she heard steps approaching. "Letty! What happened?" her father called as he put the key into the keyhole. "Help me!", the girl just yelled. The fire was already in the whole room. It started to get really dangerous. The door opened and Letty stumbled through it. “Quickly, get out of the house!”, the father ordered. Letty ran out. The fire seemed to stretch out even faster. “How is that possible?”, she thought, “It way just a little bit” She arrived outside and turned around. Flames were all around the roof she couldn’t see her father or her stepmother. Suddenly, she heard footsteps approaching. She turned aroung again and saw Rick running tiwards her. “Rick!” she screamed and ran into his arms. "Letty, what happended?!" "I tried to get out, but now…" The fire was already eating up the whole house. No one came out. No one could get in there either. "It’s awful" Letty cried. She cried out loud, tears running down her face. Rick tried to support her. He held her until she stopped crying. Until the fire ceased. Kapitel 2: Chelsy ----------------- Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Chelsy. She lived together with her mother, who was unfortunately very ill, in a village near the forest. Her father was out very often, so she didn’t see him that much. Chelsy had a grandmother who was a medicine maker. She made medicine for the mother. But the little girl was determined to help her mother by herself and tried to learn everything from her grandmother to help her mother. So Chelsy learnt from her grandmother, cared for her mother and cared for herself. One day, her mother asked Chelsy to bring a cake to her grandmother. “To show our gratitude to grandma”, she said. The little girl agreed naturally. She put on the red dress her grandmother loved so much and her red cape. When she stepped outside, the birds chirped and the sun shined. It was a pleasant day. Passing by their field, Chelsy thought of what her mother told her. She should stay on her way and not get distracted. Since she had to go through the forest, it could be dangerous. But when she passed by a flower field in the forest, Chelsy could not resist. “Grandma would love these flowers. They are so beautiful. And I’ll make it quick.” So the little girl started to pick flowers and put them into her basket. And she picked more. And more. Suddenly, she heard someone approaching. A man walked on the path through the forest. He seemed slightly confused. When looked up, he saw Chelsy and asked: “Young Lady, I’m searching for my way to the medicine maker who lives around this area. Do you, eventually, know how to get there?” Chelsy was sure he talked about her grandmother. She nodded. “I’m also on my way there. We could go together.” She smiled friendly. The stranger smiled back. “That would be lovely”, he answered. The girl found her way out of the flower field and walked to the man. "Then let’s go." He offered her a hand. Chelsy hesitated. She did not hold hands with people very often. Especially not with people she just met. "Well, you don’t have to, if you don’t want to." His hand sank. "No, I didn’t mean…" she grabbed his hand. "I don’t mind!" It was a new feeling. “Would it feel like this when I held hands with father?”, she asked herself and shook her head to forget this depressing thought. "Let’s go", she said. It was no long way to her grandmother’s house. After they left the forest, the two faced a bridge that was build to get past the river. "Thank god, this bridge is here", the man said. "Yeah, I don’t know how else we would get to the other side", Chelsy agreed. The stranger smiled. "Oh, that reminds me of a riddle! Wanna solve it?" "Uh! Sure!" "Ok, it goes like this : You have a sheep, a wolf and lettuce. You have to bring all three on the other side of the river, but you only have a boat that is big enough for you and another person. If you leave the sheep and the wolf, the sheep will get eaten. If you leave the sheep and the lettuce together, the lettuce will get eaten. What is the least number of times you need to get all three on the other side?" "Um..", Chelsy thought about it. She stopped on the middle of the bridge to solve the riddle. After a time, she answered: "I think… seven. Right?" The man smiled. “Right. You’re pretty smart, young lady.” Chelsy smiled, too, as she heard his praise. “Thank you.” They started to walk on. The girl wanted to ask him why he needed to see her grandmother. Obviously, he needed some medicine, it she was curious why. He seemed healthy, from what she could see. Well, it was not much, since he wore a rather big cloak, that hid his face partly. But still, he seemed well. After a short time, they arrived at the grandmothers house. They passed the plants that grandmother cared for very much. They were the herbs for the medicine. And they were very easy to break. That’s why no one was allowed to touch them except for Chelsy and her grandmother. "Finally here", Chelsy announced to her companion. She knocked at the door and opened it. It wasn’t locked. "Hello grandma!" she greeted the woman in the bed cheerfully. "Oh my, hello Chelsy, what are you doing here?", her grandmother responded smiling. "I brought you some cake, with greetings from mother", she pointed at her basket. "Are you alright?" the girl added as she watched the elderly woman sit up in her bed. "Yes, my dear, I’m just tired. You know, I’m old." She laughed. "Oh grandma, even when you are old, you can still be full of energy." Chelsy smiled. "Oh, I nearly forgot", she said as she remembered the person next to her, "Here is someone who wants to talk to you" She pointed at the man. "Oh really?" grandmother asked. "Please tell me how I can be of your help. Oh, and Chelsy, I made your mothers new medicine. It’s in the back, you can take it with you now." Chelsy heard the the stranger and her grandmother talk, as she walked to the room next door to get the medicine. Her grandmothers kitchen was used to make any kind of medicine. It was full of herbs and other stuff, Chelsy still had to learn the names of. The small girl found the bottle of medicine on a table that was full of recipes. She went through them as she heard a scream. "What was that?", she thought as she turned to the door. It was loud on the other side. Chelsy swallowed and took some steps forward. She stretched out her trembling hand to open the door. Finally, she turned the door knob and opened it a tiny bit. She looked through the small opening and… saw nothing but red. Her hand slipped and the door swung open. Now, the girl could saw everything. The man, no she couldn’t say man anymore, now he was a wolf, stand next to the bed. Her grandmother was supposed to sit in there, but instead, Chelsy only saw red. Red everywhere. The wolf had some medicine stuffed in the pockets of his cloak. He stared at her. She knew that if she would not run now, he would get her. So her legs started to move and she headed towards the entrance. The wolf followed her. She somehow managed to get out, but only until the wolf grabbed her arm. She screamed. She has never screamed that loud. As she escaped from his grip, the girl’s view landed on something. "I have no other choice", she thought. She grabbed the axe. It was too heavy for her, but she still managed to hold it. Stumbling back and forth, she fell against the house’s door and landed, again, in the interior of the house. The wolf stared at her with mad eyes and took a step forward. Chelsy panicked and slipped further into the house. "I have to", she thought. "It’s him or me" Tears where rolling down her cheeks, she was never so frightened. The wolf was directly in front of her and leaned forward to grab her. She squealed and took the axe. Even though it was heavy, she managed to pick it up and heaved it above her head. Finally, she let it fall down on the wolf. One time. A second time. A third time. Until she was sure the wolf wouldn’t wake up anymore. Never again. As she looked up, she saw a silhouette of someone. The girl knew exactly who it was. With widely opened eyes, her father stared at the bloody place. Everything was red. Including Chelsy. "Why? Why now?", she asked herself. "Why does he have to appear now?" She started to cry again. Her father aaproached her, hesitantly, and stretched out his hand to support her. But Chelsy just panicked even more. "Don’t look at me. Don’t touch me." she whispered loudly. She wasn’t able to look him into the eyes anymore. Couldn’t touch him or be touched by anybody. Not after all this. Clumsily, the girl stood up and ran. She ran past her father, out of the red place to the forest, far away, but she couldn’t escape her own red. Never. The girl walked next to the trees. She sighed. Suddenly, she noticed a man who observed her. She tried not to look at him so maybe he will loose his interest. But he didn’t. Instead, the man walked to her and talked with her. He asked if she was alone. She nodded. He asked if she had anywhere to go. She thought about it. And shook her head. The man smiled. He asked her if she would come with him, to a certain facility for special children like her. She looked at him, curious. Special? He added that there was already another girl, so she wouldn’t be lonely. Chelsy thought about it and finally nodded. The man smiled brightly. He offered her his hand. She stared at it in panic. He let it sink. "And what is your name?", he changed the topic. "Chelsy." "Nice to meet you, Chelsy. You can call me Teacher." Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)