LIT P B S - H SA' S L I T E R A RY M AGA Z I N E

ISSUE NO. 4 OCTOBER 31, 2017

Psychosis.4 ¶ N A R R A T I V E

¶ H E C T O R N AVA ¶ MADISON CARROLL ¶ MEL ANIE CASTRO

2 ¶ OCTOBER 31, 2017 ¶ LIT

Setting Fire to the Past ¶ P H O T O G R A P H Y Untitled ¶ P H O T O G R A P H Y

CONTENTS

TABLE OF

1 3 4

setting fire to the past MADISON CARROLL ¶ 11TH GRADE

LIT ¶ OCTOBER 31, 2017 ¶ 3

psychosis.4

H E C TO R N AVA ¶ 12 T H G R A D E

A!%uW& 2p, 205? Denton moves towards a door to the right of the corridor. He gulps heavily as the door opens with a creak. Behind the door is a small set of stairs that leads to a perpendicular, flooded hallway. Denton enters the knee-deepwater without thinking about it. His movement is slowed as he is encumbered by his soggy clothes and heavy thoughts. He begins to feel a slight pain in his chest. A faint, woman's voice is heard at the end of the hallway. “Look at what you have become,” says the voice as streams of black ink flow rapidly towards Denton. The water is soon tinted black, and the whole room is filled with a dark mist. “You weren’t meant to be born.” The voice becomes a bit clearer as Denton’s pain increases. He tries to move forward as he clutches his chest with one hand. The voice is heard multiple times, one after the other.

“Leave!”

“What did you do to him?”

“Go back!”

“How could you?”

“You’re a disgrace!”

*Sobs* “Afraid?”

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Die!” “Look at you…” “Why…?” “You’re nothing more than a piece of–”

*Drunk chuckle*

“Don’t ever come back!” “No!” shouts Denton as the voices begin to get louder and louder. He screams in agony. “Leave me alone!” “Stop!” The darkness from the water begins to flow onto Denton’s hands. He tries rubbing it off, but it just continues to grow more and more. His chest feels like it is dragging him down to the floor. Denton tries running away, but his movement is impaired, the voices intensify, and his escape is futile. “Go away!” “It wasn’t me, I swear!” 4 ¶ OCTOBER 31, 2017 ¶ LIT

The voices begin to get louder and louder, crushing him under the accusing howl, closer and closer, as if it were coming from inside of his head. Choking him of every. Last. Breath. Denton falls to his knees, tries to wash out the nightmare by splashing water onto his face. He grabs his face with his tainted hands, staining every last inch of skin. The ink clings on like goo, forbidding any more movement. “Where do you think you’re going!?” *Crying* “You traitor!”

“I’m very disappointed in you.” “I HATE you!”

“What a coward.”

“Don’t you dare talk back to me!”

*maniacal laugh*

“Kill me now!” “I don’t deserve this”

“Leave me alone you monster!”

Denton tries to let out a scream for help, but his mouth is sealed shut. He is being consumed. His right eye is the last to be gripped by the dark substance. The last thing he sees is a woman in a black gown at the end of the hallway giving a big grin as he is completely devoured by the horror... A droplet of water is heard, and Denton opens his eyes to an empty hallway. No water, no pain…no voices. He cautiously begins to move down the hallway as he grips the rifle with quivering hands. “Hey! What happened?” says Jake through the receiver. Denton flinches forward, nearly falling stiff to the floor. “I heard you saying some weird things. Is everything ok?” Confused, Denton responds: “Didn’t you see what just happened?” “See what?” “The water, and the lady in the black gown.” “I think you are just delusional. I just saw you standing in the middle of the door staring into blank space for a few minutes. Even after everything I have seen out there, that was pretty weird. Heh, you’re not turning into one of those things, are you?” There is a brief moment of silence. “Anyways... Continue your path towards the main stairs. Be careful with sector B2, C3, and D4. Especially C3. I’ve registered a lot of movement in those areas.” LIT ¶ OCTOBER 31, 2017 ¶ 5

Denton nods, but doesn’t answer. If he can detect movement throughout the space station, how could he not see what just happened? He may be plagued by them, possibly being the one behind this. I know all of that was real; it had to have been. I have to watch my back, can’t trust him or anyone here. I’m alone on this one. Denton moves towards the door at the end of the hallway. He walks into a big open space that has paths to different sectors of the space station’s 5th level. Avoid B2, C3, and D4. Don’t know why I’m even trusting his words. Denton enters sector B1, as he has already stepped out of A3. As he walks in, he sees that, rather than having hallways, the room is a big open space full of the kind of containers found on cargo ships. He walks down the maze of containers, cautiously looking down every corner. Seems clear enough. A creak of metal doors and an eerie screech of nails scraping against the containers is heard down the stacks. Something is coming, and it is coming quick. Denton quickly hides and takes out his receiver. “Jake, what the hell? I thought this area was clear!” “Sorry, man. Must’ve slipped under my radar. I really don’t know much of this place. You see, I can only use the monitors and the radio next to me. Everything else is alien to me.” Denton scoffs as he prepares himself and rushes out from cover. He sees three creatures that are crawling all over the containers. They act as if they knew Denton would be here. He begins riddling the creatures with bullets. The room echoes with the sound of exploding lasers and the creatures’ screeches, attracting the attention of more creatures. Denton makes his way down the haphazard arrangement of the containers, trying to find the exit before he runs out of stamina. He soon realizes that he is low on his last cartridge and decides to hide in a nearby broken container. The container holds nothing more than pieces for repairs and goo lying all around. He reached out to analyze the substance, but it moves towards him, and he jumps back in fear. Denton accidentally knocks over a box full of nuts and bolts, giving his position away. He quickly grabs a small container from the ground and fills it with a small bit of the black liquid. A creature falls right outside the entrance of the container and roars at Denton, who then shoots it to death with his last remaining bullets. He sees the exit down a narrowing path. Before he makes any further movement, a 6 ¶ OCTOBER 31, 2017 ¶ LIT

loud piercing sound is heard throughout the room. “Denton! Run!” shouts Jake. “There is a big wave. The place is going to be flooded with that black stuff.” But all Denton could think of was the previous encounter with a flood of goo. He starts to run down the narrow pathway, stumbling on rubble and debris on the floor. His receiver falls out of his back pocket, and he wants to go back, but the menacing void colored wave changes his mind. His doom is gaining on him as he approaches the door. Denton makes it to the other side, slamming the door shut before getting submerged into hell again. But the goo begins to ooze through the crack under the door. He quickly turns around and tries to figure out what sector to go to next. Avoid sectors B2, C1, and D4. Denton rushes over to the closest section, C3, and enters. Once inside, the door closes shut and locks automatically. A single spotlight is turned on in the room. The place appears to be empty. Denton approaches the light and stands underneath it. He suddenly feels a slight pain in his chest again and a small, faint whisper is heard near his ear.

“Turn around... and give your mother a kiss.” ¶

LIT ¶ OCTOBER 31, 2017 ¶ 7

BOO