Lost In Everlost

((Not all gun shots to the stomach are lethal, but whatever. Getting this over with now. XD ))

Lithium's eyes widened as the man kicked down the door. She tried to duck to the side, but found herself being shot in the stomach before she could fully evade the bullet. Pain errupted, clouding her mind. She fell to the floor, blood seeping out through her hands. The pain had left now, but she knew she was just in shock. She tried to concentrate, to know how much time she had left. If left untented to... with no medical help...

The bullet seemed to have pierced through her stomach alone, no other major organs. It was a relatively clean shot, having torn straight through. Lithium gagged slightly, remembering when one of the high school dealers she knew had been shot in the stomach area by their dealer over a lack of payment. It had taken... roughly fifteen minutes... fifteen minutes of screaming in agony as the blood had leaked... fifteen minutes of cursing and crying as the stomach acid had mingled with blood... fifteen minutes of hell before death had finally arrived...

But that had occured in a back alley way with no one around to help. The man in front of her was... calling for help? Why? Was he some kind of cult agent or something? Did he have multiple personalities, or some shit like that? Why was he trying to save her?

The reason didn't matter. Seconds were ticking away like diamond sand falling through an hour glass. You could watch the sand gathering at the bottom as the precious metal ceased to fill the top. The shock was starting to wear off. Lithium could feel the pain now. Tears leaked out of the corner of her eyes. Why was it going to end like this?

But maybe it wasn't. She was young. In good health. She still had a chance, right? She could survive. She lived relatively close to a hospital. She could already hear an ambulance on the way. She would be fine.

((Stopping for now. Martini, get her to the hopsital, make it late at night... then leave it to me.
::is making this as creepy as possible because she knows it will take the others forever to start, anyway:: ))

There was pain immense pain, and then, nothing. The pain just disappeared. She got up and turned around, there was that boy that had just ran her over. Stupid kid needed to get up, but then again, he didn't look so good with the blood pouring out of his head. She thought about calling 911, but she couldn't seem to find it in her pocket. That was when she looked down, and she saw herself. She was somehow calm even though she saw her dead body, and that was when she looked up. There was a tunnel, and there was a light. She saw the light and immediately wanted it, yet it seemed to belong where it was. She walked up the tunnel, up into the air, until she was at the light. She felt an undesirable urge to take the orb, but then she hesitated and the urge disappeared, the light belonged where it was. Then she fell, fell, fell, and all went black.

(( ... [claps hands furiously] Well done, Stephen. WELL. DONE. [claps hands furiously] That was actually a really good post! XD ))

((Oh fuck! it already started!? Why am I always late to these things!?!))

((MARTIN!!!!! OF COURSE IT WAS GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SPAZZY AND SPAZZY IS AMAZING ENOUGH TO COUNTERACT MY WRITING LAZINESS!!!!!))

Name: Terra Rosalo
Gender: Female, bisexual
Age: 15, Grade 10
Family: Jemmi Rosalo (Mother, 32), Brady Rosalo (Brother, 10), Terrance Rosalo (25 at time of death), Marc Otero, Lizzette Saxton

Appearance: Tan, 5'7, curly, short dark brown hair, hazel golden eyes, Hispanic
Personality: Very friendly, open, curious and somewhat jaded, trusting, very, VERY lazy
History: Terra's mother had her when she was 17, fresh out of high school. Supporting her was hard, but her boyfriend was loyal and helped raise her. Terrance left for Iraq when Terra was five, and was killed shortly after. Jemmi gave birth to Brady before falling into depression and taking to drinking. Later that year, Jemmi's parents both died in a car accident, leaving her with several million dollars, a beach house in Paraguay and an expansive home in the Atlanta area. Jemmi immediately sought out psychiatric help, fighting through her depression and getting her act together. Terra was six when they moved permanently to the Atlanta house. Jemmi invested in a degree as a psychiatrist, and once she could support her family and planned the funerals, she donated a vast part of her inheritance to the Red Cross. Terra grew up in a great neighborhood, with minimal recollection of her mother's drinking problems. She believed her father waits for her in Heaven.
When she came out, her mother was extremely supportive. Her brother didn't understand, but also accepted it. She's in the closet to her peers, due to the homophobic nature of Latino countries.
Opinions: Firm believer, Roman Catholic, supports LGBT rights (human rights in general), against discrimination. No political standpoint. Likes to avoid being in cliques.

Location: Napping in a hammock at her mother's inherited house, outside, overlooking a sunset
Apparel: A white tank top, cut up sleeveless jacket, black sweatpants, converse. She's wearing her father's dog tags, one of her mother's earrings (she lost the other in a fight) and the bracelet her brother made for her in kindergarten.
Activity: She fell asleep listening to her iPod, and is now napping on a hammock.
Likes/Dislikes: Likes cannoli, the Gameboy Advance, music, dogs, sports and Egyptian mythology. Dislikes blood, weightlifting, Tootsie rolls, cotton balls, stupid grudges.

Other: Terra has never been in a relationship, though she's been asked out, and believes firmly in abstinence. Even though she hated weightlifting, Terra is physically stronger than many of her peers. Terra is bilingual (Spanish/English) and has a black belt in Akido. Goes to Tabbeado High.

((Gee, i wonder who that could be -.-' ::doesn't actually know what Akido is:)



Name: Marc Otero
Gender: Male, straight
Age: 16, 11th grade
Family: Carl Otero (father, 49), Elise Otero (mother, 40), Terra Rosalo, Lizzette Saxton

Appearance: Biracial (Native American/white), 6'4", short, cropped black hair, very tanned, muscled
Personality: Very easygoing, friendly, protective, natural leader
History: Carl Otero left his reservation when he was 21, reluctantly leaving his home to seek out a new life. He met Elise when he was 28, married when he was 32 and had Marc a year later. They lived in Arizona for 10 years. Marc grew up among conservative people, but almost always disagreed with them. Carl received a better job opportunity in Atlanta. They've lived there ever since. He lives in a tiny house in a tiny neighborhood across the street from expensive homes.
Opinions: No religion, though heavily pressured to become Christian. No political standpoint. Likes to be with close friends. No opinion on touchy subjects like abortion, LGBT rights, or anything political in the least.

Location: Relaxing in his backyard creek.
Apparel: Jeans, work boots, a black t-shirt, his wolf necklace
Activity: Carving a tiny wooden bear as a birthday gift to his friend Terra
Likes/Dislikes: Likes nature, wooden things, being with close friends and shooting videogames. Dislikes anxiety, being in a hurry and not getting work done.

Other: Marc is into Native American culture. He finds connections with spirit animals the most fascinating. He goes to Tabbeado High.

((GEEZUS I CAN'T MAKE MY OWN CHARACTERRRSSSSS))

Name: Lizzette "Liz" Saxton
Gender: Female, claims to be straight but everyone has their doubts
Age: 15, 10th Grade
Family: Gabriella Saxton (Mother, 39), Augustus Forscythe (Father, 42), Florence Forscythe (Sister, 13), Terra Rosalo, Marc Otero

Appearance: 5'6, blonde shoulder length hair, blue eyes
Personality: A little bit snobbish, not trusting in the least, but when she does trust you she's a very loving person, loves to take care of people
History: The marriage of Gabriella Saxton and Augustus Forscythe was practically arranged. There was little to no love in their marriage, but somehow they lasted long enough to have two girls. Their divorce happened almost immediately after Florence was born, Augustus staying in France to pursue a lifelong career goal and taking Florence with him, and Gabriella taking Lizzette to Atlanta to also pursue a lifelong career goal. She succeeded, buying an expansive home in Tabbeado's district.
Opinions: Absolutely no interest in politics, religion and hates everyone outside her clique, except for Marc and Terra, who are her closest friends.

Location: The sidewalk outside Terra's house.
Apparel: Black coat, faded skinny jeans, black flats, Gucci purse, a heart locket that goes with a key she has in her purse. Wearing a blue rose in her hair.
Activity: Going to go visit Terra, knowing Terra is procrastinating on getting a paper done or some other.
Likes/Dislikes: Likes shopping, cats, nice clothing, nice jewelry, nice things in general. Secretly likes metal but nobody knows except Terra and Marc. Dislikes disgusting things, dogs, sports, and that gut feeling you get right before you realize you've been caught doing something wrong.

Other: She's really not as bad as she sounds, she's actually quite loving and would never leave someone in need behind. She's all for equality but holds grudges almost forever.

((There! Three characters. Now I have to kill all of them. Would anybody like any tea? This is the best emoticon evarrr ^w^ ))

((You should all watch Final Exit from BlackBoxTv. Here, I'll link it: Final Exit DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS UNTIL YOU FINISH THE VIDEO. IF YOU STILL DON'T GET IT: all of you will get it. You're all cynical enough ))

((K, see, here's the problem.

Just from the title, I guessed

Spoiler:

Then I watched it and got distracted by the uber creepy zombies. O.o ))

YOu can't read the whited out part under spoiler
O.o

(( Clarification: You're technically supposed to go INTO the light. However, to actually participate in this, peoples hafta fall out of the tunnel somehow. ))
(( Therefore, I'm going to slightly alter your post about Stephanie, into that she bumped into Logan in the tunnel and they crashed out of the tunnel. ))
(( Hahaha, Rebeca ... Don't worry, it's not TOO late, you can still join without being majorly confused. XP ))
(( ... MWAHAHAHAHA!!! KILL THEM ALL!!! YESSSS ... I mean. Unfortunately, they'll have to die? ))
(( Um. You wanna write their deaths yourself? Or do you want me to ... ))
(( To see the spoiler, you have to click on it, I think. ))

((Why didn't you say that before???????????? How about she just fell down??? Huh???))
((Clicking did work.....))
XP

LITHIUM: The ambulance came as fast as it could, but since it was late at night, during rush hour no less, it took longer than it needed to. Parademics rushed up to the seventh floor apartment and hauled Lithium out on a stretcher, tightly bandaging her bloody stomach and doing all they could to save her. She went straight into ER and was hooked up to a life support machine. According to the doctors, it was unlikely she would survive, as it had taken too long for the ambulance to arrive. Meanwhile, the hospital contacted Lithium's immediate family.

LOGAN: He supposed he should be frightened right now, but he wasn't really ... Logan was sure that the light was good. It felt good, and it was just so beautiful and radiant that it had to be good. He flew through the starry black tunnel towards it as fast as he could, compulsed to go into it and to see what lay beyond. But then for the second time that day, he slammed into the blondie! Both of them hurtled off-course, breaking through the black walls of the tunnel.

(Or Steph could fall and what's his face could run into her..., sure...)

When the pain subsided enough to allow Lithium to open her eyes, she found herself blinking against harsh white light. She tried to reach up and rub her eyes only to find she could not. She was restrained. Lithium paled slightly. What was happening?! Slowly, though, the memories returned, and she breathed out in relief. She hadn't died. She was going to make it.

And then it happened.

A man. A man entered her room. Sharp beeps pierced Lithium's ears, indicating a rise in the pacing of her heart. She needed to calm down. To breathe. But... there was a man. In her room.

Maybe he was a doctor? But no. He was dressed in civilian clothes. Jeans and a T-shirt. A dirty T-shirt, in fact. Covered in dirt and torn near the edges. Ew. Gross. And he wasn't a doctor. And he was in her room. And he was in her room and he was walking towards her and his hands were on the IV tube and he was pouring something into it...

And he was gone. Lithium felt slightly naseous, leaning back heavily against the pillows. What on earth...? A hallucination. It had to have been a hallucination.

Then she felt a slight itching sensation near her wrists, where the tubing was inserted. A slight burning... In a flash, she realized what should have been red blood was now a thick green fluid. And it was poisoning her.

Lithium began to struggle against the restrains, screaming as loud as she could. Someone would come help her in time. They had to! Damn it, she had just survived a bullet wound to the stomach, she couldn't die now!

Beep beep. Beep beep. Beepbeep. Beepbeep.

Her head was light now, dizzy. Lithium's lungs contracted painfully, refusing the relief of a full breath. Her arm was on fire. And it was spreading.

Beepbeep. Beepbeepbeep. Beeeepbeeeeep.

Her heart was racing, racing, racing. She couldn't die now. She couldn't die now. She couldn't. Not here. Not now. Not like this.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

She flat lined.

And Lithium was dead.

Marley jostled Angela and poked her best friend arm. "Check them out!" She giggled, knowing her best friend's crush on the star of Blue Hills' star baseball player. "Are you gonna stay and watch?" Before hearing an answer, Marley heard a whizzing sound, like a large wasp. She watch Angela's eyes get wide. Before she could turn, her world turned black.

White lights met Marley's eyes. A dull pain pulsed throughout her head. Her hands clasped around a baseball, but she could see nothing. "Mar? Marley?" Angela could be heard yelling furiously at the boy's team. Marley's coach was tapping her hand. "Marley, squeeze my finger if you can hear me." She tried to blink and move, but a weak wiggle was all she managed before she slipped from consciousness again.

Mary Hightower says:

When you awake in Everlost, you may be confused and fearful. Don't worry! I, Mary Hightower, Queen of Lost Souls, is here to help you. I've put together a list of what you should do when you wake up in Everlost to hopefully help you find your place in this world.

1. You are dead. That's right. You died and crossed over into Everlost because you were fortunate enough to gain admittance. Use it wisely.
Everlost is the world of loved things. Anything worth something to anyone crosses over when it is destroyed. And those worthy transcend Earth.
2. You may look around and find many things blurry. This is what I call "eversight." Only things in Everlost show up clearly in our sight.
Things in the living world are fuzzy or blurry. We can still see, but we cannot touch.
3. In your pocket, you will find a worn silver coin. This is an "everslug." They are basically useless. Throw them away as soon as you find them.
4. Start walking and find a vapor of Afterlights to join. Your feet may stick in the ground; make sure not to sink too quickly!
5. Once you have found a suitable group, join them and find yourself a proper routine in which to spend your afterlife.

MARLEY: The next time Marley's eyes opened, she was lying on the pavement in the middle of the sidewalk. For some reason, Angela and the coach, and the boy's baseball team had vanished. Everything around her seemed blurry and indistinct. Well, she had just been hit on the head by a baseball, hadn't she? This was probably to be expected. A small black girl stood in front of her watching her curiously, surprisingly clear in Marley's vision. She kept shifting on her feet and pulling them up slowly one at a time, as if they were being sucked into the ground by quicksand."Finally! You're awake! I've been waiting a long time for you to wake up, you know. I started wondering if you would wake up at all!" Meanwhile, a young couple jogged along the path. For a split second, the other child disappeared and Marley was jogging along the sidewalk confusedly. Then with a struggled gasp, she was back on the ground panting. The girl ignored her, skipping around in her strangely traditional cream colored cotton dress. "Come with me! We can be friends, right? You're going to be my best friend."

The dull ache from Marley's head was gone. Everywhere but her feet moved with surprising ease. She was alarmed to hear herself replying to the girl. "Sure, sweetie. My name's Marley. What's yours? Also, where are we?"

((What else am I supposed to do?))

MARLEY: The girl stopped dancing. "I ... I dun remember my name ..." She seemed crestfallen. "Do you know my name?" she asked hopefully. " I don't know where we are, either. But I live here. Follow me!" She took off through the baseball field. A couple boys were practicing throwing and catching a baseball, but the little girl ignored them. She reached a small shack on the side of a park path that looked brand new, though it seemed out of place in Blue Hills Park. It was a hut in the style of those from the antebellum period really, not meant to be built in modern times. "This is my house!" the girl announced proudly, waving her arms out. A young female jogger dressed in a pink tank top was running towards them. Again, Marley experienced a brief nausea as the woman ran through her and she snapped into the woman's body for a few seconds and looked through her eyes. Need to run faster, gotta run faster, gotta beat my record, need to run faster, gotta run faster, God I'm thirsty, I'm so mad at myself for forgetting my water bottle, and - wait, who is this? Who are you? Why are you in my head? Get out! Get out of my head! GO! Marley was thrown out of the woman's body onto the ground where she slowly sank into the dirt path. The pink clad jogger glanced around confusedly, holding her head, before turning around hesitatingly and running off, quickly gathering speed again. The little girl found Marley again. "There you are! I was wondering where you went. Why'd you disappear? We're best friends, remember? You can't leave me."

Mary Hightower on the Criminal Arts:

There are multiple "Criminal Arts" as I like to refer to them in Everlost.

The most common of them is Skinjacking. These Afterlights are cursed with the power to possess living bodies. Now that may sound good to the common Afterlight, but this power quickly corrupts. Skinjackers are highly dangerous, and are single-mindedly obsessed with skinjacking mortal humans to feel alive again. Tread carefully around them, and report any skinjackers to the nearest authority to deal with.

The second is Ecto-Ripping. Beware these Afterlights. Do not listen to their promises, and don't take anything from them. They claim they can reach into the living world and bring things back into Everlost, which is obviously a lie. That's impossible! Again, report all ecto-rippers to the nearest authority.

There are several other Criminal Arts, but most are too rare to mention here.

Marley offered her hand to the little girl. "No, I don't, sorry. I wonder where this is. I came from a place that was just as pretty as this place, and it was called Blue Hills." The buildings flummoxed Marley, though. Why were there these tiny hut things in her ball park? And how are people walking through her? "Am I a ghost?" Marley wondered out loud. Glancing at the little girl, Marley said, "I'll be right back!" She took off as fast as she could with her quicksand like capabilities. She ran and ran until she saw the place where she'd been hit. The lack of people in the entire area flabbergasted her, since that was one of the most frequented sections of the park. Was the injury all a dream?

Stephanie woke up in what looked like a blurry version of the Mountain View parking lot. She thought that she was just having eye trouble, and then she remembered dieing and the light. She reached into her pocket and felt an odd feeling coin. She pulled it out and threw it away, seemingly by instinct. Something in her gut told her that that coin wasn't a good thing, and since she wasn't sure where she was, Stephanie was going to follow her gut. She got up and walked away towards her school, just to see how far this new reality really stretched.

Lithium opened her eyes to find herself in a long black tunnel. She blinked, staring up into harsh white light. Harsher than the hospital room. Pure white, pure...

Did she actually get to chose between Heaven and Hell?!

No, that couldn't be right. If one wasn't right for her, it wouldn't let her in. Right?

Lithium, after a moment of awkward maneuvering, managed to slide up to the orb. She reached out to touch it, then drew back, afraid. What if she was rejected? And...

Did she really...?

As much as she hated to ask the question, did she even want to go to Heaven? She didn't belong there, did she? She was a druggy. A stupid whore. A fucking bitch, a cold bastard, a manipulative freak...

Tears threated to burst from her eyes. No, she realized, I don't belong in heaven.

She began to feel dizzy. With one last hollow laugh, she allowed herself to

F
A
L
L
.

((Martini, I love you for this. We're soooo possessing a multi gateway system.

... ZOMG, Katie is of use after all! 8D
So no killing her off!))

Kitsune rubbed her eyes dizzily, wondering what had just happened. She'd been sleeping, right? So maybe this was all a dream? Weird dream. Why was she in a tunnel?

Shrugging, Kitsune looked upwards before blinking in the harsh light. The heck? How was she being hurt? Wasn't this all just a dream? Dang, this was weeeeiiiird!

Her head and neck felt all fuzzy. Even within her dream, she seemed to be half asleep. Maybe this was lucid dreaming? Well, it sucked! Kistune decided to sink back down into the tunnel. Maybe she would sleep better there.

LITHIUM: She awoke to the sound of a rattling train. Lithium was lying down on a long seat in a train cabin furnished with dark mahogany panels and soft red velvet cushions. Old-fashioned glass lamps lining the walls illuminated the interior of the cabin. Around her, several other children were also lying on other seats, all of them sleeping soundly. As the sound of iron wheels over railroad tracks continued and blurry scenery flashed through the windows, the door to the front of the cabin opened. Out stepped a surprisingly good-looking young man. He was tall and muscular, as well as clean shaven. His short brown hair was purposefully left mussy and untouched, yet it only added to his dashing appearance. His clothing was oddly formal however; he wore khaki slacks, leather shoes, and a blue-gray cardigan over a white dress shirt and a dark blue tie. He walked over to Lithium and reaching her side, seized her arm and turned it over so he could read a number written onto her arm with a black marker: "8/15/11"

"Right on time, Sleepy Beauty," he murmured, looking into Lithium's eyes with a intensely blue pair of his own. Then he stepped backwards, obviously waiting for Lithium to get up from her horizontal position. As he did so, his eyes flickered up and down her figure scantily clad in purple, black, and lace appreciatively. "My name is Darren, and welcome to my train, The Mission"

((Will post others' later, please remind me. XD And ask Rebeca if she's gonna post her characters' deaths or not. Cause I will, but I need to know.))