>Stella whips her head behind her
>The badger freezes, and then jams a finger in Sam’s direction and snarls
>”Sam, you stay far away from that crystal, you hear me? You’re not a level six Lazer Lotus. You touch it and I’ll have your ears hanging on my wall, Thumper!”
>You writhe in Stella’s grip like a worm on a hook
“We don’t want the crystal you insane bitch, we want the plant!”
>”Right, right. But you were just taking my hidden crystals with you. You can’t fool me, goon. I’ve studied under the great master Roger Pernberry. Your mind-zog won’t work on me.”
>Sam hesitates
>”I-I just-“
“Sam, listen to me.” You sound desperate and depleted. “The plant. Grab that plant, and run as fast as you can-”
>”Listen to me, cottontail. You take another step forward towards that crystal and you are FIRED, you hear me? You gonna listen to this deep-state FUCKO?” She shakes your arm. “Or your fucking boss? Who have you known longer?”
>You try to stand but are forced back to the floor
>Stella tightens her grip
>Sam’s is shaking as he desperately tries to summon to mind a decision
>”SAM!” Stella snarls another demand at him
>You eyes slam shut
>Ordinarily, you’d just bend the knee and give in, admitting to being CIA, deep-state, ZOG, whatever
>But now you’re just thinking about how to get out of this crazy badger’s grip
>A wild idea comes to mind
>You could bite her
>YES
>BITE HER
>You unclench your rather pathetic jaw to crunch into whatever part of her you can get your teeth on
>But you don’t need to
>You drop wordlessly to the floor, Stella no longer holding you in her greasy vice-grip
>”BETRAYED BY MY OWN MIN-WAGE EMPLOYEE!” Stella shrieks in disbelief
>You open your eyes just enough to see a light, chestnut colored blur ripping down the hall
>It’s Sam
>And by the sound of Stella’s sheer dismay, he’s got the plant too
>The badger’s hefty form plods after the rabbit, who easily outpaces Stella like it was nothing
>Jesus Christ
>Your heart is pounding; blood flooding your face
>He actually did it
>The absolute madman
>You are Sam
>And you just fucked up
>Your heart is pounding in your throat, and that’s not from the exertion or from sprinting
>You’ve just pissed of Stella something awful, as evidenced by the fact that she’s literally frothing at the mouth, eyes terrifically wide and full of predatory desire as she scrambles after you
>You’ve just got to get this plant to Mike
>He’ll know what to do, right?
>Right?
>God these hallways feel long
>Stella can’t outrun you, sure, but you get the feeling something isn’t right
>Ordinarily there’s at least ONE or two students who are here by now
>And yet it’s silent as a graveyard, save for the mad scramble that you’re currently winning
>You just fix your eyes on the distant lunchroom, and the doors at the very end of it that will lead you to sweet, open pavement, and then to Mike
>And then what?
>”I SHOULDA KNOWN YOU WERE DEEP STATE, SAM!” Stella’s rapidly fading voice reaches your tender ears ”I’ll get you, Thumper- who the hell are you punks?”
>You throw a quick glance over your shoulders
>Stella is no longer behind you
>You skid to a halt
>The plant you were carting nips at your fingers aggressively, but you can’t take your eyes off the empty hallway
>Where the hell did Stella go?
>Silence screams back at you
>And then…
>A hellish chorus of deep, throaty growls rises towards you, sending your heart racing
>To your finely tuned ears, it sounded like… nothing you’ve ever heard before
>Deep and feral, yet with a sustained cadence to it, like someone pulling a very unpleasant note on a cello for too long
>Something about that sound makes the adrenaline spike in your veins — invokes that primal drive to flee
>It’s almost the same noise you heard in the annals of the school on Friday, just lower and more controlled
>You take a few plodding steps backwards, eyes never leaving the spot where Stella once was
>Your eyes are drawn to the end of the hall by a sudden flicker of something dark at the end of the hall
>It’s there for a moment — and then it’s gone, like a stroke of lightning
>That hellish choir begins again
>Welp, time to run
>You start forward, but come to a quick, skidding halt while the sound of something ancient and evil grows closer
>It’s almost as if someone were driving nails through your wide feet, sticking you to the floors
>You’re so close to freedom, and yet… you can’t move your legs. Can’t force yourself to turn around and look away
>It’s like trying to start a car without any gas in the tank
>You look down to see that your legs aren’t even trembling
>That horrible, low, gurgling noise is getting closer, like banshee-shriek of a train hurtling towards you
>Fuck
>Why can’t you move?
>You thrust your arms forward to try and propel your body in a direction — any direction
>The motion serves to thaw the ice in your veins just a little bit
>”A-Anon?” You weakly call out, finding it a strain to raise your voice above a tired shout
>You look around
>The lockers
>The doors leading to rooms
>It all seems so normal
>Except the end of the hall stretching away from you, like a point infinitely vanishing on the horizon
>Just staring makes you dizzy
>”Hey!” Mike’s voice behind you doesn’t make you jump
>In fact, you feel a strange sense of calm wash over you when you turn around to face him…
>…Who is standing about 10 feet away from you, still as stone
>The booming growl, like a wave breaking, retreats as Mike appears
>”M-M-Mike, I-I’m glad it’s y-you,” you breathe a sigh of genuine relief, even though you’re pretty sure he doesn’t like you
>Mike says nothing for a few anxious seconds, and then smiles
>”Me too.”
>He takes a light step forward
“H-Here.” You extend the venus flytrap forward. “A-Anon got the p-plant, but you h-have to help me f-find him, we got chased an-and I lost him back the-there.”
>Your friend freezes in place, just a few feet away from you now
>His arms slacken at his side as he curiously cocks his head, like a child encountering something new for the first time
>His mouth moves, but his words aren’t audible — even to your ultra-sensitive hearing
>”Sam?” Mike says at last, a mechanical cadence in his voice
>Alarm bells are starting to ring behind your eyes
>Something isn’t right
>You take a cautious step backwards, only to find that Mike remains rooted in place, his head still curiously on a tilt
>”Sam? Is that your name?” He repeats, sending shivers racing up your spine, as if a cold finger were tracing lines into your back
>Something in your heart is telling you to run
>You throw a quick glance over your shoulders, and with your freehand you unconsciously begin tearing at your ears
>The hallway seems to positively loom ahead, almost going vertical at its end
>That had to be a trick of the light
>Or you’re hallucinating something awful
>Whatever it is, you desperately need it to stop
>”Sam, you okay there?” Mike is closer now
>You swear to fuck you’d have heard him move
>”You’re scaring me, dude,” he says, a familiar tone snaking back into his voice, though it’s colored by a very subtle flatness that sounds positively inhuman
>It’s that same kind of cock-sure attitude that he’s always got, but it seems… misplaced
>Wrong
>Out of context
“Y-You’re scaring me!” you squeak, taking a wide step back. “M-Mike? Please s-say something?”
>”I can’t, Sam.”
>And then he starts to laugh
>Or, it would be laughter if there were any noise coming out of him
>Instead, his body twists and writhes as if he were in a fit of tremendous hilarity
>He soundlessly flexes and keels over, face reddening and contorting with strain
>And then he halts entirely, eyes locked on you with robotic and mechanical precision
>Your legs feel unlocked now, but they’re still heavy with tension and fear
>All the muscles in your powerful legs coil up for flight as your amber eyes search Mike’s for something familiar
>It’s like looking into two polished stones
>They do nothing but reflect back at you
>Whatever this is, it isn’t Mike
>You turn on your heels, feeling the tension in your leg explode — launching you forward like a bullet shot out of a gun
>You’re surprisingly slower than you thought you’d be
>It’s like there’s 50 pound weights strapped to your thighs
>Heart hammering in your chest, you strain and struggle, fighting for every yard you gain
>All to the sound of that hellish call ringing in your ears, deafening the inner voices that ordinarily whip you into panicked flights
>’Mike’ is still standing where you left him, an isolated figure in the middle of the hall, alone, no longer even watching you; his gaze fixed on something else in front of you — something you can’t see
>Or can you?
>Another flash of darkness at the end of the hall
>This time you catch some definite shape to the rapidly displaced light
>Tall and angular — nearly as tall as you — but drawn with sharp points that seem defined even in the fleeting glimpses you catch of it
>It’s like smoke contained only by a thin, ephemeral line, in the shape of a… large dog of some kind?
>It’s gone when you try to focus on it
>And so is Mike
>Gone in a flash, almost as quick as he appeared behind you that first time
>It occurs to you that you are suddenly making quite a bit of progress careening down the hall
>You skid to a halt
>Down the hall is /not/ where you want to go right now
>Not with that… thing… down there. Whatever it is
>You bank a hard-as-you-can right down an intersecting hallway…
>And find yourself staring at something familiar
>You’re somehow in the same hallway you just came from
>Turning behind you to look only reveals the same hallway /again/
>Same look, same lockers, same shine on the floor, same distance to the end…
>You half expected to see ‘Mike’ there waiting for you again
>This is some Twilight Zone shit
>Try to remain calm. You’re just stressed and maybe got turned around
>Right?
>Turning back to go the way you came only puts you in the same hallway again
>It’s like being trapped in a maze of mirrors — every direction and turn looks identical
>You race on down the hallways, trying doors as you go
>None of them can be opened, not even with the set of keys Stella gave to you — a fact you don’t understand
>Did the locks change?
>You try banging on the doors — first cautiously — and then with frantic need to escape, to run, hide, to find somebody who will tell you everything is going to be okay
>A protector
>Anon, Mike, Alex, an adult, your older brother even
>Eventually you slump yourself against a locker, feeling the very real chill of bare metal against the nape of your neck
>The venus fly trap has stopped writhing so hard now
>Now it just lays flaccid in your grip, the shiny emerald bound in its roots
>It feels like there’s a rope around your neck, tightening the budding knot in your throat
>No
>Don’t do this here
>Your eyes sting with tears
>God damnit you coward, you crybaby
>Quickly, you rub your eyes with your sleeve, shooting glances down each end of the hall, checking for foot traffic out of habit
>”A-Anon?” you say, straining above a whisper
>”Anyone?”
>Silence answers back
>Nobody is there
>Not Mike, Alex
>Especially not Anon
>Alone again
>Nobody around for you to burden
>Nobody around to hurt
>Just as it always should be
>A low, simmering growl prompts you to your feet, instantly banishing any lingering feelings of worthlessness
>That shape — the dog on all fours — blinks into existence near the end of the hall, but just close enough for you to gain some kind of outline or indication of its composition
>You see a sharp body with ears like knives, lean and starved, shrouded in dark mists
>The strange dog has a tight and angular face, though you can only see the outlines through the thick fog pouring off its body
>A pair of bright yellow eyes glow back at you through its shadowy cloak, obscuring the fine details of its snarling jaw
>Though it sounds like its growling with something ancient and evil, its mouth doesn’t appear to be moving
>To your relief, it doesn’t move towards you
>It only watches as you begin to shake and tremble like a leaf caught in a high wind
>Like the pathetic rabbit you are, you press your body up against the locker and squeak pitifully under the strange beast’s predatory gaze
>Its shape is more of an ashen outline, but you can see just how skinny it is
>Hungry, perhaps?
>With another growl, it flashes into nothing right before you, as if it were suddenly deleted from existence
>Ringing silence sings in your ears now
>You can only hear the blood pulsing in your ears, the rapid drumbeat of your frantic heart pounding in your chest
>You shut your eyes and try to think of sleepovers and Dr. Beppers and movies with Anon
>What would Samurai Outlaw — hero of your own creation — do right now?
>She’d probably throw her hood up and hunt down that strange creature
>Like a hero
>You try to stand up straight, but your legs are shaking too hard
>And besides
>You’re no superhero
>You’re weak
>And pathetic
>“Sam?”
>That voice
>God you haven’t heard it in years
>It’s so familiar
>When you open them again and see the source of that painfully familiar voice, you drop the venus fly trap at your feet
”J-Jake?”
>It’s him, almost the same as you remember him
>A tall, lanky rabbit with your dad’s face and eyes, yet younger and less jaded than your father, stands before you
>Dark circles pool under his eyes, and his eyebrows are sloped inward, betraying any kindness you might have been able to find in him
>”Sam, what the hell are you doing?” He asks, smoke trailing from his lips as he speaks
>He raises a glowing cigarette and gives it a quick puff
>”You hiding again or something?”
>His words stings just like they did all those years ago
>”Thought I taught you better. Taught you how to look out for yourself. You’re not going to let everything I did for you go to waste, right?”
>That familiar tightness seizes around your throat as tears spring to your eyes
>Not now
>”Are you crying?” Your brother bends down to eye level, and you can’t help but notice the way he doesn’t cast a shadow in the sterilized light of the hallways
>His face contorts with anger
>”God damnit, Sam. It’s been years and you’re still the same little crybaby you always were. I can’t believe you’re going to fucking lose it right here.”
“I-I-I’m s-s-sorry, I c-can’t h-h-help it.” You try wiping your tears away, but Jacob catches your wrists, pulling you painfully away from the lockers that had served as your anchor to reality
>His vice-grip around your wrist feels very real, even if you can’t understand how or why he’s here
>He drags you to the middle of the hallway
>You try digging your feet in to the slippery linoleum, but Jacob only pulls harder
“P-Please stop!” You plead, feeling like a doll tugged along by an angry child. “Y-You’re h-h-hurting me!”
>”Good.” Jacob says with a heat to his voice. “Don’t want you getting soft on me.”
>All it’s missing is the whiskey reek
>”You know Sam, you’ve caused a lot of people a lot of hurt in these past years. I thought I could make you strong, but I realized something.”
>He stands you in the center of the hallway, fingers digging painfully into your shoulders, rooting you in place despite your fierce desire to run away
>”Deep down you’re a coward. A burden. Dad was right about you.”
>A train whistle blows
>”You’ve always been a burden to our family, to Mom, Dad, and even me.”
>You shake when you see that glowing orb of light emerging from the farthest end of the hallway, looking like a shining golden nail
>A nail that’s speeding towards you
>The heavy body of a train appears at the end of the hallway, carrying its singular light like an angry torch as it trundles forward
>”This time you’re going to get it right,” Jacob says, his voice mechanical and cold
>The train whistle shrieks again
>There’s the sound of steel racing forward, hundreds of metric tons of power and kinetic energy on the move, gliding across a floor without any tracks
>”Hold.” Jacob commands
>You feel his grip on your shoulder disappear
>”Wait for it.”
>You couldn’t disobey, even if you wanted to. Your entire body seizes up with fear
>The train is so loud now that you can barely hear Jacob
>”HOLD.”
>And then…
>Everything goes quiet as the rush takes over your head
>It’s not even a conscious decision at this point
>It was autonomy that forced your feet
>You hurl your body off to the side and crash against the lockers with the train still bearing down, not even anywhere near you
>Jacob turns to you and his expression is so cold, sterile and hollow that you can’t look away, as if he’d frozen your eyes on his own
>His eyes that reflect nothing
>And even though everything is still that same, horrible frequency of pure silence, you can hear Jacob as clear as glass shattering on a quiet day
>”That’s no dodge, you fucking coward.”
>The train collides into him
>He’s gone in a wisp of smoke, vaporized into the ephemeral
>All that silence is gone with the sudden explosion of blaring horns and careening steel as the train blurs past in a smear of darkness.
>The train rolls on until your eyes slam shut and you clap your palms over your ears to stifle the noise and banish the sight
>The train is gone when you at last venture to open your eyes
>Slowly you work your hands away from your ears
>…Silence, save for the sound of sneakers pounding on the floor in the distance
>You shake your head a few times as if to shake loose a dream
>A very unpleasant dream
>That’s what everything was, right? Just a dream? A hallucination?
>The venus fly trap writhes at your feet, and it nips at your furred fingers as you lift it up
>The sound of sneakers against the floor is getting closer, but you don’t feel like you have the strength or even the drive to lift your head
>The words of your brother bounce around painfully in your skull
>”Deep down, you’re a coward. A burden.”
>It was just like it was back then all those years ago
>”That’s no dodge, you fucking coward.”
>Even the face he made?
>That flash of anger and then the icy-stillness of his features?
>It was just like a smoldering flame ready to be kindled
>You could have sworn it was dad
>You’d cry if you could (like the wimp you are) but you feel too badly-shaken to do anything but point your eyes to the floor and try to evade the mental anguish
>Welp
>Hopefully whoever is racing down the hallway will just put you out of your misery
>”SAM!”
>A familiar voice; a light in the darkness of your thoughts
>”SAM! RUN!”
>It’s Anon, racing around a corner, coming directly towards you
>And the sound of heavy feet against the tiles tells you Anon isn’t alone
The Leaves of Fall Act 2: Fear the Nobodies (Part 13)
You've never really 'fit in' with the heavily divided Ranchview High School crowd. Jock, Goth, Prep, Cheerleader, Nerd... you were never any of these. But as Halloween approaches, strange things start happening, and a dark ritual begins with the finding of a curious red book. It's a race against time for you and your friends to stop a group of students from ushering in an age of darkness, and to also figure out just what the hell is wrong with that rabbit.
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About this version: originally, The Leaves of Fall was split into two pastebins to compensate for the length of the story. Given that pastebin has chosen to censor this story for ambiguous reasons, it will forever be stored here and on AO3. This new version contains spelling, grammar and content fixes. Please understand that the content is all the same as the earlier versions minus some sentences being changed and fixed up. I cannot stress this enough: no new content has been added. It's my hope that this is a cleaner, easier-to-read version of the story.
Cover: https://imgur.com/a/vZS4Q
Sam (drawn by Akella of /hmofa/) https://imgur.com/a/nk3t1wT
Fan art collection: https://imgur.com/a/SCCSIQv
Accompanying playlist (WIP): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410_nI-0J
Alternative link: https://www.sofurry.com/view/1479078
Total word count: 147,552 words
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About this version: originally, The Leaves of Fall was split into two pastebins to compensate for the length of the story. Given that pastebin has chosen to censor this story for ambiguous reasons, it will forever be stored here and on AO3. This new version contains spelling, grammar and content fixes. Please understand that the content is all the same as the earlier versions minus some sentences being changed and fixed up. I cannot stress this enough: no new content has been added. It's my hope that this is a cleaner, easier-to-read version of the story.
Cover: https://imgur.com/a/vZS4Q
Sam (drawn by Akella of /hmofa/) https://imgur.com/a/nk3t1wT
Fan art collection: https://imgur.com/a/SCCSIQv
Accompanying playlist (WIP): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410_nI-0J
Alternative link: https://www.sofurry.com/view/1479078
Total word count: 147,552 words
5 years ago
91 Views
0 Likes
Estimated reading time
16 Minutes
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