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Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Posts: 12,429 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
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Howdy everyone. For those of you that don't know me or are too lazy to shift your gaze slightly to the left, I'm Elitemage14, and I'd like to welcome you to my newest story, Straightjacket! "Oh Elitemage14, you belong in a Straightjacket, har har har!" Have you gotten all the jokes about me being crazy out of your system yet? You have? Then let's continue.
I've been on the forums for a while now, though it's been a good two years or so since I've actually written anything on here. But I've got a good feeling about this story, and I hope you enjoy it. If you ever read any of my past stories, namely In Bad Company(still alive on these forums), Balance of Power(alive), or Caught in the Crossfire(dead), then you may notice some references.
Straightjacket is a complete standalone story from any of my other works, so if you never read any of my others stories than you should be fine. But if you have, then you might have a little more appreciation for some of the characters and events that occur in this story ;)
So without further ado, let's get started.

Total story posts: 39

If you read, please comment.

06-Mar-2010 23:41:47 - Last edited on 10-Apr-2010 07:36:21 by Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Posts: 12,429 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
<//> Office of Intelligence
</ Source: Unknown
</ Recovered: Unknown
</ Archive [SIG/REC/EM-SPEC] Opened per official request:
</ * WARNING: All queries will be logged! *

< RECORD 01/07
</ I don't know why I'm typing this. No one will ever see it, but I guess it helps to pretend that someone is listening.
< RECORD 02/07
</ It's winter now. The first snow this town's seen in eleven years is falling in gray sheets where they've started burning.
~ Warning ~ Date File Corruption.
Continue [Y/N]?
Processing
>> (.)
>> (..)
>> (...)
Loading complete:
< RECORD 03/07
</ It's been two weeks since the power went out, and the generator is almost out of gas. I've raided every other house in the cul-de-sac, but no luck, and I don't dare venture any further, not with THEM out there.
< RECORD 04/07
</ They're on to me. I thought I would be safe, down here in the basement, but on my last supply raid one of them saw me. Well, I'm not sure if it saw me, but it definately SENSED me.
< RECORD 05/07
</ All alone, and I don't know how much more of this I can take. I jump at every creak in the house, afraid that they have finally found me.
>> * Warning! Comm failure! *
>> Failed to find recipient:
>> (...) Suppressing errors
>> (..) ~ Compile/Compress/Commit
>> (.)
>> ()
< RECORD 06/07
</ Run and hide. If someone, anyone, is reading this, then that is the only advice I can give to you. Something bad has happened to this town, something very, very bad.
>> * Warnning! Recipient has insuffic--\
\\ > Packets will be lost *
>> * Continue [Y/N]? >>>>>>> \ *
< RECORD 07/07
</ I fell into a burning ring of fire
</ I went down, down, down and the flames went higher
</ And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire
</ The ring of fire
</ And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire
</ The ring of fire
</ The ring of fire
</ The ring of fire

</ Query complete
</ No additional records found
</ Archive closed \>

06-Mar-2010 23:42:02 - Last edited on 06-Mar-2010 23:45:41 by Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Posts: 12,429 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Chapter 1
John adjusted his sunglasses and peered through the the dirty window of the black sedan. Out in this part of the country, it was brutally hot during this time of year, and it was impossible to make out the passing road sign in the glaring sunlight. He had completely lost track since leaving the highway, and hadn't seen another car in over half an hour.
Not that it really mattered where he was, as long as it was away. Between his exams to study for, college applications to fill out, his job to work and all of his after school activities... it had all taken too much of a toll on him, and he was exausted and could no longer handle the stress. He had been overwhelmed, and under the pressure had faltered, got up and left, putting his life and all of his worries behind him.
John had been driving for nearly two days, putting several hundred miles between him and his old hometown, and the farther away he got the better. He just needed a break and time to clear his head of all the stress. He had over fifty new messages on his cell, half of them from his parents, asking why he hadn't shown up at school the last two days and where he had gone off to without saying a word. Not that they had much to worry about. John wasn't the tallest guy, barely breaking five foot eight, but weighed in at a rock solid one seventy-five and was more than capable of taking care of himself. What were they worried about, that someone had abducted him? He'd like to see someone just *try* to pull something like that on him.

06-Mar-2010 23:42:22 - Last edited on 06-Mar-2010 23:46:44 by Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Posts: 12,429 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
'Now Entering Civic County Limits' a sign said.
Continuing down the barely paved road, the countryside slowly began to evolve into more residential areas. At first the houses were no less than a half mile apart, but soon began popping up closer and closer until he caught his first glimpse of town.
Although his surroundings continued to grow more and more urban, John knew he was obviously still in the rural parts of Asagarnia. Here the local gas station and fast food stop shared the same building, and a half a dozen houses shared the land surrounding the local power substation, two things that instantly made the words ‘blue collar’ pop into his mind.
Despite the changing landscape, here the town of Civic was seemingly just as empty as the last hour of his trip had been. To his right were both a grocery and electronics store. There were a number of cars parked here and there in the parking lot, but there were still no cars on the road and he couldn't see anyone entering or exiting those two businesses. In fact, neither store even seemed to have their lights on, which was strange. It was only six on a Sunday, which was too late for everyone to still be at church and too earlier for everyone to be in bed for the following workday. Still, John didn't put too much thought into it and just kept driving, passing several more empty businesses and restaurants before passing by a nice enough looking motel. Despite the time, he was exhausted, and he had learned the hard way that any place would be better than trying to sleep one more night in his car.
He rolled to a stop and stepped out, being extra careful not to leave any of his windows down or doors unlocked. That was when things went very, very bad.

06-Mar-2010 23:42:32 - Last edited on 07-Mar-2010 00:02:05 by Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Posts: 12,429 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
As he got out of the car, the air momentarily seemed to grow thicker. To John it feelt like he was breathing a substance heavier and more viscous than air, a kind of syrup that slowed him down, held him back. His arms started to feel unnaturally heavy, as if the gravity in the car had been much less than that of the outside world. He collapsed to one knee. John told himself to stand back up, but his body wouldn't obey and was completely helpless, as if he was caught up in some horrible dream. A throbbing, bulging pain grew in his head. It started behind his eyes and pushed into the base of his skull, breaking his concentration.
A feeling of dread rose up from his very core and spread throughout his entire being. He couldn't move. He could no longer breathe. His body was completely paralyzed, and he could feel himself drifting dangerously close to the edge of unconsciousness. The band of pain in his skull widened and intensified, as if something was thrusting, squeezing itself into his mind. Red glossed over his vision, and he could feel his eyes start to roll back into his head. 'This is not real,' he tried to tell himself. ' I fell asleep at the wheel and this is just a dream,' but he knew that was not true. The pain was way too real for him to just be dreaming.
'What are you doing, Johnny Boy?' a voice in his head asked, a voice he had never heard before. 'Kargill and Garth have special plans for you, oh yes they do. But I'm not going to let you fufill those plans. Go home, John. Get back in your car and go home. I won't tell you again.'

06-Mar-2010 23:42:44 - Last edited on 10-Mar-2010 21:28:21 by Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Posts: 12,429 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
At that instant, the air returned to normal, and John was in control of his body again, but his head continued to pound and his heart was still racing.
'Did I just have a seizure or something?' he wondered. His hands were shaking wildly, and his muscles felt like they could barely support the weight of his body. John felt like he was about to throw up, and a few moments later, he did. His head jerked forward right as he vomitted green bile all over the road. Strangely, he started to feel better, as if he had just purged himself from some sort of horrible toxin.
He felt the urge to turn around, to get away from here as quickly as possible. "Don't be ridiculous," his rational side muttered to himself. "Stay the course. Keep going. No need to get worked up over nothing. I've been under a lot of stress lately, and am feeling a little dillusional. I'm just sick, probobly picked something up at one of the rest stops."
John knew he was lying to himself, but it didn't matter. As much as he wanted to turn around, he felt an even greater urge to keep going forward. He couldn't describe the feeling, but it was as if something, or someone, up ahead was pulling him towards this town. Ever since he got in his car and left his home behind, it had almost been like he was following a trail, a trail someone had very deliberately layed out for him.
Ignoring the warning, John stood up and went into the motel.

06-Mar-2010 23:42:52 - Last edited on 06-Mar-2010 23:52:04 by Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Elitemage14

Posts: 12,429 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
There was no one manning the front desk of the motel, which didn't come as a surprise to John. He put fifty dollars on the desk, thought about it for a second, and then added ten more before going around back and getting his own key. Room 13, the key said.
Returning to his car and retrieving his suitcase, he managed to find the room after a bit of exploring, and was pleasantly surprised by what he found. The bedroom was nice enough and had its own TV with cable. Separated from the bedroom by a wall was a combination dining room and kitchen with its own stove and fridge, and all the wallpaper, for the most part, was not peeling. John was worried his sixty dollars might not cover all this, but he could deal with that in the morning. He was absolutely drained on energy after being on the road for so long and desperately needed sleep. Without undressing he flopped face down onto the bed and quickly drifted off.

The clock said ten o'clock when there was a loud knocking on his door. With a grunt John sat up. "Who is it?" John mumbled loudly. No response came, just a continued knocking.
As he got up to answer the door, he noticed something weird. John was positive he had locked and dead bolted the door when he arrived, but now he found them both to be unlocked. It was like whoever was on the other side had gone through the trouble of unlocking the door, but not actually opening it.
When John did open the door, he was horrified by what he saw.

06-Mar-2010 23:43:01 - Last edited on 07-Mar-2010 00:05:18 by Elitemage14

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