There is rust

Chatterbox: Down to Earth

There is rust

There is rust coating the iron handle, yet you still grab it, pulling your sleeve over your fingers. 

Please let this not be a mistake, you think, the cold wind pushing against your flannel jacket. Skeletal trees line the cracked stone path, and as you close the gate behind you, an owl screeches and you jump backwards, terrified. After spotting the troublemaker and reassuring yourself, you walk cautiously towards the dilapidated house.
Something dark flings itself onto the window and the house gives a shuddering groan. You stop, reconsidering your decision, and then think of the letter.

Proceed to 643 Elm Street on Saturday evening, 8 PM sharp or your family will die.

There's no turning back.
You continue up the walk until you are right in front of the door, peeling red paint looking awfully like blood. Another dark thing smashes against the window to your right and you do a little hop-skip away, artfully hiding your fear behind fancy footwork. The door creaks open and you take a deep breath, then enter.

First there is only darkness, and then a spark flares up and grows until you find yourself in a cozy home filled with the scent of baking cookies. A fire blazes cheerfully in a marble fireplace to your left, and there's a young woman on the plaid couch. 
"Oh, hello, dear! Welcome! Would you like a cookie?" she asks, and they smell so good that you have to say yes.
The woman goes into a hallway by the door that you didnt notice and you are left alone.
And then the fire grows to an impossible height and spills out of the fireplace.
Appearances can be deceiving, young one.
The voice rings in your head and time slows.
That and much more you will learn in my trials. 
And for this, there is no backing out.
You will get your cookie if you succeed. If not... Well, I'll let you imagine all the terrible things that could happen.
The flames envelope the room and everything turns white.

- ▫︎ - ▫︎ - 

Name: 

Rough Age:

Simple Personality:

Greatest Fear:

Greatest Strength:

I will see you on the other side. 

submitted by Welcome.
(February 3, 2021 - 6:32 pm)

back to the Down to Earth

ooh, how mysterious! I don't know what this is, but joining!

Name: NerdFace (Nerd)

Rough Age: 14

Simple Personality: Ambiverted, but more towards the introverted side, book smart, nerdy, annoying, adventurous, caring, sarcastic, and mysterious.

Greatest Fear: Failure

Greatest Strength: Kindness (*shrugs at cheesiness*)

submitted by NerdFace, age 14, in the void
(February 3, 2021 - 8:14 pm)
submitted by TOP
(February 3, 2021 - 8:19 pm)
submitted by TOP
(February 3, 2021 - 11:26 pm)

This is very mysterious and interesting!

Name: Wreeboo

Rough Age: 13

Simple Personality: Introverted until you get to know me. I read every chance I get and am pretty smart because of it.

Greatest Fear: Tight spaces

Greatest Strength: My intelligence

 

submitted by Wreeboo, age Immortal, Nowhere and Everywhere
(February 4, 2021 - 9:05 am)

Name: Silver Crystal

Rough Age: 13

Simple Personality: Kind, shy, talkative, competetive

Greatest Fear: Being forgotten

Greatest Strength: Thinking outside the box

submitted by Silver Crystal, age Infinity, Milky Way
(February 4, 2021 - 9:45 am)

Oooh, this sounds interesting! 

Name: Dusk Sky (or Dusk S. for short) 

Rough Age: 14 

Simple personality: Ambiverted. Usually energetic, creative, and sarcastic. A bit reckless and hot-tempered. Not sure how simple you want it, but I hope this is enough. 

Greatest fear: This isn't a weakness, right? It's a fear. In that case, I have a fear of heights and I really don't like even slightly dangerous situations. 

Greatest strength: Idk. Perhaps kindness and forgiveness, like Nerd's. I can't think of anything else XD. 

 

submitted by Dusk S., age ????, ????
(February 4, 2021 - 10:57 am)

Name: Gracia

Rough Age: 14

Simple Personality: cheerful demeanor, outgoing, sensitive, generous

Greatest Fear: being alone

Greatest Strength: good liar


submitted by Gracia
(February 4, 2021 - 12:49 pm)

Very creepy, but I'll do it for a cookie.

Name: Quill

Rough Age: 16

Simple Personality: Friendly, creative, adventurous, impulsive.

Greatest Fear: My own mortality.

Greatest Strength: Creativity

submitted by Quill
(February 4, 2021 - 2:28 pm)

Name: Princess Juniper

Rough Age: 10

Simple Personality:Funny (I hope), brave, good leader, bossy

Greatest Fear: Suffocation

Greatest Strength: Leading

submitted by Princess Juniper, age 10, The eternal forest
(February 4, 2021 - 4:15 pm)

Interesting...

Name: MoonKitten

Rough Age: 15

Simple Personality: introverted but friendly; loves reading (I hope that's enough, not sure what else to put)

Greatest Fear: Letting people down

Greatest Strength: Very fast

submitted by MoonKitten
(February 4, 2021 - 4:24 pm)

I'm very curious about this.

Name: Sterling

Rough Age: 15

Simple Personality: Quiet, creative, passionate, clever

Greatest Fear: Honestly... death.

Greatest Strength: I dunno.  Maybe creativity?

submitted by Sterling, i need to decide on this
(February 5, 2021 - 2:39 pm)

Mysterious. 

Name: Fallen Leaf 

Rough Age: 10

Simple Personality: Quiet, but very friendly when you get to know me. I think deep thoughts and I'm loyal to my friends.

Greatest Fear: Either fear itself or wasps.

Greatest Strength: Either loyalty or distraction. (I can distract enemies.)

COOKIEEE 

submitted by Fallen Leaf
(February 6, 2021 - 11:45 am)

The whiteness fades out and you are left alone in a dark room. Doors line the walls. Slowly, they open, and shadows flood the space, covering the doors and the walls until nothing is left but black.

Water-or something-starts dripping, the only sound in the empty room. 

Plip... Plip... Plip...

A mouse scurries over your feet, eyes wide with fear.

And then the shadows part and a single door emerges from the void, battered and covered in long scratches. You know something bad waits on the other side, but still you go forward, gripping the dented copper handle and twisting it...

 

What now?

submitted by Shadows, Looming
(February 6, 2021 - 1:22 pm)

...I hope this is okay, please tell me if this is not what you meant this to be.

As much as my mind protests, my body continues through the door. Everything is, if possible, even blacker than the previous room. I can't see a thing. Then, two glowing dots blink into being on the edge of my field of vision. They grow and grow, until I can tell that they're eyes. Strangely, I feel no fear. In fact, I feel nothing at all. I can't even feel the ground under my bare feet anymore. True, I can't see the ground either, but in the previous room, I could feel the damp ground. The eyes seem to grow, but I somehow know, preobably from the way they're bouncing up and down, that they're moving closer instead. The room seems to grow lighter, and I can now see pale light glinting off sharp teeth and claws. As I finally look down, I realize my feet aren't there. Neither is the rest of my body. I can't move, or feel emotion or physical sensations, or even make noise. I can only see and hear and think. The strange creature with glowing eyes stalks closer, and I can now discren from its vague shape that it is some huge cat, with thick, matted, dirty balck fur. Saliva drips in ugly ropes from its huge jowls, and the yellow light from its eyes seem to spear me through the mind. And then, suddenly, I can't think. I nearly cease to exist. I am a senseless oberver of my own demise. And then I shake myself, for I have remembered something. The fire-creature from before had said that these would be "trials." Did that mean that this was an illusion? The room, darkness and all, vanishes swiftly. The fire-creature, or a black shapeless void that has the same presence as it, or maybe it's a ball of green light, is in front of me. 

You have done well, it says, sounding a bit disgruntled, but you cannot last much longer. And then, quite suddenly, I lose the one thing I never lost before: my sight. 

submitted by Wreeboo, age Immortal, Nowhere and Everywhere
(February 7, 2021 - 8:26 pm)

So...

submitted by top
(February 10, 2021 - 2:36 pm)