FicWad

The Proposition

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“But mom, why do I need a diary?” asked Kayley.

“Well, I thought you could write about your aspergers; keep a record of what it's like to have it.” shrugged Kayley's mom.

Kayley pouted. She didn't like writing in diaries and blogs and what not. She's always forget about them and they would just collect dust like an old toy that a child no longer wants to play with.

“Just try it for once,” urged Kayley's mom. “You might like it.”

Still keeping the same pout, Kayley walked back up to her room from the kitchen with the black and white striped diary in her hands. Entering the bedroom, cluttered with clothes on the floor and many stuffed animals on the drawers, she sighed and threw the diary on her bed, thinking that it was a waste of time. Besides, she hated writing things by hand... she was aways so slow at it, and she wasn't necessarily proud of her own handwriting. Without a second thought, Kayley retreated to her desk where her laptop stood.

She loved playing on her laptop. It was like a security blanket to her as well as the window to the rest of the world where she could collect information and interact with others. Kayley opened up the voice chatting program, skype, and checked to see if any of her friends were online. She clicked on the chat randomly called “Bitch, I am FABULOUS!” and looked at the participants in the call. Out of the sixteen people in the chat, there were about five of them online. Maybe today they would start a voice call with her.

'O hai guys!' Kayley typed.

After entering the message into the chat, she eagerly waited for a response. While waiting, she put on her headphones (which also functioned as a microphone for skype chats) and played some hard rock music on her computer. Seconds passed by and soon, minutes. Kayley waited anxiously for her friends' responses. She would constantly check the internet for a moment, then repeatedly check her skype, then back to her internet. But there was still no response. After an hour had passed with no replies, Kayley let out a dejected sigh and sank in her chair.

'What are they doing?' Kayley thought. 'Why won't they say hi back to me? Do they not like me...? Am I annoying them?'

As these thoughts flooded her mind, Kayley formed into a ball on her chair, hugging her knees to her chest. Tears began to fill her baby blue eyes. Her chest tightened as loneliness began to take her. For the past two months the chat had been remarkably silent. Or at least, whenever she typed something in, it had been. Within those days, whenever she would try to talk to them, no one would talk to her back. Kayley missed her friends terribly. She missed the hilarious conversations and the sophisticated debates they used to have. But nowadays, she felt as if they had grown distant. If she could have just one skype call filled with the same laughter she used to hear, then she would feel happy.

And that was when her imagination began to spin.

Suddenly, Kayley's room changed into agrassy field on a cliff by the sea with several ancient stone structures similar in appearance to the stonehenge. There, in the center of the structure, were some of her friends, talking amongst each other. Kayley, happy to see them, ran across the field to say hi. When she approached them, they stopped talking and turned to her with scowls on their faces.

“What do you want?” asked a tall, lean boy named Michael, coldly.

“Um...” said Kayley, surprised. “I-I just thought that-”

“You thought /what/?” asked Tristan, an Asian-American boy. “That you would say hi?”

“Well, yeah, I mean...” Kayley mumbled.

“Oh come on, Kayley, don't you get it?” snapped an African-American girl named Becca. “We have better things to do than hang out with you. We have lives you know.”

“Huh...?” asked Kayley, as if distant.

“The universe doesn't revolve around you,” said a frustrated boy Indian boy named Chander.“Honestly, you're so annoying sometimes. Just go away.”

Kayley gasped as tears flowed down her cheeks. She was in shock. Why would they say that to her? Weren't they her friends? Didn't she mean something to them?

“No... that's not... I'm not annoying.” she sobbed as she rubbed her eyes.

The next thing she knew, Kayley was back in her room, standing up from her chair. As if relieved, she sat back down and cradled her head in her hands.

“I was doing it again...” she whispered to herself. “I was just daydreaming.”

She sniffed as the tears and snot drained from her face.

“God dammit, Kayley,” she hissed. “Stop crying, you big baby. That's not how they really think.”

Kayley stood up from her chair and grabbed a couple of tissues to blow her nose with. She hated crying. It was such a dumb reaction in her mind. The sounds, the faces, the sensations... it made her really uncomfortable to even look at someone doing it, let alone doing it herself. After blowing her nose, she threw the snot-filled tissue in the trash and sat back down.

“Why are you crying?” asked a voice.

Kayley gasped in surprise as the world around her turned into a large circular room where colorful neon lights lit up the floor, walls and ceiling, taking the form of strange letters from a language that no one on Earth could identify. At the back of the room was a throne made up a piece of the starry night sky. And sitting on the throne was a seven foot tall robotic humanoid dressed in black clothing with glowing gold symbols consisting of a sleeveless shirt with a hood and black hakama pants(or Japanese styled pants with wide legs). The clothes were torn in certain places, as if it had been in a battle. In the places where the robot's dark blue metallic skin was showing, there were blood red tribal-like markings that decorated him from head to toe. To top it off, the robot's mouthless and noseless face contained white glowing eyes that were as pure as snow.

“Where... where am I?” asked Kayley, trying to dry her tears.

“That's not important right now,” said the robot, who then changed the subject. “Why are you crying?”

“I'm not crying!”

“Your expression tells a different tale.”

There was a pause between the two.

“I dunno why I'm crying...” muttered Kayley, who started to cry harder. “I shouldn't be. Ihave great parents, good friends... so why am-”

“I believe that you know why you are crying. You're just afraid to admit it.”

Kayley's heavy sobs resonated throughout the room. She hated crying; especially in front of others. She felt ashamed whenever she did it; as if people were judging that she was weak. And yet, she couldn't help but be a spoiled crybaby.

“I'm losing... my friends...” sobbed Kayley.

“Pardon?” asked the robot.

“I'm losing my friends!” bawled Kayley. “We barely get into productive skype calls anymore when I'm around! And when I'm not here, they seem to always be having fun! I just want to have a full conversation with them again! I don't want to lose them! They're the greatest friends I've ever had! I don't want to feel lonely anymore!!”

The robot looked at her, as if surprised. A set of stairs made up of glass appeared as he stood up. He climbed down the stairs and walked up to Kayley, pulling her into a comforting embrace. This, of course, shocked Kayley. Why was she getting a hug from someone she didn't even know? Was this even normal? She wanted to pull away from him, but other than the fact that he was cold and had a tight grip, she felt somehow... safe in his arms.

“It's alright...” he whispered. “You're not alone.”

“Really?” sniffed Kayley.

“Yes,” whispered the robot, who then placed his hands on her shoulders. “Oh! I'm sorry. I completely forgot to introduce myself. My name is Muse. I am the god of creativity and inspiration.”

“A... god?” asked Kayley, starting to calm down.

“Well... not /a/god, per se,” said Muse. “How shall I put it... I am who you humans call 'God' in general.”

“But...” said Kayley. “I thought God didn't exist.”

For a moment, there was a visible expression of hurt in Muse's eyes. His cold, robotic hands slipped away from Kayley's shoulders.

“That's... what so many others have said.” he muttered.

“Um, wait!” said Kayley. “I'm sorry, I...”

“No, no, it's fine,” sighed Muse, who then changed the subject. “What is your name?”

“Kayley O'Donnell.” replied Kayley.

“I see...”

Another pause.

“Kayley,” said Muse. “I have... a proposition for you.”

“For what?” asked Kayley.

“There is something I want you to do. I want you to find seven towers. Inside of them, there are machines that will activate a beacon for one who holds the Hallowed Pen. These beacons will give me the power to destroy a tyrant that now rules these lands which I can see from my tower. Do you understand?”

“Uh huh.”

“Good. If you can help me free Phantasma, this world where all of mankind's imaginations come alive, from the entity known as Shaxan, then I will be your friend forever. You will not have to be alone anymore; and I will never leave you.”

“Really?!”

“Yes.”

“But... why me?”

“I have studied you; seen the stories you have created in your mind and on paper. Your mind is overflowing with imagination. Not only that, but because you can tap into your creativity to the point where you believe they are real, you can easily travel freely into Phantasma; in other words, you are a Reverie, one of several hundred humans that can do this. As the god of creativity, that is something I admire most about you.”

Touched by this compliment, Kayley blushed a little. In her mind, it was one of the nicest things that anyone had ever told her. But then she snapped back to reality as Muse held out his hand and a ball of light appeared. The light took the shape of a large and long implement. When the light faded, an object in the shape of a fountain pen appeared. Kayley had never seen a pen like it: it was as long as a spear, black in color and decorated with white runes of unknown origin. The tip (or in this case, “blade”) was razor sharp and had a silvery gleam to it.

“This is the Hallowed Pen,” explained Muse. “It is a very special pen that I designed myself. It has the ability to create anything by amplifying the thoughts of its wielder.”

“It's beautiful,” commented Kayley, grabbing the object that was handed to her. “Can it really create anything you want?”

“Well...” said Muse. “I was probably exaggerating when I said 'anything'. There are certain things it can't create. Among these things are: living beings, anything that needs to detach from the Pen's blade (for example, those little things you call calculators.), objects heavier than the Pen itself and, of course, another Hallowed Pen.”

“...Oh. Okay.”

“I will admit, it has some... /flaws/... with the design. But once this all over, I will see if I can't make adjustments to it.”

“Sounds good. So... when do I start?”

“You will know when the time comes.”

Kayley shifted uncomfortably where she stood. She wanted to ask Muse something, but she was afraid he would get angry. Her parents always told her “Ask, and you shall receive”, but she didn't find those words to be true. She believed that asking for something would only be given to you if the person felt like giving it to you. But, Kayley thought to herself, she could try.

“Uh... um...” Kayley mumbled.

“Yes?” asked Muse.

“Can I... bring my friends?”

There was a pause between the two. Kayley hoped he would say yes. As silly as it sounded, for the longest time, she had always wanted to go on an epic adventure with her friends; an adventure like the ones in books where they would be the heroes vanquishing evil and going on dangerous quests. She loved those stories. They were everywhere in books, movies, video games and television. Kayley tried writing a story like that once, but it never really went anywhere due to writer's block and simply forgetting about it frequently.

“Of course.” nodded Muse.

Kayley's eyes lit up and a wide and child-like smile spread on her face.

“Thank you!” she chirped.

“/Kayley/!” shouted a voice.

“Huh?”

The moment that Kayley blinked, she found herself back in her room. There was no Muse, no Hallowed Pen, nothing. Just her sitting in front of her laptop on her desk.

“Kayley,” shouted Kayley's mom from the other side of her bedroom door. “Who are you talking to?”

“Umm, no one!” replied Kayley, who was caught off guard.

She felt dazed. It all felt so real; holding the Hallowed Pen, standing in that weird room and the hug from Muse. For a moment, she thought it was all in her mind. But upon remembering that she was a“Reverie”, a human that could move between the realm of reality and imagination, she knew in her heart that it had to be real.

“Well, come take out the trash.” sighed Kayley's mom.

“'Kay!” said Kayley, lifting herself off of her chair and walking out of the room.