INTO THE DEATH REALM BY ALEXI Art by Lori Michelle Adams

Brett sat on a lunch table in the cafeteria at school with his friends Jeffery, Mark, and Josh. “So, you’re telling me you fell asleep in the haunted cabin, wolves chased you and you ran inside the house?” he asked.

“For the second time,” said Jeffery, “they weren’t wolves. They were like… werewolves!” He set down his sandwich and started munching down on his potato chips.

“Well, that’s a nice story. I hope you wake up soon,” said Josh. He walked over to the trash can and threw away his garbage.

Mark scooted closer to Jeffery. “Do you think they’ll ever believe us?” asked Mark. Jeffery shrugged.

“Probably not,” said Jeffery, “but maybe they will.” He scooted away from Mark.

Brett walked on the school grounds after school. “So, what are you going to do this weekend?” asked Josh.

“I don’t know,” said Brett. “Tomorrow after school I’m just… I don’t know. Why, what do you want to do?”

Josh smiled. “Should we go check out that cabin?” he asked.

“Nah, something else,” said Brett.

He noticed someone who was walking up to them. A tall eighth grader named Bravo was big, buff and always had an angry attitude. He wore a red T-shirt and black torn pants.

Bravo stepped up close to them, forcing them to take a step back. “What are you doing here?” he demanded in a harsh voice, stepping forward and forcing them to take a step back again. He blocked the sunlight from their eyes.

“We’re just walking home,” said Josh. He seemed to be more frightened than Brett. Bravo’s friend, Jake, stepped up beside him with his arms crossed in a show-off way.

“We don’t want any trouble,” said Brett. He slowly turned around, keeping an eye on them. Bravo smiled. He turned around and walked away after, followed by his friend Josh.

Josh stepped up to Brett once he knew they were gone. “Those guys are weird, huh?” he asked. He turned his head and looked to his side to Brett.

“Yeah, kind of,” Brett said. He scanned around the school grounds. “Hey look! There’s Tom! Maybe he can be part of our group.”

“But I can’t talk to him now,” said Josh. “I planned to see a horror movie at the theatre today.”

Brett looked at Josh. “Which movie?” he asked.

Josh paused. “The Death Realm,” he said, moving his arm across Brett’s face.

“What’s it about?

“It’s about some kids that get into this world, kind of, and he has to win to live. It seems pretty interesting,” said Josh. “Want to come?”

Brett looked at the ground. “Sure. I don’t have any plans tonight.”

“Alright, then!” said Josh. “To the movies!” He pointed his index finger up in the air and started walking out the gate and down the street to the theatre.

They continued to walk down to the movies. “Don’t tell me we’re going to go to that old one,” said Brett.

Josh sped up. “Come here,” he said. Brett followed him and soon stopped at the front of the old theatre. It was a mess. The paint was chipped; a window was broken, there were cobwebs on the top and looked as if no one was ever there. And this place is still running, thought Brett.

“Why can’t we watch it over at the ordinary theatre?” asked Brett.

“Because this is the only place they have the movie on,” said Josh. “Come on!” He started forward toward the front desk, where an old man was standing. “Excuse me sir,” said Josh, “how much does two tickets to
The Death Realm cost?”

“It’s free,” said the man. His lips barely moved.

Brett walked toward the door. “Thank you, sir.” They walked inside. They saw no snack booth, no restrooms or anyone. All they saw was one door. Josh walked to the door and opened it. Brett followed after. There was a screen inside and about thirty rusty torn chairs. They sat in the middle. “When does the movie start?” asked Brett.

“We just wait,” said Josh. They soon heard sliding metal, as if the back door had locked and the screen brightened. Soon, the movie started rolling. “I don’t know why they don’t have any previews,” said Josh.

“Me neither,” said Brett.

Soon, the beginning credits started playing. All of the names were the same ‘Hyrus.’ The director, the director of photography and the producer was all the same. “There all the same!” shouted Brett.

Josh silenced him as the beginning started to play. There were two kids. One found a set of cards in his basement and they started playing. Bad things started happening. The cards said that they had to do something for them to live. They had to win to get their lives back.

They haven’t said a word. They started getting tired and sleepy. The dozed and woke, dozed and woke, until they fell asleep.

“Ahhh!” screamed Brett as he shot up in the air from his sleep. But he didn’t recognize the room. Somehow, it looked very familiar to him. He rubbed his head and got up. He looked around and saw a gray wall, a gray ceiling, a gray floor, some tools, and a door. He soon saw Josh lying on the floor with his arms and legs spread out. “Josh.”

Josh’s eyes starting moving. He opened his eyes and focused on the small bright light bulb hanging on top of him. “Oh,” he moaned. Brett crawled up and leaned against a corner of the room as he watched Josh roll over. Josh got up and started looking around. His eyes were constantly dropping and Brett could tell that he was still sleepy. He gazed around the room and saw Brett crawled up against the corner. Josh’s eyes widened. “Where are we?” he said lightly.

“I don’t know,” said Brett. He slowly got up and walked passed Josh to the door. He grabbed the handle and shook it, but the door didn’t budge. “What do we do?” asked Brett. His voice sounded panicking. “What’s happening!” he cried.

Josh’s expression changed to sadness as his eyebrows lifted up. “Ahhh!” screamed Josh like a crazy person. He ran to another corner and crouched. Brett heard him slightly weeping. They didn’t know where they were. They didn’t know how they got there. They didn’t know it was The Death Realm.

*(If you have experienced an unusual phenomenon, you are unexpectedly to do crazy things as if it were a dream. Trust me; I have some of my own, too. I have seen a rocket brake apart in the sky while I was on the freeway, and saw the beauty of the trail of smoke left containing light. How can smoke contain light? That’s the phenomena. My hands were shaking after that, and then I noticed my whole body became shaky.)

Brett felt as if he was about to throw up. His stomach felt as if it were expanding on the inside. He crouched on the floor, taking deep breaths until they heard a deep, hoarse voice that vibrated against the ground. It said, “SURVIVE, OH PAST, DEAR VICTIMS. YOUR BRAVERY IS AT TEST.”

Josh turned around in fear. Brett saw his face was red and his eyes were soaked with tears. “Who are you!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. “What do you want!” he said, ending in a deep weeping sound.

“Josh,” said Brett in an exhausted voice. He crawled over to where Josh was sitting. “I think we’ve entered the movie.”

“We what?” said Josh. “We’re in the death realm? We’re going to die?” His voice started to get furious. His breathing became deeper than ever.

Soon, the room started turning one way, and then another, slowly forming into a different room. Josh and Brett started getting dizzy, and soon found themselves chained up against the wall, on both sides of the room. Their ankles were chained up. But the room wasn’t complete. This time, Brett found himself vomiting on his chest. “Ahhh!” he screamed. He started wiping the foamy yellowish chunks from his chest.

His scream was followed by Josh, who screamed even louder this time. As the room slowly morphed, they could make out a room with a red long carpet that stretched for what seemed forever between them. There were two walls on each side in which each were chained up on and no walls on the other angle, but the red carpet. The room lit up, making their eyes hurt a little.

They heard the booming voice that seemed to echo through the everlasting trail of darkness. “Powers you will receive. Lose and retrieve. Forfeit to die. Win to live. Play around, you pay.”

“What does that mean?” Josh said almost immediately.

Just then, the voice spoke again. “YOU WILL USE YOUR POWERS TO ESCAPE, ONCE FREE YOU MUST FIGHT, ONCE YOU FIGHT, YOU WILL BE BACK, YOU MAKE A DECISION.”

Brett Got up, but the chains made it difficult. “A decision?” he said. “What type of decision?”

“I don’t know,” said Josh, his voice a lot more calm. “But what I’m wondering about is the powers. What will we have?”

“I’m not sure, but all I know is that it may get us out of here,” said Brett.

A minute later was silence, and then they felt tingling in their bodies. “What’s happening?” asked Josh.

“I think it’s our powers,” said Brett. It soon ended, but they felt no different.

The voice once again came back. “YOU POSSES POWER. USE IT, AND IT WILL SET YOU FREE.”

“I don’t really know what to do,” said Josh. “But let’s try to see if we can use them.” He got up and closed his eyes. Josh took a slow deep breath, but nothing happened, until Brett heard a clanging noise of metal. It came from one of Josh’s ankle chains.

Brett stared wide-eyed from what was happening. “Josh! I think you’re a telekinetic!”

Josh opened his eyes. “Cool!” He undid the other lock. “I’m free!” he shouted. He stepped forward and put his arms on his hips as if he were a hero. “Try yours.”

“Alright,” said Brett. He stood up and closed his eyes, too. He waited for a minute, and nothing happened. “Nothing’s happening!” he shouted. His expression changed to anger and he sat down again. “This is so stupid!” he shouted, throwing the chain to the floor. He opened his eyes wide and frowned.

“What’s the matter?” asked Josh.

Brett started shaking at what he saw on the chain. The part of the chain he grabbed was shaped as his hand. “Look.”

Brett showed the dented chain to Josh. “Oh, my gosh,” said Josh, as he moved closer to see.

Brett gripped with both hands on the chain that connected to the wall and yanked it out. “Wow!” shouted Bret. “I have strength!”

“Great! Since we’re both free… what do we do?” asked Josh.

Brett was about to say something but got interrupted by the voice again. “FIGHTING SESSIONS BEGINS!” it boomed. There was an eerie silence for a few moments afterwards. They both didn’t say a word.

But then they heard heavy footsteps, coming from down the long passageway. Clanging metal and heavy footsteps were coming towards them. “What’s going to happen?” asked Brett in a worried voice.

But the sound was a lot closer than they had expected. A legionnaire stepped up to them wearing a breastplate, holding a javelin stick that was seven feet high and carried a short sword in his dagger. His expression was fierce and got in position to attack. “Who is he?” asked Brett panicking as the man pulled out his sword.

“Our powers!” shouted Josh. He closed his eyes and almost immediately the javelin stick broke in half. He opened his eyes. “Yahoo!”

The man was about to strike Josh until Brett punched him on his breastplate, which seemed to dent into the shape of a fist. “Ahhh!” screamed the man. Suddenly, his neck started cracking and misshaping, as if his neck bones were double-jointed. “Josh, what are you doing?” asked Brett.

“Attacking from the inside,” he answered, To Brett, that seemed pretty gross. Soon, his back folded and cracked even louder. The man closed his eyes and slowly fell backwards from the pain. A bone poked through his stomach.

“That’s enough,” said Brett.

Josh opened his eyes. “Alright. I’m just into gore.”

Brett kneeled down and gave the man his hardest blow, which almost went inside his stomach. “That’ll do,” he said, swiping his hands together.

“So now we wait?” asked Josh.

“I guess,” answered Brett.

They sat back down near each other, waiting for the voice to tell them what to do. Brett was thinking about the decision. What decision is that? He wondered. Could it be someone’s life to pay?

“CHOOSE YOUR DECISION,” the voice later shouted. “WHICH POWER WILL YOU KEEP?”

Brett stared at the ceiling. “Choose which power one of us is keeping?” he asked.

“Please,” begged Josh, “please can I keep mine?” He kneeled down and crossed his fingers.

Brett tightened his lips. He really wanted his strength for protection and he thought that Josh’s power as a telekinetic won’t be handy. “Well…” said Brett, “Maybe I should –”

“You only?” shouted Josh. “So you want your powers, huh? Then I won’t have any, then what would I do?”

“It’s just that mine can be more useful,” said Brett. He sighed.

Josh stomped his foot childishly. “Fine. You can keep your powers. Once we get out of here, I’ll join another group. You’ll be all alone.” He turned around. “Take us back!” he shouted at the ceiling. “We decided! I want to be back home!”

The room started swirling, making Brett’s eyes hurt. One object was going one way and another object was going somewhere else, which caused Brett and Josh’s eyes to start separating into pain. They closed their eyes and blocked them with their hands.

Soon, it slowed down, and before they knew it, they were back at the theatre, sitting down on the chairs, with the back door unlocked. Brett opened his eyes. “We’re home!” he shouted. “We’re finally here!” a big smile grew on his face as he saw Josh’s eyes open.

“Yes!” he shouted. They both got out of the section of chairs and ran out the door, into the open.