This is one that I've been working on. I just finished chapter 1.
Chapter 1: Hate Me Some MHOs
Picture this: you have the power to see things other people can’t see. Would you accept the power as a gift or a curse?
*
It was seven in the morning of January the fourteenth. I was walking along the streets of Belfast, and was searching for a restaurant where I could have my breakfast. The sun was already high in the air, considering that the sun set for only two or three hours. On this particular morning, I had the urge to go and check out the Turkish cuisine. I was deciding between which two Turkish restaurants to go to when my friend, Beth, suddenly appeared in front of me. I make a weird choking noise which was a mixture between laughter and a scream. You see, Beth was a ghost who died in a car crash two years ago. But compared to the other ghosts I have met; Beth seems to be the most beautiful one. She has long white hair, black eyes and she always wears a white top, a pair of black leggings with a black scarf that’s wrapped around her neck. She wears a silver coat with them, although I’m pretty sure that ghosts never feel hot or cold.
Beth giggled after seeing my reaction, and turned into a human. When she was in her human form, her white hair changed into brown and her black eyes became a vibrant shade of blue. “Let’s go eat, Emilia!” said Beth as she skipped away and stopped in front of the second Turkish restaurant. I sighed and smiled to myself. “Yeah,” I said.
“So, what are your plans today?” asked Beth, skipping along with me after we finished eating. “I don’t have any,” I muttered. Beth suddenly stopped and looked me in the eye. “Have you seen some more things?” she asked me, concerned. “I’m sure that there are none of them here.” “There are more Mutated Hybrid Ones out there, Beth,” I said. “I saw one outside the hotel last night. It was a cross between a human, a snake and a vampire bat. The transformation occurred right before my very eyes. I didn’t slay it yet, since there was still some human in it which was trying to fight back. It staggered off to the alleyway which is full of large dustbins which were used way back. Thankfully it won’t be able to harm any of the ‘other ones’ yet, since the transformation takes 24 hours to complete if it becomes resisted, and because I believe that it won’t get out of there.” I finally took a deep breath. “Okay, okay,’ said Beth casually. “I’ll meet you there tonight at ten. But for now, let’s have some fun.” I finally realized that we had come to a park.
“I said that it’s time for fun!” said Beth complaining. “Feeding the ducks bread crumbs are my idea of fun!” I shot back. Beth sighed and slid down the bench. “You old grandma,” she said quietly. “I heard that!” I boomed.
It was lunchtime when I finally felt stress relieved. Feeding ducks bread crumbs helps me to relax and take a break from my hectic life. I looked around and realized that Beth had fallen asleep in her ghost form. I nudged her and said “Wake up, Beth,” softly, which of course didn’t wake her up. I got up, filled the container in which the bread crumbs had been with water, and proceeded to wake her up by splashing cold water at her face and screaming, “Wake up, Beth!” as loud as I could. Fortunately for me, my plan worked. Beth coughed and sputtered. When she finally came out of her daze, she said, “Why you- Emilia!” and tried to strangle me. I laughed and pushed her away. Luckily for her, the water quickly dried since she was a ghost. “Let’s go have lunch,” I said, smiling. “Oh, and remember to be in your human form the whole time, Beth.”
We had lunch at a McDonald’s which was nearby, and then we headed off to the alleyway to check if the MHO (Mutated Hybrid One) had caused any damage there. You see, the MHOs are only powerful at night. They have little magic and animal abilities in control when exposed to daylight. The magic and abilities are only enough to keep them alive in daylight.
Anyway, when we got there, the damage caused by the MHO last night almost made me lose my lunch. During transformation, especially if the victim is trying to fight back, MHOs go wild and do lots of wild things. This was certainly an example. All the garbage bags had been taken out from the bins and were ripped, causing all the garbage to produce a vomit inducing stench. The bins had dents in them, and one had been squeezed so tight that it became scrunched. A snake’s tail poked its way out of the bin, which told me that the MHO must have been in there saving up energy for tonight. Worst of all, there were a few mice and a dog lying in right front of us and not moving, meaning that they were dead. When I looked closer, I noticed a few large marks which seemed like a needle had pricked them. That could mean one thing: the MHO just had a lunch.
“This is bad,” I whispered to Beth. “Now that it has had eaten to get energy, it can be able to summon just a bit of magic to make us fall asleep, so that we can be its next victim.” Luckily for us, the MHO was sound asleep. We quickly crept outside and placed a metal door in front of the entrance to the alleyway. I summoned some magic and made the door invisible to mortal eyes, so that it seemed like there wasn’t a door. Next, I made the door hard enough to withstand an explosion. I knew that this door wouldn’t be able to stand a chance against the MHO by ten fifty tonight since I summoned it myself.
When I was finally done, I looked beside me and saw that Beth became a ghost again. “You hungry?” she asked me. “A snack will be okay,” I said and started heading towards a nearby supermarket. From the corner of my eye, I saw Beth shimmering and becoming a human again. But no, she looked a bit different now. I spun around and noticed that Beth had given herself a new makeover. She now had long blonde hair with brown eyes. She wore a long white and navy blue gown which had long, droopy sleeves. She wore a navy blue cloak so that normal mortals wouldn’t stare at her for not wearing something warm. “W-wow,” I finally managed. Beth smiled sweetly at me. “This is why I kept on becoming a ghost! I was summoning a new makeover,” she said. “Will you be able to fight in that dress?” I asked her. “Don’t worry! I’ve already thought about that,” she said. “This outfit changes into a more convenient one so that I’ll be ready for tonight.” “Beth,” I said, looking directly at her eyes. “This isn’t a normal MHO. This one seems intelligent and like it has been an MHO before.” Beth’s smile faltered. “I know that,” she said grimly. “That’s why my war outfit has a lot of new upgrades.” “What kind of upgrades?” I asked her. “You’ll know that later,” she said and winked at me. “Now let’s go eat! I’m hungry!” she said and dragged me to the supermarket.
Beth’s idea of a “taking a bite” had exceeded my expectations. She bought everything from an energy bar to a large microwaveable pepperoni pizza. But that’s not important, since I kept on seeing a dark shape spiralling in front of my eyes whenever I looked at a door which had signs that said “Keep out!” or “Do not enter”. Beth noticed that I had a problem, so she pulled me aside to the Frozen Yogurt section. “What’s the matter, Emilia?” she asked me. “I-I don’t know…” I stammered since the dark shape was now as big as me and kept on whispering something. “T-t-that door…dark s-shape spiralling…it’s w-w-whispering to me…” I stammered. The room was starting to sway ever so slightly. I realized that I was going to lose consciousness soon. “T-t-the backpack…” I stammered, clutching Beth. The room was definitely spinning now. The voices were almost yelling now. I could finally make out what they were saying. “Sophia…” they seemed to be saying. What would I do with the name “Sophia”? The air had started to smell sickeningly sweet and disgusting by now. My brain felt like it was on fire. When I looked around, I realized that Beth had already summoned Anthony, my magical talking bag, and was rummaging through the supplies. “The OMs are in the first aid kit!” Anthony shouted. “Actually, the first aid kit is only full of OMs!” Beth managed to find the OMs and squirted the drops into my eyes, sprayed it into my nose, made me drink it a bit, sprayed it into my ears and massaged both my hands with the OM ointment.
I should explain the OM thing a bit…
You see, we are a kind known as “MHO fighters”. We are neither mortal, nor immortal. We’re somewhere in the middle. When we become injured, we have this special medicine that heals us, known as OM. When we have an injury in the eye, we squirt the OM drops in it. Got an injury in the nose? Spray it. Got an injury in the ear? Spray it. Got an injury inside your body? Ingest it. Got an injury in your skin? Massage it. You can also mutter some spells that can bind, repair or give immunity (from fire, water, doing something crazy etc.) to your skin. What Beth did was that she first bound me, then she gave me immunity (from doing something crazy) and then she unbound me.
Let’s get back to the story…
The healing process happened slowly. First the dark shapes became fuzzier and fuzzier, until they were finally gone. The voices, which were screaming by now, slowly decreased. I only caught the words “Sophia will write the pages of the…” before it completely stopped. The sickeningly sweet and disgusting smell was reduced to a tiny whiff, and then it was completely gone. My brain finally cooled down. I stared at the door, which just stood there like nothing happened. “A-are you okay now, E?” asked Beth, looking concerned. I saw that a small crowd had formed around us. I grunted and sat up. “I told you that we shouldn’t have eaten those mushrooms!” said Beth, sounding complaining. I just stared blankly at her. “They are the cause of your hallucinations!” I finally understood that Beth was trying to act like it were the mushrooms’ fault (If I were a mushroom I would yell “Liar!” at the top of my lungs. I’m pretty sure that the all the mushrooms in the world were trying to do that, since I saw the mushroom packets nearby squirming. Maybe it’s just my imagination…) so that normal mortals wouldn’t become suspicious of me and think that thirteen year olds being alcoholics was some kind of new trend.
After the crowd was gone, I told Beth everything that happened. Beth listened to me carefully. “I know what was behind the door,” Beth whispered after I was done.
“It was the secret lair of MHOs.”
TO BE CONTINUED...
It's a bit long, yes, and the first 6 paragraphs were complete gibberish, but please do tell me what you thought about it! I'm not much of a writer, and this is one of my first long stories.