Jeez.

Okay, guys, I need your help.

If you look to two posts ago-

http://insidesparkybraginskishead.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/victorious-wins.html

You'll see a new story.

If you look to the previous post-

http://insidesparkybraginskishead.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/i-actually-finished-chapter-one.html

You'll see the two stories that I'm giving the most attention currently.

So, now, I ask, would you rather Chapter 2 of the fan fiction to be written next, or Chapter 1 of the original story?

Both will take some time because there are details I need to figure out, but I can't decide which one to concentrate on.

So, comment away and say which you'd like!

I Actually Finished Chapter One!

Unspeakable, I know!!

Chapter One

Echo drove back to her house and heard Hayley park her bike in the driveway a few minutes later. Hayley opened the door- it was locked- and walked into the living room. Echo arched an eyebrow at her.

‘You know everyone’s contact details, I know the layout of everyone’s house. By the way, I’ve decided to overlook that you found my number.’

‘Alright.’

‘So, what’s happened?’

‘Well, I was talking to Sparky while she was walking home from work, and a man grabbed her. She tried to shock him, but it didn’t work, because he gave her a sedative and dragged her away.’ Echo stood up, going to get a silencer for Hayley’s gun.

‘Don’t.’ Hayley said, pulling a silencer out of the inside pocket of her jacket. She nearly tossed it onto the wooden coffee table, but stopped herself right before she did. Echo sent her a nod of appreciation and sat down again. There was a moment of silence.

‘It must drive you mad.’ Hayley mumbled.

‘What?’

‘Being able to hear everything. Being able to smell everything, and see every little detail.’ She paused and chuckled, ‘When the neighbours have-‘

‘Don’t!’ Echo interrupted, shaking the thought out of her mind. ‘Don’t say it…!’ Hayley merely grinned back.

‘So, what’s the game plan, then?’ Hayley asked, leaning back. ‘Sparky’s gotten herself into another mess and, as always, I’ve been called in to get her out of trouble.’

‘There may be a small problem with that.’

‘Yeah?’

‘I couldn’t track the kidnapper. It was raining too hard. I can barely stand outside for more than thirty seconds at a time.’

‘So… What do we do?’

‘I’ll show you the way to where she was taken.’ Echo said, standing up and getting her keys. Hayley sighed and stood up after her, picking her helmet up off the ground by the door. She put it on and walked over to her bike and waited for Echo to start her car up. Hayley could tell that it was going to be a long night.

Hayley kept her helmet on when she saw Echo stop, braking on her bike and flipping the kick stand out. She walked up to Echo’s car, glancing upwards at the annoying sound of the rain hitting her helmet, which she could now hear clearly because the engine of her bike had been roaring over the top of it before. She opened the door to Echo’s car and sat inside.

‘Sorry about the water.’ She grunted, her words being muffled through her helmet, which she took off as soon as she finished speaking.

‘That’s alright.’

‘Will you be able to track them once the rain stops?’ Hayley asked.

‘It depends. The rain should be stopping soon, so there’s a chance.’

‘How good is the chance?’ Hayley asked, brushing the water off her arms.

‘Very slim. We may have to bring some other people in.’

‘Like?’ Hayley resisted the urge to groan. Hayley hated people as a rule. They had to earn her good humour, which is something few people managed.

‘Well, for one, I never saw the guy, and he’s probably throwing his scent, so we’d need a psychic…’

‘Who, Echo?’

‘Asche.’ Echo answered. Hayley finally groaned and tilted her head back.

‘Why are you still in touch with her?’

‘We work together.’ Echo said, simply. Hayley shook her head.

‘Nup, nope, I’m going now. Call me at a reasonable hour. Like two in the afternoon.’ Hayley said, getting out of the car and putting her helmet on.

‘But what about Sparky?’ Echo called.

‘She can take care of herself for a few hours. If she was going to be killed, they’d have killed her on the spot.’

‘But-‘ Echo began, but was cut off by Hayley leaning back into the car and pulling her helmet off again.

‘Look, I’m getting supplies. If we’re going to be bringing other people in, we need a method of communication. Not everyone will have a silencer for their guns, and you won’t have enough spares. Different people need different equipment, tailored to their abilities. So while you get them, I’m going to go do what I do best.’

‘And what’s that?’

‘I’m gonna steal that shit.’

The rain had stopped by the time Echo got home, and it was about five in the morning. As Echo walked into her living room, she yawned and pulled her phone out, calling the number of her friend, Asche Inferno. Asche didn’t pick up, no doubt to how early it was and the fact that her job normally didn’t require her to be up in the mornings. Echo sighed and called again. This time Asche replied on the sixth ring.

‘Whaat?’ she grumbled, rubbing her eyes as she got up.

‘I need you to come over.’

‘But it’s our day off, Echo! You know what that means, right? It means sleeping in till noon and not worrying about anyone’s wellbeing for a few quiet hours!’

‘Look, I need you to come over.’

‘Do you want me to blow something up?’ Asche asked, her eyes widening in anticipation.

‘No! No, Asche! I told you, no blowing things up in my house!’

‘Fine…’                                                                                                   

‘Just come, alright? See you soon.’

‘Alright…’ Asche moaned, hanging up the phone. She got up and donned a grey hoodie and some jeans, pulld a pair of scruffy black converse on and patted her pet cat, Felix, before quickly brushing her hair and pulling back into an untidy ponytail before walking to Echo’s house, which was a few blocks away. She opened the door- it wasn’t locked- and kicked her shoes off before walking into the living room and crashing onto Echo’s couch.

‘Now tell me why I’m here.’

‘That girl… Will be the death of us.’ Asche said, gripping her cup of tea, frowning.

‘I’ve been told.’

‘Have you been told today?’

‘Yes.’

‘By who?’ Asche asked, sitting up.

‘Hayley.’

‘Ah.’ Asche sipped her tea, her brow creasing further. ‘Then where is she?’

‘Getting supplies, apparently.’ Echo answered. ‘Anyway, we should be getting to work.’

‘Echo, you know that I can really only see the future, right? I can tell you where Sparky is now.’

‘Then let’s find out where she’ll be.’

Asche was sitting in the middle of Echo’s sitting room, in deep concentration. A scene folded out inside her head.

Sparky was chained to a chair, sitting chest deep in water. The room was closed off and there was a glass window that two hooded figures stood behind, with a control panel in front of them. One of them leaned forward and spoke into the microphone.

‘What’s worse than torture?’ he said. His words came through a speaker in the room with Sparky. Unfazed, she arched an eyebrow.

‘Do you want me to answer this question, because I don’t really want to.’

‘Humiliation. More specifically, humiliating torture.’

‘Oh, so that’s why I’m practically underwater. I think you missed the memo, though. I don’t shock myself anymore.’

‘Only when you’re panicking.’ The man says, grinning widely.

‘Yeah…’ Sparky replied. ‘Look, what exactly do you want? I’m one of those faceless people in the Sanctuary, which I assume you know about because of your protective clothing and knowledge of my magic.’

‘It’s not to do with your job. You have two options. You tell us what we want to know, or we keep you hostage until your friends find you.’

‘What do you want to know?’ Sparky asked.

‘A friends of yours took something that belongs to us. We’d like it back.’

‘Dammit, Hayley.’ She muttered, ‘And I can help you with that because…?’ she asked, flicking a strand of hair off her face.

‘You’re the only person who’s safe to keep in a situation like this who has close ties to Hayley Skirmish.’

‘Safe?’

‘Vulpin Rogue is a dangerous person to keep as a hostage.’

‘I see.’ Sparky pondered it for a moment. ‘So, I’m a lure?’

‘If you don’t tell us where Skirmish is.’

‘Well, in that case, you’re going to have to wait for a while.’ Sparky informed. The quiet man chuckled.

‘We haven’t even started the interrogation yet, Braginski.’ The man said. The quiet man, whom Sparky had already chosen to refer to as ‘Buttons’- Sparky always had an odd sense of humour- flicked a switch on the control panel. A small section of the wall slid away and a miniature platform extended into the room. On the platform rested a glass box, with a large, black spider inside it. Sparky’s attitude changed immediately.

‘Okay, this is a whole world of not okay.’ She said, as the platform stopped, just in front of her shoulder. The spider moved slightly within the box, and Sparky jerked back, uttering a whimper.

‘I will fuck you up, guys, seriously.’ Sparky said. The first man- now known as Rat- spoke into the microphone again.

‘All you have to do is tell how to get Skirmish.’

‘Which you’ll never hear from me.’

‘That’s too bad.’ Rat sighed. He nodded at Buttons who pressed another button, which lifted the lid of the box and the spider started moving towards Sparky.

‘Don’t worry,’ Rat laughed, ‘it’s not poisonous.’ The spider scuttled closer to Sparky who jerked again.

‘No, no, no, no, no, no-‘ the spider crawled onto her shoulder and she screamed, then clenched her mouth shut at the thought of the spider walking on her face. She shut her eyes tight and curled her hands into fists. The spider slowly made it’s way closer to Sparky’s neck. The instant is touched her skin the room light up and Sparky screamed. As soon as the light was gone Sparky convulsed until the dead spider dropped off her shoulder. The room lit up once more and Sparky screamed again. She spent a moment shaking before grunting something and Rat tapped the microphone.

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.’ He smirked.

‘Please.’ Sparky sobbed.

‘Then tell us.’

The image whipped out of Asche’s mind right as Sparky opened her mouth again, whether to scream or tell was unknown. Now, normally Asche would be the first in line to laugh at Sparky’s phobia of spiders, but watching her friend be filled with such absolute terror was jarring. Echo had been watching Asche silently.

‘Where is she?’ she asked. Asche shut her eyes and thought carefully.

‘I need a map.’

Asche was lying on Echo’s couch, having a nap when Echo finished figuring out exactly where it was Sparky’s going to be. She then got her phone out and checked the time. Seeing that it was now 8:00, she figured it would be safe to call the next person they were going to need.

‘Áine, are you there?’

‘Yeah. Who else would be answering my phone?’

‘Can you come over?’

‘Sure, why?’ Áine asked. Echo considered answering her.

‘I’ll tell you when you get here.’ She said, noticing Asche get up and move into her kitchen.

‘Alright see you soon.’ Áine said, ending the call. Echo pocketed her phone and followed Asche into the kitchen.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Coffee.’ Asche mumbled. Echo watched her walking around the kitchen for a moment.

‘What are you thinking about?’ Echo asked.

‘They’re using Sparky as a lure. She could be tortured five minutes from now, or five days from now, but they’re using her as bait, and I know we’re falling into a trap.’

‘What do you think we should do?’ Echo asked. Asche shrugged.

‘I don’t know, Sparky’s the one who plans everything in these situations!’

 She defended. She poured the coffee into a mug and took a sip from it.

‘Have you considered calling Acid?’ Asche asked, eventually. Echo nodded.

‘I’ll send her a text.’

Acid pulled up to the curb of Echo’s house at the same time as Áine. They looked at each other carefully, before Áine’s eyes widened.

‘Aw, shit. What’s she done this time?’

‘Of course…’ Acid sighed. The pair walked to Echo’s front door and smiled as it opened in front of them.

‘There’s coffee. I think you’ll need it.’ Echo greeted. The two girls’ suspicions confirmed, they walked into the house, looking for the coffee. Echo explained to them what the predicament was as they drank. When she was finished, Áine asked a question.

‘Who else has been called in?’

‘Well-‘ Echo started.

‘How fortunate that I guessed those two would be here when I came back.’ Hayley Skirmish walked across the threshold and placed a box on the kitchen counter. She looked at the four girls in front of her.

‘I hope there’s room for one more person to crash this retrieval mission.’

‘Who?’ Acid asked. The front door opened again and a blonde girl with bright eyes and an equally enthusiastic smile sauntered in. Her weathered combat boots made little sound as she moved, and her jacket sleeves concealed the twin daggers strapped to the backs of her forearms.

‘Really Acid,’ she said, leaning onto the counter, 'The question is "Who else?"' Vulpin Rouge finished, grinning widely.

People misunderstand how not-okay I am with spiders.

Victorious Wins!

Im aware that no one cares, but I am rather excited by this news.

Victorious won the Kid's Choice Award for Favourite TV Show!

And it was cancelled, like, six months ago.

The final episode aired in America last month, but it was cancelled six months ago.

And it got the Favourite TV Show award.

That, guys, is what I like to call going out with a bang.

So, congrats to them!

In celebration, here is some writing:

Prologue

“In our world, everyone is holding a secret. Some want to get it out, some want to bury it within themselves, and some just want it to be normal.”

Ashley looked at the message she’d written onto the piece of paper, what must’ve been three months ago, at least. She took it to her desk and pushed the clutter away and grabbed a pencil, so she could add to it.

“In our world, everyone is holding a secret. Some want to get it out, some want to bury it within themselves, and some just want it to be normal. These secrets become people’s vices, and it destroys them from the inside out. Friends don’t notice. Close friends can only watch as the secret holder drowns themself. And a best friend will dive into the water after them and drag them out. Or, at the very least, keep their heads above the water.”

She then spent the next twenty minutes digging through her bedroom in search of her invisible ink pen. When she found it, she took an old maths exam and wrote on the back of it to test if the ink still worked. As soon as she was certain that it did indeed work, she returned the scrap on her desk and wrote something very carefully underneath the message.

“It’s hard enough to live life with one secret. There are days when it feels like your mind is caving in on itself, but you keep going because life is beautiful. Which is why I admire people with two secrets even more. They feel everything everyone else does- only twice as much.”

Ashley took the paper and tacked it to the bottom of the pin board that resided on the wall of her bedroom. She then waltzed across the room and switched the light off. She lit the special flashlight and smiled when the words appeared on the paper. She flicked the light off again and wandered to her window. She leant of her elbows and rested her head in her hands, sighing as she watched the stars.

* * *

Tyler found himself on the roof of a house, in a mildly familiar neighbourhood. ‘I’ve done it again.’ He thought to himself. He stuck his hands into his pockets bitterly and sat down. There was no point in him trying to go anywhere. Luckily it was dark, so no one would be able to see the strange boy on their neighbour’s rooftop. But, for good measure, he pulled his hood over his head and carefully crawled to the side of the roof- the one that wasn’t facing the street. Rather than putting his hands back in his pockets, he rested them on his knees, which were pulled up to his chest. His feet were tapping out a rhythm on the tiles of the house, and his fingers soon joined in with a counter rhythm. He closed his eyes and thought of his bedroom. His room was small, but tidy. An electric drum kit sat in one corner with a guitar next to it. The walls had various concert posters on them, and his desk was scattered with sheet music. He began humming absentmindedly as he thought. The centre of his desk was devoted to his laptop, which had a sticker of a bass clef on it. He stopped tapping and opened his eyes. He took a deep breath and appeared in his bedroom.

* * *

Hunter was texting someone when the idea hit her. She scrambled to her drawing desk and pulled a piece of blank paper out of a draw while grabbing a pencil out of the jar that had made permanent residence on her desk. She started sketching immediately. She was distracted a few seconds later by her phone vibrating, but she merely tossed it onto her bed in response and kept drawing. A while later- she couldn’t be sure how long- she was done and she was faced with a rough drawing of a boy sitting on a rooftop that wasn’t his, in a grey hoodie. He was sitting in the light of the moon, with his knees close to his chest. Hunter didn’t know how she knew that the rooftop wasn’t his, she just knew. Hunter often found herself drawing things without knowing exactly what she was drawing, but always knowing snippets. She never tried to show anyone her drawings. She told herself it was because she didn’t want the attention. She could tell that the boy didn’t know where he was. She could tell the boy was frustrated. She could tell by the way one of his feet was lifted that he was tapping. No one else could do that, had they tried. They wouldn’t understand.

* * *

Marcus entered the park and looked around carefully. He guessed that no one would be there because of the late hour, but there were occasional parties or gang meetings around here. Other times he would find a graffiti artist working away on the skate park, but most of the time, times like these, the park would be empty. Which meant he was free to get his basketball out from where he’d been hiding it since he found the spot, nearly four years ago. He dug it out from under the roots of the tree, and checked around the park again before he started to dribble the ball over to the hoop. He found himself checking around again before he shot the ball, which hit the backboard and went right through the ring. He jogged over and picked it up and looked around one final time, carefully. Once he was done he put the ball down on the centre of the court.. He wandered around the park, looking for a loose brick somewhere- something that wasn’t hard to find at this park. He found a chuck of cement just under a bridge that ran over a small lake. He picked it up with little effort and pulled a chunk off. He dropped the small chunk and took the larger one with him as he walked onto the bridge. He held it behind his head with both hands, then through it into the lake. It landed with a loud splash at the other end of the body of water. He immediately started walking back to the basketball court, and then proceeded to practice.

* * *

Christa went through the routine in her bedroom over and over, in front of the mirror. She scolded herself throughout. She needed to point her toes more, keep her shoulders back more, and keep her arms strong but expressive. She stopped and walked over to her bed which had her water bottle sitting on it. She took a drink from it and felt the drops of sweat roll down the sides of her head. She shuffled into her bathroom and wiped her face with a hand towel and pressed her forehead against the cool glass of her shower, and sighed on contact. She tilted her head back and wiped her hands on the towel. She went back into her room and wandered back to the empty space in front of the mirrors and stood in the starting position of her dance routine. She closed her eyes, thinking that she may be able to do the whole routine without hitting anything if she has her eyes shut. She hoped she knew it well enough for that. So, she took a deep breath and started to dance. At the end of her routine, when she had successfully not hit anything, she opened her eyes so that she could correct her final position. Only, when she looked in the mirror, she didn’t have a reflection.

‘Huh?’ she grunted. She stood straight- she thought she did, at least- and blinked. She moved forward and touched the mirror, and she suddenly faded back into the image. She pulled her arm back and rubbed her eyes.

‘I must be tired. That must be it. It is getting pretty late. Yes, I’m just tired.’ She thought to herself. She moved into her bathroom and wiped her face again, eying herself in the mirror. Christa was just tired. That was all.

* * *

Ethan ignored his mother’s yells and unchained his bike from the tree in front of his house. He rolled it through the gate of the weak, rusted chain-link fence that was supposedly able to keep intruders out of his home, and out onto the sidewalk. He looked around to make sure no cars were coming, swung his leg over the bike and rode out onto the street, and accelerated do. He knew the area like the back of his hand, so he had no fear of getting lost, even though it was getting dark. He pedalled until he literally couldn’t anymore and he veered off the side of the road and jumped off the bike, letting it roll and then fall on it’s side into the field he had been riding past. He watched the bike sitting there and sighed. Escape. Was it so bad that he wanted to escape?

‘Is that- Is there a person there?’ the voice appeared inside his mind, almost to soft to be understood.

‘Bloody hell, that is a person! How’d they get out here?’ the voice appeared again, only slightly louder. Ethan frowned. Who was speaking?

‘He’s got a bike! A bike! I can’t believe it!’ the voice was louder still. Ethan looked around, and spied what looked like the outline of a person in the distance.

‘Is he lookin’ at me? Nah, he couldn’t be. There’s no way he could know I’m here. Which’ll make it all too easy to steal his ride.’ The voice ended its sentence with what could only be described as a menacing chuckle. Ethan stumbled to his bike, righted it and got it to the road in record time. He halted and swung his leg over the bike and looked back.

‘I see you!’ he shouted. The figure froze.

‘That’s not possible!’ the voice appeared again. Ethan pushed off and rode back home again.

* * *

Ashley could hear the sound of someone humming waft gently to her ears. The sound was coming from somewhere above her. She frowned. She wandered around her house, looking for the culprit of the music, but found no one. There was a faint tapping going with it. She shrugged and returned to her bedroom window, where she could hear the music the most clearly. She didn’t really care where it was coming from, so long as no one was in her house. Not to mention that the music was very nice. Calm and comforting. It got slightly softer, so she listened harder and was met with the humming stopping all together, followed by a deep breath and a tiny whoosh sound. 

And, to tie everything off with a bow- Here are some gifs of Liz Gillies tripping on nothing.

I'd also like you to Read and Review.

You promise?

Really?

Good. :)

Boo.

Alright kiddies, story time!

Firstly, a teaser.

Sparky was walking down a backstreet in Sydney. It was late, it was dark and it was raining. She was talking to Echo Blood on her phone in her bag when she was grabbed. She dropped the phone and shocked the man by reflex, but he obviously had some sort of protective clothing on, due to his lack of response. He wasn’t the only one, though. Sparky fought back, but the man had to be at least twice her size. She felt her sleeve being pulled up and heard the hiss of a needle as he injected some sort of sedative into her arm. She bucked but her fight was going and her consciousness was slipping. Then man held her until she passed out, and then carried her away into an alley. And Echo heard every second of it on the phone. As Sparky was being dragged away, Echo was getting into her car, still listening to the call. She drove to where she knew Sparky walked home from work, and slowed so that she could scan the street. Through the rain she could see Sparky’s phone lighting up on the sidewalk. She parked and picked it up. When she sat back in her car she sighed. There was no way she’d be able to pursue the kidnapper now, she had barely been able to retrieve Sparky’s phone through the drumming of the rain. She ended the call on their phones and thought about what she should do next. Who could she call that would know who might’ve wanted Sparky for whatever reason. She scrolled through her contacts and dialled the number. It rang four times before she got an answer.

‘Who are you, why are you calling me at this ungodly hour of the morning and why is your number blocked?’

‘Hi Hayley, it’s Echo.’ Echo said. Hayley emitted a tired groan.

‘Hi. Why are you calling?’ before Echo could answer, Hayley spoke again. ‘Don’t tell me. Something’s happened to Sparky.’

‘Yup.’

‘Honestly,’ Echo heard Hayley stand up and pull on her leather jacket, ‘We need to lock that girl up.’

BAM.

SKI-DOOSH.

That's a fancy prologue you got there.

I've almost finished the first chapter.

What's that?

Sparky's actually taking the initiative to break a story up into specific part to make life easier for her readers?

What sorcery is this?

Calm yourselves, folks, this is a special case.

...

That is, unless it actually makes writing the story a bit easier, then... Well.

I'll keep writing in chapters, I suppose.

Let's see where this goes, shall we?

Updates, Games, and Writing.

So, have you heard of that game, Amnesia: The Dark Descent? 

For those of you who haven't, it's a video game that's meant to be really, really scary. And this morning, on a whim, I decided to download the demo.

I should mention here, I don't mix well with horror. I can sit through it, and I can generally avoid screaming, but I am the type to shut my eyes, hide behind a pillow and whimper to whomever I'm watching the movie/playing the game with to tell me when I'm about to miss an important part.

No shame, I know I'm not the only one.

Anyway, I know enough about Amnesia to have heard of the infamous 'water' scene.

I was just playing, and I walk into an area, get out the lamp, take two steps forward, get blinded momentarily to find all of the candles out. Sighing, I took another step forward and realised, with that all too familiar sinking feel, that my character was standing in water.

So, naturally, I ran like fuck onto the nearest floating box. 

And then the splashes started, so I turned the lamp out and watched them get closer.

And then some invisible creature attacked my character, and I responded by pausing the game, saving and quitting, all the while muttering "Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope..."

Which basically means I'm taking a short break to get my pulse back to normal.

I'm thinking about seeing if I can edit a picture together of my... Miserable gameplay.

But, in other news, I have been writing, and it isn't for the Games, so you might be lucky enough to see it one day.

Maybe.

News.

Again, I hate making titles for these things. Seriously, I hate them. I can never think of anything good.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you guys know that I have written my longest ever word document which is currently- 

*drumroll*

FIFTEEN THOUSAND AND THREE WORDS LONG!

Or, 15003 words.

Which I, for one, think is pretty damn exciting.

That is, until you learn that the word document is all of my entries for the Hunger Games competition Zath's holding.

Like, all of them together.

And I've basically written everything up to the Games.

'Cept the Interview. And the Scores, which is fairly obvious, but 'yknow.

*shrugs*

Well... Actually, you might not know.

If you're curious, the longest entry is the Training entry (the next one due) which is 6099 words.

And, please god believe me, I was making as short as I could. 

Which... Didn't really turn out very well, obviously. 

But, the point is, 15003 words!!!!!!!!!

That's longer than most of my serious stories (non-fanfics that were longer than a page when I dropped them) put together!!

Speaking of which, I'm rewriting New World, which is a GOOD thing!

It will be better this time!

With planning, and chapters and stuff!

Yay!

Also, if anyone could think of another name for it, I would appreciate your input. (I'd always end up changing it, but you'll get credit for helping! ... If that's worth it, anyway!)

Later!