After much deliberation on whether to put this on here at all, I figured I'd give it a shot. It's just something I've been writing in my free time, but if you can see anything that needs improving go ahead and CC it for me. Had to put it here until the General Fiction board is implemented... and, er, yeah.

*Go enter Computerfan's fanfic competition and stuffs.*

If anyone's wondering about the title, the general theme of the story is dreams/nightmares (it'll just take another 2 or 3 chapters to get fully into that), and it's also an anagram of the protagonist, which is the main reason I went with it.
Story is in a fictional country but still on Earth, and is based on England. Word count is apparently too long (something I wanted to avoid, oops) so I'll add the last paragraph or so onto the next post. This isn't really going to have numbered chapters as such, as I'm not too sure where/when/how to round a lot of this off, but bear with me. xD

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Demarion’s eyes wearily flickered open as he lifted his head up, separating it from the road he had been lying face down on. A variety of senses returned to him as he blinked, allowing the scene before him to filter through. He could hear heavy rain pelting the ground, voices shouting and screaming for help, and the crackling of a fire which was engulfing the entire street that lay before him. From what he could see, he was in a quaint little village that was surrounded by forests, paved roads and a water fountain a small distance away; something that couldn’t have been placed more conveniently in the current situation, as people were running back and forth carrying containers of water from the nearest source possible. He groaned as he forced himself into an upright position, snagging his sleeve on a lone shard of glass before he dragged himself out of the way of any vehicles and over to a patch of grass on the corner of the road. He became gradually aware of the fact he was completely drenched in rainwater and covered in scratches, not to mention that his shoulder felt dislocated, yet the people surrounding the area were too preoccupied with the spreading blaze to notice him. Not that he cared of course; he was too busy focusing on one thought and one thought alone:
I can’t remember anything.
He knew his name; Demarion Walker.
A signpost named his location; Ashcombe Village.
He couldn’t remember what had happened. He couldn’t remember how he’d got there. He couldn’t remember any of his life before waking up a mere few moments ago.
In a desperate attempt to resurface some memories and get a better view of the situation, he took a deep breath and pushed himself up off the ground, allowing himself to lean against the one remaining lamppost that was still functioning. It emitted a faint light to counter the darkened clouds in the evening sky above, but the glow from the fire just rendered it useless. Cradling his arm to his chest, Demarion surveyed the chaos as it unfolded like a movie, completely in awe at the power that fire– one of earth’s natural elements– had over humans, despite being in such a technologically advanced country as Enixas.
Houses– or at least what was left of them– lined both sides of the street; bricks and rubble making a mess of what would usually have been a tidy and idillic community. The howling wind was so strong it was knocking countless people off balance, and in their clumsiness, several would drop the heavy containers of water they were trying in vain to douse the flames with. Trees which would usually be so green and full of life were turning to ash; the branches blackened and burnt to a crisp. The earth below was now blanketed in soot that fell from the sky and smoke was billowing up to an unseen height as more and more people lost their lives in the passing minutes.
It was as if he’d woken up in the middle of a nightmare.

Demarion couldn’t quite work out what had caused the disaster, but from what he’d observed he could only assume it was due to lightning strikes from the vicious storm that was ripping its way through the village. His line of sight momentarily skimmed the sky as a shooting star passed overhead, barely visible. There were firefighters everywhere he dared to look; some trying to extinguish the inferno, others risking their lives to rescue those unfortunate enough to be trapped inside it. There was a particularly unpleasant smell of blood drifting with the warm air that brushed his face, and Demarion soon detected the source as he spotted the crushed bodies underneath fallen trees and house rubble.
The street as a whole was just in a big panic, no-one really appeared to have any substantial use in the current situation aside from the emergency response teams.
“This is one heck of a thunderstorm...” he breathed out, throat raspy and rough from all the smoke he was inhaling. He then proceeded to ruffle his hair with his spare hand (the other still being held to his chest), to rid it of the falling ash and soot that was embedding itself atop his head. He appeared conceitedly unconcerned about the present happenings, unlike all of the panicked citizens dotted up and down the road, as he was more anxious to find out what had occurred in the time before he woke up.

Sighing, he slumped against the lamppost and took off the black hoodie he was wearing, to counter the heat. After wringing it out over the grass, he tied it around his waist and lifted the neck of his navy t-shirt to his mouth, in an effort to lessen the amount of smoke he was breathing in. He caught a glance of his face in a nearby puddle, catching sight of the cold gaze that stared back at him with grey eyes. His hair was of average-length with a fringe that reached his eyebrows, but was of a dark blue colour. He found such a thing quite frustrating as his appearance seemed to differ drastically to everyone-else, and it made him stand out; something which he immediately disliked the thought of and couldn’t work out the reasoning behind. As he became lost in thought, he narrowly avoided getting consumed by a wave of water as an ambulance tore through a rather large puddle near the pavement. Instead of cursing after it– something he very much felt like doing– such a thing was just what he needed to give him a wake up call however, as he finally snapped to attention and forgot his quarrels for the moment.
Drawing in a deep breath to keep his focus– consequently making him gag from the smoke– he looked around at all the people in the situation.
Paramedics... Firefighters... Villagers... I don’t recognise anyone here.

In his frustration, helping out wasn’t high in his priorities, but as his gaze scanned the surrounding area it rested upon a girl with long mousy-brown hair. She was being carried out of a crumbling house in a stretcher, but Demarion only got a glance at her before several people crowded around the ambulance she was being carefully loaded into. Judging by their reaction, he guessed this was the first person they’d discovered still alive, which had clearly given them some modicum of hope.
A man with a gruff voice shouted over from a few metres away, barely audible over the roaring flames, but Demarion got the idea that he was being yelled at for standing around idly without lending a hand. However, he paid the man no mind and strolled nonchalantly over to the nearest car, sitting down on the bonnet just as a frenzied shout echoed from behind him.
“My parents! Are my parents okay?!”
A teenage boy had come hurtling in his direction and practically thrown himself at one of the firefighters. Demarion watched as the boy’s expression turned from anxiety and worry to fearless determination as he tried to push past and gain access to a nearby house, but was held back. A paramedic had made their way over to treat him for shock– apparently they thought putting a blanket around his shoulders was going to help– then gently coax him into the ambulance, away from all the chaos. The boy refused to budge until he was forcefully urged over to the vehicle, but even then it was obvious he was just itching to break free and sprint into the blaze.
From what Demarion could hear, the boy was called Sean and had parents who were still inside the burning building, but it was unknown as to whether or not they were still alive. Screams increased in volume as an entire tree fell and crushed one of the paramedics, while Demarion observed curiously as Sean slipped out of the red blanket he’d been cloaked in and advanced on the firefighter who had previously refused him entry to his own house. The boy snuck around the back of him, then over to a fallen tree and crawled along the ground beside it, out of sight if it weren’t for his messy auburn hair protruding above the trunk. Luckily for him, everyone-else was too panicked and preoccupied to notice, and he climbed through the newly created hole in his front yard fence before dashing into the house.
“What the heck is he doing?” Demarion’s eyes narrowed. “He might be able to sneak past a person or two but a fire is far more difficult to get by... Is he trying to get himself killed?”
Sean entered through what was left of the front door, but moments later it crumbled and blocked any attempt at an exit. Sighing and deciding he should probably do something, Demarion cautiously headed in after the boy the same way, but went around the side of the house and climbed in through a smashed lower window instead.
“Hey, Sean!” he shouted over the fire as the flames heightened. “You in here?”
There was no response.

For starters I like how the title, reflects the story itself and that it is an anagram of the protagonists name. I also really love the effort put into describing things and how it's balanced and not too wordy. The description is also spread out and not all in one place describing one thing after another which can be boring to read. The tone, mood and atmosphere, here, is also really good. I'm easily able to grasp the attitude being put across in your writing. I really like the characters, as well, since they're believable and I feel, Demarion for example, really suits the plot of the story. (Which is the aim, since he's the protagonist - So I feel you achieved that, well C: ) And I seem to able to gain a lot about the character due to dialogue you give him and the descriptions of him etc. And, finally, I feel it is also grammatically all correct, which is always a bonus!

In other wordssssss... keep writing, cause I love it!

Flagged and looking forward to your updates. :3  You're good, darn it, if you give up I'll... do nothing cause I still haven't updated otellus. best threat ever.

Thanks you two. x3 After rereading it for the millionth time, I think I should've added a couple of commas in places where the sentences drag on a bit too long, but I think I'm alright with it apart from that.

This part is a bit shorter, but I want to round it off at the point it ends at (especially as I've yet to write the next bit), so this is effectively Chapter 2. Not to mention you preferably want 3 chapters for your competition, so I guess I'd better get on that.

(But yes Josh, you need to get back to planning Otellus. :< Even if it is some kind of language company. )

---

Demarion became increasingly frustrated as the minutes passed, searching and failing to find Sean amidst the burning furniture. It was hard enough to see as it was, what with the smoke. He began to seriously consider just leaving Sean to find his own way out. It wasn’t his problem after all, and there was no reason to put his own life on the line just to help out a boy who was foolish enough to run into a burning building.
Although I ran in after him, so I suppose I’m not much better than he is.

He flinched back as a nearby rafter fell from the ceiling, scattering fiery sparks over his skin. His clothes were bone dry thanks to the heat– a temperature which he wasn’t having much tolerance for– so he used one of his gloves to wipe the sweat from his face and the other to cover his mouth and nose, decreasing the amount of harmful substances he was inhaling.
“NO!” a strangled voice wailed from the second-floor. “Mum! Dad!”
Demarion ran as fast as he could muster, maneuvering around any obstacles in his way, to where he heard Sean calling out. When he reached the upper hallway, he saw Sean on his knees close to two lifeless adults. One was slumped in a corner whilst the other was lying face-down on the carpet. Both were unmoving, their facial features now unrecognisable.
Shivers travelled down Demarion’s spine as he absorbed the scene he was confronted with.
“H-Hey! Who- What are you doing?!” Sean coughed as he felt a hand over his eyes and an arm around his chest.
“You don’t need to see that.” Demarion replied, helping Sean to his feet, before trying to direct the boy back down the stairs while keeping him blind to the surroundings. Just as they were about halfway down, their next few steps caved in and went clattering to the floor below, leaving an impassable gaping hole in the staircase.
“Crap.” Demarion muttered, leaping backwards and leading Sean once again to the second floor in hopes of finding a window. As he walked past and stepped over the bodies, he began coughing violently, knowing that if he didn’t get them out soon then he wouldn’t get them out at all.

“Kid, this is your house so where’s the nearest window or exit?” he asked, heading up to the third and final floor before removing his hand so Sean regained his sight. “Don’t look back.”
“I... That room... My b-bedroom...” Sean choked, pointing at the room near the end of the landing with a shaky hand as he doubled over. “All of the other windows are locked.”
Demarion grimaced at the distance as he supported the boy’s weight; the pain in his shoulder was getting worse. “Terrific.”
The two hurried towards it, narrowly avoiding a falling beam, before slamming the door shut behind them. The fire had yet to find its way in there, so other than the alarming amount of smoke they weren’t in any immediate danger.
Sean chose to forget that they were trying to escape and instead made his way through the smoke to find his rucksack on the other side of his room.
“What are you– We don’t have time to grab belongings, get your priorities straight!” Demarion growled as Sean ignored him and threw various things into the bag; a family picture, stuffed fox toy, laptop, torch, blanket and some money. That was all he could salvage before Demarion grabbed ahold of Sean’s shirt collar and nearly pushed him out of the window in his haste.
“You’re lucky there’s a pipe outside your window. It has footholds on it. Climb down.” he demanded as Sean leant out and gave a wavering glance at the ground below.
“I don’t... like h-heights.”
“And I don’t like choking to death,” cue coughing fit, “so hurry up before I waste anymore oxygen.”

Sean took in a deep breath of the somewhat fresher air outside, climbed out of the window, and grasped hopelessly onto the pipe for dear life. He closed his eyes tightly, rucksack strapped on his back, and began his descent downwards.
The moment there was enough room for him to do so, Demarion shifted himself out onto the pipe and merely shuffled down to the second-floor windowsill before carefully jumping off of it. He winced as he remembered the pain in his shoulder but paid little mind to it after he looked skywards.
“Jump!” he called up to Sean who was a little above the first floor window by that point. He’d frozen in place after daring himself to look down, and it wasn’t even that high up anymore in retrospect.
“Are you insane...?!” he swayed slightly, almost losing grip on the pipe. “I’m not jumping!”
Demarion made a rather inhuman noise at how much hard work a simple teenage boy was. The boy was losing focus and consciousness with each second that smoke entered his lungs, yet he was more concerned about having to drop down a couple metres.
Demarion decided the only way to move him would be to distract him. He untied his hoodie from his waist and dropped it on the ground to avoid it getting caught on something on the way up, then climbed up to the window that was directly next to Sean and began to speak.
“Look at me.”
“What?”
“Open your eyes."
“But–”
“Sean.”
As Sean’s brown eyes met Demarion’s grey, Demarion nodded. “Better. Now keep looking at me while you climb down. Not at the floor–” he added quickly as Sean tried to lower his gaze to the ground again, “Me.”
Sean did as he was told and slowly started back down the pipe. In no time at all, he touched down on the burnt grass below before collapsing to his knees and coughing.
“Over here!”
The two of them, startled, looked up at the firefighter that was making his way over after gesturing to some of the others.
”You two shouldn’t be back here! Are you boys hurt?”
“We...” Sean choked, unable to get anymore words out.
“Let’s get you two to a hospital.”
“No... M-My parents...” Sean looked defeated as he glanced back at the house where their burnt bodies now lay. “I can’t just leave them in there...”
“There’s others alive in the house?” the firefighter inquired, stopping in his tracks and looking over his shoulder at the blaze.
There was a momentary pause before Sean replied. “... Y-Yes, sir. My parents.”
Demarion shot him a confused scowl but said nothing as they were escorted into the ambulance and the doors shut behind them.

This is GREAT! I can't wait to find out what happens next!

Thanks. (: I'll be writing and hopefully posting the next chapter tomorrow, presuming I don't hit a writer's block.

Starting to develop a bad habit for going slightly over the 8000 word count. But hey, a lot is (usually) better than not enough, right?
I'll add the last couple sentences in the next post. Also improved the spacing on this 'chapter', as far as I can tell.

---

Beep...
Beep...
Beep...

“They seriously need to invent snooze buttons for these things...”

What?
Demarion frowned as he heard a girl’s voice. He realised his eyes were closed, but was too tired to open them for a moment. He remained silent, shifting about trying to get comfortable until he heard a rather high-pitched noise, at which point he covered his ears and forced himself to sit up.

Every main light in the room, if there even were any, had been switched off. He could only just about figure out his location, as everything was white and he was lying on a rather uncomfortable bed, with machines either side of his head beeping and whirring. Ambient music was playing softly in the background from somewhere, implemented as a sleep aid.
A hospital. Right.
After stretching and rubbing his eyes, his line of sight rested upon the glowing blue numbers on a digital clock by his bedside; 2:17am. He suddenly scowled in frustration as he tried to remember the dream he’d just had; he was sure it was important, yet he couldn’t for the life of him recall it.

“Hey! Nurse, d’ya think you could give me a hand with this? I think the aquarium controls are broken.”
It was the same whispering voice he had heard a few moments before, this time accompanied by footsteps as whoever it was made her way across the room.

Demarion slipped the blanket off of himself and swung his legs around, pushing himself off of the bed to stand on the cold marble floor.
What have they dressed me in? A tablecloth? he thought, staring down disapprovingly at the pale blue garments draped loosely over him. He looked around for his darker, more comfortable clothes but they were nowhere to be seen.
There were a few transparent patches on him that were wirelessly connected to the machines, as they would alert the hospital staff of any drastic changes in his body; he knew as long as he kept himself calm and focused on his breathing, no-one would notice he was awake. It was a fairly new technology for the hospital, so it was easily manipulated and had its fair share of faults.
After moving wisps of his hair out of his eyes, he crept over to a gap in the left of the curtain. Shivering as a cold breeze drifted through an open window, his fingers lightly wrapped around the velvety material and pulled it back, allowing him to peer through and see what was outside of his confined space.

On the furthest wall, there was a large, built-in aquarium intended to relax the patients. There was a small window either side of it, one of which was propped open to cool the room down. The only obstacle between him and the exotic fish display was another bed; the sheets crumpled and hanging over the side while the pillows were nowhere to be seen.

Demarion began to zone out, feeling quite hypnotised by the fish swimming back and forth in the dimly lit, oversized fish tank. When he finally snapped out of the trance due to someone shouting obscenities at a doctor down the nearby hallway, he noticed the unopened bottle of water sitting invitingly on the floor by the other bed.
It wasn’t until he’d laid eyes on the beverage that he realised how dry his throat felt. He acted on impulse as he quickly crept over and swiped it from the ground, then made his way back behind his curtain to carry on observing his situation.

Oh, it’s her.
The girl with mousy-brown hair who had been stretchered out of the fire had just returned to the bed, and sat on the edge so that she could watch the fish, not noticing that her water had disappeared. She turned momentarily in Demarion’s direction to pick up her music player and place headphones over her ears.
Just a few seconds after he had seen her face, Demarion’s hands curled into fists and he clutched at his head, scrunching his eyes closed tight from pain. He stumbled backwards as a few images of her and him around a campfire flashed through his mind, along with the sound of laughter, before he snapped back to reality with a headache.

A... memory? He watched her with eyes narrowed while catching his breath, wondering if she was his ticket to his recollection.

“Sean Conall should hopefully be waking up in a few hours, if everything is as it should be. He’s recovered surprisingly well.” a doctor spoke in a quiet voice to the girl’s nurse, who was stood by the room’s doorway.

“Poor boy. Just sixteen years old and losing his parents in that awful fire... He’s going to be in such a state when he hears the news. The firefighters say he believed his parents to still be alive.”

Demarion swiveled on the spot after overhearing the pair and silently maneuvered around his bed to look out of the right-side curtain. He could only partially see the bed next to him as there was a curtain surrounding it too for the most part, but what he saw was ample.
Laying on his side with his scruffy hair flopped over his forehead was Sean, sleeping peacefully. A pained expression momentarily flickered across his face as if he were having a nightmare, but then it was gone.

“Have there been any new details about the boy he was with?” the nurse asked in a hushed tone.

Realising they were now discussing him, Demarion briskly hopped back into his bed and pulled the thin blanket back over himself, burrowing his head in his pillow and closing his eyes just as his curtain was retracted. He focused on calming his breathing so he didn’t draw attention to himself.

“Not many, but enough.” the doctor replied, scratching the back of his head. “The DNA test brought up his basic profile but we don’t have much else on him as of this moment. His name is Demarion Walker, he’s nineteen, and he was born in the outskirts of Lorlea. That little village by the forest over in East Enixas.”

Lorlea...

“That’s the other side of the country. I wonder what he’s doing in the West? And at the scene of a fire, of all places...” she shook her head in disbelief.

“That’s the strange thing about his sudden appearance. He’s one of the missing.”

“... That’s not possible.” the nurse interjected. “If that’s true, then he’s the first of the missing to have been found.”

Missing?
Demarion stirred at that point, unable to keep himself calm; his heart beat increased rather dramatically and the tech-patches on his body alerted the nearby machines to the change. He took in a deep breath as an attempt to steady it, but the staff had already noticed he was conscious and ceased their conversation.

“How are you feeling?” the doctor asked, peering down at him with more of a look of curiosity than concern. His eyes were an alarming shade of pale blue, so Demarion could only assume him to be wearing contacts.

“I’m... fine.” he replied. “What happened?” The look of confusion on his face was very convincing due to what he’d just overheard.

“What do you remember?”

Demarion had a feeling that the question was being asked on a broader scale than just the fire, but he knew he couldn’t provide them with the answer they were hoping for.
“Just the fire. And having to save that kid’s sorry a–” he cleared his throat when he remembered he was talking to hospital staff, “Rescuing Sean from the house.”

There was a brief look of disappointment on the doctor’s face, and he made no attempt to hide it. “Well, you’ve been out cold for about three days, but it could’ve been a lot worse so you’ve nothing to worry about. Just some minor to moderate smoke inhalation; we got it out of your system a few hours after you arrived here. You woke up half-asleep a few times and we got you to have some water to keep you from dehydration, but you’ve been resting ever since. You’d be free to go now, except...” the doctor exchanged a wavering glance with the nurse who was on the opposite side of the bed.

“There are some men who would like to ask you a few questions, when you feel up to it.” the smile plastered on her face was so obviously fake that Demarion could scarcely bear to look at her.

“I see.” he murmured, having absolutely no intention of staying for an interview. “Well I’d prefer it to wait another day.” he decided, remembering that Sean was due to wake up in a few hours.

“Of course. Just–” the nurse stopped mid-sentence and put her hand up to her ear, listening to the orders being barked at her through the earpiece. “Yes, yes... I’m heading to that ward now.” she muttered, signaling at the doctor to come with her.

“Feel free to head down to the café if you’d like a drink or a hot meal. Everything’s free. There’s also–” the doctor was cut off by a sharp look from the nurse. “Just don’t leave the building.” he added hurriedly to Demarion before scuttling out the room.

“Hey, where’s my water gone? Seriously? Aw man, I just bought that...” the girl grumbled, kicking her bed in frustration at not being able to locate it and clearly sparing no thought for the other teenage patients who were trying to sleep.

I LOVE your writing, eep ^_^

Everything you write has balanced description and the dialogue is written in a believable manner. You're really good at breaking dialogue up with actions too and speech interjection, which is good because, it can become boring when it's just one person after another speaking all the time - It's nice to have another character cut someone up in conversation so it's a little more interesting.

And overall when I'm reading it I feel as though I'm watching a film, since I can literally picture the events going on in my head - which again displays your ability to create a believable story!

More please~

*huggles you to death* Thank youuuu, Nikita. x3

I keep worrying that people will find it hard to visualise it but if you're okay with it then, awesome. xD

Nikita put it perfectly. Your descriptions make it very easy to see it in my mind's eye. It's also a very good story.

Great update! Your spacing's getting better :3  Like Nikita and Kathy said, you have a knack for allowing the reader to see it in their head.  I like Demarion's personality. xD

Update soon, please :3

Sorry this one's so heavily dialogue-based. There's only so much I can talk about in a darkened room.

---

An hour later, everyone in the hospital room was now fast asleep apart from Demarion, who was absent-mindedly flicking through virtual pages on the glass tablet situated at the end of Sean’s bed. It contained a lot of information on the boy, unlike his own which he had skimmed through a few minutes earlier. There was content on Sean’s biological family, education, housing locations throughout his life, economic status and several other scraps of info which weren’t really that important. None of that was on his, however.

“Hey.”

He glanced up from the tablet as a quiet voice made itself audible. Sean had woken up some few moments earlier, and was watching him with glazed eyes.

“... Oh, you’re awake.”

Sean elevated himself so he was sitting upright against his pillows. “How are you?” he asked calmly, taking note of the fact he was covered in several tech-patches.

Demarion cocked his head at the question and raised an eyebrow in disbelief, but his face was almost invisible to Sean due to the darkness in the room. “Probably better than you are.” he replied, walking around to sit at the end of Sean’s blanket.

“What are you doing?” the boy’s eyes lowered to the luminescent blue tablet that Demarion was grasping tightly.

“Nothing important.” he muttered in reply, shutting it off with a quick tap on the screen and clipping it back up on the end of the bed. “You should get ready. We’re leaving in an hour.”

“What? Why? What day is it? I need to speak to the doctors. I need...” he bit his lip as if trying not to cry then took a deep breath in to calm himself.

“Don’t think about them. It won’t help anything.” Demarion sighed, seeing the boy about to burst into tears. “You’ll wake up the whole ward if you start crying. Don’t do that.”

“Well, it’s easy to see where your priorities lie, buddy.”

Demarion quickly got up from the bed and could just about make out someone stood a few feet in front of him. He was sure he’d recognised the voice as the girl from earlier, but the facial details were hard to work out in the limited light available. She was stood at a height a little shorter than himself. “Who are you?”

“Robyn. Robyn Arielle Wintory if you want to get technical.” she replied, hands stuffed into her pockets. “You sound awfully familiar, you know... Shame I can’t see you.”

“Go back to bed, Robyn. We’re busy.” he scowled, turning his back on her and mentally willing her to leave them alone.

“Oh yeah, you’re looking real busy. Is making kids cry your day job?” she asked sarcastically.

“I’m not a kid.” Sean sighed in frustration, finally speaking up. “And it’s... fine. He’s my friend, I suppose. He rescued me from that fire, so I owe him my gratitude at the very least.”

“Oh, the fire... Huh. Maybe I had you all wrong.” she mused, putting her hand on Demarion’s shoulder. It only took him a second to shrug it off, but the contact with the girl once again gave him a serious headache and another glimpse of the two of them together. Except there was a third with them this time; a pale, black-haired boy in red clothing who’s face was illuminated by the campfire. Demarion reeled slightly and had to hold onto the end of Sean’s bed to steady himself.

“Get off me, what’s wrong with you?” he growled, using his other hand to hold his head.

Sean frowned, concerned, as he pushed his blanket off and swung around to hang his legs over the side of the bed. He stared at the ground seemingly sad as the two older teenagers continued bickering.

“Alright, alright. Just tone your temper down or you’ll ‘wake up the whole ward’. Sheesh... delinquent.” she murmured, as she caught sight of something by Demarion’s bedside. The soft light from his digital clock barely but noticeably reflected off of a water bottle that was about half-full. “Oh. I see.”

Demarion chose to ignore her snide remark. “What now? It’s too dark in here to see anything.” he hissed at her, silently wishing it wasn’t so dark in the room so that she could view the look he was giving her.

“You know, I used to have a friend. A good friend. Amazing thief, he was. Always played tricks on me like that when he was bored, then ended up trying to palm the blame off on his twin brother. Non-identical. Not that I ever fell for it, I caught him red-handed half the time.” she smiled to herself, staring off into the darkness as she remembered. “His brother wouldn’t have done something like that, he was more the intellectual, considerate type. For a time, anyway.” Her smile turned into a frown as her eyes steeled.

“Is this going anywhere?”

Robyn snapped out of her trip down memory lane and turned to look at Demarion– or what she could see of him, at least. “I’d like my water back.”

“Ahh. And I’d like to keep it. Go buy another one.” he said bluntly. “Or better yet, have it, if it’ll make you go away.”

Sean had been watching the exchange in silence but was sick of listening to the arguing. “Ugh, can both of you just stop?” he spat. “It’s nearly four am and I want to go back to bed. You don’t even know each-other and you’re already getting at each-other’s throats!”

Robyn looked to the floor, quite ashamed when she realised that she was rowing with a stranger in a hospital full of sick people. She sent an apologetic smile towards Sean. “Sorry. Don’t lose any sleep on my behalf.”

“Lose any sleep? The kid’s been asleep for days!” Demarion threw his arms out wide in exasperation. When a girl in the bed next to Sean’s stirred, he promptly shut his mouth.

Robyn hadn’t uttered another syllable as she crossed the room, but when it came to Demarion’s attention that she’d somehow snagged her water bottle back on the way, he grumbled irritably to himself under his breath.

“Look, Sean.” he whispered so Robyn couldn’t hear. “Do you really want to be stuck in a hospital? If I were you I’d want to get back to my wreckage of a house and see if anything is salvageable. Not to mention the doctors and nurses, they’ll be asking you all sorts of questions when the sun comes up. You really think you could deal with that at the moment? And you’ve nowhere to go–”

Sean crossed his arms defiantly, starting to get a bit tired of the way Demarion spoke to him. “I’m content here. I need time to recover–”

“You’re already recovered. I heard them saying so a little while ago.”

“... emotionally and psychologically.” Sean finished his sentence with a glare as he and Demarion seemed to enter a staring contest.

A few moments passed in silence, but Demarion knew just the thing for making Sean agreeable.
“You owe me, kid.”

Your best chapter yet :3  I think you handled it being dark quite well. It keeps getting better and the spacing's pretty much perfect now =)

Again, another really great chapter:3 I like how the story is unfolding so far and, I think the dialogue here is really good and supported, nicely by your narrative. I feel like I'm really starting to learn more about particular characters too, especially Demarion (obviously - since he's the protagonist ) Moreeeeeeeee please~ C:

Are you posting this anywhere besides acc?

Nah, just in the document that I originally write it on. And thanks you two.

As Josh asked so nicely for people to advertise this fanfic competition of his... Voting isn't open yet, but I just got through, so if you could vote when they're enabled then that'd be great~

Writing the next part at the moment, hopefully it'll be up tomorrow or the day after as long as I'm content with it.

Also do me a huge favour and vote for this in Compy's comp okay thank you bye bye
Rules are here

You can vote once a day by the way, guys. Splitting this one into two posts again.

---

“Hurry up.” Demarion hissed, religiously checking out of the doorway to make sure no-one was coming in.

The two boys had made their way down to the clothing room on the ground floor. Patients who came to the hospital often needed new, clean clothes, so there was a varied supply of garments stocked up. Some were in boxes, some were on racks, some on hooks and some in a small dresser and wardrobe.

It hadn’t taken Demarion more than a moment to pick out and change into an outfit. Dressed in similar casual attire to his previous clothes, he wore all black aside from his grey t-shirt, making it potentially difficult for someone to spot him in the dark.
Sean on the other hand, wasn’t being so practical.

“You look like a rainbow.”

Sean glowered at him. “Unlike you, I don’t want to go goth.” he mumbled, tucking a navy scarf around his neck.

Following protest from Demarion, Sean eventually gave in and swapped his orange jacket for a sleeveless black one, accompanied by the scarf, grey jeans, white trainers and turquoise t-shirt.

After pulling on a new pair of black gloves, Demarion skulked out of the room without making eye contact with anyone, but kept his hood down to avoid suspicion. Sean shouldered his grey rucksack which had been previously been stored under his hospital bed, then followed shortly after with his hands in his jacket pockets, staring uncomfortably at the ground.

“You’re acting like you’ve been kidnapped.” Demarion muttered, having turned around to make sure Sean was following him towards the reception desk. “Straighten up, look forwards, keep quiet and get your hands out of your pockets.”

Sean reluctantly did as instructed, but still had a look of concern on his face. His parents always said he was the golden boy who could do no wrong; the son who they couldn’t be more proud of for his respectful attitude and positive behaviour. He’d grown up always obeying the rules, as he saw no reason to do otherwise. Illegally checking himself out of a hospital in the dead of night wasn’t exactly at the top of his to-do list.

They quietly made their way down the hallway and crossed through the waiting room. There was the odd patient here and there, dotted about on the cushioned blue seats, but no-one seemed to pay the boys any mind. An elderly gentleman glanced up from his newspaper and took a sip from his flask, but returned his gaze to the monochrome pages a few seconds later.

Demarion struck up a conversation with the receptionist at the front desk while Sean stood in silence, fidgeting with a loose thread from his shirt. As he zoned out with a deer-in-headlights expression, he appeared just a little too interested in the vase of sunflowers that were neatly placed on the corner.

“Hi, my name’s Ben. Me and my brother...” Demarion cast a sideways glance at Sean for a bit of input and nudged him in the side.

“I, um, Ash.” he mumbled, not making direct eye contact with the receptionist for fear of slipping up in his nervousness.

“Yeah, we’ve just been checked out and wanted to say thanks for the amazing care and hospitality we received here.” he smiled warmly, putting his arm around Sean’s shoulders. “If you could pass that message on to the doctors and nurses in the adolescents ward, you’d be doing us a huge favour.”

The hospital must have had few compliments as of late, as she looked genuinely surprised at the nice words. “Oh, well of course. That’s very kind of you, we always do the best we can for our patients. I’ll be sure to let them know.” she nodded appreciatively whilst sorting out some paperwork on her desk. “Have a nice day, sir.”

Demarion nodded in thanks and turned to Sean, who was still staring off into space. “Come on kiddo, Mum and Dad are waiting outside.” he ruffled his hair playfully.

Sean had flinched at Demarion’s choice of words, unknowingly balling his hands into fists, unable to get any words out. He’d noticed Demarion swipe something off of the desk and stuff it in his pocket, but he couldn’t work out what; the mere idea of stealing sent shivers down his spine and he found it difficult to keep his cool.

After being quickly ushered out of the door, Sean’s vision shifted to the encompassing dark outside, enabling a feeling of uneasiness to wash over him as an owl hooted from a distant tree. The only light in the surrounding area originated from a crooked lamppost, which was perched precariously on the corner of a crumbling pavement. He tugged on Demarion’s sleeve like a scared child, still cloaked in uncertainty about the true horrors of the world. He didn’t speak a single word, but the sunken look in his eyes spoke volumes.

Demarion gazed unwaveringly at the boy’s hurt expression, taking a few seconds to decide what he was going to say. He didn’t feel guilty, but he wasn’t exactly enjoying seeing Sean imitating a lost puppy. “The best disguise is no disguise. I was hardly about to say ‘come on, let’s go back to the orphanage or find a nice cave somewhere’. Most people our age have parents.” he explained in a monotone.

A wave of realisation swept over Sean. He stared at Demarion in a new light, almost sorrowfully. “... I’m sorry.”

Demarion stopped and turned just as a strong breeze blew through the car park, scattering some dead leaves across the asphalt. He tilted his head in confusion, then leant against a car bonnet with his arms crossed. “What?”

“You talk as if you have no parents either; it never occurred to me to ask if you had anywhere to go. I mean, I’m practically running away with you and all I know is your name.”

“If it’s any consolation kid, you know as much about me as I do.” Demarion let out a frustrated sigh. “We can have a personal Q&A session later. Right now we need to get back to the scene of the fire.”

---

“I can’t believe you’re going to hot-wire this car. You can’t just steal things that aren’t yours!” Sean had lost all colour in his face as Demarion coaxed him into the leather passenger seat and retrieved a mint from the glove compartment. He felt quite sick.

“Unless you hadn’t noticed, that’s what stealing is. Any driver who is stupid enough to leave their window down deserves to lose their car. If your house is as far away as you say it is, it’d take a good hour to walk there and I really can’t be bothered with that at this time of the morning.” Demarion put his hood up and kept his head down as he began to sift through several papers around the pedals, in hope of finding a map or satnav hidden beneath the rubbish.

The vehicle he had happened upon contained several technical gadgets built into it, including– he realised a moment later– a navigation system. The car could fit five people in pretty comfortably, so it had more than enough room for the two of them. Sean had carelessly tossed his rucksack in the back seat, but berated himself for it when he heard a crack and remembered his laptop was inside. Both of them were sat up front.

Sean slowly turned his head to look at him as if in a horror movie. “Please tell me you know how to drive.” He gradually reached towards the handle of the passenger door and clutched it tightly, prepared to get out. “You do know how to drive, right?”

Demarion kept sifting through the papers, now just trying to clear them out of the way. “... No, but–”

“I do!”

Sean was nearly overcome with fright as an overly-enthusiastic girl’s voice blasted through his left ear. He instinctively leapt away from it and almost landed on Demarion, who tried to look up instantly but whacked his head on the steering wheel and groaned.

“I watched you two sneaking out through the window on our ward. I don’t know what exactly it is you plan on doing, but as I was due to be checked out later anyway, I figured I’d come with you.” Robyn had leant in through the passenger window and already thrown her satchel onto the back seat. Sean was turning a deepening shade of red while her face grew ever closer to his.

“Well today is just off to a great start, isn’t it?” Demarion said dryly, rubbing the back of his head through his hood. He wasn’t sure what hurt more; that, or his pride. The idea that a girl could drive better than him wasn’t one he particularly enjoyed. Especially when it was this girl. “Get in, then. Sean, go to the back.”

“You’re kidding me right? Why do you get shotgun?” Sean complained, sighing defeatedly as he clambered around his seat and dropped into the back.

“Because I’m oldest.” came the simple reply. Demarion tugged his hood off of his head as it had fallen over his eyes, restricting his sight.

After he got out of the driver’s seat, he made his way around the bonnet to the left side of the car where he would assume his role as passenger. He shoved past Robyn who was acting like she’d seen a ghost, then ducked down in an effort to get in without hitting his head, shutting the door quietly behind him and crossing his arms.

“No...” Robyn leant over and placed her hands on her knees as she peered through the closed window at his eyes; her own widened. It became unnerving to a point where Demarion had to roll the window down to have a word with her.

“You getting in this car or you gonna stand there staring all day? I’m quite willing to just leave without you.”

“Don’t you dare–” Sean started, but was cut off by Robyn who had finally spoke up, albeit with a shaky tone.

“No, you’re... You can’t... You don’t remember me?” she frowned uncertainly, reaching her hand through the open window and cupping Demarion’s face. His skin was cold to the touch due to the cool night air that was circulating around the car. There was a hurt look in her eyes but an expression of disbelief plastered across her face, as if unable to believe he was really there in front of her. She carefully moved the tips of his loosely hanging fringe from his eyes, before her own widened upon seeing their strange colour.

“You’re the girl who stole my water.” Demarion warily shifted back in his seat and stared out of the windscreen, unable to look at her. Not wanting to inform her of his flashbacks, he eventually eased her hand away from him, but as he slipped from her grasp her shoulders slumped.

“I think you’ll find you stole it from me... as usual...” she smiled softly, yet the painful sadness was evident. “I’ve missed you so much, Demo.”

While Demarion couldn’t return the emotion, he wasn’t completely heartless. He wasn’t sure what kind of connection he had with Robyn before he lost his memory, but it was obvious they’d at least been close friends. His visions combined with the earlier description of her ‘good friend’ convinced him that they had some history together.
Robyn stood rooted to the spot, almost trembling with emotion. Demarion couldn’t work out whether it was because she was overjoyed or heartbroken.

Even if only to console her a little, he pushed himself out of the car and hesitantly put his arms around her. It wasn’t in his usual nature and he felt uncomfortable doing it, but if anything, he felt oddly grateful knowing that she had a link to his past.

“You don’t have to do that. I know you don’t know who I am.” she whispered while hugging him, resting her head on his shoulder as he was a good few inches taller than her. “But where have you been? You went missing a few months ago, and... wait, where’s your broth–”

Sean knocked on his window in the back to get them to hurry up, mouthing something unintelligible.

“Come on.” Demarion murmured. “We need to get away from here before someone sees us. I don’t want the doctors noticing we’re gone, much less that we’re stealing a car.”

You keep getting better   

Well done on the spacing, especially :3

(I posted a better review on fictionpress ok, you can forgive me for this crap one)

Great chapter!

Thanks you two. x3

And yeah it's fine Merlin. xD