A little girl sat in her room. Her messy brown hair was up in pigtails, as her hazel eyes stared at the door. She hugged her stuffed giraffe to her little body, and listening closely to the loud yells of her mother and father.
"I should have never had any damned kids!" screamed a loud deep voice. "All they do is make messes, complain, and draw on the walls-"
He was cut off by the higher angered voice of the girl's mother. "They're CHILDREN David! They don't know any better!"
"Oh fuck me, Marybeth! I DON'T want to hear your bullshit excuses! I've just about had enough of them!"
"Oh so what do you plan to do about it!?!"
The girl heard loud footsteps coming towards her room, She hugged her giraffe closer.
The door was violently opened and in the doorway stood her large, angry, overweight father. In one of his meaty hands, he held a large textbook.
"David, stop it!" screamed her mother, but the father ignored his wife's pleading cries. He grabbed the little girl by the collar, she screamed and kicked, trembling and shaking in fear. The girl's father harshly held up the textbook.
"This is for drawing on my wall's you little bitch!"
•••
Years later, the little girl, known as Natalie, was now 9 years old. Going through the stage of puberty, she was naturally a little chubby.
As usual she sat in her room watching TV. Her dad was ranting on about some economical crap she could really give less of a shit about, she also munched on some popcorn.
She was also currently drawing a picture. It had a bit of gore in it, but strangely, she really liked drawing blood. It gave her a strange satisfaction.
Other than that, multitasking was no problem for her. It became apparent to her at a young age, after having to do so much hard work and labor, that she was able to do so many things at once.
Drawing ended up being her talent and passion. It was her way of escaping reality, whenever something bad would rear it's ugly head and peer in, or simply when she was bored.
She suddenly heard the closing of her door, and looked to the left, there stood her brother Lucas; who was 14 years old.
"What is it?" She could still hear her father's yelling from outside the door.
"Dad scaring you?" he let out a chuckle.
"No way. I think we're both used of his yelling by now." there was a long pause. "So, why are you here?"
He seemed to play with his sleeves and twitch a bit.
"I have to ask you something." He trained his eyes on her. She frowned slightly, growing impatient with her brother interrupting her movie and drawing.
"What?"
He moved a little closer, "You said you wanted to be cool, and to grow up like a teenager, right?"
She nodded, suddenly slightly brightening up.
"Well, I have a offer."
"Just spit it out you dimwit!"
"...You know what...what guys and girls do sometimes together, right?"
The next day at school, Natalie did not say a word. She did not speak for the whole day. She didn't have anyone to speak to anyways.
Nobody could know. Nobody should know. And so, Nobody would know.
The teacher picked up on a few of her puzzled expressions, but she dismissed it as she just did not understand the lesson.
Natalie also felt as if she was in severe pain. She had no idea it could...hurt.
Feeling scared, she walked back home and silently went to her room. But later in the day, she was once again greeted by her brother.
Nobody would know.
---
At school, she finally decided to tell someone. Even though they weren't her friends, She just felt she had to.
She walked up to the group of girls she would occasionally see in the hallway. They seemed like nice girls, and they and Natalie had occasionally talked before.
"Hey...Mia." the ginger girl looked over at Natalie, having a straight face.
"Yeah?"
"I uh...really need to talk to you about something. It had been going on for awhile, and you and your friends...Well, I feel like your the only people I can trust." Mia and her friends seemed to pull little smirks, but only for a moment. Little did Natalie know, they were hungry for gossip.
"Alright, you can trust us. What's up?"
---
One day later, was all it took. She had been getting constant remarks on social networking sites, such as Facebook.
One time, someone even called her a whore. Not to mention their lunch had ended up getting in her hair. It was going to be the least of her problems, but Natalie only being 9, could not help but feel greatly upset by this fact.
However, she did not cut, she did not peep, and she never said a word about it. As you may recall, so far in this journey, she had kept everything inside. She supposed it was better. She wouldn't let any pain get the best of her.
•••
3am, school night, her mother was going to kill her. The girl known as Natalie, was now 16.
She was productive in high school, close to the honor roll. For once, she felt calm and happy. Though, like the usual, she would become a 'hermit' in her room, hiding from her father, who'd like to yell and baby about economy, politics, and all of the bullshit she was flat out tired of hearing.
Her eyes started to feel heavy. She had an assignment to work on, but that was no longer important to her.
All that was on her mind was sleep.
She closed her laptop, and after her eyes slightly adjusted to the darkness, she saw her old, worn down stuffed giraffe in the corner of the room. She stared at it, in complete and utter silence. Memories passed through her mind, and she felt tears come to her eyes. But quickly, she blinked them away.
"No more breaking..." She thought to herself.
She continued to stare at it. "What the fuck are you looking at?" She said to the stuffed object. It simply stared back with soft, black, beady eyes. She shook her head and stood up. She looked down sadly at the little toy animal, and gently picked it up in her arms. She cradled it and softly spoke to it.
"I-I'm sorry..." some tears ran down her face. She petted it's short, rough fur softly as she lied on her bed. She slowly went to sleep.
She was woken up by the angry growls of her mother. She tiredly opened of her one eyes.
"I can't believe I forgot to take that laptop away! You were on it all night, weren't you?
Natalie sighed and presses her face deeper into the pillow, hugging her giraffe closer. Her mother sighed and walked out.
Natalie took a shower, brushed her teeth, ate her breakfast, and got dressed. She put on a gray/blue hoodie with fur on the inside of the hood.
It wasn't her favorite, but It was the only one she could wear to school, due to the others being in the wash.
She put on black jeans and some thin 'fashionable' boots. She then finally went down stairs to get driven to school. She hopped in the car, and her mother sped off towards the school.
However on the way there, due to the lack of sleep, Natalie out her head against the car window and started to drift off. Her dreams, or nightmares, consisted of of her physical abuse as a child. Secondly, the sexual abuse from her own brother, Lucas, that lasted four years until she finally had the guts to turn him off.
She started twitching and cringing in her sleep, but her mother took no notice. Her mother never took notice. She was suddenly sharply awoken by the sound of her mother.
"We're here." having an annoyed tone, most likely from her sleeping. She looked at the large sign, of the school that read "Walkerville-Collegiate institute for the creative fine arts"
She sighed tiredly, and stepped out, putting her backpack over her shoulder.
"Seeya!" She proclaimed, closing the car door.
She walked into the school, and chatted with a couple friends, until she went up to her locker on the third floor. She grabbed her books, and before the five minutes of class was over, she ran to class. Her English teacher annoyingly put her hand on Natalie's desk.
"Where's your assignment, Miss Ouellette?"
Natalie gulped,"I...uh...left it at home. Sorry, Miss Homeniuk."
She growled and stood," Your time is up, Miss Ouellette, don't disappoint me."
Natalie seemed puzzled by the thought for a moment. She didn't know why, but the words seemed to melt through her. She simply ignored it, and went back to the lesson. She fell asleep not to long after, of course.
Later that day, she was heading to her locker fourth period. When suddenly, her boyfriend, Chris, came up to her.
"Hey, um...talk to me after school, alright?" She smiled, loving talking to Chris.
Though, strangely, she didn't suspect anything. He was always such a sweet guy. During her French classes, she dared to not pay attention.
Instead, she doodled what she loved to draw; blood, gore, people being stabbed, knives, and macabre things of the such. Other people would say it was dark for her to draw these things, but she saw nothing wrong with it. For a strange reason, it actually felt like a normal thing to her.
"Miss Ouellette,"
She quickly covered the doodle on her paper and looked up at her French teacher quickly, trying to hide her fear. "Uh, yes Mr. LeVassuer?"
He motioned her to uncover her paper with a slight turn of his head, "Show me your work."
She hesitantly moved her arm, to show a picture of someone being stabbed by an insane man. The teacher stared, puzzled, looking at her a bit. She smiled nervously.
"Erase that and get started on your work." He said in a strangely calm voice. He walked away, and she sighed and began erasing the picture.
"And Miss Ouellette."
She looked up at him slightly.
"Your time is almost up on getting your work done. I suggest doing it now."
She growled at the remark.
Time always seemed to be against her, as far as she cared, time could go fuck itself.
After class, she walked out of the school to see her boyfriend standing near the fence on the sidewalk. She smiled and walked over, hoping her day could at least be cheered up by him. But as she walked closer, her smile slowly faded. He wasn't smiling back.
"Chris, what's wrong? What did you need to talk to me about?"
He sighed,"Natalie, I think it's time we...should start seeing other people."
She felt her heart break,"But why?"
He gave her a bit of a stern look, "It's your mindset. Your drawings, they just...creep me out. I really think there's something wrong with you. And the saddest part is, you haven't told me why you're acting like this. It makes me feel irresponsible. So I just...can't do it anymore, I'm sorry." and with that, he began to walk away.
---
Natalie slammed her hands on the bathroom counter. She stared at herself in the mirror, her eye twitching,"I-I won't hurt myself l-like the others. I can stay strong."
There was a needle and black thread in her hand.
"It's pointless; it doesn't help."
Some weird sensation pulled at her subconscious. She chuckled slightly.
"No, I'm doing it because I want to!" She held up the needle with the thread at the end of it, and she smirked widely.
"Time is up,"
Piece after piece, cut after cut.
Even though excruciating pain was going through her, she did not whine. She did not whimper. She did not cry; There was no tears to be shed. all she could do is smile. Blood leaked from the pierces and made a low dripping noise into the sink and onto the counter.
When she was finished, she stood back to admire her handiwork. She stroked the horrendous stitches on the ends of her mouth, that spread into a wide smile. She felt the warm, wet blood on her fingers and licked it gently, consuming the metallic tasting liquid in pure ecstasy.
She stopped when she saw her mother's reflection in the mirror behind her, and sharply turned around. She saw her mother's wide eyes and pale face, and she looked at her fingers, seeing the blood. She suddenly felt the pain, and she started to cry.
"Mom??" she had never felt so confused, what just happened?
Her mother had scheduled some therapy for her. Natalie hadn't gotten rid of her stitches, in fear of how much pain it would bring.
So, she went to therapy with them. She made sure her hood was up, as to not let anyone see. She sat down on a comfortable leather chair, and stared at the blonde woman across from her in silence.
"So, your name's Natalie, isn't it?"
Natalie only nodded.
"I'm Debera, and I'm here to help. Now, tell me, What has been some of your problems recently?"
Natalie stared,"Time. Time has been my problem."
Debera gave her a confused look, "What about time, dear?
Natalie's hands roughly gripped the leather of the seat, "Everything it makes you live through, it slowly progressing through life, being controlled by society, only to be tortured for seemingly to no end until you find you no longer have a purpose. It's a vicious cycle. Time does not end, time does not slow down, it does not speed up. It is violent. It makes you live through torture over and over again, unable to fast forward away from it."
Natalie really had no idea what she said. She felt like she wasn't herself anymore. Could this be from all the things she kept contained? No, It was impossible. But for some strange reason, She liked it.
The therapist leaned closer,"Sweetheart, I want you to tell me what's happening to you."
Natalie still stared. There was a long pause. she smirked slightly, the pierces from the stitches slightly opening again, "Why don't you tell me, blondie? You're the expert."
Debera seemed to have a slightly annoyed look, "I can't help unless you tell me what's wrong, Natalie."
Her fingers started to tear into the leather seating, "Natalie isn't here anymore."
With that, Debera eyes widened and she got up," I'll be right back. Please, stay here."
She walked out, leaving Natalie alone. Maybe if Natalie had done something at this point, Natalie wouldn't have come to what she is today. Maybe more people would be alive, and maybe she would still be sane.
She did not move, she sat perfectly still, perfectly silent, and perfectly calm in that chair. And after a while of waiting and inpatients, her parents finally walked in. She stood, happy to go, but she noticed her parents' expressions. Even her father had a strange, saddened look on his face. Her confusion grew, But she said no words, and followed them into the car. On the way where she thought she was going home, She started to drift off. Strangely, she heard a dark voice speak in her dream. It almost sounded like herself, echoing into eternal darkness.
"Your time is up."
---
She shot awake, some beads of sweat rolling down her face. She wasn't home, she wasn't in the car. She was in a bed; a white bed in a white room.
She looked to her side, seeing she was hooked up to a heart monitor. She went to get up, but she suddenly realized she was bonded down.
Natalie panicked and started to struggle, but she paused after hearing a door to her left open.
A man in a white shirt looked at her, his hands behind his back. He almost looked like one of those cliche doctors you would find in some scientific labs. She paid full attention as 'Mr. Scientist' started to speak.
"You must be very confused right now, I can imagine, but I'm letting you know we're only here to help. Your parents agreed to sign a contract to give you some mental drugs to hopefully help your state of mind."
She tried to protest, but she was suddenly silenced.
"You don't need to worry. You'll be back to normal in no time. Just try to relax." he walked over to Natalie. She tried skittishly to move away, But couldn't due to the bonds of the leather straps around her wrist and legs. He carefully took a mask and put on her mouth and nose, She stubbornly tried to get it off, but she felt herself slip under the effects of the drugs. Her eyes slowly shut.
And suddenly, she woke up. She couldn't comprehend what the hell she was seeing.
She was being given multiple injection, even some things were rubbed on her skin. She felt woozy, but she was completely aware of her surroundings.
Natalie was entering a rare state that some patients go through during surgery.
They are able to see as they are being worked on, they can feel the pain, their brain is active but they could not respond.
However, she was able to. Her heart rate on the monitor began to speed up, and the doctors took notice to this. They looked at her, seeing her opened eyes. One doctor was yelling at another. She couldn't make out what they were saying.
She suddenly felt a rush of adrenaline. She slowly started to slip through her bonds, shaking violently.
One of the doctors was going to hold her down, but was hesitant in doing so, all three doctors stepped back. She sat on the edge of the bed now, and ripped off the mask and tube from her arm.
She got up, and started to stumble towards them. Her breath hitched, and her vision was blurry. She could make out herself giving off a few insane chuckles. But suddenly, She felt a searing pain in her chest. She gripped where her heart would supposedly be, and dropped to her knees. She coughed blood, and fell to the floor, completely blacking out.
---
She woke up slowly and groggily after that. She was back in bed. The doctor was sitting beside the bed.
"Something went......horribly wrong."
She didn't know why, but she felt a tremendous amount of hatred towards the doctor. He took notice to it and looked away.
"You weren't suppose to wake up while you were given the doses for your mental state. We aren't sure how it affected you, but I have a feeling we're going to find out." He paused for a second, before taking out a small mirror, not looking at her, "it happened to have an affect on your appearance, as well."
She looked at herself in the mirror, and her eyes widened. Her eyes were completely green. She noticed she still had the stitches in her mouth. She couldn't help but feel happy. Her heart rate increased again.
She gave a low chuckle,"Hahahaha...."
The doctor looked at her in shock, seeing she was already standing over him.
"Doctor..." She said, still chuckling.
He trembled slightly, pressing a button under the monitor, "Y-Yes?"
"Your time is up."
---
A loud scream was heard through the apparent 'hospital'. Two security guard's rushed into the room, kicking the door open.
Blood was the first thing they saw. Hell, even on the ceiling. Natalie had taken the doctor and strapped him onto the bed. his spine was completely snapped, the bed was bent almost into a sandwich, possibly from some adjustments someone made to it. Blood poured from his eyes, nose, mouth, and just about every orifice of his body. And there, in the corner, was the murderer, happily drawing her gruesome pictures, followed by the phrase 'Your time is up'. She slowly turned to look at them, a wide crazy grin spread across her face.
"Hello, friends...W-Would you...like to play...? Ha....Hahahahaha"
The guard's quickly pulled out guns, when suddenly She charged at one of them, being able to dodge his bullets. She grabbed a large pocket knife from a sheath onto his pocket and slashed it right across his waistline. Blood and organs flooded out, and he collapsed to the ground. She inhaled deeply, loving the damp stench of death. The other shook in fear, and dropped his gun. She slowly walked up to him, placing the tip of the knife on his chest.
"Your time is up." She slowly slid the knife down his chest all the way to the end of his gut. His organs spilled out onto the ground as well, and collapsed, dead.
---
Natalie's mother was silently sleeping in her room next to her husband. She awoke to the sounds of knocking on her door. She groggily got up, and walked out of her bedroom, and to the front door. It was completely pouring out, and thunder booming.
In the distance. She walked up to the door, and paused when she was about to grab the knob. There was a faint sound of insane laughter. The rain and thunder seemed to be quiet all of the sudden. She pressed her ear against the door and listened closely.
"Hello, mother."Natalie burst through the door, wielding two knives in hand. Her mother stumbled back, hitting her head against the coat rack. One of the hooks broke into her skull, and she bleed violently from the back of her head.
She fell to the ground, paralyzed, but still conscious. Natalie towered over her, but slowly knelt down to met the level of her eyes, and showed her two knives covered in thick red blood.
"I was suffering mother." She ran the tip of the knife across her cheek, cutting it slightly. Natalie tilted her head, "but you did nothing."
All her mother could do was shake, and gasp constantly like a fish on land. Natalie grabbed her mother, and set her down so her back was laying flat on the ground. She proceeded to sit on top of her, and started to make a V-cut on her chest.
Her mother gasped and shook, but her breaths seemed to be choked and gurgled. Natalie knew she didn't have much time left. She proceeded to forcibly open her chest cavity with a loud crack, and reached in and grabbed her mother's heart as it slowly beat in her hand. It's pulses were growing dimmer and dimmer.
And suddenly, she ripped it out, blood spraying all over her face. She stared at her mother directly in the face as she slowly died.
"Sweet dreams." she said to her mother's corpse, "Your time was up." she put the heart into her mother's mouth, patting her cheek softly, she stood up. She wasn't done yet.
Natalie's father, David, stirred awake and realized that his wife returned yet. His eyes started to adjust to the darkness when he realized Natalie, standing on his bedside, smirking crazily. Blood was all over her, the scent was unbearable. She put on a fake sad face.
"Oh, dear...Mother's gone...I wonder who will get the money? Hahahaha..." she suddenly grabbed her father's forehead, "that's all you ever cared about, anyway."
Her father, however, was a fighter. He sprung up and grabbed her by the neck and threw her to the ground. He started to stomp on her chest until she coughed blood, and he stared down at her.
"D-Doesn't it feel good, daddy? Hahahaha..." She coughed up more blood, "A-after all, you never seem to mind doing it all those years ago, didn't you?"
His eyes narrowed, "Your not my daughter."
A wide smirk spread across her face, and she looked at him with her glowing eyes, as blood dripped from her mouth, "Your right, I'm not." she suddenly tripped him, causing him to fall hard to the floor. She got up, knives in hand,"They say the bigger they are, the harder they fall."
While he was winded, she grabbed a pillow and stuffed it in his face.
She started to stomp on his face, harder and harder, hearing loud cracking noises after a while. When she pulled the pillow away, his face was gruesomely mutilated and he was making muffled noises and crying in pain.
"What's the matter daddy? Too much pain for you?" She stabbed both knives into his stomach, leaving them there as she ripped one of the large heavy wooden poles from the bed. She set it down on his legs, and took out the knives.
"Gonna need these." She chuckled and sat on the laid pole on his legs. Suddenly, she started to walk back while sitting down. The weight from her body on the pole and started to slowly squeeze his innards up through his body. He started to gag, as blood poured from his mouth. His breath was silenced, as she hit a bit of a snag.
"Hnng! Come on!" She snarled as she forced herself to walk back with more weight. Suddenly, His organs burst out of his mouth. The nasty gore piled onto the sides of his face. She nodded to his carcass and started to walk out, "Your time was up, daddy."
Finally, this would be her favorite part. She quietly snuck into her brother's room, silently opening the door. Blood dripped from her knives, making a low tapping noise as the droplets hit the hard wood. Her brother wasn't in bed, it was apparent that he must be was hiding somewhere.
She grinned, "Oh, dear brother, come now." She started to walk inside, "all I want to do is have a little fun...Ahahahaha!" as she stepped in more, she listened closely for any sounds. Any breathing, any moving, she even sniffed the air for his putrid scent. And the closer she listened, she finally heard something; a faint, breathing noise.
-WHACK-
She fell to the ground, trembling. Her brother was behind her, with a now bloodied baseball bat. He as glaring down in anger, panting in rage. She slowly tried to get up, but he hit again, and again, and again.
"Mother always did like you best!!" He hit her one last time before taking a breather. She was bleeding heavily.
Her green eyes drooped, glowing faintly in the darkness. She recalled the days she spent in here. Being tortured, having to go with it for four years. She felt a sudden rush of energy to her body. She started to laughing insanely. Her brother went to hit her again, but she used her knives to block.
"Your going to hell, brother." with a large push, she sent her brother flying over the bed and he hit his head against the wall. He growled angrily. She stabbed her two knives in his arms, keeping him pinned to the wall. He screamed and struggled.
"Lets see what we could use here." She started walking around the room and smirked, seeing a butter knife on his bedside. She picked it up and walked over to him.
"They say the eyes are the softest organ of the body," she licked the knife,"soft as butter." He looked in horror as she began to dig out his eyes. He shrieked loudly, then she quickly tied a cloth around his mouth
"Now, now, we can't have you waking up the neighbor's."
He couldn't see anything and the pain was unbearable. Blood leaked violently from his eye sockets. He would cry, but was incapable of doing so.
She picked up a pair of scissors and walked over to him,"I think you need to cut loose, brother." She stabbed the scissors into his gut and he cried out. She treated him like an arts and crafts; cutting through his skin like paper.
She lifted up his large intestines,"You know what I love? Macaroni art!" She started to cut the intestines into section,"These might be a little too big to fit on a plate, though." She went down to his toes and started to crack them off one by one. Next, she snapped off his fingers. He started to choke on his own blood now. She pulled the cloth down and blood poured from his mouth.
"There, there, brother. Maybe this will make you feel better." She stuffed her fingers in his mouth and jammed the cloth down his throat. He choked and died, "Your time was up."
The girl known as Natalie walked into her room. In the corner, she saw her stuffed giraffe. She stared at it, and without a word she walked into the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and heard a ticking noise. She looked down and saw a pocket watch. She stared at it. She took out one of her knives and disassembled the watch until only the small clock was left.
"Time makes you live through torture." She said slowly. She started to, slowly, dig it into her eye as the vision of her left eye grew blurry and red. The eye fell into the sink as she tore it. There was a squishing sound until the clock felt like it fit perfectly in her eye socket.
"I...Am...Clockwork."
The young girl that used to be Natalie walked away from her burning house. Inside, the giraffe slowly burned, along with the corpses of her family.