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I can't draw for shit, but I can put pretty words together sometimes, so I thought that KYM would be a good place to shit English all over a page and hand it to you guys. Look forward to when I forget this thread completely.
Anyway, here's how it's going to work. I'm going to post one piece of writing, be it a short story, screenplay treatment, essay, fanfiction chapter, etc, every week. My Google Drive is pretty much overflowing right now, so I have plenty of extra pieces to post in case I miss a week. After that, I'd like you guys to discuss, analyze, and critique that week's piece. Alternatively, you can suggest something you'd like to see me write, and I'll take it into consideration for the next week. Are you guys in?

Which of the following would you like to read?

1. My Kagerou Project fanfiction "A Thousand Summers"
2. A short essay contemplating online relationships called "A Suicidal Cluster of Information"
3. Something spooktacular for Halloween.

Here's a BEN Drowned fanfic I wrote a year ago today.

Alex Soilere had not been at the lake when Ben was killed. He was lying in a hospital bed, an IV in his basilic vein, feeding him a slow drip of sedative as he strained to hear and comprehend Her whispers. The next day, he was discharged from the hospital, and a week later he stared, completely silent, at Ben’s body being buried at the Ian J. Kana memorial cemetery. As they lowered the casket into the ground, he knew. In a way they all knew, even those with the soft smiles, silently congratulating Ben for reaching the Great Opening, for resting with his Mother, they knew that Luna had abandoned him. Intuition was something that came with the territory, a gift from Luna at the threshold. But as he tossed in a shovelful of dirt, Alex knew that this would shake the Order to its core. There was no way it couldn’t, the truth would come out eventually. It was just a matter of time. The sun cast an orange glow as it rose over the treeline, rays flying skyward in a brilliant display. Then, between the glow of the sun and the shade of the trees, a harsh minty green wave streaked across the sky, freezing in a leviathan shape beyond comprehension, a cloud of light, then disappearing just as quickly. Alex smiled to himself. A new day.

Night of the Second Day
36 Hours remain

Like ants after a heavy storm, running about rebuilding the colony. Scrambling, trying to find some order to the chaos. With this, I call check.

The sun was going down, and the rain had lightened up somewhat. As Alex pulled his car into the back lot of the Theater, he took another look at the sheer brightness of the moon. It was uncanny. Next.
The brief respite from the rain was just that-brief- and soon the rain came down harder than ever. Making a mad dash for the back entrance of the theater, Alex clutched the book he was reading, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, against his side. He shut the heavy iron door behind him and stood there for a moment, dripping wet. The room was quiet and dark, with only the EXIT sign casting a green glow onto the floor beneath it. Past the sign was a small dumbwaiter for transporting heavy props to the stage, and another heavy door with a heavy, rusty padlock. Alex would have preferred the room either be completely dark or completely light. The EXIT sign’s light hit the various props and torn-up pieces of railing, casting eerie shadows on the wall. Then he heard it. A thud, like a bag of sand hitting the ground. It came from behind one of the risers. Immediately afterwards, there was a scraping noise, friction on the worn, scoffed, Thirty-Plus-Year-Old floor. A shadow on the wall began to move. Alex froze. Out from behind the risers crawled what would haunt Alex’s nightmares for the rest of his life.
It stood just under 7 feet, but it was hunched over, almost in a mobile fetal position. Every part of its body seemed to sag and cave in on itself, like a scarecrow partially filled with sand. Its skin, if you could call it that, was green and loose, and its eyes were like tiny white dots. It reached out and slammed its massive, gorilla like hand onto the floor with another thud and pulled itself forward. Its arms seemed to connect to each other at the point where the shoulders should be, forming a huge bump, and they were linked to the body by a strip of veiny flesh. But the worst part was its face. It was below the “shoulders”, and it seemed to recede into the body. The face was sagging and unresponsive, with only a dull look of horror on its face. It spoke to him with a deep, moaning voice.
“He… found us. You are… not safe. He has… eyes… everywhere” The thing struggled to lift his hand, then pointed at the wall behind Alex. “Play it to remember me”.
There was a figure that seemed to be leaning against the wall. Suddenly, the EXIT sign exploded in a shower of sparks. The room was completely dark for a moment, and then, behind him, the thing screamed in what sounded like pain. It sounded like a dying whale. The sound filled the room and Alex collapsed, hands over his ears and shaking. Finally it stopped, and the lights, all of them came on. Alex looked around. The beast was nowhere to be found. He looked back to his left, where the figure had been standing, and immediately doubled over and vomited at what he saw.

It was a person, pinned to the wall by a steel pole. His ribcage had been ripped open, blood and viscera covered the floor beneath him, and his hands were in a position to suggest he had died trying to hold his organs in. On his face was a gas mask, with some white design painted around one of the lenses. And, most chilling of all, on the wall adjacent to the body was a message scrawled in blood: LUNA SHINE, the traditional greeting of the Moon Children. Alex stood up weakly and took a few tentative steps to the body. He reached out, trying his best to keep his hands from shaking, and unbuckled the mask. It fell to reveal the face of Matt Hubris, eyes hollow, skin pale. He could hear something, a small chuckle, and he conjured up an image of the father.

Alex ran. He ran because he knew whoever had done this was still out there. He ran because he thought he was going crazy again. And he ran because he began to hear music.

Dawn of the Final Day.
24 hours remain

Luna Shine.

{Transcribed from the Journal of Alex Soilere}
Play it to remember me… what could it have meant by that? Thinking back on it, it didn’t seem like it wanted to hurt me. It tried to warn me about something and pointed out Matt’s… body.
Oh, god.
Matt’s dead.
I told Rosa, and the order’s working overtime to try and contain it. Something’s going on with the site, massive influx of users. They seemed to know that Matt was dead. The Father has ordered me to investigate. Meanwhile the moon gets closer and closer. I can’t go to sleep. There’s always something outside of my window. It just stands there on the sidewalk across the street, motionless in a different place each time. I know if I go to sleep it will do to me what it did to-
{End}

A massive tremor had hit out of nowhere. Alex was thrown out of his chair into the wall. When everything stopped rattling, he opened his eyes. Part of the ceiling had collapsed, landing in a large drywall chunk onto his desk. The wall surrounding the doorway had cracked, and the doorframe had given way to form a parallelogram, creating an M.C. Escher type of effect. Upon standing, Alex felt a sharp pain in his ankle and fell again. He stood up again, slowly this time, and limped out of what remained of the door.

Crawling out into the stairwell leading down from his apartment building, Alex could hear car alarms blaring in the distance. He pulled himself onto the black grated stairwell and began to crawl forward. He hadn’t cleared the landing, however, when he heard the 50 year old steel begin to groan under his weight. Before he could react, the stairwell, weakened by the tremor, dislodged from the building and fell with an enormous crash. Alex lay on the ground, a bent piece of steel cutting into his arm, and began to lose consciousness. Before him stood a figure, wavering like the surface of a lake. He bent over, displaying his mask- the mask- to Alex, and said, “You can’t fight fate”, before Alex went limp.

Happy Halloween, everybody! Thank you for all your support. I’d like to give a special thank-you to EmeraldGroveSage, she was the one who inspired me to write this anthology. Hope you enjoyed my first experiment with horror, ‘cause I was working overtime to get this out in time for my favorite Holiday.

With thanks, regards, and a shitload of commas, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halberd

I hate that piece. I'm glad y'all like it though.

Look at that, I already missed a week. Or two. Ugh. Anyway, here's the piece I'm most proud of: the Kagerou Project fanfic mentioned above

A Thousand Summers

I wake up around midnight from a dream I can't remember. The hot summer air hangs over me like a shroud, and I sit listening to the stillness of the night. I exhale and take a brief inventory of my surroundings. Instinctively, I turn my head to look over at Hiyori, sleeping peacefully on the bed opposite me. I sit up, throw the covers off, and stumble down the hallway into the bathroom for a drink. I check the calendar on my phone. August 15. A sound like cicadas chirping comes from outside, but I'm certain I'm just imagining it. I'm certain I imagined all of it.

I take a cup, fill it with water from the tap and drink. The relief from the heat and the feeling of water rushing down my throat is refreshing. I still can't remember the events of my dream, but my shoulders are tense and my heart's beating rapidly. A thin layer of anxiety hangs in the back of my mind, but it's suppressed by the serenity of the night. I try to recall something from the dream, to retrace my steps mentally. I take another sip of water and move to the door. Suddenly, an image arises and I feel sick to my stomach. It's so visceral, so immediate, that I stumble to my knees. The same terror that gripped me while I was asleep finds me again. I curl into a ball, glancing wildly from side to side. Afraid to dig any further or recall the image again, I take another drink of water and slump back against the wall. My breathing slows down. After a while, I slowly get back to my feet, tiptoe down the hall and slip back into bed. The heavy sheets engulf me in a feeling of safety. The cicadas slowly lull me back to sleep. My thoughts linger on Hiyori as I drift into unconsciousness. Then the veil of sleep closes over me again and I'm dead to the world.

I wake up again at…11:45, according to my phone. Hiyori's gone. I've learned a couple of things about her on this trip. Firstly, she wakes up at the crack of dawn every morning. She'll creep silently down the hall, fix breakfast for everyone, then play with her cat or whatever 'till we all wake up. I, on the other hand, will sleep indefinitely. I am incapable of waking up on my own. I'd still be asleep if my phone hadn't buzzed with a text. I groggily slip my phone out of my pocket and check my messages.

Hibiya, I'm at the park on Yasuhiro blvd, about three blocks from our house. If you can make it in under fifteen minutes, come on over; if not, have Chi drive you down here. See you there!~H.

Secondly, she's impatient. She won't waste a single extra second on something she doesn't think deserves her time. I've learned over and over again on this trip not to keep her waiting.

I'm up and dressed in a matter of seconds. Any semblance of fatigue disappears the second I read her message. Her older sister, Chinatsu Asahina, whom Hiyori calls Chi is asleep on the couch, so I don't bother her. I sprint downstairs and out the door. As I turn back just before I slam the door shut, I see a little paper crane in Chinatsu's lap. Hiyori must have left it there. I smile a little, then take off down the sidewalk.

Within a few minutes, I'm at the park, gasping for breath. I look up and she's there, sitting on a swing, petting her cat Mei. She's absolutely captivating. I know it sounds cliche, but she really is flower-like, sitting upon the swing with the hem of her dress gently moving in the weak breeze. She seems so soft. So fragile. Suddenly, a fountain of almost paternal feelings bursts within me. I need to protect her. From what, I ask myself. Hiyori can take care of herself. If she knew I was thinking about her like a child, she'd beat the crap out of me and then take me shopping with her. I laugh a little bit at the thought. My smile disappears when a trace of the images resurfaces. I get the nagging feeling that it involves her somehow. But I force the thought out of my mind and look at her again. I get a fluttering, bubbly feeling in my throat whenever I see her. She looks so serene and happy in the summer air. I walk toward the swing set, sit down, and for long, long time, we're silent.

The heat bears down on us, and the small pond in the corner of the park only contributes to the humidity. I look at her message again. There's nothing to indicate that she knows how I feel about her, much less if she reciprocates the feeling. I want so badly to be able to tell her. Can I afford to? I don't think I have the strength of will to handle her rejecting me. Once again, I decide to bide my time. There will be another chance.

"I kind of…"

I turn at the sound of her voice. She has a troubled look on her face, and she holds Mei a little closer.

"I kind of hate summer", she murmurs. I cock an eyebrow and she gives me a blank look with a small hint of surprise, almost like she wasn't aware she said it out loud. Then she smiles and laughs a bit. I decide to change the subject and, like an idiot, I bring up the weather. "It's hot, Hibiya. What do you want from me?", she says with another little laugh. I gulp and look down at my shoes. I'm racking my brain, but I can't think of what I could say to her. I decide to bring up what she said again. "Hiyori?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you say you hate summer?"

"It burns the life from the world and it goes on forever. The heat's so repressive. I feel like I'm choking."

That shuts me up. Maybe this trip wasn't such a good idea after all. She seems to share my sentiments, because she gets up to leave and I follow close behind.

We make our way through the gate and step out onto the sidewalk. The heat from the pavement is visible in waves. Suddenly, Mei gets loose and runs out into the street. Hiyori chases after her, running out into the intersection.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see something. The streetlight. As I watch it, it changes from a soft green to a glaring red. Hiyori scoops up Mei, and opens her mouth to chastise her for running off like that. A bead of sweat slips down my forehead. Hiyori glances sidelong at me, eyes full of vitality. But the instant before the semi truck plows into her, as she casually draws in her final breath, I see something else in her eyes. Sadness. A dull sadness at a necessary evil. She's been hiding so much pain all her life, and a tenth of a second before the truck blindsides her, it leaks out through her eyes into mine. Then the truck makes contact and time resumes.

For a moment, I can't move. The air has been sucked from my lungs and I'm getting tunnel vision. Then I notice the blood. On the street, on the curb, on…on me. Blood is covering me, thick around my chest and in flecks on my face. The blood seems to cancel out all of the color in the world. Everything around me seems a harsh, bleached white. I look back at the blood again, unsure if it's even real. I take a tentative breath and notice the nauseating metallic smell. It begins to dawn on me that it's her blood. Hiyori. The second the name crosses my mind I can move again. I stumble into the street as the world seems to pitch and warp around me. I feel nauseous and lightheaded, so I put a hand on the truck to steady myself. The metal surface burns, pulling me out of my stupor a bit. I stagger past the cabin of the truck and slowly peek around the corner to see Hiyori sprawled across the ground. The blood pools around her, thicker and darker than the blood on my clothes. Her black hair is disheveled, covering her face. She's completely still, unnaturally so. I feel acidic bile rushing up my throat, and I clasp my hand over my mouth and nose to avoid vomiting. I'm strangely aware of the heat now. My knees buckle and I collapse against the pavement.

I lift my head up to look at Hiyori. I think of her text message. I think of the rise and fall of her chest when she's asleep. I think of her soft laugh when she plays with Mei. I think of the mix of fear and elation when she met Chi for the first time in years. And I think of the peaceful and dignified smile she wore mere moments ago. I look at the bloody shape in front of me. It's not her. It can't be her. This thing isn't real. The image in my mind of Hiyori and the image I see before me, this lifeless red lump on the ground, do not match up. Suddenly my vision blurs and shatters, like an image through a kaleidoscope with a melting lens. I realize that these are tears welling up in my eyes. It is her. It's Hiyori. The Hiyori I know is gone forever.

I want to scream, to run, to throw myself into the street and die with her, but the traffic has stopped. I cradle her head in my arms. She's so heavy and limp. The tears are flowing freely now. I hold her body close to mine, tighter and tighter as the warmth begins to leave her body and dissipate into the summer air. My mouth is dry, and I try to form words, but I feel like I'm going to vomit again. I clench my fist and holder closer to me, trying desperately to squeeze some life back into her. I take a breath and, though I feel like I'm shouting, I'm only able to whisper. "I love you."

Then the world melts around me and I succumb to unconsciousness.

I wake up around midnight from a dream I can't remember. The hot summer air hangs over me like a shroud, and I sit listening to the stillness of the night. I exhale and take a brief inventory of my surroundings. Instinctively, I turn my head to look over at Hiyori, sleeping peacefully on the bed opposite me. I sit up, throw the covers off, and stumble down the hallway into the bathroom for a drink. I check the calendar on my phone. August 15. A sound like cicadas chirping comes from outside, but I'm certain I'm just imagining it. I'm certain I imagined all of it.