forgotten memoeriesA Story by bastiaanwheat64 a boy and his siter fall into the hands of a distorted, nightmare realm. they lose allies, trust with themselves, and their innocence Forgotten memories, By Bastiaan Wheat I woke up, my entire body ached, I had had another nightmare. A cold breeze floated through my room; it was still dark out, but I didn’t want to go back to sleep. I stood up and checked the top bunk; my little sister, Aurora, was still asleep. I opened the door and began to trudge through my grandma’s house. The old house creaked as I walked to get some food. DING DONG! Someone had ringed our doorbell. “Hello?” I said when I opened the door. There was a delivery man, and he handed me a box, it was addressed to me. My grandma walked in, still in her pajamas, and grabbed the box from me. “These should help you, August” my grandma said. She opened the box and grabbed a bottle of melatonin. Grandma opened the bottle and handed me two pills; I thought they would be those little strawberry gummies. I swallowed the pills and immediately felt sleepy. “How do you feel, these are the extra powerful ones, they should help ease you back to sleep whenever you have nightmares,” my grandma said. I walked back to my room and snuggled up in bed, and my eyelids felt extremely heavy. “What’s going on?” my sister said softly, “not much, just grandma giving me stuff to help us sleep” I said. “To help stop our nightmares?” Aurora asked, “no, just to get us back to sleep,” I responded. Grandma walked in and handed Aurora a pill and a glass of water; she needed help getting it down. She swallowed the pill and chugged the water, and almost immediately she yawned. She pulled her blanket over her head and said, “goodnight August, see you tomorrow-”. I fell asleep. Water dripped on my nose. I stood up; I was no longer at my grandma’s house. Aurora was asleep on the ground next to me. I shook her awake; we couldn’t stay in one place for long. Rain heavily poured over the grey, abandoned city. Aurora woke and said, “huh, where are we this time?”. I shook my head, I didn’t even know. Smog filled the air and we could barely breathe as we walked through The Grey City. The houses were dark and boarded up, but so far nothing out of the ordinary. Aurora pulled something out of her pocket; a mini flashlight, I didn’t even know she still had it from the other nightmare. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the tiny music box from the last nightmare. I turned the pin and listened to the tiny, creepy tune it made. The city seemed to listen to the music, because I could feel everything go quiet. The music box stopped and I could feel the sadness of the city creeping back in. Aurora shivered in the cold, dead air. I pulled her close and we kept moving. Our breath froze in the air as we walked into a parking lot; grey, broken-down cars littered the place. Pieces of trash flew across the parking lot. Me and aurora began to shiver since we were drenched in cold, dirty rain. Aurora shined her flashlight into a car and gasped. I peered in and pulled us away from the car. The car began to shake and rip apart. Blood, pink tentacles slid through the windows and began to pile around the car in knots. The wheels ripped off and more tentacles drained out. The hood of the car opened, revealing a mouth with sharp teeth. I grabbed Aurora’s hand and tried to turn back around, but the exit had melted into a fence. Aurora shook in fear as the car dragged itself towards us. I grabbed my music box and turned the key, and immediately the tune began to play. The car shook in pain as the music burned through the air. A tentacle came at us and grabbed my ankle. I slammed onto the ground as it pulled me towards it. Aurora threw a rock at it but it bounced off, not leaving a scratch. I dug my nails into the ground in an attempt to slow down my demise. Aurora reached for my hand but I just handed her the music box; it was better for one of us to survive. The creature pulled my ankle into its jaw and bit down. “AHH!” I screamed, I was back in bed. My bedsheets began to turn dark red. Aurora snapped awake just after me, she dropped down from the top bunk and hugged me. I pulled off my sheets to reveal a massive cut all the way around my ankle. Blood spilled heavily from the wound, and I felt lightheaded. Grandma walked in and screamed in horror whenever she saw what happened to me. She pulled me and Aurora into the car and drove to the hospital. Aurora reached into her pocket and pulled out the music box. She handed it to me and whispered, “take this back, I don’t need it,”. The music box disintegrated in my hand; the colorful dust flew through the air. Grandma pulled me into the hospital and yelled at the receptionist to help me. The receptionist led me to the emergency room and handed me over to a doctor. The doctor gasped in shock and asked, “how did this happen?!” “I got bitten in my sleep,” I responded. “By what? Nothing that dangerous lives in this city!” The doctor yelled. The doctor grabbed my foot and began cleaning the wound with alcohol. I winced in pain as he talked to my grandma for being an awful guardian. The doctor kept yelling at grandma and said, “this is the third time this year your kids have gotten harmed in their sleep!”. “It isn’t my fault, it just keeps happening!” Grandma fired back. Aurora flinched whenever the doctor turned towards her. The doctor pointed towards Aurora and said, “look at her wrist, what about her back too?!”. Aurora had a claw mark on her back, and a puncture wound on her wrist. The doctor wrapped my ankle in bandages and said, “If this happens again, I am calling CPS!”. Grandma flinched at the word, CPS, and grabbed me and Aurora. Grandma drove us home but it was eerily quiet in the car. Grandma scowled at me and Aurora in the rear-view mirror. Aurora silently cried into her sweater and reached for my hand. Grandma herded us to our room and told us not to leave since we were now grounded; she had to make sure we didn’t injure ourselves again. Grandma brought us some hamburgers and left us be. Aurora begged me to turn on the TV and put in her favorite DVD. I inserted the disc and watched as her favorite movie began to play. Aurora sat in her bunk, munching on her burger, staring down the TV. I sighed and pulled the blanket off my bed and wrapped it around her. I sat down and watched the movie. Grandma came in shortly after and took away our empty plates. She also handed us some pills and told us to take them. With no other choice, we took the pills. I crawled into my bed and slowly began to fade away. Suddenly Aurora said, “Goodnight, August, don’t let the bed bugs bite”. I rolled over and hit something metal. I opened my eyes and noticed I had hit a cart. Aurora was sitting next to me taking in the views; we were in a fancy hotel. “This place looks nice,” I remarked, Aurora nodded her head, still in the just waking up phase. The lights burned into my eyes as I stood up. Aurora followed my lead and stood up too. Fancy, indescribable pictures sat on the walls. The carpet was an assortment of colors, dark red and orange, pink and black. The hallways smelled like a mix of lavender and the iron smell of rain. Soft jazz poured in through the walls and infiltrated our ears. Our socks sank into the fluffy carpet, and it was pretty warm. Aurora tried to open every single door we came across, but sadly none of them worked. My ankle hurt as Aurora tugged on another door. CREAK! The door creaked open. Aurora jumped for joy and walked in; I ran after her. The hallway was lit up by blue lights, and it reeked of iron. It was silent, not even our footsteps made a sound, and the walls were strangely dry. Aurora kept running while I slowly walked. I looked back at Aurora to see she had disappeared. I ran forward as fast as I could and ran into something invisible, I broke through it and saw Aurora. The ground had turned to pale rock, and the way we came was gone. Vines tried to strangle me while I made my way to Aurora. Aurora was holding something; a stuffed Penguin. “Is that... is that Rodrick, the same penguin we lost whenever our parents died...” I asked. Suddenly my pocket felt heavy and I pulled out the music box. I turned the key and the beautiful tune filled the air. Aurora hugged Rodrick and stood up. We began to explore the cave system. Aurora handed me her flashlight. Something moved away from the light. My entire body tensed up. I aimed the flashlight higher but there was nothing besides cave. The air felt thicker and my palms felt sweater. Aurora wrapped her arms around me as we walked; I could tell she was terrified. Suddenly something felt warm; Rodrick was glowing. The light pierced through the darkness and made me feel less jumpy. Something dropped from the roof behind us; we slowly turned around. An elongated, plae man was staring at us with pure black eyes; the music box came to a stop, and Rodrick stopped glowing. The creature stretched a hand towards us, but we were already backing away. CRACK! Something cracked under my foot; I looked down and it was a grape juice bottle, the same one that dad would drink. The creature stared at the pieces of glass and picked one up, examining it. The flashlight flickered off and when it turned back on the creature was gone, and a full bottle of grape juice sat on the ground. I gasped awake; Aurora was in my bed, cuddling me. Aurora’s eyes fluttered open and she yawned awake. The morning sun shined through the blinds. I walked over to the TV and turned on Aurora’s favorite movie again. I walked into the kitchen and made me and Aurora PB&Js.
Chapter 2- Fallen The sun swam across the sky as me and Aurora watched every movie we had. Grandma and handed us melatonin to help us sleep. I tucked Aurora into bed and crawled into mine. The air felt unpleasantly cold and it felt like someone was watching us. “Thought you could hide in the real world?” a sinister voice said. I pulled my sheets off my bed and there was nothing in the room, besides a black jacket on the ground. Suddenly the jacket twisted and bent into the figure of a man. “Sleep and never wake again-” the shadow man said. I collapsed onto my bed and passed out. I bolted awake and slammed my noggin into Aurora’s. I was strapped down to a hospital bed. I struggled against the restraints, while Aurora just watched me. Aurora reached into my pocket and pulled out the music box. She turned the key and the soft tune began to play. The restraints snapped off and I was free. “Are you okay, August” Aurora asked softly. Suddenly a shadow shot out of the doorway, revealing a man walking towards the room. I grabbed Aurora’s hand and dashed under the bed, holding our breaths. The door opened and the same shadow man from before walked in. “Where are you, children?!“ the man said, “I only want to play,”. Suddenly the man stopped and stared at me under the bed. “Found you”. He reached under the bed and grabbed my wrist. Aurora refused to let go of my hand and was dragged out too. The man grabbed me by the neck and slowly lifted me, choking me heavily. Aurora slammed her fists against the man, but he formed a third arm and slapped her. “Goodnight”. Everything went black. I woke up, I was still in the room, but something felt wrong. Rodrick sat next to me. I sat up and looked around the room; Aurora was nowhere to be seen. My music box was thrown across the room but still in good shape. “Aurora?!” I yelled, desperate for an answer. Silence, nothing but deafening silence. I stood up and scooped up my music box and Rodrick. I stumbled out of the room and saw a familiar shape in a chair. I turned but it was nothing but a coat rack. I sat down on a chair and replayed memories of me and Aurora playing outside in the backyard, playing in the stream. Tears dripped down my face as I realized Aurora was actually gone. “Wake up August, come on, it’s time for supper” I heard a distant voice say. Suddenly, I woke up to grandma shaking me awake. “August, do you have an idea of where your sister went, I came in here to tell you breakfast was ready, but she was gone.” grandma said. I jumped down from the bunk just to see Aurora’s bed was empty. I froze, I thought, I thought the nightmares couldn’t take us. Grandma led me to the table, unaware of what is happening, and handed me a plate of French toast. Once I was finished with my french toast, I snuck into the drawer and grabbed the melatonin. I ate two pills and ran to my bed; I have to save Aurora. I passed out onto my bed and faded into nothingness. BOOM! Thunder roared. I woke up and looked around the room, expecting to see Aurora. Paint was peeling from the rotting wooden walls. The wooden floor creaked as I stood up and walked towards the door. Water poured in from a hole in the roof and drenched me. CREAK! Someone was in front of me. I stopped and stared at a girl who was right next to me; she had brown hair and a copper wristwatch. “Woah! Watch out!” She said as she pushed me. A disformed doll splatted onto the ground and began crawling towards me. The girl turned the knob on her wristwatch, and a toy hammer popped out. She grabbed the hammer and slammed it on the doll’s head. She stretched out her hand to help me up and said, “Hello, boy, I am April, what is your name, if you have one?”. “Uhm, uh, it’s August,” I replied. The toy hammer began to disappear and fade to dust. “What’s that?” I asked halfheartedly. “Oh, it’s my grandpa’s watch, and for some reason it pops out random tools” April yelled. I walked past her; I had to find Aurora. She put a hand on my shoulder and said, “Hey, where do you think you’re going?!”. “To find something,” I whispered, I wanted to find my sister. “Then I’ll come with you, it’s safer in pairs” she said. She began to follow me like a baby duck to its mom.
Chapter 3- Fate We kept exploring through the cold, molding house. the floorboards threatening to break every time we stepped. April kept rambling about some random stories from when she lived with her grandpa for a year because her parents got into trouble. “He taught me everything I know about engineering, and before he passed, he gave me this watch,” She finished, taking a massive breath of air. “That’s... nice” I say bluntly, pulling out the music box from my pocket. I stuff the music box back into my pocket. A cold breeze blew through the cracks in the wall, and danger crept into the air. “Whew, it’s so cold here,” April shivered, rubbing her hands together. A faint glow came from my pocket and was keeping my leg warm. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a glowing Rodrick. April stared over my shoulder and said, “What’s that?”. “My sister’s penguin,” I responded, squishing Rodrick a little bit. Then his light began to flicker along with the lights in the hallway. All the lights went out in the room, including Rodrick. “Oh,” April gasped, not realizing the danger. “Thought you could escape, August?!” a familiar voice said. The ground and walls shuttered. The walls began to warp and began to spin in millions of directions. “Ring around the Rosie, a pocket full of posies, just die, just die, we all fall down!” The voice called from the walls. I grabbed the music box from my pocket and turned the knob. A faint tune whispered through the air. The lights flickered back on; the room had gone back to normal. Rodrick began to glow again in my pocket. "What was that!” April yelled from the floor; it appeared she couldn’t keep her footing. April dusted herself off and kept walking. I followed, but I kept a hand on my music box. The air froze my breath, and my toes began to feel numb. April had stolen a tiny gear she had found on a cabinet. “What do you need that for?” I asked, “oh, I forgot I picked this up, I guess I just have an instinct to grab parts,” April responded. I brought Rodrick into my hands to warm them up. The hallway we were following suddenly came to a stop, and a massive wooden door sat in front of us. The temperature took a leap down ten more degrees as we opened the door. The door creaked open, and Aurora sat at a dining room table, shivering. The Shadow man sat at the other end of the table, watching her. Rodrick began to flicker as he stood up. The Shadow man turned towards us and said, “like a moth to a flame,”. The lights flickered as the Shadow man straightened himself out. I grabbed my music box out of my pocket and tried to turn the knob. The Shadow man slapped the music box out of my hand, and out the window. April touched her watch and a wrench popped out. She threw the wrench at the shadow man, but it went through him like smoke. The Shadow man turned towards April. He grabbed her by the wrist and threw her across the room. I dashed over to Aurora and pulled her under the table. I handed Aurora Rodrick and I crawled towards April. The Shadow man saw me running towards her and grabbed me by the back of the shirt. April grabbed the wrench from the floor and slammed it into the Shadow man’s arm. The Shadow man dropped me. Aurora suddenly dashed to the door, and I followed her. I turned at the last moment to see that the Shadow man had April in his hands. The door slammed closed, and refused to open. I pounded on the door; I could hear April screaming.. The lights flickered and the door creaked open. Nothing but Aprils clothes and watch laid on the ground. The Shadow man was gone, but I could still feel his presence. Rodrick faintly glowed in Aurora’s hand. My eyes fluttered open; I was back in my bed. Aurora dropped down from the top bunk; it was the middle of the night. I wandered towards stairs towards my grandma’s room, but I tripped over something. I turned on the light and screamed. My grandma laid motionless at the foot of the stairs. I remembered the number you were supposed to call in these situations. I ran towards the kitchen and dialed 911. The sirens began to get closer as I struggled to keep Aurora inside the room. I heard the police men discussing what they were going to do, mostly with us. A police man walked into the room and asked us where we wanted to stay for now on. “What do you mean?” Aurora asked softly. “Well little lady, you can’t stay at grandma’s anymore,” the police man explained.
Chapter 4- Family We rode in the police man’s car until we pulled up in front of a farm. I grabbed my backpack from the back and headed towards the door. Before I could knock, a bright young woman opened the door. The police man woke Aurora from her nap and told her to head inside after grabbing her bags. The woman grabbed my backpack from me and waved me inside. The house smelled great, like blueberry muffins. “Come on munchkins, I still have your guy's room made since last time you were here!” the woman exclaimed. “Last time we were here?” I said out loud. “You guys don’t remember last time you were here?” the woman continued, “I guess it has been a while,”. She set my bag on a bed with a spider pattern. “Well, who’s this?!” the woman asked whenever Aurora waddled into the room with her bags. “It’s my sister Aurora, also, who are you?” I asked, taking off my shoes. “I am your Aunt Alice, it’s makes me sad you don’t remember me, August, we had so much fun together when you were five,” the woman explained. The police man patted me and Aurora on the heads before leaving, saying that we were going to stay here a while. I dug through my bag, while Aurora and Aunt Alice talked to each other. Something cold and smooth touched my hand. I pulled it out; it was April’s watch. I put it off to the side and grabbed a bag of chips (I was hungry). I tore through the potato chips, and yet I was still hungry. I walked into the kitchen. The kitchen smelled like a bakery, and flour was everywhere. Suddenly an alarm went off, and Aunt Alice ran into the kitchen and pulled muffins from the oven. Aunt Alice grabbed one and bit into it, and immediately her face lit up with joy. She handed me one- the chocolate oozing down the side- and I took a bite but almost spit it out from how hot it was. I walked back into my room and kept digging through my bag. I pulled out Rodrick and the flashlight, but I emptied the bag and there was no music box. I checked through all my clothes; one of them was extra heavy. I emptied out the pockets and colorful pieces of metal plopped onto my lap. The pieces began to fade into the air, smelling like a child’s joy. But as they flew in the air, the colorful dust turned black. It began to smell like bug spray in the room. I gagged because it began stinging my throat whenever I breathed in. CRASH! I heard something glass fall down; I walked into the living room to see Aunt Alice sweeping up a glass picture frame. Aurora had a bouncy ball in her hand, but Aunt Alice didn’t seem mad, just irritated. “It’s okay, sweetheart, I have been wanting to take down this photo since it gives me the creeps,” Aunt Alice stated. I grabbed the picture from the ground, it was me holding hands with Aunt Alice, but I was also holding hands with a dark stick figure. I felt a rock form in my throat and the strange feeling of seeing this person before. “I have been meaning to ask you, who is that black stick figure, you didn’t even label them?” Aunt Alice asked, dumping the glass into the garbage. I blinked at the photo; I didn’t even know who it was. I shrugged and dropped the photo, then I went for another chocolate muffin. I chomped down the muffin, and it made me sleepy. I rubbed my eyes. I waddled into the room and plopped onto the bed, pulling the sheets over myself. Aurora walked in and cuddled up beside me. Aunt Alice later came in and gave us both a kiss on the forehead. I sat in the dark room, staring at the closet decorated with random stickers. Sweat dripped down my forehead as I pictured a monster coming out of the closet and eating me and Aurora. My eyes slowly got heavier as I got sleepier. “Go to sleep, go to sleep, come and join me. We’ll have endless fun, and goodnights,” a voice said as I drifted off asleep.
Chapter 5- FUN (: I woke up on top of Aurora in some strange yellow tube. As I crawled off her, she woke up. I felt something cold appearing on my wrist. I turned my head and April’s watch had formed on my wrist. I reached into my pocket for the music box, but nothing was in there. We crawled through the tubing. The air felt hot and humid with a mix of static. Suddenly the temperature dropped to the point where my knees stuck to the yellow tubing. “Let’s play a game...” a voice called from down the tube where it rose. “Tag, that’s the perfect game, one we would play all the time,” the voice called, I could already tell who it was. A shadowy spider suddenly came crawling at us at full speed. We crawled as fast as we could until we reached a slide. I grabbed onto Aurora’s wrist as we slid down. We slid into a massive, green ball pit. I looked up towards the slide, but I no longer heard the Shadow man chasing us. I hopped into blue tube and continued crawling, my skin begging for a break. Suddenly, the opening behind me sealed itself, leaving me and Aurora separated. I crawled towards the other side, but that also sealed itself. I pounded on the smooth plastic, but every time I did a small electric shock went through my body. “AUGUST!” Aurora yelped from the other side. I tapped on the watch and a pair of scissors popped out. I slammed the scissors into the side of the tubing but it did nothing. “It appears you are trapped, old friend, don’t worry, I’LL FREE YOU!” the Shadow man called. “AUGU-” Aurora called as the tube ripped off of the other parts of the Playplace. I fell into the pitch black. My eyes fluttered open; I was now in a corn field. It was early morning and a breeze of fresh cold air lay itself on me. I stood up but felt woozy, like whenever you get risky and jump off the swing and fail. For a moment I felt like I was in the real world but then I heard it. “Ready or Not, Here I come, August!” the Shadow man called from somewhere in the endless fields. I sprinted but mostly wobbled through the many paths I saw. Suddenly, black tentacles blocked the path in front of me. I took another path, but it felt colder. I could hear something running towards me. I dashed into the corn and covered my mouth. The Shadow man charged past me. I took a deep breath and sighed. Suddenly the cold felt unbearable. “Found you”. A hand grabbed me and sent me flying through the cornfield. Dirt was smeared all over my arms and legs whenever I stood up. “You’re it, come and find me...” the Shadow man called, his voice echoing. Aprils watch suddenly began ticking, the 12 and 1 lighting up. The watch had popped out a flashlight for me since the sun had begun to go backwards. The sky had turned a blueish grey, and I could hear and smell a storm rolling in. The wind picked up and tiny droplets stained the dry dirt. I continued running, the minute hand inching closer to the 1. I slipped in the mud and hit the ground hard. I picked up my flashlight and kept running. The air began to feel colder as I continued going towards the middle. I suddenly pulled into a corridor that had a fountain, the Shadow man leaning over into the water. I rushed forward and touched his cold, scratchy back. The storm stopped, the Shadow man turned around. He began clapping. “GoOd JoB AuGuSt” The Shadow man said, his form flickering. I felt a warm hand touch my forehead. My eyes shot open; Aunt Alice had woken me up. I felt Aurora’s soft, fluffy hands wrapped around me. Aunt Alice put down a tray of milk and cookies on our nightstand. “Good morning sweethearts, how did you guys' sleep?” She said, shaking Aurora’s shoulder to get her to wake up. Aurora’s eyes darted around the room till they landed on me, then they went to the snacks. © 2026 bastiaanwheat64Author's Note
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4 Reviews  Last Updated on April 15, 2026 Previous Versions Author
bastiaanwheat64boise, IDAboutI am a small writer, I am twelve years old, and just love writing stories more.. |
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