Madness - Prologue

[Krymtel]

Hey guys, here's my submission for the Madness Day 2011 LIt contest.

Hope you like it...

Madness

Somewhere in Nevada, a teenager living in a world of Sanity stood proud among his people. This young man named Hank knew that his life was perfect, without a doubt. Hank found himself lucky, for his father loved him greatly. Hank had a father who worked as a businessman, yet he never had a mother that he knew of. When Hank was little, his father would take each letter in Hank's name and gave each letter a description that fit Hank's character. 'H' - Honorable. 'A' - Able. 'N' - Noble. 'K'... he never came up with a word for the letter 'K'. He told Hank that it was for him to decide, and Hank knew he couldn't figure out how to describe himself using the letter 'K', so he'd always simply ignore that letter.

The world was completely normal and there was never anything to worry about. The only thing that no one knew about was a local marshmallow factory located in Nevada. Hank would always laugh to himself as he wondered that why, of all things not to know anything about in life, a marshmallow factory located in the middle of Nevada would be one. Rumors that were born were short lived, and even the popular rumors were considered false within days. The only rumor he ever heard was that the factory wasn't a marshmallow factory at all, but a factory that contained something "messed up" inside, as his friends would say. Hank struggled against his powerful curiosity.

As he flooded his mind with thoughts of what could possibly be so strange about the factory, he also wondered why no one had ever even attempted to enter the factory. Maybe people didn't want things to change. Hell, the world Hank lived in didn't even need police. Maybe life was better off not knowing who or what hid behind this giant shell with the words "Marshmallow Factory" sloppily painted onto it. There was only one way to find out.

Hank lost his battle with curiosity and, a few days later, decided to enter the marshmallow factory. His father was usually at work overnight so Hank wouldn't have to bother dealing with his father's over protectiveness. It was a dense and snowy night and no one was around to see anything. Hank was blanketed under a thick, charming white fog that also helped him realize his good situation. He knew his friends would slow him down so he butted them out of the equation. All he needed to do now was muster up enough courage to enter the factory. He knew he had no time for that, for even his excitement wouldn't let him pull back, so before he knew it, he stood in front of the rusting steel gates of the factory.

An aged brick wall surrounded the factory, yet the gates were locked and made up of separated grey metal bars. Hank hoped that this would allow him to catch a glimpse of the factory courtyard, yet there was too much fog to see anything in depth. His first impulse was to rattle the rotting lock on the gate with his bare hands, but he knew for a fact that that would attract attention and that his bare hands were no better then any other part of his body, so he resorted to using a rock. Sure, it would make some noise, but at least it would be a quick loud noise rather than a long, distracting noise. In one quick go, he broke the lock and rewarded himself with the thought that he was the first person to step through the gates of the factory. Hank pushed the gates and as one of them opened with a squeaky, irritating noise, the other fell backwards off its hinges altogether. "Very dramatic" he thought to himself with a smile.

Hank explored the courtyard for a few minutes, but at this point, he was too anxious and eager to find out what lay within the factory. The courtyard, or at least what he explored, was all just a big plain of dead trees, mud, murky puddles, and deteriorating concrete tiles. Hank eventually oriented himself when he found the courtyard gates. He then followed a concrete path that started from the courtyard gates and led to the factory gates. Hank followed the path and found himself staring up at the massive marshmallow factory. He then looked ahead at the gates. They looked relatively thick and hard to get past. He desperately tried to push the gates over as he hoped they would break off their hinges as the courtyard gates did. He laughed to himself when he realized that what he just did was very stupid. He laughed even harder when one of the gates leaned back and toppled over itself in a mass of smoke and debris.

"Who cares if it attracts attention? I've managed to get this far. Nothing's gonna stop me". Hank was determined. He cautiously climbed over the rubble that was once a gate and part of the factory and ended up in a massive room. The factory was just one big room. "Hello!" yelled Hank as he heard his echo's lonely reply. As soon as he said this, he walked to the other side of the factory. There was nothing but the loud sound of what seemed to be computer hardware coming from the other side of the wall.

Hank followed the source of the noise until he ended up staring at a door camouflaged to look like the factory wall. He swung it open quickly and hoped for the best. He couldn't believe his eyes. In front of Hank was mass of black flames that, even when the green light of monitors shone upon it, remained black as death. A massive network of monitors and computers illuminated the room green and entirely covered the right and left side of the room. The creature took no notice of Hank. Hank peered at this unbelievable sight in awe and felt his jaw drop like lead. In front of the mass of black flames, at the head of the room, was a wall completely stuffed with rows and columns of ordinary humans just like Hank, bound and pierced by an entanglement of wires and pipes. His mind raced as he thought of what to do now. He rapidly glanced at the monitors and they all read "CLONING IN EFFECT". Hank couldn't compile all this information at once and, in a panicked, frenzied, mad state, roared as loudly as he could and stampeded towards the creature.

He knew he was screwed but at this point, who would give a shit? Was this all a bad dream? He definitely attracted the attention of the black creature, yet he didn't care at all. In a state of sheer madness and confusion, Hank attacked the humanoid ball of black flames with all his fury. It felt like icy water in the form of flames. What was happening? Who gave this monstrosity the right to play the role of God? Was everyone truly the exact same person? What gave this Monstrosity the right to creAte, Destroy, coNtroll, Eliminate, Slay, Survive?! Hanks mind couldn't take it and he was rendered unconscious after his vision blurred out.

Hank woke up the next day in his room and felt something he had never felt ever before... He felt bloodthirsty and angry for no apparent reason. His mind was filled with noise, static. He had to get rid of it. Was what just happened a nightmare? It couldn't have been. He still had to get rid of the noise. It was getting louder. He decided to head to the park to try to get rid of the noise. It was still getting louder. Would anyone believe anything? He couldn't believe it. He couldn't even hear himself think.

Somewhere in Nevada, a young man living in a world of Madness stood insane among his people. Everyone was the same now. Everyone was just a clone. But not Hank, not anymore. Hank knew he was different. He had to be different. He knew that at the park, he would finally find the word that would fit the letter 'K' in his name. And so, the seed of madness was planted deep in the mind of Hank, spreader of madness and chaos.

-Krymtel

Sorry if there were any plot holes or grammatical errors :P. Hope you guys enjoyed it!

[DeftAndEvil]

Solid; you've set the standard, I think.

Sorry I didn't write an actual review. I didn't feel like going in-depth.

[Krymtel]

At 9/12/11 12:11 PM, DeftAndEvil wrote: Solid; you've set the standard, I think.

Sorry I didn't write an actual review. I didn't feel like going in-depth.

Thanks for the response :) Your the only person who replied to anything I've submitted for the Madness Day competitions so far, so It's pretty great seeing that some people notice my work :P