chapter 3 things changed

I wake up and hop out of bed, turning on my music and setting my speaker on the windowsill. Today is the day I've been waiting for. I slip into the white dress I've been saving and head to the bathroom to brush my teeth, applying my makeup with excitement. I ignore the judging stares of my mom and older sister. Rushing back into my room, I close the door behind me and move to my desk, pulling out the photos I've been saving. Piece by piece, I rip off strips of duct tape and plaster them onto my closet doors. When I finish, I stand back to admire my handiwork and smile.

A strong gust of wind blows through the open window, making my silk curtains flutter. The sound of hundreds of pages rustling fills the air. I inhale deeply and scan the collection before me—messages scrawled across torn notebook paper, telling me to kill myself, insisting the world would be better without me. Others call me a mistake. Interspersed among the notes are photographs: images of me being beaten by my peers, and some even more violating—photos taken while I was changing in the locker room at school. But at the center of this twisted collage is the final piece: a noose I added last night, the one I titled "Escape."

I drag one foot forward. Then the other. Every moment of my life flickers behind my eyes like a film I never asked to watch. "I'm so tired," I whisper, the words trembling from my lips like a secret I've carried for too long. My fingers brush the noose—cold, waiting. I climb the desk chair, knees weak, heart heavier than ever. The rope cradles my neck like a cruel lullaby—
"You're the one I've been sensing," a voice cuts through the silence, sudden and strange, like a hand reaching into the dark.

I jump, heart hammering, and snap my head toward the window. A man squats on the windowsill, his bloodshot eyes locked onto mine. He grins, revealing razor-sharp teeth. "Hello, love. My name is JoJo."

My knees shake violently, making it impossible to stand. This... thing exudes a dark, murderous energy that fills my room like a suffocating fog. He resembles a clown, but there's nothing comical about him. His clothes—tattered and black—contrast starkly with the deep red ruffles around his neck and arms, matching his crimson clown shoes. A jester's hat rests on his head, its twin liripipes dangling past his shoulders, riddled with tears. But the most horrifying part of him is his face. Or rather, what should be his face.

His skin is ghostly pale, but another layer of flesh—melted and warped—clings to his features like a grotesque mask. I can see where it begins and ends, an ill-fitting cover stretched over his true face. My breath catches in my throat. Panic grips me. I start inching backward toward the door, my mind racing. Do I scream? Run? Fight? Whatever he is, he could easily reach me before I could escape.

"W-what do you want? Who are you?" I manage to stammer, though my voice is barely above a whisper.

JoJo's grin widens, his expression dripping with amusement. He chuckles—a sound that sends chills down my spine, like a beast cornering its prey. The room spins. My ears ring. The air itself seems to vibrate with his voice, pressing in on me, stealing my breath. The temperature plummets, and I wrap my arms around myself, sinking to the floor. I can't look at his eyes. I focus on his feet instead, but even that makes my stomach churn.

"You brought me here," he says, his voice sickly sweet. "It's your fault I'm here."

Tears slip down my face as I shake my head. "No..." I protest, barely understanding his words.

"I've been so bored for so long," he continues. "But then, I felt something—something powerful, something interesting—and wouldn't you know, it came from a human girl in the Forbidden Realm."

"I... I don't understand." My voice trembles.

JoJo lets out another spine-chilling chuckle, absently fidgeting with his long, bony fingers. Even through the cloth of his gloves, his claw-like nails protrude.

"I've heard your cries for help," he muses. "So, in order to examine this untapped power of yours, I'll set you free. Just like you wanted."

He raises a hand above his head, black particles swirling in his palm before coalescing into a dark sphere. Without hesitation, he hurls it skyward.

"CIRCUS MAGIC! CALL OF THE HUNTED!"

The sphere erupts, and an inky-black substance rains from the sky. A suffocating silence follows—then screams. Crashes. Chaos. He vanished in a cloud of smoke soon after.

Fear paralyzes me. I creep toward the window, heart pounding, and peer outside. The black sludge coats the streets, seeping into the cracks of the pavement. The people caught in it begin to change. Their bodies twist and contort, morphing into grotesque monsters before my very eyes.

My brothers burst into the room, their faces pale with terror. "Dominique, we have to go!" Adam shouts, grabbing my hand. "Monsters are outside! We don't know where Mom and Dad are!"

David, the youngest, hyperventilates beside him. He's always been timid, afraid of the dark, afraid of new things—but this is something beyond fear.

Pushing aside my own horror, I nod. "We have to lock all the doors until they get back. Hurry!"

We scatter throughout the house, bolting doors and latching windows. Just as I reach the front door, something slams against it from the other side. I scream as it bursts open, sending me sprawling to the ground. Four grotesque creatures lunge inside.

Adam and David rush to help me up, but it's too late. The monsters leap at us, claws bared.

I squeeze my eyes shut, bracing for the end—

Then, nothing.

I crack one eye open. A man with long, golden hair stands before us, his sword gleaming as the monsters' fall, lifeless, at his feet.

Everything stills. In a daze, I look up at him, tears streaming down my cheeks. His expression is gentle, reassuring. He kneels, meeting my gaze. "Are you okay, miss?"

I can't speak. I can barely breathe.

"My name is Nick," he says softly. "I'm a magical knight from Alice."

If he had told me this before today, I would've laughed. I would've called him insane.

But after everything I've just seen, there's only one thing I can say.

"I believe you." I muttered

Nick explains that him and his team were sent by the Government of Magic from the planet Alice to stop an otherworldly threat. Before I can ask more, his subordinates rush inside, reporting casualties and missing people.

Then, the transmission comes in.

"Orders from headquarters, sir. The directive is clear: eliminate JoJo on sight and isolate the unaffected humans."

The nightmare isn't over. It's only just begun. The information he was saying was a lot to process, given the situation. I just didn't know what to do. I could only manage a few questions. "What happened to my family?" Before he could answer, a few more knights walked into the house to report to him.

"Statues" his voice was stern and demanded respect from the others as he commanded them.

"There are more casualties coming in, sir."
"Do we have a number?"
"Not until we secure this area and gather up the bodies."

Nick, who was still bending down toward me, stood up to face his team. "What of the monsters? Do we know their origin?" The other knights looked at each other, trying to see who among them knew anything.

Having collected myself enough to talk, I loudly shouted out to the group of men, what happened I stood to my feet. "Wait... I know where the monsters came from." They all turned to me, shocked. Nick stepped forward and gently placed his hand on my shoulder before asking, "You know where they came from?"

I looked back at my brothers, who were both deathly silent and surprised at my response. I swallowed hard and quietly pleaded to myself, No one sees this as my fault. "It was a clown. He said his name was... JoJo." They looked at each other with a grim expression on their faces. Nick, having a better idea of what happened next, asked me to continue my story. "He said something about being interested in me."

"Did he say anything weird before everything turned chaotic?" I scanned my brain until I remembered he yelled out some words before it rained that black liquid. I informed them of this, and they all started to put the pieces together.

"So, this was one of the Landlord's doing. Marx, send word back to headquarters. Jack, do we have word from the scientist who was on his way here?"
"Yes, sir. It seems we last received a message from him saying he was landing on Earth in an hour. That was thirty minutes ago."
"We'll need him to help try to reverse the transformed humans, if possible. Until then, we must protect the ones unaffected by the dark magic."

I felt like a fly on the wall at this point because I could no longer add anything or help them. Bashfully, I walked over to Nick and asked him what was going to happen to me and my brothers. But I was interrupted for the second time by him commanding his men.

"Alright, men. You heard them. Kill JoJo on sight."

Suddenly, a chilling chuckle came from behind us, further inside the house. All heads turned toward the source of the sound to see none other than JoJo standing on the staircase with an eerie grin. I reflexively stepped backward, and Nick stepped between me and him. I glanced over at my brothers to make sure they were okay. The other knights had their weapons drawn while protecting them, and I felt somewhat better seeing that.

JoJo's grin never falters. "Killing me on sight? That's not very nice."

My blood runs cold Nick pointed his sword at the wicked clown, who wasn't bothered by their manpower or weapons. I panicked at his voice. My head started to hurt, and the ringing in my ears from earlier came back as his creepy voice began to vibrate through the house. My palms proceeded to sweat, and I erupted into whimpers and cries. I was scared, afraid, frightened—no, I was terrified.

"You made it easier for us to track you down. You're outnumbered," Nick said.

Completely unfazed, "We'll see about that," he said. "Carnival Magic! String Marionette!" Glowing red strings spun out of his fingers and attached to the dead monsters' corpses, springing them back to life.

Seeing is believing, but I was having trouble wrapping my mind around dead things coming to life. During the standoff, blood from the monsters splashed into my face, freezing me in my tracks. My legs gave out, unable to support my weight under the uncontrollable shaking and wobbling.

Tears formed in my eyes, and I subconsciously let out a horrible scream. I covered my ears with my hands, finding myself only able to repeat, "I'm sorry. It's all my fault," over and over, as if I were in a trance.

The knights fought the reanimated monsters but seemed to be struggling. JoJo laughed; it didn't look like he was breaking a sweat. He had all the time to shift his attention toward me.

"You're a sick individual, wishing for something like this to happen... Now most of your family is dead," he taunted. I felt like I was about to throw up. My stomach churned. Was I wrong for feeling the way I did?

"Maybe everything everyone said about you was right. Maybe you are the problem." My heart dropped at his words, and I spiraled into a depressive state of mind. The chaotic bustling in the background went silent as I fell into despair. JoJo laughed at my misery, seeming to grow more excited as I despaired. But I no longer cared. Any will I had left to fight evaporated. I was a mistake.

"Enough out of you, you wicked being. Now begone!" Nick cut through the strings and jumped at him, sword in hand. JoJo jumped backward out of range.

"This has been fun, to say the least, but I'll take my leave," JoJo said.

Nick ran toward him at full speed. "You can't escape, devil!"

Smiling, JoJo vanished in a cloud of smoke.

The other knights managed, by this point, to kill the reanimated monsters while protecting us.

"We need to chase him now before he gets too far!" one of them shouted.

"No!" Nick shouted back. "Let him go. Our main objective is these kids and the rest of the humans not cursed."

They replied in agreement. Nick walked over to me and knelt down. He lifted my head, which was hanging in defeat. I didn't respond, however, because I was numb and in a traumatic state of mind.

"You're going to be okay. You're strong and brave. You are nothing like how he described you. Never lose heart," he said.

As he told me these words, a calming white light washed over me. My consciousness began to fade. I looked into his light blue eyes. "They're not midnight blue," I muttered before falling asleep.

"Sir, Mr. Stone is here."
"Send him in."

Nick stood up and shook hands with him.

"Hello, I'm Edward Stone, and this is my daughter, Madison Stone."

I bowed to greet him, then glanced to the side to see an unconscious girl. I felt an indescribable force drawing me toward her. I took a step forward to get closer but was interrupted by the knight commander ushering us outside.

Nick led us outside the house to their makeshift base to further explain.

"I'm glad you finally arrived," Nick said.
"How can I help?" my dad asked.
"Straight to the point. I like that. We need you to be part of a team."
"What kind of team?"
"We are about to isolate the remaining humans in this area on a floating island in the sky."

My dad and I looked at each other, shocked. "A floating island?" we burst out in unison.

Nick nodded. "This event is unprecedented. It's never happened since the founding of the magic world."

I was grappling with the idea of an intergalactic war, which would indeed be something new to our history books. Nick continued, "This is the Forbidden Realm, after all. We essentially know nothing about this world."

My dad agreed and commented on Earth being valuable to them. "I assume you don't know what to do with the humans, right?"

The knight captain raised an eyebrow. "Maybe. What are you suggesting?"

As if he'd been planning this, my dad proposed the unthinkable. "Allow me to gather valuable information about the humans. I just need one year and a team."

Nick frowned, not understanding where he was going with this. "Let's say I agree. For what, pray tell?"

My dad seemed to be choosing his words carefully before answering. I nervously watched on.

"For a school," he said.