Anchored Down

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Ken wasn't expecting the bell to be as loud as it was, not was he expecting it to cause part of the ceiling to crack and form a hole. The buzzing and clanking sound was even more peculiar. Was there some kind of machine or something up there. If only there was a way that they could get a closer look as to what was inside the hole. Before he could ponder it more, he heard Gwen's joke and then chuckled a bit to himself. "That's why you can't have nice things."

Afterwards Gwen had gone over to another girl to introduce herself and himself as well judging from the nod she'd given him. Ken took another glance at the hole in the roof before shrugging his shoulders and heading towards Gwen. Getting there, he simple waved his hand before speaking. "Yo, I'm guessing that Gwen already introduced myself to you." He noticed the bad of bread crumbs that were in Gwen's hands. "Are you planning on deeding them to the bird?"

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Up until walking towards the tables with flowery decorations, Leo had remained quiet. This was a lot to take in at once. He'd died, that much he still had memories of. If only he was a faster running then he would've lived. Well that was partially true, but what really would've kept him alive if he hadn't pursued that one picture as much as he did. Because of which he was was dead and it was too late to change that fact.

His eyes looked towards one of the cards that were near the flowers and picked it up, curious about it.

 

Annoyed at how everything was going, Jacob hobbled over to the small group of people by the bird and grabbed the bread crumbs. Holding them in the palm of his hand, he gave them to the small bird, finally feeding it. "You youngsters and your indecisiveness will be the second death of me. Just feed the gosh darn bird. This is ridiculous, I gi" he started, before remembering the rule, "I have no idea how I'm going to tolerate this" he stated. Looking around, he saw one of the others sitting on their lonesome, not saying a word to anyone. Perhaps he would be better company than the others. He made his way over to Rajesh and sat down near him. "These darn kids and their birds are just too damn noisy" he complained.


So, Mark hadn't found a card or anything for himself, instead he had only the box in his hands. He had opened it, only to find the grand treasure of another box inside, and this one was locked so he couldn't find out what was inside. "Gaaaaaaah" he exclaimed as he tried to pry it open with his hands. However, it didn't work. Defeated, Mark put the box down once more and sat down. He didn't need to see what was in that box, it probably wasn't even for him. So it didn't even matter what was in it. He could totally go without seeing inside of it. Present probably sucked anyway.

Moments had passed and already Mark found himself at the box again, desperately trying to open the box. He had to know what was inside. "Somebody gimme a hand opening this thing!" he called out, still grunting and doing his best to open the box. It wasn't working very well in the slightest.​

 

On the card Leo looked at, it was written:

In Loving Memory of our angel Mark Furgot.
-Mom and Dad.

Once the breadcrumbs were fed to the bird, it flapped it's wings and flew up to the ceiling, chirping as it flew. The bird pecked at the hole, and then entered easily.

After a few minutes, the sound emanating from the hole stopped, and the bird returned with a ribbon wrapped around its neck. At the end of the ribbon was a key.

The bird flew back to Camilla's shoulder and sung out a song before it nuzzled against her neck again.​

 

Beuce walked up next to the teenage boy, who seemed to be reading a card. He leaned over his shoulder, reading it as well. "Mark Furgot...Damn. That's a hell of an effort filled last name." He said casually. Hm. This was a bit of an odd situation. When he'd went looking for his left sock, he'd never expected the washing machine to betray him. And what's worse, the ketchup was in on it! The mark of it's betrayal was even still on his chest. Most people might even think it was blood, but no. Just a stain of the past. He never thought that his death would be so tragic. Shakespeare himself couldn't write a more sorrowful course of events.

Fighting back tears at the tragic memories, Beuce himself picked up a card, beginning to read it. He was curious, were they all about the people here? Did they all have such amazing last names as the one that the kid in the hat had picked up? Find out in the next exciting post of Anchored Down Z. ​

 

"Thanks!" Mark said as he snatched the key and stabbed it into the lock. Sure enough, the lock opened, but before Mark could see what was inside he faintly heard someone mention his name. He looked between the box and the one who had said his name several times, before curiousity once again took hold. "Here, hold this!" Mark ordered, handing the box to Camilla and racing over to Beuce. "My name's Mark Furgot, what's up? I heard my name, what do you need me for?" he asked, before looking down at the card that Leo was holding. "Oh, must be for me" he stated, reading over the shoulder of Leo. Slowly but surely, the grin faded from Mark's face as the seriousness of the situation finally set in. Took long enough.


"Unless my memory is worse than it seems, no I am not George Froio. My name is Jacob Watzisfayse, and before you ask...yes it is my actual last name. This card is not mine, and I would guess it is not yours, either. Maybe we should search for George, surely he's one of the people here, it can't be too hard to find him" Jacob suggested, before turning and walking towards Nikola. He didn't ask for a name from Rajesh, mainly because he didn't care. Jacob wanted to get out of that place and away from the others as fast as possible, and engaging in conversations with people was not the way to do it.​

 

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After the young girl finished her episode, she looked around at the others to see what all the fuss was about. Things were a bit hectic and shaky from everyone gaining things from their families and friends. One received flowers and another a card. Emi began to wonder if she was going to receive anything from her own family. She definitely wanted something from her papa. He always loved her and treated her like the princess she was.

Finally gathering the courage to do something, the girl walked over to a boy with blonde hair that seemed to be getting plenty of attention. The girl was short, far shorter than most people there. She tugged on his scarf. Before she thought she heard the name Mark, but wasn't certain to it. She tried to remain quiet as she was still afraid of all this.

Once she finished tugging to get his attention, she looked down and away from his face, a frown forming and a red blush covering her cheeks. The red was only there because of the heat that was exerted from the crying she had gone through.

 

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"Who's the angry old man?" Was the first thing that came to mind after the old man had walked away. Was he really so bored that he needed to watch what three teenagers were doing for entertainment? If so, then his hobbies were his own business and Ken wouldn't asked about them. There was now a key between the three of them, a key that likely opened something in the area. As for what, well if not for a previous outburst for be a bit difficult to find out what it was for be a bit difficult to find out what it was for.

Camilia had both asked and gone off to help the guy who'd asked. Ken started to head over there himself, motioning for Gwen to follow as well. By the time he'd gotten there, Mark had already gone off, leaving the box in Camila's care. So whatever was in the book was free for them to look at. Which was the first thing that he did.

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Not only had one person looked over his shoulder to read the card that he was holding, but two people did. The second person however seemed to be the one who the card was addressed to, so Leo did what he figured was the bes thing to do right now."I suppose you'd want to hold on to this." He held out the hand that was holding the card towards Mark so that he could take it. Doing so he noticed the girl that was now next to him. "Is she a friend of yours?"

 

"Oh." Nikola was caught off guard by the boy's response, not knowing what else to say to that. Obviously the guy didn't want them, so what else was he going to do about that? Nikola shrugged his shoulders and let out a nervous whistle. "Nice to meet you too," Nikola mumbled sarcastically under his breath. He had to give the kid some slack though. Maybe he died unexpectedly like the rest of them. Then again, who really did plan for their deaths? No one really. He didn't plan to choke on a peanut and die. Man, that's a bad way to go... He sighed, sticking his hands in his pocket, not really in the mood to talk to anyone anymore. Half of everyone were in such a grouchy bad or teary mood. Sure death sucked, but there was nothing anyone here could do about that. "I'm Nikola," the ginger finally let out, forcing himself to at least give a name to the grouchy teen.




Gwen followed after Ken, keeping quiet now that everything seemed to go by so weirdly. She looked around the room, seeing how sad and depressed some people were. Only one guy seemed to be super happy and outgoing right now, which was a little out of place, but at least it was a break and change from the mundane mood around the room. She folded her arms over her chest, wondering what to do with herself now that things were quieting down. The bird went and retrieved the key from the hole she created after the grumpy old man snatched the bread crumbs and fed the bird... And now they were opening a box. Was this some weird dream? Gwen hung back behind Ken, feeling shy all the sudden but she was curious to what was in the box. "So... what's in there," she asked Camilla, keeping her arms folded in front of her.​

 

Inside the box, its something that may seem a little lackluster from all the effort that was put in to getting it open. Inside were watches, necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Every single one had a golden anchor on it. There are enough in the box for everyone to take one of a type. However, once someone grabs one of the objects, one of each of the other objects disappears. So if someone were to grab a watch, one set of earrings, a necklace, and a bracelet would disappear.

The bird chirped once more and flew off across the room and landed in a new persons' hands, and they spoke softly to it:

"Sh, Muffin, you don't need to act so excited."



The blonde haired girl let the bird fly out of her hands as it made it's way back over to Camilla. She smiled and approached everyone and spoke in a calm, welcoming voice, "Hello everyone. I meant to come sooner, but I was sidetracked. Has everyone arrived?"

The girl's wings folded in behind her and seemed to disappear. She placed her hand to her chin and looked to each person in the room as she started a roll-call, "Rosemarie... Rajesh... Mark... Camilla... Ken... Gwen... Beucefilous... Nikola... Caleb... Leo... Jacob... Emi... Sasha... huh... we're still missing George? He should have-"

Right on cue, the door opened once more, revealing a very drowsy man who seemed to be barely able to stand up. When he walked in, he rubbed his eyes and looked around and the surroundings. His face of shock seemed to indicate he was awake as he spoke, "W-what the hell? Is this heaven? Why the fu-"

"The letter in your pocket. Read the letter. Get yourself settled in as best you can, okay?"

The girl smiled and bowed to everyone, "I am your moderator for the N.A.C.A. meetings. You can call me Aaron." she looked to everyone and responded, "I understand what you are all going through right now is hard. I went through it too. It takes time, but that's what these meetings are for."

Aaron turned towards a wall and drew her finger against it, so it created a door. She turned to everyone after opening the door and responded, "I'll be happy to answer any of your questions you may have, but I'm sure some of you are sick of this area. So how about we talk about it in a new location?"

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Nikola was interrupted before he even started to talk to Caleb by another voice, this one sounding peaceful and serene. Well, at least he didn't have to go on about how embarrassing his death was. What would his girlfriend think of him? Sheesh. Girl friend, oh, right... He then snapped to attention when he saw the woman with wings and almost stumbled back into the table behind him. Well, angels were not what he was expecting. Especially ones that knew his name and everyone else it seemed for the matter.

As soon as Aaron introduced herself, Nikola tried to process it the best he could... Questions were buzzing in his mind earlier, but now they were silent as soon as Aaron had mentioned it. A door had been made with just a wave of a finger, and Nikola could only watch dumbfounded. Weird. This whole thing was weird. But he couldn't sit here and speculate all day; that would get him no where at this point. Ducking his head and putting his hands in his pockets, Nikola was the first one to walk to up Aaron, meeting her gaze once and then looked ahead, stepping through the door.




Gwen hung back, standing a little behind Ken as she looked at the door. She was unsure what to make of it all... Everything seemed like it was made into puzzles to solve odd things. She was interested of the contents in the box, but she wasn't sure if she should touch it or take one. Camilla was the one who opened the box after all, and Gwen didn't want to seem rude or snobbish. But there was no time to focus on it. She observed Aaron from where she was, fascinated by the angel wings and the beauty of the lady before her. She was a moderator she said. What did that mean though? She didn't know. She didn't feel brave enough to step up though until Ken did though. ​

 

"Nope, I don't know anybody here. Knew everybody back home, but not a soul here" Mark said, before his attention was demanded by the sudden appearance of another two people, one of which claimed to be a moderator of sorts. That was interesting, but then again any of them could really claim to be a moderator. Why wasn't he a moderator? He would have loved to help people be introduced to everything...although he supposed that would mean he would have to know everything about the place; and he really didn't know anything about the place.

Wandering over to Gwen who now had the box of bracelets, watches, necklaces and earrings, Mark stared at them for a minute. What was the point of having them? Nonetheless, he found himself reaching into the box and grabbing a watch. "Hi person, I'm Mark. Sorry for being rude and stuff and just taking one of these things without asking, but I mean it was totally my box first. Being dead doesn't feel too different to being alive right now huh? Then again I guess that's what its meant to be like to avoid confusion" the boy stated, before putting on the watch, turning around and walking through the door.


Jacob could barely believe what he was seeing. Yes he was dead, but there were people simply appearing as well as people claiming to be moderators. They had no proof of being a moderator, maybe they were lying. But even if they were lying, most of the people around were still in the room, so if he went through the door he may at last have a minute or two of quiet. With this in mind, Jacob hobbled through the door.​

 

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Jewelry, that was in the box that someone had locked. Maybe all of the items in the box were important or something hence why it was locked up as it was. Though seeing some of the other items disappear after one of the others had grabbed a watch was odd. Were they suppose to hand them out to everyone or was it first come first served? No matter which it was, Ken went ahead and grabbed a necklace from the box. "I'd get one while you can." Ken said to Gwen, putting the necklace on. The moderator had made herself known and requested that they go to another room to continue. Ken wasn't sure what was wrong with this room, but shrugged his shoulders and headed towards the door.

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With the appearance of the moderator and a role call of sorts, it was evident that it was time for the meeting to start. Seven people had already gone through the door and the number increased to eight when Leo did the same. What awaited them on the other side of the door was a mystery for the time being, but the answer would be known soon enough.

 

Well, after being CLEARLY IGNORED by Mark Jerkot, Emi followed along with the rest of the group to where this strange angel like person appeared. She called herself Aaron, a moderator for this world. What was strange was the phrase and the idea to it all. Was this not heaven? Was this not the land that was meant to be saved for those who believed in Jesus Christ, the savior whom Emi and her family had come to worship? Perhaps this was the strange space that was called purgatory. The place of judgement whether you were to be sentenced to eternal torment in the pits of Hell or be sent to the paradise of Heaven to live out the rest of eternity worshiping and smiling...

Nonetheless, Emi was sad that she had not been worthy enough to pass this. She thought after all the love and admiration and teachings, she would move on. Perhaps that just wasn't enough. No matter the case, the girl had to keep on fighting. She needed to know some things. There had to be portals or viewpoints back to the land of the living, Earth, her home. This woman, no, this angel might no something about all of it. But Emi was just too shy to ask any question, not now, not yet.

The white haired girl entered the doorway and found herself in a new room. It was much more peaceful then the last. The strange atmosphere was something that could show pleasure, an emotion that Emi had longed for since arrived to this land of the dead. She stood and waited for Angel Aaron to continue on with the information.

 

George Froio stared at Rajesh for a moment when he'd handed him the card. He looked at it and saw the name. He looked upset for a moment before putting it in his pocket and following the group into the room.

The room that Aaron had led then to looked like a really fancy lounge. There were couches that adjusted based on an individual's preference, there was a table filled with snacks and drinks. It looked like it was trying its best to look welcoming, comforting, friendly.

The door behind her shut once everyone entered and it disappeared as well.

"Have a seat wherever you like, make yourselves comfortable."

Aaron herself did not take a seat however, she stood in the middle of an area the seats surrounded. Mainly because she figured it was a good spot. She didn't want to go off on a tangent yet, she figured the best thing she could do was fold her hands and say, "Now, does anyone have any questions that have them confused. Maybe something from the letter that confused them?" she paused for a moment and asked, "Maybe a question I missed that someone asked when we were heading in here?"​