You look around the forest on a chilling evening. The world is crumbling, figuratively, around you. A treehouse is on fire. You can smell gas on your hands. This is not what you had planned.
Welcome to Highland City. Good morning, listeners. Or afternoon. or evening. Time streams have been off all day today. It starts off at midnight, jumps to 3:30 PM, and the day ends at 9 AM. Scientists are currently investigating what is making the streams jump around like this. On an unrelated note, has anyone seen my coffee? I just had the cup right here, but now it's gone. If anyone has seen my coffee anywhere, let me know. This morning, whatever the time stream was currently at, a tree appeared in the middle of the studio. Not like a cute little sapling in a little pot, or a houseplant. A massive, and I mean MASSIVE oak tree. The leaves are a hot pink, and the base is a nice, calming pastel blue. It's branches are stretching out toward me, beckoning me to come and grab it. I was about to- oh, someone ran into my studio. It's one of my friends, Nick. He works downtown, at one of the many mysterious organizations and companies in town. This one is CLIQUE industries, I believe. One of the crazier ones in town, but that's just my opinion. Anyways, he is yelling, screaming at me, but I cannot hear him that well with the headphones on. Something along the lines of, "Don't touch the tree! The tree only tells lies! Watch the treeeeee!" he then ran out, presumably to warn others. I, an avid listener of screaming humans telling me not to do something, have taken to sitting in the corner of the room, avoiding touching the long, slender branches of the tree. And now, traffic. A red SUV drives down the highway. Unknown what dealer it's from, as the labels have been scratched off roughly, as if someone is trying to hide something. There isn't a license plate, either. Just a plain red SUV driving down the highway, seemingly forever. Oh, a blue minivan has pulled up beside it. A man got out of the car, both cars actually. They're- ooh, a punch was thrown, and a fight has been started. The man from the red SUV has a bloody nose, and- whoa there buddy, you need to- ouch! The blue minivan man has decked him, and hard. He seems to be freaking out. He is dragging the other man to the edge of a bridge, and throws him off the edge, seemingly to hide the body. Oh, well. I'd look out, minivan man. Police will be on the scene soon. This has been traffic. The tree, dear listeners, is growing ever faster. The branches are longer, except now it is no longer a hot pink and pastel blue, but a dusty, charcoal grey. It seems, listeners, that wherever the tree touches, the color drains. And it touched my... aww, man... As soon as it touched my little houseplant, it turned a monochrome grey, and drooped, dying. We have reports of these monochrome grey, black, and white trees popping up all over town. I'd steer clear, folks. I myself am sitting on a desk, in the corner of the room. If it causes houseplants to shrivel up and die, just like that, who knows what will happen to humans coming across it? We have sent Intern Blook out into the town, to investigate where these trees are popping up. It's that time of the year, folks. Target is having their back to school sale. Everything is cheap! Well, everything you need for school, that is. This includes necessities such as binders, notebooks, pens, pencils, throwing knives, calculators, colored pencils, a copy of "The Beginner's Guide to Rituals", and more. Target: We supply your children, they supply the test results. Listeners, uh, the tree is getting bigger. We have received word that Intern Blook ended up touching a tree that had popped up near the old Taco Bell. He, well... He is currently a pile of shriveled up skin in the middle of the Taco Bell parking lot. His bones... Well, they've completely dissolved, as well as all of his internal organs. All that's left of him is a pile of withered grey skin, hair, and clothes. The strange this is: He heard the tree talking. It was- whispering, quietly. You could only hear it if you payed close attention, as it was as quiet as a breeze, and felt like one as well. It called to him, and he was in a trance-like state, according to witnesses nearby. It pulled him toward it, and eventually, after standing for five minutes, he reached out and touched it. To the family of Intern Blook: We are sorry for your loss. He was one of the hardest working interns here, and the nicest. I will forever miss his shy smile, and the fantastic brownies he made. Anyways, as I try to avoid this tree, and the same fate for myself, I bring you to the weather. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlBWdmJSXPo%5D Well, listeners. It has come to this. I am sitting on my roof, as the branches of the tree keeps growing and growing. Nick texted me. He's still alive, as a tree hadn't popped up in his apartment. I'm glad he's still alive. He's my best friend, listeners. I don't know what I would do without him. In this ever-expanding universe, and this dangerous, yet exciting world, he keeps me healthy, and alive. I love him so much. Anyways, I have to find a way to get down, dear listeners. Oh! The tree! It- It's shrinking, and shrinking! Now it is but the size of a small weed, growing in the cracks of gravel in the streets. I would move it from the middle of the desk, but, I don't want to end up like Intern Blood, or any of the other humans and animals that were unfortunate enough to have touched the trees. I noticed all of the grey in the room, and I can't help but to feel sad. All the color, the beautiful, beautiful color. It's all gone. And once something you thought mundane, normal things you take for granted, are taken away from you... You can't help but to miss them more. I will spend the rest of my evening tonight repainting my studio, and watching as others do the same across town, the color slowly appearing. From the roof of my office, dear listeners, I let you know that tonight, everything will be okay. The color lives on, in the form of paint, and various objects, and people whose color and life haven't been drained from them. We learned today that no matter what dangers we face, if we come together, as a community, we can overcome it. No matter if it's immense danger, or the threat of no color. And, at the end of the day, there will always be a rainbow left in the sky. Goodnight, Highland City. Goodnight. Welcome to Highland City is written by Olivia H. The likeness of Intern Blook belongs to her friend Vin. The voice of Highland City is Molly (Sinnamon Roll on Google Plus). Today's weather was Moon and Back by Alice Kristiansen. Feel free to ask questions and leave feedback for the author on the author's Wattpad (@squishasfrick), Twitter (@ViTheFangirl), Google Plus (Regina Mills Trash #1), or on the site itself.
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Stars: The less you see, the better.
Welcome to Highland City. A new day is dawning listeners, and a new day means new, terrifying horrors to face every day. For some people, that means a presentation. For others, facing their families with the fear of being judged for who they are. Personally, I'm afraid of the unknown. Afraid of what we know, and what we don't know, and how that information can be used against us. I'm also afraid of spiders because, we can all agree, those little bastards are terrifying. Especially when the apocalypse arrives and they learn to use various weapons, such as knives, guns, and katanas. This just in: Sheriff's Secret Police have found the corpse of a man, one of our interns, in fact, in the parking lot of the Red Robin. We know him here as Intern Da Quan, and he was apparently using black magic to grow a few feet in height. May he rest in pea- Oh, god. I have just been informed, through a note, that Intern Da Quan has been turned into a bird. Alive, yes. But forever caught flying around with no end in sight, just flitting around, screaming for help. Our regards go out to the family of Da Quan. He will be missed. And now, this is exciting for me, dear listeners, we have an interview. Today's guest is the creator of the ever-growing in popularity web comic on Google Plus, "The Doodle Celebs," Avalon! Welcome, Avalon. So, how did TDC start? "TDC was inspired by a semi-popular tumblr blog called badlydrawntop. I thought the idea of taking celebrities and ironically doodling them was hilarious, and I decided to expand on that by including well-known celebrities people know and love." Did you ever think TDC would get as popular as it has, with fan communities and pages dedicated to it? "Not at all. I mean, at first it didn't even have a solid plotline, and I never planned for there to be one. I still freak out every time I see someone with a collection dedicated to it, it's amazing." Interesting. Well, do you have plans to, or have you taken the series to other social media platforms? "A couple of friends and I attempted to bring it to Tumblr, but we ended up not being able to consistently update it. I'm definitely hoping we can get back on track with that. And, finally, what has been your favorite part about working on the series so far, and how long are you planning on continuing it? "My favorite part has to be seeing how it affects people, how people react to it. The fans of the series are so amazing. And it's just so much fun to write, to form a storyline in my mind and watch it come to life. I'm 100% planning a Season Three of TDC, and if all goes well, I'm hoping for a fourth season as well." You heard it here folks. Thank you for stopping by for an interview, Avalon. This just in, the songbird that used to be Intern Da Quan was seen flying around, before heading into a forest to be lost forever. Poor guy. And now, a word from our sponsor. Are you tired of being hungry? Tired of being overlooked, and overshadowed? Tired of breathing? Tired of the voices in your head nagging at you like a festering nest in your mind? Tired of your pitiful, trivial existence? McDonald's: I'm lovin' it. The world is a broken bone, listeners, so I advise that you melt your headaches, call it- Oh, wait. Ignore that. My notes seemed to be replaced with song lyrics. My mistake. To distract you from that, we go to a new story developing: Gravity just seems to have stopped working for some people. I look outside, and people are just - floating. And the wind is blowing hard enough to make them fly in all directions, pushing them around, including, oh, hello, there goes Intern Da Quan again, still a bird as usual. And I'm floating myself, now. It feels weird. Weirder than the woods and the moon, and the so called mountains. Like, I'm no longer in as much control as I had before in this crazy world of ours. As I try to regain my ground, I bring you the weather. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRu0O1J3Y4s] Well, I seemed to have regained my footing for now, dear listeners. All is normal. Well, as normal as it can be here. And you're here, and you're fine, and it's beautiful. You've survived another day. Even if it's hard, I believe in you. You can survive another day, and help others, and the world survive another. It's okay to be afraid, and survive. You can learn from that fear and grow. Goodnight, Highland City. Goodnight Welcome to Highland City is written by Olivia Harless (+a fevєr чσu cαn't ѕwєαt σut on G+, @ViTheFangirl on Twitter). The voice of Highland City is Molly (+Sinnamon Roll on G+). Today's special guest was +avalon on G+. Today's weather was St. Jimmy by Green Day. The world is slowly spinning around, non-stop, with no stopping or end in sight. Just spinning, spinning, spinning.
Welcome to Highland City. Good morning, listeners. A lovely summer day, no? Well, almost. Summer is slowly crawling to an end, like a corpse slowly dragging itself toward someone in a world vaguely similar to The Walking Dead. Or, fastly, sort-of running, screaming after you. Depending on your point of view. So, as fall is coming near, and school is returning for everyone, I thought I would share a few "Fall Survival Tips" to help you survive school, and life, until next summer. 1. Avoiding mobs? Stay away from certain places, such as the malls at Christmas time, stores on Black Friday, and the days before large holidays in need of unnecessarily copious amounts of food, and, most importantly, Starbucks in October, which I feel needs no explanation. 2. When in school, be careful. The City Council long ago banned writing utensils, and paper to write on, so choose how you take notes wisely. And, make sure you choose a school which follows the strict rules of no wheat, or its by-products. 3. Avoid the libraries. We all know librarians are dangerous beings, ready to eat you, or your friend, when you're just looking for a copy of The Cursed Child, or To Kill a Mockingbird for school reading. So I would recommend just shopping online instead. And now, an interview. What a surprise! We have a very special guest here today, to promote a new comic. Welcome, Alex! Say hello to the listeners! "Yo." So, tell us about your new comic! Will there be action? Romance? Mysterious, lurking figures, hiding in the shadows? "It's basically a coming of age story about two friends. They live in the wasteland that they call their lives. Oh, and they tell stories to pass the time. And there may or may not be mysterious figures." Sounds fantastic! Anything else you'd like to tell the listeners about your comic? "If you make fan-art, keep it PG-13." Always sound advice. Anyways, that's all the time we have for today. Thank you for stopping by for an interview, Alex! "Anytime." And now, for some breaking news. People are heading off to informational meetings, you know, for the coming school year? And coming back… changed. They’re ready to leave the fun, and relaxing atmosphere of summer, and actually want to head back to the stressful, and frankly not fun atmosphere of school. Sheriff's Secret Police are still trying to figure out what is causing this sudden change in mood, and occasional appearance. If you see people carrying laptops, and other, various school supplies, trying to talk about academic things to you, and have grown large, black dragon wings, then run. Run. Run like it’s Street Cleaning Day. Hide in your homes, until we get more information from the City Council and Sheriff's Secret Police about this new, dangerous disease. And now, a word from our sponsor. Anarchy. Chaos. Death. Leaked songs and albums. Avoiding jail. This message has been brought to you by the new movie “Suicide Squad”, out on August 5th. Listeners, school is a terrifying place. Random presentations, awful cafeteria food, teachers that resemble sharks by how they act AND by their physical appearance sometimes. But it’s not all bad. There’s friends, and hanging out, and working hard to achieve your best work. Personally, I’m very excited for this coming- Oh God. It got me. Run. Save yourselves. While I am being put into quarantine, and the City Council finds a means other than complete annihilation to bring an end to the disease, I bring you the weather. [Summertime by My Chemical Romance] Well, listeners. I think everything is back to normal. We have learned from the Sheriff's Secret Police that they were wrong, it’s not a disease. Some people are just genuinely excited to go back to school, and that’s not a bad thing. Although, they do say not to trust them, because they still do have the large, black dragon wings, which I have the benefit of not acquiring- oh, what. Yep. They’re there. Just large, black wings, bumping into- aw man, they knocked my coffee over. Oh, well, I’ll just get Intern Sam to make another one for me. What have we learned today, dear listeners? School can be terrifying, of course, but it can also be magical. It determines where we go in life, and what good we can and can’t do. It gives us people skills, depending on the class, being able to tolerate mean and annoying people, depending on the teacher, and it helps us learn the true meaning of friendship, well, until your best friend is on the opposite team on Dodgeball, in which case, anything goes. My point is, have fun. Don’t stress too much, and take care of yourself. School is important, sure, but so is your health. If you’re worried about a presentation, to the point of panicking, sit, and just breathe for a moment. Know that I am right there, by your side, and everything will be okay. Goodnight, Highland City. Goodnight. Welcome to Highland City is written by Olivia H. The person being interviewed is her friend, Alex. The voice of Highland City is the amazing Sinnamon Roll, who I will recredit another time once I get what name they want used. This episode's weather is Summertime by My Chemical Romance. Please, leave some support through a comment or note below! And thank you for reading. |