Amanda had gone through a terrible experience when her boyfriend had turned psycho, and now that they were both dealive, she never could seem to get free of him. Everywhere she went, he was always there, just looking for people to kill for not passing on his chain letter. He made Amanda spy on people on threat of strangling and cutting her up again.
they traveled via cyberspace connects, using search engine transportation.
That was how Amanda ended up watching the chain letter about her and her boyfriend get mangled by Ocean Elf.
Amanda watched quietly, unnoticed, seeing the same email story she'd seen so many times before, but this time it was different.
There were lines being added, questioning everything about it and expressing disbelief.
Even this was different than other meme-mangles from Ocean Elf, who didn't seem to be hostile toward Amanda herself, in fact, reading between the lines, it was even possible there was something like sympathy or compassion there. Certainly the elf was storming at the boyfriend's behaviour, and gave indications she would be more than ready to tear him to pieces if given half a chance.
Partway through the mangling, the elf decided to take a break. It was in the early morning and she wanted to get ready for the day.
So she had her shower and then put something in the toaster oven for breakfast, then resumed tackling the meme.
She was completely unaware of the argument going on between Amanda and her ex-boyfriend in the meantime.
But the realm of the dealives and the realm of the real have strange effects on the space/time continuum. Neither Amanda or the killing boyfriend saw the elf go into the shower room. At least, they didn't know that was what it was until they became aware of the sound of running water.
"I'll kill her and you will laugh or else!"
"No, leave me alone for once! You already got your revenge, though for what, I don't know!"
"As if - you with your perfect clothes, your makeup, hair just so, you weren't doing that for me, there's someone else!"
"What!? You're crazy!
"Whatever, water's running, so I think she's in the shower now, I'm going to - "
"No you won't! And just for that, you deserve to get thrown over by some girl for another guy!"
"I hate you, wench!"
"Yeah, you made that crystal-clear by choking and cutting me up!"
Time sped up for them during this, so they were still arguing when Ocean Elf suddenly appeared in front of Amanda, all dressed, hair still wet but neatly brushed.
"She's back, you nitwit." Amanda said to her boyfriend.
He hadn't time to get out of the way and was mowed down by the elf on her way back to the comfy chair with laptop in hand. "Ourrff!" He groaned with displeasure as he straightened up.
Amanda laughed.
"You stupid!" he yelled.
"Look who's talking!" Amanda shot back.
"You made me miss the chance to kill her because it's obvious she won't repost this chain letter!"
"Oh, shut up," Amanda said, "I want to read what she's writing."
So they watched as bit by bit the meme was furiously dissected and commented on until the elf was through.
"That stupid - how could she just call me down like that?" the ex-boyfriend steamed.
"Yeah, she really doesn't like you. I can't imagine why." Amanda said sarcastically.
"Well, I'll just show her!"
This time, his outburst was answered, not by Amanda, but a snarling, sneering somebody.
"Show me what, Psychoboy? How bad your temper is? I've already figured that out by now and you still don't scare me."
"What the…!?"
"Hah, caught you by surprise, didn't I?"
He cussed. "Ocean - ? Elf- whatever you call yourself - ... You nearly squashed me on your way back here." he said.
The elf snickered. "I did? Heh… Oh well, that's what happens to little microbes that get in the way."
Amanda laughed. "You're right about something though," she looked at her ex-boyfriend, "I am laughing."
"You shut up, Amanda!" he retorted, then turning back to the elf, "I'm in the way?" he yelped indignantly. "You've just wrecked everything!"
"In terms of your stupid little chain letter scheme, yeah," she said derisively. "Whatcha gonna do, macho man, cry about it?"
Amanda stared at Ocean Elf in disbelief at her apparent gall, and laughed. "Holy crap!"
Psychoboy became enraged. "Why you little - " He lunged for the elf.
woops, BAD MOVE!
The furious elf took a stranglehold on him and shook him vigorously. Then she proceeded to drag him away from Amanda.
He struggled but couldn't get away.
"That chain letter is only a fraction of why you're in it deep with me." She smashed the back of his head against the chalkboard. "But I'll deal with you when I've got the time." the elf said sternly. "In the meantime, happy nightmares."
The groaning creep disappeared.
"What did you do?" Amanda asked.
"Sent him somewhere until I decide what I'm going to do with him."
Amanda hung around with Ocean Elf that day, and stayed with her at night, free for the first time from her ex-boyfriend and the demands of that chain letter.
In the meantime, Psychoboy started his misadventure off, hanging in the balance, literally.
He was suddenly clinging to the side of a cliff face, with a fall of a thousand feet below on jagged rock projections.
When the bit of cliff he was on, gave way, he screamed as he tumbled downward.
But he never reached the bottom.
Now, he was suddenly at the bottom of what looked like a seabed. He felt pressure from the water above and couldn't move normally in it. He seemed to forget how to do swimming strokes, and only managed to step slowly along.
There were strange sounds and creatures, some of them were shiny and beautifully colored if otherwise very strange.
Then, there came an ominous rumbling sound, quiet at first, like a distant roll of thunder. But unlike thunder, it didn't die away. It only grew in intensity until it became an angry roar, like an eruption, a great wave and continuous thunder all combined.
the seabed began shaking and heaving. Something, he couldn't tell what, was closing in on him.
Then, it all went black for a while.
He was nowhere.
He was standing on nothing, he could feel nothing at his side, he could see and hear nothing.
Then, he found himself in a dimly lit passage with so many twists and turns, and other passages leading out of it.
Frantic, creepy music seemed to be coming from somewhere, he didn't know where.
A grotesque creature with a bloody face and huge, red, pulsing eyes suddenly popped out of the wall behind him and made a hideous shriek. The mirror just in front of him showed its reflection, and how close it really was.
The creature opened its mouth to show two rows of long, spike-like teeth.
Psychoboy lost his nerve and bolted.
But everywhere he ran, more creatures popped out of nowhere, walls suddenly stood where none had before he got to the end of some passage, turning what might be escape routes to more dead ends.
He kept running down passages that looked safe enough upon entry, only to turn into dead ends and hiding places for more bizarre creatures, some with monstrous claws and beaks instead of mouths, some with oozing festering sores, these in particular seemed to be trying the hardest to get close to him.
Finally, Psychoboy reached a sliding glass door that led out to a deck.
At first, it wouldn't open. But after a few desperate pulls, it finally did.
Psychoboy sprang out, narrowly escaping the clutches of a bleeding, furry, beaked creature.
But, there was no deck!
What greeted him was a long, narrow, transparent staircase with no railing on either side.
It was so slippery that he slid down many stairs, trying desperately to grab hold of part of the structure before he fell right off. He couldn't see anything beneath it. Nothing but empty space. The stairway continued on and on, downward without end, like an Escherian Stairwell.
Just as the place he was hanging on to, slipped out of his grasp, he felt something holding him tightly by the shoulders, keeping him from falling.
The terrible building, the staircase and the vast expanse of space beneath it vanished, to be replaced by a face he now found himself looking into. The face of the Ocean Elf. It was she who held him by the shoulders.
"There's not much I can do with you, Psychoboy, since you're so far gone in the personality department. So I'll just keep it simple." she said.
He became smaller and smaller, until finally the elf took him upstairs to get an empty tin.
Then, Psychoboy fell apart, and tiny bits of him fell into the tin until it was full.
Psychoboy was no more, and Ocean Elf had a good supply of food to put out for the rabbits that night.
As for Amanda, she is on a sort of parole. She will meet the same fate as Psychoboy if she laughs at some innocent person's murder, in the real or the fictional realm. If she discourages the spread of chain letters and does not find torture, murder, dismemberment etc. funny, she will remain in good standing.
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