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[oc-writing-corner]

Random thing I found

"H-Hey, Musa!" Oh. It was Adam. They had bumped into eachother after Musa turned the corner. "Ugh. Adam. Watch where you're going." Musa was the one who had walked into the standing still Adam.

"S-sorry." The teen looked at his feet, apologetic. Musa shook his head and sighed. "Ugh. Just don't do it again. Ugh." He repeated, for extra measure. "Anyway, follow me." Musa then continued down the hallway.

Adam ran to catch up after he processed Musa's requested, confusion showing on his face. It took a while before he spoke up.

"So, u-um. How are you..?" He asked nervously, looking at Musa with wide eyes. Musa sighed. "I was better when you weren't here."

"..O-oh.."

His voice was quite far behind and Musa noticed that his unit-mate had stopped walking with him and was just standing, staring at the ground and looking like he was about to cry. Musa doubled back quickly and put his hand on the younger teen's head, petting him a little. "...It wasn't a very big difference, though."

Adam's eyes widened and he looked like he was lost for words.

"Hey, Musa!" The cheerful voice caused Musa to quickly snatch his hand away from Adam's head and to push the teen away from him.

Willow leant against the wall, a devious smirk on his face. "Having fun?"

"NO! I HATE Adam! I HATE unit 940 and I HATE you!" Musa shouted, storming down the corridor and leaving a crestfallen Adam to be reassured by a very amused Willow.

[oc-writing-corner]

Character Questionnaire

⤹ ⊹ Saudade — The Split Canine ₊˚๑

✦ What is your name, and how do you feel about it?

✧ “Saudade! I’ve never thought of it very deeply. The dad said my mother named me; I-I’d have to ask her.”

Saudade means “longing” or “nostalgia,” Portuguese or Brazilian in origin. Upon her father and mother’s split at Saudade’s birth, Amzuurar gave her this name to symbolize her timeless love for Cooper. Saudade nor Cooper were/are aware of this deeper connotation. ⊹ ‧ ₊˚

✦ Where did you get your scars from?

✧ “Are they that noticeable? I got them back in Wifeld, I wish they’d heal over already.”

Saudade, upon her father’s death, was neglected and almost forgotten by the human who had once taken care of her. Her rope constraints squeezed into her skin and caused great, constant pain. It was only after she gnawed through the rope herself that she was free. She feels great shame at being trapped and dormant for so long, yet guilty of having done what she did to deserve that. Either way she looks, she is angry at herself. ⊹ ‧ ₊˚

✦ Where were you born, and where do you live now?

✧ “The outskirts of a human settlement- it was a nice little town. I hope it's still kicking out there… Oh, and I wander from place to place. I don’t go too far from it though. It's nice to check up on it every once in a while.”

🌾 A/N : Hi hi!! First time doing something like this, praying it doesn’t flop too hard. If yall have any questions yourself please put them in the comments, I’ll reply and maybe put them in here!!

[oc-writing-corner]

What's My Age Again?

Chapter 8: Alex

“You look excited,” Jamie said as we sat in the car. The fact that it was said with genuine interest, not the resentment it would have been a few weeks ago, only made me smile even more. “Are you gonna ask Aaliyah out today?”

He’d also become a little too interested in my love life since he’d decided he was okay with me having one. “I don’t know yet, okay?” I replied. “Stop badgering me.”

Jamie smirked. “I’m just wondering. Aren’t you worried she’s gonna meet someone else by the time you finally pull yourself together?”

I was a little worried about that, but I wasn’t gonna let Jamie know that. “Okay, I am not taking dating advice from a fourteen-year-old,” I said, instead of answering.

“Hey, this fourteen-year-old has been in more relationships than you,” Jamie reminded me. I really wished he hadn’t.

After a few minutes of excruciating small talk with Jamie’s new friend’s mom (I commented on how nice her house was, and she said how it was nice of me to drop Jamie off), I parked across from a two-story house with a porch covered in flower pots. Aaliyah was sitting on it with two people who I assumed were her parents, and she quickly ran over when she saw me.

“Prepare yourself for a shit ton of small talk,” she warned me. “Blink twice if you need me to save you.”

I ended up only blinking a normal amount, because all they did was ask me what I was studying and offered me some of their homemade cookies. That was apparently already too much for Aaliyah, who dragged me away from them and apologized profusely as we went down the basement stairs.

“I don’t mind,” I assured her. “They seem really nice.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, right. You can be honest, you know.”

“I am being honest!” I protested, not entirely understanding what her problem was.

“Okay, whatever.” She clearly didn’t believe me.

I didn’t dwell on it once we got to her room, which was huge. “Wow, this is all yours?” I asked, almost incredulously. It looked like she had the entire basement to herself.

“Um, yeah,” she said uncomfortably, ducking into her walk-in-closet. I immediately felt like I’d said something wrong.

“It’s nice,” I said to make up for it. “Are these pictures of you?” I gestured to a row of photos of a little girl at various dance recitals, getting older as the pictures went on.

She looked over her shoulder. “Oh, yeah. It’s all the recitals I’ve had since I started dance.”

“You’ve been there for a really long time.” She looked to be about five in the earliest pictures, taped on the wall over a small dresser in the corner.

“Yeah, I started in first grade. I only got serious about it around the time I started middle school, though.” She emerged from her closet triumphantly, holding a projector. “Can you help me stack these books? I don’t have a stand.”

We set up nine hardcovers in front of her bed and delicately placed the projector so it was facing her only bare wall.

“So when did you decide you wanted to teach?” I asked, sitting down on the corner of her bed.

“I don’t know exactly,” she admitted, expertly snaking the cord around the furniture. “Billie and I always talked about having our own studio, but it obviously wasn’t a serious plan when we were kids. Then it kind of just worked out, you know? Neither of us wanted to go to college, and then we realized how cool it would be to have a place in town that belonged to us. It’s not just about the studio, we want to have a kind of communal space. Like, the only queer spaces that exist in this town are bars, which sucked when I was underage.”

I frowned. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-one. How old are you?” She eyed me curiously.

“Nineteen,” I admitted, my cheeks heating.

Aaliyah didn’t seem to think anything of it. “Well, I was a grade above Billie and Riley in school, so I’m the oldest,” she explained.

“Did you meet through dance, then?” I asked.

“Billie, yeah. I met Riley through her.” Finished with the projector, she sat down on the bed next to me, placing her hand so that our pinkies were just barely brushing against each other. She turned to face me and I pointedly looked over her shoulder at the wall, my heart pounding.

“Shouldn’t the others be here by now?” I asked nervously, trying to keep my voice level.

“No, they’re always at least twenty minutes late,” she explained. “We still have some time to ourselves.” She adjusted her pinky so it was resting on top of mine.

Was she saying what I thought she was saying? I forced myself to look at her and jerked a little in surprise when I realized she was close enough for me to count the sparkles she’d decorated her eyelids with today. Did she want me to kiss her? How would I even do that?

“Hey, how’s Jamie been getting along in class?” I asked, effectively breaking the moment.

She blinked in surprise, then pulled away and said in a voice that was much higher than usual, “Oh, he’s great!” She leaned back awkwardly, looking slightly embarrassed. The realization that I’d just sabotaged the only chance I was probably ever gonna get with her punched me in the gut. “Yeah, he’s already found his footing perfectly. I think he hit it off with Omar, they’ve been talking about hanging out.”

I nodded. “Yeah, that’s who’s house he’s at right now.”

“Really? That’s great,” she said, then an awkward silence fell over us.

I studied her bookshelf, painfully aware that she was watching me. There was an impressive amount of what looked to be theoretical texts, though I only recognized the name Marx. “Can I borrow this?” I asked, reaching for the thinnest book on the shelf. “I’ve always wanted to read it.”

Unfortunately, she didn’t seem as impressed as I’d envisioned, but at least she didn’t call my bluff. “Sure. Just be careful with it, it’s kind of falling apart.”

“Sure thing.” I carefully took Animal Farm by George Orwell off the shelf and placed it in my bag. We kept up the awkward small talk until Riley poked their head through the door, Billie right behind them. They’d both brought an abysmal amount of snacks that we started munching on straight away, only kind of making sure the crumbs didn’t get all over Aaliyah’s bed. I ended up squished between Aaliyah and Riley as the movie started.

I’d never given much thought to how I would die.

“Is that Anna Kendrick?” I asked when we got to the school scene. I was the only one who’d never seen it before.

“Yeah,” Billie said. “She looks like she’s being held hostage, doesn’t she?”

I thought all of the actors looked that way, but I didn’t say anything else until the Cullens were introduced. “Is that buff guy holding a sack of hard-boiled eggs?”

“Oh, there’s a backstory to that!” Billie said again, reaching over to pause the movie excitedly. “The eggs weren’t in the script. They were the actor’s actual lunch and Catherine Hardwicke thought it was so funny she made him carry them in the scene.”

I had to assume that Catherine Hardwicke was the director.

The rest of the movie went similarly, with Billie interrupting the most. “I just think it’s so dumb that they didn’t make Bella a half-vampire or something. They set it up with the her smelling blood thing, but instead she’s just a Mary Sue who has perfect vampire powers. It would have tied the whole series in such a perfect knot.”

“You know humans can smell blood though, right?” Riley pointed out. I’d been thinking the same thing.

“That’s not the point,” Billie said. “In the Twilight universe they can’t.”

Later she gave us gems like, “Did you know that Stephanie Meyer’s mother-in-law is named Victoria, and Jacob is one of her brothers? Because Jacob was only supposed to be like a little brother figure, but her editor said a love triangle would be better.”

And, “The Cullens are such white supremacist assholes. They settle on native land and refuse to leave, not giving a fuck that they’re traumatizing literal kids my making them turn into werewolves?”

“I didn’t know you were such a Twilight fan,” I said at one point, making Riley and Aaliyah share a look and Billie gear up for another speech.

“I wouldn’t say I’m a fan, exactly,” she explained. “I think it’s garbage, but it’s garbage in such a funny way. You know there’s a specific genre of fanfic that’s Twilight written by people who hate it, and it’s some of the best stuff ever written, because all the characters and the story have so much potential, Meyer just wasn’t a good enough writer to do her ideas justice.”

“Really? You’ll have to show me sometime.” I was genuinely curious. I’d rarely seen a person speak so passionately about a subject.

Billie beamed. “I can send you my favorite, it’s called The Movement of the Earth. I got it printed and bound as an actual book.”

Now that was commitment. I made a mental note to read the apparent masterpiece as thoroughly as I could.

Aaliyah moved a pile of snacks from her lap and said, “If you’re already pausing the movie, I’m gonna go to the bathroom.”

As soon as she was gone, I noticed a shift in the atmosphere as Riley and Billie both gave me the same amount of interest Billie had been giving the movie a few moments ago. They glanced at each other, then Billie cleared her throat and said in barely more than a whisper, “You know, you and Aaliyah have been spending a lot of time together.”

Now I understood what was going on. These people were dying for some gossip.

“Yeah, I guess,” was all I said.

“Is there anything like, going on?” Billie prodded.

I felt my face flush. “Why? Did she say something?”

They both groaned. “She won’t tell us anything,” Riley complained.

“But you think she likes me?” I asked. No matter how embarrassed I was, getting confirmation on the matter from her best friends couldn’t hurt.

Billie’s eyes gleamed. “So you do like her!”

“That’s not an answer,” I pointed out.

“Neither is yours,” Riley shot back, and Billie giggled.

“I mean, yeah. Everyone in a ten-mile radius can see that you like each other,” she informed me. “You should totally shoot your shot.”

I swallowed. “I don’t know. I think I might’ve messed things up a little earlier,” I admitted.

Billie raised her eyebrows. “Well-” she started, then stopped when we heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Aaliyah took her place beside me again, throwing her legs over mine. Eventually her head ended up tucked under my chin, which meant I spent the rest of the movie focused on the nice smell of her hair. What scent was her shampoo? Peach? Roses? Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Billie and Riley grinning at us, but I realized I didn’t mind as I absentmindedly traced along her arm, making her smile and look up at me from time to time.

When the movie was over, they both left suspiciously soon. Even Aaliyah seemed confused.

“Do you guys have something to do?” she asked as she hugged them goodbye.

“Yeah, we’re planning your birthday party,” Riley told her.

She accepted the obvious lie. As soon as they were gone, I got a text from Billie.

Billie: I don’t know what happened, but TRY AGAIN

I glanced at Aaliyah, who had her back turned to me as she put the rest of the books away.

Alex: How??? I’m not good at this stuff

I watched my phone anxiously as Billie typed, hoping she’d answer before Aaliyah noticed something was up.

Billie: Just ask her if she’s free whenever you’re free

“Hey, Aaliyah?” I asked.

“Yeah?” She didn’t turn around. It occurred to me that I could be helping her with the heavy books, but that seemed awkward now.

“Are you free on Friday?”

That got her attention. She looked at me. “Yeah, why?”

My heart pounded like I’d just chugged five Red Bulls, I said, “I thought maybe we could go out and do something.”

She smiled. “You mean like a date?”

“Yeah, like a date,” I confirmed.

“Sure.”

We stood there awkwardly until I decided it was time to leave. She hugged me goodbye in the basement, I suspected because she didn’t want to do it in front of her parents.

“You look happy,” Jamie said as he got in the car.

I grinned. “Do I?”

“You did it, didn’t you?” he pressed, leaning over to look at me.

I didn’t indulge him. “Buckle your seatbelt.”

“Alex! Just tell me.” He tapped his feet like a kid waiting excitedly for Santa.

“Okay, maybe I did.” I had to give him something, otherwise we’d never get going.

He squealed, then buckled his seatbelt after a look from me. I pulled out of my parking spot.

“You look happy, too,” I noted. “How were things with Omar?”

“Good. He’s really nice. So is his mom. She said she’d help me with my Spanish if I came over more often.”

“That’s nice of her.” Spanish was one of the many subjects Jamie was failing.

“Yeah,” Jamie said, disconnecting my phone from the car and to plug his in instead.

“Hey!” I said, not taking my eyes off the road.

“I only have 5 percent,” he argued. “I’ll put on our blended playlist, okay?”

I sighed. “Fine.” Sometimes you had to pick your battles.

--------------------

I saw Aaliyah the moment I walked in the café, but had to stop and pause for a moment. She was always pretty, but she’d clearly spent some extra time in front of the mirror preparing for our date, and the result was pretty breathtaking. Her braids were swept up in a ponytail, making her gold dangly earrings stand out. As I got closer, I realized they made the golden flecks in her eyes stand out, which were accentuated by her eyeliner.

She got up when she saw me and we greeted each other with a hug. “Hey!” I said. “You look great.” Billie had told me something about making my compliments specific, so I added, “I love your earrings.”

“Thanks!” she replied brightly. “My grandma gave them to me. You look good, too.”

I shifted uncomfortably, wondering if she was only saying that out of politeness. I was wearing a pale blue button-down that I considered to be my nicest shirt and jeans without holes in them that I’d bought specifically for the occasion.

“Thanks,” I echoed, sitting down across from her. She’d already set a pile of games on the table.

“I picked out some that I like, but you can look around too, if you want,” she told me.

My eyes flitted around the café. Every nook and cranny was filled to the brim with so many games that I wouldn’t know where to start. “I don’t really play games that often,” I explained.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Really?”

I shook my head. “I mean, we had a few we used to play when I was little, but I never really got into it.” I hadn’t even known board game cafés were a thing until Aaliyah had suggested it. I gestured to the pile. “Do you have a favorite?”

She bit her lip, then said, “Okay, you can’t laugh, but it’s Settler’s of Catan.”

I frowned. “Why would I laugh?” I’d definitely played it before.

She looked at me sheepishly. “I don’t know, no one ever wants to play it with me. Billie and Riley say it’s a game for ten-year-olds.”

To be fair, it had been a while since I’d played, and I wasn’t sure I was remembering it correctly. Wasn’t it the game that was kind of like Monopoly but with wheat and ore instead of money? “Really? I don’t mind it, we can play if you want.”

She smiled and excitedly started unpacking the box. While we were setting up, a waitress came over and we both ordered a hot chocolate.

“Do you come her a lot?” I asked Aaliyah after the waitress had gone.

She shrugged. “From time to time. I wouldn’t say I’m a regular. I’ve definitely never had a date here before.”

My cheeks heated, the word date reminding me exactly why we were here. “Where do you usually go on dates, then?” I asked, hoping to figure out if she had any kind of active dating life.

“I don’t know, it depends. I don’t think I go on enough dates to have a ritual.” That was good to hear. She finished placing her settlements, spending much more time considering their location than I had, before throwing the question back at me. “What about you?”

There wasn’t any point in lying. “To be completely honest, I’ve never actually been on a date before,” I admitted awkwardly, praying she wouldn’t find it too weird.

She didn’t even seem surprised, just confused, which made it even more embarrassing. “Wait, really? Never? Not even like, an awkward thing when you were a teenager that never led anywhere?”

I technically still was a teenager, but I decided not to remind her of that. I shook my head. “Nope.”

To my relief, she smiled and said, “Wow, so I’m your first. I’m honored.”

I tried to look her right in the eyes as I replied, “Well, yeah. I wasn’t gonna go on my first date with just anyone.”

Her smile widened, but she didn’t answer, just looked at the board awkwardly as I rolled. Had I made her flustered? I hadn’t thought that was possible with her.

She swore when I rolled a seven and gleefully moved the robber over to her side of the board. “Damn it.” She took the dice from me before asking, “Did you think about what you wanted this to be, then?”

I blanched, my carefree mask slipping. I’d been so focused on being excited over spending more alone time with Aaliyah, I hadn’t even considered specifics. I’d fantasized about cuddling with her while we watched a movie none of us was paying attention to, talking until we fell asleep. Waking up next to her, seeing her first thing in the morning and feeling safe and content. Did that mean I wanted her to be my girlfriend?

“You don’t have to have a definitive answer or anything,” Aaliyah quickly assured me when I didn’t answer. “I was just wondering if you’d thought about it at all.”

“I haven’t really,” I admitted finally. “To be honest, I just want to spend time with you.” The admission made my anxiety spike, making me feel my thumping heart in my entire body.

Was she blushing? She definitely looked happy, so I must have said something right. “Yeah, I mean, we can just keep dating for a bit. I like spending time with you, too.”

It was my turn to blush, and I couldn’t help but think how dorky we both must look. Much too soon, it was time for her to go to work. Our knuckles brushed as I walked her to her car, and in the spur of the moment, I grabbed her hand, grinning ecstatically when she accepted it and linked our fingers together.

She stopped in front of a dark green Kia. I liked cars that had pretty colors. Nowadays, they all seemed to be exclusively in different shades of gray. “I had a really nice time. Thanks for playing Catan with me.”

I smiled down at her, still holding her hand. “I really liked it. We should go there again sometime.”

“I’d love to,” she agreed

I was just thinking that on account of our height difference, I’d probably have to make some sort of move when it came to kissing, when she surprised me by getting up on her tippy toes and pressing a kiss to my cheek. Before I’d fully registered what had happened, she was saying goodbye and walking over to the driver’s side of her car. I stared after her, and she caught my eye one last time before getting in.

“Are you okay?” she asked teasingly.

“I’m great!” I said, a bit too enthusiastically, and she laughed.

“We’ll text, okay?” And with that, she pulled out of her parking spot in one of the smoothest maneuvers I’d ever seen and was gone.

[oc-writing-corner]

A Ballroom in Chaos

September 9, 2156. 22:15. Durham, England.

Julie Lexington

Alex and I were posing as a couple in front of the ‘elites’ in the ballroom. I was indifferent to it at this point. After so many time-travel missions posing as a couple you get used to it. Lovers in the past, but partners in the present.

The only reason we were a couple in our home time was because I wanted to attend the Rose family birthday gala. Alex had gotten an invitation to attend and I begged him to let me be his plus one. The only issue was I had zero clue what any modern gala etiquette was, but for some reason, Alex did. He gave me brief lessons all last week, but now I had to apply them. I think I’m doing quite well.

The ballroom was decorated in an eerie way. It was the beginning of September, but it looked like the room was ready for Halloween already. Hanging between the pillars outline the room were translucent, black curtains with red string lights hanging down against them. Black pieces of tulle hung from chandeliers in the ceiling to the curtains in between the pillars creating indoor canopies for the tables underneath. The chandeliers glowed with a warm yellow light similar to candle light, only brighter.

Waiters started to scurry around the room, similar to small and scared mice running from something. Odd. Some pushed carts while others walked behind the cart pushers. The waiters walked down the aisle between tables, the two carters at the front continuing to the end of the tables while those in the back would branch off to tables.

I leaned to my left toward Alex. “Were they supposed to enter like that?” I watched as Alex glanced over at me. I heard whispered giggles from across the table and immediately returned to my former posture, without an answer from Alex.

Every table had three waiters now. A carter, and two that were empty handed. In sync, the waiters grabbed the plates of food and set them in front of each guest. I thought back to my lessons with Alex. This would be the first of many courses. I shouldn’t be too greedy with my food.

In front of me was a bowl of soup, labeled:

Compression of Vine Plum Tomatoes & Basil

Gazpacho

Soup wasn’t prioritized on the list of ‘how-to-eat’ etiquette lessons for me. I could only remember bits and pieces of what to do. I looked around the table seeing the ‘elites’ eyes glancing at me.

I heard them whispering-gossiping-about me. Is she going to request grilled cheese for her soup? Or will she pick up the entire bowl like an animal? I hate how everybody must know about everything here. Information spreads like a wildfire

I felt Alex’s hand on my knee and began to watch him from the corner of my eye. In his right hand-dominant hand-he held the soup spoon. I saw him dip the spoon in pushing it toward the back of his bowl then “scrape off” the excess on the edge before bringing it to his mouth. He took his hand off my knee and I took my eyes off of him. His quick mini-lesson was over.

I reached for the soup spoon with my left hand. I heard Alex clear his throat-code for me that I was doing something wrong. I switched the hand reaching out to my right, grabbing the spoon with it and transferring it to my left hand. I mimicked Alex’s movement. Dipping the spoon in, pushing it back, scraping off the excess, then bringing the spoon to my mouth.

As the gazpacho hit my mouth, I could taste the summer wind. The tomatoes had been grown and picked by hand and left alone before being made into the soup. I was no chef, but I had zero doubts in my mind.

Alex Rosenberg

I watched as Julie began to quicken her eating pace. To remind her to eat slower I cleared my throat. Her eyes never moved but she had gotten my message all the same. Her cheeks became flushed and she returned to the slower eating pace. I looked around our table and only saw stoic, yet impressed, faces from the ‘elites’. These people were taught to hide their emotions well. They all thought they were special just because they had money and status. The only thing that made them elite was their high capacity to judge others though.

I glanced around the room, taking note of the waiters. They hadn’t left right after food was served, waiting for any food questions from party goers. However,  they should be headed for the kitchen right now. The waiter standing by the other side of the table looked tense. Not uncommon for a caterer, but his clenched jaw and trained eyes were definitely uncommon. 

I thought back to the way they entered the room before. They walked in a fearful manner. As if something was chasing them. They were running from something.

Heavy footsteps came from the kitchen, “If you wish to live tonight, then do as I say.” The scurrying of the waiters and tense posture from our waiter now made sense. “Nobody moves, nobody makes any noise. Clear?”

Everybody in the room nodded. ‘Elites’ were trained at a young age to do as an attacker said, unless you were 100 percent sure you wouldn’t get yourself killed. Good thing for Time-Traveler’s training. I couldn’t determine what kind of weaponry my opponent would have on them, putting me at a disadvantage. Do as you're told then.

I heard footsteps to the right of me-fast footsteps. Someone was running, probably a waiter. A gunshot went through the room followed by a thud. Now I knew what kind of weaponry they had on them.

“I’m impressed. Normally there’s a scream or two when there’s a sudden loud sound.” The attacker’s words seemed slurred, like they’d been drinking. That was their mistake. “I’m only here for one woman.”

I set my hand on Julie’s knee. I quickly tapped my finger on her knee, talking to her in morse code. You. Negotiate. From the corner of my eye, I watched her nod. I had a plan now, a second hand in the game.

“Miss Harpeet Tremble.” Former elementary school teacher turned into an incredible scientist. She is a staple in the time-travel community as she revolutionized its complicated science. She had died a couple years ago but Julie looked similar enough to her. I tapped Julie’s knee with my hand then took it off.

Julie’s chair skidded on the floor, alerting everyone to ‘Miss Tremble’ giving herself up. The attacker waved his hand and beckoned her over. Julie looked at me, seeking confirmation. I nodded, I had a plan. I needed her to walk over so I could slip past the hanging curtains.

I waited until Julie was about halfway between our table’s spot along the aisle and the attacker before making my move. I stood slightly, enough to have the illusion of sitting, and lifted my chair up and back. After setting my chair back down I grabbed my dinner knife before quietly darting to the left where the curtains hung. Hidden behind the black curtains and red lights, I took off my suit jacket and rolled my dress shirt sleeves up.

Prepared to fight, I made my way toward the attacker, covered by the curtains and red lights.

Julie Lexington

I had no idea what I was doing before and now I was being watched by all these rich people, walking towards a tipsy shooter. My southern American origins and mannerisms were too prominent in my mind. I just wanted a stress free night.

I had no clue what Alex had planned, but I trust him more than I trust myself right now. The only safety net I had right now was the fact the person in front of me was either almost drunk or drunk. That also puts me at a disadvantage. It would be difficult to negotiate with them if they weren’t in the right mindset.

“Miss Tremble,” The attacker spoke, I felt like I was trembling. “Long ago, you left my beloved little elementary school to go do-” They put their fingers up in air quotes, “Big kid science. How could you leave us like that?”

How could I? “I could because I could change the science you would use now.” I judged the attacker based on appearance to figure out how old they were. “The science we understand now is different than twenty years ago. When you were five or six, time-travel was still such a dangerous thing. Now you can time-travel without fear of dying or getting hurt.” My rugged accent stood out against their posh one, but I took a tentative step toward the attacker. “What’s your name?”

The attacker muttered, “Ivan. Ivan Hardson.”

I spoke loudly, hoping Alex was calling the cops, “Ivan Hardson. I remember you. I told you that you were going to do great things when you were older. I meant it.” That’s a thing teachers say, right? “Look at what you’ve done with your life. Are you proud of yourself?”

“Yeah. I’m proud of myself. I have a stable job, a family, and two dogs. Do you remember the picture of the dogs I drew for you?”

I had never seen a drawing from this man. “Yes, I remember dear Ivan.” I took a second tentative step toward him. “I’m proud of you Ivan. You’ve come so far. Now, may I please see the gun in your hand. I don’t think you’re aware enough to understand what you’re doing.”

His body tensed up, “Was this just a ploy to disarm me?” Ivan yelled. “You don’t even know who I am, do you? Are you even the real Harpeet Tremble? Are you?” Ivan brought the gun up until his eyes could be seen over the top and brought his voice back down, “What if I just shot you right now?”

I took my steps back. I looked around the room, searching for Alex. Searching for my partner. When I didn’t find him, I faced Ivan again. I watched the gun, searching for any slight movements. With my eyes trained on the gun, I started inching backwards.

“Where do you think you’re going?” When Ivan talked, the gun moved and ruined his aim.

“Why don’t you follow me, then you can know exactly where I’m going.” I responded, seeing what movement would do to his aim.

When Ivan walked, the barrel tipped up and down. Good. I kept him trudging around the room.

Alex Rosenberg

Julie was walking around the ballroom with Ivan, making my job of tackling him more difficult. I was watching from behind the curtains. She was walking in circles inside the aisle. She was consistent in her structure, but she would sometimes turn earlier or wait longer to turn. Whether that was her being genuinely inconsistent there or purposefully taking ‘different’ paths, it was good.

I made my way to the closest pillar. I watched as Julie and Ivan made their way around the ballroom, waiting for my opportunity to strike. I made a pigeon coo noise, Julie and I’s signal. I saw her nod; she had gotten my message.

“What was that?” Ivan put a second hand on his gun.

Julie was quick to respond, “It was just a pigeon. One must’ve flown in here at some point.” They rounded the end of the aisle.

I jumped out, Julie jumped backwards. I took Ivan down to the ground. I heard a gunshot and my ear stung. Being closer in his face, I learned that Ivan was in fact sober and aware. I reached my right hand toward the gun, but I saw it wasn’t aimed at me anymore.

“Quit fighting me, or she’ll suffer the consequences.” Ivan had the gun pointed at Julie.

His grip was mediocre, and I doubted it’s do any real damage to her. Still, I didn’t move or get off of him, but didn’t fight him either. I looked over to Julie, her eyes were on the gun. She’d be making the same notes as I did, perks of having the same combat training.

“Get off of me, or she gets it.” Ivan was upset and loud. Julie looked at me. She had a firm look in her eyes, telling me she had a plan. 

I reached out for Ivan’s gun. Another gunshot went off, and I heard Julie yelp. The recoil sent Ivan’s hand hitting the hardwood floor. Judging by the lack of strength Ivan put into counteracting the recoil I guessed that the only pain Julie would feel would be the bullet grazing her leg.

 I pinned his hand to the floor by his wrist. Ivan threw a punch to my face and I felt blood trickle out of my nose. I heard a new, and larger, gun go off behind Julie. I heard the clicking of heels run to my left and behind me. She was still mobile, which is a good sign.

I ripped the gun out of Ivan’s hand. A second gunshot from the mystery gun went off, this time ‘elites’ did scream. I put my left knee on Ivan’s chest, holding the gun toward the source of shots.

Across the room stood a waiter with a rifle in his hand. I aimed Ivan’s pistol at him, my right index finger hovering over the trigger. I pulled the trigger back. Click. The gun didn’t go off. I ducked and dropped the magazine. Empty. My next best option was to run and hide, creating a distraction from the rest of the attendants.

As I stood up to run, I heard the clicking of a different magazine. I ducked back down. A gunshot went off from the third gun. I heard something thud from across the room. The second shooter. While still on the ground, I turned toward the click, holding Ivan’s gun with the barrel in my right hand. In front of me stood the birthday boy himself. Uriah Rose.

I stood all the way up. If he wasn’t still aiming at something, all threats were neutralized. I handed over Ivan’s gun, and as I did I heard the familiar clicking of Julie’s heels from near the pillars. Though her gait sounded off.

“Are you okay?” I asked, running over to help her walk.

She looked down at her leg, “Yeah, I’ve got the scratch tied up. I’ll be walking like normal in a few minutes.”

I walked us back over to where Ivan was. He was coughing trying to get his breath back. Before he could Uriah swung the stolen empty gun across his face, knocking Ivan out. Uriah looked down at the gun in his hand, then back up at me. “Police are on their way. And I assume the press will want to know what happened.”

“Alex and I are media trained.” Julie spoke leaning against me. “It’s part of basic WATT training.”

We’d have to thank the World's Association of Time Travel later. Because of them, we would be able to recount the events to the press without upsetting anyone in attendance. The ‘elites’ can be distraught and the time-travelers could be heroes.

Uriah had formed a plan, “Alright. You two start planning what you want to say. I’ll come over in a bit to revise and confirm. It is my birthday after all.”

Julie Lexington

September 10, 2156. 00:15. Durham, England.

Alex and I stood outside the venue in front of every news program representative for the globe. We’d spent fifteen minutes neutralizing Ivan and the rogue waiter, 45 minutes with the police, and an hour planning our story. Then the press asked every question they could think of. “Was it someone everyone knew?” “Did they reveal themselves?” “Were you scared of dying?” “What do you think this means for future Rose family events?” “Do you think your injuries will get infected?” The whole shabang.

“I thought I was going to come and have a stress-free night.” Alex was being interviewed right now. On his own. He was a natural at it. He was making jokes, treating the whole deal like everyday work, though it wasn’t far off.

“And how about you Miss Lexington, what were your first impressions of the night?” The interviewer stuck her mini microphone to my face.

“I was really excited to be a part of the gala. I just wish I could’ve gotten more food after talking with the police.” I gave her a smile.

She grimaced at me, I assumed it was because I wasn’t giving her any details on what had happened. “Well thank you for allowing me to interview you guys. I hope you make it to your hotel safely.” As she walked away, I could see her spirit drain right out of her.

We were all tired. ‘Elites’ and waiters alike. The only difference was the waiters had work to get back to in the morning.

“Aw crap. We have to be back at HQ tomorrow.” I whined. “At least we can thank them for giving us the training that kept the ‘elites’ alive tonight, right?”

Alex chuckled, “We can check in with Evette at the European headquarters and let her know that minimum people died because of my quick thinking.”

I commented, “Oh, you mean because of your recklessness?”

Alex was silent for a long time. “Who tackled the guy with a gun?”

“You did, because you weren’t thinking straight.” I yelled, appalled at his ego.

I turned and began walking, with a little limp, toward the train station that would take us to our hotel. Alex waited a while before speedwalking to me, silently bragging about his not injured leg. It was a five minute walk there, and a ten minute commute on the train. While we rode the train, Alex sent Evette-our boss-an email explaining our current situation. When we made it to the hotel room, we took off our shoes and dived into our beds.

Alrighty...so it's a long read. I apologize for that, but I hope you enjoyed it! I had to write a short story for my creative writing class and this was the result.

[oc-writing-corner]

Interstellar Foundation of Core Technologies and Sciences

Dr. Carl Fleet

━

Chapter 2 - The Cure

━

During the time I was still a student in the School of Science, I mostly spent my time in my laboratory, somewhere far from the other scientists, but somewhere close to my own place of ‘comfort’. Of course, it wasn’t that bad. I had Comrade by my side, my lab assistant. Or as others would say, a brown rat. Unlike the other scientists, I socially distanced myself from the majority of them as I had no relations with them other than projects that required collaboration.

No, I never did experiments on Comrade, unlike how the other biologists in the School of Science experimented plentiful with the other rats. If I really needed a test subject, I would take an albino rat or two, but only if I knew my substance wouldn’t kill the rats as I was careful with my resources and would take them if they were really needed. I cared more about the rats than I did the scientists, which says something. But after all, rats didn’t do all the things the scientists did to me.

Around this time, the albino test rats were in high demand. Over a period of weeks, it was rumoured that an epidemic had broken out within the School of Science, only confined within the school. Sooner or later, many of the sectors were affected — sectors such as the physics and chemistry, the engineering, and the majority of the science sectors. Luckily enough, the biology sector remained in the very left of the school, in the First Wing, which remained unaffected. The fact it was some sort of airborne disease didn’t give us much time, nor was the school a safe environment for any of the scientists.

The remaining sectors — the biology sector and the genetics sector, were all the school could depend on. Being in the biology sector gave us biologists a lot of pressure, as lives were on the line. After all, we specialised in DNA and the knowledge of genes and organisms. Our leading scientist Dr. Mistletoe had reached out to the genetics sector and formed a consensus; to create a cure and/or vaccine for the disease. Despite the oppression of the whole school at risk, Dr. Mistletoe remained calm and focused on our goal — to create a cure for the new airborne illness.

This meant all of the scientists were put to work.

Intensive work.

No one stopped until progress was found, or until new information was discovered on the disease.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“ Dr. Fleet, I know this will be quite much on your shoulders, but the whole of the biology sector is looking upon you. Although it’s a lot of pressure, we are all looking upon you for a cure. Many of the students have already.. passed, and many of the other students are searching for hope. I see that hope in you. “

“ Does this mean I’m expected to find a cure? “

“ Not entirely.. though we all need to come together to find one. Everyone agrees you are the smartest scientist in this sector, and we all agree you can find a cure with all of our research combined. “

“ .. I won’t let you down, Dr. Mistletoe! “ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

After careful consideration with the whole biology sector, I was given the role of the leading scientist of the entire project. The biology sector relied on me to find a cure. It felt as if everyones’ lives were at stake, and that it was all in my hands. I guess it was factually true, but it sounds more exaggerated when you put it that way. Despite the weight on my shoulders, the success of this would’ve meant something worthwhile in the long run for myself and the School of Science.

Dr. Mistletoe had rooted for me during our research for a cure, assisting me in my research and experiments. Eventually after a few days, her appearance became less and less, due to the fact she had told me about “ other arising issues. “ She left me to continue with the other remaining biologists and geneticists, wishing me the best without her ‘temporarily’.

Unlike many other projects I had completed, this one took a toll on me. Perhaps the fact that I knew people were dying every couple of days made it more anxiety-inducing. Every scientist in the biology sector had worked together, collaboratively collecting notes from each other, while different vaccines were created and tested. As the leading biologist, many of the other biologists had reported back to me progress of the cure, finding something new every now and then.

But our progress was slow, and it wasn’t enough. Not when there were lives at stake.

On most nights I would work by myself inside my own laboratory, reading over Dr. Mistletoe’s notes and my own, along with the contributions of data from the other biologists and geneticists. I was always accompanied by Comrade, who would keep me company at night when no other scientist was awake. Dr. Mistletoe would always encourage me not to over-work myself, though at this point it was either a life or death situation.

Many of the students relied on me, and I couldn’t let them down, especially that now most of them are probably dead.

When the sun rose after one night, a scientist had entered my laboratory, asking if I was awake the whole night. He wasn’t someone I recognised, though he looked almost like a teacher because of his age. Though at the same time, he looked like a student much older than me. He wore glasses, but I wasn’t familiar with anyone who wore glasses.

He stated he was a scientist who came from the genetics sector, and was assigned with the role of checking up on my welfare during the epidemic.

He briefly told me he was a botanist, but placed his projects aside to aid in the current one as the role of a geneticist. I thanked him for his effort, and he left the lab after completing his welfare check. I felt much better knowing someone else had thought of checking up on me, even if they were assigned to do so.

But sadly enough, I never got his name.

Hours after his appearance, I continued with what I was doing while Comrade watched me work.

And many hours after my hard work, I had experimented on one of my final infected albino rats, who was almost on the brink of death as the disease took over its body. Results showed that the airborne disease had vanished after my injection as the rat’s vitals were as healthy as Comrade’s, meaning it had worked.

My vaccine worked.

Word count: 1104

[oc-writing-corner]

(What was playing on the news wasn’t all that important. At least, to Lo and Amber it wasn’t. Lo decided to start going through the channels. He chuckled and turned to look at Amber.)

I wander if they have adventure time or something.

(Amber snickered at that. She decided to leave it at that. After a moment of going through the channels Lo got bored and decided to just leave it where it was. The two got more comfortable on the couch. After 30 minutes, zephyr finally came out of her room. She was now wearing sweatpants and a baggy shirt. She walked up and sat on the couch. Not too far from Lo. She looked at the pair.)

Sorry, I ended up getting a call while in there. Probably gonna do a job tomorrow.

(Zephyr got more comfortable on the couch. She pulled out a pack of cigarets and a lighter out of her pocket. She took a cigarette out and put it in her mouth. She quickly lit it.)

(Lo gave zephyr a curious look. Zephyr caught his curios look. She smiled and got closer to him, she wrapped her arm around him. Amber cocked her eyebrow at this. Honestly both of them were confused by this. Lo was the one who decided to speak up though.)

What are you doing?

(Zephyr smiled as she took the cigarette out of her mouth. She put it close to Lo’s face.)

Dunno, you looked curious. just thought you’d want a taste.

[oc-writing-corner]

okay it occurred to me that I'm incapable of describing my own time travel rules so I would appreciate very much if you could tell me if this makes any sense at all (nope)

also context "Lost" is the story or time period where people went back in time. i don't know if this makes this more or less confusing

"You can’t, it doesn't matter. “Destiny” or a set path isn't a thing in this universe, but time travelers aren't capable of changing the future in the back-to-the-future type way. The theory is, they don’t know what's happening the first time Lost happens because they haven't done this yet, it's really just a normal part of their lives, nothings different about it. By the second time they live Lost by traveling back to it, yes, the future they come from still sort of exists because that's where they came from, but that doesn't matter because they aren't living in it anymore. Their future doesn't exist in the same way it didn't the first time they lived out the time travel event when it was a normal part of their lives. They can do whatever they want, and it's not like they can purposefully mess with the future by changing what they did the first time or interfering with major events, because remember, the part they're “reliving” hasn't happened yet, they haven't done it before so they can't do anything different. Basically, the overlap of normal life and time travel are the same- there aren't truly two versions of those events. Any action they make will affect the future, but it's always affected it that way no matter what they do because it already happened. This has always been the past. The future won't change from time travel is what I'm struggling to say."

help bro

[oc-writing-corner]

Sunset (High Noon) Vol 2. Issue 27 is up for general audiences today!

In which Anise is given the nickname 'Monet' and Reeve is confronted with his past.

Vol 2. Issue 28 is up on the Sunset Patreon now! (And contains one of my favorite lines of Reeve dialogue in the story🤣)

Sunset taglist. I try to keep it to release updates, long excerpts, and character profiles. Please comment/dm for +/-

@words-after-midnight @chayscribbles @elizaellwrites @theimperiumchronicles @thatndginger

@clairelsonao3 @writeintrees @scribe-of-stories @kahvilahuhut @stuffaboutwriting

@cee-grice @ravenkake @covenscribe @sejedensekh @void-botanist

@worldsfromhoney @revenantlore @oc-writing-corner @rewritingrosie 

@jacqueswriteblrlibrary @ashirisu

[oc-writing-corner]

Physical training

It was said that exercise lifts away your sorrowful feelings. Autumn supposed that was true. She was too out of breath to even think about the dark future looming over all of them.

Most of the children here were occupying their break with the same activity as Autumn was - tiredly sitting against the wall, drinking from their water patches and watching with confusion the two younger twins who were still playing around the gymnasium. They were hanging by their legs off beams, racing each other and doing wall jumps.

How do they have so much energy? Autumn thought wearily, inching away from Ponchio due to how hot she was. However, it was sort of inspiring watching them - how could it not be? They were so cute, and were having so much fun. She'd go join them if she wasn't absolutely exhausted.

Maybe it was their youth. But then again, they were all young - And everybody but Willow and Finnet were exhausted. The twins were definitely not the youngest people here.

She sighed, leaning back against the wall. She felt Ponchio's gaze on her and looked over him, giving the older boy a weary smile.

"We'll have to try really hard to get their energy." Autumn commented.

"Yeah." Ponchio didn't seem that motivated.

"But we can do it!" She cheerfully gave him a pat on the shoulder, then linked her fingers and stretched her arms. "We can do anything if we work together."

Ponchio looked like she had just suggested the idea of ending the world. Autumn ignored his expression. "C'mon, the supervisor's calling us." She got to her feet, wiping her forehead and waiting for her friend.

On the shorter side, but I feel like these small moments are important to one's personality.

[oc-writing-corner]

Prologue

Puppets, dear reader, are a truly fascinating thing.

When an individual crafts a puppet, they pour their soul into it, literally or figuratively. They craft every single tiny detail, create it however they want, and attach it to a pair of strings. Then they expect the puppet to follow their every move and obey their every command.

People on the other hand, are an entirely different case. Every person has a soul given to them at birth, a piece of magic made to define everything they have been, are and will be. Puppets do not need a soul, it is an unnecessary thing, if something is created to only follow orders, then why should it have a soul? It is possible for a puppet to have a soul of course, but every gift requires a sacrifice…..

A person can give parts of their soul away,that was a little known thing. It was foolhardy, and even stupid to try, but it was worth it, to have created something, something new.

That had been Amos Quill’s dream since he was a small boy, to be someone that the world remembered. So, he traveled the world, collecting knowledge, artifacts and secrets.

Eventually, his travels led him to the small town of Whitethorn, and to find something he was truly passionate about. He opened a puppet and toy shop. Crafting, painting, sculpting, those were all things he loved, but most of all it was the smiles on children’s faces. He sold toys and put on puppet shows just to see the children smile and to hear laughter. Soon, he began his pet project. Something that had never been attempted before, at least in his world.

Amos needed magic for his project, a great deal of magic in fact. He might have been able to use elemental magic that was passed down through families, but those were growing scarcer and scarcer. Amos was no elemental, so he chose to use the power of his own soul.

One could gain control of their soul, they could manipulate it, and transfer part of it into an inanimate object, such as a puppet, which was a completely hypothetical situation, of course.

Amos knew that there were other ways to gain magic. Alchemy was tied to everything related to magic. It was like the language of magic, the way that everything was able to communicate. Power could be held in the symbols, and used. The more well known and feared type of magic was dealmaking. A deal for power over another’s free will, the deals could be broken, but not easily. Amos had chosen to control his own soul, because dealmaking was dangerous, even deadly, mostly used by criminals trying to gain power.

Amos waited years upon years to begin his project, finally, he began to craft the little wooden boy.

It took him weeks of carefully painting, sculpting, and carving to complete it, and almost an entire year to muster the control over his soul necessary to condense part of it into a physical form. A swirling purple residue that he kept in a glass bottle until the completion of his project.

Amos made sure to include all the little details in his project, the way his creation would grow like a human, move without strings, and the wood would behave like actual skin, moving and shifting.

In short, it worked. The boy was brought to life, his mouth finally opened, eyes finally seeing, and blond hair finally gaining real texture, red painted circles on his cheeks finally moving.

Amos tilted the bottle of purple matter, it caught the light, projecting purple light all over the room casting swirling shadows. He had only used about half of it, he shrugged, the more of his soul that belonged to him, the better.

He stored the bottle in the very back of his shop, in a cupboard with a lock on it. He would keep it, he swore to himself that he wouldn’t give away any more of his soul, unless of course it was absolutely necessary.

[oc-writing-corner]

"I'm gay," that's cool bro (pt.2)

The model’s body stiffened, his eyes reeling in the realization of his surroundings. Seb looked down on Javier, his eyes cast judgment that made the photographer stop in his tracks.

Javier was frozen. The lens was permanently stuck, zoomed in into Seb’s disapproving face. He couldn’t move his camera down if he wanted to.

The angle caught the perfect arch of his brow and the lines that cascaded near his waterline, wrinkles that held up two wide-open pupils. Down to the frown that replaced Seb’s gentle grin.

The shot was good. If only Javier wasn’t such a coward. The shutter button remained untouched, despite his finger being at a position where he could capture the photo with just a light tap.

Javier was too busy picturing mental photos. Flashes of Seb’s reaction.

He’d imagined these scenarios so many times, he nearly tricked himself into belief. He could see it now as he stood under Seb. Even when Seb walked away, the pictures in his mind were still fresh and new. Readjusting the angle. Reshooting the worries.

Javier finally brought the camera down. Seb was no longer there. He no longer had a subject. He never will have one again, not one as good as him.

He shoved the camera back into his fanny pack. In his frustration, he didn’t even bother being careful. His back fell against the cement pillar, sliding his body down until he was sat on the floor. Legs crossed. Face covered.

If Seb told someone…

Javier would be more than an outcast, worse than a stalker. He could hear the questions and accusations in his head, but all he could see were the expressions of the people who asked them. His identity would be crudely clipped onto his inability to socialize like a badly edited collage.

[oc-writing-corner]

Random Tir and Sned snippets from unfinished stuff

[oc-writing-corner]

k so i've been getting increasingly more unhinged about my own ocs and i cannot stand having only two people know about them so feast.

The overall story is called Scarlet Ghosts and it's about a 16-17 year old boy named Lewis geting himself and all his closest friends killed after trying to protect them from what he suspects are paranormal forces. After that, he finds himself all alone in the Realm of the Dead, and doesn't deem himself worthy enough to try and find the people whose lives he mistakenly took.

What happened beforehand, however, is that Lewis's father had passed just a few months before him. He was his entire world. So Lewis embarks on a trek across the entire Realm of the Dead to find him, whilst simultaneously giving a great effort in hiding his identity due to his fear of his friends getting their well deserved revenge.

This journey makes him stumble across stories and legends he never thought to be true, including one he wished wasn't....

(if you'd like to know more let me know! i have one oc in particular i enjoy blowing up in my head that i'd love to yap about :))

[oc-writing-corner]

Quite Angels? Part 2

802 words

Note: There STILL will be no lemons.

CW: Kidnapping, encagement, confinement, violence (kinda), bodily damage to mc, power imbalance, unsettling atmosphere, general ominousness, infantilization/objectification, angels and eldritch beings, magic, confusion, religious themes (I am none religious but it I have religious trauma so a lot of my work features religon) and strained semi-friendliness

Oganesson watched as I rubbed the area on my arm “Is that not… causing, more damage to it?” they asked inquisitively. 

“...yes but, it hurts.” 

“You know you’re only making it, worse?” They raised an eyebrow at me, seemingly confused by my nonsensical actions.

I look to the side sheepishly “I-I mean it does but…” Oh shit Seraphim are going to be piiiissed when they see this...

“But why?...” They sound almost defeated at my refusal to think as I itch and rub my wound, applying more pressure to the already weak, ruptured, and disintegrated spot.

This discussion wont help me escape. I attempted to reroute the conversation “Well when the angels come to get me, they’ll see that you damaged me, they will take that as an excuse to-”

“What makes you so sure they won’t cut their losses? How do you know how they’ll even get here??? Do they even know how to get here? Or where you are?“ They seem to have calmed down from their outburst earlier but still are a little bitter, annoyed by my continuous reminder of the potential of their being consequences of their actions. 

“You did make one point. Where am I? And why is it so c-cold here...” 

They chuckled as their tone dipped down, their face portraying their smugness from how little I know about what’s happening. “We are on the 6th plane…. Did you not know??!? And about the cold… hmmm….. I… don’t think I can change that. It’s just, normal for here.” 

“W-What?!??” I paused in shock to reassemble my thoughts. “How is that even p-possible!” Damn I was really hoping they would fix the temperature. I'm practically shaking.

“Depends what impossibilities you're referring to?” They tilted their head trying to be playful? I think? But they accentuated the motion to the point of being…well uncanny, even to my eyes…  For the sake of politeness I’m… just going to ignore it.

“I um well, I know they will come for me. I’m a one-off, I'm too unique for them to discard.”

They seemed a bit surprised by my words but quickly continued “I’ve heard of the Godix’s past experiments with angels before… you do look a bit strange for an angel, specifically your, hmm… how do I put this…” They put a finger on their chin and looked down at me and smirked then pointed straight at the middle of my face. “hollowness. ”

Ok I’ve had enough of this nonsense. “You must not be very aware of how you come off are y-”

“I am ve-”

“No you’re not! You must be a very dumb or very lonely creature to keep me for this extent of time! EVEN daring to injure my divinely, perfectly designed architecture.” They recrossed their arms and looked at me wide-eyed with anger? Restraint? or frustration? Maybe confusion, or overload, either way I continued, determined to get them to understand. “Seraphim are probably addressing my guardian about my disappearance-”

“You have a guardian?!” They lost whatever emotion they were holding, trying to portray?? Or whatever their weird ass was doing.

“Y-Yes? Did you not fight them, see them, or at least knock them out?”

“N-No?!??” They seemed very confused, and now so am I.

“W-wait SO WHERE THE FUCK WAS EPHEL????”

“Huh, so you can swear.”

“Shut up.” 

They relaxed and laughed a little bit, they gave a seemingly genuine smile and their movements seemed less calculated than before. ”Such a spirited little thing… Tell me what is your name?”

Well that's kinda more than a little suspicious. “Uh huh… if I tell you will you let me go?” They seem to ponder on the thought for a second then they say “I will release you back to the 3rd plane where I found you. IF you promise to meet with me again.”

That’s REALLY suspicious, but I don’t really have any other choice… I sighed “Fine.”

They point at the lock and flick their hand to the side and the cage opens. I don’t know how that works but I’m too cold and tired off them, and too close to freedom to care. I step out of the cage and walk by them as they do a little mock bow/curtsy, I assumed the gesture was not genuine from the shit-eating grin plastered all over their face. I walked with them to the door that I saw them enter here earlier with. They proceeded to do some strange magic and then opened the door.

“Don’t forget your promise, little one~.”

I look tiredly back at them, I might as well tell them my name. “I am called Zeraphil by the way.” 

I walk through the door into the pure light and find myself in grass. 

I had forgotten how warm it was out here.

“YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Start /// Next

[oc-writing-corner]

Out of Context Lines I've Written in my OC Work that I Find Hilarious (Part Two)

"If it makes you feel any better, I killed the other guy!" / "HELL NO!" He buried his face in his hands. "I'M AFFILIATED WITH MURDERERS!!!"

Wait a minute, my bed isn't this big.

Quickly rushing to her side, he exclaimed, "Honey- what's wrong? I haven't even done anything to make you upset with me yet!"

Holly chimed in. "As a Holly myself, that's a very good thing!"

Flint Chasey was the result of his parents' lifestyles clashing together, and occasionally those two sides could come together to create some semblance of a reasonable human being. Emphasis on occasionally.

"Look at those dummies- can't even see me waving from the window! Hiiiii dummies!"

"First off, we're not even in Paris. This is the Paris Pavilion in EPCOT. You know, as in Disney World?"

It's a plant-eat-plant world out there. But a plant's gotta do what a plant's gotta do. Holly shrugged and grabbed the steak with her hands and began to eat it like a burger.

"NO NEED!" Flint grinned devilishly as he aimed the spray. "THIS HAIRSPRAY HAS AN EXTRA LONG RANGE!"

"F*ck you and your stupid metaphors," Vale spat. "You don't know anything."

[oc-writing-corner]

#phantawrites: see no devil

It's one of my OC projects, so I'm going to start putting progress in the form of little bits :)

It's mainly about a romance between a famous singer who has many secrets and a bartender who has a big heart! Maybe even a polycule as time goes on hehe

Here is what I got so far! It's 4k words ↓

For Dante, the night was his solace, where all inhibitions were thrown away and people's true selves came out.

The bar he works in became his sanctuary, where he can observe the intricate dance of human emotion unfold. Being a bartender was entertaining, where no one would pay him any mind and maybe have a small chat over drinks, besides, nobody questioned why he was wearing a mask.

It was perfect.

Tonight was a normal night, he was just making small talk and serving drinks, nothing special.

"Hm~ This place is lively, don't you think?"

Dante glanced up from pouring a drink, his eyes meeting with those of a white-haired man. He recognized him immediately, Luz Morningstar, the famous singer... he stood there with an enigmatic smile, the dim lights making him look almost ethereal.

"Uh, yeah. It's always buzzing around here." Dante replied with a calm and collected voice, despite being an anxious wreck on the inside, being masked did wonders.

Seeing him so close, he could feel Luz's presence was magnetic as if he was being drawn in.

Luz leaned against the bar, his gaze fixed on Dante. "I've seen you here before, haven't I? You're the one who always wears the mask. It's an interesting choice for a bartender."

Dante chuckled, which betrayed his usual shyness. "Yeah, I guess it's just my thing. Adds a bit of mystery to the atmosphere, you know?"

Luz's lips curled into a sly grin. "Mystery can be intriguing." His voice was like music to his ears, making his heart skip a beat.

As the night progressed Luz kept him company. The mysterious aura surrounding Dante seemed to be a magnet for Luz, who was weirdly drawn to the other man.

Dante had no problem enticing the singer even more, he was usually reserved and introverted, however thanks to his mask he was able to get an unspoken connection with Luz. 

"So... when does your shift end?" Luz's melodic voice echoed through his head, knowing where this could lead.

"In around 15 minutes, why?" He fiddled with some glasses, unsure about the sudden question.

"Hm~ Maybe we could... talk more somewhere else?" Dante gulps, well, maybe this once...

-

Dante feels warm and happy, he had a great dream. He brings his body pillow even closer.

"Hehe, are you usually that much of a cuddler?" He hears someone talk, but, he lives alone... Suddenly he remembers everything that happened last night. Had they really-?

"Um, uh, good morning." He detaches himself from Luz and tries his best not to look awkward, however, he notices he doesn't have his mask on.

"You are so cute, you know that? Despite looking so cute you're a complete beast in bed... I must admit it was one of my best nights." Luz gets up, only wearing one of his oversized shirts. "Hm~ What do you want for breakfast?

"Um, breakfast?" Dante nervously looks at his surroundings, searching for a way to conceal his face. He finds his trusty face mask on the floor, along with all his clothes.

"Mhm, I've been told my pancakes are amazing. I have quite the sweet tooth you see." Luz just stared at him while he dressed, a lazy smile on his face. "So... I can cook for you if you'd let me."

Now with his mask (and clothes) on he regains the little confidence he had. And without thinking he just replied. "Yeah! Sure, I haven't eaten pancakes in so long." 

"Ha ha, then don't mind me." And Luz walks out of the room and into the kitchen with an oversized blouse.

Dante, realizing his situation, just sits in silence.

Not only had he fucked a big celebrity, but he had also made that celebrity cook for him like they were... something.

Still, it didn't appear to be a bad thing. Luz himself looked quite content. But you know what they say about popularity, it gets over your head. So for him, this probably was just a fling and nothing more. Right?

-

It's been a month.

Luz has yet to go back to his apartment.

And the worst thing is that he didn't mind. Dante wasn't sure what to call their relationship. 

Luz cooked for him. They slept together and even watched movies in their free time. 

Just what was going on between them?

"Hey, Dante~" Luz entered his room (their room?) and threw himself into the bed, hugging Dante from behind. "What do you want to eat tonight?"

"Um... pizza sounds good." Now used to Luz's touch, Dante relaxed and hugged his pillow.

"Anything else you want?" Luz snuggled closer, wrapping his legs around Dante's waist.

"No, I'm fine." Dante tried his best to concentrate on his book.

"Then... What about some dessert?" He felt Luz's hands snake his way toward his waistband.

Dante quickly closed his book and turned to face the white-haired man, a blush creeping on his face.

"W-wait, are you asking for"

"Yeah, sex. Is that okay with you? Of course, if you don't want to we can just-"

"N-no! It's okay!" Dante stuttered, a bit surprised at his sudden boldness. "But, could you give me some time to prepare?"

"Ha ha, sure, baby. Take your time." Luz got up and went into the kitchen.

-

As Dante showered, he continued to ponder on his relationship with Luz. He... liked him, liked him a lot. He could even call it "love".

He didn't know him for long, but some part of him yearned to be close to him, it was as if he was bewitched. It felt like a dream to have Luz in his home, he made it a home.

He already got so used to him in his house, that he brought life into his boring world.

But good things don't last.

-

Once he got out of the shower he was pleasantly surprised with a heavenly scent. Luz had somehow finished cooking, just how long did his shower take...?

He sneaks behind the singer and hugs him. "Hi"

Luz giggles. "Hi there~ Are you using the watermelon shampoo? It smells so good." He detaches himself from Luz and starts helping with the table.

-

Luz grabbed Dante's shirt, taking it off in a hurry.

Dante kissed Luz deeper, slowly making his way to his neck. Luz gasped when Dante bit down.

"Babe~ You're so needy today." He moaned as he felt Dante's tongue lick his skin.

"Can't help it, I can't have my fill of you-" He suddenly was interrupted by a loud noise in the living room. They both looked at each other with shock, just what could it be...?

Dante quickly got up. It probably was the wind, or maybe even a ghost—nothing to worry about.

He didn't expect to see a man in his living room... with a bat.

His heart sunk, adrenaline filling his veins. However, Luz got in front of him with an uncharacteristic cold expression.

"Cass." He sighs. "Explain."

The man (Cass?) drops the bat. "Morningstar, It's a pleasure to see you. It's not like you completely disappeared after going to a bar alone. Do you know just how worried I was?"

"I don't have the patience to deal with your bullshit right now. Why are you here?" He glared at the man, a cold feeling creeping on his body.

"Boss sent me, he was worried about your little escapade and wanted me to bring you back."

“Worried? Ha ha, I just can’t deal with this.” He sighs. “Alright, I’ll go. Give me a minute.” Luz said while he went to the bedroom.

Cass looked at Dante with a blank expression.

"Um, sorry, do you know each other?" Dante asked.

"Unfortunately." He deadpanned. "Who are you anyway?"

"Oh! My name's Dante, and..."

"I'm Castiel."

"Nice to meet you, I guess?" He fidgeted with his shirt, still unsure of the situation.

"Sorry to ruin your day, Dante. You two had a lovely evening, huh? I don't get why that snake is so charmed by you..."

Castiel gets closer to him. It felt like he was looking straight at his soul. "Hm, well, I should get going. It was nice meeting you."

He walks away and meets up with Luz. He whispers something, which Dante is unable to hear.

-

Dante was at work in the bar again.

He was alone and didn’t want to be bothered.

He thought he was in love.

It could be one-sided.

He should've known.

People like him didn't deserve love or happiness.

Suddenly, a man approaches. It was Nico.

"Hey, man! I couldn't contact you for so long, what happened? You left me on read for like, a month or so, why didn't you text back?" Nico was a friend he made in college, they were very close. 

"Oh... Nico, sorry, I've been busy." He wasn't in the mood to talk to the ball of sunshine that Nico was.

"Too busy? That's it? C'mon dude, I'm your friend and friends should help each other out!" He took a sip from his drink. "Hey, I can't keep pestering you here. I can tell you're not in a good mood. Want to talk about it over drinks?"

"Sure. Just give me a second." Dante served him another drink and then started pouring himself some whiskey. He shouldn't drink on the job but... it's fine.

He takes a long sip and looks at Nico.

-

"So... you've been fucking Morningstar, huh?"

"Uh, yeah..."

"I can't believe this... You're dating Luz Morningstar. Like, the Luz Morningstar! The singer!" Nico's excitement was palpable, it felt like his eyes would pop out.

"I wouldn't call it 'dating'" Dante looks at his whiskey like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"You don't call living with someone for a month 'dating'?! Spending as much time together as possible? You're insane, man!" He then took a shot. "Man... I can't believe this! You have to tell me everything! From the moment you met, the things he does, how is his dick-"

"Hey! Not so loud!" Dante exclaims.  "No, I mean, yeah, we were fucking, but..." He sighed. "We aren't a couple."

"Really? Hmm, that's a surprise. From the looks of it, you're head over heels for him."

"Yeah, but, he has his own life and-"

"Are you dumb?!" Nico's sudden outburst took him by surprise.

"Um, what...?"

"You have the chance to be with the world's most celebrity and yet you're not sure if you're a couple. You're a fucking idiot!"

"W-wait, no. Don't call me that. Besides, you're wrong." He tried to explain himself but, maybe he was a bit of an idiot.

"Nope! I'm not letting this pass! Now, let's plan!"

-

It was 3 AM and Dante was drunk.

They had spent the whole night talking about him, about his relationship, and how Nico would help him.

Dante's phone started ringing.

"Who would call you at this hour?" Nico asked.

"Hm, I don't know, maybe it's Luz."

"Oooh, then answer!"

He quickly answers with the hope that it may be him.

"Hello? Dante?" He could hear the sing-song tone of Luz, which made his heart skip a beat. "Are you at work?"

"Uh- yeah, yeah" He tried his best not to slur his words, however, he was quite tipsy. "Where are you?"

"Hm, are you... drunk? At work?" 

"Noooo, no. I'm fine." Dante was lying through his teeth, he had no idea what was happening.

"Right. Where are you?"

"Uh, The Black Dahlia"

"Hm, stay there. I'll pick you up."

"Oh, sure. See you, I love y-"

"Yeah, I love you too. See you there, babe."

He hangs up.

"Was that him?!"

“Mm, yeah.”

"You two are so sweet! I can't wait to meet him, you gotta introduce us!"

They spent the next few minutes chatting, Nico telling stories about his childhood, and Dante trying to pay attention.

He was too dizzy to think properly.

Suddenly, the doors open and Luz walks in.

"Dante!" He approaches them and from the corner of his eye, he can see Nico visibly sweat "Oh dear- Are you ok? I'll go ask your boss to let you leave for tonight..."

"Mhm, sure. Hey, Luz."

"Yes, Dante?"

"You look gorgeous."

"I know. Thanks, babe."

Luz went to the office probably to talk to his boss, meanwhile, Nico was staring at him.

"Oh my god, he's even hotter in real life!"

"Hah, I know, right?"

"I'm so jealous of you."

“Well… we don’t know each other too well. I’m not even sure what our relationship is… I only know superficial stuff, like how he loves sweets and is a cuddle monster.”

Dante didn't notice, but Luz was already next to him.

"Hm, a cuddle monster? Interesting."

"Uh-" He was flustered, the alcohol wasn't helping either.

"Anyways~ Let's go home. Your boss said it was A-OK!" He said before noticing Nico. "Oh? Didn't see you there, who might you be?"

"I'm Nico! Nice to meet you!" Nico shook his hand enthusiastically. "It's an honor to meet you."

"Well, it's always a pleasure to meet a fan. I'll give you a little something..."

Luz gave Nico his autograph and a few tickets before they started walking to the exit.

"Dante, I'll drive us home, you can sleep."

-

Dante woke up with a horrible headache, he felt like this was happening too much lately. He should cut off from drinking for a bit.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. I've made breakfast."

Dante groans, still half asleep. "What time is it?"

"9 AM, you should eat. Here."

"Thanks."

Dante notices Luz’s phone lights up with a notification, it is from someone called Cass… wait, Cass? Wasn't he…

“By the way, who was the man that came here the other day?” Dante asks, expecting the worst.

“Oh him? He's Castiel, he's technically my guard, but we have a much deeper relationship” Luz said nonchalantly, then he realized something. “OH! We aren't dating or anything, but we do things couples do sometimes. It's an unlabeled game of cat and mouse, I’m pretty sure he hates my guts.” He then sighs. “I'm sorry, I should have told you earlier.”

Dante looked at him in silence. He was not expecting this.

"I'm sorry, I know it was selfish of me. I just-"

"Don't worry, it's fine. I understand." Dante smiled and grabbed Luz's hands. "I like you, Luz. You don't have to explain yourself, I'm just happy to be with you."

"R-really? You don't know how happy this makes me." He pauses "I want you to meet him, properly, I mean. Not like the other day."

"...Why was he carrying a bat?"

"Huh… why was he carrying a bat?"

-

"Hello, Dante, nice to see you again."

"Same here."

Castiel stares at him, a stoic look on his face. "Morningstar, I'm assuming everything went well."

"Yeah, yeah, all good. Anyways, Cass, I wanted to introduce you to him. Properly."

"You're saying it like you want my blessings for your marriage."

"Ha ha, don't be silly” Luz then says in a cheery voice.

"Yeah, you better not. Because I want to be your first." Castiel then grabs Luz's hand in his. "I want to be the first ring in your hand." 

Luz starts maniacally laughing, and between coughs he mumbles, "There's no way you just said that, you're so gross." He then looks at him with loving eyes. "I'll remember that, you just made a deal with the Devil."

Dante was feeling like the awkward third wheel, but still quite embarrassed at the PDA.

"Anywho, you two, please take a seat, I'll get something to eat." He went to the kitchen, leaving them both alone.

There was complete silence in the apartment.

Should he break the ice?

"Um-"

"So-”

They stare at each other, and Castiel makes him a sign to go first.

"Sorry." Dante fidgets a bit. "So, how did you and Luz meet?"

"I wanted to ask you the same." Castiel then looks at the wall, as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. "He's a complete disaster, without me he wouldn't be able to even get out of bed, did you know he still sleeps with the lights on? It's either that or he just sleeps with someone to keep him company." He sighs and looks at him sternly. "You don't know him, at all, so don't even think you are in my level. You're just another fun toy for him to fool around with, he'll always come back to me. Just to me."

Dante could feel that this was a threat, but... "I don't care, I don't care that this could be just a temporary thing, you do not get to act like he's your property, he's a person." He feels the anger dissipating from himself, but now he realizes his mistake in saying that out loud.

Dante closes his eyes in the fear that he'll get physically harmed, but, shockingly he didn't get his face punched, not even a slap. Instead, he could hear Castiel laughing.

"Hah, good one. Like I haven't heard that before." Then, Luz appears from the corner with some plates full of food. "Hey, Morningstar. For how long will you keep this lie?" Said Castiel smugly.

Luz freezes in place at the question. "Whatever do you mean?" Then sighs. "Don't tell me you're trying to make him run away, too." He sits beside Dante and starts eating, completely ignoring the mood.

"You know, about how you are-"

Luz casts him a deadly glance, clearly pissed. Castiel suddenly shuts up and looks to the side. "I don't see how that is relevant, it sure doesn't matter to you."

Dante was sweating, the awkward tension made him just want to crawl out of his body. "As long as it doesn't hurt anyone I don't mind... Any kind of secret he may have..." He muttered.

"See? You scared him already. If you keep being this overprotective jealous man then I won't let you sleep with me." Luz was already the same as always, and the tension finally lightened. Even Castiel seemed to be in a better mood, although less talkative.

And so, they eat in peace.

-

After he left Luz's house he couldn't help but feel a little off. What kind of secret could Luz be hiding? He was about to text him, but before he did he saw that someone was calling him.

"Hello?" 

"Dante! Dante! Listen to me, I just got an interview for a backup dancer position!" Nico rambled excitedly. "And you won't believe for who!"

"Oh wow, that's super good, Nico, you'll do great!" He was happy for his friend, being a dancer was a hard job, as it wasn't viewed as something you could go into expecting lots of payment. "Who are you dancing with?"

"Luz Morningstar! I can't fucking believe it!" 

"Wait what? Luz?" They hadn't talked that much since the visit with Castiel, since Luz had to go on some sort of trip to visit his parents. But why did he choose Nico? He hoped it was for his skill and not any kind of connection or favor the singer wanted to repay.

"Yes! We met once when you weren't home, and he liked my dancing so much that he got me a spot on the audition, and guess what! He chose me!" Nico was over the moon, and despite being in a rough patch with Luz, he felt happy for Nico too.

He sighs. “That’s great, Dante. I hope he doesn’t overwork you.”

“Of course not, dude! If anything, it would be an honor!” 

“You’re weird.” He laughs, “Don’t let others step over you, you deserve everything nice.”

“Aww, same to you! Anyway- I gotta go practice my butt off! I gotta be in the best shape for work! See you.”

“See you.”

He looks at his phone as the call ends, debating what to do now. If he texted Luz would he look too obsessive? He shouldn’t get his hopes up, it seemed that the end of this beautiful relationship was soon after all.

With a sour expression, he went to the nearest grocery shop.

-

Even going to work felt like a complete disaster, a bunch of drunk people wasn’t a good combination for a broken heart. He tries to keep his mind off of things, but he has to confront the situation eventually. Castiel was his main issue, it was clear they didn’t like each other and were dating the same man. However, neither of them even had confirmation that they were dating Luz, he simply didn’t like labels like that.

It was fine, it wasn’t fine. He wasn’t sure what to think.

It was around 3 AM when he saw his phone light up, he expected it to be just one of his rhythm games telling him his energy was full, but instead, he saw a message from Luz.

‘Home rn, plz come asap’ the text said. It was a weird text, as Luz didn’t tend to use acronyms or not send a full paragraph for each text.

Then that must mean things had come to an end.

His stomach ties itself up to a knot, the feeling of bile rising upon his throat didn’t make things better. Despite not being the most emotional man, he still felt a little apprehensive to the notion of responding. He was afraid.

Mustering up his courage, he texts back, ‘Sure, see you.”

Dante just hoped things would end peacefully.

-

What he didn’t expect was coming to a complete wreck of his home.

The shelves were thrown off, trinkets and books adorning the floor. But what disturbed him the most was the blood-like substance making a trail in his living room.

“Hello?!” He calls out, being afraid of whatever may still be in his apartment. Looking around, he notices that the bat Castiel had brought a long time ago was still near the entrance, he takes it, praying that he won’t have to use it.

Dante follows the trail of blood, the droplets ending at his closed bedroom door. 

Full of adrenaline, he opens the door. The sight was something he wished he had never seen.

Luz was on the bed, surrounded by the bedsheets. But what was the most noticeable was the blood staining the white sheets. Whimpering, Luz twitches in his place but doesn’t get out of his cocoon.

“Luz?! Luz, what happened?!” Dante drops the bat and immediately goes up to the other man. He takes the covers off of his face and notices a blank stare on him, he doesn’t seem in pain, he doesn’t seem like anything. But after recognizing that it was Dante his mouth twitches to a smile.

“Dante~ Dante~ It’s you. Have I told you you look like an angel? Yes, you are my guardian angel.”

“What are you talking about?! What happened, who did this to you?! Are you hur-”

“Shh, hug me.” He grabbed Dante and pushed him on top of himself. Squeezing tightly at the other man. “It’s all fine.”

“Luz…” Dante tries to get out of the other’s hold, he needs to check the source of the blood. He couldn’t handle the thought that Luz had been hurt, or even worse, about to die. “Let me at least check your wounds… Please.”

“Hmm-? Why do you want to see my body? Oh well, my body is yours, so go ahead~” He lets his arms go limp and just lets Dante do his thing.

Dante took this sign as being allowed to check, so he lifted Luz’s shirt, encountering…

Marks, scars, wounds, wounds that weren’t there before. He had seen Luz without a shirt before, he had a few tattoos but aside from that he had never seen these kinds of scars. Not all of them looked fresh, but he could see that there were some burns, even rope burns, and lots of cuts from a sharp object… This wasn’t just a normal assault, it was torture.

“Luz…” Dante was about to cry, he couldn’t handle seeing the man who made him so happy during this short time so hurt. “Let me see your back, and then we’ll start covering these wounds.” He did his best to even his breathing, Luz didn’t seem in pain, but the scars looked so awful, there was no way they didn’t hurt. 

The back was even worse, he could see that the majority of the scars were healed, but god… They were made from a whip. Dante couldn’t help but let the tears stream down.

Just what kind of suffering had Luz gone through? Since when? These kinds of questions just made him want to protect Luz, to never let him be in pain again. He sobs and sobs. Luz notices the change in mood and immediately goes to hug him.

[oc-writing-corner]

IF.... and only if, Henry and Kathleen were not mortal enemies and somehow found themselves as the part of some kind of coming-of-age story, some kind of romantic drama, it would be illegal to not have a scene that goes like this:

Henry and I stood on opposite sides of the ground. The rain beat hard on my body. Each drop of water thrummed on my aching muscles. But the cold weary weather, was nothing like the storm that brewed inside of me.

I met his eyes defiantly. Those deep pools of black coffee in his eyes were as tasteless as the excuses he gave me. My hands hardened, nails digging into my skin. He couldn’t even look at me properly. My throat was dry. Empty. And yet still there was so many things I wanted to tell him, scream at and beg of him.

Henry’s frown deepened. He tried to open his mouth, only to close it again. His shoulders rose and fell with every breath, every word that failed to escape his mind.

“Why…? WHY?” I screamed at him, hands in my hair. I gripped onto my head tight. Tears falling at the same rate of the rain’s downpour. Nothing. Still, nothing. And still, here I was. Heart-heavy and drenched. Reaching out my hand, first, and waiting for his reply second.

“I’m sorry,” was all Henry could muster. His pathetic hand, hanging over the back of his neck. His eyes sideward and scampering to meet anyone else’s eyes but mine. “I can’t do it anymore- I just can’t.”