#morning writer

[guzhufuren]

upcoming thai ql prayer circle 🤝🤝🤝

[morganbritton132]

No one wants Steve and Eddie to get together more than Eddie’s creative writing class who will collectively ripping their metaphorical hair out if they have to hear another long description of a king in need of rescuing.

Well, everybody but Steve.

Steve - who is only in this class because they wouldn’t let him take personal finance three years in a row - has not pick up on who the king is based on and will openly interrupt Eddie halfway through a story to be like, “This guy again? Ugh, he sucks.”

“He doesn’t suck!”

“Uh, yeah, he does? He’s mean for no reason and like, apathetic to his knights terrorizing people,” Steve adds. “Also he’s ugly. You keep describing him and he sounds ugly. He has a big nose. No offense, Jessica. The court jester should kill him.”

“Thats the point, Harrington,” Eddie scuffs. “He could be better if his court wasn’t full of idiots.”

“Then make him better,” Steve scuffs right back. “You’re the narrator.”

“I’d love to.”

The entire class thinks, so would we.

[ahhrenata]

Steve tries to stay quiet while he gets ready for work, but Eddie hears him. He keeps his eyes closed and just listens- to Steve grumbling to himself when his hair doesn’t sit quite right, who starts to hum and whisper some catchy song. Eddie turns his sleepy gaze onto Steve as he shuffles around their room- watching quietly as he slips on his clothes, his shoes, a simple chain with Eddie’s ring around his neck. A warm, affectionate smile breaks across his face. Before he leaves, Steve glances at what he expects to be a sleeping Eddie, but instead, he’s met with a rasped, ‘Hey.’ Eddie sits himself up, stretches his arm across Steve’s side of the bed, and reaches, fingers wiggling. Steve crosses the room to cradle his face.

Their foreheads press, noses bump, and Steve brushes his fingers across scars and dimples.

He breathes a quiet,

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.’

Eddie huffs a tired laugh,

‘You know I never mind.’

Because, yeah.

Every morning Steve tries to stay quiet while he gets ready for work, but Eddie always hears him.

( another one from the poll | WIP )

[manincaffeine]

wanna be laying in bed with you rn

[wordsofwilderness]

You'd think writing a chapter would make you one chapter closer to being done with a fic. You'd think that, wouldn't you??

But no, you are in fact 3 chapters further away.

[myokk]

WHAT IS UP WITH THE HOGWARTS LEGACY FANDOM?????????????

I am so fucking fed up with this fandom & honestly it makes me lose any desire to post anything here anymore.

So many people here look at EVERYTHING as a damn competition and it’s NOT. It should be a place for people to brainrot together, talk about theories, and enjoy seeing what other people draw and write etc. Have I sometimes felt insecure bc I don’t get as many notes as other people?! Yes of course…but I always focus on the connections and the lovely people I’ve met and like talking to bc that’s why I post in the first place. I didn’t spend 4 months posting my fic to 10 kudos and 1 comment with basically no feedback bc I care about popularity😆😆

I’ve never been part of a fandom before this one but honestly everything feels so immature here, especially lately. Is it NORMAL to send hate to people who interpret the characters differently than you?! Or send hate to people who ship something you don’t like???? Is it NORMAL to start a confessions blog that’s for people to vague post about others & give everyone reading it anxiety??? (And NO, it’s not “leveling the playing field” wtf). Is it NORMAL to be so close minded, that you’re always trying to start shit with other people?!!??

It is SO FUCKING EXHAUSTING & honestly I try my hardest to NOT feed into any negativity and I’ve never posted the hate I’ve gotten because quite frankly, it’s ridiculous.

I genuinely love seeing what all of you post and always try to comment when I have the mental energy, because I love having a sense of community and you’re all very talented.

[t4tmetalsonic]

in light of recent events

[pink-heart-writes]

[thatsbelievable]

[silverskye13]

"So I'm about to say something really... Hmm... Weird," Joe said as he leaned against the building, arms crossed.

"Is that supposed to be news to me?" Cleo asked, rifling through her bag and pulling out two apples. She passed one to Joe, and he took it.

"If it were, I don't think we'd be friends."

"I figured."

"Anyway it's a little weirder than normal."

"I'll be the judge of that, I think."

Joe shrugged, took a bite of his apple and said, "So, one of the arguments against a benevolent God -- don't look at me like that I told you it was weird -- anyway, so, if God was so nice, would he have put a bomb in the Garden of Eden?"

Cleo blinked at Joe for a long moment.

"Sorry, I'll back up a little," Joe smiled apologetically. "How much do you know about human theology?"

"I've been human before Joe," Cleo glowered, pulling a knife from her pocket and cutting a small piece away from her apple. "That's just a really strong lead."

Joe shrugged. "Did you expect anything different?"

"No, it's just a little early for theology today."

"We can talk about something else, if you want."

A shout interrupted their conversation. Grian sprinted past, laughing maniacally and apologizing in the same breaths. Doc followed quickly after him, shouting curses and insults. Joe and Cleo both took contemplative bites of their apples and watched the two run.

"No, I want to see where this conversation is going," Cleo said finally, slicing another piece of her apple off.

"Okay, so, some people believe God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and also, all-benevolent," Joe continued, twisting his apple stem with every adjective. "But if He were all of those things, why would He make a bunch of curious humans, tell them they could touch everything except one specific big red button, and, knowing they would definitely press it, just sit back and watch?"

"I wasn't aware buttons and bombs existed at the same time as the Garden of Eden."

"One could argue the whole Soddom and Gammorah thing was bomb-like."

"That was definitely, definitely meteors, Joe."

"Also the bomb thing is an analogy, and you know it's an analogy."

"What are we analogy-ing?" Mumbo asked, flaring his elytra as he landed beside them.

Cleo pulled a third apple from her bag and passed it to him, "Pretty sure Joe is comparing you to God."

Mumbo took the apple, looking incredulous. He gave a laugh that was half nervous, half confused. "I-- well that's-- that's very flattering Joe. I didn't realize you thought so highly of me."

"You would think that," Cleo smirked, slicing off another piece of apple.

"What?"

"So the question stands," Joe continued as though neither of the interruptions took place. "If God is good, why did he put a big red button in the Garden of Eden?"

Mumbo opened his mouth, and then deciding he had no idea what this conversation was about, actually, he closed it again.

"Maybe God was feeling optimistic that day," Cleo offered. "Or maybe even gods need to screw around and find out sometimes. For instance, I know this apple is definitely going to rot in me later, but I'm also definitely still eating it."

"Fair point," Joe said, twisting off his apple stem and flicking it to the ground. "So maybe God can make mistakes, or He was curious, or there was something ineffable going on at the time. But if God did it twice," Joe gave Mumbo a sideways glance, "would that be screwed up or what?"

Mumbo opened his mouth again, closed it, opened it again.

"Mumbo a fly is going to buzz in there if you aren't careful," Cleo said.

"Okay, okay. I can see where -- okay. So, first off, I'm not God," Mumbo said, and then paused, because Scar was screaming and running past them now, followed shortly by Grian, who was followed shortly by Doc. Then he continued, "Also this isn't Eden."

"It's an analogy," Joe reminded him unhelpfully, smiling warmly.

"Also how was I supposed to know this would happen again?"

"That Grian would push a button, or that Grian would push a button specifically to mess with Doc?" Cleo asked innocently.

Mumbo opened and closed his mouth again eloquently.

"You've gotta admit, at this point it is starting to look intentional," Joe pointed out.

"What's starting to look intentional?" Jevin interrupted, landing amidst the group standing on the fringes of the shopping district. Cleo offered him another apple.

"A malevolent God," Joe answered.

"My button," Mumbo grumbled at the same time.

"The hubris of man," Cleo added, because it seemed relevant.

"I HAVE BEEN STANDING HERE FOR THIRTY-SIX HOURS GRIAN. THIRTY-SIX." Doc screamed, passing so close to the four onlookers in his chase, they could no longer talk over his yelling. "I WANT THAT CROWN IT BELONGS TO ME."

Grian slid across the grass, narrowly dodging Doc's thrown axe. He threw the gaudy purple crown he'd stolen to Scar, who sprinted off in another direction with it. Doc roared angrily, "I LET YOU TOO OFF EASY LAST TIME BUT NO MORE! I WILL RAIN TNT AND FIRE ON YOUR BASES! I WILL TEAR THEM APART BLOCK BY BLOCK I WILL--!"

"I'm sorry Doc!" Grian cackled, not sounding sorry at all, "It's just -- you're so fun to mess with!"

He and Scar spread their elytras and leaped into the sky, followed shortly by Doc, who was still shouting.

Jevin, Cleo and Joe all turned to look at Mumbo, who rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Okay so... Maybe it's possible, yes, I could have foreseen this happening," Mumbo said begrudgingly. "But I mean, it's not all that bad, is it?"

"We do have a lot of fun fighting wars," Jevin agreed, shoving his entire apple into his face. It hovered blue-tinted in his opaque slime for a moment before rapidly dissolving.

"You would, Jevin," Cleo smiled.

"Sleep with one eye open, Cleo," Jevin replied conversationally.

"Some of our best mini games came out of the Mycelium War," Joe observed, taking one more bite out of his apple.

Mumbo looked down at his apple contemplatively.

"So the question still stands," Cleo said, after a long pause had passed between them, "is Mumbo evil for inflicting The Button Game on us the first time, or the second time?"

Joe shrugged, "I think like all religion, the answer is subjective. Doc would argue yes. Grian would argue no."

"That wasn't a yes-or-no question," Jevin said.

"I would argue I'm still not God, so this is a terrible analogy, actually!" Mumbo shouted defensively, and then took a bite of his apple, closing the subject.

[spitefulbull]

[withinsight-motivation]

You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.

Annie Proulx

[mktskii]

—Fixing More Than Gear

—Synopsis: The Support Course midterm project is supposed to be a breeze—design a piece of gear, find a model to test it, and call it a day. But when your quiet plan to work with someone under the radar takes a surprising turn, you find yourself caught up in an unexpected situation. Bakugou, the annoying jerk who keeps coming to you to fix his stuff, has other ideas for your project, and for some reason, he won't leave you alone. What happens when a simple request turns into something far more complicated?

—Pairing: Bakugou Katsuki x AFAB + Support Course!Reader.

—Genre: Slow-burn romance, slice-of-life.

—Tags: Enemies-to-lovers, banter, RBF reader, grumpier x grumpest, miscommunication, one-sided crush continues (HAHA), support course expertise, Bakugou struggling even more with feelings, Bakugou literally wants reader so bad lol, reader is tired of everyone's shit, reader is so done with Bakugou's bs, reader CANNOT catch signals, this slow-burn actually killed me to type down but i will NOT end this series cuz i love this too much.

It’s that time of year—midterms. Everyone in U.A. has to do some kind of big assignment, but for the Support Course, it's something special. This year, Power Loader, the faculty member overseeing the Support Development Studio, made things easy—or so he thought. The task? Create any kind of support gear you want and have someone from U.A. model and test it. Preferably a hero course student, but anyone would do.

That’s how the chaos started.

Class 1-A quickly became a battlefield of Support Course students swarming the top three—Bakugou, Todoroki, and Midoriya. They begged, pleaded, and even offered bribes to get one of them to model their gear. Bakugou? He was having none of it. He exploded (literally and verbally) at anyone who dared approach him with the idea of "modeling." He was a hero-in-training, not a damn mannequin.

But here’s the thing. Deep down, even though Bakugou found the entire situation annoying, he kind of… maybe… secretly… wanted you to ask him.

Bakugou, being Bakugou, had his own reputation to maintain, and there was no way in hell he was going to make the first move. You were supposed to come to him. You knew him, after all. You fixed his gear (and stuff he deemed needing fixing from you personally) all the time. So, it made sense for you to pick him, right? He found a way to sort of pay you back for everything you've done for him.

But then, when he found out that you picked Shinsou Hitoshi from General Studies? Oh, that was when the sparks really flew. You were actually polite to Shinsou, working with him without any of the usual sarcasm or snark you threw at Bakugou. And the fact that Shinsou wasn’t even in the hero course? That stung. You’d seriously rather ask someone from General Studies than ask THE Bakugou Katsuki? Seriously?

He wasn’t jealous. Definitely not. It wasn’t about you. It was about proving that he should have been your first choice. That this was a way for him to say 'thanks' without actually having to say it.

Right?

Now Bakugou had a choice. He could let it go, let you work with Shinsou and forget about the whole thing. Or, he could try something a little out of his comfort zone—actually asking (or forcing..) you into picking him instead. And being Bakugou, there was no way he was going to let something he wanted slip away.

One afternoon, Bakugou stomped his way into the Support Lab, making his presence known with his usual dramatic flair. Everyone else working in the lab was still trying to get used to it by now, and you? You didn’t even glance up from your workbench.

Bakugou, holding up a busted watch, plopped it onto your workspace with an annoyed grunt. “Fix it,” he demanded, his tone implying you owed him something.

You gave him a quick, disinterested glance.

"Again?" you ask, raising an eyebrow, but not really paying much attention. It's just a watch. He watched as you picked the watch up and muttered something about how it didn’t look that broken. You got to work and it took about 2 minutes since, cmon. You’ve fixed way more complicated things for him before. But this was seriously starting to get out of hand.

While you work on his watch, Bakugou starts subtly bringing up the subject of the midterm projects. Or, as subtle as he can be, which is basically him complaining about how much everyone in the Support Course sucks.

“They keep askin’ me to model for their stupid gear,” he grumbles, crossing his arms and glaring at the mess of support tools on your desk.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," you mutter, already tired of the topic. “Everyone’s desperate.”

You don’t think much of it, just nodding in agreement because, yeah, Support Course students were pretty much throwing themselves at any hero course student (hell, any student at this point.) that would listen. But Bakugou? He's trying his hardest to steer the conversation in a particular direction.

“So, who are you gettin’ to be your model?” he asks, barely masking the irritation in his voice. His eyes are on you, waiting for your response.

You shrug. “I already got Shinsou from General Studies. He agreed.”

That’s when Bakugou’s patience starts wearing thin. His jaw clenches, and he has to fight every urge to not let his temper flare up. He already knew that, but hearing it straight from you? That you seriously picked Shinsou? Over him? That stung more than he'd ever like to acknowledge.

“That guy? What’s his Quirk again? Mind control or somethin’?” Bakugou scoffs, trying to hide the fact that he’s more annoyed than usual.

“Yeah,” you answer, without looking up. “He’s quiet. Doesn’t complain much. Gets the job done.”

Bakugou can feel his eye twitch. You hadn’t even thought of him? He nearly short-circuited on the spot, but forced himself to stay calm. His brain screamed at him to not blow it. So, he tried another tactic. “Tch, why not pick someone better? Like… I dunno, a hero or some shit?”

You didn’t even blink. “Like who? Power Loader said it could be anyone. Shinsou’s quieter.”

"Someone who’d actually make your damn gear look good," Bakugou mutters, trying to drop the hint, but you’re completely oblivious.

“Yeah? Well, no one comes to mind.”

Bakugou's temper is rising, but he knows if he blows up, it'll ruin the whole thing. He takes a breath—short, angry, but controlled—and tries one last time.

"I could do it so much better than that sleep-eyed loser." There it was. He had practically laid it out for you, all but outright saying he wanted you to pick him. But instead of jumping at the opportunity, you just handed him his now-fixed watch, scoffed, and said, “Cool, well, good luck with your own midterm.”

Bakugou blinked. That’s it? You didn’t even catch the hint? You probably thought he was joking or something. But, still! Was that not obvious enough?

He took the watch, his frustration boiling to the surface. He wanted to scream, “I’M TRYING TO HELP YOU, DAMMIT!” but instead, he just gritted his teeth and stormed out, the door rattling behind him. You went back to your work, entirely unaware of the emotional crisis Bakugou was going through just because you didn’t ask him to model for your damn project.

As the door slammed shut behind him, you couldn't help but feel a twinge of confusion about your interaction. Had Bakugou actually wanted you to ask him? Or was he just being a jerk, as usual?

It didn’t matter. You had Shinsou lined up, and Bakugou was just Bakugou.

But inside, his spirit felt shattered. Why was it so hard to just admit he wanted to be chosen? Why did he have to play this game when all he wanted was to spend more time with you?

As Bakugou walked away, he realized he couldn’t let this opportunity slip through his fingers. This was his chance to prove himself, not just as a hero but as someone you might actually choose.

He’d find a way to make it happen. No matter what it took.

Reblogs and comments are appreciated <3

‧₊˚tags:

@caaaddddyyy

@fta1ask4

@matchat3a

[manincaffeine]

i don't even know what flirting is. i'll just send you a good morning text

[wakandama2]

I wanna Black Carrie-inspired movie, real rep for us stuck in a white country town Black girls. So, walk wit me real quick-

Locational Background: We still set in the late 70's. Set in multiple rural towns, the main town being Chamberlain, Missouri when the meat of the story takes place. We are firmly in the upper south/Midwest tho.

Our Carrie inspired MC is named Alanna(will be relevant and fucked up later)

Alanna's Mama, Evette, is a Black white passing woman and was the daughter of the town's Black tailor and his wife a music teacher and a righteous choir leader for the Black church who was known for a 'voice of power' that was known to shake the church foundations and make people run around the building in glory.

This gift is passive in Evette leaving her with just a beautiful singing voice. Evette's voice and virtuous image and ways draws the attention of a traveling white Evangelistic-leaning cult leader, Alan Hobbs (he's kinda Jim Jones esc) who whisked her off to join his 'missionary' in order to travel around the country to warn of the rapture and demand repentance of sinners.

He unofficially marries her and gets her pregnant and when Alanna comes out looking very visibly Black, he tries to kill her as a baby because he would expose him as being 'sinful'. Alanna's gift activates through her cries and controls Evette's body and makes her stop Alan from killing their baby. Evette screams in despair and her own gift kills him. Evette's feverish (and kinda delusional) faith of what Alan taught her is the only thing that keeps her together when she has to hide his murder and head back to Chamberlain, taking care of Alanna the whole way.

When Evette gets back to her hometown and relays the story to her mother in distress. Her mother is relieved and reveals that the women in their family having Powerful Voices is a gift from their greatest grandmother as she had been blessed to use it to protect her daughters and sisters during slavery. She also confirms to Evette that Alanna's voice has the potential for Powers Grander than the last four generations of women.

Evette skews this information with the teachings of "women's sinful nature" that Alan had taught her and concluded that the gift is actual evil and a curse of sin. She convinces herself that Alanna is the sign of the devil's return and it's her job to quell her.

Evette cuts herself off from her family (especially her maternal side) and runs away to raise Alanna by herself in Chamberlain, pretending that Alanna is actually her niece and taking a public vow of silence (both for her faith and her misplaced guilt for killing Alan) She uses the tailoring skills her father taught her to work as a laundress and commission dress maker for the local tailor.

Between baby to 15 years old for Alanna, It's very much like the movies, Evette being incredibly strict and abusive in teaching Alanna that simply being a woman, was being sinful and to bundle down her emotions because having a temper or tone, to be anything other than submissive and quiet was just as sinful as womanhood. This lesson was particularly to stop Alanna from activating her powers again. There is an additional impact of insecurity she puts into Alanna with her looking Black and being one of the very few colored girls in the town.

Like Carrie, our poor Alanna gets her period for the first time during gym and none of her classmates, besides her only friend an equally shy Creek girl named Talia, are kind to her about it. Her distress makes the showers freak out and ground shake Talia is the only one that calms Alanna enough for the gym teacher to intervene and actually be of use. The gym teacher calls Evette to the school to get Alanna and explain menstruation to her.

After explaining how menstruation is all Eve's fault to Alanna, Evette has her take a cold bath and to read the story of Adam and Eve over and over again. During her bath time as she reads, rage fills Alanna as she gathers feelings that the biting of the apple and getting kicked out of Eden was a trick done on Eve, not her being sinful and selfish. This jolts her powers and with an angry whisper about how wicked the snake was, Alanna suddenly heats the bath water to a temperature that helps with her cramps and is intrigued.

Cue her being excused to the library that entire week. When Talia sneaks out to join her one day she relays all her questions and findings to Talia. Talia confirms that yes, it is NOT normal to heat water or cause quakes with her voice. Period of not. Talia explains how she was an early bloomer like her mother and grandmother and inspires Alanna to look into her mother's side to get explanations.

Now cue Alanna and Talia hijinks as they secretly research and test Alanna's powers for the rest of the week and weekend. Alanna finds all the letters her grandmother had set to Evette trying to convince her that their gift is a good thing and that she is a good woman. Reveling the deep history and various ways the powers of their voice can manifest. Alanna actually contacts her grandmother (call or letters idk what was more efficient for the 70s lol)

During all of this, the other girls are still hazing Alanna (and y'know being both macro and micro racist in their bullying). This comes to a head that next week where the prank they do gets Alanna nearly drowned during swim day.

This causes rage to rear up in Evette that she hadn't felt in years and she lays into the principal and gym teacher to actually give the girls repercussion for their actions. Leading to the three ringleaders to get suspended for a week and banned from prom that following week. They also have to write an essay about kindness.

One of the girls (uh, let's call her Cynthia) actually learns that damn, I was being a mean racist bitch for no damn reason, this girl hasn't done anything to me to warrant this treatment. She becomes cordial with Talia, then works with her Football Captain brother to put Alanna on the radar of the Black boy, Adam, and help him to woo Alanna.

At the same time this outburst of herself and near reemergence of her powers scares Evette and she confronts Alanna to see if it was actually her daughter's powers that caused it (just like at her birth). Alanna says no it was Evette's own and this causes her mother to break down and force a confession from Alanna that yes, she knows about their gift of a Powerful Voice and had been writing letters/calling her grandmother for information.

The two get into basically a battle of Powerful Voice in the argument, nearly causing a damn tornado to hit the town. Alanna proves that she has the greater voice just like her grandmother predicted (also because Alanna has been practicing). This puts her mother into submission and Alanna starts to demand and affirm more kindness (or at least being left tf alone) from her mother.

That whole week of suspension, Alanna is smitten from the soft wooing from Adam and coaxing of Talia and Cynthia for her to accept his prom proposal. While all this happens, the other ringleader (Uh, Susan!) is planning to do the whole public humiliation thing and to have her equally loser boyfriend slash Adam's tires and ruin his battery so Alanna can't get away afterwards.

Alanna grows into her powers, Evette grows more paranoid and passive aggressive. Constantly pestering Alanna that this was a test of the devil. Alanna talks to her about how much she's been hurt by her and for her to confront who hurt her before she loses her daughter. Alanna continues prepping for prom with Talia and her mother's help instead. Alanna gives her mother one more chance to be happy or show support to her daughter. Evette blows it (They are all gonna laugh at you!)

Prom... Happens. Y'all know the drill. Cynthia learns about the prank, tries to get to prom in time. Susan and her dickhead BF scare her by threatening to lie to her father that she's been hooking up with Adam putting both their lives in danger. Alanna is living it up at Prom with Adam and Talia. Cynthia is able to risk it and get Talia's attention to try and earn her, however they end up getting locked out and harassed by the dickhead boyfriend's greasy ass buddies and have to lock into Adam's car for safety.

Pig Blood (or maybe motor oil and chicken feathers) happens, Adam is KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS ( bad gash and concussion fosure) by the bucket falling, racist bs happen.

Alanna clutches Adam close as everyone hollars and taunts her. The school official barely doing anything to try and quell them or laughing along. The few other students of color use their sense of danger to either get the fuck outta there or try to help Alanna and Adam.

Alanna whispers them all to sleep. Prays for protection and calm for them.

Then. She. Screams.

I want FIRE, SCALDING SPRINKLERS, MFUKAS BEING CRUSHES SLAMMED AND CHOKED.

BLACK GIRL MUTHAFUCKIN RAGE TO RIP THEM ALL APART AND RUBBLE THE BUILDING THAT HOUSED ALL THAT HATE

Talia and Cynthia witness it all. The guys that were cornering them are fucking smite by one loud sigh coming from Alanna's mouth when she spots them. Alanna takes in the chaos and can only nod and start walking home, locking her friends into the car for safety.

Say what y'all want about 2013 Carrie, that car wreck scene? Happen exactly to Susan and Dickhead BF when they try to run Alanna over.

Alanna gets home to find Evette crying over the letters from her own mother. The phone has been shattered into pieces and Alanna breaks down and tells Evette everything.

Evette comforts Alanna, true comfort, for the first time in a decade. Bathing, dressing, cleaning and greasing Alanna's scalp as she sings delicate lullabies to her. She makes hot coca and wraps Allan up in a family quilt, reciting the story of Mary and the birth of Jesus to her in a cozy whisper.

As this happens the rescuers are only able to dig out Adam and the few others that tried to help Alanna, out the rubble whole and alive. They break Talia and Cynthia out of the car and the two girls run to Alanna's house. They are barely a block away then the earth rips open and screams. Quake after quake as a twister roars over them and heat snaps into the air, forcing them to huddle into a ditch as God gets angry.

Cars suddenly come to life and speed down the road to crash into the Hobbs' household.

7 minutes later. All is calm. Just a regular spring night, the only thing left is chaotic debris and soft wind.

All that's left of Evette within the mangled and smoldering remains of her home is her charred corpse clutching a pristine crucifix and the ribboned ends of Alanna's braids. The MD determined that the support beam tore through her chest and killed her first before the fire got to her. That the fire is what left just ash and braids of Alanna.

"Good. That Black Devil is banished back to hell." Is what the white pastors and the police chief says.

"My she burn and my child rest." Says parents that don't realize they raised nothing but viscous bullies.

"My friend is gone and I don't blame her for the mess it left behind. But...now I gotta go." Is what Talia tells Cynthia as she and her family flee the town just three days after it all.

Adam is sent to Chicago with his first broken heart.

But little do any know, about the green pickup that flew down the dirt roads, back to a lazy and quiet rural town that Alanna never got a chance to remember before.

Her Grandmother strokes her hair as she drives and tells the mute and shaking girl the story about the slave mother who would rather her baby be dead and free then living and in chains.

[cal-roberts]

~ Keele University on the Edge of Spring ~

(Photograph by Cal Roberts)