No one really knew what would be a good and quite seemingly random number to remember, except the old Devil, and that number was seventy million and forty one. As the Creators of the Underworld created the finality visions of all the realms - the big picture, if you would - the Devil contemplated all things precision, so he worked for Hell Office. He was in the detail after all; no other creatures but him put that out there. Millenia passed and he’d still got it. Filing tons of paperwork in no time flat. All marketing schemes, the plans, the blueprints, the contracts, the arts of the deadly deal are all under his surveilance. He smiled stupidly to himself because as of today, he would collect his final folder. And in the folder would be the final contract containing all of the information of his last human, before he retired, for he was old, giving it all up for newer and bolder Devils to take up his horny helm. He liked to joke. Now the Devil liked to sort out his victim’s folder the night before he went to sleep in order of likes and dislikes first, then to family, education, then lastly to secrets, then he would tell you because it would rather be obvious. Secrets were the trump cards that he often used when all other things about his victim didn’t work. When it did, he traded whatever they wanted for their soul as a price. He had to - The Devil had got too many needs to fulfill. It was just standard work. Souls were highly inflated nowadays in the underworld anyway, but it was still a somewhat good working commodity for centuries. Humans were making more deals than ever as populations piled up, and thanks to the deals they made, they lived longer lives. Who knew. But it was not also very lucrative because souls in the underworld were running out fast. He could still buy all sorts of daily products with just a soul or two, sometimes less with a proper contracted bargain, but that was no way to hellishly existing. Maybe after he got his severance package from Hell Office, or The Office, he’d be able to barter an abandoned, gloomy and doomed castle somewhere on the Lava Sea Archipelago. It sounded like a delightfully peevish idea.

The Devil shrugged as he woke up from his spiked bed. He bathed in boiled human blood because those inferno bedbugs swarmed him while he slept, and they didn’t like anything human so it worked fine. He dried himself with hellfire because charcoal-infused towels tended to cleanse his tapered skin too well, and that was too pleasant so it made him feel a little too guilty. He reminded himself that he had to raise some hell with the head manufacturer at Hades Incorporated about that particular towel product. No one and no chance in hell that any beings of the underworld would like something like that. Maybe the tortured and enslaved humans were too disgruntled and put something in their products for some avant-garde way to rebel. He would never know. They did well with their perfumes, however, especially the Death Stench - that one was right on the soul- rotten to the core with a light touch of sulfur. He didn’t need to shave because he didn’t have hair - he appreciated his Creator for that.

He dressed up in his white suede suit from a former human stockbroker he knew that turned fashionista of the underworld. A rare occurence indeed, and it was his deal too. His best work he might add. Best soul he ever collected. They turned into good friends after the stockbroker was murdered. the stockbroker said as he would trade most of his clothes and his soul for a chance to have a beautiful family when he was alive because he had already had everything he possibly could in life except for wife and kids. The Devil took that deal as he rolled his eyes. It was all these people ask for. Such a lack of imagination, he thought. No one ever asked for a three-headed hound, and it was getting a little crowded in all the houses he had to build. The amount of human souls he had to pay the hellhound walkers everyday were starting to stack up. But alas, without his pets, he would be very lonely.

 	The Devil said he would not take the Stockbroker’s family away from him. The Devil kept that promise, and he kept the clothes. But a Reaper showed up and took him away from his family. Phrasing was important, and that the Devil shouldn’t be drinking human blood before making deals with a human - it made him forget his file template in his wretched home so he winged it. Badly, the Reaper said. It was his only and the one failure he made in all of his time being the Devil. The Stockbroker and the Devil laughed on it after a couple of centuries. Mostly because the Devil made him. Thank the Hell Office’s Ultimate Law for torture, man, The Devil said. He was serious.

He put on white pointed shoes because he felt his mood allowed for it; light blue cravat because it reminded him of the last look of the domed Earth sky. He ate wheat toast: he liked his food burnt black and as charred as coal. He ate two; because he liked how the first one settled in his stomach. He told himself not to drink some human blood before work because it would be disrespectful to the human he was going to make a deal with. In order for him to walk the Earth, he swallowed a human soul from one of his own favorite collection to get him acclimated to the environments. The Office never provided him with any standard souls to use so he had to get it from his own stash, complaints had been made since the beginning of Hell but no Devils really did anything about it.

He preferred the smell of rotten flesh and nicely brewed cup of spleen juice from many philosophers (they were always so conflicted and full of sophistication). He could always tell what religion the philosophers were brought up on, from what country, down to the town they were raised on. He had never forgotten a taste once he experienced it. It was a quaint habit. He drank children’s blood that died from wars sometimes; when he wanted something heavy and bitter, perhaps to take his minds off of a rough work day, like when he couldn’t close a tough soul trade, and it always seemed to perk him right up. The more sorrowful the death, the better he felt.

Once, a long time ago, humanity become almost extinct, he had found that he did his job a little too well, but he found no real meaning in doing such a thing well. Hell’s Office had to convene an experiment, defecting a human with a tarnished soul, creating a real villain, in order to repopulate the Earth. Someone was not very happy about that, but they did it anyway, and it worked. It was a devilish little scheme, but it created jobs again for the Underworld so everyone was quite grateful for it. Otherwise, they had to somehow take a chance to make a deal with the last pure human to mutate or copulate with other creatures and populate the Earth with a new species. It was a tall order. The Office wanted him to make the deal because he was experienced and had nothing to lose, unlike the up and coming Devils that were to take his place after his retirement. No hellish family to contend with, so he was perfect for the job. They just didn’t account for the fact that because he put all of his energy on his work that he absolutely HAD something to lose - His seventy million and forty souls he obtained for the Office - so he declined. But the Office said he was just another decent Devil like the ones that came before him, and there will absolutely be other Devils that will surpass him. And that was that. And he didn’t like that they pointed out that if he didn’t do it, there would be literal dead end jobs for all of them. He still didn’t cave.

In order to not make the same mistakes again, leaving Earth barren of humans. He urged the Underworld to learn new languages, and update their ways of thinking to maybe making deals with dimensionally challenged beings or some other creatures of Earth. The Underworld was always set in their ways. The Devil was a little bit too old for this, trying to scream sense into them, but most of his own work on the soul was quite mediocre so nothing changed. It took them so long just to deal with one species, now possibly an infinite number of creatures, bugs, microbes, macro-organisms and all; They complained even though they were immortal. Other species might not be as compromising as humans too, they said. Sales would be tough, they said. So his attempt at creating a legacy that way before he retired didn’t work. He thought maybe if the new Devils should quit and work for Hell’s kitchen instead if they don’t have the guts for such work. He knew the butcher, maybe he could ask for a favor. He didn’t have a stomach for human butchering but what was there for an old Devil to do after retirement. The Devil sighed and climbed his own stairway to Earth. He felt like he didn’t belong to the Underworld anymore. Eventually, he would only be ceremoniously revered for all the work he did with no real foundation or infrastructure behind it. What a terrible thing to happen to an old Devil! Case number seventy million and forty one, he said. His whole death work, he sighed. And it came down to a eighty three years old woman on her death bed in a nursing home as his last. What a boring notion. He was determined that he made his last deal the most memorable one. Maybe he should have a conversation with her first, he thought, as he pulled a half broken chair that caught his dark eyes and sat next to her. The room was as dimly lit as could be, setting the perfect mood for him. He touched her hand with his hand. She woke up. 	“Who is it?” She said. “Can’t you see? I’m the Devil.” The Devil perplexed. “Do not mess with me, little boy. My cataracts had gotten better nowadays, and you look nothing like the Devil.” the old woman said, annoyance in her voice, almost in a sing song screeching kind of way. 	“How would you know how the Devil look?” The Devil asked. The old woman tried to put her hand up but failed three times, but finally had the strength to hover and she found his face. The Devil was deeply confused as she felt his bony face, and lack of nose, and slimy head because of the shiny lotion he put on his bald skull. “What an ugly child.” She shouted. “You need some milk, boy, and some bread while you’re at it. And you have got to stop playing jokes with the elderly, my boy. I might be dying, and you will soon if you don’t take care of yourself more.” “I do take care of myself. More than you know, old hag.” The Devil pouted as she said nothing else about it for five minutes. “I’ve seen the face of the real Devil once. And you are definitely not it.” She turned her face away to the other side of the bed. “I was twenty years old. The world was a lot different then. I was home from a long day of work and find my husband bound and beaten. I shared the same fate as I realized too late we were robbed. He killed my husband after he sexually assaulted me. Left me alive long enough to see my husband bleed to death and then stabbed me two more times in my gut. But somehow I survived. However, it was quite a long time ago. I since remarried and though I couldn’t have kids anymore, I managed to marry a good man and lived a good life despite all that. So believe me when I tell you, if I saw the Devil, I did. And he was not you. I heard years later that the robber died, of a heart attack of all things. I just wish I could see him die a painful death instead of that easy a way out. Fat and greasy and pathetically easy.” The Devil seemed to have realized something here as he stood up. He puffed in black smoke back to his den of inequities, scurrying through two tons of paperwork, all of the files and contracts he did the last century. And it only took him an hour or so before he found it. A red file with the name Ponte Mytron, looked through it diligently and then he went to the prison of hell, reserved for the worst scums of humankind. And then he floated to Hades Incorporated for more traces of the name holder, and lastly to Hell’s kitchen to see where this name took him. He finally found what he came for and in a second of pure spite, he took the soul and body that possessed that name with him back to the nursing home. A wretched thing indeed, he thought as he sat the man with the name on the broken chair, looking scared and squirrelly. “Is this the robber?” The Devil asked the old woman.

After the old woman took a long look at the craven man trembling in a nervous wreck wondering what was happening, she said. “This was the man. Yes, he was. The Devil, in the flesh. And he even looked young. What a nonsense. What a curse. I think I believe you now. Maybe you are the real Devil. Are you here to take me away?” “He died young.” The Devil answered. “And I’m not here to take you away. That’s the Reaper’s job, a real bore of a career choice if you ask me. The Reaper was there when your husband died too. I looked through the file. But I am here to make a deal with you. Like a deal I made with your husband. He had wished for a family, which I granted him. But it was my bad that the contract was flawed, and for that you suffered. My apologies. If it makes you feel better. This robber was sent to Hell Prison, and you do not want to imagine the things they did to him there to rehabilitate him. And then he was sent to do years of menial labor job at an office where he had to do the thing he hated the most when he was alive. Reading. And when that was done, they sent him to a place made for human butchering and he was killed and made into food and eaten and be defecated by his own sick kind. And then we resurrected him and start his suffering all over again.” “I see.” The old woman said. “Then I have no more regrets. I wish for nothing now, and that there are no deals that I would make with you except that maybe you keep making that man suffer. Anything I can help you with now is my deal. Anything.”

The Devil could see her soul lit up, the brightest he had ever seen. A fulfilled wish was the healing one needed for a rested soul. But that was just corporate talk. Maybe a resilient one that persevered through a meaningful life was better for a soul. And maybe this was that novel idea that would inspire the new generations of degenerates throughout the Underworld.

That neat little idea popped up as the Devil wrote his terms down, and he did it with care. He thanked the old lady as she passed away peacefully. He sat with her through her moment of death, waited for a couple of minutes before handling her to the Reaper. He thanked the Reaper as her soul floated away bright and shiny, which surprised every creatures of the Underworld.	When Hell’s Office handed the Devil his severance, they asked him how he managed that brightness of the soul; all he said was that it was the beauty of an elaborate mistake. And it was the art of managing such a mistake to a very sophisticated level of paperwork that any aspiring Devils could carefully duplicate the process in order to make the Underworld a greater place than it was, and possibly made it beautifully fair, even in the deepest parts of the Underworld.

He lied. It was a long time after his retirement that he told the Stockbroker that his wife, whose soul now in heaven, made the deal for her soul to be the brightest there ever was, and that it somehow would help the Devil with everything he wanted. And all the Devil wanted to do was finding that balance he yearned for, in his own slice of heaven in hell; and the seventy two million and forty first soul cured him of his own derelict isolation, by solidifying his legacy, not a glum castle by a sea of lava.

And so he sipped the spleen juice of the old woman as part of his deal with her that he sneaked into their contract, finding a new flavor he liked. “The Brightest Soul achieved” - thus spake the Devil.


When I was a little girl, my favorite story was Cinderella. My daddy used to tell it to me when I went to bed, always doing the voices of the wicked stepmother and ugly stepsisters. But my mother used to come in and turn out the light, yelling, “There is no such thing as ‘happily ever after’! And, certainly no Prince Charming!” Then would begin one of their many fights. And I would hide under my blanket, burying my face in my pillow, and promising myself that I would find Prince Charming. For me, there would be “happily ever after.” ***          Aila lay on her coral bed, in tears. Tears really didn’t give her the satisfaction that they did when she was on dry land. Here, at the bottom of the ocean, everything was wet. She couldn’t take it. She couldn’t do it anymore. For the past six months, she had tried. And tried. And tried. Marrying a mermaid was the easiest decision she had ever made. He was handsome, polite, and funny. Aila was in love with him. She knew she was. She knew that he had tried to make her happy. She had tried to be so.          First, they had told her that electricity would not function in the water. She knew that, of course, but she hadn’t realized that she wouldn’t be able to call her friends and parents to keep in touch. It wasn’t only that. Fish and whales came trampling through the mermaid colony, destroying their homes. It was so dark under the water— Aila couldn’t see her husband at all. It was hard to move under the ocean the water was so tense. She had had to give up her job, her family, friends, and comfort to come live with her husband.          But the final straw had come this morning. The mercourt had passed a law, stating that any human who chose, willingly, to come and live among the merpeople would not be allowed to leave the colony. If they left, they could not return.          “He must realize that he’s got to leave with me!” She cried to herself. Oceanus, her husband would be allowed to visit the colony. But Aila knew that Oceanus wouldn’t leave. He was head of the mer-colony of Seastar. He had work that he needed to do, work that would fulfill him. At one point, it could have led to their happy marriage. But not now. She had hoped that they could take vacations, that she and Oceanus could take a few months on the surface, once in a while.          Well, that was that, Aila thought. She would have to leave him. She couldn’t stay stuck down here forever, she couldn’t! She wouldn’t!          She would tell him tonight. At the thought, Aila burst into tears again. She couldn’t leave him! But she couldn’t stay, either. Oh, why couldn’t she have fallen in love with a normal man like everyone else? Because you love him, a tiny voice in the back of her mind reminded her. Well, love can only take you so far, she rationed. Look at my parents.

A knock sounded at the door. Aila quickly wiped her face. “Come in, please.”          Dr. Posydon came into her bedroom. “Mrs. Marine, may I have a word?”          “Of course,” Aila turned to face him.          He came and sat down. “We have reviewed the results of your visit to the office yesterday, and I have some good news. You’re pregnant!”          Aila’s heart stopped. “Pregnant?” she whispered.          The doctor nodded. “Yes. Congratulations to you and your husband. You should come into the office tomorrow and we’ll check up on the baby, but I just wanted to give you this news myself.”          Aila quickly pulled herself together. “Thank you so much, Dr. Posydon. I’ll be there in the morning.”          He nodded and left.          Aila closed the door behind him and sat on the edge of her bed. Pregnant! She was pregnant. She broke into a huge smile and began laughing giddily. She was a mother! Abruptly, she stopped. This changes everything. All of her plans to tell Oceanus of her unhappiness and to leave the colony as soon as she could were thrown into jeopardy.          Oceanus would want to help raise their child. But that meant that the child couldn’t leave. Aila was certainly not going to allow her child to be snatched from her forever. That left one option: hide her pregnancy from Oceanus until she was safely on dry land. She could do it.

What about the baby? The tiny voice whispered again. She remembered her parents’ divorce. It had torn her apart. She took out a photograph from her bedside. Her mother and her father, with her in their arms. The only picture she had of the three of them together. That was all she had wanted as a child. A family. A real family, with people who looked out for each other and helped and encouraged one another. The only family she had ever known was travelling between parents’ houses, hoping that they wouldn’t come out to the car and start fighting. Aila couldn’t force that on her child. She couldn’t do it to herself.

You have to choose “happily ever after”, the voice said. Aila thought of her wedding vow. For better, for worse… till death do us part. She had loved that part of the ceremony. How nice it would be to love someone, no matter what happened. To grow old with someone. That was all she wanted. So why are you choosing something else? The voice questioned again.          Aila made her decision. Maybe life wouldn’t be perfect, but she wouldn’t leave her husband. She had made a vow, and she intended to keep it. For my family, she thought. She liked the sound of those words. My family.          Another knock. “Come in.”          Oceanus entered. “Aila, honey, I’m so sorry, I tried, but they passed the law anyway.”          Aila turned. “Don’t worry, love. We’ll be okay.” She smiled. “I have some news.” ***          I never told Oceanus about that day in my room. He never asked. Oceanus is now Prime Minister of the Pacific Ocean. He is happy, and I’m happy because he’s happy. Our four children, Aquiiana, Neptune, Reef, and Coral, are thriving under the sea. It was “happily ever after” for me. I made it so. I hear his footsteps in the hallway. I turn around to greet him, smiling wide, my hands on my stomach. “I have some news.”


It has been two weeks ever since i found out about the whispers, And it has been one year and a half ever since my love left this life. I didn’t even get to say goodbye, my love died and left me all alone. It felt as if my heart was crushed into a million pieces. After that i was just a walking body, no soul, no human-like. It’s like half my soul just vanished. I had no desire to do anything, until i heard these whispers calling for me. It was his voice, calling my name. It was a friday night and i was in my bedroom reading a book that i know I’ll never finish. It was so quiet i could hear my own heartbeat, I didn’t think there was any heartbeat left after my true love died. While i was reading i heard something outside my window, i left my book on my bed and went to check what it was. I opened the window and it turns out it was just the sound of the winds, as i had thought. I left the window open because it was summer and the weather was burning hot. I went back to continue on my reading and i could still hear this strange sound. Kind of like bees buzzing, a swarm of them. I went back again and shut the window. I stood frozen in the middle of the room, shocked by this continuing sound. I listened carefully, the sound was getting louder and louder. I thought i was losing my mind, I decided to go back to bed, maybe i have a headache and I’m hallucinating. Maybe the heat of the summer made me ill. I grabbed my book and accidentally shut it and I forgot what page i was it, and the sound is getting even louder. I grabbed my pillow and pushed it on my ears, hoping this sound would stop. The sound was getting louder than before, much more it’s causing my ears to hurt. I grabbed my pillow and threw it in the middle of the room and shouted: “STOP” And this time I definitely thought i had lost my mind. The pillow was frozen mid-air. It’s like a ghost was holding it and it was floating but not even moving. Completely frozen. I didn’t know what to do, i just got up and swiped my hand above and below it, what kind of sorcery is this? I thought so much about this, I grabbed the pillow and said “m-move” and the pillow fell into the ground and i was so shocked. At that moment I wanted to test if what i did was true, I went to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. I threw it in the same spot and said “Stop” The water came out of the glass and it was as if someone had threw it in a really really frozen weather, but we are in summer. My mind was blown away. Has my longing for my love really drive me this crazy? I’ve always heard about people losing their minds and going crazy but i had never even thought of this happening to me, no I’m not crazy. Maybe I really do have hallucinations, I decided it was time to sleep, but how can one sleep after going through this thing. I don’t even know what it was, do i stop things from moving? Do i control things? Am I stopping time? I go to bed without even changing my clothes. And i try to sleep, insomnia is killing me tonight. After hours and hours of moving around and tossing and turning, i had finally fell asleep. I didn’t even notice i had school next morning, when my alarm waked me up at 6 AM. I remembered i had school, i got up and I forgot what had happened yesterday, i guess I thought it was a dream. I took a shower and dressed up, done my hair and grabbed my bag and went downstairs. I quickly grabbed an apple and headed to the door. I always leave much early, even before school starts. That is because when Joe and I were together, our first date was walking around the bridge which is half an hour away from home but was close to school. In that bridge he had made me a promise that he will never leave me, we met there almost every single day. There was no one but me on that bridge, everytime i go there my tears just keep falling. I stand there like a statue, like I’m frozen. And call out his name: “Joe, why did you leave me? You promised me...” This time was different, this time i heard someone calling me, i turned around but there was no one there. I suddenly remembered last night, it wasn’t a dream and I definitely wasn’t hallucinating. I focused again and the sound sounded more clearer here. It was joe’s voice calling me:”Emma, what are you doing over there? Come down” His voice said softly with a laugh. I remember this, it was when we went hiking once and I climbed a tree to get a better view of the place. But what is this? Why am I hearing this? I couldn’t help it and just used my hands and put them on my ears and yelled. I said stop again, and this time I wasn’t meaning for anything to stop, I didn’t mean for the water to stop moving or the trees to stay still. Or the birds to freeze while flying. I said with a crying voice:”Why is this happening to me? JOE!!!” i saw a spark behind me and turned instantly, it was like a portal. Like the ones i has seen in movies, “this can’t be real” I thought to myself. I came closer and I could hear his voice again in a distance. “I promise you, I’ll never let you go” I could hear joe talking. “What if you do let me go? Find yourself another girl?” I said I came closer and closer to the portal, I raised my hand and slowly touched it. I found myself at the bridge again, but this time i could see Joe and myself. Talking and laughing. I miss this so much, i miss him. I started walking towards us, i can hear him again. I can see him again, my love. I smiled and tears kept on rolling down my face. I thought to myself that this is the only way i could keep on seeing him. I could sit hear for hours and hours and just watch him talk and laugh and be the guy that i loved like no other. When this memory finished and we both went home, the portal showed up again. I walked to it and found myself at the bridge but at present time. What i was shocked about more than walking into a portal is that i was standing in the middle of the road with cars honking and going so fast. I quickly jumped to the side and realized that it was night!!! And the road was filled with cars that could have killed me. I opened my bag and picked up my phone and found 11 missed phone calls and like a billion messages. I quickly ran home, that would have took me half an hour but it only took me 15 minutes because i was worried about what my parents would say. When I started to see my house from a distance I could also see red and blue lights. THEY CALLED THE COPS!!! I instantly went to the door and opened it and my mom and dad and two police officers came up to see me. “Where the hell were you Emma???” Mom said with a worried but angry voice. “We were worried about you” my dad said more calmly. “I’m so sorry officers and thank you so much, we apologize for this” my dad said to the police officers. “Oh no don’t, it’s our job. Next time kid don’t skip school, alright?” The police officer said to me. I nodded with a slight smile and they headed outside. When they were gone my parents started yelling and I couldn’t even understand a word they were saying. While they are yelling and making no sense what so ever, i could hear joe’s voice again. Even though it’s very chaotic i could still focus on his voice, i have to go see him. I looked at my parents and said: “I’m fine, i was at Mary’s place, we have a project together and we lost track of time.” I haven’t talked to Mary in so long, but she was the first person to pop in my head so i just said her name. “You could have called and said you’re going to her place” my dad said. My mom on the other hand said: “what about school Emma?? You didn’t go to school, where were you really?” “Mom! I told you, we asked for permission to leave school and work on the project, I’m so tired can i go to my room now?” I lied and I’m pretty sure my mother didn’t believe a single word coming out of my mouth, but she just went to the living room and I hurried upstairs to my bedroom. When i opened the door i could see the portal again, at the wall in my room. I closed the door instantly and put my bag on my bed, i could hear us talking again. But this time it’s not on the bridge, this time it’s the first day we ever saw each other or actually the first time i saw him. I was a freshman and he was a junior, my name is Emma and his name was Joe. Our love was like no other, every second I thought about him, every moment of my life. I thank my brain for making these portals that I don’t know what exactly they are. My longing for him created portals for me to see him again, but maybe this is something bigger than this. I stepped into the portal without looking behind, there i was walking into school feeling so nervous. And there he was, walking behind me with his hood and earphones on, not caring about the world. I have never seen such an attractive face in my whole life and in that moment the most embarrassing thing happened to me, my nose started bleeding, how ironic!! I was so shocked by both Joe’s presence and my nose bleed because i have never had any nose bleeds so why now!! This sudden blood made me so shocked that i dropped my phone and books that i was holding, Joe suddenly stopped and removed his earphones. He started gathering the books and he didn’t even look at my face, when he was about give them to me he looked at me and was terrified, he saw all the blood on my face. “WOAH!! Are you okay?” He said to me with a really worried voice. “Oh I don’t know, i never had any nose bleeds!” I said. “Are you new here? I can show you the nurse’s office.” Joe said. And he didn’t take his eyes of my face, that made my cheeks the same color as the blood from my nose. I took my books and picked up my phone and followed him to the nurse’s office. First day at a new school and the first place i go to is the nurse’s office, i used to think that I wasn’t very lucky, but i got to meet the love of my life on this special day. The nurse told me that it was because of the heat and dryness, nothing serious. But Joe didn’t leave me, he stayed there the whole time. After resting for about half an hour i headed to class and joe was beside me showing me the way. I looked at joe and laughed. Joe looked at me and said: “what?”

With half a smile. “Not so pretty to see me like this for the first time” i said with a laugh. And what shocked me even more was joe’s response : “actually I wasn’t going to say this but i think you’re the most beautiful thing i have ever laid eyes on!” I was so shy by his comment and didn’t say anything. At that moment i arrived at my class and said bye to Joe, that’s when the portal showed up again! I stepped through it into my bedroom again, and again i had spent so many hours there that it’s morning now. I didn’t get any sleep and i have to go to school because I skipped school yesterday, this thing is getting out of hand! I looked at my phone to check the time and it was 7:15 AM I don’t have much time till class, so i took a quick shower and dressed up real quick and grabbed my bag and headed downstairs, i was so tired and so hungry. I had just noticed that i only ate an apple yesterday morning, nothing else!! This time i had to eat something before i go, what if the portal showed up again. I found my mom in the kitchen talking with my dad, actually whispering not talking. When they heard my footsteps they stopped talking. They called me and said that they are very worried about me, I’ve been skipping school and my mom noticed that I didn’t eat at the house, and I’ve been very secretive. I just told them that i ate at my friend’s house and they don’t have to worry and I’ve been working so much on this project,that doesn’t really exist. I’ve made so many lies and if my parents ask mary and she denies that I’ve been at her place, I’m going to be in trouble. My parents are even more worried because when Joe passed away, I didn’t do anything for days, didn’t eat, didn’t sleep and didn’t even talk. At that time they sent me to a therapist who told them that this will pass by time. But it didn’t!. I had made my way to school and nothing unusual happened today, I thought the portal would show up again but it didn’t. I finished school and headed home, feeling so sad because I didn’t get to go to the portal today, I didn’t get to hear joe or see him. I tried to act normal i front of my family but on the inside i was dying. I couldn’t help it anymore and just said i was tired and wanted to sleep, and I really was sleepy and tired. Not sleep in two days can make a person go crazy. I went to my bedroom and I actually fell asleep right away, that’s when i woke up by his voice again. Joe’s voice, I don’t want this to end but i also can’t stay like this all the time, when i go through the portal i just leave all my life behind. I haven’t talked to anyone but my mom and dad. I opened my eyes and the portal was at the wall again, “what would happen if I don’t go through it?”

I thought to myself. I kept on thinking and I actually had a brilliant idea, i had stopped time before, maybe i could do it again! I quickly got up and stared into the portal and said: “STOP”

I didn’t know if it worked because i could still hear his voice, so i went to the window and looked outside, and it did work!! I saw a woman and her child crossing the street but frozen in the middle of it. The odd thing is that that didn’t seem to affect the portal. Maybe I could stay in the portal all this time and then come out of it and unfrozen time again and just carry on with my daily life. I stepped into the portal and this time it was our first date, it was at a carnival. Joe and i were holding hands and walking into the carnival and i looked genuinely happy back then, we played some games and ate cotton candy and popcorn. Joe pointed at a lady who’s in costume and her whole face and body are covered and blood and said: “she looks like someone!” And just burst out laughing. “Ha Ha very funny!!” I said with an annoyed voice but also burst out laughing with him. I was afraid to ride rollercoasters and Joe made me do it with him, i used to regret doing that but looking at it now, I’m so happy i made those memories with him. After hours of walking around and playing games, Joe took me to see the stars. And we had our first kiss there!  I was looking at this memory and sobbing. That’s when the portal showed again, and I’m back into my bedroom yet again. My trick did work, everything is still frozen, i said: “move” and looked out the window, the woman and her child continued walking and life carried on, but my heart didn’t. I felt so empty, I thought these memories would heal me but they destroyed me even more. Seeing those memories made me miss him even more. I can’t carry on with this, that morning i went to school and acted normal, talked to a few of my old friends that I haven’t talked to in months. And while i was walking in the isle i could hear girls talking about me: “I wonder how she can handle it, it’s his anniversary in a few days” and another girl who seems to be a new student responded :”who’s anniversary?” “Her boyfriend, he died almost two years ago, drowning accident.” The girl responded to her. I felt a sudden pain my chest and hurried to the bathroom, I couldn’t breathe. Hearing others talk about him hurts even more. That’s when he showed up in front of me, not in a portal and not a dream. He showed up with his own body and soul and was looking directly at me. “Emma, it’s all in your head.” Said Joe. It was later known that Emma had lost her mind after Joe passed away, imagining things and hallucinating. She saw the only open window for her was to be with her beloved Joe, she didn’t want anything else in the whole wide world. Sometimes you meet your other half and you literally can’t live without him, but Emma was finally with him.


Final Sanctuary I began looking for something special, something that I didn’t even understand, when I was a small child. My parents were not happy together, my father drank, and my mother suffered, and I sought refuge from their misery. You could find me in the hall closet, burrowed in the nest of fallen coats, attempting to hide in the solitude of the dark, cramped space. Or in the cellar among the damp smells or one of the trees that lined our property. It remained the same until I left home, me seeking shelter from their misery and failed lives. I spent most of my life in the same pursuit, often afraid I would find it and not know it. I was wrong. I thought I had found the best refuge from the angst I carried with me, when I met Annie. With her freckled nose that crinkled when she laughed, ringlets of gold resting on her shoulders. She was a walking attitude that sucked you in and made you believe, too, that everything in life was special. We married young. She died young, and I learned what she did not teach me. I learned what true grief was. After that there wasn’t any solace, no closets, or cellars for me to hide in while I suffered. So, I looked for somewhere to be. Love went on the back burner for quite a while. So did my belief in God. He let me down, so I thought, and I had nothing to live for. Then, there was that day on Omaha Beach, and I was the only one to make it to shore from our landing craft. I was the only one out of twenty to made it up the cliff of Pointe du Hoc and help take out a German coastal artillery gun. The only one from my unit that was able to go home with both arms, both legs and both eyes. God had plans for me; I just didn’t know it until I got home. I stayed in the Army, and they sent me to medical school. I wanted to do more than put bandages and tourniquets on men. I wanted to save them. I became a doctor and a surgeon and went where I was needed, in various surgical hospitals around Viet Nam. I did three tours and came home and stayed. Three tours in Nam was like a lifetime any other war. When I got home, I read about a small town in the western Tennessee, that was building a hospital. It was desperately needed in the rural area. Answering an ad in the paper, I became the first surgeon they hired. Ended up meeting this beautiful blue-eyed nurse, Janine, who had been widowed three years and was the mother of two daughters. We fell in love, married, and had a son a year later. Together we built our little fortress and it served us well. Our family became our greatest source of comfort even in the hardest times. No need for closets; we wrapped ourselves in each other’s arms and the arms of our children. We lived in that same town until she passed two years ago. I still live here. Janine and I traveled the country, saw cities we had heard of all our lives, monuments to great men, battlefields where greater men fell and received no monuments. The road took us to the majestic Rockies, the Bad Lands, and Marfa, Texas. We saw the barren deserts that our ancestors had crossed in their pursuit of their sanctuary. And were always anxious to get back home to ours. Have seen lots of things I’m glad I saw, more than enough of those things I wish I hadn’t. I was always looking for something special and every time I thought I found it, the search started again. The Northern Lights over Alaska were like seeing a piece of Heaven. What showed in the light of flares over Omaha Beach was like seeing a corner of Hell. The sun coming up over the Grand Canyon was amazing; the same sun rising through the smoke and napalm bombed palm trees was something I could have lived without seeing. A lot of men died before my eyes regardless of how hard I tried to save them. Sometimes being an Army medic was not enough. But I also brought two lives into world and in those moments, I was more than enough. I am an old man now. I spend a lot of time in my mind, remembering and sometimes trying to forget at the same time. War crawls into places in your mind and leaves marks like an indelible ink. It can cross out good and replace it with things there are not even words for. You do your best to hold your own but sometimes you lose your grip, and you end up in a place from 40 years ago. Since losing Janine, I find myself searching again for solace. The kids have families of their own and while we keep in touch with each via phone calls and video chats, each time a call ends I am reminded how desperately I miss my haven with Janine. Even at this advanced age I find myself drifting and looking for a safe harbor. A shelter to share with someone else but it is getting harder to row the boat while I seek cover. Recently a routine doctor visit revealed that the fatigue and restless sleep was more that signs of my advanced presence here on Earth. My body is revolting against me, angry at my insistence on spending so much time here. Leukemia has invaded my life blood, sapping my energy and drive but not my will to live. I knew that would no doubt come later as the fatigue increased. The aches and pains I attributed to advancing age are proving to be more pronounced and one day I will finally say “enough.” But today is not that day. Tomorrow might be but not today. I still have wisdom to impart, stories to tell, secrets to share  now that I have found my final sanctuary. Here in this sun filled room in the hospice wing, I am relieved from my search. These four walls housing my memories, tales of glory and heartbreak, have given me a true respite. Janine waits just beyond my reach, and she is patient. She knows that she is my final sanctuary.


Some things, I never expected to see. There she was, a bald woman with a small suitcase, offering me a glass bottle of shampoo. Not only had I never expected a door-to-door shampoo seller to knock on my door, I didn't even know door-to-door salespeople still existed. And I’d certainly never pictured them looking like this—bald shiny head, no eyebrows, no eyelashes, but a pretty and polite smile. “It will only take a moment to hear me out,” she said, smooth and even like honey. “You won’t regret it.” I was hesitant. Why would I buy shampoo from a stranger who showed up unannounced at my doorstep? And from someone without any hair… it wasn’t like she could be an advocate for the product. But the woman seemed nice and nonthreatening, and I really had nothing better to do with my evening. Buying shampoo from a bald woman would certainly be a novelty. So, I let her in. She told me that her shampoo was a unique formula that would leave my hair feeling silky and smooth. I decided to take a chance and bought a flask of her shampoo. Door-to-door sales can’t be easy and one bottle wouldn’t break the bank. I figured it would be worth it if only for the story I’d tell after the fact. As soon as she left, I headed straight to the shower to try it out. I looked over the bottle. Nothing special about it—just a glass bottle with an unremarkable paper label stuck onto it. Though I had my doubts about keeping glass in the shower. Still, I ran the water and when it heated, I hopped in. The shampoo lathered easily in my palms, and I spread it through my hair—thinning now that I was in my thirties. As I applied the shampoo to my hair, my scalp started to feel tingly, almost electric. Were I to be negative, I’d say it burned. Sometimes such sensations mean a product is working, but it wasn’t a feeling I liked in a shampoo. I’d decided to wash it out quickly when my hair detached from my head, falling in clumps to the shower floor. It flowed into wormlike hunks and started thrashing around on the floor like a living creature. I was horrified. My back hit the shower wall as I attempted to escape the little hair creatures, but there was really no escaping in the enclosed space. What was happening? Was this some kind of bizarre reaction to the shampoo? The saleswoman had been bald, I reminded myself. The hair writhed, moving toward my feet. I started stomping on my hair, trying to make it stop moving. Water splashed up and the hair continued to writhe, movements more erratic now. I stomped harder, eyes wide with terror. What if those hairworms crawled up my leg or under my toenails… I had the most horrible pictures playing through my mind. Eventually, the hair stilled, and I was left standing there in shock, staring at the mess on the shower floor. The water rinsed it slowly down the drain, leaving clumps of hair to block the water. I jabbed at it with my toe, trying to encourage the hair to disappear. But I didn’t wait for it all to go. I leapt out of the shower and stared at my newly bald head. My eyebrows were gone too. What had that woman and her shampoo done? That's when I noticed a message on my mobile. I opened the text with shaking fingers. It was from the woman who had sold me the shampoo, and it explained everything. According to the message, human beings do not naturally have hair. Bald and beautiful is the natural state of humanity. Hair, all human hair, is an alien species that has been mentally controlling us since the cavemen first hunted, since before homo-sapiens existed at all. The organization that the woman works for developed a special shampoo formulation that kills these alien creatures, freeing humans from their control. The message went on to explain that I was now one of these "Warriors of Freedom," a shampoo seller tasked with spreading the word and freeing humanity, one bottle of shampoo at a time. I was shocked and confused. This all sounded crazy, but my experience in the shower had been all too real. I stared at my bald reflection for what felt like hours before the sound of my doorbells shook me from my stupor. I dressed and walked out to the door. On my doorstep waited boxes and boxes of shampoo. I reopened the text. Warrior of Freedom didn’t sound bad. I’d certainly been called worse things in my life. And I’d always kind of known hair was part of some tyranny. I mean really… when has hair ever done any good? Everything made perfect sense. I knew that I had to do something. I pulled the boxes inside my house and then sat to plan out my next moves. First friends and family, I decided. I’d start to spread the word, telling the people who mattered most, and who would most easily buy shampoo from me, about the alien species that had been controlling us all along. At first, they would think I was crazy, but then when they tried the shampoo for themselves, they’d see the truth. After all, I had. Soon, I would have a network of Warriors of Freedom working with me, freeing humanity from the aliens' control. We would sell shampoo door-to-door, at local markets, and through online platforms. I wouldn’t tell everyone beforehand what it did, of course… no I’d make some lie that the hair overlords listening in would like. Looking back, I never could have imagined that a door-to-door shampoo seller would change my life forever. But she did, and now I can be part of something bigger than myself. Who knows what other unexpected things might happen in the future? All I know is that I'm ready for whatever comes my way.


I heard a thundering knock at my door that jolted me awake. I noticed the doctor wearing a blue scrub walking in a brisk movement inside my cramped space. His eyes filled with grieve and horror. As I perceived him, my mind overflowed with thoughts of panic and anxiety. I acknowledged that whatever I was about to hear was about to mortify me. The doctor calmly said, "Hello Emily, we have found some critical data, your cancer has spread to your lungs and chest, and we have found that you only have a year or so to continue your life." and at that instant, I grasped my life as I recognized it was over. “B- but what do you mean a year? Is there an antidote to this?” I said nervously; he replied, “I am afraid there is no remedy to this, I wish circumstances were different, and I can discern that you are unhappy, but there is nothing we can do.'' I praised the doctor and proceeded to my husband to notify him. I could not stop trembling, and my heart kept pounding faster and faster the more I recalled it. I kept imagining how my relatives would react if I succumbed to death, I was about to stand up, but my husband shuffled into the room, and I disclosed the news to my partner; he embraced me and told me graciously: "Do not sweat, everything will be alright at the end". When my husband left, I felt like each part of my skin and bones fused into plashes of gooey viscous liquid. I couldn't manage the devastating revelation. I wept and screamed all my sadness and depression away until I was dehydrated. I knew I needed a diversion, an entertainment of sorts from my pity-self, just something to monetary transfer my consciousness from my soul and deliver me to a fairyland of delight and sweetness, then a plan leaped into my mind, what if I just imagined that place? I closed my eyes and imagined anything that could produce me to be comfortable or deliver me a humongous smile. I look around and observe as I descend to the ground. Oh, how entertaining and exciting it is to be approaching the campground. I crash the floor feeling no pain, as I know this is my creativity, but I might also be insane. I observe the kids swinging and frolicking on the toys, all appear to make a bunch of noise. I ran toward the slide, where I slide with pride and stride. I finally felt happy for once, I could live here for months! I heard my husband calling my name, everything started disappearing like some sort of game. I uncovered my eyes and noticed my husband gazing at me and patting me. He possessed an expression of worrisome, with a perplexed stare. I released "What do you want?" from my lips; then he questioned me, "What were you doing? Did something occur? Do you want to go out?" I answer his questions calmly, "I was imagining? Nothing happened, do not worry. No, I do not want to get out. I want to stay in this room.", then he hugged me with affection. I inhaled each second of it, then As I saw him leave. I remembered when I first met him. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with the words "Thursday". He had blue eyes, brunette hair. I snickered to myself and ran to him to strike a small conversation. I said, "Hello, sorry to disturb you, but I found you wearing a t-shirt with the words, Thursday? Do you know by chance that today is Friday?". He chuckled to himself, "Do you think I am just that idiotic? I did this to attract girls, and I guess it worked. My buddy will be paying me ten dollars today WOOOOO! by the way, do you want my number?". I said, trying not to smile, "Sure, I would love to!" and then time passed on, and we kept texting, calling, meeting with each other until he proposed to me, and here we are, watching him leave the room where I rest because of cancer, I shut my eyes and continued my fantasy. I open my eyes again not knowing what to expect, I see a bright light my eyes want to reject. I had no other choice but to walk towards it, and see a guy asking me "may I have your permit?". I stutter nervously checking my pockets "I- I don't have a-" I feel a paper in my bag, I drag it out like a flag, and hand it to him confidently like I'm giving him a mag, he opens the gate and I see a big sign saying "welcome to Imagiland!" my jaw dropped, I walked around, the floor was made of cotton candy, I noticed my friend in the distance and shouted "BRANDY?". "what are you doing here?" said brandy, "well a bit of explanation from you would come in handy", "I always come here when I'm feeling down", "what even is this town?", "it's a-" everything started to dissolve around- I reopened my eyes and noticed my husband's eyes filled with fury. He was approximately going to weep. He said, "THANK GOD YOU ARE AWAKE! I THOUGHT SOMETHING HAPPENED TO YOU. ARE YOU OKAY!" I gawked at him in bewilderment and said softly, "I was asleep, calm down?" he replied, "YOU WERE ASLEEP FOR FIVE MONTHS? NO, YOU WERE IN A GODDAMN COMA. I DON'T KNOW HOW THE DOCTOR DOESN'T KNOW HOW!", I said "Oh! I recalled I slept for one 7 hours?", he responded attempting to maintain his composure, "thank god, when the doctor admits you to leave, we will go outside, take a walk or something. You haven't left your room since we got here." I responded, pouting, "I don't want to leave the comfort of my room. I love it here." he answered, aghast, "You... love it in your room?" I said, "Yes, I just rest." he replied, "No, you're leaving with me." I replied, "No, what are you going to do? Drag a woman with cancer outside", he sighed and left my room in a huff. When he disappeared, I began to ponder about Brady, Brady Harlistion. I witnessed him in "Imagiland". He was similar to how I viewed him last time we spoke. He had coffee-colored eyes, brownish hair, and average height. I yearn for him so extremely. We were inseparable in high school. We would regularly hang out together, and at the weekend, we would go to our neighborhood marketplace. He was the jackpot of friends, dependable, truthful, unusual, and astonishing. I still reminisce about him every day, but now he is gone from that frightful car crash from an intoxicated driver, and if I ever discover that drunk driver. I wish to assassinate him and his family, as he took my friend away. I wanted to meet him again, at least to say goodbye, even if it was in my imagination. It was better than nothing. I closed my eyes, expecting to be exported to a wondrous land, but when I opened my eyes, I was still in the real world. Suddenly, I see brandy walk in with a tall face, looking at me with grace. He said, "Did you want to say goodbye before I reside?", I thought "Is this true, because if it's not, I will be blue. Why is everything rhyming, is it not weird timing?" I said, "Goodbye, I will miss your eyes. You will always be one of my allies. Wait but are you real?" he said calmly "Well, believe it, it's the real deal." he added, "Do you wanna come with me?" I said, "Where is it that you will be?" he said, "To the land of the heavens above, follow me to where we can fly above our worries, to a beautiful sea." he held his hand out, I caught it with no doubt. We started to fly. I closed my eyes for the last time we arrived here, a year ago.


Mr Pritt took to the podium with the air of a politician addressing a nation. “Parents, good morning. I’m Mr Pritt and I’m the headmaster of this school. Your sons and daughters made it through what was considered by some to be an overly-stringent selection process. We have great plans for our students and this requires them all to possess a certain level of intelligence, highly-functional social skills, and a strong sense of self. They will leave here and contradict every one of us, questioning the fundamentals of our principles and values. And in doing so, they will be the leaders of tomorrow, pushing us aside when we fail to perceive our own obsolescence and moving society in the right directions. We will take care of their education and the development of their minds as well as some aspects of their physical wellbeing. All our best efforts are useless without your help. If you aren’t prepared to carry on the good work, nutrition and exercise that we have proven to give a child significant advantages over others, then you might as well place them at any other school. They will have breakfast and lunch in school. Our food follows every aspect of nutrition that we now know to lead to significant physical and metal gains. In our lifetime we have seen that decades of demonising sugars has given us a generation that has, on average, 32% more stamina than we have and at least 15 percentage points more IQ than we do. We now know the benefits of dramatically reducing salt from a healthy diet. As we continue to make new inroads, we will adapt the diet accordingly. Your children will be fed up to twice as healthily when they leave school at the rate that our programme is learning and implementing changes. It has access to live health and nutrition data of over half of the planet’s population and is designed to evolve as it assimilates new information. In short, we are helping to formulate a super-species, the highest ideal that our genetic makeup can possibly attain. For the last 30,000 years we have not seen an ‘upgrade’ to our genetic composition so we can assume that our physical abilities have plateaued. But the expansion of the mind, especially within a significantly healthier body, can help us unlock parts of our species we’d only ever read about in comic books. This is the second fundamental pillar of our cooperation. A child developing skills and abilities that others can only dream of is enticing. However we need to make sure their power is channeled in the right direction. A solid moral compass is built into the educational system here - we expect you to continue to guide your children towards the light when they’re in your care. This might sound like a tall order. It may also sound like much more than you’d expected to have to face by the time your children were six years old. But you will appreciate that if we started any later, we wouldn’t stand a chance.” *The year 2042.* The fuge was a uniquely sordid contraption. It did get the job done however. In the right hands, it could separate a human body into its constituent molecules in just over 14 hours. Two years prior, this was not even considered within the realms of possibility. Once described by an influential journalist as an ‘evil device, the malignity of which was unprecedented, and that was in effect a giant centrifuge’, it had been dubbed the fuge by the starving masses that fell prey to its dispassionate dismembering. Soon after the catastrophic economic collapse that ravaged the planet during the third decade of the 21st century combined with a critical over-mining spurt to push the value of metals and rare minerals to such value that the manufacture of consumer electronics all but ground to a halt. The ultra-rich, of course, could afford wild extravagance and didn’t care that a handheld device could cost as much as most would pay for a family home. These hoarders of wealth had barricaded themselves in enclaves of opulence that could put entire civilisations of old to shame. The rest of the world lived in abject poverty, with vast swathes of what was once the middle class forced to scratch out an existence by squabbling over an enormous black economy that covered everything from electricity supply to food rations and fresh water. When the initial post-collapse frenzy subsided, 96% of the population of the planet had resigned itself to a bleak and odious existence but this numbness did not last long. An obscure scientific paper, meant to nestle under the radar within the pages of a specialised journal, leaked into the main information channels and had covered the globe within 12 hours. The paper had, in brief, put forth the maths to show that the content of a human body was, at current metal prices, valued at sum large enough to buy a decent apartment. Within weeks, the now-burgeoning homeless population started to thin. The fuge had been hacked together from separate bits of equipment, each designed to perform a very specific function but never designed to work as part of a system so the labs that processed bodies looked as though they’d been assembled by the kind of mad scientist who was more interested in the output than the aesthetics. This was a pretty accurate representation of the facts. Disused abattoirs were raided for their meat and bone separation machinery. Designed to dismember cattle at high speed and with great reliability, the first part of the process was gruesome but spotlessly clean. After all, butchers didn’t waste so much as a drop of blood when eating meat had been affordable and acceptable. The line fed into a variety of grinders and sieves and, finally, to the centrifuge stage that was where most of the magic happened. The fluids that left the centrifuge were fed into what looked like an elaborate meth lab. Purified water was bottled and sold to those who were at the top of the pecking order of the great unwashed. The remaining components emerged packed in compressed nuggets of calcium, phosphorus, potassium and the like. Smaller ‘coins’ of rarer metals like zinc, copper, and magnesium were also minted by the fuge. The amount of each of these in a single body is negligible but the sheer volume of bodies that made it to each fuge was staggering so that anyone who operated it had a steady supply of nuggets and coins to deliver to the manufacturers of all the playthings that the rich revelled in. There were two prevailing narratives that intersected at the fuge. The rich asked why one would value a single human life. In the grander scheme, there is no difference between a human, a cow, or a tree. Every life form is transient, there to perpetuate whatever species it happened to form part of. Ever since we had located consciousness and understood its biochemical nature, we had ceased to consider human life above all others. After all, the notion of humanity’s elevated importance, seeded by the large religions millennia ago, had contributed strongly to the ultimate undoing of the planet and of civilisation. The fuge and its produce were therefore considered legally and morally sound by those who made the rules and who benefited from the fuge’s operation. The poor experienced the other side and had little by which to influence the outcome except by using their own bodies. They had figured that life is not worth living when suffering and hunger and humiliation are the only conditions known. If a mother could, quite literally, sell her body in advance to a fuge operator, being certain that the value of her component parts would help her children survive another year, then she might as well do so. In time, this was expected by teenagers who, when struggling to feed themselves, turned to their parents and expected them to give themselves to the fuge as they would, in turn do, when their own kids came of age. *The year 2062.* Mr Pritt addressed the elders. Well, they didn’t look old and neither did he. They had lost their physical eyesight decades ago but no one relied on biological input any more. Living was experienced in the mind after all, and this is all they’d bothered preserving. If we are to get spatially technical, they weren’t in the same room. Nor were they in a room at all. But here they met, in the shared simulation of a boardroom from the distant past. The mid-century design was an affectation of Mr Pritt and they allowed him the indulgence. The elders represented what was left of the human elite, the fraction of a percentage of the population of the planet that still lived in relative liberty and unmatched riches so long as they could afford to. The extent of one's life was determined purely by the resources one possessed. In fact, the length of one's life became the measure of that person’s economic success. “We are here to discuss the issues we are having with planned ends. I understand that running out of resources puts one in an awkward situation. But you know my position on planned ends - it is unnecessarily thinning our population. There are ten million people on the planet out there, scratching a miserable existence because they can’t get round to organising themselves. And here we are, wealthier than the gods that humans had created, and there is a comparative handful of us. We are the future of the human race. Those miserable beings out there are the modern successor of the Neanderthal, destined to eventual extinction and, while it pains me to say so, the quicker they bring this about the better. Even I pity how drawn out their end has been. We need to find a way to at least maintain our numbers. I’m aware that sharing our wealth amongst ourselves is an act that violates absolutely everything we stand for. We are here today, after all, because we have individually amassed our own personal capital. Seeing that some of us could easily live for decades based on their current worth, we must look at a very distant future, one that could become exceedingly lonely. Some of you have remarked that I don’t value our continued refusal to collaborate but I do - I know as well as you do that our fierce individuality has been instrumental in our phenomenal success. There comes a time, however, when one has lived long enough to envisage a very distant future and I am by far the oldest here. I have you to thank for that. You valued the education of future generations above all else and it has paid off for all of us, myself in particular. I will outlive most of you. Of course, I say this with all the pride and conceit I have earned. I also say this remind you that I am the person with the least interest in the matter I am presenting you with. I don’t specifically care about the individuals amongst you who, when their funds run out, plans a spectacular exit. I enjoy the parties more than most. What I am doing, and I seem to be alone in this, is looking out for our collective existence. It is tempting for me to do as all of you do and simply exist for my own pleasure until the day I decide I’ve had enough. Do we want to simply watch as those around us vanish? Do we look forward to living as a handful of simulacra in a vast and beautiful universe of our own creation? Is it even right that we can see our own survival as a species under threat and live like every one of us has a universe to themselves?” Mr Pritt looked around and saw that there was hardly anyone left. Bored and indifferent, all but a handful of elders remained. These were the ones who were nostalgic enough to smile at Mr Pritt and nod as he spoke. When it was evident that he was awaiting a response, they said their goodbyes and quit the meeting. “Well, then.”, said Mr Pritt. *The year 2122.* It is eerily still.


The cold Autumn air was nipping at my nose as I stood in one of the uniform rows of the orchard. I smiled as I fondly remembered why this was my favorite place in the whole world. Even though the air was frigid and it was supposed to snow soon, I felt warm. Fond memories flooding my mind. I plucked an apple from a tree branch before sitting on the blanket I brought and tossing the apple over in my hands. The red skin on the apple made me smile, she had red hair. Bright, beautiful, red hair. I laid down and held the apple close, closing my eyes. I’ll forever love fall and it’s all thanks to you, Acorn Mathers.

Acorn Mathers, my long term girlfriend. We dated for five years, starting in ninth grade. I got to watch her grow as my best friend, my closest companion. We spent every hour that we could together. She had fiery red hair, the cutest mask of freckles that covered nearly every inch of her cheeks, and finally her eyes, beautiful and olive green. Her favorite season? Autumn. Favorite flavor? Pumpkin spice. Top three favorite colors? Red, orange, and brown. Hell she even changed her name because of her adoration for the stupid cold time of the year. We were such opposites in every aspect. But slowly she chiseled her way through my walls.

I was someone who preferred the warmer months as you could guess. Spring and summer, I was all for that. I didn’t have to worry about shivering out at the bus stop, or panic if I couldn’t find gloves or a hat. I hated the cold, despised it even. So Autumn for me started my countdown to the colder days of the year. It meant snow. It meant icy winds. It was just uninviting and prickly. I was so convinced no one would ever change my mind.

Let me explain this for you, ninth grade, mid to late Autumn class trip. I was with my secluded group of friends, complaining about how my parents forced me to go so I could bond with my classmates. I was the type of kid to not go on any class trips, ever, I didn’t like socializing. I was sitting in the cafeteria, waiting to be assigned a bus to travel in. We were going apple picking. It seemed so elementary but the whole grade voted on it as a whole. A lot of people were excited, mostly for the pictures they could take there. What they’re going to use the apple’s for, how apple orchards are so beautiful during fall. But I wasn’t convinced, not even a bit.

I remember almost every detail of that day. Even though I was sure I was going to hate it. I was on bus 18, I sat in the second to last seat in the back of the bus, I spent the day with a vibrant personality ginger, and I fell in love.

I sat on the back of the bus in hopes that no one would sit by me. My friends were on different buses and I didn’t talk to anyone else in my grade. I had my hood pulled up and my earbuds in, playing my music loudly. I didn’t even notice when someone had sat next to me until halfway through the ride when the driver slammed on the breaks. I had jolted in my seat and placed both my hands on the back of the seat in front of me to keep my face from smashing into it. That’s when I saw her shoes. I took out my earbuds, I might have been antisocial but I’m not rude.

“Hi,” I tentatively spoke. The first thing I noticed was her hair. Down past her shoulders and curly as all hell. Next, were her eyes. Olive green, but if you stared for long enough when the light caught them a certain way they’d be brighter than the sun, I swear. Lastly, her freckles, beautiful marks across her milky skin. Now, back then her name wasn’t Acorn- it was still Elise.

“Hello,” she responded with such excitement in her voice. All around her was just brightness itself. I normally don’t like those kinds of people.

“I’m Lilin, sorry I didn’t notice you sitting here before, I assumed everyone was at the front of the bus like usual,” I mumbled softly.

“Oh nice to meet you, I’m Elise. And don’t worry about the not noticing me part. I didn’t want to bother you since you had earbuds in, but I didn’t want you to be sitting alone either,” she beamed. I pulled my hood tighter around my head, closing it most of the way with the sweatshirt strings. I didn’t want her to see how embarrassed that made me. It’s not that hard to make me blush, a lot of shy people are like that.

“Well are you excited?” she asked while practically bouncing in her seat.

“Not particularly, I hate fall,” I looked out the window as I spoke. I don’t think my little teenage heart could have handled looking at her any longer. I felt the bouncing on the seat stop.

“ WHAT? ”

“You don’t have to scream…”

“You HATE? Fall. That’s impossible. It’s like, the best season.”

“Oh really? How so, it’s cold, it rains and even snows. I don’t think so ma’am,” I nearly snarled at the thought of the season. The girl’s face was pure shock.

I had just made the biggest mistake, but the best mistake, of my life that day. I was met with an hour long rant for the rest of the bus ride. I heard about nearly every little detail that she loved about fall. There was so much passion it was impossible not to smile at some parts. I learned about the countless pumpkin recipes her mom makes that they only have during the fall. I heard about how she sees trees when they change color and why those colors are now her favorite. I heard about her superstition of “if you catch a falling leaf in the wind you’ll have good luck for the rest of the day” or something like that. How pumpkin spice makes everything just taste so much better. How wrapping up in sweaters and mittens and scarves and going on long walks with the most important people in your life can be the best part of your month. Collecting acorns, leaf piles, apple cider, the crisp air. Everything. Before I knew it we were at the orchard.

Since we’re in highschool, we’re free to roam around the orchard by ourselves in our own groups. If we needed help or something happened to someone, the adults and chaperones were going to be at the barn. So it was perfect! I was about to run off and find my friends but a certain ginger stopped me.

“Let's spend the day together! I’ll show you why I love fall first hand,” she smiled as she spoke and I felt my heart skip a beat. How could I have said no to that? It was like every romance novel I’d ever read. So naturally, I agreed.

We walked next to the orchard, Elise said we could pick apples before we go, that she wanted to look for acorns and catch leaves with me first. It felt kind of childish, I guess we’re only in ninth grade. There’s no rush to grow up. I was just following her to the edges of the orchard where there were trees, sure enough they were all red and orange, a bit of yellow mixed in. We spent what felt like hours in that little corner on the outskirts of the orchard. Elise occasionally would pick up acorns and her face was priceless. She got so excited every time she found one. She’d gasp then run and show me before pocketing it and wandering off again. I was actually enjoying myself. My nose was pink with the cold and my fingers were numb from being out of my pockets, but I didn’t seem to care. We were chasing after leaves that were blowing in all different directions. Elise didn’t catch any but I caught one, guess I have good luck now.

“We should probably go pick apples now,” she giggled out, a bit breathless from all of our running around.

“Oh, yeah I forgot about that,” I blushed, kind of embarrassed again. But I didn’t hide this time, I was sure my cheeks were already wind burned so it didn’t matter.

She held her hand out for me and I smiled before taking it.

We picked a random row to walk down. We had each been given a bag to fill with apples and take home. I was examining apples to see if I should even bother with picking them. My family doesn’t really eat apples all that fast, so I didn’t want any that looked like they’d go bad soon. I sighed, already bored. I looked to see what Elise was doing, and I saw her on her tiptoes, trying to reach an apple. She was never going to be able to even get close.

“Do you want some help there shortie?” I chided. She was only one or two inches shorter, but I was relatively short for our age. So knowing that I was indeed taller, helped my pride.

“I’m not that short!!! But yes, I’d like help,” she pouted. How cute. I walked over and leaned down so she could climb onto my shoulders. She was surprisingly light. I’m used to carrying my siblings, who mind you are older and much heavier. I looked up and she was able to reach the apple, she grinned down at me gently taking the apple from the branch. We just stood there like that, staring at each other. Neither of us dared to move, scared we’d interrupt the peace that had settled among us.

Long minutes had passed before Elise started blushing furiously, her face almost matching her hair.

“Th-thank you,” she nervously stuttered.

“You’re welcome…” I set her down again and cleared my throat, “we should probably keep picking apples.” I avoided her gaze.

“Yeah- we should.”

Even though we had agreed, we didn’t move, we just stood there. My eyes glued to the ground, her eyes were on me, I know because I could feel them. I couldn’t take standing like that much longer, my anxiety was through the roof. So I turned and kept walking, rather fast. My heart was running marathons in my chest. What was wrong with me? It’s just some really pretty girl that likes my least favorite season, no one special.

For the rest of the day Elise and I found it very hard to form complete sentences. So we just kind of, picked our apples while stealing glances towards each other. Our eyes would meet sometimes and both of our faces would be set aflame. As we neared the end of the row we were in, our bags were filled to the top with apples. I was kind of sad that this probably meant the last time I’d ever talk with Elise. Even with the awkwardness it was the most fun I’d had in awhile. Secretly I’d hoped that she’d sit by me on the bus again. Although that might be asking for a bit much.

We both stepped into the barn to see we were the last ones to come back from picking apples. Everyone turned to look at us.

“What took you so long?” someone called from across the room.

Elise and I just looked at each other and smiled.

~*~ I smiled at the apple in my hands and took a bite. It had been a while since I’d even seen my Acorn. She left a few years ago to study some super smart person subject at a fancy college across the country. I wonder what she looked like, probably still gorgeous as ever. Sure we were able to call every now and then, but we didn’t bother with face time because we didn’t want to miss each other too much. Not to mention the hours of time difference, when she had free time I was sometimes asleep or I was busy. It was a pain in the ass but we survived somehow.

I heard a gasp from my left and sat up immediately. There she was. Standing ten feet from me. Her beautiful hair pulled back into a bun. Her eyes stained with tears, happy I hope. She’d grown taller since the summer before college, just a little bit. I think we might be the same height now. My body was in shock. It’s like it forgot how to function. But eventually I got to my feet and ran and jumped into her arms. She caught me so we didn’t topple over, thank god. My lips crashed onto hers and we held each other incredibly tight.

The same orchard, the same row, the same tree. The same Acorn I love so deeply. My Acorn, my Autumn.

“So,” she smiled at me and set me down, hands on my waist, “Let’s pick some apples.”

I smiled back brightly, “Of course, what else would we do here?”

I love fall.


It all started with big bang! Rocks bursting out from walls, windows shatter to pieces. As I, Vane bolt out of the exploding castle with the most haste. Eager to see the outside world eager to break free from my personal hell. As i use my Dark magic to counterploted me through the explosion i sense my father's Force field a strong pure concentrated dark energy that seem to emit from the core of that wretched castle. Since i knew the nature of that energy i knew i had be swift for a fraction of second i need to get out of that force field. If i fail, my father's punishments will be more animated and more devious. And seeing how he already sent out his conjured up Warlords a colossal beasts that serve my father's deeds with no shred of humanity or self reflections. I knew my task wasn't going to be easy. For one second i gathered all the energy i have in my body. And focused all my dark magic in one vocal point. I knew the risk i was taking, but i dare death for my freedom. OUT the Shadow beam bolted from my body i felt my life slipping away as it exists my body. But it was enough to break a small hole in the force field. But as soon as i got close to it. I saw the hole of my freedom pass away from me, as i was grabbed from those monsters, and slammed my weak body to the ground i felt every bone break instantly. And my freedom was lost. Laying there on the ground of my father's castle just steps away from my freedom, looked up the blue sky for very first time, how did i come to live such horrible life? Why did i have to suffer this fate? The monster was pounding me to ground and dug and broke the earth around me i felt my body descending to the earth, fate seemed to be always on my father's favor. But I am Vane i cannot give up. I have dreamt of this moment all my life. And i will not allow a brainless beast determine my fate. I gathered my energy when it hit me harder than the monster ever can, the reality of my dark magic i used it all out. My Mana flowed so little in me it is barely sustaining my life. I hate to relay my fate to my father's work but i have to borrow his core dark magic. It will lose it's purity once it within me, however . there's a hope that it will weaken a bit. After all i am buried to ground enough that i can withdraw it from here. But i hope i don't lose my last breath as i do so. Withdrawing the dark energy wasn't hard task as i previously thought. In the matter of seconds it was ravishing through me infesting me truly. But it was a power that i couldn't truly fathom. So rancid so disgusting. But it found a refuge in me as it's new host. The monsters punches bear me no harm any longer. I cracked that monster right open and it fell. I had no desire to waste my time with the either monsters, but i learned to never turn my back on them, and i shall not. This time breaking force field wasn't as difficult with my new found powers, but i was too haste i didnot understand the magnitude of my own abilities i decimated the force field to oblivion and i destroyed 9 km of land. And i quickly wobble my way flying through a deep chasm of my own doing. This was it my freedom. I finally taste a different air than father's festering disgusting foul castle. I finally can see the sky for it truly look like. As the breeze slowly blow in my face. I descend to the chasm. Slowly i was overtaking by my own weakness. But i had to push forward as far away from my father's presences my father's air my father's world. I can bear it no longer. And I Vane fell deep in the earth. Sleeping in a small rock in the walls Take away tiredness and open my eyes to my new pain, backache. For that pain was different from any pain I have woke up from. I was no longer half burned between life and death. Trying to save my soul with such horrible enchanted words of my father’s tongue. As I fully come to senses the realization of my own new found freedom. Struck me! It was greatest finally I have ever had in a long time. I slowly using the ugly magic I know I ascend from the deadly chasm. And scout my eyes through the open field. It was long and vast open desert. The disc of the sun looked me dead in my eyes. It was the first time my pale skin baskin in it is heat. It was warm and clear and clean and beautiful. In the light of that realization I fly through wind rivaling the birds and feeling the breeze hit my face an fills my heart with gleam and glow. As in my my mind I utter nothing but these words “ I am free” . “ I am finally free”. But my happiness did not last for long as I saw a dome of force field of in the distance. This dome didn’t emite any core power, so it is not as strong as the castle’s dome. When I inched a bit closer I saw a village that looked it been rid of every sort life. Then I stopped there dead in the air, when i finally came to all my full senses, and my infested blood began to boil. My body hair began to rise. And all I saw is red. As I whisper to myself grinding my teeth as I do so “ he is dead”. Vane entered the dome of the village with scrunched eyebrows, and big frown in his face. Turning many heads as he does so, it was very uncommon for any to leave or enter the village. What turned even more heads was seeing this strange man’s pointy ears, everyone now knew who was this strange man; he was Vane the molested child of shams. The only child of his and the only elf left in the world. Everyone even with their exhaustion assumed that Vane was here to decree a new law under Shams’ destructive name. but what they heard was even more destructive than anything Shams law. “You are all enlisted in my war” said Vane. “ a war against whom” Muttering sounds of whispers . “ you beloved god” An air of deep confusion sat down in that very village, until. Cometh forward a frail man his eyes were down to the ground, and politely manner he said to Vane “Excuse me Sire, we all wish for his death but we are all weak to fight, we hadn’t had a sip of water in many years, food is so scarce that we begun to eat each other” faces of shame were seem so bluntly in that small village. Vane exploding in anger for having someone talk back to him “ you DARE defy me?” “ No! Sire I would rather di-“ And those was the last words that frail man ever spoke. “ I don’t ask of you, I force you to” “Your loyalty is no longer for your god” The old men and women dared not to reply to his comment, for they never ever pledged loyalty to Sham and if anything they only deeply wanted him dead, since his day he assumed the emperor of the earth.


"Hello, I'm... no, that's... not..." Em sighs sharply. She is a tall, well-dressed woman in her early 20s. She's quite attractive, though she wouldn't say so, and she's supposed to be going out with someone any minute now, but she can't quite decide how how to introduce herself. "Hi, my name's - no, it's not a fucking interview, relax." Em takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and tells herself to... "Calm down. He likes you, that's why he's coming. He's more scared of you than you are of - oh don't fucking say that, that's tragic." The doorbell rings. Em panics and says "FUCK! ^No, ^fuck. ^I'll ^be ^right - I'LL BE RIGHT THERE." She gags a little bit, angry at herself for being stupid. She regains her composure, strides over and opens the front door of her flat. It goes okay, they go to a pub with a garden on the first floor. It's a beautiful day, but the drinks are quite expensive, (which Em remarks on). Clark says not to worry and that he'll get it. She wants to say no and that it's bullshit and that they should go somewhere else, but she quite likes him and the beer garden and she doesn't want to make it awkward, so she accepts. Clark hates his name. He hopes she'll come up with a good nickname, but he introduced himself as Clark because he thinks only assholes give themselves nicknames. They talk about the weather initially, which is agonising, but then they start talking about climate change, which leads to making fun of republicans, and from then, they got on like a house on fire. Turns out they both waste a lot of time on their sofas and both had a huge crush on Rachel Stevens when they were kids. So after a couple of hours of talking and laughing and lots of drinking, it's starting to get dark and cold, so Em says "Hey, so... I, uh... I don't know if you... do you... want to go back to yours? I mean it is getting pretty late, so-" "Yeah, that sounds good. Do you want to pick up anything on the way back? Some wine, or...? Clark thinks he's being subtle. Em knows that he's asking her if they should stop and get condoms. Em grins and brushes her hair behind her left ear. "Definitely." They get back and there's not a lot of preamble, they both want to have sex with each other, and they're both pretty much equally drunk, so the whole moral issue was just about moot. It's not very good sex, but it serves its purpose, so to speak. Em falls asleep on Clark's chest, looking like something from one of those godawful teen romance - I'm getting off-topic. The point is, they had a really good first date, no one has work the next day, so she can eat his food and wear his clothes and be all adorable, it's obvious that I'm Clark, isn't it? Shit. Okay, I'm trying to sort of keep some distance, because I feel like a story with a narrator is more respectable than a first-person type thing - it doesn't matter. I mean it went really well, and in the morning, we had sex again, and it was a bit better. But what was weird was the conversation we had afterwards. So... I do some electronics, not very difficult electronics, but quite specialised. Basically I design and build electrical and electronic circuits for people with some cash to spare and a project that requires... something that they can't find, so I'll make it for them, very boring. Basically, she asked me what I did for a living (because I didn't go into much detail on our date, I thought we would lose some momentum, like this story is now) so I just said I'm an electronic engineer. Only now, we have all day, and we're not trying to impress each other so much, so when I ask *her* what *she* does, she says "That depends, can you keep a secret?" I'm going to be perfectly honest, that response made me a little bit hard, and I immediately said "Ye-well-of-of course, I mean yeah." And I'm still not convinced the next 5 seconds actually happened, but she picks up my jacket from my bedpost, pulls a blunt and a lighter out of the inside pocket (which I didn't fucking put there, by the way) lights it, takes a looOONG drag and, her voice audibly straining, says "I'm a drug dealer".