The cookies were missing from the jar.

I ate them. ...

A mark-

Whether it’s on a test paper or the unlikely disfiguration on your skin.

Try as you might to deny,

they have more influence over you than you want to accept.

Maybe someone else’s mark on this world has changed you.

Or maybe your own scars have faded. ...

Who made god?

Buzzing noises fill my head.... sparks go flying.

Blank screen with one word:

Error.

Shit.

My computer broke.

Suddenly I hear a voice.

Clear and unwavering.

Indescribable.

“He did not come from anywhere. He had no beginning, and will have no end. He is the eternal, self- existing Being.”

Yeahhhhh....uhhhhhh....

“Wait, what did you say, Siri?”...

It’s a slow and painful road, my friend.

Time is the healer to your open wounds,

and your memories are a distant reminder of what used to be.

You’ll cry for the first month, maybe year.

But soon you will smile fondly at the memories.

You will remember the person who was alive, not the dead capsule of their soul.

And then, once your heart has mended,

you’ll be free. ...

The tears flowed

Steadily as she bowed

her head in mourning.

No longer was her mother calling

her in for supper,

Telling her stories

Of the glory days.

No longer was her mother walking

along the path,

Wheelbarrow in hand as

the hawk soared above.

She was born from a family of farmers,

Hard working; back-breaking;

sweat soaked farmers.

Simple lives, changed.

Like birds in winter she mi...

The Van wasn’t nearly as glorious as she had imagined, and couldn’t help a wave of disappointment consume the thrill of a chase.

She would have preferred no trouble at all but...

it was all the same anyway, right?

She had already packed a small bag of devious belongings, because, unlike all the other amateur rebels who thought they could assume they were criminals, they were all the same.

But...

Warm

Weather

Smooth

Waves

Tumbling

Not

Cold

And

Drab

Exams

Suck

Sorry ...

Don’t go into the empty train compartment, the voices whisper in your ear.

“There’s a pineapple in there!” They scream hysterically.

Squealing, laughing... at you.

Your breath hitches and your heart thumps defiantly in your chest.

‘You’ll never get out!’ they assure you. Goosebumps tickle your neck as you look behind you.

They’re everywhere now.

Crawling, wriggling.

You won’t escape.

It’s al...

They repeated their false assurances until the words had blurred into each other.

Until the rain stopped beating against the windows and the shattering of glass stirred the ruckus.

Until they were found in the cellar.

I was in a hidden compartment.

Now, as I heard their screams and pleas for mercy, the words rushed back.

We love you.

Everything will be fine.

Parents lie.

...

Love can be blinding,

Misguiding,

Leading you away from the

Tenderness of raw

affection,

into the arms of heated zealous.

Yet it can still be passionate,

And enrapturing.

Cradling your heart,

never apart from your

Love ...