"I love you so much."

He contorts his face in disgust.

"Why don't you love me?!" I cry, pleading with him.

Is it because I spent too long at David's and your dinner was an hour late?

He just gives me the side-eye.

This is not fair. I don't know what I did to deserve this treatment. He's so hot and cold. One minute, he's cuddling up to me on our bed giving me kisses. The next, he's getting up ...

"Hi Carl" I manage. I even bring the corners of my mouth up.

"Hi Stacy" he smiles, empty as always.

Everyone loves Carl. He's charming, witty, and such a polite gentleman. There's really no reason to hate him. He's never done anything wrong... But, I don't know, there's something about him that just absolutely makes my blood boil. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something dark and evil ...

This isn't my first time.

"NEXT."

We all shuffle ahead in line. I've been standing between two other inmates for a couple hours now, and the bottom of my feet are starting to feel sore, as usual. But that's just about the only feeling I can manage. I start to zone out, just to be awoken suddenly.

"NEXT."

I don't know what it's like for everyone else with an implant, but for a while now I've b...

We trade our youth for wisdom,

Our smooth skin for knowledge,

Bright-eyed optimism for knowing what's to come.

A natural exchange,

Immortal youth is only a fantasy,

A dream often yearned for, but never reached.

A sacrifice no one can escape,

The human condition demands it.

Submit, or die.

And yet,

There is whimsy wrinkled in smile lines,

Child-like wonder held in liver-spotted hands,

And joyu...

My footsteps echoed through the metalic hallway as I flipped though 200 pages of material so boring it made me want to jump ship.

Ugh. This is going to take me eons to get through. Even the tri-dimention reality emulations were dull. At least I got to leave class early, I guess.

I barely looked down to swipe my room key, "Fif, help me out with this would yo–"

The book left my hand mid-script, ...

Is your skin revealing your age?

Try our #1 wrinkle fighter

Keep it a secret. Don't let them know.

And if your truth shows through,

You should be ashamed of yourself.

Minimizes fine lines in only 60 minutes

Fights 15 signs of aging

You wouldn't want to look like your mother,

now would you?

Our mirror has 3x magnification

Your pores are huge!

That's a bad thing, don't you know that?

It's embaras...

Individuality is a made up concept by over-evolved monkeys who think they're the centre of the universe, if you ask me. As if the human experience is the only one that could possibly matter. Time works like this, the definition of life is that. It's selfish–and just embarassing. The need for control of everything in sight, the relentless striving to replicate what's already present... Always missi...

"Okay, pro: Free food."

She's got a point there.

"Con: Madison Rivers." I say, scrunching my nose. She's always hated my guts. I'd call her homophobic, but this actually all started from when I still thought babies came from storks.

"Fair enough..." Em squints her eyes in thought and I zone out thinking about the third-grade girls soccer team I got kicked out of for punching Maddy in her stupi...

Spring-loaded doors slam shut

Locked from the inside.

70, 80, 90 years each.

Barreling forward

Lost.

Never content.

An intrinsic need

for something intangible.

Just out of reach.

Something less lonely

than 7 billion people.

Homesick, for a place unrecalled.

Always on the tip of the tongue.

A truth impossible to swallow:

The idea of oneself is an oxymoron.

How can souls collide,

When experienc...

“So, what then? What’s the plan?”

“It doesn’t concern you.”

“Well, I’m coming, so it does.”

He stopped his angry march down the path and spun around.

“Like Hell you are,” he spit, cross-armed. I stared at my brother, crossing my own arms in protest. We looked more like twins in that moment than we had since the womb.

“Go home.” He started walking again.

“Make me.” I followed behind.

“I’ll...