I am but a puzzle,

Puzzled by myself,

Other are puzzled by me personally,

I dunno what I’m saying or doing either, don’t ask me!...

The bag hits the other end of the table, against the wall, with a thud. The hooded figure across from me peers inside carefully, as if a snake might jump out from inside and bite him.

“Where the hell did you find this?!” He asks.

“The corner store.” I reply, making a “GIVE ME MY MONEY” gesture with my hands.

“…really?”

“No, stupid. I murdered a guy and stole it off his rotting corpse.”

The ho...

“What the-?!” Screamed the girl in the red hood as she plummeted down from the light blue sky, landing with a THUMP in the soft grass.

“Hey,” I say, “Welcome to Earth, it sucks.”

“Who the f-“

“We don’t say those words here, Little Red Riding Hood.”

“Damn it!”

“Yeah, my thoughts exactly. If you’ll join Goldie Locks and That One Princess over there, we can begin the seminar.”

“Seminar?” Littl...

Right. So, I know from experience you don’t want to cross Amber when she’s mad. And, oh, is she MAD. When I walked into the school this morning, I was NOT ready for Amber’s anger. Echoing slamming of locker doors, incoherent jumbled mumbling, scowling at everything, like if she could, she WOULD stab it. Yeah, not on a Monday morning, thanks. She’s not facing me, so I have about five minutes before...

“Your crown is made of the people’s bones and hunger.”

“Is it?” the king reaches up, tapping his crown with a mixed look of curiosity and disgust, “I thought it was made of gold.”

“That’s…not what I meant.”

“Well, good. If it had been, I would’ve needed a new crown. I am 𝘯𝘰𝘵 wearing a crown of people’s bones!”

“Um, Mr. King, sir,” says Adam, showing no back bone whatsoever, “Layna just ...

“Hand it over, now!” I shriek, gasping for breath. He just looks at me, blankly, then raises the knife and points it at me.

“Wait your turn,” he says, waving the sharp metal object around before turning back to the cake in front of him.

“You said I could do the icing!” I complain, tugging at his shirt.

Max sighs, “Ainsley, seriously.”

“It’s not even for your friend! And you shouldn’t be waving...

A person who has a song stuck in their head constantly?

…

Huh.

Oh, wait, that’s me....

Standing on the beach of safety, the water almost seems to lash out in irritation, urging me either forward or backward. I step away. The sand squishes below my feet, it’s soft texture comforting me. I breathe in the salty air, and it burns my nose. I filter out the voices and movements of other beach-goers, their laughing and yelling lost in the thick, heavy worry of my mind. Trembling slightly, ...

“I think I just met the happiest person in the world!” Mason slams the door shut.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” I flick the light switch and am met with blinding light. It’s amazing how dark it gets in the science classroom.

“It is! She was like, WAY too bubbly. Getting excited about everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. We were talking about rocks.” Mason glides to the back of the room, pu...