“Stand here, Alina, and raise your chin slightly higher. You need to portray strength and elegance for this sculpture,” said Orion, the most well-respected sculptor in the city. “You will be a sight for everyone to see.” Orion began sketching Alina’s silhouette for the sculptor that he would place in the epicenter of the city.

As she got into position not able to lift her head high and rolling h...

I walked to the peak of Rose Mountain and sat there for hours waiting for the clouds to pass. I was breaking every rule by being here. We’re not allowed to leave the dome or breathe fresh air. All the rules, every no felt like a cage for so long. I will face any punishment to feel the sun just once.

As the clouds begin to part, a ray of sunlight hits my face, and it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt...

As I was walking into the Chanel store at the plaza, I noticed a man walking ten steps behind me.

”Huh, he was at the fountain last I saw him, looking for fallen coins.” I thought.

Thinking nothing of it, I walked into the store and was greeted by the staff.

I walked to the shelf that had my new favorite hot pink handbag, which would match perfectly with my wallet.

As I was inspecting the ba...

Standing in a circle with five of his closest friends, Lincoln couldn’t move. They all decided to meet at the park on campus, where no one would notice five college students talking. Lincoln called this a meet-up to get answers, but the anxious pressure of what might be said drove him to silence.

Sweat trickling down his back, his eyes were wide as if he saw a ghost.

Sarah, his best friend sin...

What I noticed initially were all the gilded necklaces, crowns, and adorned attire of the guests. Dressed as a gaudy emperor, I shifted my tie to the side as a subtle show of defiance. My aide, Inda, to the left of me, gave me a sharp glance, but didn’t want to make a scene. She’s much more poised than I ever since we were thirteen. I am the emperor who never cared for the title, and she is from t...

These were the dreams my mother would tell me—visions of places I’ve never seen before, following the instinctive drive to go there. Like a song in my head that never stops until I have reached the destination. This time, my first time is a blue foggy landscape at the edge of the water. A broken rundown plane, no one’s present, nothing makes a sound but the water. I am holding a lamp, investigatin...

As I soar through the majestic skies, bright yellow clouds tickling my skin with their dew as I pass, I wonder. What is next? No more laboring from sunup to sundown, gone were the days of cautioning my words to keep the peace. No more fighting alongside friends to create order. Their all dead now, except one. My last moment with him was fleeting, with the only word, “ Fly,” pulsing through my memo...

Whoosh! Bird wings flapping in the wind make a loud, but gentle sound. That’s all I can hear as I slowly open my eyes, blinded by the blue light of the sky. No, wait, is that blue? It’s green; the sky above me is a soft shade of green. Above me isn’t the soft sway of the trees. Rather, red and blue figures are circling above me. I reach up with my hand following the motion of their formation. Like...