How am I supposed to heal from wounds

No one even tried to bandage?

They aren’t clean…

They’re gaping holes,

Like gunshots,

And if I leave them untended,

They’ll rot.

I need more than time.

I need cleansing —

From the inside out.

Bandages. Care.

But what if I can’t do it alone?

Sure, hands reach out around me.

People try.

But something in me says…

It has to be you.

You’re the one who made this me...

I don’t want to stick out like a weed in a field of wildflowers,

So I put on another coat of makeup,

Another fake smile is plastered on my face,

Another day of brushing through my long blond hair.

I wish my hair was short and purple, wouldn’t that be pretty? But nope, that doesn’t fit the code of a teenage girl apparently.

Maybe I’m too insecure…

Are all these other people pretending too?

Why can’...

In the light everyone is judged.

No matter height, weight, race, identity, sexuality.

It can be miserable for most

But in the dark,

We all look the same.

We’re all shadows,

Unable to be seen in the dark.

Nobody can be judged in the dark,

So why do we prefer the light?...

Avery opens up the journal that her uncle got her. It was thin, with a leather cover that had the markings of snake skin. She turned the first page to find multiple journal entries…

Lainey:

Dear whoever’s reading this,

I don’t know what this book is, but I know I want to leave some kind of mark in it. So that’s why I’m writing. I actually just found this on the ground and it caught my eye, so her...

Ashton-

Ashton sends one glance around the library then scoffs. He had much better things to do than hang out with his sister at this dusty old place. He doesn’t even like to read!

“Ashton! Go check out the graphic novel section if you’re bored!” His sister calls to him before getting shushed at by the librarian. She covers her mouth from a laugh and starts to walk into the bookshelves. Ashton jus...

You’ve come back, but I no longer need you.

I no longer need a shoulder to cry on,

For your shoulder was too uncomfortable anyway.

I no longer need your comforting words,

For I realized they were laced and tied with lies.

I no longer need someone to talk to,

For you took them all away in the first place.

I no longer need a friend,

For you made me distant.

I no longer need to find if I belong,

For ...

The duck lightly touches down into the misty waters, it’s feet dampening before it engrosses in the pond.

Only a few feet away from the enchanting scene lay blood. Blood melting into the water along with the duck and staining the pond red. Unknown limps on shore, holding her bleeding side. A confident smirk is plastered on Unknown’s face, not drifting away even as the water turns a deeper red.

T...

I stare out the gaping excuse for a window and trudge towards it. The cold breeze from outside hits me calmly, swirling my brown hair up behind me, and I can see it did the same to my sister beside me. Cindy and I have always had a love-hate relationship with this house. A burning love, fueled purely by memories, and a hate that leaks through the walls like a rusty water pipe. Standing here, I can...

Ashton walks out of his room quietly. Nobody could know he was a ghost, for he was living with hunters. Maybe he could hunt them instead? Give them a taste of their own medicine?

“Ashton~!” He hears a sweet voice carry from downstairs.

“Crap…” Ashton whispers to himself. How was he supposed to go down there when he’s freaking translucent?!...