A traitor to be executed. 

That’s what Walker Haines was to Kaidos, his kingdom. To his father. And while he stood in the shadows, shackled in the same tailored finery he wore fourteen days ago, he waited. 

Hands met rusted metal bars, the scent of damp earth searing his nostrils as he pressed his face against them, peering into the darkness. 

Cell upon cell upon cell, he was alone. 

Dim light spi...

**The whistles began, birds chirping at the break of dawn. Singing in a way that set Philip's heart soaring the moment his eyes opened. Crisp rain filtered in through the cracked van window, the sun just warm enough to make waking in the cramped space bearable. Droplets of rain cascaded down the glass like a trail of happiness, searching for a place to call home.**

****

**Yet Philip didn’t have on...

Malice filled Belamy’s chest, sneering as she curled her fingers and watched three souls wither across from her. Their bodies crumpled, falling into a heap on the creaky hut floor.

They had a deal with the witch, and she came to collect. 

Wisps of white light floated in the air before they were sealed in glass jars––now forever hers to do what she wished. Sometimes she ate them, sometimes she used...

I saw it then––the happiness he wore. The easy smiles and carefree laughs. And I knew it was something I’d never be able to have, despite how badly I wanted it....

A single day had passed when they announced it. That people's lives would soon come to an end, wiping everyone off the earth within seconds of hitting. 

Yet Evie couldn’t bring herself to care. 

Not that she didn’t want to, but because she couldn’t. Her feet dragged on the pavement, pace slow and leisurely as she strode forward, gazing at the darkened sky. Stars winked at her, as if they knew wh...

Her body threw itself into a turmoil anytime he left. As if he was the very thing keeping her tethered to this realm. She didn’t understand it—that feeling of longing, and how her breathing halted anytime she thought of him. But when he entered the room again, it was as if she was finally able to take in a long, relieved breath....

I don’t have to touch

to know how you feel––

through my words,

through stolen glances and shared meals

still, I touch you somehow.

for touch is only a tool,

no hands, no lips, no skin on skin

words run deeper than any touch could give

still, I touch you somehow.

I don’t have to touch

to know the deepest parts of you,

to memorize your sighs, your cries, your laughs.

And though I remain

without ...

My feet moved forward, no control––Excitement. Fear. Adrenaline.

A forest of poppies is forbidden, yet here I was, inching my way in.

Concealed by a red cloak, I remained hidden.

Out of sight, out of mind like I’d never been real at all.

No one cared––no shouts, no screams, no searching for me.

I was unseen.

Perhaps it was what I needed.

Maybe I’m a poppy too, I thought.

Never touched, loved...

The silence that hovered in the frozen air was stifling, as it was my only reminder at how alone I had just become in the middle of nowhere. It was the type of silence that had me begging for screams, but they hadn’t come nor would they. 

Fifty smuggled passengers died––all except me.

The aircraft was currently stuck on a block of ice, half sunk beneath in the water while its captain was slumped...

It had been raining that day when I decided to go for a run. It's what I always did when I was feeling lost and alone, riddled with anxiety, and today was no different than any I had before when I talked to my mother.

At this point, running seems to be my only escape from her, yet, now I feel as if my running habits are tainted because of it. My anxiety skyrockets the second her ringtone blares o...