Your mind is a garden,

your thoughts are the seeds.

You can grow flowers,

or you can grow weeds.

How either will flourish

depends on the care that you show,

for flowers need water

if you want them to grow,

and weeds will only take over

if you let them do so.

But deep in the soil,

if you look close,

you may find a weed beside a wee rose,

or a flower hidden beneath the weeds,

for no matter how g...

It’s true; Damon Kane was an evil man. Although there are usually even more malevolent people behind such wickedness, that doesn't diminish his own. Without a doubt, his evil may have overshadowed anyone else's. While giving demands is one thing, acting on them is quite another. It takes a ruthless person to kill someone over _unpaid debts_.

Especially considering that most of the people who took...

Fifteen years ago, they pulled a body from the bottom of the lake. A woman. Twenty-three years old. Her name was Eloise Grant.

I remember it as if it happened yesterday. I was only two years older than her, walking into my first day as a detective constable. It wasn’t my case—and nowhere near my jurisdiction—but I was there to witness everything. The frantic searches. The moment we told her famil...

_Stay out of the house._

_Please._

Like he’s really begging—

tears in both eyes,

sliding down both cheeks.

I’m six years old.

He tells me: _Go outside. Stay outside._

Eat something with all your teeth,

and make something with all your fingers.

Then he asks me: _What color is the sky today?_

I run to the window to check.

When I come back,

he’s already dead.

When we clean out his room,

I find his...

“Dad, why do you do that?”

I glance over my shoulder. My son is standing barefoot on the porch, squinting at me in the moonlight.

“Do what?” I ask, even though I know the answer.

“That thing. Every night.”

I gesture for him to come closer, and he sits beside me, pulling his knees to his chest, a look on his face that tells me he's ready for a story.

“When I was in the army,” I start, “my f...

This nameless grave,

another hole bleeding from the ground.

Both your hands are wounded,

your eyes never found.

Your soul left sick and hungry,

whimpering in the rain.

A lie painted as truth,

and a sharp sensation

described as pain.

Yes,

this nameless grave.

Don’t let it remain unnamed.

Keep life real, not rushed.

Keep yourself, never be tamed.

It’s never been jump or die,

nor the other way aro...

Little fawn, how you run,

Through the woods—your world,

So free.

Little fawn, your wide black eyes,

What has he done to you?

With his steady hand

And heart of ice.

Hiding in the brush—watching

Through the scope.

One shot. So clean. So quick.

Little fawn, why do you cry?

Your body crumpled in the dirt,

The moon died with you that

Brutal night.

Yet no one knows—not even him.

The innocence he stole.

...

**A**cid burning in our throats,

**B**ut the fire’s in our hearts.

**C**an’t run from tomorrow, so we

**D**ie in its arms.

**E**ven hell hears us scream.

**_F_**_reedom does not equal peace._

**G**ive a wolf a knife, it’ll still use its teeth.

**H**ad I known death was waiting for us,

**I**’d have done anything

**J**ust to keep it waiting.

**K**ill all things, and seek salvation.

**L**ong ago, I p...

I dream of something like the ocean

on Mars—water rising in my

throat.

I wake with the taste

of salt, fire, distance.

Hands like tides

breaking open across my skin.

Voices, clean and cold,

the closest I’ll ever

get to holy.

I go to sleep with thoughts

of safe places, and guns

larger than my pulse, their

bullets crying sorry as they

nest into flesh.

Blood that doesn’t drip—

just stays there and s...

I move guided by hope

not sight.

I know that just the tiniest

bit of belief will get me

far, no matter if I’m blind.

I see fear of death in

the quiet brown of your eyes.

I see you are also worried,

worried you’ll have to pay

more than just your life.

I hear Him — all the time.

I hear Him — into day and

when mourning night.

I know, the sun was once

just empty light,

I know that we’ve only m...