For The Lost

I read the note over and over again, hoping that I had missed some part of the joke, but nothing else was there. I rubbed my eyes vigorously, in case I had undiagnosed dyslexia. Or, just maybe, I had taken some drugs that I had somehow forgotten about and all of this was a hallucination.  Nope, definitely real. How did I even get this letter? If the other Pandora really did exist, how did she manage to send me a letter from her universe? It all made no sense. Not at all. And yet, here Pandora was, clutching a letter addressed to her from herself in a different universe.  It’s urgent, the note had said,_ come fast. Go through the second door in the alleyway outside of the Nightshade Club at EXACTLY 10:05pm tonight. I can’t tell you everything in the letter. It’s too risky. Please, just come. Elias is in danger. For the lost._ _ _Well, I guess I know what I’m doing tonight. Not that I had any other fun plans anyway. I just hope I don’t see my brother outside of the nightclub tonight. His sorry ass is there every Friday, trying to drink away the pain. Our mother committed suicide when we were young, and my brother still blamed himself for it. I think he still has scars he doesn’t want to heal. I loved her so much, and I never knew how badly she was hurting. She was my everything: my roots, my star, my wind beneath my wings. The day she passed, I made a promise to myself that all of the things I did in my life would be for her. For her, and for my father who came into some bad company and never really got out. He cut ties with me and my brother a long time ago. For the lost. That was the only reason I was going to go. Somehow, Pandora knew how to pull my heartstrings, and knew my motto for life. Not only did it make me feel more motivated to go because of the vow I had made to myself, but I was also curious who this Elias person was. He must be special if Pandora sent a letter to me from a different universe, because I sure as hell didn’t have feelings for people, which means _she _sure as hell didn’t either. We were the same. From my trashed and musty apartment that I shared with my drunkard brother, I began packing the things I thought I might need. I grabbed my phone, my keys, my wallet, and some pepper spray.  Pfft. Pepper spray? I thought to myself. This will do nothing if I end up going against a three-headed snake that’s the size of an elephant. _ _I chucked it back on the bed. I’m not even sure why Pandora asked me to help in the first place. I trained in Karate when I was 8 and only ever made it to a green-stripe belt. She should know that, because she did it too.  After I gathered the essentials, I began walking out the door, down to the road that the Nightshade Club was on. Before I shut the door to our shitty apartment, I took one good look at it, as if it were my last, and turned on my heels.

Dangerous Love

Since the war, there were not many ways that Astros could get any worse. The land was practically divided in two, both physically and metaphorically. The Highers still thought it was necessary to distance themselves from the Lessers, and it was rare to see a conversation between the two groups, let alone a peaceful one.  And somehow, Lark’s sister managed to be courted by the ruler of Astros, who was most definitely the highest of the Highers. Lark’s sister Ayanna was a human, which made her essentially the lowest of the Lessers. This wedding was going to be atrocious, especially since there was no way out. “How did you even meet him?” I asked my sister, furious about the whole situation. “I didn’t!” she insisted, “I have no idea why he would want to marry someone like me.” Ayanna sounded a little disappointed, since she knew that a Higher would never willingly marry a Lesser. She knew that she was unwanted, especially among the population that was able to support her ridiculous spending habits. “Well, we have to think. What would he want with you? Is he going to kill you? Use you for breeding?” I wanted Ayanna to marry for love, not for some ulterior motives. And the ruler of Astros was cruel enough to do such a thing to her. He didn’t even know anything about her, so how could they possibly love each other? Ayanna just bowed her head. I could tell in her face that she wanted a lover, finally, but she didn’t want it to be like this. Not when she knew nothing about them and didn’t know if she was just a pawn in someone else’s game. Since we were part of the Lessers, we didn’t even have magic to use on the ruler so that we could ask what his intentions were.  “You will marry him,” I decided, “but only so you can infiltrate his throne. He is such a monster that I bet he is planning some sort of attack on the Lessers because of our stalemate in the war.” Even though Aeden did nothing to help his army fight in the war, he still blames us Lessers for being smart enough to trick them a couple of times.  It didn’t help that me and Ayanna were all on our own, either. Our parents died when we were too young to remember them, so we became orphans at a very young age. We knew nothing of their lives or how to make a life for ourselves, other than looking beautiful and tricking men into giving us what we want. I guess Ayanna looked a little too good, and Aeden wanted to take her off the playing field. I don’t think Ayanna had anything wrong with this plan, because she also hated the bastard. Aeden has publicly announced multiple times how he would love to rid Astros of the Lessers, and forced the Lesser women into baking him bread every morning. He was nothing short of a close-minded immature racist with too much power.  For the rest of the day, the girls packed Ayanna’s things in silence, not wanting to speak into the air the impending doom that was undoubtedly going to come to Ayanna at the palace.

The Mother

Dear Diary, Today, I learned what grass feels like. It has been years since I have seen it with my own eyes, or have felt it with my hands. I was rubbing against it a lot, just because of how amazing it felt to touch nature again. I think the neighbors were looking at me like I was crazy.  It’s officially day 4000 of being trapped in this place again. Should we celebrate? Just you and me, since I don’t know anybody except for the Mother and the lint bunnies in the corner. It’s crazy to think that it’s been almost 11 years of my life since the Incident. 11 years that I have not had free will. Maybe one day, I’ll be able to make choices for myself again. The Mother wouldn’t even let me pick the color or you, which is why you’re green - blech. I was only able to go outside today for a brief moment because she wasn’t there to stop me... I just hope that my spell to erase the neighbor’s minds was enough. I might be getting too risky. It’s just so hard to stay inside all of the time. I hear her footsteps. She would KILL me if she saw you. Til tomorrow.

Dear Diary,
The Mother is back from her trip today. She was gone for a few day’s time until last night. I was going to try to sneak out again, but it’s too risky. While she was out, she decided to get some magic-sensing beams that would send alerts to her mind if anything was detected. So, I guess I won’t be getting out again for a while.
At least I have my books, right? Is it sad that the only people I talk to now are you, the Mother, and my fictional characters? I feel like that has to be a bad sign. But, there’s not much I can do about it until I grow into my powers. The Mother doesn’t know that I have them, but I can feel the tingling that the characters in my books get when they are developing their magic. I just hope it’s enough to get rid of the Mother, or at least stun her for enough time for me to run as fast away as possible.
Maybe I could even teleport. I mean, I have no idea what kind of magic I will have, since I don’t even know who my real parents are. All I know is from the limited books that I have. I think that there are different types of magic, and who says you can’t use magic to teleport between places? It would make sense, wouldn’t it? Either way, the Mother deserves what’s coming for her. I’ve pretended to be a happy captive for far too long, and I don’t know my powers well enough to keep them hidden from her much longer. Once they come into me completely, I might just have to shatter this blasted place and everything in it. Good thing I already know how to wipe the neighbors’ minds without harming them.

Dear Diary, 
I think she knows. 
Today, she brought me home some bracelets. They look nice enough, but... they hurt. In a weird way. Like something is holding me back. I can’t hear as well as I used to, and the colors in the world look a little more muted too. I saw in one of the books that certain types of metal stifle magic, but I don’t know what they look like because I’ve never had jewelry before.
That’s also why I don’t trust her gift. The Mother has never gotten me jewelry before because she said it was too expensive. I wonder why she decided to do so all of a sudden now.
Can my magic be felt? Even if the Mother is not magical herself, can she sense my magic? I’ve tried to keep it hidden, but maybe by thinking about it more I’ve brought it more to my attention and hers as well. And I guess I don’t know for sure if the Mother doesn’t have magic. I’ve always assumed she doesn’t, because that’s why she stole me away in the first place. As soon as the awakening occurs and I get my full range of magic, her plan was always to take it. That’s why she’s gone insane trying to research magic and how I managed to steal a few books in the first place. 
Oh no. Maybe the bracelets are draining me of my magic to be a siphon for the Mother. I’ve got to get them off of me right now.

Death’s Kiss

“Please, please don’t hate me,” was all I could think to say to her, my words raspy as my throat threatened to swell up. “It was the only way I could find to bring hope back into the world.” She still looked at me, working through everything in her head. I could see the way she considered my words, considering how they impacted everything she had seen until now. What pained me even more is that I could see it in her face exactly when she stopped trusting me, too. I didn’t blame her. I had spent the last two years pretending to be someone I wasn’t. The whole world thought me to be a hero, when I was really just a sad nobody pretending to save the world so that people would think I was important. I knew I wasn’t important, but maybe if I could convince other people I saved them from certain death, they would portray me as a somebody. “But… how? Why?” she asked. “Why did you say you saved them from that crash in the desert when they actually all died? How can you be so terrible to erase their legacies, to not tell their families they’d never be seen again?”  To be honest, I had forgotten that other people had families, that other people had people waiting for them to come home everyday. “Please...” was all I managed to get out before the tears started streaming. Even as she walked away, I kept explaining the bits and pieces that would come out, in case she decided to come running back. “I thought if I came back saying everything was okay, that they were saved… I didn’t want people to be sad, I didn’t want them hurt. I didn’t want to admit… I didn’t want to admit that I’m a killer, that I killed them by not saving them.” She was long gone by that point. I didn’t even know who I was talking to anymore. But, as I kept talking, as I realized the one person I cared for now hated me too, I swore to myself that I would never fear my true identity again. If people wanted to see me for who I really was, I would show them. My first act as this new me, I decided, would be to admit what I was scared of: I’m a killer. I’m not a hero, except to Death itself. Since Death was following me around so much already, why not become its recruiter? My sadness turned to rage, and desire for praise turned into desire to kill. I had nothing left to live for, anyway. And I was going to take away the thing that made my heart soft the most: Sophie. The one thing standing in my way of becoming the most powerful villain in the world.  So, I followed that urge to kill, snuffed out my last ember of humanity, and followed Sophie all the way back to her house, cloaking myself in my shadows that I once used for “good”.  And waited, and waited. Until I saw her pretty face for the last time. Yes, Death whispered in my ear. This one will do nicely.