We met in the summer Hearts fluttered passions flew A sailors song our anthem Ignorant of the ending we already knew

When heat and love are high It makes the sweet promises you utter Promises of forever Promises of a life better

By winter our love could not break But the alarm of war sounded like thunder Duty and honor bound you had to act By water and blood we were torn asunder

All night I watched for you The sea glowed red, explosions surrounded The lighthouse my protector We stood all night unmoved

Screams and explosions quieted Heavy clouds hung ov’r the sea Morning sun began to rise And nature hid my lover from me

Lost in the fog Alone in the deep Bound by a promise That he couldn’t keep.

When I awoke from surgery I expected to see a nurse or maybe two nearby, but the reality was horrifying. Not only was I in a dimly lit room filled with other hospital patients, but there was not a nurse in sight. The walls and ceiling looked makeshift. The room had a damp, cool atmosphere that I just could not seem to shake.

I sat up in my bed, searching for a nurse to explain where I was and how the surgery went. It was useless, however. The room was not very large, but there were five other patients with me. It felt cramped and rushed. I laid back down, the other patients fast asleep, and closed my eyes.

Sleep evaded me, though I so longed for it. It must have been an hour or two that passed by and I was still wide awake. I could hear the other’s breathing, soft rain on the roof or walls, and every now and then someone would walk past the only door to my left. Suddenly I heard a noise that made me freeze. I held my breath, daring not to make any movement. A low growl, a guttural sound that was almost human but more animalistic. Primitive. Like it had been here since the beginning of time. The room was filled with an icy heat, a cold that burned the edges of my fingers and toes. The air felt heavier, thicker, darker.

“Yes, Master?” A patient to my right whispered. I dared not open my eyes to look.

“It is time. Kill. Kill for me.” As quickly as the sound has come, the entity that uttered it left. I could feel the room go back to normal - well as normal as it was to begin with at least. For the first time I allowed myself to breathe, slowly, quietly. I opened my eyes cautiously to see the patient standing over a young girl directly across from his bed. His eyes were closed, and he moved as if he was still asleep. I watched in horror as he pulled a syringe from a drawer and filled it with air. When he went to put it in her IV, I knew already was going to happen. I closed my eyes and waited. The cacophony of alarms and nurses shuffling did not take long to come alive.

When the chaos had died down, one nurse remained to clean up the bed. I sat up in my bed, and she rushed over to me. “Finally awake huh? I bet that wouldn’t have been easy to sleep through. Let me give you something to put you back down until the doctor is ready.”

“What? No, tell me what’s going on here! Where am I? Why hasn’t anyone seen me after my surgery? Did everything go okay?” I almost began to tell her what I saw when I awoke, but I decided to stop there.

“Oh no, it’s worse than I thought.” Her blue eyes sparkled with cheer, but her smile had turned downward. She quickly reached for medicine I assumed was to knock me out. I refused to stay still for her, I fought with every ounce of strength I had. I didn’t understand what was going on. Why was she trying to make me sleep? I decided I had nothing else left to try.

“You don’t understand, I saw someone in this room kill that girl! I can’t stay here!”

She stopped trying to inject me for a moment, but a horrifying grin formed on her face. “Yes, that does tend to happen.” The icy cold air was suddenly back, and my shoulder burned hot with pain. A large black hand with long claws and rough skin gripped me tightly and I felt a pinch in my arm as the nurse was able to inject me.

I couldn’t fight the sleep, though I tried.

A song on repeat Volume turned to the max Head banging Hair flipping Arms dancing

Sing along as loud as you can No one but the open road to judge Let the notes flow through you Energize your old bones Fill up your weary soul

Breathe it all in The happiness, the nostalgia, Impossible to frown in the aura of his voice Let all your worries loose Throw them in the wind!

And then play it again.

Past experience told me that if something was too good to be true, it was. So when I walked into my favorite lunchtime diner and got a vacation in the Bahamas as a side to my usual burger and fries, I was sure there was some sort of catch. A week long vacation for free just for being the one millionth customer? The doubt wheels were turning in my mind.

However, I could not just turn down a vacation closer to the equator when it was snowing every day in my hometown. So I packed my bags and headed to the airport, full of excitement and anticipation as to what fate had planned me for when I landed. After a nine hour flight squished into about half a seat next to a 300lb man, my two feet hit the ground and I was ready for the sunshine and sand.

I was euphoric when everything turned out to be just the way I had hoped. The staff was amazing, the tourists were tourists, and the warm sand reenergized my drained batteries. After a week of paradise, I certainly did not want to go back. This past experience taught me that sometimes life gives you exactly what you need at the exact moment you need it, and to have faith in the natural order of things.

I think I have just met the happiest person in the world.

When she looks around her she sees all the pain and suffering, but chooses to focus on the little bit of joy she can find. When she smiles the whole room brightens, the atmosphere instantly lifted. Nothing can bring her down, for she walks on the air of confidence. She’s been through hell, and now she’s back.

She doesn’t let anyone take advantage of her, but she never makes an enemy. Many people loathe her for her happiness, the tangs of jealousy too strong for their heart. She never lets it bother her. I have never seen her cry! Not since that night, at least. That night that changed her.

Some might say that it’s impossible to be that happy all the time, but she does not have a choice. You are either happy or sad, and being sad isn’t productive. She feels the depression, but chooses not to let it bring her down. She doesn’t have a partner, only a partner in crime. A miniature version of herself to fill her shoes and time with love. The sweet little smiles and giggles fill her mind with light when the dark tries to creep in.

I think I have just met the happiest person in the world, in my bathroom mirror. I’m looking at my reflection, and she’s staring back at me.

My heart raced as my eyes darted from tree to tree. The pines towered over me like a large and ominous audience, hindering my view and therefore my search. The sun should have been high in the sky by now, but in this forest I could not tell. There was a dark tension so thick it was palpable - not even the sun shone here. My legs continued to put one foot in front of another without my mind telling them where to go. Either they knew their own way to Sky or I simply was wandering around in the woods like a lost puppy searching for her owner desperately. In a way, Sky was my owner. He was older by a couple minutes, and of course he never let me forget it. I should have listened when he told me he was scared. He told me he felt like something was in these woods, but hindsight is always 20/20.

“No you can’t think about that now. You just have to find him.” I pushed the thoughts from my mind.

His name echoed off the trees in a voice I almost didn’t recognize as my own. I did not know I had produced the sound until I heard it reflected back at me. I paused to listen, but only heard silence in return. Eerie, creeping silence. The kind of silence that feels like a fog. Neither a cricket nor a bird could be heard, only my footsteps crunching against the pine cones and the trickling stream.

He had to be in there, somewhere. There was no other explanation. His shoe, my hand still tightly wrapped around it, had been on the bank of the creek behind our house. It was soaked throughly, so I assumed he lost it somewhere further up. What if I was wrong? What if I had spent the past hour searching for him in vain? I did not even think to call for help, did not even think to call 911. I just knew he needed me, immediately. I could feel it.

My feet picked up their pace and within an hour I had reached a cave situated in a cliff side. The creek went underground just inside, but I could tell it went in deeper. There was something ominous in the air - a smell I couldn’t quite place. I did not have a flashlight on me, but I could not let that stop me. I had only taken a few steps in when I found his other shoe, a confirmation I was on the right path. I looked up at the walls around me and could see something painted on them, but the substance and subject where unknown to me. I pressed further on, Sky being my only thought.

I could hear a faint whimpering, you could mistake it easily for the lapping of a brook. I knew it was Sky, but I dare not call out his name. Something about this place felt wrong. I should not have been there, and I hesitated for a moment. If I had to fight something in this cave, I had only my hands. They seemed so small, so incapable of harm in that very moment. The whimpering grew louder suddenly, and I followed it’s sound to a chamber lit with torches. Sky was in the middle, a circle of blood drawn around him. He was curled up, knees to his chest, rocking back and forth. He was uttering incomprehensible words, but relief washed over me still.

“Come Sky, let’s go.”

“If I leave they will come after you.” I struggled to understand him.

“Who’s they? Why me? Come on let’s go!” I tried to grab him but he pushed my hands away. He wasn’t making any sense, and we had to get out of there. I did not know why, but the urgency I felt was overwhelming.

“The demons! They’re coming!” His voice was merely a whisper but his eyes were wide with fear. I had never seen him so scared, but we did not have time for this. I punched him as hard as I could to knock him out, threw him over my shoulder, and high-tailed it back down to the house.

I did not believe him in the cave, but I wish I had. Demons certainly followed him home.

I refuse to beg you for my life. I realize it would fall on deaf ears, and I doubt that an appeal to your emotional side would make any difference on whether I lived or died. If it makes any difference to you, I would very much like to live. There is a life that depends upon mine, a life much more precious than mine own. A life free of sin and stain, perfect still before he draws his first breath. That life is the one you should save. For while I have cheated, lied, and stole, his light has yet to had a chance to shine on the world. I have educated myself, survived abuse and rape, made something of myself despite everyone telling me I could not do it. I have had my time on the world, and I accept that at these may very well be my last words.

You can keep me chained here in this dismal room, wherever we are, until he is born. Then you can kill me if you like. He deserves that, that chance. I won’t presume to know if you could understand a mother’s love for her child, but it’s all consuming. You may not even want to feel it, but the second your eyes meet and your fingers touch your heart no longer only beats in your chest. Suddenly it’s in two places at once, so kill me once he’s born. I’ll continue on him and that is enough for me. I have lived my life and am content with my mistakes and achievements.

While I won’t beg you for my life, I will beg you for his. Please, woman to woman, I beg you to spare him. I beg you to let him breathe for the first time. I beg you to let him experience the joy of springtime, the energy of summer, the cold of winter. I beg you to give him the chance to travel the world and hope the world will love him back.

I was going to name him Oliver, you know. I guess it would only be fitting for him to become an orphan.