**_November 6, 2024
_**Mom still hasn’t come back. I don’t know why I am disappointed. It’s my 9th birthday without her. She should’ve at least been here to see her daughter turn 18. Joshua and Marion made me a cake and prepared a gift with the scraps they had saved from mowing Dr. Kishong’s yard. I told them they shouldn’t have, they could have bought some extra chicken wings, but the new socks were really nice. Everyone in the neighborhood adores Dr. Kishong. I don’t get why. He is supposedly rich but he only gives us chump change after a few hours of work. Why did he adopt us then? If he was just going to make us work to afford our own clothes and food then we were better off still in the orphanage. At least there we could eat for free. I wonder how Kenney is doing.
**_November 10, 2024
_**Dr. Kishong told me I have two weeks left in his house before I have to leave because I’m an adult and should live on my own or something. I would understand a little more if I had a stable position in my life. But he won’t let me look for a job, won’t give me more money, and won’t let me work extra. How are Joshua and Marion going to make it without me? Dr. Kishong barely lets them work, both of their money combined can barely afford a burger and fries, so they would have to skip meals to afford clothes and other necessities. If Dr. Kishong had let me go to school then I maybe would have a friend who would let me live with them. What am I going to do?
**_November 13, 2024
_**Kishong is getting even more unbearable by the day. He took Joshua to his office and wouldn’t allow me to come. I’ve waited so long. Marion is crying. Where is Joshua?
**_November 15, 2024
_**WHERE IS JOSHUA!?
**_November 16, 2024
_**Kishong came back. No sign of Joshua. I kept asking him where Joshua was, but he would dodge the question every time. He got mad at me after the fifth time and he slapped me. I have a bruised cheek now. I tried to hide it from Marion but she saw it. I have a week left with a roof under my head. I can’t leave Marion with this man. Where is Joshua?
_November 18, 2024 _
He hit Marion… That bastard hit Marion… There was a table knife right there but I only managed to dig it into his forearm. I’m locked inside an empty room. Marion isn’t allowed to talk to me. There is still no sign of Joshua.
**_November 22, 2024
_**I’ve been allowed two slices of bread and two glasses of water daily. Marion found a way to sneak to see me. She whispers through the crack under the door. Joshua isnt back yet. Marion is okay. That Bastard hasn’t done anything to her. Yet.
**_November 24, 2024
_**I was finally let out of the room. Only to get kicked out of the house. Marion was allowed to give me a final goodbye. Kishong still won’t tell me where Joshua is. I will try to find him. I wonder where I will sleep tonight.
**_November 28, 2024
_**Its cold. I should have bought that sweater instead of that plush Marion wanted. I was stupid to let her have something she didn’t need over something I needed. I wonder how she is doing. I shouldn’t regret making her happy, even if it was just for a little bit. But I’m cold. and lonely. And angry.
_December 13, 2024 **** _i have an interview for a job tomorrow, a small cafe far from Kishong. I still havent found Joshua. Marion is ok though. I saw her at a store today. Kishong promised not to report me to the police when he caught me grabbing my lunch. Only if I promised to stay away though. Away from Marion. Marion cried. I miss her. Who knew I’d ever miss sleeping at that place? Kishong grabbed Marion and put her behind him. I dont like the way he grabbed her. She was uncomfortable, I could tell.
_December 20, 2024 _ Kishong came by the cafe today. I hid in the back. I saw Marion in the passenger side of his car. She would never sit there. None of us would. Why would he make her sit there? And what is he doing out here? it’s so far from his house.
_December 23, 2024 _ That Bastard Touched Her
_December 24, 2024 _ I stabbed him
_December 25, 2024 _ Jail sucks. This girl is super annoying. But at least they got food. And that shower i took felt nice. Marion was placed in foster care. I hope she is ok.
_December 31, 2024 _ Joshua is dead
_January 1, 2025 _ I broke out
**_January 5, 2025
_**Kishong is dead.
I stared into the big blue through the charged fence going around as far as the beach goes. The waves crashed into each other over and over, and the smell of its salty
fumes cut through into my nostrils, filling me with a sense of relaxation. I’ve heard that any closer than where I am, its smell could cause holes to grow in my lungs rapidly.
I was born on an island, unfortunately, so I see people die early because the fumes of the ocean end up causing damage through time; slowly but surely. My own mother
died due to the fumes when I was only six years old.
Still.
I couldn’t help but be drawn to it.
It was a beautiful thing. How was it possible that it knew how far to come into the sand? I wonder what being wet in ocean water would feel like. Would it sting? Would I die
immediately? Would I die at all? The crashing waves made a rhythmic sound that relaxed every cell in my body and tempted me. I wanted to feel it. I wanted to experience
such a beautifully dangerous thing.
I returned every day. Again, again, and again.
Until I couldn’t take it anymore. I walked the entire perimeter of the fence, looking for a section that wasn’t charged, or maybe broken, or opened. At the very edge, where
the fence met the wall of a cliff, a bottom section of the fence was bent upward, and a hole large enough for me to crawl through revealed itself to me. I stood in front of
it, hesitating to make my next step. I focused on the ocean, on the blue waves, the white foam, the glimmer of the reflection of the sun on its surface, on the smell, on
everything.
I crawled through the fence
and ran.
Adrenaline and an inexplicable rush of dopamine coursed through my veins. I took off my sandals and let the soft sand make its way comfortably between my toes. My
heart skipped a beat as the water made contact with the skin on my feet.
It was cold.
I stopped running and stared at the water, too scared to make any more contact. But I already broke the rules. I was already standing in it. I plunged my hands into the
water and laughed. So cold. But it didn’t hurt. It felt good. I went in deeper and deeper until the water was just below my neck. The water stung where i had scratched
myself while climbing a tree, I got scared at the slight pain but I stopped caring after a few seconds. I laughed and spun and dared to let my head go under. So salty! Was
it actually poisonous? I didn’t care. Water surrounded me. I was standing in the big blue sea, and I was still alive! My lungs didn’t hurt either.
Was I immune to its fumes?
Or was it all a lie?
But why would they lie?
The government wouldn't lie?
Would they?
There is a man by that black truck
It’s oddly in the shape of a duck
What a weird man with the black hat
why is he holding a bat?
Is he waving it at me?
I do not mistake what I see
The man with the giant duck is threatening
I can see the faces he is making
He will not cause damage to the family nearby
“Get behind me, on me rely!”
“You will not hurt them with your giant duck!”
“I have arrived so you are out of luck!”
“Sir what are you talking about?” __ “You look like you are about to knockout” __ __ “Knockout!? How dare you threaten me, what do you even know?”
“Put your fists up in the air and give me a show”
“Sir you are drunk. would you like some water”
“Or anything else to get you sober" __ __ “I am not drunk! I barely had any whiskey”
“Hey don’t touch me, quit being friskey!”
“Sir just let me help you stand up” __ _“_I never fell down, bub”
“I just wanna protect the people in your giant duck”
“Sir that is my family inside my truck” __
“I don’t think I can do this”
“Sure you can. It’s easy, just listen for the silence in the beats then pull down.”
“What?”
Death sighed and demonstrated what to do. Death leaned to one of the billions of hanging glowing balls and heard the faint beat of a heartbeat. This one’s time was almost up but not quite yet. Death moved on to a dimming ball and could barely hear the beat.
“This one! Come here.” Death’s temporary replacement tentatively approached the ball and leaned in to hear the beats.
“See how you can barely hear anything?” Death questioned, his replacement nodded slowly.
“These are the ones you pull out.” The replacement blinked before grabbing the ball and pulling down. The ball immediately went dim and dissolved into the air. Death chuckled at the wonder and shock on the replacement’s face. A few seconds later, a new glowing ball, brighter than any of the ones next to it, came down to take its place.
“Woah! What was that?”
“That’s Life. You will learn to hate Life.”
“Have you ever seen Life?”
“Yes, in the beginning of Time. Now, enough questions, I never have days off so I must take advantage”
“What will you do?”
“I want to try this new thing humans invented; I am _dying _to try,” Death answered, attempting a joke. The replacement continued unamused.
“Well, what is it?”
“They call it Base jumping. Do you know how many balls I have pulled out earlier than their time because of this?”
“How are you going to do that? You don’t even have a real body”
“You were made immortal two hundred and eighty-five years ago; how are you still so narrowminded?” Death spat out in playful annoyance. Death’s original appearance would confuse any being that wasn’t there at the Beginning. Death was just a black substance that can be described in human terms like a floating cloth with black smoke. Death glanced at his replacement and copied the body, shifting and transforming.
“You were a human before becoming immortal, correct?” Death wondered, moving the new body shape to become familiarized with it.
“Yes,” the replacement said, sounding almost unsure.
“How’s this?” Death said, lifting newly formed arms into the air and posing.
“Maybe you should wear something less…depressing. And change your face, make it look more human, people will definitely notice you are a god looking that perfect”
“Black is my signature color! And we are not gods, we are Everlasts.”
“I’ve never heard of that.
“Because you are human”
“Was”
“Same difference”
“Whatever. So, are you not going to change?” Death pondered for a moment before morphing the new face a little more and changing the previous obsidian black silk shirt to a dark grey cotton tee.
“Ok face is better, but the clothes…”
“I will not change any further, color makes me feel… what do you humans call it…sick”
“When will you be back?” the replacement asked, after an eye roll.
“Soon. Unfortunately, my work can never stop and I am afraid you won’t last long”
“Well at least you are aware of that”
“I’m off!”
“Bye. Have fun!” Death did not know what that meant but nodded anyway and left.
That girl is very strange.
She always hides under oversized clothes, she looks tired all the time, and she is…
so ugly…
She always looks so sad.
No one is ever around her.
I couldn’t imagine living my life looking like her. My life is so perfect. My hair, face, and body were flawless. There is always a reason for me to smile.
My friends all love having me around. I am a ray of sunshine.
But that girl, I bet people would hate being around her. Is that why she is always alone?
How miserable to be her…
I would hate to be her. That girl right there. That girl I see…
… when I look in the mirror.
I passed him?! I couldn’t believe it! For years, I always had to stare at the back of Jess King, runner number 42, always coming in first place. I trained for so long to pass him, but I guess I never believed I could do it. But I did it…
Was this a dream?
The Ribbon that I had to run through was approximately four feet away—just a few more seconds. I was tired, but passing Jess gave me a burst of energy, and I put all of it into the last few steps. The swinging of my arms got faster and more powerful, and the motion of my legs felt hypersonic. I was just a few inches away now. I could see victory! I could feel it! I could almost taste it!
It tasted like…
Blood? Wait, why did it taste like blood? That’s unexpected.
Oh wait… Damn it… I fell.
Inside the box, it was dark and lonely, but when I see light start breaking in, I get so happy that I dance. It is very rare that I get to dance, so I do it as long as the music, that always accompanies the light, plays. When the box opens and light floods in, I was always greeted by a giant smiling face with wide eyes and a smile with missing teeth. She would open the box often. Sometimes, I would see two other giants, much bigger than her, behind her. The smaller giant would often open the box, but at some point, I wouldn’t see the light as much and when I would, she seemed bigger each time. My last memory of the light was a long time ago; I heard a scream and then some strange siren noises, then complete silence. After a few hours I heard a door slam and sobbing. My box was lifted and opened. I begin to dance but slowly stop as I register the giant’s face. I had not seen her in a long time; she was much older, and water was running down from her eyes. “Why won’t you dance!?” she screamed. “Please dance!” she yelled. but I couldn’t. Her sad face made me not want to dance. Suddenly she burst into louder sobs, and I was raised into the air and quickly slammed down. I haven’t seen the light since. I miss the light. I miss dancing. It’s lonely in here. and cold. it hurts now too. I think I’m broken. Maybe I have been broken; I couldn’t keep the little giant, who isn’t little anymore, happy.
I remember the smell of wet soil in the morning
The early tones of the light
I can still feel the cold, wet grass when walking
The trees and flowers were a beautiful sight
But they were all soon gone
I moved somewhere new
I no longer had my quiet dawn
I doubt I’ll ever again see you
I thought this would be a better life
I left everything I used to know
I regret coming here, it's like a hot knife
I wish I had never let go
