His eyes were filled with panic and shame as he quickly got off our bed. His ‘friend’ was scrambling to find her clothes while wrapping my blanket around her to cover herself. He brushed off my suspicions many times, telling me I was paranoid because his love for her was like that of a brother. It would offend him when I accused him, and he always had many excuses and explanations. I saw a hint of remorse in his face, but my anger was too intense. I was also angry at myself; I had wasted the best years of my life; my youth and the disrespect I endured were laughable. All the love I had for this man died in an instant; I didn’t care anymore. He walked towards me and said, “I’m sorry” repeatedly. I just looked at him with all emotion devoid in my eyes. “Come” was all that managed to escape my mouth. I looked at them both to signal them to follow me. He had just reached me when I started walking towards our basement, ensuring they were both following close behind me. His friend Ana was reluctant, but he ensured she did as said. She was cursing and annoyed he made her listen to me. My home was quite big, making the walk there feel internal. When we got to the basement door, he looked panicked and turned to see my face, “Honey, are you sure you want us to go in there?” He told me as my hand reached for the knob. “It’s just that…, you never liked anyone entering the basement, … not even me.” He looked down as he said this. I just looked at him with an annoyed look on my face. I opened the door, and there was darkness; you couldn’t see an inch in front of you. I told them to start entering the basement at the same time. Ana looked at me, fear evident on her face, “what are you trying to do?” she asked me, trying to sound annoyed. I rolled my eyes. “walk,” I snapped at her. As they both set foot inside, I pushed them, aware of the countless stairs that awaited them. You could hear their screams as they continued for a few minutes, and their voices faded as they went further down. It took me some time to finally catch up to them. They were severely injured when I finally saw them; the lights were turned on at this point. I was a petite woman, so hanging them up took me a while as they squirmed and struggled to free themselves from my grip. Although I’m small, I’m pretty strong. When they were both dangling from my Basement ceiling, I placed Their Unusual, pointy chair underneath them. I lowered them as slowly as I could. They were begging for mercy, and all I could do was cry as I remembered their betrayal; I was so tired of being abandoned. Was I not good enough? Not pretty enough? Not smart enough?

“I promise to love you always and always listen to everything you say.” I didn’t think my day would end with my coworker confessing her feelings for me. “I’m much prettier than her; why don’t you date me instead?” Jenny muttered as she glared at Ana with a menacing look. “Because I love her”. -

“Well, love, aren’t you full of yourself having a dream like that?” teased Ana “… Is there something you want to tell me?” She joked, but I knew she was slightly serious. “No, she’s a nice girl, but there’s always been something about her that makes me uncomfortable.” I tried to hide the concern in my voice, but Ana noticed my uneasiness. “I’ve met Jenny before, and she seems like a nice girl; she was very timid when we greeted each other.” She stroked my sweaty head as we lay in bed with my head on her chest as I told her about my strange dream. “We should hurry up, or we’ll be late for our classes; you don’t have any in the afternoon, right?” Her face lit up, expecting a response . “I guess it’s been a while since we’ve gone on a date. “I can’t today, but I have the day off tomorrow since I changed today’s shifts with tomorrow; Alice practically begged me to switch with her.” “I guess tomorrow will be better since you’ll spend more time with me, but it’s strange that Alice did that, considering tomorrow is the only day she can visit her parents, and she hasn’t answered my calls or texts since yesterday.” Her brows furrowed as she showed concern for her best friend. “You should call her,” I murmured while kissing her neck. I hugged her from behind while she was doing her makeup. “Stop! I’m in a hurry; go put on clothes, or we’ll be late!” She smacked me as she hurried. I felt tired, but I smiled, recalling last night’s events. We shouldn’t have gone all out last night since I have work after Mr.Smith’s class. I groaned, remembering that I had my two longest classes that day. After fighting to stay awake, classes were finally over, and tomorrow’s date with my beloved was the only thing keeping me going. The closer I got to my job, the bad feeling from this morning consumed my body. Once I got there, I tried to ignore it as I greeted my coworkers; when I got to Jenny, I let out a nervous chuckle. “Hi, Jenny.” She smiled sweetly as she greeted me. Hey there, what are you doing here?” I didn’t want to speak with her, but I didn’t want to start any problems. “Oh, well… Alice suddenly wanted to switch days. It sounded urgent, so I did.” Her smile got bigger. “I see. Are you going to keep that schedule?” Please stop talking.” No, I have long classes in the morning, and working in the afternoon is too taxing.” Her wide grin disappeared in a fraction of a second and appeared just as fast.” Well, that’s too bad. I was looking forward to finally working together with you every day.” I think I imagined it, right? Maybe I’m overthinking things because of my dream. “Well, we work together almost all other days. Besides, I just switched my day off, so what’s the difference?” Her smile lessened when I said this.” Today is the only day I work with Alicia, as she usually has the morning shift, and I don’t like her. She always bothers you. It’s not like she’s your girlfriend, right?” her face went dark as she said this.”No, she’s just a good friend of many years.” Her face relaxed, and she smiled again. “Great!” I got tired of talking with her, so I left because she was starting to freak me out. During my shift, I tried to avoid her the best I could until it was finally the end of the day. We closed down and started to clean up; I just needed to finish wiping the tables I was in charge of to go home. On my way out, Jenny stopped me. “I need to talk with you.” she was flustered, twirling her hair while looking at me with a strange expression. “What of?” Man, I just want to head home to my sweet Ana. “Well..” she stammered, “ I noticed how you’re always nervous around me and…” Yeah because you creep me out.”I’m not shy like you, so I’ll do the work for you. I’m not judging you, but I can’t stand it anymore. I have no more patience left.” Now, what the hell is she on about? “Do you want to marry me? I know you want me just as much as I want you; Alicia can’t come between us anymore.” What the f**k!?!? “What are you talking about? And what does that have to do with Alicia?” “She’s always hovering around you, trying to get between us.” Between us? “There is nothing ‘between’ us! You’re crazy! I don't even like being anywhere near you!” Her eyes widened, “what?” a tear Slowly, a tear slowly slid down her cheek. “You’re lying; you’re always smiling at me! And I always catch you looking at me!” I got irritated at that point. “I was just being nice, and I like to know where you are so that I can avoid you!” She was already breathing heavily at this point. “ No, you can’t say that; I even got rid of her for us! Please say you take it back. I promise to love you always and always listen to everything you say.” chills ran down my spine. ‘Did she hurt Alicia?’ Panic filled my already stressed-out body. ‘wait, she just said the exact words she had said in my dream.’ I felt my phone vibrate in my hand, and Ana’s name was displayed on the screen. I tried to get away from Jenny to answer. Jenny started following me, but I locked myself in the manager’s office. When I answered, Ana’s voice was frantic. “Love, please come home right now.” She said in between sobs. “Baby, what happened? Please calm down; I’ll head to you right now!.” She took a second to calm down enough to speak. “It’s Alicia, she wasn’t picking up my calls or responding to my messages, so I went to her house… she.. Sh.. she. There was blood… blood everywhere” Ana couldn’t stop stuttering and stammering her words. Jenny was looking towards me through the window in the manager’s office. She was calm, while I was seething in anger realizing what she had done. “Wait for me baby, tell the police to be ready for an arrest.” “Wait,what do you mean?...” I hung up before she could finish. I came out of the office, God knows how much I wanted to hurt that woman in front of me. I tried to hide my disgust. “ You know what Jenny? You’re right. Why don’t I take you somewhere?.” She smiled but seemed suspicious. “Where?” “It’s a surprise” As soon as we both were inside the car, I slammed my foot on the gas pedal and sped off. Jenny seemed scared as she saw I missed a red light. Alicia’s apartment was close so when the blue and red lights came into sight Jenny finally realized what I was doing. When the car finally stopped she tried to run away, I yelled at the officer’s “She confessed to me, I have video proof!!” I was glad I remembered the caffe had cameras with sound. The cops quickly chased Jenny down, I immediately went to my Ana, we ran into each other’s arms and mourned our beloved friend.

The smell of a warm meal after a hard day’s work and returning to a place filled with love left my worries outside that front door, a place with no worries, judgment, or care; it was filled with laughter and joy with blessings to spare. My little blessings, the children I love, always reach for hugs while looking at me with admiration and trust. The woman I married greets me with a smile that nurtures my soul, my body, and my mind. I’m always so glad I made her my wife. We say our graces and thank God we have each other, food, and a house. When the evening is over, we sleep, and we rest to rise and do it again the next day. Today, it was different; I had longer hours alone with a woman with a flirtatious smile. Betrayed by my flesh and selfish desires, the woman I cherished was broken to Pieces, a frown replacing her smile. Today, I came home bearing some gifts, remorseful of my mistake, and swore to myself it would never happen again. When I opened the door and saw the house was bare, I noticed a letter, so I wept in despair. I noticed they left all the keys, even the spares, and I knew the fault was only my own. The key they’d given me still fit the lock, but the house no longer felt like home.

The ether emits a blazing, passionate atmosphere as the warm beams of light disappear behind the skyline, leaving traces of its presence on my once fair skin into a beautiful sun-kissed complexion. The once clear hues of the ocean dim in color. The sand hugs my feet as its warmth escapes it as the last rays set. My body began to shiver as the calm waves reached me; as I distanced myself from the now cold water, I followed a small light emanating from the flames surrounded by stones, Finally feeling that toasty feeling the daylight provided.

Walking towards the edge of the cliff surrounded by clouds unable to see the ground underneath, leaving a luminous path behind my every step. An endless stream of water falls on one end of the earthy cloud I stand on, the stream ends dispersing into clouds. The stars shine bright as the sun’s modesty dims its light behind the colossal moon leaving a beautiful rosy sky. As the moon hugs its beautiful steaming friend feeling her heat he emits her shine illuminating becoming radiant. The bashful sun grants the blossoms freedom to radiate their inner glow, exuding small glints of light emulating the stars above. Not one shadow in sight as nature is constantly being caressed by her rays never fully gone, the moon gives her time fill the sky with her essence and never takes away her light.

Waking up to the sound of the alarm, the crack of dawn I remain in bed looking at my ceiling, not wanting to move a muscle. Glancing at the clock next to my bed, I grunt as I get ready for her day. When I am ready I look towards the mirror and see myself with a sense of dissatisfaction.I remember all the stupid things I’ve done and said, feeling a sense of unworthiness. I walk towards the door while my family is immersed in each other's company with bright smiles on their faces as they eat breakfast. I walked past them and headed out without being noticed by any of them. Their indifference no longer ached me. As I stepped out I saw my neighbor and Best Friend waiting for me. A devious smile spread on his handsome face as soon as he saw me, very different to the pure expressions I’m accustomed to. A day prior we were watching a movie in his bedroom. We started watching the movie on different ends of the bed and ended up cuddling by the end of the movie.After the movie ended we stayed in silence looking into each other’s eyes. We eventually started joking around while staying mere inches from each other. We were so close we started to lean in, reaching for a kiss. I felt awkward and broke away with the excuse that it was getting late,as if I never stayed the night at his place. Back to the present: I felt a little nervous because I didn’t want to do anything that would cost me his friendship. We had planned to spend the weekend at a resort an hour away. We had a quick bite. I was happy that we ate breakfast like normal, finished our meal and headed to our destination. Our distance shortened as we walked, I couldn’t get enough of his face, his beautiful soft gaze was my weakness. I didn’t notice how many hours had passed, until my stomach growled realizing it was lunch time. We decided to eat at a really nice restaurant inside our hotel. While getting ready to head back again after our meal, we were upset to find our day going ro rides was cut short due to rain. We headed to our room, disappointed. There were two twin beds and a sofa looking out the window, so we decided to chat while looking at the rain fall. Everything after happened so fast, next thing you know we were laying in one of our beds in each other’s arms with nothing but skin between us. The next day we had a normal day and finished with all the rides we didn’t get to ride due to the rain a day prior. When I finally got home and inside my room I felt different. All the negative emotions I normally carry with me were not present. It was really hard to do but I eventually ended up falling asleep. When I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock at the crack of dawn, I stayed in bed reminiscing of the weekend I had with my best friend. When I saw that it was finally time to get up, I just went through the notions. I saw myself in the mirror, and saw myself. I look at all the places he kissed and touched and saw all the remnants of his love on my skin, and that’s the only thing I felt while looking at myself.