Lacy screamed the entire way down, gripping my hand like a vice. After what seemed like ages, we finally plunged into the dark water below. I resurfaced as a jolt ran through me from the unexpected chill, leaving my body covered in goosebumps. There was a brief moment of panic when I opened my eyes and didn't see my sister, but it quickly subsided when she emerged a few seconds after me.

She gas...

Sara and I had wild imaginations when we were kids. Our moms would let us have sleep overs from time to time, and they were definitely your typical little girl sleep overs. We braided each other’s hair, played with our dolls, tried to do our makeup with a makeup kit borrowed from one of our mothers, and made up games to play.

One night we were secretly up past our bedtime when Sara said she wante...

There’s a phrase that’s been whispered in my halls a few times. “If these walls could talk, I wonder what secrets they'd tell.” The scandals and mysteries these individuals are seeking overshadow the more silent aspects of people's lives. The complexity of human nature shines through the secrets that I long to share, even though I cannot.

There was a proud and traditionalist elderly man, known as...

[City of Eldoria]

[Date: 4th Wintermoon, 23XX]

[Reporting Officer: Sergeant Elara Nightshade]

Date and Time of Incident:

4th of Frostfall, approximately 9:30 PM

Location:

Eldoria Marketplace

Description of Incident:

A violent crime occurred in Eldoria's marketplace, resulting in severe injuries to Mr. Lucius Thorne, an alchemist. The victim was found gasping for breath and in critical condition...

I was starting to lose all sense of time. I grew tired of counting the sunrises that refused to shine light on my situation. The world was empty, save for me. The absence of humanity allowed Mother Nature to take over the structures they left behind. Nets of greenery covered the buildings, and her attempts to hide the nothingness within were very apparent.

Vines clung to the concrete buildings, r...

I heard his quiet yearning for years. Every time he was dying to tell me how he felt and ultimately decided against it. He didn’t know that I heard each and every one of those thoughts, which meant he didn’t know that I diverted his attention every time he thought about acting on them. He would start wrestling with it, making a plan, and then I would either cause a distraction or make an excuse to...

My arms burned as I frantically paddled, looking for any break on the shoreline where I could dock. My canoe rocked as I frantically paddled. Left, right, left, right, left, right, left…

I took a quick glance behind me. Three sets of eyes peeked at me from just above the water, getting bigger and bigger as they started to catch up to me. I had to focus.

I knew crocodiles were aggressive, but th...

We weren’t even halfway to the camp and I was already regretting saying yes to this trip. I hate the outdoors, I hate the wilderness, I hate bugs. Camping is not my thing, but my friends talked me into it anyway.

A few hours later, we pulled up to a cozy looking cabin. I breathed a shy of relief, realizing I didn’t actually have to sleep in a tent. We unpacked our stuff and changed.

Of course h...

I tried so hard to listen to the captain’s orders. The rest of the crew was gone, I was the only person left on the ship. My knowledge of operating any watercraft stopped at steering a jet ski. This ship was a little bigger than a jet ski, and way more complicated. There were too many buttons and levers. And too many of them were rapidly blinking red.

He told me to find a big handle with… somethi...

They say that if you love something, you should let it go. They never tell you how hard that is. And how guilty you’ll feel, even if you know it’s the right decision. To love someone is to let them become a part of you. They have a home in your heart and a room in your mind. Now you have to learn to live without them occupying it. Learn how to fill the empty space. Learn a new routine that doesn’t...