“This isn’t going to get us anywhere,” Talia says, looking at the map in her hands. Tavin smiles at her from his lounging position on the couch. “Your doing great, Tal,” he says, scrolling on his phone. Talia rolls her eyes. She just keeps thinking to her self that he’s just not participating because he could never figure out an escape room like this. “Aren’t you even going to help?” She complained, dropping the map back onto the desk. “I guess I can try,” Tavin gets up and starts to push the couch around to face her and the desk. Talia rolls her eyes and puts her hands on her hips. “Seriously?” She scoffs. “What, Talia? I’m trying to get a new perspective on things!” He jokes and plops back down on the couch. Talia’s eyes wander to something on the floor where Tavin had just moved the couch off of. It’s writing. Talia swiftly walks over and crouches to see what it says. “In the closet wall you’ll find me, I’m not a shoe and not a key, but I’m something you’d find in the loo.” Talia laughs at the silly words written on the ground. “God Tavin!” She cries, “You’re the smartest kind of stupid.” Tavin looks at her as she tries to hug him. “That’s not a compliment,” he says. She kissed his cheek anyway.

Earthquakes no longer feel foreign to my body The backstabbings happen more and more lately Different friends and different fantasies that she made up in her head I thought that I trusted what she said but the lies keep getting worse The spiralling stories of the past Rehashed And then rehashed again Each a shock to my body like an earthquake rattling the shore

I thought I knew the ones I could trust I thought she was really my friend As each story keeps getting more unreal Each moment told again and again in constant repeat I can’t seem to fathom

Her words feel like they are in a box hidden in her closet ready for her to pull out In rage In consequence maybe Maybe everything she does is a calculated plan that knows all details Maybe every word she says is a lie Where she’s from Who she’s talking to I can’t manage to keep up All I want to do is leave her in the dust

Emotional women being toxic to each other My mind rambles Let this be over

Satis facies ne semper veritatem They dance and laugh and yell They mock us other girls who sit at home and write in our notebooks

They want us all to be happy When they laugh just as loud behind our backs They sway their hips to psychedelic music Dance with the boys The parties too loud The pretty people too pretentious

The sounds of their laughter isn’t much But it’s already lit the room Our insides twirl Embarrassment laces me

I look at the handsome face until my eyes screw up and my stomach hurts I can’t feel a thing I’m looking in the mirror now hoping my eyes can show me the way The face burnt into my mind so I can never un-see it

Pretty privilege Models move Fat grows Envy sneaks in

Parties too loud Privilege too proud My mind like a crowd

I can’t cope with the pretty people I hope and hope they’ll go away They yell and laugh and dance I watch from my phone While I sit here and write In the notebook

My city on fire My hands greyed My fingers bloodied My clothing frayed

The soot is no where to be found My hands are cold My hands are grey Too grey and cold when this fire has happened I haven’t dipped them into the lake It’s not fair they scream We were on the same team I don’t know what happened

My face is chipped My kingdom flipped The hands of the clock gone wrong The hours are too long As I watch my city burn

The world turned I cannot learn The screams die out The city is burnt

Memory breathes I try to remember what those moments once were but I know they live on They’re gone All gone But somehow the memory still breathes It’s floating around my mind In the darkest corners In the worst nooks In the places I don’t dare find again

The faces of all of the beautiful people with ugly souls whip around my mind For some reason I will not forget those who I wish to do the most Their memory stays in my mind Mocking and ridiculing like they once had Except this time in my head They’re not actually here I just think they are

The memory breathes like those people still do

Sweetness and softness were old friends seldom heard from The grit of tough and nails drum Our skulls Our hearts Our minds The sound won’t stop as we continue on As we commit con after con The world won’t let us stop It uses us in constant as a prop Until we can hardly help but drop

The softness isn’t here in this violent place The sweetness has vanished without a trace I can’t handle a world of stones Where it breaks me down to my bones The people yell My petrified face is a tell Welcome to hell

They chant my name I stay the same But the blame is on me Why can’t they see I’m trying

The softness has vanished The splendour left long ago Where has the sweetness gone?

They expect so much from you The want the world You’re too smart to be pretty Too pretty to be smart Too sporty to be anyone quiet Too quiet to be anything

The kids’ gossip is too much for you They look at you like you’re split in two After the first bout of Junior high you’re chucked into more More harsh More hateful The environment more farce

Barren, friendless existence it can be sometimes Who really are my friends Why can’t I fit in Why am I so unlikable

Then the whispers of the pretty blonde kids Who point and laugh And they play their hockey and soccer And they smile at your failure

Only when you find true friends do you start to care less You find which classes and acquaintances are best You no longer ponder the kids’ words and gossip Now the final whispers wander away without a care

“Swallow your opinions and bite your tongues, because the king wants not a peep,” General Anderson yelled out at the soldiers. Jacoby swallowed along with them. They were all nervous for this recovery mission. The prince had been sent away and now they needed him back. No one knew where he had gone, until the king had let Anderson reveal it to this selection of soldiers. Turns out the king had banished him for betraying the crown. The king was very loyal-based like that. Jacoby glanced around at all of the king’s loyal soldiers. He himself was one of them, and he had never questioned himself until now.

Hidden away in the mountains of Gargrania was his young prince. The people had worshipped the boy when he was born, the fist child of King Tobias and Queen Ruth that took about five years to actually be conceived. Everyone rejoiced at the chance of an heir once the queen got pregnant, and after the prince was born parties were held endlessly. July 2 was now a celebrated holiday around the area. Then one day the prince disappeared. No reason was stated, the King and Queen didn’t say anything of the topic. Now 3 months later they were marching, supposedly to retrieve him to have him killed.

Guilt flooded Jacoby’s mind. He and his family had celebrated July 2 every year since he was 6 years old. He remembered his grandmother weeping happy tears once the baby was born. When he has asked his mother why she had kissed his forehead and told him that a saviour had been born. This man that he was about to get killed used to be the only hope of the country, but now he was a disgrace for some unspoken reason. Jacoby looked around at his peers. They all had neutral looks on their faces. They were ready to bring Prince Clark Tobias Tendor to his death.

The blood and the rust meld together after a while It looks the same so what’s the fuss

The broken bones look a lot like snapped sticks after a while It surely isn’t God who picks which bones get split

Dark and light blend into one after a while Soon the world will be no fun

Family and enemies look the same after a while The fame gets to their heads and neither will make you smile

Fake and real don’t matter after a while Just like rust and blood, they look the same, both in tatters

Don’t be fooled by the good and the bad It’s all the same anyway

Dirty hands Friends go to the diner I have other plans

Sitting in my bedroom Feeling like floating Spinning like a flower in bloom

Naturally here Struck with fear Sound waves near

Chewing a pen Bored with nothing to do The room got blue

My head in circles Feeling high Skin dry

Water with lime Feels like I’ve committed a crime Time has never passed so slowly