All that glitters is not gold The hopeful eyes of children sold To the kingdom, To the village There's something wrong in the village Glistening spires of cities old Built by the young 'till they grow cold With the promise of a beautiful tomorrow A great one that will keep them from sorrow

All that glitters is not gold The drying ink of a story told Still with promise, losing courage No one reads a tale that has courage Written by the youth for revenge sevenfold Breaking away from the cracking old mold

(I finished my manuscript of "The Dandelion Wanderer" and I sent it to the publisher! excited squealing)

Hallway long and hallway dark Long and hard I had fought Against the currents, against the tide Tearing life from my side But alas, I grow weary This world is nothing but dreary I couldn't go forth Or go further north I stay at rest in this place... But there! I see a little hare I follow it down the hall Leading me to the end, after all I don't stop to rest I don't walk slow I chose to leave the Earth, you know I dance my life away, playing with the hare Going to the Neverland that isn't really there

Look at that kid over there What do you see? Long hair, and feminine voice Wearing that dress, not by choice But look between the lines What do you see now? A binder and a bracelet with he/him pronouns He is a boy and that's all that's there Let him be who he is, don't stop and stare The world deceives us, forcing pink and blue on us But look between the lines, and then there's more of us There's more to this earth than meets the eye Don't tell us that we need to hide We are part of this world, and we are important Reminders that sometimes we're born into a disguise Look at that kid over there What do you see? A kid A kid is all that's there Don't traumatize him because he figured out the truth, it isn't fair But look between the lines What do you see now? A community of people, just enjoying life and the progress we've made now

Jolly sailor bold, Gripped by water cold A golden sound, A song untold

She rose up from the depths, Omen of watery death Her voice like venom, He followed her and left

The sweetness of her music, Made many men lose it Poisoning their brain, Over life they choose it

Jolly sailor bold, Gripped by water cold The time has come, Watch their death unfold

30 years ago, before I was born, a virus called COVID-19 spread like wildfire throughout the globe. They tried to fix it, to find a cure- but that didn’t happen. Slowly, over the years their were less and less adults until- poof- they were gone. That’s why all of the kids on Earth are now contained in facilities all over to prevent us from getting the virus. At least, that’s what the androids told us. This morning in the mess hall, I overheard a group of older kids talking about taking over our facility so that they couldn’t control us anymore. I stood up to confront them. “What’s this about overrunning the facility? Did they ever do something wrong to you?” They looked over at me in disgust and responded,”Yes, in fact, they have. What’s your deal, kid?” “What’s my deal? My deal is that you’re trying to conquer my home. Our home. So the real question is, what’s 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 deal?“ We had a stare down for a few seconds and then they all burst out laughing. The boy from before wheezed out between laughs,”You really are nosy, aren’t you Rane? How ‘bout this- we show you what’s wrong tonight, and then you leave us alone. Okay?” I mulled his offer over in my head. Agreeing might get me in trouble, but what if they’re being serious? Whatever, all I’ll get is probably just a slap on the wrist. “Fine. You win. Where and when?”

I dug my hooves into the dirt to stop my movement towards the daunting cliff in front of me. I bent my head down and my breath came out ragged. I had lost them for now, but they’d pick my scent up again soon enough. I guess I should explain what’s going on. What your witnessing is history in the making- the first person to escape The Woods. We’re not supposed to leave, but that’s just because we’re “monsters”. I’m a centaur- a pretty darn handsome one if I do say so myself. Long, chestnut hair with a tail to match, a decently toned chest, and deep forest green eyes. While we’re at it, I’ll tell you my name as well- Bane Leran. 563 years ago, the humans and the elves made an alliance and worked together to imprison everyone and everything they considered “monsters”. Over time, we began to attack their sentries, bomb their camps, and like I’m doing right now- escape. Rumors of a safe haven beyond The Woods spread like wildfire throughout the forest. We began to prepare for a mass breakout. But just a mere 30 minutes ago, they found out and we made a run for it. Halfway to the border, we got separated by the dire wolves that ended up working for the elves. I look over the edge. The calm river of The Woods morphed into a cascading rush of water that rushed down to the earth, where there waited open land and a greater and brighter forest than the one I stood on the edge of at that very moment. A small grin crept onto my face. All of our blood, sweat, and tears came down to this chance at freedom. I heard howling behind me-𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑡. I need to do something, and do it fast. But what could I do? Dire wolves behind me, thick forest that’s ridiculously hard to maneuver through, and one heck of a drop in front of me. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡. That’s it. That’s what I needed. One small, sliver of hope that could possibly be my only way out. The rustling in the vegetation behind me grew alarmingly loud. I let out a breath. It’s now or never. I ran forwards and took the mightiest leap outwards that I could muster just as a multitude of snarling beasts with dark patchy pelts came into view.