The outside starts to crack Secrets desperately try escaping It’s a daily struggle, to stay on track And not start over from the beginning

Instagram models, showing off some skin Make the temptation hard to resist “For you” page littered with sin Come on, you’re better than this

I’m reminded some days are tougher Trying to peel myself away But with the effort comes the suffer Of getting better every day.

So I’ll think about the future instead, And remind myself of this I’m doing fine, I whisper in my head We’ll climb out of porn’s abyss

Annabelle sat poised in her seat, as she pulled out her color coordinated notebook and pen. An exhibition of her organized life, she opened up the light pink cover daintily and started preparing her agenda for the day, which included this elective business course followed by another 300-level marketing class. A smile rested neatly on her face, as the clock on the wall approached the beginning of class. Moments before the bell rang, a ball of dark blue and black came barreling through the door. Jeremy.

Disheveled was an understatement with Jeremy, as he looked frantically for an open seat in the classroom. The only empty ones were in the front row, where Annabelle was sitting up perfectly straight, oblivious. With a light jog and fumbling with his tattered backpack, he proceeded down the stairs and slid between the chair to sit right next to Annabelle. Her eyes turned and nearly popped out of her head, when Jeremy pulled out a yellow legal pad, and dug through his bag searching for some form of writing utensil. He tossed a half eaten sandwich onto the desk as the professor introduced himself and Jeremy leaned over “hey, you got a pen I could use?”

Baffled by his response, Annabelle rolled her eyes and pulled out a pink pencil bag, with wooden pencils, mechanical pencils, pens of every color and erasers. She slid one wooden pencil out of the bag and set it on the table “Of course I do, I’m prepared for the first day of classes” with a pretentious grin on her face. Jeremy looked at her and muttered under his breath “alright legally blonde”. Annabelle could not believe what she heard and turned her head to say “excuse me?” but was interrupted by the professor saying “Ms. Rogers please no talking”.

Appalled, her face turned beet red. Jeremy scratched his head with the end of the pencil and leaned back in his chair thinking to himself “this is going to be fun” while Annabelle thought “This kid is unbelievable”.

Creaking floorboards careened under Missy’s feet as she walked down the western hallway. She had only visited her godparent’s manor when she was a child, long before the once stately homestead decrepitated. The door at the end of the hall was slightly ajar, so she continued forward to investigate.

Upon reaching for the handle, a shiver raced down her spine, and she lurched backward. Was this the room? She thought to herself, trying to expel the vile rumors which swirled around the town regarding her godparents “hobby”. They were a superstitious couple; they often conducted seances to communicate with those who had departed this life for the next. She opened the door gently, to see a large walnut table in the center of the high-vaulted ceiling graced room. On the table were tarot cards, empty wine glasses, and candles with wax leaking onto the table. In the corner of the room was a large standing mirror, to which Missy walked toward. As she gazed into the mirror, a shadowy figure darted across the background and Missy yelped in utter disbelief.

“I need to confess something…I did it. Now can you pass the wine?” I say to Max, reaching my hand across the poker table toward the bottle. Seth chuckles and slurs out “no way, man. She went home with her boyfriend I saw them leave the bar.”

Max points to my glass, and i pass it over to him as he smirks. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean she went home with him, right ZB?” Already privy to the story’s outcome. He fills the glass generously, and hands it back to me. Before taking a sip, I count out a few chips and toss them toward the center pot. “A gentleman never kisses and tells, I call”.

Liam burns a card and flips over the nine of hearts as he chuckles. “No wayyy, I don’t believe it”. Glancing again at my cards, i already know I have a winning hand: a flush. It’s just me and Connor left now, who winces ever so slightly, takes a sip from his wine glass and looks at my chips. “Raise $75…and I will say this…We did hit the Starbucks drive through when i took her back in the morning”.

The boys erupt in disbelief, as Connor mucks his cards shaking his head.

“ZB strikes again!” “How - how did you? I mean wow - “ “Goddammit you dirty dog”

I proceed to scoop up my winnings with the biggest grin on my face, and feel my phone vibrate. Amidst the chaos, a quick peek at my watch reveals a text:

“what are your plans the rest of the night?

The gentle hum of the engines suddenly heightened into a roar, and there was a small gasp from the passengers. The seemingly tranquil beast of metal and electricity started crawling down the tarmac, and picking up ground quickly. Jackson and his newlywed wife, Anne, held each others arms as they gazed out the window. The asphalt started to lower beneath them, before they realized they were airborne.

As the plane continued to climb into the air, everybody held their breath. This was uncharted territory - these people were living the reality of military pilots, flying through the sky on aluminum beasts. A subtle ding rang over the intercom as the pilot calmly notified the white-knuckling passengers “ladies and gentlemen, we have now reached our cruising altitude. The seatbelt signs are off, please sit back, relax, and enjoy the 2 hour, 27 minute flight to Denver.” Little did they know, this was historic.

After locking his car in the gravel lot, the young man began the short walk to his cabin. His girlfriend already nestled under the covers inside, he thought about joining her amongst the fabric, getting lost in her arms. But he was distracted for a moment, by a faint dribbling sound. There was a stream about four or five yards from the edge of the gravel trail, which he had not noticed earlier that evening. The looming pines hid this little creek so perfectly, you would think they conspired together long ago. The water was slow moving; He paused for a moment, hearing little gulps as the beads of water pooled together and made ever so soft “plunks”. The young man took a deep breath, as if he were about to plunge into that shallow oasis and let the sound wash over him.

“Peaceful, finally” he smiled to himself and continued walking.

After locking his car in the gravel lot, the young man began the short walk to his cabin. His girlfriend already nestled under the covers inside, he thought about joining her amongst the fabric, getting lost in her arms. But he was distracted for a moment, by a faint dribbling sound. There was a stream about four or five yards from the edge of the gravel trail, which he had not noticed earlier that evening. The water was slow moving; He paused for a moment, hearing little gulps as the beads of water pooled together and made ever so soft “plunks”. The young man took a deep breath, as if he were about to plunge into that shallow oasis and let the sound wash over him.

“Peaceful, finally” he smiled to himself and continued walking.

The crisp winter breeze nips at my face, as Jennifer fastens the rope around her waist. “See this knot right here? This is how I slowly let out the rope” Jenny explains. All I can feel is my heart pounding against my chest, and the quick vibrations of my Apple Watch. I glance down “high heart rate” I see flash across the screen and think to myself, “gee, no shit Sherlock”.

“Okay, let me help you with your harness.” Jenny looks over at me, and pauses. “You’re not, scared, are you?” She openly teases me playfully, but what she doesn’t realize is this is no game for me. It took every ounce of courage to walk out of the elevator to the top of this 65 story building, and now she’s asking me to “whatever the hell-sel” down it? No thank you.”

To be continued

Captain’s Log: Day 33 post flash. The searing burn on the back of my neck has completely healed. The pain almost felt appropriate, like I was paying my dues for being down in that well on the fateful day explosions rained down. Why me? Why did every other man, woman and child on the western hemisphere perish except me? I’ve asked myself this every day, and every day that radio remains silent drives me more insane. I have tried to keep Jenny’s words alive “if it was easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing”.

Well, to be frank, there isn’t much worth doing these days

“I can’t really explain it, Emily it’s just that - I’ve been really struggling”. Ryan sits on her bed slinking into the corner, physically withdrawing further. “It’s okay, try to help me understand” she says back, reaching to place her warm hand on his shoulder. Emily hadn’t used her powers on him before, and she never felt the need to in this relationship. But she could tell Ryan was deeply conflicted, and normally so eloquent, he was at a loss for words.

The moment her fingertips came into contact, Emily winced. It was as if a loud static channel volume had been cranked up to maximum. How could anybody’s voice make it through that noise. She closed her eyes, as she crawled closer to Ryan and took him in her arms. The crackling ever so subtly lowered, and she could begin to hear him - his true voice. It was faint, and muffled, but she heard it.

“I don’t want us to break up - I don’t want us to break up” was all she could hear, and she felt Ryan’s heart beating rapidly still.

“I know we have been dating a while, and there may be rough patches, but I want to be with you during it all.” She calmly spoke, attempting to quell his inner doubts. But nothing could prepare her for what was about to happen. “I do too, babe” Ryan half-heartedly smiled, but another voice chimed in the background “If she was ‘the one’, that would have been easy to say, but it wasn’t. Maybe I don’t love her after all”.

Emily’s heart plummeted and she shuddered. “Is - is something wrong?” Ryan asked, visibly confused at the response to his affectionate words. Emily’s eyes began to water, and she felt her own heart rate increasing. “I just realized the time, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to startle you. I have my exam tomorrow and I need to prepare still, so maybe it’s best we talk about this later?”

“Oh yeah I’m sorry I totally forgot, you told me about this one earlier. I’ll let you get to it” he slid off the lifted bed and shuffled toward the door. Putting on his shoes, he looked over at Emily with her arms crossed and smiled. “Want to do lunch after you crush that test?”

“Maybe”