How do you leave home when you never had one my home was full of failures my cheating father my gaslighting mom not to mention my college dropout and pot smoking brother not much there life has been full of turmoil and trouble sure I’ve sorted through most of it but still do I even want to say goodbye these people didn’t raise me right I’m not saying I wanted perfect just not worst. Goodbye I guess to all I never loved. I am going forward to actually live life in a good environment not one where I am constantly looking over my shoulder. Maybe now you’ll realise all you have done but really did it have to take your daughter going off to college on the other side of the world to realise? You daughter Bryn

Nightfall had come to the park, It was a calm night. I looked up seeing an abundance of stars,thinking how they all must have their own stories must all be someone who left this world now shining down on the living. I looked at my friend Ryan she was collecting flowers for yet another crown. I always looked up she always looked down somehow though in the end we always came to a centre of our two worlds mine the wonder, hers of Mother Earth. Today seemed like any usual day, the night seemed as any usual night but little did we know it was not. I saw a shooting star i always did and somehow I always caught the stars they would shoot up then fall to my hands. I wished by closing my eyes while thinking. When opening my eyes it would float away in white glowing dots, into the atmosphere. My wishes would almost always come true.

Tonight a new star was shooting but a ring on my phone distracted me. Surely it could wait I thought but after waiting, I felt the buzz in pants again. Picking it up I realise it is my moms’ doctor Jana calling me. Jana said that my mom had experienced another stroke this time she was left in a coma and her survival rate was low. I looked at the play set and things went by how when I was a little girl my mom would hold my hand, watching me gleefully as I would go down the slide. The tunnel slide I remember I was scared of since it was dark. So my mom put put stars stickies for me that way when I went down I would see light. Those stars helped me fall in love with and the darkness in all it’s beauty. I also reminisce how she held me when when I fell. Now I’m 17 in high school. Two years ago I went with my mom to the park bike riding. That’s when she had her accident that’s why I rarely look at the play area. No it wasn’t the root of her strokes but her neck was broken, she could no longer turn she, only could look straight. Having a scar on her right arm yet she still loved the world she still took delight in it and joyed. Not much anymore since she has been getting these strokes. Except this time she is lying down I am scared, I don’t wanna lose my mama. I sat down on the bench of mahogany etched with many things but the one that stood out most to me was the name of my own, Winona Joy. Momma wrote that for me in her brilliant cursive, calligraphy art.

I turned realising a star had fallen, when they fall they disappear, going elsewhere. I was sad since I loved catching stars. Luckily Ryan was blowing at another I chuckled under my breathe. Though silly she was blowing because she saw my anguish and would do anything to heal my heart of this pain. Ryan had known of the situation already and was now just learning more today. I put down the phone suddenly realising Jana had sent a message instead. I ran to Ryan then I lifted my hands lightly and caught the star. No one else can catch stars no one else, how odd. I caught it and instantly made my wish not for my mom to be one hundred well again, no scars. She progresses more in her life every year even if every-time the candles get lit on the painted sponge her days grow colder. I took my chance and thought -“I Winona Lou-Joy of sixteenth street in Georgia wish that you wish granters can help my moms body be stronger help her body be one again help her last days be light and free not held down in a hospital building I Winona wish of this”. After I open my eyes Ryan hugs me and I wipe of my tears. she smiles asking me to once more close my eyes, I do. Ryan placed a crown on my head blue flowers my favourite colour. Ryans specialty was plant growing & finding she told me how she was making a special crown for my mom with 13 flowers in purple, 5 in red roses and 3 in yellow. Ryan tells me a woman of many should get a crown of many as well.

I heard a rustle I heard things but no one else seemed to notice while they were all distracted by campfire games I wondered off. As the sounds got louder I knew I was getting closer. I was shocked when I came to a stop the sound stopped I saw a grave made of stone covered in roses it was lovely and dusty. I wiped my hand on the dust and read the name aloud Wilma Joselyn Boyd born 1962 lived to 1989. Their was some other writing smudged made of ash it read in German I have been fluent since 6 and being 17 that should be a breeze. The stone read Erhebe sie von den Toten, erhebe sie wieder, ihre verlorene Seele, bringe zurück zum Körperlift aus der Vergangenheit zurück in die Gegenwart, erhebe sie, erhebe sie(Raise her from the dead, raise her again, her lost soul, bring back to the body lift from the past back to the present, raise her, raise her) bery queer this i read except when I began to realise what i had just read I think it was to late that’s when the thing inside appeared. A skull for a head no skin dots for eyes wearing a tattered thin white nightgown. She whispered something in German I believe but I couldn’t hear. She moved closer and closer and closer then reached into my chest my instinct was to grab her arm but my hand went through and she grabbed my heart I could see it pumping I didn’t know what happened and how i was watching it all felt so real. Thankfully I awake but I had just fainted from the strong smell of dead weeds when I awoke I covered my mouth everything looked the same the coffin the roses and the dust I wiped it off to my dismay the words were engraved and then I fainted and she was there I could see her I was scared I was clutching my heart when I dashed for the camp which was nowhere in sight I had to stop to catch my breathe I leaned on a tree but and closed my eyes then opened she was there. She said in loose oddly spoken English that she spoke to me while I was unconscious showed me what she could do what she would do if I didn’t help she had a deal she said “if you follow the trail where the rotted leaves grow where you will not no where you will go to the flames or to the gold you waltz or you may hang to a place where a lost soul lies a girl named my own”.

Today is the day I wake up and I already feel my heart pumping as fast as a car engine. I slip on my slippers and yawn I walk to the kitchen and prepare some breakfast the end of summer is today I have finished all my university studies, have gotten my degrees, and am ready to soar. Today is a weird day you see home to me is not one place because I have to homes in the same area and yet have been changing house arrangements with both parents ever since I was five. I treat this as a normal day I am at my mothers today. I know today is big so I shouldn’t be waiting around I have planes to catch a lot I am going from the americas to Scotland my dream home in a cabin. I get dressed and brush my teeth then wake my mom she is so excited she can barley hold herself together she gives me a card telling me to open it right away so I do. Inside is a photo of me from December twenty-fourth in the year twenty one and I remembered that day I was sad in fact I was very upset. Then another photo of me last Christmas I was gleaming with joy i remember we made a chocolate Christmas log and a grand dinner my friend was living with me in fact she had for already 3 years and that Christmas we went hard we made cuisine from culture and hers and it was healthy and sugary. We played many games, went Carolina to elderly, and ice skated. She wrote me a card but already to what to say to me face to face. She explained how proud she was of how much I’ve grown over the years and how excited for me she is to start this new chapter. I hug her and she kisses me and I go off to my fathers house. I go and collect and gather my bags from there into my car I hug my dad having forgiven him and my stepmom Linda it has just been me in the houses which is funny my brothers had both already gone. And I said goodbye. I finally went off last stop to where my best friend sister Rosey was at she was boarding a train we hugged and had many things to say to one another and promised to call all the time I looked at some pictures of my homes I thought of things that happened. Weird it was I almost competent blocked out my childhood since I didn’t grow up in either of these houses and it was unpleasant I only focus on the grown me and everything I experienced as I drive away I wonder when next I’ll see my parents older they will be and so will I. My sister my best friend Rosey when will I see her again and my brothers my best guy friend Langston he already has been going to Scotland if we meet up will we be able to click as our new selves. All these thoughts rushed through my head i breathed now at the final stop light before boarding my plane. This is it leaving my homes my old life behind here’s to a new me.

So many memories happened here my first steps my first falls my first love my first heartbreak. All my birthdays all my losses and all my gains happened here in a place called home. I can still remember the broken blind my parents used as a measuring stick for my siblings and I. Now sadly as I soak all these memories in remember the littlest things like that one chip of paint on my bed frame that time I cut my hair too short all the laughter and cries I shared with my family is gone my room is now empty my siblings have already been. Sister Emily’s room became an exercise gym while brother Miles’s became an art room. With a heavy heart and a explosion of tears I must now do what my sister did then what my brother did and leave this is my time to go. It is my time to go out and venture this unknown world for I’ve barley scratched the surface what wonders lie beyond I cannot wait. As I fill my car with all my luggage and hug my parents thanking them for all they’ve done and how I’ll visit anytime I am near for my home will always be here but alas they remind me this is my childhood home and now I will make a new home where I was destined to be everywhere it is cold. I look at my home taking one last breathe in watching as my parents leave in the house remembering the most random memory one time we’re going inside because I cut my leg while biking and they were each holding one of my hands how they nurtured me I smile. Then into the car I go starting the engine feeling the buzz through my whole body ready for my new home. My home will be the world a new adventure everyday.

To be there to show care Always even when the grass turns brown while birds are quiet enjoy the time when the sun is glowing when the flowers are blooming To cradle when there is hurt To cry together to joy together To withstand the usual and defend the different with another Hold hands even if the end of the journey is not yet known To trust and if not to still stand by That is to be loyal To be there and to show care Always

Loyal loyal they said Would have my back they said I believed them Loyal they were not they killed all our crew then stole the cash and dashed Loyal ugh loyal they said they would be Lied they had everything we worked for gone I am but the last of the crew who survived they haven’t found me yet but when and if they do blood will be dripping on this card I will be gone but you will know the truth no accidental fatalities this was their fault loyal they may have said but loyal they were not

It has been an honour to train you teach you all you know so when your fighting know that I am with you oh but that moral compass that’s all you says Lar. Please don’t go called out Riser. It will be okay Riser you know all you need it’s your time to become commander let your heart and head lead the way use both simultaneously. I believe in you Riser I do all the squad does to they know you’ll make a great leader you just have to believe in yourself I know that when the time comes you’ll swing into action. Riser starts tearing up and saying in a sad voice with rasp but what if a time comes and I need you really need you then what I’m gonna let the crew die you are by quitting right now. This is anger says Lar I’m not quitting the team in fact I’m giving them a new bright eyed commander one who can see more than just doom and gloom giving hope and inspiring their crew in new ways I would have never done. No don’t do that don’t start talking in the past tense your not gone yet you can make me the command ok but you stay to. We both know that’s not how it works Blair one must die and another take their place I love you like a sister I always have we have been a family since the day I took you under my wing you can do this know you can repeat after me pull the knife out of me (it was in her heart from Lar herself) and twist twist I believe in you her voice rises I believe in you Blair Riser Commander I do now do you believe in yourself!!!?!! Yes I do I do I can do this. Indeed you can Commander. Riser takes a breathe in and reminisces to back when she first joined the crew a fragile young girl who lost her parents to the fight, she then let’s her breathe out. She opens her eyes looks into the knife seeing her reflection and smiles then twists and a tear rolls down. Riser knows what’s at stake and knows she did not just kill her sister she welcomed her to her new home her sister passed the torch and then won a ticket to the golden gates of heaven. Riser is the commander now and she looks up at the ship her crew they all congratulate her and tell her how proud they are. Later that night Riser walks out to Britley Lar’s body she closes her eyes and takes the commander badge off with slight hints of Lar’s blood she then clips in on and drags Britley’s body to the ship and gets her special pod ready and lies Lar body down opening the pod having all of britleys favourite plants in it and uses the special orb from the sword powers to ask the ship to lift britleys body into the pod the ship responds with yes commander Riser.

Guys guys we have to calm down oh now every one shut up!!! Screamed Mikel or I will snap your neck he said. Mike then threw his alcohol bottle to the ground suddenly his vision blurred and the people around him seemed to glitch then he heard silence and was sitting in his bed he was sweating and crying he couldn’t know if he was in reality or not he thought he would take a break from the pills to see if he really needed them well he did. Mikel has seen these hallucinations and heard them all his life though the weirdest thing is that he is 22 now last time he didn’t take his pills he was 12 and what he heard all those years ago still lingered in his thoughts the fact that a day after his birthday which no one would remember he would feel cold then hot then cold again and he would see them all of them he would hear them he would be taken to the white pearl house with silver gates and no sight. A psychotic house he thought. What made him most confused was when he woke he was actually cold even though he was covered in what seemed like swear he was freezing as if he was just in an ice lake he then walked out onto the balcony and was extremely hot which is weird since it was a day of not too cold not sunny yet he was burning like he had just been in a hot tub In a volcano for hours. He then walked in to the door with not even a foot in he could feel a blizzard his lips they were numb his finger felt they could break off what’s worse was he now realised something it is all coming together Mike thought I was cold he pointed out to his bed then I was hot pointed to the balcony and now I’m cold once again and I’m standing on the balcony. Mikel we’ve missed you those pills you took it blocked neural passageway into your mind and your peripheral vision. What Mikel shuddered what do you mean he shook he starting feeling as though room was spinning really fast like a plane if you were the pilot and so he took a breathe he reached for his water bottle and closed his eyes then poured it all over himself oddly enough this water was scorching hot like flames oh well Mikel thought things couldn’t get weirder he strained hoping he would open and it would be revealed nothing was there. Of course that would be too good to be true and he saw Kim, Blake, Riley, June, Rosey, myah, and his mom. He stopped his mom he said Mo-mom what you were never a character you were real I never saw you I never what is happening. She came up to Mikel and brushed his hair from his eyes and said yes Mike I am real and so were all them don’t you remember Blake died in a tractor crash and June and Riley fell off a boat in an accident. What! Mikel was now really thinking he was losing it as he was about to grab the pills and shake the whole three left into his mouth his mother said no and his arms went numb now he couldn’t feel the cold he was just numb. Mom I don’t understand what are you saying I can see you and them they never died they were never real. No no Mikel I am saying they were real and they did die all of us did but your trauma made you forget any of them were real and you just thought you were talking to extensions of yourself. Mikel you were talking to-“the dead oh my god my god no no thats wrong” says Mikel. We have strengthened in your absence and can now make you remember “what’s happening now?” Mike said. You’ll see says his mom. Ah my head it hurts ah what are you doing to me(sorry this process of practically digging for bones in the most complex space ever is bound to be painful). Suddenly dozens of memories came crashing into his head each one made him remember who he was with and what he felt that moment, he was living them a second time. He felt alive for once in 7 years he finally feels whole.

This battle has my men and I being attacked viciously I see one after another fall. Most of them before they can even take a shot, these things oh these things Josh says angrily they are too powerful too too much my men they weren’t ready for this type of battle they were new in the program barley even begun their training. Poor boys each that falls another man who had not even lived his life never had a wife never won an award lives lost gone one by one. I can’t watch this anymore we’re low the men are gone only a few I can see are still breathing calculating their next move which will only lead them to their demise. Stop Josh lowly spoke on the intercom you must stop don’t move boys I’ve got his weak spot so stay down especially you Gerry nothing stupid alright I think he breathes deeply I think I have a plan. Is it a good plan general? says Gerry. We’re about to find out Gerry. In his plane after watching each boy strike at the opposer Gen. Josh had realised a weak spot it makes the monster grow at its weakest Josh knows he has been safe in his invisibly coated in mirrors plane that he must now come to view a little more and shoot towards the monsters underbelly. I got this I got this and one, two says Josh he then watches the bomb go down it seems slow at first then creates a thick fog of sand from the ground making everything almost impossible to see. Hope there is though as the fog dissipates Josh can see the monster once as powerful as a volcano it’s seemingly force unmeasurable now just a wrinkly ol’ thing like a bug after it’s been squashed. All that he that all that loss just for those little henchmen of his I guess it was trade his men for my men it was that easy to take him down I guess he was weakened already thought Josh just had to hit him in the sweet spot. After Josh had celebrated his victory his eyes grew blurry after taking in well everything what brought his people here what destroyed them. Josh lowered his plane got out and shot at the remaining few henchmen of the monster coming at him he got them he was through with them at this point he just wanted to check on his men but as he did he heard a raspy whisper so he turned. Who knew that we would destroy ourselves?”what! Josh exclaimed you don’t get to say a thing you’re supposed to be dead. Shall I fulfil soldier my destiny to die we all have the same one live die inside then die on the outside my body is decayed but my mind is still awake. The monsters face collapses making a large sound Releasing a small red shock from his mouth to Marty the soldier. Look at me!! Screams the monster through Marty’s mouth. Ahhhhhh! Marty feels an intense pain in his mind a fracture another mind now coexisting with his own. Every time a muscle is moved it his wanting of not to move it makes this strong magnetic force of a pull and when the monster succeeds him it feels like it’s been ripped. Marty can only speak if he wants it enough. Marty hears Josh calling out to him saying“I know he is in your head you just have to fight it, you have to…please!!! in agony his words were. Marty will let the monster go on, hoping that it’ll quiet down so Marty can scream and be his own again. Josh this soldier does call you, now what left I have to tell you then Josh is what do I have left, really what do you have left? We’re are both losers your world in perish your people almost fully wiped out and my colony gone to, there is nothing for us here. Josh screams there is only nothing here because your troops made war to my people, we had to fight back that is the only reason both our colonies our people our families are all gone!!! because of you whatever you are!!! What’s done is done, Josh we must now focus on the aftermath. I believe that having both failed we should find a new land to conquer, this time together. Josh’s thoughts begin a rampage.