the snake saw beauty for the first time when it flew through the sky looking so divine the snake wondered and pondered how colors so beautiful existed a flap of its wings and then it sank onto the petals from which it drank why was the snake not born with wings it wanted to fly alongside the benign the snake wished it could capture as it stayed so still, enraptured it tensed up as if ready to leave and the snake couldn’t help but cleave the pretty colors became a tainted red the snake just wanted it to stay the snake did not know love although it wished to for it was born with sharp fangs to chew and scary eyes and ugly scales that everyone fears for he was never created for beauty, just to kill

The sun beams in the sky baby seeds scatter and fly the wind carries them to their home where they will learn to become grown until the clouds converge and rain will submerge the breeze will turn fierce and children separate from peers one will fall amongst the leaves and will soon misperceive that he will grow the same trees but he will soon be displeased the shells crack and out buds soar sprouts that will soon achieve more three inches turns to feet while the one remains meek he ponders his height and soon develops fright why is it that he is falling behind while all the others thrive? their petals bloom yellow and they gaze adoringly at the sun aglow he wishes he could stand beside them but his petals turn red and he stays condemned earth makes a revolution therefore spring arrives once more new seeds plant themselves down to replace those that left their town he stays quiet, petals wither the colors losing their vigor the others around him grow new colors starting to show he expects them to soar higher yet sits in shock and feels his petals develop their fire they gaze at the sky with him no longer is he in their shadow dim to his left, a pink forms lighter than his own but the petals curve the same and he no longer feels shame their voices meet together in a symphony and he realizes an epiphany he is no longer lost amongst strangers he is found amidst friends

The breeze caressed my face softly, and I closed my eyes as I listened to the trees talk amongst themselves. A rusty leaf left its perch, drifting down into the cool water below. A sign that summer was reaching its end. “Reina! Were done eating! You ready for the scariest ride yet?” My friend grasped my wrist, pulling me from my peace. I sighed, put couldn’t stop the smile from gracing my lips. “Yeah, but you idiots better not throw up on me.” “Oh please, I can handle anything. You would be more likely to throw up!” One of the others threw his arm around my shoulder, crumbs still decorating his face. “I’m not the one that just chowed down three hot dogs.” The wind picked up a bit as we headed to the ride, but no one else seemed to notice. As we reached the line, I felt a shadow cross my face. My gaze lifted up, and I watched as the sun faded from the sky. “I thought the weather forecast said it was going to be sunny…” I mumbled under my breath. “Reina, pay attention! It’s our turn.” They strapped us in, and I couldn’t stop myself from joining my friends in their excitement. The buckle clicked into place, and I heard the speaker as our ride slowly started moving. I looked to my friend, but caught the eye of someone else past her. His white lab coat drifted in the wind, as he gazed down at the clipboard in his hand. He met my eye and a grimace contorts his face. He pulls a phone out of his pocket. But the ride is now too far ahead. The wind harshly dips into my side, and I clench the safety bars until my knuckles turn white. The clouds cover every inch of blue in the sky. I open my mouth to call my friend’s name, but not a word comes out. What is her name? I look ahead of me at my other friends. What are their names? Why am I here? Who am I? My hands fall as the safety bars vanish. I collapse in the seat before that goes away, too. I’m falling. Please. I’m scared. How did I get here? “Patient 272, hard reset required.” “Trial number 63 ends with ending 16: discovering the truth.” “Reina! Were all going to the mall after lunch! Do you wanna come?” I look up from my meal, excitedly letting out a yeah before shoveling the rest of my food in my mouth. “Let’s go!”

There are humans marked by stars, forever blessed and cursed by their light. They are doomed only to love once, and when they find their person, they will do anything for them. But when their heart breaks, so does their ability to love.

The heist was perfect until I saw it. In the corner of my eye, a moving shadow in the midst of the brightly lit room. I spun towards it, blinking as it faded from my vision. “Tori, stop messing around! We need to find the artifact.” An uneasy feeling settled itself in my chest, but as I ran my gaze across the crowded vault, I found nothing out of the ordinary. For a moment, I stayed still, watching; however, we were on a time crunch. Guards would be coming any moment. I crouched, searching the chests near me for anything that matched the description. An hourglass that was shaped like two hearts. I groaned in frustration. How was it possible to find anything in this vast room? Two shoes crept into my vision, and my eyes followed them up to the owner. I jumped, golden treasures falling from my hands in a clatter. My hand dived for the gun at my hip and I raised it before I could even remember how to speak. “Who the fuck are you, and how long have you been there?” My hands trembled as they aimed the gun forward, noticing how the man in front of me just wasn’t _right._ He blinked at me with eyes darker than pitchest black of night, like the sky with no stars. His mouth stretched into a smile, looking oh so innocent yet so wrong. “I am the guardian of this vault, silly. Of course I’ve been here the entire time.” Guardian? “Yes, why do you think there have been no other guards? They would have found you already, don’t you think?” He’s right. I was just wondering how everything was going so well. I clenched the gun tightly, as firm as my mind was determined. And I looked over my shoulder, my friend’s name on the tip of my tongue before I stopped. He wasn’t there. “Doug?” “They’re not here, or I should say, you’re the one who’s someplace different.” I slowly turned to face him, feeling lead sink to the bottom of my stomach. I wanted to close my eyes, pretend that he wasn’t there. If I just didn’t look at him, maybe he wouldn’t be real. His breath tickled the back of my neck, cold when it should be hot, raising goosebumps along my skin. But as I gazed into the voids, where greens, and browns, and blues should be, I realized he hadn’t moved an inch. “Do you have a name, guardian of the vault?” He tilted his head to the side, pondering for a moment, “Hmm, I am… Toska.” He doesn’t seem too sure of that. “Well, I am called many things, I don’t know what the right one is.” My eyes widened at a realization. He answered me but I never actually asked out loud. He did it before, but I didn’t notice. What is he? A scoff left his lips, or was it a laugh? “I am the darkness under your bed, the emptiness that lives in the silence, the cold seeping in through the cracks of your windows-“ “Then why do you look human?” He paused at my question, and I saw his fingers twitch at his sides. A nervous tick perhaps? He didn’t answer, instead just staring at me like he could see into the depths of my soul. Perhaps he could. “Why are you suddenly not scared?” Huh? But I am, aren’t I? I don’t know when it was, but my arm had lowered. The gun was held loosely in my grasp, and my heart had slowed like there wasn’t a thing to worry about. I stopped being afraid. “Your spiel. The darkness under my bed? The empty silence? The cold overtaking the warmth? You said things that humans are commonly afraid of, but the darkness has never frightened me. Just because I can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s evil. And the silence? Oh, the silence can be beautiful. It brings a peace most people can’t understand. The cold makes us value the warmth. The cold brings with it a snow that can create the most beautiful white.” “See, I’m just not afraid of those things, Toska.” “I see.” He blinked at me, before looking down like he was trying so hard to understand something but couldn’t get it. “Toska, what are you?” His eyes met mine, and I suddenly came to the conclusion that I was wrong. They were more than just pitch black, there was a universe hidden in his eyes. Stars and swirls, galaxies born and dying. And then I fell. “Tori, Tori, Tori,” Repeated mutterings of my name reached my ears as I slowly came to awareness. I blinked and there was Doug, two hands on my shoulders and shaking me. I was right where I was before Toska took me, still standing. “Oh thank god, Tori what happened?” He cried out, pulling me into a hug. “I don’t know. I- did you find the artifact?” I meant to tell him about Toska, but my mind went blank. How would I explain? “Yes, but the door shut! It won’t open. Jane and Max have been messing with it for 15 minutes now!” 15 minutes? Was that how long I was with Toska for? It felt so quick. Toska. He wasn’t human and yet he chose to look like us. Is that because he wants to be a human? Is that why he learned our fears, and when I told him those fears weren’t mine, he pushed me away? Because he realized he didn’t understand after all? And why am I not afraid? The vault door opened. I heard as Doug called my name, reaching out to pull me with him. My eyes ran across the room, searching for something, and I didn’t know what it was. A glint of red caught my gaze, and my hand moved before my mind. The door shut behind us, and the red gleamed from my pocket.

“You have 2 minutes before the cameras come back on.” The static filters out, leaving just my heavy breathing echoing in the still room. I sat there, legs shaking as I stared at the bomb in my hands. Just a few clicks and it would be set, destroying this building and everyone in it. “You’re running out of time.” I gritted my teeth. I knew that. “Tick-tock tick-“ I grasped my left arm tightly, feeling the blood pool up underneath my fingernails. I needed the pain to help me remember… why I was even doing this in the first place. I set the bomb down and left. My footsteps on the stairs seemed like fireworks in my mind. Are they going to figure it out? Am I going to be caught? “Hello, I would like-“ I froze, even the cacophony in my mind stilled at those words. I would recognize that voice through the entirety of the sea, muffled although it may be. I would hear her even in the vacuum, where not a sound could reach my ears, I would recognize her. “Mommy! Can we get ice cream after?” My feet moved first, my brain a second later. I hurried forward, shoving people aside. I ignored their complaints. All I cared about was them. Just a little more. “Elena!” The figures around me faded as she turned and caught my gaze. I watched as her confusion morphed into a smile. I reached my hand out… and the building collapsed. Screams resounded from everywhere as pillars caved inwards. It went black. My ears rang when I woke up, and as I took a deep breath in, I let out a series of coughs. The dust from the debris clouded my lungs. “Elena? Mia?” My voice sounded muffled to my own ears, and my throat ached as I tried to form words, but I needed to find them. I stepped over rubble, seeing the hint of a hand peeking out. I swallowed down the vomit in mouth and tredged forward. My foot caught something, and I tumbled forward, letting out a gasp as the air left my lungs. I looked behind me and stilled. Why was I even doing this in the first place? “Mia.” I reached forward, cradling her in my arms. I chanted her name like a mantra as tears poured from my eyes. I gazed into the darkness as Elena stared back. Amidst the wreckage, a lone figure emerged, driven by revenge and a thirst for justice. “You told me they’d be safe.” “Huh, you’re still alive? Aren’t you stubborn?” “You told me that if I planted the bomb, you wouldn’t kill them.” “Yeah, and I didn’t.” The other laughed. “You did.” The doorbell rang. The man got up to answer. “I did. And you made me this, so now you have to take responsibility.” A box waited outside. The man’s eyes widened as he saw it, and he took a step back a second too late. And another building went toppling to the ground.

A cannonball careened into the side of the ship, and I tripped as our ship slowly shifted to the left. “Someone activate the stabilizers!” “On it!” I held on tightly to the pole, gritting my teeth as my fingers slipped a cm down. As my feet found steady ground again, I let out a quick sigh and shook my wrists to lessen the ache. “Our wing is damaged! I activated the backup thrusters as a substitute but it won’t last long!” “Okay, yeah that’s fine, totally all good,” I mumbled under my breath. “What if we take out their thrusters? No- no they have way more ammo and ships and people- FUCK ah what do we do?” “Hey! Mr. Strategist aka the only one of us with a PhD aka-“ “I’M THINKING OVER HERE! Why don’t you shu-“ The ship suddenly rocked, and I fell backwards just as a bullet grazed right over my head. Dazed, I sat there for a few moments, barely registering someone coming to my side. “Leo, are you al-“ “I got it!” I whipped around to face her as I dragged her with me to the flight system. “Where are we going, huh?” “Uh- I don’t kn-“ “Exactly! Up ahead is the Nebula Spiralis. If we go through it, we’ll easily be able to loose the Republic and _their 800 gazillion ships_.” I turned to her with a smile, clapping my hands in delight. “You don’t look amused.” Her eyebrows furrow as she stares at me in silence for a few seconds before she looks to the ground and heaves out a big sigh. Then she suddenly slaps me in the face. “Are you stupid! The reason the Republic WON’T be going in is because the winds will rip their ships apart and the rain will destroy their thrusters AND MAKE THEM FALL TO THE GROUND just like OURS will be doing!” Now it’s my turn to look at her in annoyance. “Do you think I’m an idiot. _Oh, no of course I wouldn’t think about that!_ Do you think I chose this specific ship because it was pretty? It’s ugly as hell in fact, but guess what? It’s equipped in a weather protection system because it’s not made for gunning down us escapees. It’s made for hunting.” “Oh, my bad.” She looks away sheepishly, hiding her hand behind her back. _“My bad, _she better feel bad.” I mutter under my breath, mocking her. “Anyways, the weather protection system isn’t perfect by any means but we will be able to make it through. However, to limit the sustained damage, there is a little more to my plan.” “Everything’s ready, Leo!” “Perfect.” I arrogantly laugh to myself as I stand at the front of the ship. “I-“ I bullet zips past my ear. I frown, “Way to interrupt my monologue. Anyways, just fire the catapult.” The ancient catapult creaks under the weight before it springs forward, launching a conglomerate of junk found around the ship. We needed to make sure our ship was as light as possible so it could handle the rainfall. Rika and Atticus are handling the wind situation. If we go fast enough, we may be able to create some sort of pocket around our ship so that the wind will go past us instead of through us. The problem with the vortex is that the wind changes directions quickly so going with the wind won’t really work. However, if we put all our shields on the front of the ship so it’s inpenetrable and then turn the ship to match the wind, it would lessen our damage immensely. The wind would hit the shielded part every time. And then we would use our anchoring system so we stayed in place until the winds came from behind to push us forward. But we would have to know the timing of the change in the winds. Well- I’m not really too sure about any of this. My PhD is in veterinary science after all. Not any of this. But I’ve already decided not to chicken out, so here we go I guess. “Were approaching the Nebulas Signalis! Everyone in positions!” We were runaways, a haphazard group of strangers that decided to steal a sky ship together. Ever since the great war, the few humans left alive have lived in the same small community, imprisoned by the rules of the government. A utopian society where they control your every move: no staying out past 8 pm, no romantic relationships until 25, work 6 days a week, no vacations. We just wanted to see more, wanted to do more, wanted to laugh more. And now we’re doing it. We reached the land I had only discovered after breaking into the government’s vault. The land stretched as far as the eye could see. Trees grew into the skies, leaves of every color delicately touching the blue. And above that, beings that were never in any textbooks. The creatures danced above us in the clouds as we marvelled at the sky. We had not expected to find a world as amazing as this.

the heat of the day drowns my limbs with fatigue as sand turns into hands and drags me down to sink my mouth opens to yell for help but the desert is the only thing to greet me i breathe it in and choke on the heat of the day theres a disease encasing my brain in lead so that my body cannot move to leave my bed the blankets engulf me, swallow me and i let it for if i said no, would it leave me as well? the blankets wish to grant me the heat of the day but that is the very thing that plagues me i wish for a chill to ice my heart to numb my pain and let me finally sleep for a night but instead a drought bleeds my brain dry as i succumb to asphyxiation will an oasis come where i can sip from its depths? or will i instead drown in the sand? i wish to be a blanket so that i can wrap you in a warmth that soothes your heart and grants you the heat of the day. but as i hold you in my embrace you become weighed down as if by space or is it me who dims your light? am i the one who ices over your spark?

He steps over rubble without even looking down, gaze aimed above. The art encased in the glass dome had finally disappeared a few days ago, as the system focused all its energy on conserving power. The faux sky that had been placed there was now gone, revealing more colors than he knew existed. So many stars twinkled across the darkness, other planets swirling in orbit just like them. “I can only wonder why they never allowed us to see the truth. Is it because of human’s ingrained thirst for more? If we knew this vast universe was right outside of our own man-made enclosures, we would destroy what we already had in our quest. Just like what happened years ago on Earth. That knowledge was wiped from the textbooks, but with no one else to stop me, it wasn’t a hard search. It started with an unknown pathogen that probably sprung up from some of the higher-ups experiments with plants. It weakened their lungs, and increased the melatonin levels in the victim’s brain. People feared they would sleep and just stop breathing. A vaccine was put into works immediately, and a mandate was put out requiring everyone to get the injection on that day. It was 6 months ago. Who knew the very vaccine they created to save us would have the very opposite effect? And who knew missing one day of school would save me? I was supposed to get the vaccine the day after, but when I woke up that morning…” “Here is our quality vegan burger, made only from plants grown here at our greenhouse!” Static coveres the next few words, before it clears out, “still tastes like meat.” “Thank you.” He muttered quietly out of habit. The food was made just as perfectly as always, and yet, it tasted so bland now. “Everyone had just keeled over where they stood, faces so peaceful like they were gonna wake up at any moment and say it was a joke.” He looked up at the waiter bot in front of him, as if waiting for a response. The robot’s eyes lit up as it hummed out a, “I hope you enjoy the meal!” He paused, staring solemnly at the half eaten burger. He left. There was one spot that brought him closest to the stars. It was a tower with a peak that almost reached the top of the dome, and a balcony wrapped around it. He sat there, eyes enraptured by the billions of lights. When he was in that spot, he found himself feeling content as he admired the vastness of the universe. He felt so small, so unimportant, and so weightless. The lights flickered. “Entering low power mode.” He watched as the whole city dimmed at once, and he gasped. Without the reflections off the glass dome, the stars shone a whole lot brighter. Low power mode would save enough energy for years to come; however, “3 minutes remaining until the oxygen runs out.” “I won’t be there to see it.”

The puppet sat primly in the chair, elegant as she was created to be. Her achroite eyes caught the sparkles from the neon lights, yet they remained dull as they gazed forward. Life moved around her, but just like the hollow heart in her chest, she remained still. Until a murmer drifts from the curtain, the surrounding people repeating “it is time, it is time” as if they are the ones who bleed black from the tubes embedded in their flesh. All at once, she is propped up, gears clicking to life. They pull her skin taut, stretching her lips until a flawless smile sits in place. Her wrists twist and turn, creaking, until they rest delicately in front of her waist. It is time for her to give a dazzling performance for her debut. The first puppet to move with no strings attached. And yet every move she makes, it is by a force she is not in control of. Hundreds of people sit in collective silence, and like a hive mind, they all hold their breath. Sometimes she wonders, if the humans are the real puppets. At least she is aware of who she is. Her song finishes and they applaud, millions of strings wrapped around their fingers. They just don’t notice because they are smaller than hers. They are silenced once again as the show continues, humans bounding out from behind the curtain. A play unfolds, the story of a forbidden romance that as always, will have a happy ending. She sings when it is her part, and then her cogs slow, and then they stir again, and then, they get quiet, just to do it all again. And as her final song plays, the lovers dancing under the sky, the gears grind and grind. Faster and faster, sparks fly, glowing under her artificial skin. Why can I not dance? Why can I not love? Why can I not know happiness? The gears falter and then they creak a dreadful painful sound. The audience covers their ears in disgust, the actors halt in fear. Tears can not leave her crystal eyes, for she was not made to be sad. Her gears only know the motions for a smile, so her lips do not quiver. Her body was not made with a heart for she was not made to be human. And maybe that is why nothing stops her from hesitating. Her metal nails pierce the soft skin. A person attempts to shove her to the side, but her heavy encasing is unyielding. Blood stains her smiling face, a crowd of people meant to love her now cowering in fear at her beauty stained scarlet. “This is who I am.” I was not made to be human. To love or to hold. “There is no need to be afraid.” For I am made of metal, not flesh. For I am able to kill far easier than I am able to sing.