Home is laying next to you Legs intertwined like glue Plush pillows, warm blanket It’s how I know we’ll make it.

Home is having the tv playing And the candlelight gently swaying It feels like Christmas night You are my one, my end in sight.

I want every night to feel like this Sipping white wine and maybe a kiss You are the walls that surround me And I am the only one with a key.

I feel our foundation is strong For we have had this house for so long Even through the cracks and tears It’s nothing words can’t repair.

What does the future hold For our house to grow old? Which memory will be your favorite? Can we keep a scrapbook to save it?

I want every night to feel like this Sipping white wine and maybe a kiss You are the walls that surround me And I am the only one with a key. Home is laying next to you.

Don’t walk home alone… for it follows at night. It even lingers out of sight. “What is it?” You may ask. Eyes wide open yet the path ahead is dark and blight. The cobble roads and winding path are an obstacle not for the weak; those who even wimper… their futures are bleak. Find a buddy, find a pal, find even the closest sign for sale- anything to hide yourself from what lingers in the streets when alone at night. The street lights flicker and the seesaw teeters, creaking at what lurks in the shadows. Some say it has 3 legs, some say it growls- all I know is that walking home alone can end in disaster, since it will snatch you quicker than you can pull out your phone.

It’s bright light glimmers on the morning dew

Rising from the ground in the east

And making its way up to the sky,

Saying hello to all those below.

“Good morning” echo the birds

And the plants and the bugs

As darkness had cast its shadow during the night

When gloom can rears its ugly head.

The sun disappears at night,

But all those below know to look east,

Especially the flowers whose petals may wilt

But hold on for tomorrow

Because wherever the light is, the flowers will find it.

“Look, I didn’t ask to be picked. None of us did.” I was being hurried into the spaceship with the others. It was likely the last time I was going to see Earth.

                 *********************************** 

I was sitting in class, filling in bubbles monotonously as I was taking the quiz with everyone else. The plastic chair was digging into my back and the bright lights were buzzing above. The clock was slowly ticking and I could feel myself wearing down. I started to doze off when I suddenly heard a loud knock at the door. Then, they came in.

Grown men with grey suits and numbers listed on their arms. They looked military. But not normal military. They came rushing in and lined up at the front of the class. My home economics teacher looked up, startled, as was everyone else.

“Hey.” Yelled Mr. Jones. “What’s going on?!”

The men said nothing. They just stood there. Lined up arm to arm. Then, one of them spoke.

“You.” Said the man. He pointed in my direction.

Everyone sat still. The room was silent. Again, he stated “You.”

“Me?” I asked reluctantly.

“Yes. You.” The man said in a flat tone assuredly.

I was confused. Surprised. What did they want with me? Why?

I slowly got up and walked to the front of the room.

“No time to waste. We need to leave now.” Said the man. He grabbed my arm and rushed me out of my class. And suddenly, passing the quiz became the least of my worries.

They took me out into the hallway and closed the door behind me. The man with “7” spoke up.

“We need you. The world will end in a few days.”

I was confused.

“What?”

“There’s no time to waste. We need you Sam.”

My heart began to race. My heart dropped.

“Why? What’s going on?”

I was swept away and guided into an armored truck. There were others there too.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

A boy with large glasses about my age spoke up.

“We don’t know for sure. But things have been happening around the world. Flooding, meteors falling from the sky, birds flying south in droves. The news hasn’t been talking about it because they’ve been given orders not to. Earth is going to drop. That’s what I’ve been told.”

“Drop? What does that even mean?!”

“Exactly what it sounds like. The Earth will drop in 3 days and will disappear into space. Nobody or nothing will survive.”

There was a brick in my stomach. My boring life was turned upside down.

“Why us?” I asked.

“Look, none of us want to be here either. But we don’t know anything. But they need us. We don’t know who they are, the men in the suits, but we think they’ve chosen us for some reason. To try to stop it. Or figure out how to. Everyone here has proven in one way or another that they might help stop this catastrophic event from happening.”

I began to have flashbacks to my childhood. I was accepted into college at the age of 9. I was on the path to becoming a doctor in quantum physics but gave it up for a normal life. I didn’t want the pressure of college. I just wanted a normal life. Filling out bubbles on a page mindlessly while always knowing every answer and solution to any test problem allowed me to be content. I didn’t want to be thrown out of the life I had chosen for this. But, maybe being comfortable wasn’t the answer anymore.

The truck came to a stop and one by one each of us were rushed out and into a platform. The ship was awaiting our arrival.

“Onward!” Yelled #5.

And before I knew it, I was going up into the sky and off to the stars, looking down at the Earth, the place I may no longer call home, the place which may not be there in the next 3 days. I closed my eyes and realized that my life would never be the same. Nobody’s would.

I look out the door

And it’s there no more.

What could it be?

Someone’s here for me.

Its lurking in the trees

Or maybe it’s in the peas;

It knocks at night

Giving me much fright.

Could it be a bear?

Or just the air?

I sit and stare

Calm and in prayer.

I begin to prepare

If it dares,

And I dredge

With my hand on knife’s edge.

I’d been in the cave for 5 months, maybe 6. Time was almost lost on me, but I kept mark by tallying the sunrises each day on the wall with a piece of rubble I took with me the day of the crash. My ship had gone down and I was the only survivor.

My spaceship had malfunctioned as I was on my way across a dimension and sent me and my copilot into a planet I had not yet seen before. Buried in the dense rubble were my copilot and what little was left of my craft. I was the only survivor. “Why me?” I wondered. What purposes could I possibly serve now? All others I had ever known were light years away from my destination and I’d landed on what I believed to be Earth.

The atmosphere was humid, the trees slightly taller than me, and scratchy blades of green grass surrounded my walking paths. I’d stumbled for days, aimlessly trying to find any sort of shelter. My once gray feet now brown with mud and my long legs weak from the hike. I carried a rock- the only thing I had left from home to cling on to- in the grasp of my three bulbous fingers. Earth had not been too kind to me and gravity was not my friend. In fact, I wasn’t used it at all. Back home, I was used to the black sky that was space and surrounding the stars. My planet was a burning red- volcanic and deserted. I was in a foreign land. Scared. Alone. Confused. Disoriented.

I made my way into a cave I finally found. The trees surrounding me made ominous noises, especially at night- that of howls and barking and buzzing and chirping. Gravity, the trees- no help to me at all. I almost grew to hate the dwellings outside my cave. The animals lurked high and low; I’d almost think they sounded tasty if I had more resources with me. But I was vulnerable. I had needed shelter and food foremost. I needed something to find me. Desperately.

The sky was cloudy most days and the humidity unbearable. My gray-blue skin became slimy and my eyes grew a dark black. I had yet to see the sun and I was imprisoned in this cave I now called home. As winter emerged, long icicles grew in front of me- like prison bars keeping me in.

Hairy creatures on all fours would sniff and pass- most in fear. Wolves I believe. I had seen pictures once… long ago. Birds would land and fly away. Ice began to form in front of my cave and the darkness within my abode began to shield my presence.

Month 4 had passed and weird creatures began to pass by. They walked on two legs like me. I became hopeful. I could see them but they could not see me. But, they were quite ugly creatures. The women had long hair and the men carried supplies on their back. Their feet were covered with laced fabric and they wore coverings over their eyes. Smart.

Then, one late evening, one of the creatures with short hair and a supplies strapped to their back walked my way. Not past my cave, but right in front of it. Nobody had ever gotten this far and stayed longer than a minute or two. The ‘thing’ peered in. What a sight to see. He went past the icicles in front of me and he pulled out a stick of light from his leg coverings. It was dark outside, so he turned it on. His eyes set on me and lit up, just like the stick he was pointing at me, and a big screech was let out.

My stomach began to rumble. “Finally” I thought. Food.

Blue waves fill the horizon

Choppy and harsh

Sharks lurking everywhere.

They swim amongst us

As we stay afloat… location unknown.

We set sail in the morning-

Which morning? It evades me.

The sun sets and returns

Just to taunt us as it makes it way home.

The scorching heat beams its heavy rays

While the waves rip open fresh wounds.

Salt burns our eyes.

The sail, once upright, now faces the ocean floor

As we cling to its underlay

Barely afloat.

Darkness creeps in

And the only light left comes from above;

Its so far away-

So beyond our reach.

Memories come and go

Like the waves to the shore

Once so nostalgic

Now a painful reminder of what once was.

The sky full of stars seemed dead and cold;

A place once so magical now hurt to behold.

The little pond sits out west

In a plot of land where the sun always shines;

Hot and humid, but that’s the best.

The little pond invites all-

Small, tall, wide, or thin-

Bugs and birds everywhere- it’s a ball!

The sun sets and the water becomes still

While eyes close and nests become full.

“Just another day at the pond,” say the blue gill.