She’d found it at last A sort of peace When the world stood still And she was free of her past

Alone as she was she was all that existed There was nothing to hurt her here And she let the pain leave her No longer did her soul feel twisted

It was silent She was alone She was at peace As the silence lulled her in

Grace stood absolutely still, trying to hold her breath. The slightest movement could stir the fog and The Cabin Dweller would have her skin. She shivered at the thought. The Cabin Dweller walked into the clearing, just as still as Grace. It’s back was to her, the flowing white robes hiding its body and the black hair draped on its back. It tilted its head back and began to sniff the air. Grace instinctively took a step back, forgetting the one piece of advice Tiran had offered her. Dead leaves crunched and The Cabin Dweller spun on her, body hunched and twisted as it snarled, bloody fangs exposed. Grace didn’t waste her breath screaming as she turned and ran, silently cursing her dress for slowing her down.

She could hear the crashing of each branch behind her and the slicing of its metal scythe hands. Grace forced each stride bigger than the last until her thighs were screaming and her lungs on fire, but she didn’t stop, sheer terror and adrenaline fueling her speed. She risked a glance over her shoulder. She had only a few meters and it was gaining rapidly. The bushes on either side disappeared into cliff walls. On the right side was a crevice. If she continued running it was guaranteed death. Grace grit her teeth and made one last push towards the opening.

Grace shoved her small body into the tight gap. The Cabin Dweller went sliding past, its momentum too great before it double backed. It put its fave to the crevice, sewed eyes in Grace’s direction as it sniffed and screeched. It pulled it’s face away and reached inside with one of its scythe shaped hands. Grace screamed and tried to back up further but her body became trapped between the two walls. Grace looked to her right. The small cave continued into a small cavern. If she could move past this point then she could walk down the cavern. Anything in there would be a blessing compared to the horror she’d face at the end of the metal blades digging at the entrance, accompanied by screeching.

Grace pushed her air out and held her breath as she attempted to shift her body further towards the cavern. The rocks pressed harshly into her chest and back, nearly lodging her in place, but she pressed through the pain as she heard the fabric of her dress tear. Her torso was compressed and she could hardly breathe. Her lungs were burning and her vision was beginning to leave her when finally she’d earned enough clearance and her body lurched free, sending her to the ground.

Grace ignored the dust that spurred up and stuck to her sweat covered body as The Cabin Dweller continued screeching and scratching at the entrance, which Grace could hardly see now, in vain. Grace groaned quietly as she pushed her body up, knowing she needed to continue. She leaned agains the caver wall, careful to stay away from the narrow, but visibly steep fissure in the middle. As she continued further, the sounds of The Cabin Dweller died away, but so did her ability to see. Grace tapped her foot in multiple spots, pushed some of her weight forward to check for stability before taking a full step forward. It made for slow progress, but at least ensured her survival.

When Grace finally saw daylight again, she practically ran towards the opening. She found herself in a lush green forest, not an ounce of fog in sight. Grace sighed in relief and threw herself on the ground against a tree, utterly exhausted. Just has her eyes began to close she suddenly heard the parting of leaves. Grace was on her feet in a moment.

“Who’s there!” She called, trying to sound intimidating, but the attempt fell flat, instead sounding as tired and worn as she looked and felt.

The man clicked his tongue and had a smug smile on his thin lips as he walked from behind another tree. His green eyes sparkled with amusement.

“You survived. And to think I almost had begun to mourn your death,” he chuckled. Grace hissed at him.

“Shut up, Venom. I got what you wanted.”

Venom’s look became hungry. Grace reached into her pocket and revealed a small black and purple ring, opal gems embedded in the band. He stepped closer and tried to reach for it before Grace snatched it away.

“Not until you fulfill your end of the bargain,” she growled.

A messy room is hardly ever just that A messy room is indicative of far more than physical disorganization Messy closet Messy bed Messy hair Messy clothes Messy relationships Messy love Messy happiness Messy thoughts Messy head Messy life

(tw; homophobia/transphobia)

Demi sighed as they buttoned up their shirt, trying not to think about how it was tight across their bust. They would just have to deal with it. They hated the way their pants caught on their wide hips. At least their hair they could clip up well enough.

Meeting with their grandparents and cousins was intimidating. A few years ago, maybe it wouldn’t have been. Things were simpler then. But now they held secrets close to their chest, ones they couldn’t trust their family to know.

Demi’s mother, father and sister knew, but the word accepting was relative. Kicked Demi out? No. Disowned him? No. But they hadn’t been exactly considerate of the name change pronouns. Demi had only just gotten their hands on the button up shirt they worse today.

“Dereja,” Their mom yelled from downstairs, making them cringe, “get down here! We’re going!”

“Coming!” Demi yelled back as they closed the door to their room.

“Dereja, what game do you want to bring?” Their dad asked. Demi shrugged.

“Uno! Uno! Can we bring Uno please!” Rachel cheered. Demi smiled down at her.

“I’m fine with Uno.” Demi shrugged. Their dad nodded and grabbed the game off the shelf.

“Okay, now come on, come on, in the car, lets go!” Demi’s mother ushered, moving behind her children and pushing on their backs.

—//—

Demi was fine for a while. They were glad to see everyone, and playing rounds of Uno while they waited for food was enjoyable as always. But slowly, it all started to get to them.

“Dereja!” “Dere!” “She this-“ “She that-“ “Her-“ “Dereja pay attention-“

“Demi.” Demi corrected their grandfather as he spoke.

He turned to her, eyes open in confusion. Demi stared back at him, ignoring the glare they were receiving from their mother and the worried look of their sister.

“Excuse me?” Their grandfather asked.

“Can you call me Demi? I prefer to be called Demi.” They explained.

“But why?” Their aunt jumped in. “Dereja is such a pretty name! You don’t need a nick name.”

“I prefer Demi.” They repeated.

“But why?” Their aunt pushed, not accepting their answer. Demi dug their nails into their other hand under the table.

“Dereja?”

“Demi is non-binary.” Their sister said. Everyone turned to her, surprised at the young girl.

“What on earth is that?” Their grandmother asked.

“It’s something we don’t have to discuss at the dinner table.” Their mother said shortly.

“Isn’t that the made-up gender thing.” One of Demi’s oldest cousins asked with a gross look. “She’s not like that!”

“They!” Demi’s sister corrected.

“Rachel, no.” Their father hissed. Rachel crossed her arms and sunk in her chair.

“Dereja, you can’t just pretend to be something just because you want to be.” Their Aunt laughed, but her look serious.

Demi slammed their fist down, silverware rattling as they stood. They didn’t even have any words for their pain and anger as tears began to fall down their face. Demi simply walked straight out of the restaurant.

“Eden? Eden, wake up!” Her voice yelled at me as I came to. Her hands were gently tapping my cheeks. I groaned and pushed her hands away. I opened my eyes and propped myself up on my elbows as took in my surroundings. I was on concrete, I think. To my right was the street, and to my left a row of trees that lined the park. Before me was my best friend, her pale blonde hair falling in her face as she peered down at me, inches away.

“Casey?” I questioned, confused. A splitting headache set in and I grabbed my head. “Christ, that hurts like a bitch.” I cursed, apply pressure in a vain attempt to release the pain.

“Of course it does, idiot!” She yelled, leaning back onto her heels. “You just slammed your head into a street lamp!”

I blinked at her, staring for just a moment before embarrassment flooded my face. “Oh. Yeah. Man, I’ve never wiped out like that. Say, where is my skateboard anyways?”

“Its right over there.” She said, pointing to a bush next to the bench I had attempted on. The board was lodged halfway between two branches. I groaned, trying to push through the headache, which was easing by the second, as I stood. I knelt by the bush a few feet away and tried to grab my board, but it was stuck. Frustrated, I grunted and began to yank on the board harshly.

“Eden, Eden, calm down!” Casey said as she knelt next to me. She gently moved my arms aside as she slid her slender hands into the bush and untangled the wheels, successfully dislodging the board. “See?” She smiled charmingly at me as she held it up between us.

“Thanks Cas.” I said under my breath, not willing to admit she had more patience than myself.

“No problem. Now come on, lets go to your house.” She said.

“My house?” I asked, tucking my skateboard under my arm. I didn’t dare risk it again while my head still hurt from my last accident. “But we always go to your house.”

She gave me an odd look. “No. We always go to your house. Because my dad is, well, my dad.”

The statement confused me. Her dad was the sweetest man I’ve ever met and I loved going to her house for it, but I could see a darkness behind her eyes. I decided to drop the argument.

“Yeah. Okay. We’ll have to avoid my mom though.” I warned her as we started in that direction.

“Why? Your mom is the best!” Casey exclaimed. I looked at her. She was smiling, excited. I shrugged. “If you say so.”

It was a relatively silent walk to my house. When we got there, Casey practically ran up to the door and hit the door bell.

“Casey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” I demanded, walking up to her. “My mom is gonna ki-“

The door opened, revealing a woman just taller than I was. Her curly black hair was down rather than up in a bun. Her dark skin easily revealed her age, but her smile was still youthful. She was my mother.

“Eden! Casey, oh im glad to see you! Come in come in!”

“Thank you Mrs. Gregory.” Casey smiled, walking in immediately. I hesitated, shocked. My mother had never been this nice in my life.

“Are you alright Eden?” My mother asked.

I nodded quickly. “Yeah I’m fine.”

I stepped in the house and was immediately tackled to the ground by a big black and white dog. I screamed in surprise as the dog tried to lick my face.

“Tera, off, shoo!” My mother said, gently tapping the dog’s side, who whined and backed up a few paces, but was still wagging her tail.

“Who’s dog is that?” I asked aloud as I slowly recovered, standing.

“It’s your dog.” Casey filled in, petting Tera’s head. “You got her last year on the way home from the fair, remember?”

I narrowed my eyes. “No. No, this is a trick. I didn’t go to the fair, you did. You got a dog, you name him Titus.”

Casey gave me a weird look. “Eden, are you okay? I think you hit your head too hard. Your memories are all frazzled.”

I shook my head. “No, no I’m fine. These memories are real, I’m sure of it.”

“But they’re not.” Casey murmured.

Fear struck in my chest.

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to feel Most people said excited Or happy Or nervous

How I felt, gods, I was panicking Honestly it was probably dangerous for me to be behind the wheel Tears ran down my face My vision was blurred

I felt like I had no control I made the turns, I pressed the pedals But was it an accident Or on purpose

My vision felt so limited, peering out of the small narrow windows I was used to being a big person I normally judged far out from my center of body But this was so much more

I watched everyone else pass Going faster than I was And I was at the limit, unable to match them But man, my anxiety was overdoing its service

Nick stared at the bonsai tree decoration that sat on the table as he blew his blonde hair out of his eye again. Well, it wasn’t exactly blonde, but it was definitely a lighter shade of brown that people often mistook for a lighter color in sunlight. The bonsai was fake. At least, he presumed it was fake. It didn’t look very real, it was too perfect for that. It leaned elegantly to one side, its roots twisted and anchored in the pot. The emerald leaves clumped in perfect numbers on each of the branches, and each caught the sun perfectly. The shadow the decoration cast was elongated on the table, from the afternoon sun shining in from the single window of the room to the right. He sighed, causing the dust dancing in the light to excite into a flurry. He really didn’t want to be here. At least he was the only on in the room. The door to the office opened, pulling him from his disconnected state.

“See you next week Maria, have a good weekend.”

“By Dr. Renolds.” The girl waved.

She had a round face and dark eyes. Her lips were angled up in the center. Her long black hair slid over her slim shoulders as she turned back forward to exit the waiting room. Nick watched her smooth movements until the door closed.

“Nickolas Onotello?”

The man’s voice was low, but smooth, not gravelly. He had a narrow face but a soft jaw. His shoulders were wide, and he looked as if he might work out. His hair was dark and curly, but well maintained. His eyes were a deep brown and gentle as he smiled.

“Hi.” Nick said awkwardly.

“Hello. Im Dr. Renolds. I’ll be your therapist today. Im happy to meet you.”

“Im Nickolas. But uh, you can call me Nick.”

“Well then Nick, anything you’d like to tell me about yourself?”

Its a lie they feed you From the moment you are born Its in the past Whats done is done They say you can escape your past But thats a damn lie Your past is a ball and chain clamped on your leg as if you are a prisoner And in a sense you are Youre a prisoner of your own mind Everyday you are dragged down back into those darkest of memories Every small insignificant detail of another person’s life is the gateway to your own personal hell that only you can see You try to explain You try to make them see But all they see is their own reality The one in which they aren’t wrong The one in which their mistake didn’t just ruin your life The one in which you are okay But you can barely walk Because there it is again That ball and chain Weighing you down Dragging you to the bottom of the river until the air leaves your lungs and you are left to inhale those poisonous rumors until they tear you apart from the inside out They aren’t even true Someone took some small truthful detail that someone may have possible whispered to another person Then they pasted it int google translate and put it into 50 languages and then back to english Them they posted it online where someone screenshoted half the post and blurred the words Then your best friend deciphered it and asked you something about yourself that wasn’t even true But she never defended you

But its all in the past now, right Its not like everthing takes you back to that moment when you realized how alone you really are

Nah Thats crazy

I love you forever Thats what they had said And so when he asked She led him to bed

But the melody began to go mute And as the colors began to fade She held on tight as she could Trying to save what they had made

She told him he’d get another chance That when the time was right When things were better He would get the opportunity to fight

But she regretted it She just wanted to be free And it ate her soul away And that foolish girl was me

Lost in the fog Alone in the deep Bound by a promise That I couldn’t keep

She was too much, but she was also too little She was an overachiever who was never enough There was a beast inside her, festering, biding its time, gaining it’s strength And she never wanted to let it out She wanted to hide it away, because that was what they told her to do She’d long since learned that guaranteed love is a lie And that earning love was a false hope But she didn’t want love anymore And so, the beast woke up