Me and Buddy stumble into the rocky ruins, hunting for whatever it was our client was in hysterics about.

Something of immense value yada yada. Just another job to me and Buddy, but apparently the absolute motherload for our employer.

Anyway.

We navigate into the halls of some sort of important and very dated looking temple, its worn down textures and splitting marble a telltale sign of it’s ap...

A cloth is finite.

Limited. It is bought, used, then discarded. Eventually the fibres will fray, the colour will drain, and the punching holes within its fabric render it’s purpose useless.

Our people were worn out. And their resilience had waned from a scream to a whisper.

War does that to you.

At least, it did to them.

I already know they are dead. I attended the funeral, listened to the pr...

Sorrow.

It’s what I would feel had I not felt it for my entire life.

The death of family.

The loss of purpose.

The rupturing torment of grief.

It’s numb to me now.

Crying.

Madness.

Suffering.

Terror.

Constant exposure to poison dulls the pain.

So when I eventually received news of the death of my parents in a tragic accident, I couldn’t summon anything within me.

Because in my eyes, in many...

My eyes fly open.

It’s pitch dark, which is already weird. I never wake up before my circadian alarm clock of 8am.

Nope. Don’t need the WC either. Why the hell am I awake?

I look over to my bedside - which I can’t see - and don’t sense anything strange or unusual.

Whatever. I drag my annoyance to the pillow and attempt in sink back into slumber.

No. I heard it for sure this time. Something is...

Do not disappoint me.

I pace back and forth, calling out to you with everything I have. My legs tire with fatigue, constantly traversing the wooden floor but still you do not appear.

I begin to feel doom, the impending ominous feeling strangling my organs, slamming into my stomach and causing my body to tremble.

Perhaps you will not come to my rescue.

Perhaps you will abandon me, as I once was....

I struggle in school, yet you laugh at my failure.

You demand I wake up, screaming that I arise to repeat the same endless loop of repetitive pain.

You mock me, ridicule me, belittle me.

You tell me I’m worthless.

You shove me around and poke a finger in my face.

But one day, I am driven by fear to I abandon what little pride I have.

I ask you for help.

I beg you for advice.

I come to you in t...

Mountains are falling from the heavens.

The horde screams out in terror as another piece of the sky crashes into the ground, flattening all those unfortunate enough to be nearby.

The ground shudders constantly, the very earth juddering to its core as any and all shelter we once called home tumbles into the ground.

It’s too fast. Too huge. We stand no chance of survival.

Deconstruction is ever...

“Take your grimy hands off me you mutt-“

Crashing glass accompanied by the heavy thunk of a table echoes out across the restaurant and sends the place in a frenzied panic.

I don’t flinch, partially due to being mid-bite with a mouthful of the best pasta you’ve ever had in your life, and partially because it’s not my business until it becomes my business.

That motto keeps me safe in my line of ...

This line could not be moving any slower.

I’m seconds away from being late to the afternoon lecture on the scientology of frogs in cuisine (weird context, don’t ask), and I must, MUST be on this train or so help me somebody is going to die.

I spot the root of the delay. A man is arguing with the barrier supervisor, something about how his ticket isn’t working.

There’s 2 minutes left for the tra...

“What’s that on your shoulder?”

Buddy slowly turns to me, looks me dead in the eyes, and slowly smiles while saying nothing.

I don’t know whether to look at the tattoo or run. And when did they get ink? I’ve never seen this on them before. It doesn’t even look fresh.

Buddy slowly points towards the tattoo, suggesting that I look at it.

Anxiety pulses through my nerves.

As I reluctantly take ...