A bus full of band kids. Storage full of instruments quickly empty as they grab and enter the competition building. An hour passed and they’re on the way home Groups and students pair up with a few wandering between. Jokes being told when all of a sudden we hear a wheeze and a windex bottle. A short pause and the mechanical spraying sound continues. Every sound except the windex bottle stops. We all look towards one freshman, who’s still laughing. The entire band erupts with laughter: crying at their windex bottle friend
The theoretical concept that most life that dwells within the confines marked by the planets land has beauty holds true.
Science has yet to prove this thought, however most people agree. The living things dwelling below this sky, is beautiful. Personally, the things that don’t have clear beauty, have the most beauty. The things you must dwell with, balled to mess The delicately cared for The roughly treated
The beauty within this planet’s domain, makes dull the beauty we accept.
The note. The hold. That feeling as you put everything you have into the song. The music swelling behind you. The feeling of your stomach tensing as the air you had, slowly dwindles to nothing. Every scene, every song, every moment with your mates just seems like it will last forever. Like a family you can always run to. Wether it be tuning or changing into costume, it’s home. Oh and the curtain call. The adrenaline, seeing your work pay off. That others love it as much as you. But then you blink, and snap back. Remembering that it’s been so long ago. Those moments you love dearly, more just a memory. Constantly reminding you that life flies by. So you live in the moment and look to tomorrow. Plan for the future but play in today. Making the best you can, before your final curtain.
Log 407 “Day three of discovery X Legs. It grew legs. I don’t know how or why but it has legs now. I have no idea what this is. Honestly it’s freaking me out. I don’t think I should take that thing back home. Though if I must it will be dead and bagged.”
Log 408 “Day four with discovery X Nothing new. Nothings changed with X. It hasn’t grown or moved at all. Somehow, that’s more unsettling than it growing.”
Log 409 “Day five observing discovery X I haven’t seen anything change but all of a sudden this weird dust is everywhere. I’m gonna put X in a container so it won’t be affected or contaminated.”
“Turns out that dust stuff is coming from the organism. I have no idea what this is anymore. It started as some moss but now….. now…”
Log 410 “Day six with X It’s getting stronger. Over night it mutated, changed. It looks almost like a humanoid. Is it actually the planets natural life form? Is what I’ve been witnessing the natural progression and I’ve kidnapped and imprisoned it over it? I think I should let it go when I leave. I should now, but I don’t feel safe doing that. End of log”
Log 411 “It’s day 8, it’s changed a lot. It’s taken on the look of a 23 year old female human. I’m recording this out of the room I keep it in. It’s growing still, no, learning. I don’t know what it is or what it’s doing but I think I should be careful from here out. I only have a few days left before I go back home. I’ll just have to wait it out until then. Also I’ve never missed a day of logs until recently. Can’t let myself do that again. End of log”
Log 412 “Day 10. I don’t feel safe. It looks like me. It’s started to mimic me. Like a child learning to walk. I swear I heard it trying to speak earlier. I- It’s doing something I…. I gotta go.”
Log 413 “Day 12 with X Everything turned out fine, I was overreacting. I’ll admit it scared me when he started to look like me, but I realized that it was no harm to me. Anyway todays the day I go back home. I’ll see you all soon. “
That’s all the logs I found. From the before. No one knows what happened except that it was quick. Or maybe it wasn’t. But when the signs started showing, it was over quick. It’s been 20 years and I’ve been alone since. I thought there was no other life in the area until I found some moss. Hopefully it means good food can grow.
The sun is bright; the midnight moon illuminates the land. A painting has colors; while songs create melodies that caress the ear. The mountains are giant; the canyons are vast, with overwhelming depth unknown to men who gaze. A child is hyper; as the ocean waves and flows in a dance only it could perform. The opposite of straight forward; is it’s most beautiful compliment.
No no no! This was such a stupid idea! Why did I ever get hydrangeas and tulips, he likes calla lilies and Baby’s breath! Okay okay, it’s okay at least he seems to like the pink….. this room has no pink in it…. No! I’ve messed it all up. I can feel my face, I must be blushing as red as a rose. My heart is racing and I’m struggling to keep my breathing under control. All his words are running together but I get the point. He sees me in yellow not pink or red. That’s okay though. Well I mean I’m not but I will be. I think….. yellow huh? I should’ve known….. if he’s happy though… if he’s happy….. I turn away from his door, and head back to my car, knowing if he’s happy, maybe I can be too. Just without him, somehow
“……please, I don’t want my family to sing a requiem. Not yet” That’s how the letter ended. No signature, no ‘sincerely’ nothing. I mean I guess it makes sense. You receive a letter written by yourself but from another world, what would you even expect to see as a signature? Anything other you writes would sound insane. Anyway that’s aside the point, me is in danger. Wait that sounds weird… how would I…. nevermind. How do I help the other version of me? I mean, at least she was smart enough to send cross dimensional mail and I don’t even know how to address the situation. Is she even in the same dimension right now? It would catastrophic if we met. But as I read over the letter again, I know I have to do something. ‘Requiem’. She uses the word requiem instead of simply saying ‘mourn me’. Is that because it’s us or is it a hint to the world she lives in? I mean I’m not Catholic or any version of it. Is she? No there’s got to be a more reasonable explanation. Is it a hint to her location? A church? No it’s kinda obvious. I wouldn’t have left that hint for something that obvious, I like rabbit holes and the less obvious things. I’m a fan of music… is it a song reference? It is a king of song, though typically used for funerals and wakes. A graveyard! But what graveyard would I hide in? Any local ones are open area with no trees or shrubs. Wait, the one by my childhood church! It has a cornfield right next to it, and it shouldn’t be harvested for at least another week. How am I going to find myself in a cornfield? ——————————————— I get out of the car and start heading towards the field. I notice that the farmer had put in a man made lake. It wasn’t there when I was a kid. There’s a willow as well. I’ll get close to the edge of the field, near the willow. Or would I think that’s to obvious because of the close distance from cover to cover. The less blatant option would be to hide in the lake, though I can’t swim. But maybe she can, it’s fairly close to the willow as well but you wouldn’t guess there because it would be harder to move and run to. It’s an open area it’s so easy to get a shot in, but in the water the bullet would slow once it gets deep enough, assuming they would even waste bullets or time checking there. I head to the edge of the cornfield closest to the willow. It’s hard to see through the leaves but I pull the greenery aside just enough to see the handle end of a hunting knife coming at me. “Woah!” I try to stay quiet but it’s quite the shocking experience. I look up and see myself. “Not exactly how I thought I’d come to see myself” she says, still in a defensive posture.
10: Eric, he’s hoping for a new bike 9: Sam, waiting to buy a new camera 8: Lucy, trying to save up she she has something to fall back on 7: Jade, needs to pay some bills 6: Beck, he just likes having money to spend This yearly game. Pick a straw, try to win the $300. All contribute but one is chosen 5: Laura 4: Amy 3: Ty 2: Jamie 1: Allen - that’s me I have mine, I reach for my straw ready to see if I win. Looking down I see, I’ve not one straw but two. Not three or four, two. I check, is there one here without? No, everyone has one. So where did the eleventh come from? This straw, number eleven, who do you belong to?
I’ve never quite seen a place like this before. I’ve been hiking for years and I haven’t found another spot like this old quarry. They’re pretty common around here but so far this is the only one with a green pool of water. I’ve been curious about it for a while. Todays the day though. Today is the day I dive in and see what’s below. The water itself is pretty easy to see past but the color is what confuses me. Is it coming from what’s below? Or does what’s below look green because of the water? I take off my shoes and any other items I don’t want to get wet and dive in. I know it’s a stupid idea but I swim towards the underside of a cliff. It actually is just a platform to the other side, concealed by the barely there brush. In less than thirty second I pop up the other side and find that it’s not a pool, it’s a river. The whole river is green and it looks like some sort of fairytale. I don’t linger long but I absolutely love the view. The sky is so blue and the sun perfectly sitting just above the horizons edge. The sounds of nature so quiet but striking at the same time. It makes me wonder if the quarry is just a mask, to hide the true beauty behind. How we often try to hide parts of ourselves with the smallest things. A laugh, fake smile. The occasional “I’m fine” when asked how we are. The things we try to hide are often the things that people, well at least the right people for your life, will love the most
“It had been fifteen years since the sun had last risen.” None of us know what happened or why, but we had to learn to live with it regardless. We stopped wondering if the sun would ever come back up. Goodness there’s about fifty of us that have no memories of the sun at all. So when the sun finally came back up, no one knew what to do. See I’m one of they fifty (or so) teens that have no memories of the sun. We range from fourteen to seventeen and have lived our whole lives in the night. We’ve learned to hunt and gather in the cold darkened and thrive this way. The cold is just something we’ve always dealt with. Something we were born into. Cold, lonely darkness, that none of us questioned. How could we, we didn’t know any better. In our homes we used candles which gave some light but not much. We couldn’t use them all the time but they helped not trip over each other if we needed the bathroom in the middle of sleep. Our surprise when out of nowhere a giant light started coming from a far away place must have been hilarious to watch. Later on we were told that was called a “sunrise” and that it comes over the “horizon”. Apparently it was a normal occurrence for my mother and grandmother. But I- I had never seen something so bright. It was almost annoying, regardless they say we’ll learn to love it. I don’t think our eyes can handle it, they’ve never had to adjust to light like that before: just various levels of dark. “Hey, Nana? Is the sun thing supposed to be getting closer?” I point to the bright light as my mother looks up. Mother responds in Nana’s place. “Yes sweetheart… it is.” She hesitates, “but it’s not supposed to.” “Well if it’s not supposed to then what’s happening?” I say holding my hand over my eyes, the amount of light is hurting me. It’s quiet for a while before I feel her tug me closer into a hug. “I love you sweetie……… but uhm, I don’t know” her warm arm is comforting but I can’t help but feeling something is wrong. It’s almost like she knew but didn’t want to tell me. Why wouldn’t she want to tell me? Is it just like when the sun disappeared and they don’t have an answer for this yet again strange phenomenon? Then I realize what she wasn’t saying. I lean in closer and wrap one arm around her “I love you too mom. Love you Nana”. After some time the rest of the teens run over and we all huddle together watching. I’m unsure who else realizes what’s about to happen. But as I watch I realize something that thing is only headed for us. The teens. The ones born into darkness. Who knows no actual light, no sun. Looking around the others have realized it to and we’re all subconsciously moving away from the town. Just as it’s about to hit I close my eyes. I couldn’t stand to watch. I’d rather have the light out again on my own terms and not it’s. I take a deep breath…. I sit up so quickly, sweating and not realizing exactly what happened. It takes me a second but I realize that I was dreaming. It was all a dream I catch my breath and look at the clock. I’m assuming it’s two or three a.m. because of how dark it is, but it actually says 11:43 a.m. I look outside the window and but its all dark. I grab my TV remote and flip it to the news. “Folks we’re not sure what’s happening but the sun did not rise this morning.” I don’t believe what’s happening. It was just a stupid dream. I’m awake but its, happening here too. My phone pings, it’s my sister texting me. “Alex” and then quickly a second message “did you have that dream too?”
