Writing Prompt

I am a princess that is part of a secret society. I am also a princess who is part of a secret society that dislikes magic and the monarchy. Society Against Magic and Royals. Samar. Samar Gollin was the was founder of this group. And he hated royals with a passion. Since then it has taken a different mentality. They peacefully talk about what our kingdom could do to be better and what the monarchy should change. And what better way to change the monarchy then have a royal in your midst. At lease it would be if you knew she was a queen.

Amelie hates school assemblies. Literally anything that has all four grades in the same small space is her nightmare. So she must be asleep.

Everyone is so noisy that she can barely hear Ria right next to her.

Bell and Cross are on Amelie’s other side with Roman, Jeremiah, Lou and Jones in the row in front of them. She has to lean forward to understand Jones. “You think this has to do with the latest fight?” He asks.

Ah. The latest fight. Their school has had an uptick in students sparring with one another using their soulmate abilities. It never really affects Amelie since she’s soulmateless and therefore powerless. So she’s never involved in them. Though she has witnessed a few.

“Most likely. Since you know, Lane says Peter had to go to the hospital,” Cross says. “It’ll be the same thing. Lecture us about restraint, and then we’ll be on our merry way,” Roman comments, laying his head back, bored. He too hates big crowds and people being showy with their powers and soulmates. Amelie and him have this understanding. Even though Roman has a soulmate in Jeremiah, he still doesn’t have the best view of fated pairs because of his constantly fighting parents.

“Hello everyone, please quiet down.”

When it most certainly did not get quiet, Principal Colan raises his hand and the noise instantly ceased. Amelie sees her friends’ mouths moving but no sound. That’s the principal’s power, lowering and raising the volume. He’s like a remote control that only has the volume buttons.

“Thank you. Now that I have your attention, I have an important announcement to make.” Principal Colan wipes his forehead with a tissue that already looked used. Amelie wonders what makes him so nervous.

“You think it’s bad? He doesn’t looks so hot,” Amelie whispers to Ria. “Maybe he’s finally going to do something about the fights. About time if you ask me,” Ria answers, keeping her voice hushed, so their principal doesn’t quiet them.

A long pause of absolute silence occurs which makes Amelie uneasy. She hates long pauses. They are awkward. But he isn’t letting them fill it with murmurs.

The secretary walks on stage and hands him a stack of papers. He nods to her and then leans down towards the mic again, though he doesn’t need to.

His booming voice fills the auditorium again. “Because of the latest violent altercation, the school board decided that soulmate powers are prohibited on school property.”

If he not been regulating the sound, you would have heard the shouts and protests. People were already out of their seats, red faced, yelling. With no noise.

Amelie, Bell and Cross aren’t all that bothered. She’s been soulmateless all her life so no powers to dampen. Bell and Cross didn’t know about their powers until recently so they spent most of their lives without abilities as well.

Lou is feverishly petting her lizard, Greg, head switching between looking down at him and up at the principal. Jones has a hand on her arm, saying something Amelie can’t hear. She feels terrible for her. Some people’s powers are so ingrained in their lives that they don’t know what it’s like living without them. Lou loves her power. It connects her to her animals.

Roman and Jeremiah appear to be ok, but Amelie can’t tell with Roman. He is good at hiding his emotions normally. So he may have a lot of emotions about it, but he will have the same expression on his face.

“Settle down. Settle down. I know this seems unjust, but it is all with the intent of your safety. Each student will be getting a dampening bracelet. Every student will need to wear it to enter the school and it will automatically unlock when you leave school grounds.” A picture shows up on the screen behind him of a metal cuff with a blinking red light in the middle.

Bracelets? Amelie has heard of them before but not for students. The only times students use them is if your registered power gives you an unfair advantage in a test or something. But only for the big ones like the SATs.

Otherwise, the most common place is prisons. Prisons use them for the inmates.

And now they are treated like prisoners.

“Wow, they must be really scared of us,” Ria says. Amelie looks over and Ria is staring intently at her phone. She leans over and sees that she pulled up an article about school and the dampening cuffs. Apparently, their school would be the fourth in the country to implement them.

More students are standing and pumping their fists in anger. Another teacher with the ability of creating a shield goes in front of Principal Colan. Just in time too since a couple rowdier classmates blast energy balls at him.

Amelie rolls her eyes. It’s proving the board’s decision right.

“This will be effective Monday. You will receive the bracelets now. Failure to wear them at school will mean no entry,” he finishes up, behind the protection of the shield.

While Amelie isn’t really affected, she does ponder what her friends feel about it. They aren’t adding to the very violent outcry, but some of them are upset.

Their principal must be done because he retreats off the stage rather fast. All the teachers follow him. Now without him in the room, the volume returns, almost exploding Amelie’s eardrums. People are shouting. They are using their abilities. They are angry.

Maybe this was actually the right thing to do?

Fireworks, fire, bouts of light spread in the air. Heat and chill spread throughout the room. Whirls of wind push at the doors, knocking over some chairs. It’s pure chaos with all the powers being used.

Some of the school guards are handing out bracelets that students are outright refusing. It causes another wave of cries.

A man shoves one in her direction. “I’m Amelie Holtz. I’m soulmateless,” she voices, hoping that means she doesn’t need one. Why would she anyway? No powers.

“Everyone gets them,” the gruff guy answers and throws it at her. It would have literally hit her in the face if not for Cross using his telekinesis to halt it in mid air. The heavy metal falls harmlessly into her hands.

“Thanks, Cross.” He nods and receives his own.

It is a sleek metal. It has some heft to it. She guesses they tried making it look more casual, but there is no doubt what it was for. No one with this on their wrist would forget that it’s there.

Some are being escorted out of the school by the guards who have various abilities that help restrain the brutal attacks. Amelie wonders if she’ll see them on Monday forced to wear the cuff or if their parents will pull them out. This’ll be some story for some reporter out there.

“My mom isn’t going to like this,” Bell slumps in her seat, covering her face. “She already is on edge with everything that’s been going on and now this mess. School was my escape from controversial stuff.”

“Well she owes you a shit ton of leniency after what she pulled,” Roman points out.

Bell doesn’t answer and just continues to sink more into herself. Cross lays a hand on her back.

It’s beginning to lessen in vicious protests and they are slowly dismissing the rest of the students to go home. Good thing this assembly was at the end of the day. At least students weren’t storming out in the middle of a school day.

Amelie knows what it’s like to be without abilities. Now the whole school will know what it’s like to be her.

Monday will sure be interesting.

The apocalypse sucks.

I know that that seems pretty obvious but it really does.

Like I’m 17 and instead of going to parties and getting drunk, like people did 40 years ago, I’m learning how to shoot a sawed off shotgun. We’ve tried to throw parties but once a large group of adolescents crack open a whiskey bottle it’s all over. We were way to loud, got caught within half an hour. As punishment we all had to run 15 extra laps the next day followed by a very stern assembly about why throwing parties when zombies lurk right outside your doorstep isn’t a good idea, but we were all out hung over to really be listening.

Also hygiene goes right out the window. I mean the dorms aren’t so bad, but that’s because we have routine cleaning every Thursdays before lunch. But when your sent out on tasks the smell is unbearable. Mould and fungus cover almost every surface and one girl, Clara, was so sensitive that she couldn’t stop throwing up and is now strictly on communications. There is also no hot water, which I don’t understand because you have electricity but not boiler? But im not a engineer so hey, what do I know?

Speaking of the dorms, imagine a one person room with two bunk beds shoved into the corners and random bags with clothe stuffed into them hanging from every hook and littered over all the floor then reduce the size by 4.

Yea, there tiny.

I got lucky though. I get along with all of my room mates. I’ve heard some horror stories about kids from other camps killing their roomies in their sleep. And sure, Ross threatens to kill us when we annoy him (which is all the time) but in reality he wouldn’t hurt a fly. Which isn’t a very good quality to have when your suppose to be killing zombies for a living.

Ross sits beside me right now in morning announcements, he stares straight forward taking in every word and piece of information that he can. Caleb, who sits on the other side of him, makes scribbles down notes to fast I think his wrist might dislocate. He’s one of the few of us that stilll have a living parent, his dad is a scientist currently working on a cure in Florida, (which everyone has pretty much forgotten about beaucse they have been working on it for over 10 years) they never see each other but some how they have the closest bond of any two people I’ve ever met. He takes everything way to seriously if you ask me.

And finally to my left is the fourth and final inhabitant of dorm 74… my best friend… the best shooter in the whole facility… Mitch.

Who is currently asleep.

Honestly I can’t blame him though, I can barley keep my eyes open right now. The only important things you need to listen to are the group assignments for that day and then it’s all about trades and other boring stuff like that, I would be asleep right now expect our commander is sitting behind us right now and the last time I fell asleep in front of him he kicked my chair and I fell on the floor. The reason Mitch can get away with it is because he is constantly asleep and everyone has given up on telling him off by now.He successfully completes all assignments and is a perfect marksman with any weapon so who cares if he sleeps through meetings or sometimes starts fights in the canteen?

The assembly ends with all of us standing and saluting the Head, Mitch is jerked awake and stumbles up and gives a half-hearted salute. If I had done any of those things things I would have been put into solitary confinement.

We march out of the assembly and disperse into the halls. Ross and Caleb walk briskly ahead of Mitch and I talking about how we were going to carry out our mission.

“What’s our assignment?” Mitch slurs from beside me, still half asleep.

Caleb stops walking and turns to face Mitch who nearly walks right into him. “You have got to stop falling asleep in assembly, we can’t repeat everything twice just for you.” The order falls on deaf ears as this argument had happened almost every morning for the past 4 years and Mitch continues to snooze away.

“Stop being an asshole dude, just tell me.” Mitch grumbles and rubs his eyes.

“We’ve got night watch.” Ross speaks up.

Mitch is definitely awake now.

"Courage is not something your born with. It's something you gain."

Those words stuck with her for the rest of her life.

this was not a quote i heard i just made it up lol

Whoever did it fess up And clean the mess up Peeing on the floor isn’t allowed This is high school Not this is gonna fly school We can leave When somebody tells the truth Or I’m gonna have to be a sleuth 2,000 students and nobody has any integrity? So one of you wants to be a celebrity? I will find you And I will not be kind with you Because peeing on the floor IS NOT ALLOWED

Boom They stand all huddled by the door As he steps forward inspecting the crowd Boom Another collapses to the floor They all try there best to not make a sound

The goal is to not make your self a target The goal is to survive But one stands far from it As the two lock eyes

He points the barrel at you Beckoning you to stand It is only the two As she takes his hand

(Sorry if this doesn’t make sense. This poem is based on a book called this is where it ends. I highly recommend reading it!)

“He doesn’t deserve to know ya!” He said bitterly.

I remained silent to gather my thoughts. I wasn’t talking to that 18 year old I used to know. We are now in our fifties.

“You’re so much older now and so am I. What are you afraid of? There are people here from my past that I don’t care to see.”

A few familiar female faces walked passed us and smiled upon entering the restaurant. The warm beach air made the setting perfect for mingling. This would surely entice him to go inside.

“I’m going inside.”

He looked at me. “After we had gone out several times, the way she rejected me was terrible!”

“That was over three decades ago. Besides, you have your own family and a great career. Some of our old friends are expecting us and will be excited to see you. This thing only lasts a few hours and occurs every 10 years.

He looked up at me as the lines around his eyes and mouth formed deep crevices to form a smile with the look of renewed anticipation.

We piled into the auditorium with loud chatter filling the room. We only assumed it was another assembly about saying no to drugs or cyber bulling, not that anyone listened to them anyway. The teachers seemed more quiet this time and there was an odd tension in the room. The chatter of my peers didn’t stop though until the principal stood on the stage with the dented microphone. This wasn’t ordinary. This was instead a quiet presentation. He didn’t know what to say and his voice was eerily soft. “There’s a student everyone knows. Many people have teased them throughout the years…” The principal looked down at his shoes. “It pains me to say that I overlooked too many of the things that happened in these halls. I turned a blind eye towards them and it ended more horrifically than one could imagine…” He put a picture up on the projector. This picture was one of the kid we all had known, smiling for once. “Last Wednesday, there was a call made from a frantic mother who found her child half dead…”

“A decree has been issued,” the duke announced from the booming microphone. “You are to only have two children in the next ten years to ensure that we will have enough food.” My fourteen year old brain started doing the math. You had to be 23 to have a kid and have to have a least one kid by 28 unless under special circumstances. My only hope is that the rule would be removed before my time.

Gunpwder and apprehesion hung fetid in the air. Soft murmurs throbbed. Hood Auditorium was crowded with the Seven Hundred. Starting high in the bleachers, feet thumped. Up and down, boom and bam, the rhythm built as Teal marched to beneath the basketball hoop. Her weapons swung with pride.

Clad in grey camos and her signature eyepatch, Teal raised both hands with her machetes. The crowd fell eearily silent. With machetes still raised she surveyed the assembly, Teal nodded to the sea of allies and enemies alike. They all bowed their heads as Teal lowered her blades.

“Praise to the fallen. Praise to the Game. Seven Hundred have we not come a long way from Nerf guns and water pistols!” Teal shouted.

Laughter rose from the crowd. Teal could read there was still a frisson of unease in the auditorium.

“But from our schoolyard games with paintballs we have become the students of violence. Have we not, brothers and sisters? Have we not forged a new path built on the teachings of our elders but ours alone. Sundown five days hence marks the birth cry of the 2054 Assassin Game. Mark the ground rules set forth from the Principals for this year’s sport. No bio-weapons of any kind. Needless to say no aircraft or weapons of mass destruction please. No poisons but all hand weapons and light artillery are allowed. Hospital zones are hallowed ground in Wyoming, Delaware, Georgia, and Arkansas only. After much debate the ban on Texico and the Florida Empire holds—“

The crowd erupted into boos and hisses. Shotgun blasts rang out from the Berkely representatives. Teal allowed the crowd to vent. After a week of debates and assessments, Teal knew the value of blowing off steam. Bitter, she considered if there was so other way to handle overpopulation. A series of fist fights started among the Ivy Leagues. Nodding to herself Teal knew some lessons must be taught by blood. She gestured to MoJo, one of her Vices. MoJo hurled a throwing star into the crowd at random. A scream bought peace and order. Flanking Teal, the other Vices raised their razor tipped stars in warning. Field medics climbed the bleachers giving aid.

“The ban on Texico and the Florida Empire holds until 2055. We have done well this year. Green fields and blue skies again. Fish have been sighted in the Mississippi. Celebrate this week before the games commence. We are so proud of you. Praise to the fallen. Praise to the Game,” Teal said, raising her machetes again.

Someone cheered. Then their feet began to thump in unison. Boom and bam, the bass drum sounded. The marching band broke into a spirited version of Flight of the Bumblebee. The assembly followed the musicmakers out to the football field to promenade. Teal thought of the bonfires that would blaze into tonight. With tears in her eyes, she smiled.