Falling, aching, numb all over who am I ? The phrase never showed its colours to me anyway. There I go descending to my end the world around me suddenly feels quiet i lose memory of what existed in my mind previous, the anxiety stress and pain fall faint what felt like seconds felt like minutes calm weeping and sorrow there’s beauty in that I enjoyed it. My body hits the waters cold and gloomy for a moment bliss hits me I question if this is what I really wanted despair washes over me and suddenly I’m shocked and miserable hoping for someone anything to be a chance for survival the pain is distant and catching up the treading becomes weaker water flushes me and seconds later I receive my final call of peace as my body gives up which my mind has already I let go of the treading and sink down and down I’m filled with regret hoping for another chance but I know it’s all to far goneI lose conscious. I wish I could try again workout on more time be a brat more time be a bother one more time be an outcast lonely and crying one more time skate outside feeling lost and empty one more time but its futile. My eyes arise lights shine bright down on me is this the pergatory? Voices faint to the left of me crying? I can’t feel a thing or move at all but my vision clears and joy and hope fills my soul I’m Alive?. I could tell i ended of in a hospital bed of some sort of operation room and I was being treated I was saved? I couldn’t believe it. I get a second chance at life I fall unconscious as exhaustion of shock catches up this time blissfully I’m alive. Woken up by a random person I never spoken to crying and happy I’m alive I beg why and how I’m alive and for a very long time and for the first time of my second life I feel love. He explains he found me washed up At the beach bruised and washed up at the beach he burst crying he’s seen this face before the emptiness in my hands my face and body it was like his brother who committed before me but it was all to late for him and I was a lucky one lost abd unsure I feel love from a stranger my worries never felt real at this point I’ve received hope and I accepted it. I’m alive .

“Here’s to another day without ya, Graham,” said Mateo.

“Its been so long since its happened and yet I can feel and see it like it was yesterday,” said Asher to his “best friend”.

His friend sat there silent, listening looking at his feet dangling off the cliff. “Three years…”

“Its been too hard. That crash did something to my mind. Seeing him like that in the passenger seat. Sliced in half… the black blank eyes.”

They sat silent for a bit.

Its been a while now, but I had never been so close giving up… but somehow, I still managed to keep on fighting. For my family, my friends.” Whispered Asher.

“Me too,” said Mateo, the he lit up. “But we can’t do that now! He wouldn’t want us to be sad depressed teenagers now, would he?”

Asher smiled with tears that shone from the sunset. “Yeah! One more day, and I should go home.”

“Ok. Lets do it!”

They went home after another day of having fun camping in the forest and reflecting on the past and moving on. They lived their lives like their friend wanted them to live. Asher moved to DC and became a aeroplane engineer, and Mateo became an accountant in Chicago. They kept in contact but lived their lives well.

Alice Becket sat in the corner of the Ram Street Deli, papers and coats sprawled across the red checkered table. She waited a good five minutes before James came back with two sandwiches in hand.

They were grotesque looking things, two moist breads slathered in some white sauce and stuffed with unidentifiable meats and vegetables. Still, when offered she took it.

She wondered what the correct way of eating it was, since the reporter boy brought no utensils or picks. She considered cutting it into small bits and eating it like that, but watching James bite the sandwich that barely held together, she thought otherwise.

Alice couldn’t quite place James Warren, she thought as she observed how to eat a sandwich. He was a respectable reporter, yet chased lost whispers like a child running after a bird. He was tall and lanky with shiny blonde curls, and all three times she met him he wore the same black coat that spoke of money. But as she had come to observe, he had none.

Alice decided to go straight for it, pressing the sandwich to her teeth and ripping out a chunk like a savage. Her mouth and chin were coated in what tasted like mayo. Pieces of the sandwich miserably broke off and plopped near the papers.

“Have you no head for sandwich etiquette?” James asked, pressing a smile between his lips.

Alice wiped her chin with a paper napkin, balancing the crumpling monstrosity on one hand.

“I must admit this is quite a daunting task” she played along, holding the sandwich like one of her fathers grenades. “I am not accustomed to sliced bread. I suppose my family is still old fashion in that way, preferring bread wrapped.”

“Then it is my sworn duty to convert the snobs of our city to the correct sandwich eating ways.”

Alice rolled her eyes at the word snobs. She attempted to take another bite of the sandwich, this time angling her head to a 

side so all the falling bits didn’t land on the table. The red what-she-assumed-was-tomato’s begun sliding out of the sandwich. Alice had to quickly catch them in her teeth before they fell.

“I have never been so close to giving up” Alice grunted more to the sandwich than James, “and yet still I want to keep fighting.” 

With the last bite, everything fell except the flimsy bread.

James startled a laugh, as if watching her failure to figure out his sandwich was what they came to the deli for. “I just ought to rename your article: The Sandwich That Bested Alice” he said, purposefully taking a big bite out of his sandwich.

“Oh yes, Warren?” Alice quipped. “Or would it be renamed: The Boy Who Got No Interview.”

James’s smile dropped as he reached out for the scattered papers. “We wouldn’t want that, would we?”

He swung his pack onto the table, taking out a cheap looking typewriter. He quickly wrote something, the keys making a metallic ping with every click. 

“Can I begin with the questions?” James asked.

Alice nodded. The deal was she would provide him with all the information he needed on his article about the gas grenade, one of her fathers works. And in return he would help her find her him.

“State you name” he said.

“You already know it.”

He sighed, mumbled something about losing his wits, typed, and looked back up at her.

“When did your father transition from a weapon archivist to designing the current model of chemical grenades?”

Alice opened her mouth, tempting the words to come out that she swore not to speak. She was going against everything her father asked of her, revealing their secrets to one who would spread it with the world. But she needed to find him, no matter what consequences he brought when found.

“He began ten years ago. I was eight at the time, and he took me to a factory north of Berlington. It smelled awful, like chemicals and burning metal.” 

 He quickly went back to typing, and Alice was relieved when he didn’t ask her to elaborate. The vaguer she could keep it all, the better.

“How long has your father been missing?”

Alice pressed her lips together. Too long. “A fortnight. Since the release of his studies.”

Click.

Click.

Click.

He typed away, and Alice took that time to study the boy who made fun of her sandwich eating skills and asked all the wrong questions. He had enough charming animal cunning, and knowing the man he worked for, Lorenzo Vasque, she was sure he could help her track down her father. But even the sharp plains of his face couldn’t carve out the whole truth.

“Do you know who commissioned them? The military? Private organizations? Any party’s?” James asked

Alice was quiet for a beat. She would not make the mistake of giving to much before receiving anything back.

She got up, grabbing her coats and gloves. “Meet me here tomorrow with leads on my fathers whereabouts, and I will tell you whatever you desire.”

She walked away, feeling the trail of the reporters eyes on her.

Alice realized two things that day: James Warren wanted to know far more that he ought to, and she truly hated those sandwiches.

They they are different But that doesn’t make them bad

They may not look like the average clone

They were made different a “mistake”

Naw bro

The leader is an experienced hunter trained to fight yet still is learning to be a father figure

The Tech may bore you with protocols and regulations but when the ship goes down He fixes it

The human droid may look strange to you but he’s perfect for getting into any base

The Brawn of the group is stronger than the rest and can easily break your back but he is the funniest in the room he won’t do anything to hurt his brothers,well not intentionally, anyways

The Sniper may be disconnected from the group but he’s a sharp shoot good soldiers follow orders yet it takes the kindness of a little girl to change the man’s prospective

The New addition she may be young and inexperienced but don’t let her looks fool you she’s older then the rest of the group she likes learning from each person in the group

So yeah they are different but when you need a job done it’s them

They are different from the rest and they are ok with it, it’s what makes them stand out Though they once tried hard to fit in

The Bad Batch is the best force known to all

And don’t you forget it

I secured the old bus we’ve decided to take shelter in for probably the fifth time tonight. It’s been hours since Cornella fainted. I was preparing another rag with cold water when Amie yelled for me. “Big brother! Big brother! Sissy’s awake!” I rushed to the back of the bus where I carried my sister. It seemed like the safest spot. Right next to the back door; our escape route. Sure enough, Cornelia’s eyes were open, but not completely focused. “W-where are we? What happened?” She questioned as franticly as she could in her groggy state. She was trying to sit up. “Sh sh sh. It’s okay. You fainted and I brought you onto the bus.” I said, gently pushing her shoulders down. “Amie can you get another wet rag for sissy?” Amie skipped away. “Hey, help me up.” Cornella demanded. I helped her up just as Amie appeared with the new rag. “Thanks. Hey, why don’t you go play with those toys I found?” “But I wanna stay with sissy!” She wouldn’t leave Cornelia’s side ever since she fainted. Amie even fell asleep with her head on Nella’s chest. “I know, but big brother needs to talk to sissy for a minute. But after you can show sissy those toys.” Amie paused for a moment before saying “Okay!” and skipping back up the bus. “Feeling any better?” I asked, tapping the tag on Cornella’s forehead. “Yah. I’m still a bit dizzy though.” She admitted. “I’ll get you some water.” As I started to leave, Cornella gently grabbed my arm. “Wait. There’s something I need to tell you first.” I sat down next to her and looked into her face. She had a sad look in her eyes. I watched as she brough up the hem of her dress and reviled the small bite on her calf. My eyes burned. “Nella…” I looked at her. She was staring at me, studying my expression, tears rolling over her cheeks. “Im sorry. I should’ve told you sooner. But you and Amie… I couldn’t find the time and—“ “You don’t have to apologize” I cried, grabbing her hand. “Never apologize. We’ll get to Alexandria and they can help you. And-and-and—“ She put a hand on my cheek, and smiled that sad smile. I didn’t even realize my tears spilling over. She looked in the direction of Amie’s playing. “You know there’s no saving me. You know… I had never been so close to giving up, and yet still managed to keep on fighting. It’s all thanks to you two.” She looked back at me. “I wanted to stop so many times and let you guys go ahead, but it didn’t feel right at the time… but now” she looked around, “I think I can do it here.” “No!” I shouted, then looked toward Amie and brought down my voice. “You’re not dying here.” Cornella shook her head. “I’m not gonna make it. You guys still have a chance.” She said in a soft voice. “You’re going to let me have some time with Amie, then you’re going to take her hand and bring her to Alexandria for me.” I shook my head, then nodded. Wiping the tears away I walked over to Amie.

I walked back towards my sisters. Amie’s cheeks were stained with tears as she told Cornella about her toys. “Amie, can I have some time with sissy before we go. There’s a bag for your toys near the door.” “Okay.” She sniffled and walked away. “It’s time for you to go.” Cornella said. “Mhm.” My eyes stung again. I took her hand in mine and placed my gun in it. “I can’t take this. You need to protect yourselves.” She pushed it back in my hand. “I have my knife.” “No” “Please!” Tears fell into our hands. My tears. Cornella paused and took the gun. “This is the safety. You just need to do this and you can use it.” I stepped back and started to turn away. With all her strength, Nella jumped off the seat and hugged me with all her might. She cried. Said she’d miss us. Told me to live. When she let go, she had a look of resignation. “I love you both.” I nodded and walked up the bus aisle. Took Amie’s hand, and walked off the bus. Five minutes later, we heard the bang. I collapsed on to the ground and hugged Amie tight, and sobbed my heart out.

Ones pain from another’s is what we tend too compare in a moment of weakness. We each as a person have felt this terrible overwhelming feeling of not being able too go on a time when we have felt weak wanting too hide away from the viscous cycle of life.

The roller coaster that life takes us on is that of a bumpy one thrilling, exciting but one the scariest.

At times you do need too shut your eyes and hold on tight. The hardest part is when your frightened and overwhelmed too remember it will get better the exciting part is coming you just have too brace yourself get through the scary bit.

Never give up hope where there is dark there is light, good and the bad comes with everything you just have too choose what you see.

This was the worst pain I had, and will likely ever, experience in my entire existence. I had never been so close to giving up, and yet still managed to keep on fighting. My body was burned and bloodied, my shoulders were stiff, and any time I moved a blinding, white pain, like lightening shot through my body, paralyzing me in place. How did they do it? How did he keep going?

My thoughts flashed back to hours earlier. The confidence in which I held myself in front Her, thinking I’d be met with understanding and forgiveness. She forgives her little humans all the time for their sins, why would She be different with me? I knew my fate was sealed the second she looked at me. I could see right through Her cool, calm exterior, the inescapable rage was boiling just below the surface. I knew my words, my arguments, and my pleas would fall on deaf ears. She was having none of it, and declared my life forfeit.

The hours felt like days while she took sadistic pleasure in slowly plucking my wings bare. She had torn the flesh and bone from my shoulders, slowly twisting and snapping them to make my screams sweeter on her tongue. I don’t remember all the slurs and curses that I bestowed my creator, but I remember the last clearly. “THIS IS WHY YOU LOST YOUR PRECIOUS PET, MORNINGSTAR!” I remember screaming, my own rage and betrayal taking over my mind. It gave her enough pause that I could catch my breath between my tears. The silence was deafening, and I waited for her to eviscerate me from my existence.

With a scream that seemed to echo for far too long, the blinding pain from breathing too deeply took me out of the torturous memory. “Thank -“ I stopped myself, knowing god was the last one I should be thanking. “Guess I’ll need a substitute to thank instead,” I thought weakly.

I knew I needed to move and leave the crater I had inadvertently created. Falling angels always made for a spectacular entrance, and I knew mine wouldn’t have gone unnoticed by the primitive humans. “Fast, quick and fluid like setting a broken bone,” I thought to myself. I clamped my lip between my teeth and tried to get up quickly and without thinking. My screams came out strangled, as I choked on my own tears, my body trying to stay in autopilot. “Maybe fast wasn’t the best idea,” my brain sarcastically chastised and I tasted fresh blood from biting through my lip.

Pain and sarcasm aside, I was standing and I knew I had to find shelter so I could heal. Every movement, every breath was excruciating but I was alive and free, and that was worth fighting for.

I wake up to the sound of cars and the smell of gasoline. Attempting to stand up, I bang my head. It only takes 5 seconds for me to realize what’s going on. I survived.

I slowly touch the wound on my head which has managed to stop bleeding excessively, but it still hurts.

I can’t believe I survived. I was sure that I would have died from blood loss but I haven’t. They must think that I’m dead and are going to bury my body. I can escape then and f—

“Louis.” I whisper to myself, remembering that my best friend Louis was with me that night.

I slowly turn my head, hoping to see that Louis survived as well. But, what I see instead is Louis’ body covered in blood. He’s not even breathing, although, I guess that is impossible when your throat has been slit.

Tears start burning at my eyes as I wipe some of the blood off his face. “Louis.” I whisper. He doesn’t wake up. “Louis, come on.” Tears finally make their way out my eyes.

I find his hand and hold onto it tightly. We’ve been friends for 20 years and the running joke we had was that he was always going to die first. He did it, he died.

I find myself laying on his chest and quietly sobbing. How come I survived but he didn’t? I’m still crying when the car finally stops and I hear the door open. I immediately play dead, hoping they won’t notice. When the trunk opens I can hear the two men talking.

“You grab his legs.” One of them says.

“I grabbed his legs when we put him in here, you grab them.”

“Why does it matter? Just hurry up so we can go!”

It takes everything for me to not try and kill them now, but I know they have the greater advantage and it’d be easier to just escape when they don’t see it coming.

“Make sure to bring the shovel too.”

When I hear these words, I start to internally panic. I might have survived being hit in the head, but I won’t survive being buried alive. I realize that I’ll have to escape much sooner than I planned to.

I stay as stiff as possible as they carry my body somewhere unknown. Eventually, I’m set down and I wait until they’re gone to make my move.

“Let’s go get the other one.” One says and then their footsteps trail away.

I finally open my eyes, noticing I’m in the woods. I stand up as fast as I can, I have to leave now or else I won’t have a chance. I don’t want to leave Louis but I know I’ll come back for him.

I try to run but I immediately fall down and get a sharp pain in my left leg. Something must have happened to it before I was hit in the head.

“What was that noise?” I hear them walking back.

I attempt to stand up again but the pain is too much. When I hear the footsteps getting closer I start crawling through the dirt as quick as I can.

“Hey!” I hear a yell from behind me, making me force myself to stand up and run on my leg no matter how painful it is.

“He escaped, Ronnie!”

I run as far as I can until I have to stop behind a tree. I bite my lip in order to stop myself from screaming and crying in pain. I think of just giving up now and letting them kill me because this pain is worse than death. Plus, I can’t do this without Louis.

But, something in me tells me that I have to keep going so I continue running throughout the woods despite everything. I have never been so close to giving up but I manage to keep fighting, running and running until I finally stop.

I almost think that I might have lost them, but then I hear a loud bang, then something strikes me in my arm. I fall to the floor and scream out in pain. A hole is straight through my arm and blood is flowing out.

“Got you!” He laughs.

I stay on the floor. This is it, I can’t go on anymore. I just sit and close my eyes, defenseless. And once I hear another loud bang, I assume I’m dead. But.. I’m not.

I open my eyes to instead see my captor on the floor with a bullet hole through his head, my heart beats out of my chest. I slowly look to see the unknown killer, Louis.

“Louis!” I exclaim, jumping off the floor, forgetting about all the pain I’m in and that I almost just died.

I run to Louis and throw my arms around him. “I thought you were gone.” I cry.

“I.. I guess.. they aren’t.. very good at.. killing.. people, huh?” Louis gets words out of his mouth despite the fact that his throat is slit.

“Wait.. how’d you survive?” I finally pull away from the hug and look and my best friend.

Louis laughs a little, blood coming out of his mouth when he does so. “I didn’t.” He says.

I laugh at his joke. “What do you mean?”

Suddenly, Louis stops laughing and holds a serious expression. “I’m not alive, Jack, wake up.”

“Stop, Louis. It isn’t funny anymore.” I stare at him.

“Wake up, Jack! I’m dead!” Louis yells.

I slowly shake my head. “No. No.” I mutter. I close my eyes and try to calm down.

“Jack?”

I open my eyes again. I’m no longer in the woods and Louis is gone. My breathing intensifies.

“What happened? What did you remember?”

I swallow the lump in my throat and look up to see a man in a white coat. “Who are you?”

“I’m your psychiatrist, Jack. Dr. Morgan.”

“Where’s Louis?” I ask. “Where is he?!” Tears fill my eyes.

“Louis is dead, Jack. He’s been dead for 2 years now. You killed him.”

I shake my head. “No!” I exclaim, jumping out of my seat. “I did not kill him! He is not dead!” I cry.

“I understand your frustration, Jack, but you killed him 2 years ago today. You’ve been here for 2 years and you’ve claimed to remember nothing. You think Louis is still alive, but he’s dead.”

Tears stream down my face and I fall to the floor. “No.” I sob. “No!”

The whip cracks into my back for the fifth time, my teeth sinking into my lip, drawing blood. I hear a scream not my own, but Wyatt’s. He was crying at my pain. Then I realized that this was his witchy, old, mothers plan the whole time. Use me to get to him, I’m the only thing he cares about now, I’m her new weapon. I had never been so close to giving up, and yet still managed to keep on fighting.

“Stop! Stop now!” Wy shouts, his voice the strongest I’ve ever heard it. “I’ll do it! I’ll do whatever you want, just please. Stop.” No, no, no.
 
“What are you doing Wy? It doesn’t even matter just stop! Y’know I can handle it, I have before I can do it again!” 

 “Marlee, I can’t. I won’t let you go through that again.” He cries.

 “Wyatt, I need you too leave, ok?”

  “No, I can’t leave you. I can’t leave you with her!” 
  
 “We both know very well I could kill everyone in this room the second I got the chance.”
 
   “Marlee-”

  “Wyatt all I would really need is a Distraction I promise I can do it. So honestly I don’t need you! I only ever needed was to use you to get to your mother. Y’know the queen is worth quiet some money where I’m taking her.” I grin.
 
   “No- Mother give me it!” He whips to his mother. “If she’s gonna die I want to be the one to put this pitiful little witch out of her misery!”

   “How do I know to trust you? Less than a minute ago you were protecting her!” She spits.

    “I’ll prove it!” He snatches the whip out of her hand and stalks towards me, for a split second I thought he was serious, then he mouthed that he was sorry, and swung the whip towards me. I close  my eyes , it was just an act. But it hurt more than any crack Elizabeth swung. Almost as soon as it touched my skin he dropped it at my feet and lunged towards his mother. I drop the knots I had untied a few minutes ago, grab the whip, force myself to stand, and crack it towards the man behind me’s neck, the impacted killing him on touch, then his colleague beside me.

     “You got your mother dearest?”

      “Of course!” He swings his knocked out mother over his shoulder, and throws her down into my old cell. What a match we are. “I love you!”

        “Right back at you!” I wrap up the whip and attach it to my belt, then stand on my tip toes and kiss him. 

        “Quick question, 1 outa ten, how bad an idea do you think It’d be if we got married?”

         “Thirty, let’s do it!” I smile. A real smile, the first I’ve had in ages.

My world is falling apart around me. There are pieces missing from my puzzle people say that friends are the family you chose but friends are that family that choose to leave you at your worst. I'm alone in this dark world. The light I'm desperately trying to grasp drifts even when my arms are so outstretched. The worlds like an ocean.Just keep swimming its not that easy when you cant breathe... Im drowning, drowning, losing control of my body why cant life let me breathe I had never been so close to giving up. And yet still managed to keep fighting