I was a fighter.

I am a soldier.

I will be a survivor.

The battles I fought,

The war I thought was finished,

The peace I had so hoped for,

Gone.

No, it hadn’t disappeared.

Something can’t disappear if it was never there.

Only now I realise.

But oh,

How beautiful was the feeling I had when I thought,

That all that time I fought had been for a reason,

For a good outcome.

But oh, how tragic,

T...

I am not a fighter.

I am not a warrior.

I do not charge into battle,

Blades drawn.

And I certainly don’t come out a hero.

I am not a legend,

Not a heroine of tales and myths.

I do not encounter death and despair,

Do not raise my sword and torch to face it.

I am not powerful,

Not brave or strong.

I am not a fighter.

I am a survivor.

I endure.

Where others might gather knives and swords,

I draw my ...

All things considered, Kian was unhappy. Being chosen for a once in a lifetime opportunity should make him feel good. He was, but not really. With his whole life crumbling at his feet, he has bigger issues to worry about. I mean, not really. His “bigger issues” have been weighing down on him for years. He just can’t get over the past. Part of him hoped that the job was dangerous. Part of him hoped...

There’s something inside me

I can feel it travelling down

My oesophagus, my throat.

The idea of something

From outside my body

Choking me from the inside

Just. I want to cough it up

Cough it out. Into the toilet

At 12:00 am. Night.

I can feel it settle. Stomach bug.

Hopefully hydrochloric acid burns it away

The grease, the shame

Or have it leave the way it came

There's something in my body

It's ...

i fail. i fail again, and again, again, over and over. no matter how hard i try, no matter how many times i try, it doesn’t work.

_thats it, _i realize,_ i can’t do this._ i give up. _almost. _maybe, if i try one more time, it’ll work.

it doesn’t. not everything is easy, like in stories. not everything is possible....

_Crash_

I swear I hear that sound.

I swear I feel the impact.

When I fall,

It breaks apart everything.

And then I glue the shattered glass together,

And then I paint over the scars.

And then…

I swear I get better!

I wake up one morning,

Confident,

Happy,

Alive.

And I _want_ to get better.

Those days,

Those moments…

They’re wonderful.

And then they slip away,

Like every other good thing I’ve ever ...

Sometimes in a hospital, silence is a voice, the strangest noise. Reprogrammed with buzzers and beeping machines, noise is etched into our brains as a constant focus. I don’t think that will ever go. I will miss the silence though.

I hadn’t thought I would miss it here, I was so focused on leaving it all behind that I forgot to realise what it was I was walking away from. It was a community, a h...

Too much screeching

Relations to no cause

They just keep crowding

They jump with applause

No recognition

Though do I deserve it

Numbers show determination

Though numbers are not fit

I feel empty deep down

I could just be starved

Maybe not, says I, the clown

Crowned as jokester, elderly carved

I feel tired, take me home

I suggest to sleep earlier

I need to speak, but I’m alone

Oh I’m such a worr...

My name is Pedro O’Hara and it is my job to protect.

Over the years I have adopted many names, some cool, like the Masked Warrior. Many uncool like the Crime-stopping Spandex. Though, no matter what my name was, I always did my duty.

Today is a big day, because today is the day that I retire. Even though I’m only 30 doesn’t mean I can’t retire, right? I mean there is so many more people that ne...

Over the past two months, her frustration had built to unbearable levels. It shouldn't be that difficult. All it took was a pinch. A strategic pluck, and the power could be hers.

Cara breathed in and puffed the air back out. Breathed in, sighed it out. The rest of her class sat silently on cushions around the room, eyes closed, hands dancing through the air. They looked so serene, so graceful an...