OtherWorld

PART 1: Prince
How could things have gone so wrong?
When I finally defeated the evil Vizier that had destroyed my kingdom, I thought that there could finally be peace. But no. A few of the Viziers former accomplices’ called him back again. He used the Dust of Time to make himself an immortal. Then he called up an army of Darkmen to assist the Dust Monsters in trying and kill me. But I defeated his army when a mysterious boy with a Light-Blade saved my life. But now…
The Darkmen were being aided by a group of “nonexistent beings”, or, Nobodies, as they were called. They were no pushovers. But neither was I.
The Vizier had opened a portal to the Darkness. Darkmen were pouring out of it, and ravaging my land. I had fought until my hand froze to my sword, and I was unable to strike again. Then I was captured. Now, I was in a jail cell.
“Prince.”
I looked up. There above me was Rensax, me friend and enemy, depending on the situation.
“Use the darkness inside of you.” He said.
I reached into the dark portion of my soul, and allowed it to rage. I had done this before, and I knew what to expect: a hideous transformation to my dark side. Then heat seemed to invade me. I underwent a transformation. When it was over, I looked at myself. I was the Dust Wraith!
I was faster, stronger, and I was still alive! Better yet, I had the Daggertail: a long bladed chain with the Dagger of Time at the end of it.
I broke the bars of the cell. A nobody came running. I dispatched it with a crack of the chain. I spun and twirled my chain as Darkmen converged on me from every side. Did they think that they were the only ones with a dark side? Five nobodies and three Darkmen were dispatched with my first charge. The rest stepped back.
“What’s the matter? Scared?” I mocked. My voice came out as a dry hiss, and sounded thick with phlegm.
A Dust Monster pushed the Darkmen aside. Ahh, a “challenge”. I didn’t even give the Dust Monster time to think. I wrapped my chain around its neck and used the Monster as a flail to destroy the Darkmen. Then I struck the Dust Monster with my dagger, and took the dusts that inhabited him, and thus destroyed the Monster.
“Nice kill.” Rensax said. “The portal that is letting in these Darkmen is to the North. You know what you must do.”
“Why are you helping me?” I asked. “You are on the Vizier’s side!”
“Just because we work for the Vizier doesn’t mean we have his best interests at heart.”
“Not that you have a heart.” I said.
“True.” he said. “Now go.”
Hurling myself from the tower where the jail was situated, and hurled my chain to the window. It caught on a jagged wall spike, and I swung on the chain down to the next level. There I spun the chain in a wide circle, dispatching the Dust Birds that were closing in on me with a single spin.
Then I hurled myself straight down, plunging the dagger into the wall to slow my descent. When I reached the ground, I ran off as fast as I could. I leaped into a nearby waterfall, and broke the Dust Wraith spell, and returned to my human form.
I knew what I had to do. My people wouldn’t stand a chance against the Darkmen for much longer. I needed to close the portal to the Darkness before the Darkmen became overwhelmingly strong in number. Looking up, I saw the sky was starting to brighten with the dawn, but one area was still dark, so dark it was a dark bruised purple color. I strode off towards the dark area. The portal was in that direction. I could feel it.
I was getting that feeling again…
That feeling that I wouldn’t be seeing my home again. Weird. I knew what I needed to do; I had a plan; and I had my sword and the Dagger of Time. Nothing could go wrong.
Then I saw it.
The portal.
A Monster leaped at me. I sliced off its head (it was its head, right?). Another came at me from behind. I stopped its time with the Dagger of Time, and sliced it into so many pieces that nothing could save it. I sprinted towards the portal, and I leaped through it. Blackness. Then it felt like I hit a wall, and it felt like two conflicting forces were trying to pull me in opposite directions. Then the strain became unbearable, and right before I passed out I thought I saw a much younger version of me floating in the opposite direction as me…
PART 2: CARIS
I opened my eyes and saw the face of a blond teenage girl bending over me.
“He’s awake, Kael!” she called.
A teenage boy walked over to me. I sat up.
“Hey dude. My name is Kael. Is this your first time to Traverse Town?” the boy asked. He had spiky gold hair.
“I know one thing: I’ve never been here before.” I said. “My name is… um… err… I think it‘s Caris…”
“You think? You don’t remember your name?!” the girl said. “My name is Siferra. How old are you?”
“I’m… 15, almost 16. I can remember that much.” I said. “But I don’t remember much else. All I can remember is some life as a fighter, and something about a dagger that could control time… weird.”
“You look kind of like a soldier.” Kael joked.
It was true. I was wearing a black and grey camouflage zippered sweater, dark grey jeans, black sneakers, white gloves that left my fingers bare, and a black and grey camouflage headband. It looked cool, but I did look military.
“Well, do you know how I got here?” I asked.
“Nope.” Kael said. “We heard some lightning strike in this area, and came to investigate. Then we saw you lying on the ground, and brought you to our Den.” he gestured around at the enclosed area. “This is where we hang out. We’re waiting for some friends. We are investigating some rumors of a haunted mansion in the middle of the woods. Would you like to come with us?”
Before I could answer, two other kids walked in.
“Hey Kael. Hi Siferra.” the tall boy said. Then he saw me. “Hey, I’ve never seen you here before. Are you new in town?”
“Hayner and Olet, meet Caris.” Siferra said. “He’s just arrived in town. But he has a problem.” She proceeded to tell them about how I couldn’t remember anything about my life prior to a few hours ago. The others were sympathetic, but soon they were talking about what they had planned for their day.
“Well,” Olet, the girl, said. “What about those rumors? Are we going or not?”
“I’m going.” Hayner said. “Caris can come if he wants to.”
We all ended up going. The woods were kind of strange: dark, mottled trees alternated with smooth light ones to make a confusing place. If we hadn‘t had the lantern-lit path, we would have gotten lost. Eventually, we came to a large mansion that looked like it had been abandoned for years.
“Must have been a nice place when it was built.” I said. “Wait… over there!”
“What?” the others said, and turned to look where I was pointing.
“It’s gone now.” I said. “But it looked white and about as big as a man.”
“Was it a-a-a ghost?” Olet said fearfully.
“I don’t think so.” I said.
We proceeded into the grounds. When we had searched them thoroughly, Kael and Siferra suggested going inside.
“I’ll go.” I said.
Then of course Hayner and Olet said they would come.
It was at that moment that I saw the mysterious white figure again. I said nothing this time, not wishing to alarm my newfound friends. But I stayed on the alert. We were looking at a control panel, and I suddenly pressed a button. A hidden panel slid up. Why did I press the button? I asked myself. It was as if some unknown force had guided my hand to it. I looked behind the panel.
Behind it was a beautiful fighting dagger. The blade glowed blue, and the handle glowed gold. There were strange runes on it.
“Wow Caris!” Siferra whistled. “Nice find!”
There seemed to be no objections to my ownership of the dagger. As I placed it in my belt, I noticed three buttons on its handle. I was getting a strange feeling that I had seen the weapon before.
“Look!” Hayner said. “There’s an inscription where the dagger used to be!”
I read it out loud.
“‘You have now gained the Dagger of Time. Well done Caris’.”
“Wow! Whoever put this dagger there must have known you were coming, Caris!” Olet said.
There was a strange hissing noise behind us, and I turned to look.
I saw beetles, but of huge proportions! Each one was as big as a cat, and they had huge sharp pincers. One jumped at my face, but I knocked it away with a blow of my dagger. Olet screamed.
Dust scarabs. The name darted into my mind. Dust scarabs? The beetles were scarabs, sure, but the I didn’t understand the dust part. Then I took out my dagger, and told the group to run while I fought the scarabs.
Pressing one of the buttons on the dagger’s handle, I ran forward and struck at one of the beetles. It froze, and turned into dust. I struck at it again, and the dust fell apart. Another beetle stepped forward, and I dealt with it the same way. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a sword came whizzing at my head. I dodged it, and picked it up. It fitted my hand exactly. I faced the scarabs double bladed. Blade-skill that could be learned only with years of training came into my head, and I fought with skill that far surpassed one of my age. But though the sword hurt the beetles, only the dagger dispatched them. When I finished off the last of the scarabs, the sword dissolved.
I caught up with the group at the gates.
“What took you so long?!” Hayner demanded. “Those bugs could have killed you!”
“Took longer than I expected to find my way back.” I lied. It felt bad, lying to friends, but how could I explain my beating six giant mutant beetles?
After we all went back to town, Siferra asked, “Do you have a place to stay, Caris?”
I had been caught in a few returning memories. One was of the dagger, and the other was of the Dust of Time. So Siferra’s question caught me off guard.
“Huh? Oh, uh, no. But I’ll find a place.” I said.
“There’s a cot in the hangout place. You can stay there, if you want.”
“Thanks!” I said. “I really want to thank you guys for everything you guys have done for me, even though you hardly know me yet. Thank you.”
“No problem.” they said.
That night I couldn’t sleep. I walked out to the abandoned mansion again to see if I could remember anything more, and saw a sword! But I knew this sword! It had seen me through all of my fights, even though I could remember none of them. I picked it up, and it was wonderfully light to my hand, and the metal it was made of was sharper then any weapon that I had handled, with the possible exception of the Dagger of Time. Then I saw a black hole in the sky, shaped like a heart with an “x” through it. That was weird, because a moment ago there was nothing there. Then I saw a tendril of darkness snake down, and it made a wide circle around me. Then I felt like I was falling, and I finally landed on a platform suspended over an abyss. Out of nowhere, a massive thing appeared. It was white and looking straight at me. I readied myself for combat.
“Caris?”
I whirled around. “Kael?”
There he stood, holding a Light-Blade.
The Light-Blade’s chosen one. The thought darted into my mind unbidden, and another memory darted into my mind: one of a boy who looked like Kael, and who wielded a Light-Blade.
“Watch out!” Kael warned. I instinctively ducked. A large, clawed hand swept over me, missing my head by a hairsbreadth.
“Distract him!” Kael yelled. I complied, distracting the Monster while Kael got on the other side of it. Then the Monster snatched me up, and when it threw me up in the air, I struck at the 40-foot gargantuan figure. Kael slashed up its legs. Then it went flying off the platform. I and Kael were hurled off. We both hurled our weapons at it at the same time. Kael Light-Blade scored a deep slash and came back to him, but my sword struck deeply in and stayed there. Then Kael grabbed my arm and threw me back towards the platform. The giant Monster came flying back up towards the platform, and the airflow dragged me and Kael back to safety.
“Watch me go crazy!” I said. One of the things that I had remembered was how to use the Power of Haste with the Dagger of Time. Pressing all of the buttons on the Dagger’s handle, I sent my own time into fast-forward. To my eyes, I was a normal person in a slow-motion world. I ran at what must have seemed the speed of sound to Kael, and slashed at the Monster with my Dagger. Pulling my sword from where it was imbedded in the Monster’s flesh, I then I executed a twenty-hit figure-eight combo with my sword and dagger. The Monster reeled back in slow motion. But then the power wore off, and I was smashed by a claw as big as myself. Right before I would have passed out, I held down the Dagger’s blue button. Time rewound to before the claw hit me, and I knew to dodge it before I was hit.
The battle was one sided. I and Kael tore up the Monster. Our weapons soon took effect, and the Monster fell from the platform. A wave of light returned us to the normal world. And my sword dissolved.
“What was that thing?” Kael asked.
“A high-ranking Darkman.” I said. The words came out without me speaking: it was as if someone was speaking through me.
“Darkmen?!” Kael exclaimed. “I remember now! They are the darkness inside people’s hearts personified!”
“Some of my memories are coming back.” I said. “I remembered how to use this dagger. I must have handled it before I lost my memory. And my sword: I can sense that it has seen me through dozens of fights. I also remember those bugs.”
“The scarabs?” Kael asked, confused.
“Yeah.” I confirmed. “They had been infected by the Dust of Time.”
“What are the Dusts of Time?” Kael asked.
“The Dusts of Time control time. Long ago, the dusts were locked away in an impregnable 20-foot Statue. This Dagger of Time is the only other container that is strong enough to contain the Dust of Time. The Dusts of Time are dangerous, however: If you come in contact with it, they will turn you into a hideous mockery of your original form, and will transform your mind into that of a predator, and your only thoughts will be to kill anyone that lives. You will become a Dust Monster. However, there are a few artifacts that can prevent this transformation: my Dagger, a Light-Blade, and a few more that I still can’t remember. My Dagger can use the Dusts of Time to control time like I did in the fight with that Monster.”
“Nice fighting by the way.”
“You were just as good as me.”
“True.”
We started walking back towards the town, when another memory darted into my mind.
“Oh no… I’ve just remembered something else…”
“What is it?” Kael asked.
“I have been infected… by the Dusts of Time!”
“WHAT!?!?!?!?” Kael yelled.
“My transformation is not like the others. I turn into what is called a Dust Wraith. It is stronger and faster and way more agile then a Dust Monster, which, by the way, are twice as strong as whoever they were before. I keep my mind too, and I make my own decisions. I don’t turn into a senseless killer like Dust Monsters do. I become just a human with the body of a Dust Wraith, not a senselessly murdering Dust Monster.” I explained.
“What were you doing out in the woods by yourself, Caris?” Kael asked suddenly.
“I was trying to see if being in that area would jog my memory some more.” I explained. “What were you doing out here?”
“I was following a man dressed in a black robe. He looked suspicious, and with all the crazy things happening here I thought it was best to see what he was doing here.”
“What crazy things?”
“Well,” Kael counted on his fingers, “Those strange lightning bolts, your memory loss, the haunted mansion, the Dagger of Time, those Dust scarabs, the white figure you saw, and that Darkman thingy we just fought.”
‘I guess you did the right thing.” I said. “Oh, and, Kael.”
“Yeah?” he asked.
“Don’t tell the others about this.”
“Agreed.”
We walked in silence the rest of the way back.
The next morning, I awoke very hungry. I would need to get a job and earn money to get food. I dressed, and walked outside. It was a bright morning, and the sky was clear. I checked my pocket: I found a small bag. It was filled with golden coins! I was rich!
I walked down the road, and the smell of delicious pancakes and savory sausages filled the air. I found the source: a small shop with no one in line for food that looked like it had seen much better business. A tired-looking woman sat at the booth.
“Hey.” I said. “Those pancakes sure smell good.”
“Would you like some?” the woman said. “Hey, are you new?”
“Yeah. My name’s Caris.”
“My name is Beth. Welcome to Traverse Town.”
“Thanks.” I said. “Sorry, but I don’t have any local currency.”
“There’s a money changing booth on Abroad Street.”
“I need more of a jeweler’s shop.” I showed her one of my gold coins.
“Ohhh. That’s so pretty!” she gasped. “There’s a jeweler on the next block, but he’s not open until ten o’ clock.”
I checked the clock: it was 8:05.
“I guess I’ll have to come back later.” I said, a little sad because I was really very hungry.
“Nonsense!” Beth said. “Tell you what: I’ll cook for you now, and at ten o’ clock you go to change your money, and you bring me whatever you owe me.”
“Thank you so-o-o much!” I said. “Ill have three pancakes, some sausages, and four scrambled eggs.
Twenty minutes later, Kael showed up. When he saw me, I had my mouth full of sausage, eggs, and pancakes.
“Hey, Caris! Found the best cook around, I see!”
Beth blushed.
“She is a great cook!” I said.
Then Siferra showed up, and we all ate together. We all laughed when Siferra said that Beth was the best cook.
When we had finished eating, I promised to come back with the money. Then we all walked to the dock.
“Hayner and Olet can’t come over today. They didn’t say why.” Kael said.
“I have something to give you guys.” I said. Drawing out the bag of gold coins, I withdrew three: One with a ruby as its center-piece, one with a sapphire as its center-piece, and one with a white pearl as its center-piece. I gave the ruby one to Kael, the sapphire one to Siferra, and I kept the pearl one.
“Is this real?” Kael asked.
“I think so.” I said.
“And you have an entire bag filled with these?”
“Yeah.” I said.
“COOL!!!!”
“Thanks Caris.” Siferra said, giving me a kiss on the cheek.
“Hey Caris.” Kael said. “There’s a fighting competition tomorrow: I want you to try out. I’m already in it, but I think you have a shot at winning.”
“I might try out.” I said.
We walked to the arena master.
“This is my friend Caris. He wants to join the fight competition tomorrow.” Kael said.
“Can he fight?” The master said.
“He is my equal.”
“He’ll fight DeMayne.”
“DeMayne is a veteran, but with your skill, he shouldn’t prove much of a challenge.” Kael told me later that day. “He’s no pushover though, and he always has tricks up his sleeve. But if you can make it to the final minute, you should win easily.”
“Thanks.” I said.
The next day, I went to Beth’s stall again. But this time, I ate a light meal of one fried egg, one pancake, and a bacon strip. Beth was optimistic about my chances.
When the fight came around, I was ready.
“OKAY!” the announcer called. “Who do you think is going to win?”
“KAEL!!!! HAYNER!!!!” Olet, Siferra, and Beth called.
“SEIFER!!!!” several others yelled.
“VIVI!!!!” two men called.
“DEMAYNE!!!!” several people called.
“SETZER!!!!!!!!!!!!” a large group roared.
“CARIS!!!” Beth called. Her voice was lost in the tumult of voices.
“Well, Today’s competitors are: Kael, my personal favorite; Hayner, the quick thinking action lover; Seifer, the runner-up for the top; Setzer, the champion; Vivi, the unexpected fighter; DeMayne, the sly competitor; and the newcomer: Caris, the newest addition! Let the fight begin!”
I faced off against DeMayne. We were using heavy, solid foam swords called “bloon’s”. He struck at me, and I dodged. I tried a counter attack, and scored. He tried to trip me, and I dodged it. I struck at him, and followed up with the figure-eight combo with my bloon. That brought a cheer from my friends. I blocked the next hit with my bloon. Then he struck me so hard on the head I was seeing stars. Then my natural blade-skill took over. I started using my bloon like a sword. DeMayne started losing, badly. When he saw he could not win, he hurled a handful of dust at my eyes, and I stumbled back. But before he could strike, the time ran out.
The announcer walked over to me and held up my hand. “CARIS IS THE WINNER!!!!” he yelled.
Kael and Hayner were next. They matched each other almost perfectly, but near the end Kael struck a blow that floored Hayner. Kael won his match.
Then it was Vivi against Seifer. It was a quick match. Seifer struck at Vivi and scored a light hit, but then Vivi struck at Seifer and almost knocked him out. That was the end of their match. As Seifer passed by me and Kael, he told Kael something.
“Thrash him.”
It was Kael versus Vivi. That was a long match, but Kael won in the end. Then something strange happened.
Time stopped for everyone but me and Kael. Then a white thing came out of Vivi.
A nobody. Literally, a “nonexistent being”. The voice said again.
The nobody spawned three more of itself.
“Hey Kael. You got the Light-Blade?” I asked as I drew my Dagger and my sword materialized again.
“Right here.” Kael said. The Light-Blade materialized in his hand.
We flew at the nobodies. One slashed at my feet, but I blocked it and absorbed it with my Dagger. Kael slashed a nobody in half with his Light-Blade with one hit. I did my figure-eight combo and dispatched another. The last nobody tried to flee, but Kael threw his Light-Blade after it and killed it that way.
Then a man in a black robe appeared.
“Kael!” he called. “It’s me: Axis!”
“Who are you?” Kael asked.
“He’s not alone either, Caris!”
A man in a black and dark green fighting outfit stepped out from behind him. Both of the men had a slightly evil look about them.
“Don’t you remember your old buddy Rensax?” the man asked.
Then a loud and deep voice came out of the air.
“NO!”
A figure in red and black appeared.
“Do not try and win the warriors back to your side!” he commanded.
“Listen, you!” Axis yelled. “I’m not about to let the Masters hunt down Kael because they think he’s a traitor!”
He blasted some flame at the figure, but it evaporated in a hiss when the figure activated an energy shield. Then the figure disappeared.
Suddenly Kael called out, “Hayner! Olet! Siferra!”
Time was restored. The two men and the figure were gone.
“Time for a challenge!” the announcer said. “Caris versus Kael!”
He struck at me, and I dodged. I tried a counter attack, and scored. He tried to trip me, and I dodged it. I struck at him, and followed up with the figure-eight combo. I blocked the next hit with my bloon. Then he struck me so hard on the head I was seeing stars. We were equal on points when we ran out of time, so the judges decided that whoever scored the next point won. Then my natural blade-skill took over. I started using my bloon like a real sword. Unfortunately, Kael started using his bloon like a Light-Blade!
It was like the worlds most intense fight. I ended up taking to the air. I ran up one of the light-poles, and jumped into the air. Kael hurled his bloon up at me, and I blocked it. He caught it, and when I landed we were at it hammer and tongs again.
We went on like that for a long time, until we both were staggering around with exhaustion. Once we ended up back to back, peering around for each other. Then I struck with the last of my strength, and Kael went flying.Then we both collapsed, and the world went black as I fell asleep.
I ran through the castle corridors. I was searching for something. Then I saw something that made my blood go cold.
The woman who I loved was hanging over a pitfall. She was holding onto the Dagger of Time, which was imbedded in the stone wall, and if she let go she would fall. Dust Monsters were closing in on her. I ran towards her, slashing up Dust Monsters with my sword. Right when the Dagger slipped out of the wall, I leaped forward and grabbed it by the blade. The blade made a deep cut in my hand, but I didn’t let go. The woman I loved saw the blood from my hand running down the dagger, looked at the Statue of Time, glanced behind me to see Dust Monsters closing in on me, and looking my full in the face said a word in a language I did not know but yet understood, and let go. She fell… and thus died. I felt my heart tear in two. I looked behind me. There were Dust Monsters closing in on me. They were to blame for the death of my love. I flew at them, in a fury. In seconds they were dead. Then I saw an old man come walking into the room. The Vizier! He was amazingly agile and fast, but I jumped on him and tried to throttle him, but he pushed me off.
‘The girl is of no importance!” He said impatiently. “Give me the Dagger, and I will give you power. Eternal life will be yours!”
“I’ll live forever, huh?” I said. “When all I love is dead, and I am to blame?” I pointed my bloody dagger at him. “I choose death!”
I hurled myself up to the top of the Statue of Time, and I struck the dagger into the dome at the top of it. Then I was plunged into a fog as all that had happened was undone, and time rewound. Words filtered through the fog in my mind. “Caris… Caris… Can you feel Prince?”
What?
Then I sat up. What a weird dream. Something about a Vizier and a girl and my Dagger. Already it was fading from my mind.
“You’re finally awake.”
I looked behind me. A beautiful girl was sitting behind me.
“My name is Sara.” she said. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Caris.” I said. “Where am I?”
“You are in the tent of healing.” She said. “You suffered from exhaustion when you finished fighting Kael, and you got a deep cut on your shoulder when you fell. You won your match, but I would advise against fighting Setzer.”
‘Why?” I asked. “I feel fine now.”
“When you fell, your left shoulder struck a piece of glass, and the shard was deeply imbedded in your shoulder. I have bandaged it, but more damage to it could get it infected. And that could mean complications. If I were you, I would forfeit the match.” Sara explained.
“Well,” I said, “A minor injury can’t hold me back from combat.”
“I wish it would.” Sara said, a little sadly. “If you get sick with infection…”
“It’s okay.” I said. Why was she so concerned for my safety? “You’re a healer?”
“Not really.” Sara laughed. “I’m just here to earn some money. I sing. Would you like to hear me sing?”
“Okay.” I said.
She began to sing. Her voice was like the finest music ever. The song was sad, and stirred something inside of me. Then the tune took a turn, and I recognized the song as one from my home!
When she finished, I spoke in a hushed voice. “Where did you hear that song?”
“A traveler taught it to me.” Sara said. “She was from a faraway land called Ahzad. She said that it is in another world altogether.”
“The woman: what did she look like?” I asked.
“She wore red, carried a bow and arrows, wore gold earrings, and said her name was Farah.” She said.
The girl in my dream! Now that my mind was functioning properly, I noticed that Sara could have been describing herself, minus the bow and arrows.
“Hey, wish me luck!” I said as I picked up my bloon. “Hey… where is my Dagger?”
“You had a Dagger? Oh yes!” Sara said. “Here.”
She drew the dagger out of a side drawer.
“Thanks.” I said. “This dagger is my only link to my lost memories.” I explained my memory loss.
“Oh, you poor thing!” Sara said. “Well, I hope you find what you’re looking for. Good luck. Come back here when you want to rest.” and with that she gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Its strange.” she said with a laugh. “I know we never met, but I feel as though I have known you for years already.”
“Strange.” I said. “I feel the same.”
I walked outside, and stepped up onto the platform. Kael was practicing.
“Hey.” I said.
“Oh, hey.” Kael said.
“I have decided to resign.” I said. “Too great of a risk of infection. You’ll be fighting Setzer.”
Kael opened his mouth to argue, but I silenced him.
“Look, I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”
“Okay, if you’re sure.” Kael said. “But you are better then me.”
“No.” I said. “I got lucky with one hit. We are equals, Kael! Now I need to go.”
I stayed in the tent of healing all day, until Kael and Siferra came to visit me.
“Here.” Kael tossed me a white gem. “You deserve it! Don‘t try and argue! I’m not taking it back. We plan to get the gems made into rings.”
“I think I’ll try that too.” I said. “Where did you get the gems?”
“I beat Setzer and these gems were the prize!” Then Kael noticed Sara. “And who is this?”
“This is Sara. She has been taking care of me.”
“Hi!” Kael said to my newest friend. She smiled at him, and left the room to get something. When she left Kael nudged me.
“Are you falling for her, Caris?”
I reached for a pillow to throw at him, but at that moment two things happened: Sara walked up to the bed I was in to give me a shot, and a thunderbolt hit the tent!
The thunderbolt transported us to a strange place. A huge staircase, with Darkmen spawning all over it! My sword materialized, and I drew my dagger. Kael had his Light-Blade, but Siferra and Sara were unarmed.
“Hold it.” Kael said. “I remember this place. This is where Ian lost his memory.”
“Ian?” I asked. “Who’s Ian?”
“Ian is my other half, my somebody. I am a nobody.” Kael said. That made no sense to me, and I decided to not pursue the matter.
“I had to put him to sleep while I re-chained his memories.” Siferra said. “You see, Caris, there is a spell on this place that as you climb higher up you lose more and more memories, until by the time you get to the top you have lost almost all of your memories, and everyone who knew you forgets you as well. I had to put Ian to sleep while I chained his memories back together.”
“Okay, but how do we get out of here?” Sara asked.
Then a voice spoke from behind us.
“Follow me!”
We whirled around to see a short figure wearing a black robe. He was holding a golden Light-Blade.
“The King!” Kael cried out. “Michael!”
King Michael turned around, and saw Kael. “Hello again, friend! Nice to see you.”
We followed him down a long tunnel. “This was how I got out of this place.” King Michael said. “There is a portal here to the Darkness. I avoided that portal, and there is a portal behind it that leads into a land called Ahzad.”
“Ahzad?!” I yelled. The entire group stopped and stared at me like I was growing horns. “That’s my homeland!”
“Wow, you actually remember things now!” Siferra teased.
“The closer I get to my land, the more I remember! I’m sure of it!”
“LOOK OUT!” Michael yelled. I tried to jump back from the edge of a pitfall, but it was too late. I toppled over, and a wave of darkness washed over me. The last thing I saw was King Michael throwing a small gold key after me…
I awoke in a scene of utter blackness. Even the rocks of the barren land I was in echoed that blackness. It was cold, and even the blowing wind seemed lifeless. It was overwhelming. It brought out the darkness inside me. In seconds I was undergoing a hideous transformation. When it was complete, I saw that what I had most dreaded had come over me: I was the Dust Wraith.
But even the wickedness that my form now represented brought a measure of relief. This was the world of Darkness, and a normal person couldn’t have seen anything but pure blackness. But the Dust Wraith was part of the Darkness, and it had no trouble seeing in the blackness that now enveloped me. I saw that there were stairs. Stairs in a zigzag pattern going up into an area that seemed a little lighter then the area I was in. I started running towards the stairs, but then I stopped. There in front of me was a small golden key. I picked it up. It was warm. I put it in my clothes. Then I ran up the stairs.
About halfway up the stairs, I heard a voice speak from a small cave. “Caris?”
I whirled around, drawing my chain. “Who’s there?”
“It’s me.” Rensax crawled out of the cave. “So, you have remembered your duties.”
“What duties, Rensax?” I asked. “We used to be friends, right?”
“You remember me?” Rensax asked. “I need to make sure though… What was the name of our employer?”
I said nothing, confused.
Rensax sighed heavily. “You really have lost it, haven’t you? It was nice knowing you, Caris, but I’m afraid that this is where your path ends.”
With that, two long blades with a black smoke flowing up out of them appeared at his side. “Dark-Nesses‘!” he yelled. Immediately, a group of totally black beings appeared in front of him. He turned to me. “I’m sorry, Caris.” then he pointed the dark creatures in my direction, and said “Capture him. Bring him to the tower of execution.”
I whirled my chain, and three of them went flying. But the rest enveloped me in a wave of blackness…
When I regained consciousness, I was on a high tower, with nobodies and Darkmen surrounding me on every side. One being braver then the rest ran at me. I dispatched it with a crack of the chain. I spun and twirled my chain as Darkmen converged on me from every side. Did they think that they were the only ones with a dark side? Five nobodies and three Darkmen were dispatched with my first charge. The rest stepped back.
“What’s the matter? Scared?” I mocked. My voice came out as a dry hiss, and sounded thick with phlegm. This all felt like it had happened before. Then a Dust Monster came up. I easily pushed it off the tower’s edge
I charged in to the mass of Darkmen. I wrapped my chain around the neck of a Nobody (It was its neck, right?) and used it as a flail. I flattened five Darkmen with the nobody be fore I ran it through with my dagger. Then I slowed down time for all the Darkmen, and hacked a path through them, and then body slammed several over the edge of the towed. Then I absorbed three Darkmen with my dagger. Then the power ran out. I ran up a wall and jumped off. I threw my chain down and snagged a Darkman. I snapped it up to my level, and sliced its head off. Then I used a Dust Monster’s head as a landing pad, and absorbed him with my dagger.
Then I was grabbed from behind by two men in black robes. I slid from their grasp and flipped over their heads. Then a strange new gas was released in my face, and I went dizzy. The men dragged me towards the castle exit. They put me in the back of a hover craft, and began driving away.
I shook off my dizziness, and was about to attack them, but then I heard a familiar voice.
“Caris! It’s Kael! Chill out!”
The taller of the two figures removed his hood, and I saw my friend’s face. He looked slightly scared. Then I remembered that I was in Dust Wraith form.
“Sorry you had to see me in my worst form.” I said.
“It’s okay.” Kael said. “I have my worst moments to. I have been trying to hold off my own transformation until we leave this place, but I can hold it back no longer.”
With that Kael underwent a transfiguration. He morphed… Into a Darkman version of himself! He was now Kael-Thas!
“I am way stronger and faster now!” Kael-Thas said. “I could equal you, now.”
Then the other figure took off their hood. It was Sara! She ran over to me and threw her arms around me, even though I was in Dust Wraith form. I hugged her back.
When she let go, she blushed slightly, and asked me what had happened to me.
“I am a Dust Wraith.” I said miserably. “Sorry you need to see me like this.”
“It’s okay.” Sara said. “I’ve seen worse. I am a nurse, after all! I’m just glad you’re safe now.”
Now it was my turn to blush. Siferra came from the cockpit of the hovercraft.
“Welcome back.” she stood very close to Kael-Thas.
“Where is that key I threw to you, Caris?” Michael asked.
I took the key from my pocket. When I came in contact with it, my Dust Wraith form fell away, and I turned back to normal. Kael still was in Thas form.
Then we had about three seconds before all evil broke loose.
A Darkman flew out of nowhere and snatched up Sara, and a nobody grabbed Siferra. Then they were gone in seconds.
“What the heck…” I said, confused by what had just happened. It was too fast for it to really register with me.
Then the figure in red and black appeared. “The girls have been taken by the forces of Darkness.”
“You again!” Kael said. “What’s going on?”
“When the Masters realized that it could not contain your group, they captured the people you two really care about, to lure you deeper into the kingdom of darkness. The Masters are using your own honor, chivalry, and sense of justice against you. Just as they did to Prince.”
‘Who’s Prince?” I asked.
“The Prince of Ahzad. He is your non-nobody. You are a nobody, Caris. Just like Kael is Ian‘s nobody. I will leave you to make your decision with out me.”
Then the figure stepped back.
“Well?” King Michael asked.
“‘Well’ what?” I snapped.
“What are you going to do?” he asked. “I won’t be able to help you; I need to help the king of Ahzad.”
“We can’t just leave them there!” Kael protested.
“You two are the only ones who can help them.” King Michael said.
“I can’t take them alone.” Kael said. “Your call, Caris. You are the leader now.”
I was in turmoil. My land needed help. My people were being ravaged. For all I knew, the Vizier might have already conquered my homeland. But I couldn’t leave Sara and Siferra here. Neither could I leave Kael to go alone.
“I’ll go with you, Kael. But why do you call me the leader?” I asked.
“Simple. I barely know Sara, but you have already stolen her affection, so she‘ll feel a lot safer with you in charge. You are a great fighter, and you excel at strategic maneuvers, and you don‘t lust after glory and honor. You are the only one of us who would make a good leader.”
“But I don’t want to be leader!” I said.
“That is beside the point, Caris.” the figure spoke again. “our destinies are coming upon us, and your destiny is to lead. Lead wisely, my liege.”
I was stunned. How could I lead my friends, when I had been the reason that we were in this predicament?
The figure seemed to sense my confusion. He placed his hand on my shoulder, and spoke. “You will not be alone, Caris. You have a friend. Your friends are an asset that outweighs any flaws you have. Even I have my flaws. I cannot stay with you right now, but this is my wisdom for you: you must be decisive.” the man disappeared then.
“Caris.”
I whirled around. “Rensax!”
“hey.” Kael said. “its that guy who led us to you, Caris!”
“You helped my friends? Why?” I demanded.
“I’m glad you remember me, Caris. I really am.” Rensax said. “Please come back to us. You used to be happy about our plan.”
“What plan?” I demanded.
“The plan to take over the Core of Heart, of course! You know, that place where the hearts of all of our non-nobodies go when they die” Rensax said, surprised. “That way, all of us (the nobodies, I mean) can live again! We’ll simply take our hearts back.”
“I’m sorry, Rensax.” I said. “But I just cant let you do that. You would use your newly acquired hearts to summon even more Darkmen, and take control of the worlds.’
“I wouldn’t do that.” Rensax said, “But Thrall and the Vizier would. But I don’t answer to him.”
“Who do you answer to, Rensax?” I asked.
“The winning team.” he said craftily. “You should know that, Caris, after all this time.”
He turned to go, but then stopped. “Caris, please consider what I am asking of you. I don’t want to see you dead. You or your friends. And I can even get the Masters to let you off for turning on us like you did. Maybe when this is over we can just go to a different world, and forget about this.” I shook my head, determined not to join the enemy. He hesitated. “The way things are going with your somebody now, Caris, I don’t think that we’ll meet again. Goodbye.” he said sadly. Then he strode off into the darkness.
Kael started after him, but I held him back. “Let him go.”
“But we need to find out where the others are!” Kael protested.
“I think that you may need to find them yourself, Kael.” I said as gently as I could. “Rensax has told us far more then he is allowed, anyway, so I don’t think that you‘ll be getting any more information out of him.”
“What do you mean, ‘by myself’?” Kael said in alarm.
“I may not be here much longer.” I said, sadly. “I think that the Masters are planning to kill my somebody. In that case, you must carry on. Besides, my sword’s not much good at fighting Darkmen and Nobodies. Only my dagger hurts them.”
“But-b-b-but…” Kael stammered.
“Go!” I said. “Find them. I will come with you for as long as I can, but I think that you will be the one to free them.”
“But the guy said that you were the leader!”
“And I am ordering you to go and find them.”
Kael grew angry. “fine then! Go and just sit down and die! You probably couldn’t help anyway! Coward! ”
“You think that I enjoy death, Kael?!” I said, angry at his insults. “I may not be good at fighting Darkmen, but you can bet your life that if you think that I’m scared of a slimy little-”
“If anyone here needs help, it’s you, Caris!” Kael interrupted angrily. “You probably will go and help the Masters with Rensax anyway!”
He ran off, muttering angrily.
I hadn’t enjoyed that. But I needed to tell Kael that I might not be alive to help him save our friends.
However, I did not just plan to sit around and wait for death. I needed to give Kael a chance. My idea was that if I attacked the place that they were keeping my somebody, then the Master’s would send most of their forces over to that area, leaving my friends with only a token guard.
I drove the hovercraft off into the world of Darkness. It was hard going. I could feel physical pain. My somebody was probably getting harmed right now. But I was going to make it. I had to.
I arrived at the scene of execution. It was horrible. A young man was chained to the ground by all four limbs. My somebody. He was being mocked by a group of huge Darkmen. I knew better then to charge them. My dagger would be my only defense.
Climbing the wall that surrounded the pit, I saw a strange glow. I started walking towards it. I climbed higher and higher. When I go to the top, I saw a sight that I will remember forever.
A beautiful sword, with a blue-glowing heart-shaped hole on the middle of the blade. Here was truly a deadly weapon! I picked it up, and cast off my own sword. The runes on the blade of the new sword were in a strange and beautiful language, and they read: “HeartBlade”.
HeartBlade? Was that some kind of new Light-Blade? Whatever it was, it was now mine! And I could take on those Darkmen!


TO BE CONTINUED....

Who do think you are? by afia islam

Journal of an 18-year old girl who once was a normal person that grew up with loving parents that are constantly fighting. As an oldest child I always felt to take care of my family. Growing up in a neighbor hood where there always peace and quite, felt a guilt of loneness. I see myself looking at the mirror and see a tall girl that has wavy hair with tiny fingers used for sparrow and heart, hope. She was wearing an old T-shirt with cut-down jeans, no make-ups. Eyes that make up the color of a dark storm that is red, ready to scream. Feeling lonely, hearing voices that sounds like yelling, are about to kill each other. Banging at the table until blood rises of my index finger, flowing down with shameless and embracement. Each of the tears going down thought out my face with eyes showing craziness. As walking each step, my heart beats with blood that has no air left to speak. Looking down toward my stepfather in jail, feeling completely lost. Jail, a place where people go crazy and act like maniacs. Stomach growling for hungriness and no food has eaten. Walking away from a man who acts like a fool to be a father. Hearing voices inside her mind that is making her mind go crazy. Wants to get a justice and became a free person with nothing left to say. Putting hands over her mind that may stop the thoughts coming out of her brain. Who says being an adult may sound crazy to me. Stop Stop it! Going outside and seeing my mom looking awful and crying her tears out. She doesn’t see me starting at her face with courage and heart.

Consuming Poison

I know how it is to be quiet,
To live your life as if it were a dream.
You can close your eyes
When you no longer want to watch.
I won’t believe the horror that I see.
Its more than the poison inside of me.
Lets tear away these faces we hide behind.
Because we are no longer in disguise.
They are catching on.
I won’t let go.
Neither would it let me free.
Chained up against my will.
But we can save ourselves.
I could feel the pain you felt.
And because I was weak,
I began to cry.
I know your misery.
But I could only watch and listen.
And together we can make it,
While the world is crashing down.
Protecting you from
A danger that I cant see.
Unaware of the dangerous chasm
That separated us.
You cant help but lose your balance.

And when you fall and
Pick yourself up again,
You notice that no one
Was there for you.
You lose faith in what you believe in.
No more god exists for you.
No one behind you to help you up.
No one to live for.
No reason to live for.

Exile

EXILE


CONTENTS:
Then: Chris Flight
Chapter 1: Chris Flight
Chapter 2: Sarai Arra
Chapter 3: Chris Flight
Chapter 4: Sarai Arra
Chapter 5: Chris Flight
Chapter 6: Sarai Arra
Chapter 7: Chris Flight
Chapter 8: Sarai Arra
Chapter 9: Chris Flight

Then.
We stepped out of the warehouse, the defectors hesitating. Finally, after days of searching Berlin we had completed our objective. I had the disk. The defectors had turned it over.
Suddenly, a spotlight turned on. We froze in its beam. A truck blocked one end of the alley, and ten armed men blocked the other. The Russian Military Terror Agency. One of them shouted for anyone else to come out. The Haupt’s, who were former members of the RMTA, came out.
“Go!” I roared.
David took out the spotlight. I whipped out my modified Uzi and opened fire. Luis strafed the ranks. Then we were gone, running in the new dark.
We met back at the truck. Suddenly something clicked. Who was missing? Kat and the Haupt’s! They were now a security risk.
Jumping over a fence, I traced them back to the warehouse.
“Please…”
I turned. There was Kat, lying in a pool of blood.
I saw red. I was on overload. Someone would pay. Whirling around, I noticed that near her was Haupt Senior, still alive. I pulled my gun and shot him in the heart. Then I found his son, ran him down, and killed him. I heard someone coming and ran like a murderer.

Chapter 1: Chris Flight
“How do you plead?”
“Guilty.” I said.
“Then let us hear the first witness.” A judge said.
A small Russian came up. He told that I brutally murdered the people. Two others came up and said the same thing.
“Do you understand the seriousness of these charges, Sir?” the judge inquired to me.
“Yes sir.” I said.
There was a brief pause as the jury deliberated. Then they came out. I was guilty.
“Owing to your history of brave service to your country over the past years, we will not impose the death penalty. This is your first offense, but the consequence could have been death by torture. Therefore, it is the decision of the court to send you into exile to the far reaches of space until such time as you have proven your worth and courage beyond all other men. You are appointed seven days until your departure, which will allow you to put your affairs in order. You are prohibited from leaving the city. In the name of the law I declare this trial over.”
Two days later I was walking with my good friend David. Out of the Band of Brothers that had met in the former days only me, David, Luis, and Mass were still alive (unless you count Toma, who was never in our fights anyway, and was currently a wealthy man who got his money from discovering vast protoculture energy mines in Mexico and had put them back to use). We were so into an argument that I bumped into a pretty young woman, who was carrying three large boxes.
“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t looking. Here, let me help you with that.” I apologized.
“It’s all right. But I could use the help.” She said.
We helped her carry her stuff. I felt like I had done the world a great service.
Five days later I was exiled. It felt good to be in a fighter jet again, even though the goal of this mission made it very sad. The crew tried to cheer me up, but it just made me more depressed. Even though Luis had been exiled three times, each time he got sent away he came back three days later with news of an alien armada approaching Earth. I suddenly veered up and away from the squadron. It wasn’t right. I needed to go.
What had I done with my life? I wondered. At the age of 29, I had been in several wars, killed many men, fought aliens, gotten Kat killed, and committed a war crime. Hadn’t I done something of recognition?
I had defended my home planet against many different alien species. I had saved many people. I had liberated the settlement of Alkalis. I had survived. I had every medal invented (not that I liked them: They got in the way and were too big and obvious) except the Medal of Honor, which could only be gained by death. But they were just deeds. Something a kid would read in a textbook, one day, maybe. Nothing significant. And despite all my efforts, peace would never last. I had once heard it said: “It is the nature of man to fight.” My wars with aliens were, in truth, just a convenient excuse to cover up our instincts for war. During the fight, there had always been this kind of thrill. I didn’t enjoy fighting, but it seemed I could not avoid it, and afterwards, the comradeship and team spirit was astounding. I loved it. But that was over now.
For the first time in my life, I was utterly and truly alone.

Chapter 2: Sarai Arra
Sprinting through the corridors, I knew I didn’t have much time left. My pod was sure to be found soon, and then all chaos would break loose. Not that I’m complaining. It would be nice to pay those idiots who stole my battle suit. But with only a tasergun (a laser with a short energy whip inside it) at my disposal, I was not a match for an army of R.O.B.’s. Of course, the odd seven or eight were welcome.
I dispatched Launcher R.O.B. I hate them. They are so-o-o annoying. If I had a flamethrower…
You get the idea.
These AI controlled machines never would learn that I, Sarai Arra, was the winner.
But recently, things had changed. Whoever was responsible for these robots was stepping up procedure. They had also made a type of android, called a Primitive. They were the ones who had stolen my battle armor. They would pay.
Alarms went off. I was blocked by a solid steel divider. All through the research station, walls shifted. I was now in a maze. No problem.
I sprinted at full speed towards the divider. Using it as a wall I repelled off it upward and backwards. I landed on another platform. I jumped on top of the divider and dropped down the other side, gun blazing.
Three R.O.B.’s had been waiting. Now they were just scrap metal.
I was running out of time. I had to find a way to my battle suit before I could be ready to face the robotic armies.
Dropping through a hatch, I gunned down two android guards and was in the information center. Seating myself at a console I searched “battle suit”. Two entries came up. One was a red and gold male battle suit, and the second was mine. I called up accurate schematics of the route to each one. The male one might belong to someone who could help me. I left the room with the files, contemptuously kicking the lifeless androids.
I was on my way.

Chapter 3: Chris Flight
Ten days later I spotted a speck. A tiny speck of light far off in the blackness of space. A station.
I had been flying for ten days. I was tired. I needed food, since my supply of liquid three course meals ran out. I also needed to find a way to redeem myself.
I landed. They made me follow them into the exercise room, to check my vitals.
“Hmmm, no freezer burn, space lag, sickness, headaches?”
“This guy’s voice is going to give me one.” I thought. What I said was “No, sir.”
After a series of tests, a soldier who was to be my escort came up to me, and told me that I had been asked to help test a new type of battle suit that was being analyzed at this time. I agreed.
First was movement. I was amazed at the way the suit reacted to my motions, like it was a part of me.
Next was shielding techniques.
Done. Now if I was hit, the bulletproof armor would recharge.
Next was the weapons diagnostics, but something came up.
“I need to see Captain Chris Flight on the operations deck, ASAP.” A voice on the speakers announced.
“But sir,” my escort protested, “We’ll have to skip the weapons diagnostic!”
“This is a priority one emergency. Captain Keyes has- Ahh-!” there came the sound of guns and a final blast.
“Corporal? Corporal?! No! He’s dead!” My escort turned to me. “We’ve got to get out of here! Follow me!”
At that precise moment, alarms went off. Soldiers scrambled to take up positions.
This could be my chance to redeem myself. I thought.
“What about the suit?” I asked my escort.
Before he could answer, a grenade hit him. So long, comrade, I thought.
Sprinting down a corridor, I vaulted over a barricade and rolled under a closing panel just before it slammed shut. I was on the operations deck in seconds.
“At ease, soldier.” Captain Keyes said. “The crisis onboard this ship is escalating. At approximately sixteen hundred hours a crew of Robotic Offensive Beings or, R.O.B.’s entered the ship and are trying to gain access to all our files and possibly to retrieve a Multi-dimensional Formation Device, or, M.F.D., which is capable of transforming an area within a diameter of six miles into a 5th dimensional copy of anything the field covers.
“It is obvious why an enemy would want it: using it they could hold the galaxy at its mercy. Now, we have been notified that the enemy has targeted a certain planet, known as Excelsior. The inhabitants of that planet are peaceful, except for a few. They are scattered widely, but could be brought together. We have files on a few of those fighters. This is a picture of one of the best fighters.”
“One is called Sarai Arra. She is the one who we have the most hopes for. She is human, with surprising agility and speed, much like you. She is on a one-woman-war against the enemy that attacked us. They captured her battle suit and she seeks to recover it. Her battle suit is like yours, only more female.”
“Wait, this battle suit isn’t mine; I just used it because I was testing it!” I said.
“It belongs to you now. You are the only one who is qualified to use it, and you probably use it the best.”
“THANK YOU, SIR!!!!”
“Thanks accepted. Anyway, the second of our group is called Talc. He is a pilot. Those are the main fighters. If you manage to find either of them, they should assist you. Do you understand?” Captain Keyes
“I understand.” I said.
“So now I need you to take this: the Data Chip. Contained in this microchip are the files on earth. If the enemy gets them, it could mean annihilation. Keep it safe.”
“I will.” I promised, tucking it into my belt.
“Now, I want you to get off the ship. Do whatever you have to. But get the Data Chip off the ship. Go. Now!”
I sprinted out of there as if I was a human missile. I raced towards the escape pod chamber. As I ran I gave assistance where I could. I was just about to enter the escape pod chamber when I saw a sight through the viewing port that scared me more then a bunker full of X174 laser warheads.
The planet Excelsior was less than 2 miles away. That was bad. At such a low altitude, my escape pod would enter the atmosphere too fast. But…
Why not ride in style?
There was an experimental fighter jet, designed for all environments, even underwater. That would get me to safety in no time. Unfortunately, it meant a two minute detour. When I finally got there, I had almost no time left. I launched without even putting on the crash webbing. I had to dodge several beams from the giant space station.
Several seconds later, a laser blast spun me out of control. I’m no amateur pilot (I’m an ace actually) but I could tell that I had to bail out. I felt sorry for whoever designed this plane: it was a pilot’s dream machine. But I needed to stay alive. Opening up the cockpit, I hurled myself out. No parachute, no crash webbing, just me, my gun, my knife, my chain, and a battle suit.
No, I wasn’t trying to kill myself. I had boosters in the feet of my suit, but even so, the fall winded me. And that was where I realized my mistake.
R.O.B.’s surrounded me. They used their lasers to stun me. Then I fell and the world went black…
I was running through a dark tunnel. I became aware of four other people with me.
“Watch out!” A figure who I recognized as Talc warned.
I slipped, and fell into a yawning chasm. Down, down, down.
I saw a dark hand, bigger than me, and it reached out. Its cold fingers wrapped me in a deadly fist. I was being squeezed to death. All the air in my lung-
Searing pain woke me from my fevered dream. Opening my eyes, I watched as electricity tortured me. It raced up my arms, legs, hands, and spread across my chest. My battle suit was gone. I was wearing the Alpha Suit, standard uniform, with my combat equipment. I was amazed at how it hadn’t done any damage to me physically. Then the pain became unbearable and I blacked out again, screaming…

Chapter 4: Sarai Arra
I raced down the corridors. I stopped for nothing except to consult my maps. Next it said I had to pass through a long hallway, with only one turnoff. I could see it now. Strange lights flickered out of it. And from it, suddenly issued a cry that was of one in intense pain. But what was in so much pain? The cry was human, sure, but because of its intensity I could not tell weather it was male or female.
I approached cautiously. It could be a trap. I got to the corner and hesitated. I was going off track. My priority was to find my suit. But the scream was so desperate that I needed to help. I walked forward.
Inside a chamber, a man was suspended by anti-gravity beams. He was racked by bolts of mental electricity; a type of tourture that leaves the body unharmed but gives intense pain, worse than a neuro-whip. The expression of pain and agony on his face shocked and touched me. A glass wall separated us. I had to help him. Drawing out the energy whip from my gun I lashed out at the glass with all my might. It shattered, leaving him only supported by the anti-gravity beams. I shot one. He collapsed, all mental electricity connections severed.
“Thanks.” he said weakly, and then stood tall. He was wearing an Alpha suit, and, more importantly, had a gun, knife, and long chain on his belt.
“Glad to be of service.” I answered.
Before I could ask him his name, thirteen robots entered. I whipped out my gun, but almost before I could shoot the man had his gun blazing. Three went down from his furious salvo. I blasted one and deactivated another with my taser. Then we were among them. He was doing wonders with his knife, and had stabbed two more. I smashed two robotic heads together. I hurled my gun and it hit two others. But I was now weaponless. The man, who was still armed, whirled a chain and sent a robot to its junkyard.
“You’re Sarai Arra?” the man asked.
I was surprised. “How did you know?”
“There were several clues.” he said. “First, you are one of the few fighters on the planet Excelsior, and the only one who is female, so far as my files go. You also match the description I was given of you by my employers. In addition, you are wearing a Beta suit, which is one of the suits worn by those who use battle suits. Need I say more?”
“Not really, except who you are, where you are from, and what you’re after here.”
He leaned on the wall, still dizzy from the torture. “My name is Chris Flight. I am in exile from Earth because of a war crime I committed, namely, killing two defectors to my country. I am here to help defend Excelsior from these things that are so singularly annoying, and so redeem myself.”
“Tell the truth. You can‘t be Chris Flight.”
“I am. But I can‘t help you until I recover my battle suit. I suggest we join forces.”
“How did you know I was looking for my battle suit?” I asked suddenly.
“Files.” He said.
“I agree to your suggestion. I have here a route to the battle suits. However, they are being kept in different locations. Which one shall we get first?”
“Which one is closer?”
“They’re equidistant from our current location.”
“I suggest whichever is stronger.” Chris said. “What your’s like?”
“Top armor on the planet, reacts to my thoughts and movements, energy blaster, rocket launcher built in, target and ally tracking, boosters, shielding technique, enviroment stabilized, oxygen retaining and converter.”
“Sounds exactly like mine.”
“They are on the same route for a little bit here. Why don’t we wait until we get to the diverging point?”
“That’s procrastination.” Chris pointed out, smiling.
“I know.” I said with a wink.
Unfortunately, we weren’t paying attention enough, and missed both our turns. We realized our mistake when the hall behind us disappeared into a crevice, and a steel wall started to come down over it!

Chapter 5: Chris Flight
When the steel divider started scrolling down, I knew we had seconds to act. Thinking fast, I clipped my knife onto my chain and hurled it at the divider. It struck true, embedding itself in solid steel. Grabbing Sarai I swung out into the gap and towards the other side.
Suddenly, the chain jerked. We were too far down to complete the swing. In a last desperate move, I hurled Sarai across to safety. Then the chain came loose, and I fell down, into a black shaft. I tried to grab the wall, but I slipped, and fell into the yawning chasm. Down, down, down.
I saw a dark hand, bigger than me, and it reached out. Its cold fingers wrapped me in a deadly fist. I was being squeezed to death. All the air in my lungs was being crushed. The dream! Whipping out a knife I drove it deep into the hand’s flesh. It let go quickly. I shot at it again and again, until finally it floated away. I mad a mental note: here there be weird aliens.
Now what?
I had been separated from the only one who could help me. I was lost in the bowels of the ship.
Suddenly a gust of wind knocked me over. This wind was very powerful. It was dragging me down a corridor! I flew through the air, bumped around corners, bashed on the ceiling, and hit anything in my way as the wind dragged me. Finally, I seemed to be nearing my stopping point. Using my knife I slowed down. When I finally came to a stop, I couldn’t walk back where I came from: the wind was too powerful. I decided to follow the wind. It led me to an open hanger. A jet was there in readiness. It was a Falcon 164. I knew that no pilot would leave such a plane here.
“Freeze, stranger. One more move and your dead!”
I put up my hands. “I believe I know who you are quite well. You don’t need to shoot me. We could work together.”
“I don’t know you. What’s your name?”
“I am a soldier who was sent to help protect your planet, Talc.”
When I said his name, Talc put up his gun.
“Sorry. But we are in an enemy ship.”
“Too true. I fell down this shaft by accident and the airflow dragged me here.”
“You were already here?”
“I was trying to find my battle suit and escape.”
“Is your name Sarai Arra?”
“No! Sarai’s a girl! I’ve met her. She was the one who freed me. But we were going to find our battle suits.”
“I’ve heard of her, namely that she was after her battle suit. Of course, there are two evil clones of her there with copies of her battle suit. If she doesn’t get help soon she could be in real trouble. She’s a good fighter, and could probably take down at least one of them, but one human versus two battle-suit wearing fighters is a no-go.”
I turned to go. “I’ve got to help her! You wait here. We might need your plane to get out. Besides, as a wise man once said: “if you see a bridge in a video-game, there's a big chance that there's a fight coming up.”
“What does video games have to do with anything?” Talc asked.
“Like I know?” I retorted. I liked video games.
I sprinted towards the shaft. I didn’t feel the wind now. Talc must have closed the hanger door, I realized. I used my knife to climb the shaft. When I reached the top I ran towards the hall which led to Sarai’s battle suit. When I finally reached it, I saw a female figure standing in front of a battle suit.
“Sarai!” I called. The figure turned, but we had already been seen.
Two dark figures appeared on either side of the room. I sprang to Sarai’s side. We were in for a big fight…

Chapter 6: Sarai Arra
I turned, overjoyed that Chris had survived. But as he sprang to my side and told me to take out my gun, two identical figures, wearing dark power suits appeared. Dark troopers.
“Time for chat later.”
He leaped into the air and did midair 720 turn, with gun blazing. I went low with my gun firing. He got behind a dark trooper. His gun flashed. The dark trooper was hit in the eye. Then Chris grabbed him by the neck. He stabbed him in the head. He jumped up, over the dark trooper, and did a 180 in mid air, and snagged the dark trooper with his chain and used it to pull himself to him. When He hit the dark trooper, he kicked him in the faceplate, and stabbed and shot him in the head several times. I spun in a circle and tripped my opponent. The dark trooper fell. He tried shooting me on the way down. He got shot in the face. I used my taser whip to freeze his armor. He was down. I stepped up and shot him in the back of the head, 5 times.
“Hurry! Get in your battle suit! There’s not much time!” Chris urged.
“How did you survive?” I asked.
“Just hurry!” He answered.
I got into my battle suit. It felt good to be in it again. But now we needed to find Chris’s.
We ran as fast as we could to his battle suit station. His had not been there long enough to make a copy of, so it was unguarded. We were suddenly overcome by intense sleepiness. What was this? Ligmine gas! In seconds we were out, me leaning on his chest. Eight hours after we had retrieved both suits, alarms went off and a voice came through the speakers saying, “M.F.D activation in six minutes! All personnel evacuate!” We woke up.
“Run!” Chris yelled. We ran. I noticed we were approaching the shaft where Chris fell. When we reached it he jumped over, and pulled me with him. We free fell most of the way, but when we neared the bottom, Chris held me close and plunged his knife deep into the wall. We stopped, and dropped the rest of the way down. Was it just me, or was I starting to feel an admiration for this tall, handsome soldier? That would just have to wait. We sped to the hanger…
“What were we expecting to find here?” I asked Chris.
“Me. What took you so long? I‘ve been waiting nine hours!” a voice behind me said.
“Get us out of here Talc; the whole place is going to go into the 5th dimension in three minutes! Fly!”
“Gotcha.” Talc said. The devilish look of delight when Chris said “fly” gave me chills.

Chapter 7: Chris Flight
We took off. Sarai looked a bit pale, as if she was feeling sick.
“Are you all right?” I asked, concerned.
She looked up and smiled. “I’ve never flown in a plane before, that all. I just felt kind of sick for a moment.”
“Here.” I held out a small pill bottle. “Tylenol: nausea relief.” Her hand brushed softly against my skin as she gratefully accepted the pills. Was I starting to care about her? Okay, maybe. My resolve never to care about anyone again after Kat’s death was not as strong as I thought it had been. I looked at her as we soared over the sea of Excelsior.
Then we heard the harsh cry of a Drang. I looked back, and saw a huge pair of bat-like wings propelling a dreadful creature. Its head was like a dragon’s, its neck like a snake, its body like a salamander, and its tail like a scorpion. It had been loosed by our enemy, who stood astride it. And it was after us. In a second I was at the overhead hatch.
“What are you doing?!” Sarai screamed.
“There’s only one way to get out of this. If I defend us until the detonation in two minutes, we should be safe.” I said.
Ascending to the top of the plane, I anchored myself to it and faced the oncoming Drang. I blasted off when it was within three meters. Rolling and flying with my boosters, I managed to get the Drang’s attention on me. I used my blaster to aggravate it. It swiped at me with its tail. I dodged it, and let fly with a volley of rockets. It was hit in the head. It’s master fell, screaming. I dove and caught him, refusing to leave without some answers. Shaking its head and spitting sulfurous fumes, the Drang let out a spray of fire. I was overcome by the deluge. Spinning away from the Drang, I checked my watch. We were out of the M.F.D.’s range, and the activation was in thirty seconds. Fighting to see through the flames racing across my fireproof suit, I could barely make out the Drang as it slammed into me. The master fell into the sea. I activated my ion filters. I saw everything in shades of red and black. Arming a fire grenade I closed my eyes and said what I thought was my last goodbye. Then I threw it. The blast sent me tumbling through the sky. Phew, I was alive. I opened my eyes and saw a figure leap out of the jet. Sarai! She was blasting away like crazy. But then she got hit. She spiraled down.
No…
I just couldn’t let that happen. I sped towards her. I caught her. She was unconscious. She was the most beautiful girl I had seen, I realized. Even more that Kat. I kissed her forehead (good thing she was unconscious). I saw the Drang flee as Talc appeared at the door with a jetpack, about to jump out too. I waved Talc back inside.
3... 2... 1... Detonation.
A sphere of blackness exploded from the reaserch station and engulfed the surrounding area. It was beautiful against the sunset. Probably because we weren’t inside it. Sarai’s eyes flickered open.
“You shouldn’t have come out.” I said gently. But I was smiling.
“I couldn’t let you die.” She said. She was light in my arms.
“You know you couldn’t beat him.”
“I was doing it for you.”
“I couldn’t let you die either. I’m too fond of you.” I said.
“What did you say…?”
“What I said. I’m fond of you. In fact, I’m more than fond of you.” I admitted.
“I… I’ve actually been thinking about you, this whole trip. I… like you a lot. More than just like you.” she said softly.
We held each other close as we soared through the air. I didn’t think I’ve had such an experience before. I have to admit it. I loved her. I know it sounds crazy, loving a girl you’ve only met 12 hours ago, but in the sunset moment, I knew that she was the only one who I now loved, and I would die for her. I was in love with Sarai Arra, girl, warrior, beauty, lover. No one would stop us.

Message sent from planet: Excelsior, to planet: Earth. Message sent from broadcasting station Beilen by Captain Chris Flight, addressed to Lieutenant David Cruise, Sergeant Luis Ayala, Sergeant Mass Niang. Received by receiver station: Newark:
“Despite the enemy’s latest defeat, the planet Excelsior is still a major target in the enemies quest for universal domination. It needs protection. And so I am giving up on my return to Earth for now, and am turning my attention to another beautiful world. It needs me. I am here to stay. But should Earth ever need me again, Me and Sarai Arra, my wife, will return to defend our home planet.

Signing off:

Chris Flight. Captain of Defense of Excelsior.

Sarai Arra Flight. Chief Advisor to the Captain.

A Step changes everything by afia islam

A Step changes everything
By Afia Islam


Early Memories from childhood

Time Read 5:00 A.M on the digital watch as the bleep of the sound was made. Mr. Ahmed pacing around the hospital room hearing screams of emotional which is making him throw up in the bathroom. The doctor makes out of the dark, silent room filled with an anonymous person or a ghost that is starting at you for the last 48 hours. He nods his bald head and makes a gesture of sign that the pain is over, relieved with a sigh goes inside the room. A baby shown that it was crying for hours opens its eyes slowly like walking on a mountain filled with rocks. But all the stress and worriless is all gone when Mr. Ahmed sees his baby girl smiling with innocent eyes wondering who is this person? The room filled with flower blossoms letting the breeze takes it place. Holding the baby, he goes out the window saying “Welcome to the our world”. Stars shinning out in the beautiful night in Bangladesh, where people are enjoying it with their family and friends. Dhaka City is known the world as the city of mosques and muslin which attracts a lot of tourists. Lalbagh Fort, the famous fort where shows the bloody battles Bangladesh fought to gain their rights. All the smoke and firelights was making it hard for Mr.Ahmed to breathe thought his lungs. A disease he couldn’t tell his wife, but he felt his wife is finding out his secrets one by one. He knew a true muslin never to lie toward his family and elders. But he didn’t want anyone to worry about him and making a big deal that something could happen to him. He gulped in that statement, not where he was the holding his beautiful baby who was smiling at up with such tenderness.

The day the family took the baby girl home, it just stopped number of hours crying. Mr. Ahmed’s ears was still ringing from the wining and loudness that cause pain so much. He saw both of his sons, one of them was studying and another was doing nothing except for watching T.V. Both of their eyes turn slowly and gasp to look closer at the baby. Already they were distracted over a such a little thing that annoys a person’s brains out. His wife drop down the couch and sleeping that seems as nothing has happened. He told the baby slowly and carried to the nursery room which showed pictures of a garden that his family saw when they were on vacation. Eyes red went quickly to his bedroom and fall asleep like a baby. He didn’t notice that his wife was with him, erased everything and was in dreamland where there was peace.

Age 2 starts a shocking memory, a loss of worth you kept

The day when the little girl turned 2 right after 4 months, her own mother had no word to say to her. Not even a hi, just starting to someone’s eyes whose body is dead for ever. Tanzania, whose name was called to her when she was born, she would never forget the day when her own mother had stopped talking to her. No words, no expression, no hands gesture, no nothing. It was the day when a phone call changed everything, the phone was ringing and ringing, no one bother to pick it. Until her mother with a annoying sound picked up the phone and with a gasp, tears were facing down her face. She grab a photo of her father and smashed it against her hand until blood was dripping down the wooden floor. Tanzania didn’t know what was going on until her grandma took her outside and saw her father laying on a mattress bed. He had his closed eyes and was wearing white clothes, even everyone else too. Besides her father she noticed her mom screaming and crying in tears like a sad puppy that she saw on T.V. Her two older brothers was crying too, from their faces they wished when will this to be over? She felt angry and suddenly rage of food she started crying too. After that day she never saw her father again, no one would tell her what happened until she got older. Things were changing as she got older, her mom got remarried again and her middle brother turned into a retarded boy which bought them to come to America. Time going fast like a water is trying to kill a person, which led to her death of her father. Tanzania was scared of one thing, water, a thing that destroyed her family.

Chapter 1
Life, family and middle school

14 old year old Tanzania starting her freshmen year in high school, she is almost 15 in 3 months which everyone know, at first she felt terrible lying to her friends but she was afraid if they find out the truth they spend bunch of rumors around the world. What kind of friends she have that her mom would say all the time. Tasha Rahman, who acts like a Drama Queen and wants to became actress when she gets older. But if you see her she is one of the shortest girl and never eats anyone which makes a thin little girl. And Melissa Yingsal who is a slut with the boys that lies around with her small mouth. Many people in our school say by looking at her eyes you can’t see anything. That’s me, all the information you hearing about I like to be referred as the great mind reader. Enough of all that and you want to know why I am friends with these people. You are about to find really soon. Am I right? So sit back have your popcorn ready and a box of tissues to cry for. Just kidding just have the food ready and the drinks.

It all started the first day of eight grade, when I was walking to school with Chelsea and we were both nervous about our new teachers. I am sure going to miss one of my favorite teachers Mr. Zak, although he his age was not getting any younger, but everyone loved him. He was always jolly and giving out sweet candy, everyday when the kids walked to our classroom with sad faces he would change it with his jokes that used to cheer us up. Walking each step to the courtyard where there was bunch of other eight graders standing and waiting for the new teachers. There was Tasha walking around with her best friend Danielle, who had no idea what she wants to be when she gets older. Sometimes I think that girl had no future, always hanging out with boys and having different kind of boyfriend each week, I mean Melissa may act like a slut at least she cares about school. Forget all that for now, here where I was standing all alone with no friends and didn’t bother to look around. I was wearing my new jeans that diamond stones all around and blouse had black and white strips all around. Covering my ears until everyone goes into silent.

Ms. Thompson who is the art teacher that some kids loved was my homeroom teacher, to tell you the truth she is alright. But she is bugging about everyone loves her class and they can’t get enough about her besides that she can be a big liar. If a student asks you for a art material you don’t have to lie about it just make a lame excuse if you really need it or short on the supplies. One thing I was little happy about having her she has a huge room that has a cold air during the summer times. You could always feel cozy and get away with stuff like fights, problems with other teachers. Most of time some of the students go to her and complain about teachers like Mr. Cat. Mr. Cat is something us kids can’t face him usually the boys, one thing I don’t get he is always nice to the boys even they cause trouble and mean to the girls. Is he gay that’s when we ask if see him standing in the hallway. In my opinion I don’t think other teachers like him maybe because has issues or his long hair that is sticking out front of their faces. Tasha had a bunch of kids together last year to fire him from the school, one thing he can be a big fat prevent. I felt bad for the guys, every time when we walk to his class we always make up a lame But eventually Mr. Salvatore, the assistant of our Yale academy had to tell Mr. Cat about it and boy I was not surprised he was pissed off at us. Mostly he was angry at Tasha since she was the one who made up the group. Our Middle School named Eleanor Roosevelt Junior High School, has 3 academies which is Yale Academy, the academy I am in and there is Harvard and Princeton. The most popular academy with sprits days is Princeton, then there is Yale, the nerd and know it all academy. Harvard is good with the sports team like soccer and fundraisers. Now you think I am a know it all because I am in Yale well I like to think I am just a normal person who loves being herself. Our principal Mr. Oliver Queen is a jolly man and loves to cheer people up, he reminds me of Mr. Zak. For 47 year old he loves kids and unmarried, his passion is music and once wrote a music piece that shown on National T.V. But I think he wants to us to be remind that “You have the ability and gifts to begin your future and it is your turn to change the world. Around the first floor he has pictures of books and quotes that filled the entire hallway.

3 things you want that can help to survive in middle school, don’t look at a person until the person is saying “What are you starting at?” Number 2 is just do your work and stay out of trouble from the deans. Mr. Camberio, a great soccer player and a soccer coach is also a dean of my Academy who has some anger problems. There was a kid named Mike, who loved to throw water bottles at people until Mr. Camberio find out that was the end of it. Number 3, is don’t let people use you or people will be starting to call you a chicken. Sitting on a uncomfortable chair afraid you might sit on a piece of gum, sweating like bullets and concentrating on what the teacher is saying.

The truth is you have to be yourself, and don’t let anyone boss you around. That’s what kind of happened to me, sooner or later you have to realize to live life to its fullest. Today was Monday, September 11, everyone was silence probably because it was the memory of 911, where people’s lives were at stake or the day was going slowly because we have math for 2 periods. We have Mr. Lewis for Math A regents, I used to think he is a alien that come from space because he was pressuring us too much. How I am supposed to do 3 packs of hw sheets which had line of algebra all over? I discovered he is professor at some college probably that’s why his rules and grading scores are strict. He is always wearing a shirt and pant with a tie everyday, his music taste sounds cool and his stomach is always sticking out. But Mr. Lewis can do math like 2 seconds, just like that without any thinking. His jokes seems to inspire us to work more harder and each day he gives us a challenge what we know of. Math is okay, when you have math class for 2 periods on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays it can drive you crazy.

Then there was English one of my favorite subject, we had 2 teachers for that, so all the eight grade classes were divided into half based on their state scores. One teacher was named Mr. Cadet and other teacher was Ms. Alice I got Ms. Alice for English. Some of kids were not too excited to have Mr. Cadet because he is a strict grader. Ms. Alice was alright she is always taking to the popular kids and mostly hanging out with them. Basically she is always wearing jeans and a regular T-Shirt. Today she was wearing skinny jeans and a printed out T-shirt with words written girls are meant to rule. But Ms. Alice is always giving out fun projects which many people love about her. I had Mr. Cadet last year, he gives a lot of essays he is like the younger version of Mr. Lewis.

Mr. Hagos, our science teacher who is always anxious having the world to be peace and quite. He has nickname for the boys in our class which is knuckleheads, he is pretty funny but he thinks evil. I am serious if we behave bad he will probably give us extra hw or complain to our homeroom teacher. Sometimes I felt bad for him because has to teach 2 grades so basically he is all over the place which explains why his room is a big mess. Our social studies Ms. Peckman gives out a lot of writing so by the time I go to gym class my fingers is frozen red and struck still as never moving. People were looking at me as I gone mental or crazy. I have to be honest eight grade is hell.

Besides regular school, I couldn’t relax any regular sleep because I had specialized high school classes on Saturdays for the big test which is one month away. When I was in the sixth grade I didn’t really care because I thought I would never get accept to this program. It was march, I was sitting on the couch and watching boring T.V until my stepfather gives me a letter in sealed envelope. I thought it was just stuff for summer reading homework but the letter says it was a acceptance to a specialized high school program. I was screaming from top of my lungs until my mom came running out wondering what is the hell wrong with me? I stand up and jumping up and down until my mom pull me down, was reading the letter.

That was a great memory but no one bother to say good job, not even my own mother. After 20 seconds of laughter I went to my room and was crying like a big crybaby with no dinner. As` growing up my mother didn’t came to my 5 grade graduation and or any of my parent teacher conference. She was too busy with her job and her own life. I always wanted to say something but no urge to say it. It was like in that movie home alone, the little boy was home alone and the rest of the family forget about him and went on to Christmas vacation. I am like the little boy except I am not home alone, no one cares about him and I have to earn it myself. That’s me almost 15 year old girl who is almost to high school is scared about to talk back to her mother. I am like a slave except not getting wiped all the time. I had no one not even a real friend to talk about my problems. I sometimes tell Tasha things, but she doesn’t care and she cares about being rich. One thing I will tell you I hate my life. I wish I was never born and never came to this world. Sometimes I think my mom had regret having me in her late 30s, yeah I wasn’t a planned baby.

Do you ever think that your parents adopted you? I think my mom lied to me and she adopted me, when I asked her she turns into a angry volcano about to burst open and wash over me. I don’t how I spent 2 years in middle school with no one go to maybe except some of the teachers who gave some advice to me. But I couldn’t tell them about my personal life and what was happening to me. Last birthday I gave only some clothes and not even a cake to wish something for, instead I was looking at the stars to wish for. But I know it will never came true. As the saying goes on Life is unfair, I am starting to think life is meant happen to people who god doesn’t like.

People say middle school is supposed to change your future and your ways of your own future that is starting to build up. Well did it change my future into a drama and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. In my 5 grade graduation my principal said you can change your actions by doing something about it. But why? What can I do? For I know I am no nobody that can’t change the future. Maybe when I am old, I can do a favor being dead that can change my future. I am still trying to find the inner sprit that is inside my heart. One person who inspires me is my older brother, he grew strong and never giving up on himself. I wish I was like him finding myself out and trying to change the world. Or my cousin who is trying to became a doctor and wants to save people’s lives. That’s not me, every time I see blood I can fade out or scream like a baby. One of my strongest fears is swimming inside deep pool, I mean I can swim but at soon as I got inside the water my oxygen can’t let me breathe. Its like your lungs doesn’t want to be inside the water and fighting in a battle against oxygen. My whole body has no cells left and no urge to fight back. At first I thought it was gene thing or something, but more I think about it inside the water I see my father who trying to swim back.

You see my father, he died of asthma attack when he fell from the bus. One day he was going to working as typical time with the bus since his car broke down, suddenly he felt he was flying off the sky. But he noticed the bus which hit something that had a loud noise brought the bus into the water. My father had asthma like me; couldn’t breathe since his lungs had faded out and felt like he was sleeping. People call him by Mr. Ahmed, I felt he did the wrong thing by not telling my mother he had medical problems or he could be alive today.

I never knew my father, but my mom had written in her diaries that she meet him the first day of college. He looked as if he was scared of something, never seem to shave his mustache off and didn’t care what people thought. Soon as he say something he knows that can scary people off. In the pictures of him I see him laughing and enjoying the nature of life.

In my dreams I saw him carrying me and holding me in his shoulders like a baby. Sometimes life is never meant to happen as you think this how life ends. I always wondered what would life be like if he was still alive? Would we ever come to America and start a new life? Or we would stay back and continue with our lives? My mom who is a teacher but also a fortune teller, every dream she has or tell us that something bad, good is coming, it comes true. One time she had a dream that my brother was riding his bike, but since he wasn’t wearing a helmet his head gets hit by a teacher. That’s why my middle brother, he has brain damaged and gotten into a specialized kid student. His brain is like a low average like a 7 year old would think even thought he is actually 19 years old and supposed to be in college. But even thought he is stupid he is pain in the butt. My other brother who is the oldest is the nerd and engaged with his perfect girl, he just finish college with a business degree and masters. He lives in Woodside, with his friends who share the rent with him. Besides those all things he has serious anger problems, he gets mad over silly problems and for a shocking thing he is the cleanest person like my mom and me. I guess we get it from my mom, she wants everything to be clean and organized. That’s my mom right there, crazy and fortune teller, clean freak lady, can talk a lot. As soon as she opens her big mouth she never stops talking. My stepfather who acts to be cheap to everyone but can spend a lot money if someone buys something expensive to show off. He has a fat belly which why my mom and I call him tiger, because he screams a lot at people. If something doesn’t get his way he just starts destroying things and hitting people for no reason. My brothers and I hate him a lot, why I don’t understand why mom married him in the first place.

But I don’t care about all that. One thing I want to be when I finish school is became a writer and a pharmacists. I want to write about my personal live, experiences, challenges I did to survive and help others with their problems. So that’s why I join the newspaper club to publish my stories and events. When I get a idea I can never stop writing all the way. You know when you in school a teacher asks you if you were struck in island, what 5 things would you have? Well I would have my laptop to write my stories, books, food, clothes, and a tent to live on. When I was little my mom would call me the bookworm, because of all the reading all around the house. Like I mentioned she is a clean freak, doesn’t like it when books are just laying around. I swear she is one of those housewife in T.V, where they cook, clean and attend book clubs, except my mom works and clean. Sometimes we cook or order food from different kinds of restaurants.

Basically sometimes we do what we like to do. My siblings who thinks life can take you anyway except New York City. Hum……….. Personally I don’t know and I lived in New York about 10 years.


Chapter 2
Eight Grade just sucks….


“Hey Tanzania, are you getting any sleep?” “It seems like your eyes need some repairing to be white.” Ha Ha, very funny or not. Angie always seem to be concerned about everyone she cares about. I can’t believe a Mexican girl like never cursed at someone, never had a boyfriend, seemed to have perfect state test scores. Me, in other hand was studying at 1:00 in the morning for the big test that all the eight graders have to take in October in order to go to a good high school. My plan is going to Bronx Science, if I don’t get into that I am hoping for hunter or Townsend Harris. Everyone seems relaxed, about 30% percent are sleepy, 10% don’t care about the test which is wondering “when will the year end?”, 60 percent relaxed and ready for another boring of school.

“I wondered if the test is harder or easier this year replied David. David, a year younger than me always asking questions about tests. The principal comes out, “Okay you kids, get in inside, chop chop”. Education doesn’t wait for you. Either he is impatient and just wants to eat again replied some eight grade student. Some of the kids sniggered or giggled. “The usual“, said Johnson.

The Drug in Time

Every day that came by,
You used me and disposed of me,
Like i did not exist afterwards.
Every day my hate grew
Into the hollow soul I have now.
You hated me and left me
Alone there to rot in the cell.
The same cell you put me in
To stay for eternity.
There I came to realize that
I was your addiction.
I was your drug of happiness.
I was the joy that
Youve never felt in life.
You used me knowing that
I wouldn’t last that long with you.
I supplied you with artificial feelings.
The world changed and so did you.
You thought to yourself, and
Slowly put me down to rest.
The rest of infinity.
I now lie here waiting
For your warmth to return
Back to me again.
But now I see you saw
The addiction in you.
The harm it caused to the
People you cared for and loved.
The pain they received was unbearable.
This addiction was not
Meant to be with you.

Scar

This scar is for you.
It is closer to the vein.
The blood that flow in it
Reminds me of you.
Every hug, every kiss, every day.
I heard your voice telling
Me that you cared,
So I cut deeper and harder.
I cut to release some of
The pain you had.
This scar is for you
And I will never forget it,
And neither will you.

The Damnedest Thing... Or rather, person.

i know im
trash
you dont have to tell
me
so many
damned times

i cant fix this thing anymore

it's way too

broken

and

shattered

to be glued back together

anymore
say what you want and do what you like
i wont care
i never really
wanted
anything
at all

nothing.

A KHR Fanfiction

The slain man laid before her, body torn and and shattered. To be simple, the man was dead. Other dead bodies surrounded his. Only on heartbeat was heard throughout the entire room, the entire building, even. It belonged to a young girl, barely 11 years of age. She held one of the two silver pistols that she had brought along with her. The other was strewn amongst the dead bodies, a small pistol in the bloodiness and vastness of the large room.

The young girl had mismatched eyes, one brown and the other a silvery blue. Her hair was the blackest color, the darkest that one would get if they mixed up a whole tubful of the blackest paint found in the entire world. It glowed a reddish color in the sun, giving her hair a bloody hue. She was dressed in clothes that were as dark as her hair. A small, silver, downwards, crescent moon hung from her neck on a silver chain. Two other silver chains hung around her neck, one held two rings while the other held a dog tag with a black snowflake embedded on it. A rather large tattoo was revealed to the world as the wind blew her bangs aside slightly. On her left cheek was a black tattoo labeled 'XI'.

She laughed. It started out as a nervous, scared laugh. It slowly developed into a strong, amused laugh. She smiled at the dead body, knelt down to stroke the man's face, then kicked his body. Hard.

"You had it coming, sensei. It's bad to take advantage of little girls. You made a fool of us in class because we all didn't like the way you treated us. Almost all of us were raped by you and nobody was allowed to say anything. You threatened us. You killed one of us. This is what you get. What goes around, comes around."

Shiroku got up and exhaled the bloody smell from her lungs. The girl was a bit frightened that she had actually taken a human life. She felt as if she was being a slight bit too indulged in 'avenging' the other girls of her class. She went to look for the other half of the twin pistols that she had dropped, shrugging this fright off.

Finding it, Kuroyuki pocketed the two pistols as she left the now empty building. She walked through the streets and headed back to her home, her warm house, ready to tell her father what she had done. She was ready to tell her father that she had finally gotten over being the shy little girl in school who never spoke, ready to break out of the tiny confinement called loneliness. She was ready to take out the clothes that her enthusiastic mother had gotten for her at the beginning of the school year. Shiroku was ready to show her godfathers and her godmother her dying will and to her tutor that this little girl had finally matured and made her debut in the mafia world. She was ready to steal the place for Vongola eleventh from her useless older brother who had the wits of her father back when he was in school.

All she kept thinking was how happy her mother would be and how shocked her father and brother would be.

Reaching her front door, Shiroku took a deep breath, then stepped into the house while being careful of her kittens' food and water dishes. She heard loud noises coming from the kitchen, clanging of pots and pans and the yelling of voices and laughter. Shiroku peeked her head into the kitchen after hanging up her black leather coat. She saw the kitchen table surrounded with suited men who were all around her father's age. They were all her godfathers. And a godmother. Shiroku looked up from the table and saw her tutor, the only one wearing a hat in the house. She jumped when the silver haired man waved at her. Shiroku stepped out from behind the wall and bowed to her godfathers and her master. Her mother walked up behind her and gave her a hug.

"Welcome home, Shi-chan. I heard that you stood up for yourself today. I'm so proud of you. You finally showed everyone what a strong girl you are." Sawada Kyoko bent down and gave her daughter a peck on the cheek, hugging the little girl.

Shiroku's father sat up right after finishing his one thousand sit-ups and push-ups. He smiled at his daughter, ready to ask her a few questions to clear things up for him.

"Shiro-chan... You didn't really kill the man, did you?", Sawada Tsunayoshi questioned gently, a bit nervous from the news of his daughter's actions. He felt a rather hard object make contact with the side of his head and groaned after landing a few feet from where he had just flown from.

Leon, Reborn's transforming lizard, had turned into a rather large sledge hammer at the touch of Reborn's hand. The green sledge hammer was what made contact with the side of the mafia boss' head, despite the fact that the man should have already gotten used to the treatment. The sledge hammer changed back into a green lizard and settled himself on Reborn's hat.

"Tsuna. If you still have the energy to worry and freak out, that means you haven't trained enough. Do a thousand more." Reborn looked over at Shiroku and smiled slightly. "Forget your useless father. Let's all talk about you. I think you've already debuted in the mafia world, haven't you? You can take your spot in the mafia family but you still have to get your own family members."

Shiroku nodded fiercely, listening to what her tutor had to say, then felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Gokudera Hayato grinning at her. Shiroku looked over at the table full of mafioso and smiled, then bowed. "I hope I learn a lot from you guys!"