Chaos and anguish,

Is attractive to mundane peace,

Loving each other,

Then poisoning the other slowly,

Because your energies are not twin,

They are karmic,

Every kiss is another spec of fear,

From the deepest depths of your souls

Insecurity rings within your ears,

We love people who destroy us,

Because it's in our nature,

Danger is more intense,

Than a healthy relationship,

You never know what he will do next,

It's polarity but in a human way,

The sex erases all of the hurtful thing's he could ever say,

In the end you'll be left crying again

It's a pattern,

Horrible and beautiful cycles that never end,

Generations of pain,

Because we are conditioned to be this way,

By the universe's hand,

We are broken humans.

His heart wanders endlessly.

Thinking, praying for what he hopes to be.

Idle yet full of life.

He yields to love and sacrifice.

Patience is his last device.

Gentle as a newborn soul.

A pure love will soon make him whole.

If he should wander near to me,

I'd keep him for eternity.

Ouch. Something is in my eye. I try to rub it out, but no matter how vigorously I slash my finger across my eyelids, I just feel that intense pain as you watch me. And then I realize I can't remove a whole fruit from my pupil. At least as long as you meet my gaze...You're the apple of my eye.

@Hewman

I see him a lot

on the way to

on the way from.

He is quiet

Shy.

Doesn't talk at all.

Most days the seat next to him

is the only one open.

I sit there

He says nothing.

Just quietly looks out the window.

I have never seen anyone talk to him.

Never seen him talk to anyone.

I don't mind sitting there

I don't have anyone else to sit by

If he would talk to me.

Then maybe we could be friends.

Maybe we wouldn't be strangers

Maybe I wouldn't wonder

What his name was

Or why he was so quiet

And still.

I almost never see him move.

Who knows.

Maybe he is nice.

Maybe not.

But who am I to judge?

I was 13 years old. It was a lock-in at my local church. He was 16. I remember the ruby red hair that shaded into the dark as he smiled down on me. We were about to play capture the flag. I think he could be considered my first crush. But at the time, I didn't know of what that meant. I just knew that I was infatuated with this person to no end and wanted to be around him as much as possible. He picked me for his team. he smiled and I was glowing as I jogged next to his side. I didn't know much else except that I was in love with him and all those stupid butterflies that resided.

We played the game, I tried my best. And in the end, when the final throw was called he called my name to catch the flag and run it to the end-zone. I remember him calling my name to catch it and run. A voice...I have never forgot.

ive talked to her only few times and yet i feel like im in love. shes not beautiful or pretty. no, just plain to the eye and yet she is the best thing that i have ever seen. her eyebrows arch and curve just perfectly and her nose really is a button, shes tall and skinny, matching her long thin hair. but its not just her looks. she is not perfect. she feels like me. so close to escaping her body. so familiar with her insecurities. She is on a basketball team. not with me. no, she is much better than i. but i see her. so light and comfortable when she is with her friends. but then she is away and she falls into her own world. she feels stupid. she can't understand the plays and the drills so fast. she sometimes misses shots everyone else can make. and people scream. at her she thinks she should leave this world. leave the screams. because she cannot understand what they are saying. she is trying to keep everyone around her ok that she sometimes forgets to care for herself. but is this really her? i want it to be. i guess that means its probably just a dream. and yet, i aspire to be her. because sometimes i think she feels like shes winning the world. shes achieved this out of body experience while she is still alive and on earth. she is vulnerable, and she smiles knowing it.

My eyes lift from the screen as he walks up to the cafe counter, twenty feet from me. I can't make out the details, and it's rude to stare. Eyes back on my work. I glance again. He is looking for a seat. Maybe when he's settled I can study the odd nuances better. Someone sets a laptop on the table next to mine. It's him.

Silver to brown tight cornrows thread from his scalp to his shoulders, half tied back in a controlled pony tail. His dark skin isn't common enough around here, and I'll be caught gazing if I'm not careful. A crystal around his neck, fastened with wire to a gem-stone rock above it doesn't shine, it just sits there softly. He's not too thin in build or personality. He has a presence, and I'm unsure what it hold.

I ask him how his day's been. This should be interesting.

her aura is roses

and something poignant

on a flight

that takes off at twilight

her bones aching

to feel something

she is daydreaming

a better life is coming

her top bun rests

perfectly atop her head

a personal best

while the man takes her photo

her face pressed up against the window

it went viral

yet she continues to spiral

her calm demeanor

in the picture

merely a conjecture

i used to be a peice of clay

i thought that i could move and shape

and make me into a masterpiece

take out some things

to lose a little weight

but right now i am motivated

a feeling that is new

filling up my stomach with decent thoughts and fruit

never again do i want to be

cold

dizzy

all that i will be

is free

"You're a baby, Caleb."

"Man, forget you, Nick. It's hot!"

Nick checked the thermostat. "It's 75 degrees, man. That's seriously spring temps."

"Too hot. Look at me! I'm melting!"

Nick shook his head. "What do you want it set to, then?"

I thought for a second. "68."

Nick looked at me with shock. "Dude, what are you trying to do? Make me freeze?"

"Man, you're a baby. Even that's warm for me. Those seven degrees is the difference between me dying and being semi-comfortable."

"68 is kinda chilly, man."

"Dude, I can be outside at 40 degrees and feel fine. I'll put on a hoodie if I know I'll be out there for a while, but other than that…"

"We are talking Fahrenheit, right?" Nick asked.

"No. Kelvin."

Nick shook his head. "You're something else, Caleb. You're something else."

"I'm a Nord. 15% resistance to frost damage."

Nick looked at me with a puzzled look.

"Skyrim reference."

"Oh," he said, walking to the control panel. "The crowds waiting. You going to get on there or what?"

"No, I have a plan."

Converting the bird suit wasn't that difficult. I went to the guy who helped my design and create the suit and had him make me a tailcoat entirely out of black feathers. It did split down the center, as I find tailcoats that don't split unclassy. I'm a classy man, so you have to have that split. The feather pants seemed to shine in the sunlight, and my orange tie brought the whole look together.

I had been preserving the snow since it fell last week. It never snows down here in the Hellish temperatures of the South. On the bright side, the two weeks of spring that rapidly turn into a scorching summer are absolutely gorgeous… if you go to the right state parks. Though nothing will ever compete with the rolling plains of the Mid-West or the majestic mountains of Colorado, the South can be a beautiful place.

I snapped out of my trance and checked the integrity of my machine. Everything seemed to be in working order. I pressed the timer, set off in a dead sprint on the catwalk, dove off of it, tucking my arms in and spinning as I fell.

"Three… two… one…" I muttered as the ground grew ever closer. On one, the ground being way too close for my comfort, I spread my wings and began to soar, only a few feet from the ground. Simultaneously, my machine erupted, sending a shower of snow down onto the audience and the stage. Soon, the entire Pen to the Paper Arena was covered in snow. Real snow that I paid way too much to get scooped up and hauled here. Luckily for me, the Pen to the Paper audience was large enough to splurge on cool things like this.

Doing a flip mid-air, I landed on stage, sliding sideways to a halt in front of the microphone. "I don't do these entrances because they are absolutely epic," I said. "They are just genuinely fun.

"Y’know, I had a lot of fun in the little bit of snow we had last week. Melted next day, as is typical, but because it had rained before, we were able to grab the sleds we hadn't used in years and go sledding in the two centimeters of snow we had. The snow fight that followed was just super fun… I suck at throwing them, though. My aim is awful. So of course the only time I hit someone is when my grandmother came outside with the garbage… Sorry, not sorry, Grandma. Then, for old time's sake, we headed inside and made some hot chocolate, even though we were only wearing sweaters out there.

"Keeping the snow from melting was tough. Especially with Nick putting the darn thermostat on 75… I love the dude, but, man… he gets cold easy.

"But enough about that, who's ready for some announcements!?!?!?"

The crowd went wild, cheering. Or were their teeth chattering that loudly? It was hard to tell. And I was getting some angry glares…

Smiling smugly, I said, "Well, let's get on with it then!

"In third place, we have Rosemandle's Lonely. It was a beautiful poem about waiting for the right person.

"In second place is none other than Sanjana_S! Her wonderfully descriptive work Decades Wrapped in the Dark made you feel as if you were in solitary confinement with the man, it made you think like he thought, it made you confused like he was. It was amazing. Which is why it was difficult to not give her first place… but I definitely think that first place is deserving of its place.

"First place was a beautiful piece of literature. It pulled on your heart strings really well, and the ending was very well done. In first place, we have Love Letter Found in the Ruins of the War by roboggeek! I loved everything about this!"

I stood silently for a moment while the crowd cheered in congratulation.

"Some honorable mention," I said after a while.

"I really enjoyed All Hail! (Pen to the Paper 17) by StephanieMarie. The rhyme scheme was great! I'm a sucker for a good rhyme scheme, and the poem itself was wonderful.

"Time at the Typewriter by jtwannabewriter was also a wonderful read! I absolutely loved it.

"Spiral… by michaelistrans was a great mind-wandering that I enjoyed reading."

"LovelyNB's I Fall to pieces in the NICU was another great write! Though I will never be a mother, she did a wonderful job giving a peak into the thoughts and feelings of a mother separated from her baby, unable to do the motherly duties she likely longs for. To hold the child, to feed the child… it was an amazing little write.

"Finally, but not lastly nor leastly, we have Roses311Sublime's Filler. I had a few good laughs in it!

"Thank you one and all for entering! I'll see you guys next month!" I said, pulling something out of my inner pocket. Throwing it to the ground, a puff of smoke exploded in front of me. By the time the smoke cleared, I was gone.

Once the elevator clicked into the floor of the multi-purpose room that I call the dressing room, I approached Nick and slapped him across the face.

"OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?"

I pulled off my jacket and pointed at the wet spot beneath my arms. "Did you turn the thermostat up!?"

He put his hand on his neck and laughed nervously as I stared angrily at him, cracking my knuckles.