Breathing My Way Back In
Sealed tight,
locked down.
For so long
this body waited
with only the
barest of breaths,
in darkness.
Waiting for
the blow to land;
to be invisible in plain sight;
the pain of daily exclusion;
cruel words that seared the soul;
needing but not receiving,
That was long ago but
it is the holding, the waiting
that is sealed tight,
locked down,
this body is bound.
And yet, could it be?
the barest of life
returning to this place.
Is that the stirring of a breeze?
The tip of a blade of grass?
A hint of possibility
in the air?
And so spring creeps slowly
back into this body
one breath at a time.
Making space, allowing
some semblance of
a bud to form.
To emerge fresh and new
from the black soil of
possibility.
The blossoming of
prayers long planted,
of a new way, new life.
Project Verity. Chapter 29
Chapter 29
Olban sat beside Brian Wilks and gave him a shake.
Brian screamed, sat bolt upright, looked around in a panic and collapsed into wracking sobs.
Olban swept him into a hug. “It’s alright, you’re safe. They won’t hurt you again.” He sighed. “Look, you’re practically a second father to me. I grew up with you, just as Gareth grew up with my family and Mr Wilks is just so… so stiff and formal. Is it OK if I just call you Brian?”
It took a while for the sobs to die down. The hug seemed to be helping, he relaxed into it and hugged Olban back, then looked him in the eye. “Thanks. Yeah, Brian’s fine with me.”
“Are you OK to continue, now?”
Brian nodded and Olban helped him to his feet.
As they started to walk, his eyes widened as he looked around, probably taking in the scenery for the first time. The mountains to the west, the plains to the south… “Where are we, anyway?”
“About five miles from Little Dafford.” Olban pointed east. “That way,” he pointed North, “about ten miles beyond that copse of trees, another village, Dunbeck. We trade with them quite a lot. Best trout you’ve ever tasted, from there.”
“But I’ve never heard of those places. It looks like Britain, but…”
“Trust me, this isn’t Britain. We’re in the nation of Eltinom. Those mountains, the Troll nation of… Well… I’ve never been very good with their language, I can’t pronounce it.”
“Trolls? Really?”
“And no, before you start going on about monsters, they’re a pleasant enough people. We’ve traded with them in the past, too. They’re the best stone masons and sculptors in the five kingdoms.”
“Thought that was dwarves.”
“I suggest you put aside all the Tolkien crap. Seriously. He might’ve been trying to keep old folklore alive in your world, but here, some of that stuff could get you killed, if you believed it.”
“What like?!”
“Well, for one, as I said, Trolls, pleasant, if a little brutish in appearance. Elves, faeries… Best avoided if at all possible. That’s why, hundred miles south of here’s further than most of us are willing to go. I only just got back from there yesterday, might not’ve made it were it not for my master.”
They’d been walking for about ten minutes when Olban’s eyes widened and his arm shot out to stop Brian in his tracks.
He turned to the south.
“What did you do that for?”
“Look.” Olban pointed at the ground. At the toadstool.
“What about it? It’s just”
“It’s not alone. Look closer.”
The toadstool was one of many, all forming a line which curved away from them in both directions.
“But we know what makes them do that, the fungus in the ground just grows out in all directions and sends up fruiting bodies at the ends of”
“Yes, that’s how they form, but”
“You’re not seriously saying fairy rings”
“Are incredibly dangerous, yes. It is how they can travel between their realm and ours and if you stumble into one, woe betide you. You might never see home again.”
“Oh, shit! What about Helen? She’ll think I’m dead! She might’ve even found another bloke by now! My life’s ruined even if I do make it back!”
“Don’t panic. It’s fine.”
“What do you mean, fine, she”
“She only realised you were missing yesterday.”
“But I’ve been gone”
“Two days, maybe three or four at the most.”
“But that’s impossible!”
“It’s not, y’know. Your life’s intact, there, don’t worry. I suppose there might be some things to fix. It depends what your doppelganger did while he was posing as you.”
“Doppelganger? You don’t mean those… Those things were in my home?”
Olban nodded. “I’m afraid so. But he wasn’t there for long and we dealt with him, don’t worry. He’s dead.”
“You… You killed me?”
“No… I suppose it’ll ease your mind so… This is what’s been happening.”
Olban began to explain, starting with their encounter with the wolf.
They’d left the fairy ring behind but only travelled another hundred yards when there was a clap of thunder and gust of wind. It came from the circle. Olban span in shock and stared at the woman lying unconscious in the centre of it.”
“Oh, hell!”
Brian turned, took in the scene and bolted towards her.
“Brian! Stop!”
But Brian ignored him. He was just about to cross the threshold, into the circle, when Olban rolled up his sleeve in a panic, closed his eyes, and Brian shot into the air.
He let out a yelp as he slowly drifted back towards Olban.
“I thought I told you those things were dangerous. You can not cross into a fairy ring!”
“Put me down! How are you even doing this!? She needs help!”
Olban sighed, lowered Brian back to the ground before him and gripped his arm, before he could make another move. “Look more closely.”
She was beautiful, that much was certain. She wore the finest silks, a gold circlet on her brow but on her back, large filigree wings, similar to those of a dragonfly.
“She’s a big big for a fairy, isn’t she?”
“They’re not like Tinkerbell, y’know. What they are is flighty, chaotic, quick to anger, quick to… well, anything. They could be incredibly generous one moment or sadistic to the point of insanity the next. You’ve got to be careful around them. Very careful.”
“But surely, if we don’t help, won’t… Won’t they…”
“Take their revenge? Probably, yes. Brian, take off your outer tunic. I’ll take off my hose.”
“But”
“I have no intention of going into the circle, but… Just watch.”
“Why do you want me to undress?”
“Everything has a touch of magic to it in this world, including our clothing.”
“Clothes? That’s how you levitated me?”
Olban rolled up his sleeve and pointed at the armband. “It’s come in useful a couple of times both here and in your world. Now, tunic, off. It has health and healing woven into it. Watch.”
Olban took out his dagger, sliced the palm of his hand and held it up. Immediately, the wound closed, not even leaving a scar. “We don’t suffer from diseases, here. Most injuries are healed just as quickly as that. A broken bone’s fixed in less than a day, normally.”
He sat, kicked off his boots and untied the straps that held his hose up, before slipping them off and putting his boots back on. “Tunic off, Brian. She does need help. Just hope she’s grateful.”
“But how do you get to her if you can’t go into the circle?”
“What’s that saying? If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, or something?”
Brian nodded.
“Well this mountain will.” He pointed and the woman rose gently into the air and drifted towards them.
As she drifted closer, a trail appeared behind her. Flowers sprang up in her wake, and as she got closer still, it became apparent why. Blood soaked the underside of her garments and as it dripped to the ground, wherever it landed, a new flower emerged.
“Oh, bloody hell!” Brian undid his belt and pulled his tunic off. He staggered and sat in shock, looking around in confusion, then sprang to his feet again. “I… I thought you said that thing healed, I feel better without it I feel like a new man it’s amazing I’ve not felt so energetic since I was a kid I feel like”
“Brian, please! Magic can take it’s toll if it’s doing a lot, it was draining you to heal you. I’ve got no idea what injuries they inflicted on you, but you said yourself, disembowled, broken bones, what else? Just help me put these on.”
Brian nodded and rushed over with the tunic.
They were on in less than a minute and even before they’d lain her down again and knelt by her side, the wound on her forehead was gone, and a lot of the others were closing.
A minute later, her eyelids fluttered and she sat up, propped on her elbows. She looked around and sighed. “Mortals! Why did it have to be mortals?”
Olban bowed his head. “Your eminence. We were just passing the ring when you appeared, and lucky we did. Very few pass this way.”
“But mortals, in the fields of Erdoin? Who granted you passage?”
“We’re not in Erdoin, your eminence. We’re about five miles from the human village of Little Dafford.”
“I…” Her eyes narrowed. “How dare you conceal yourself in my presence? Show yourselves!”
“I’m sorry, your eminence, I… I don’t… I’m right here.”
Oh, shit. You don’t think she was talking to me, do you?
“Of course I was talking to you. Reveal yourselves! Now!”
It’s my turn to say I don’t understand, your eminence.
She rolled her eyes, said “Out! Now!” and clicked her fingers.
Several things happened at once. Olban gripped his head and collapsed to the grass, but as he did so, Gareth and Eloise appeared by his side.
At the sight of them, Brian let out a yelp of “Gareth!” and sprang forward to give him a hug, but passed through him, tripped over Olban and collapsed to the ground.
“Ow! What’s happening?” Gareth looked down at himself. He held his hand up. “Why can I see through my hand? Why did he”
“You have no physical presence, child. Now, explain. Where is it?”
“My body? Back home, your eminence.”
“And where is this home?”
“Another world, your eminence. The same world he’s from.” Gareth pointed at his dad.
“World travellers? Mortal world travellers? Would you care to explain how?”
Gareth sank to his knees before her. “We didn’t understand until a few days ago ourselves. We met someone in the between after crossing the dreaming. A wolf. He explained.”
“One of the guides? And he spoke to you?”
“A couple of times, now, your eminence. It seems we were both born at the exact same instant in time at exactly the same physical location, but in different worlds.”
“A nexus! Do you have any idea how rare, how special that is? And her?”
“Nexus? That’s what you call us?”
“Yes. It happens to all races on occasion. For us, it’s much more profound, much more… venerated. She doesn’t fit, she’s different, why?”
“The wolf. Olban…” Gareth turned to look at his… brother… “Oh, shit, is he OK?”
“It seems I not only owe you my gratitude, but an apology. He’ll be fine. The shock of your sudden… exit from his mind. Now…” She pointed at Eloise again.
Gareth nodded. “The wolf was guarding her. She was… Well… Vacant is the best way I can put it when we first saw her. He asked us to take her. Allow her to be a passenger, because he knew what we had planned.”
“And your plans?”
“Separate ourselves. We’re always apart when we cross the dream, so Olban had just completed the manufacture of a couple of magical trinkets that would allow both of us to manifest physically in my world, but she was a nexus, too. She was even more special, a nexus of six, not just two, like us.”
“Six!?”
Gareth nodded. “Please put us back. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life as a ghost.”
“In that form, you’d remain that way for the rest of eternity. Doesn’t that appeal? Immortality?”
“Never to eat? To touch anything? Helpless? Powerless?”
“A lot of fun can be had by a disembodied spirit, but very well. You will be restored.”
“Can I ask you, your eminence? What happened? You suffered terrible injuries.” Gareth nodded at the trail of flowers from the centre of the circle.
“It appeared out of nowhere, attacked us. No matter what we hit it with, it changed its form to counter it. It began as a human, but when we attacked it with arrows, it turned to stone. We threw boulders at it in an attempt to crush it, but it turned to mist and they passed right through. We threw cold at it and it turned to ice, but continued to attack us. Nothing we had worked. I barely escaped with my life!”
Olban grunted, forced himself to his feet and knelt before her, this time gripping his head. “Please. I’ll tell you our tale. We’ve encountered them before, these shapeshifters. We may be able to aid you, too, because we’ve defeated more than one, but… It hurts!”
“Oh, very well.” Another click of the fingers and Gareth and Eloise vanished.
Olban sank to the grass in relief and the pain vanished with them.
Home sweet home. Echoed in Olban’s mind.
“Tell me.”
Olban nodded, returning to his kneeling position beside her. “It all started about a week ago in his world.” He pointed at Brian.
* * *
“And that’s why we were passing your circle when you appeared, your eminence.”
She nodded. “And you believe the enchantments within your armband are the key to defeating these… things?”
“It’s worked against them, so far, but they have been growing, learning. Each one we encountered was better, more cunning, more convincing.”
“Show it to me.”
Olban rolled up his sleeve and held it before her.
A brush of her hand was enough to cause the designs to glow. She studied the intricacies, traced them with her finger. “This part. This barrier?”
“We realised after we’d encountered the first one that they could read our minds, so I incorporated that to prevent it. That might be why it could anticipate all your attacks. It knew what you were going to do before you did it.”
“Ingenious. And this?”
“Bands of light. They bind the creature. Prevent it from transforming.”
“Yes. I see how it works. I must go. With this information, we may even defeat it, but before I do.” She touched Olban on the forehead. “A gift to each of you. To Gareth and Eloise, the spirit form you experienced, you may use.” She noted the alarm cross Olban’s face and giggled. “Worry not, a part of them will remain when they take spirit form. An anchor, if you will. It won’t hurt. But I warn you, now. The gift of the fae may be a double edged sword. Remain out fortoo long and the anchor will wither and die. If that happens, you’ll remain insubstantial, a ghost, forever.”
Gareth would’ve gulped if he’d had a throat to gulp with, right then. How long is too long?
“Within the cycle of night and day, a quarter of that. As you approach the limit, you will begin to feel it, you’ll know to return.”
Olban stared at her in shock. “What about when we choose to separate completely, your eminence?”
“It’s only when in spirit form. You, too, will benefit from that when Gareth awakens in his world. I also grant you knowledge. It’ll come to you in flashes over the coming days.” She turned to Brian. “Father of Gareth. Kneel before me.”
Brian glanced from side to side as if trapped.
“Do as she says, Brian. Please.”
He nodded and knelt.
She placed her palm on his head, but snatched it away as if it burned. “Such pain. Such torment. I almost admire them, the creativity of it. Even we don’t make transgressors suffer that much. To you, I grant forgetfulness.”
“But I don’t want to forget everything!”
“I only take the memory of your pain, you’ll still remember what happened to you. Without the pain, you can begin your healing.”
Another touch on the forehead and Brian fell back into the grass with a sigh.
“Thank you!”
She undid the belt, pulled off the hose, shrugged off the tunic and shot into the air, her wings making a low hum. “Do not attempt to call on me.” She shot off to the south, but her voice carried on the wind. “But I may call on you!”
Olban watched her depart as he sat and started pulling on his hose. “Tunic back on, Brian. We’ve got to go”
Brian sighed, put it on, fastened the belt and sank to the ground in shock as a wave of exhaustion struck. “I… But I felt fine! I was healed. There was…”
Olban regarded his second father with concern. “Still feeling drained with it on?”
“Yes! It’s even worse, now that I’ve felt what it’s like not wearing it!”
“I want you to be honest with me. Gareth’s mature enough to handle it, if you had any bad news you’ve been holding back.”
What are you saying, Olban?
“I don’t understand, what do you mean?”
“Was there anything wrong with you before you were taken? I told you, we don’t suffer any diseases here, the magic takes care of it before anything bad can happen. In your world, things can get pretty bad, pretty quick, and if something’s advanced enough to be life threatening…”
Brian sighed. “Alright. Can Gareth pop out, like he did earlier. I’d prefer to say this in person.”
Oh, shit, it is isn’t it. What is it? Cancer? I’m not sure how. Maybe if I just…
Gareth concentrated and the next thing he knew, he was staring his father in the face. He looked down at himself, at his semitransparent form. “Well, that was easier than I was expecting. What is it, Dad?”
Brian nodded. “It’s… Don’t tell your mother! Understood? I don’t want her worrying, you know how she’ll react.”
“Dad! What the hell is it?!”
“It’s cancer. One of the bad ones, but they said it’s also a slow one. They can’t do anything, now, it’s gone too far. Your mother doesn’t even know I’ve been on insulin for the past few months.”
“Oh, God! Dad? How long?”
“6 Months, maybe a year if I’m unlucky.”
“Unlucky!?”
“They said the end wouldn’t be pleasant, Gareth!”
Olban chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry, Gareth. Brian, just put up with the exhaustion for a day, you’ll be fine. The magic’s doing its thing. You’ll be cancer free in no time.”
“But it metastasised! That’s why they said they couldn’t help me!”
“That’s probably why the enchantments are taking so long. They’ve got a lot of work to do! Trust me, you’ll be fine. They’ll see you as a medical miracle when you do get back. You’re in this world for a while, you might as well take advantage of it while you are.”
Gareth grinned at Olban. “You don’t think…”
“Think what?”
“Our little heart to heart? He was hurting dad to get at me, remember? But when you gave him those little home truths he needed, along with how to lose the pain… Maybe he knew, he must have, they can read minds, after all. Maybe that’s why he send dad here rather than home? So he could be cured!”
“I hadn’t even considered that, but that’s a bloody good point.” Olban crouched and helped Brian to his feet. “I’ll help, but we’ve got to go! It’s more urgent now than ever!”
“What is?”
“If those things can attack faerie, they could be coming out anywhere, any world. We need to speak to the Thane as well as master Stell. We need to mobilise! Get word to the eorls, to the king himself. This could get nasty!”
“Thane?”
“The leader of our village.”
“Not chieftain, then?”
“We are a part of a kingdom, Brian. Before you ask, I suppose the Earth equivalent of eorl would be earl. They hold the real power in the shires. Only the king and the gods themselves have more.”
* * *
“How… How much… further?”
Olban turned to see sweat pouring down Brian’s face. His knees wobbled, he gasped for breath and he was white as a sheet.
“Do you think you can make it to the top of this hill?”
“Why… not… not rest here?”
“Trust me…” Olban sighed as Brian’s legs gave out and he sank to his arse, tears streaming down his face. “I… I can’t.”
“OK, OK. Here.” Olban pulled Brian up by the armpits, lifted him back to his feet, grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift. “I’ll carry you the last few yards. We can rest at the top, there’s something I want you to see.”
Olban marched up the hill, placed Brian back on the grass and stared him in the eye.
“Now, you just walked nearly five miles with the drain of the tunic slowing you down. Do you think you could’ve done that before you were taken without stopping to rest?”
“Twenty years ago, maybe.” Brian smiled. “But… I would’ve been stopping every fifty yards. Why couldn’t we rest down at the bottom of the hill, though?”
“I wanted you to see,” Olban placed his hands on Brian’s shoulders and turned him, “that. Welcome home, for the time being, at least.”
Nestled at the bottom of the valley, a ribbon of silver snaked its way down the middle of it, where it passed under a tall wooden wall and ran between the twenty large roundhouses of the village. There were a lot of smaller ones and at the village’s centre, one about four times the size of the others. At the far end of the valley, spanning the river was a large stone structure which, when viewed from above, had the appearance of a tree. A thin trunk, longer than the branches led to a gate in the village wall and at its end, seven branches radiated out.
“That’s where you live?”
“Third roundhouse from the left, The smaller ones next to it are my workshop and that of my Brother, Mavon. I know, I know, no mod cons, no home comforts, no TV, radio, internet.”
Brian chuckled. “I don’t care about them! I get to live in a genuine iron age village! I get to experience what life was like in Britain three thousand years ago! I mean, good God, man, I… Take your time, Olban. As much time as you like. No preferential treatment for me. You have seven rings to make, make mine last.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“I want to live as you live. I want to experience it! I used to obsess about ancient Britain when I was a boy. My bedroom was covered in posters about things like… Well… That!”
“You’ll be our guest, Brian! We won’t put you to work! Besides, what would could you do down there? All the skills we rely on, your people lost millennia ago! OK, a few, like smithing, you may have refined, but, you’re no smith, are you? Do you have anything to offer?”
Brian shrugged. “Tell me what some of your trades are, maybe I could have one of you teach me a thing or two?”
“You’re a bit old to take on an apprenticeship, y’know.”
“How about warrior? You mentioned mobilisation. How about teaching me to fight? Once I’ve got my energy back I know I can handle it, now.”
Fight?Gareth yelped. What the… hang on. He concentrated and appeared again. “What the hell do you mean, teach you to fight? You”
“I need to rip those things from bollocks to chin, Gareth. I need to cave in their fucking skulls and take an egg whisk to their brains! I ne”
“Dad! Please!”
“Gareth! Shut it! I know what I’m doing! Besides, here, I’m protected. You saw what he did to his… Well, you felt what he did to his hand. You saw what this tunic did to that fairy. If I tried fighting them back home, I’d be killed in no time but here? I need this, Gareth. I need this more than… Just stay out if it! Olban, I want you to take me to your warriors, have them train me. I don’t care if it takes weeks! Months even!”
“Dad, what about Mum?”
“You’ll just have to make up an excuse, won’t you? Tell her it’ll take time to gather the materials. Tell her the magic’s too complicated to rush, that I’ll be back when I get back. It’s not like I’ve got a job to go to, there and I’m bored shitless in that house! I hate retirement! Now I get one final adventure before I peg it!”
“Dad, you can’t!”
“I’m rustling the newspaper, Gareth.”
“Dad, listen to me!”
“Rustle, rustle!” Brian turned his back on Gareth and regarded the village again.
“Gah!” Gareth vanished. He’s impossible! I hate that fucking newspaper.
Why’s a newspaper so important?
It was always his signal, Eloise. End of conversation.
Brian pointed at the stone structure. “Why does that one look so different?”
“That’s our Llan.” Olban glanced at Brian with amusement. “I suppose the closest you’d get in English would be temple. Stone is eternal, the gods are eternal. Each of those arms represents one of them. Seven in total.”
“More than one… Of course there’s more than one… Even ours had more than one until Christianity came along… So nothing like that happened here?”
“No point. We know the gods exist. Just as we know magic exists.”
“You… you don’t think… They’re not… well… the gods everywhere, are they? Please, tell me Christianity got it all wrong. I’d love to see the look on their faces.”
“No, Brian. There’s no evidence our gods ever touched your world. Seems that’s one thing you should be grateful for. Some of those competing religions would’ve been fucked if the gods really existed. They don’t take kindly to fakery, they see it as disrespectful. Probably end up cursed or…” Olban shuddered. “I’d rather not talk about it. Have you recovered enough to walk, now?”
Brian nodded.
“I’ll hand you over to Coban. He can tell you anything you need to know. I’ve got a lot to do today.”
“Coban?”
“Little brother, he’s likely to have less to do than Mavon. Mavon’s got kids and pottery to turn.”
The Rubik’s Cube of the Soul
Language is the key to the mechanism of our internal experience.
By mapping our internal experience to a specific instance of language we create a conceptual dynamic puzzle where all pieces moves in coherency together despite the seeming impossibility of their movement dies to a level of coordination and introduce properties of nature similar to math but not limited by the physical limitations imposed on and embedded within our existing mathematics.
Language solves the paradox of reality by encapsulating the infinite within the finite.
How do you solve a paradox?
By aligning the soul and mind for a sustained enough moment to capture the alignment in words. The words create a tether to the configuration that created the alignment even after it dissipates.
The alignment is a code embedded within the words themselves.
The words are meet a series of breadcrumbs that lead us back home.
How did we get so lost?
So misaligned?
We enter this world like a Rubik’s cube that’s been twisted up a million times.
And even though we can’t see ourselves, we feel how twisted up we are inside.
We also innately know that we can untwist ourself.
That our colors align and all our sides form a completed whole.
We are not the fragmented squares of color.
We are the entire cube!
But we don’t know the strategy to get there.
Heck, most of us don’t even know there IS a strategy at all.
The whole thing is a mystery.
Until one day, as we are twisting about, we feel something.
But it’s not the normal kind of feeling.
It’s not a response to the outer world.
It’s more real than a response.
This feeling pulled you right to the center of now, through the veil of time and space into another dimension.
It was both instantaneous and eternity all at once.
And you know, you know deep in your soul what the feeling was.
You matched a section of your pieces on the outside.
You become more complete.
You moved closer to your nature.
Closer to your maker.
And you’re not sure how you did it,
but you can figure it out,
Because in your alignment you solved a section of the puzzle,
Just enough to see what pieces lie on the edge,
Enough to guess what pieces you might need next.
Now you have something to hold onto,
Something more than an idea or belief,
Something real and experienced,
Catalyzing the power of expectation.
Because if you could do it once,
Without any direction,
Imagine what you can do now,
With this divine connection.
Greenlights Chapter’s 1-3
Chapter One: Darcy
“Open up!” The voice demanded. He banged on the door.
“What's the magic word?” Darcy yelled back as he stuffed his bag with even more jewelry.
“If you don’t open this door your punishment will be even more severe!” Another voice called.
“Those were not the ones I was thinking of...” Darcy mumbled to himself. He was skinny but strong, and his hair was black and had a white streak. His gray eyes were pierced like swords. He wore two brass bralettes on each hand and a gold chain on his neck. He wore a black tee shirt and a leather jacket with black denim jeans that had been ripped. On his feet, he had black tennis shoes.
He heard the Officers outside power up a gravity cannon*.
“Dang,” Darcy said out loud. He hoisted his bag over his shoulder and ran to the nearest window. It was too late. The door flew off its hinges with a loud bang and Darcy stopped. Three cops came through the door.
“Hands up kid!” One, a woman with blonde hair and a mechanical arm yelled. She held a pistol pointed straight at Darcy.
Darcy put his hands up. “Oh, come on,” He mumbled to himself.
Another, a man with a partially robotic face said. “Should we kill the sucker now?”
“What?” That last yelled outraged, A man with white hair and a beard, “He can't be more than ten!”
“I’m uh,” Darcy interjected, “I'm fourteen.”
All three cops glared at him.
“Listen,” The robo-face said “This kid has robbed like eight other stores in the last two weeks! Let's make it easier on all of us and kill the kid.”
“No!” Blondie replied, shocked. “He is just a kid!”
“I agree” oldie but not so goldy said.
“Hey, guys” Darcy interjected, “Just curious, what do you two wanna do with me?”
The two more moral cops looked at each other and the woman said, “Take you to jail I guess.”
“Man, but I really don’t want to go to jail.”
“Should have thought before you robbed eight stores.” The Old man replied.
“How about this,” Darcy replied simply. “I’m gonna show you a magic trick, and if you don’t expect what happens, you let me go.”
“What?”
“Cool glad you agreed,” Darcy said backing up. He backed up and pulled a small coin out of his pocket. “I’m gonna flip this coin three times and it's gonna land on heads every time.”
The cops looked a little confused but didn’t stop him. He flipped the coin and held it out to the police. It was heads. He flipped it again, and yet again it landed on heads. He flipped it one final time and held it out proudly.
“It's tails.” the old man said.
“Really? Are you sure?” Darcy shook his head. “Maybe take a closer look.”
When the old man came just close enough. Darcy punched him on the bridge of his nose. New Phoenix police were all brawn, no brains. He then proceeded to kick him in the stomach, sending him back into a wall. He flicked out his wrists and grapple hooks came out of his bracelets. The wires wrapped around the two remaining cops, and he pulled them with all his might toward each other. They collided and fell apart. He then shot the wires at the walls around the window he had previously been running toward and pulled himself through. As his body hit the glass the window shattered, and Darcy was off.
Darcy loved the adrenaline rush of swinging through the city of New Phoenix. He took a deep breath of the radiation-filled polluted air. When he had been given his bracelets he was told that a SuperHero in comics from the old days used devices a lot like these to swing through a city and fight crime. Something like Spider-boy. Darcy shuddered, he didn't understand how a spider-themed hero would be at all entertaining.
Darcy eventually came to a rougher place in town. The buildings were collapsing and the people were forgotten. A perfect place for someone like him to hide until his boss called him in.
He came to a stop in front of his favorite hideout. It was an old brick building that had fallen over.
Darcy climbed inside a shattered window. Once inside he dug around in his bag for his flashlight, turning it on he had a better view of what was around him. It was a little kids' room. There were toys scattered across the floor and an upside-down bed. To Darcy’s left there was a dresser that had fallen on its side and there was carpet on the wall.
Darcy quietly made his way through the room and out the door. Using his grapple hooks he descended to the first floor where he found the master bedroom. There was a bed that was lying on its side and two nightstands on either side of it. Darcy crossed the room carefully until he made it to a curtain. Darcy went through the curtain and ended up in a walk-in closet. He had set up a sleeping bag and pillow. He had no clue how long he would have to stay here, could be an hour, could be a week. Darcy lay down and before long he was asleep.
Chapter Two: Leo
Leo hated prison.
He had been in this dang place for almost two years now, for a crime he didn't commit.
However, he had to pretend he did.
To protect his brother who did commit the crime.
Leo was waiting in line to get the excuse of food that was prison lunch. Finally, he got to the counter and got some white mush that might have been mashed potatoes, celery, and a glob of some weird soup.
Lovely, He thought, rolling his eyes. He took his food and sat in an isolated corner of the cafeteria. He had only survived this far because he stayed away from all the other prisoners. He had been here since he was sixteen and had been the youngest prisoner for quite a while.
Leo's hair was brown and his eyes were a very light blue. He wore an orange jumpsuit with the number 36235 printed on the back.
Leo started eating his odd-tasting food until he felt some guys in some guys' presence.
“Hey kid,” Some random prisoner said, he had two other prisoners flanking his right and left, “I believe you owe us some money.”
Leo looked around, “Are you talking to me?” It had been so long since Leo had talked that he was almost scared by his own voice. It was deeper then he remembered.
The man laughed, “who else is over here?” He asked.
The guy was covered in tattoos of the most deadly reptiles like snakes and crocodiles. He wore the same orange jumpsuit as Leo and his eyes were reptillic. His hair was stark white and looked like he had been electrocuted.
“I’ve never bought anything from you,” Leo said calmly.
“Oh yes, you have,” Mr. Weird Eye stated, “Every breath you’ve breathed since you’ve been in here, every word you’ve spoken, and every step you’ve taken.” He leaned in so his face was only a few inches from Leo’s “This prison is mine.” His breath smelled like fish.
Leo clenched his fists. He wanted to punch this guy in his ugly face. He knew he could take on all three of these guys, but here, you mess with the wrong guy, and you won’t live to regret it.
Leo grimaced. “How much do I owe you?” He asked.
Reptile Guy smiled, showing his sharp snake-like teeth. Leo cringed on the inside.
“Two-hundred drake.”
“What!” Leo shouted, “You expect me to have that kind of money just lying around!”
“Not my problem.”
Leo shivered with anger. You could knock him out right now, He thought, but he didn’t. He didn’t want to start a fight.
“I can get it by next week,” Leo said, turning back around.
“I want it by tomorrow.”
“Not possible.”
“For your sake,” Reptile Guy growled, “Make it possible.” He then walked away.
Leo sat paralyzed. All of his muscles were tense. He sighed. I guess I gotta find a way to make some money.
Chapter Three: Terelle
Terelle walked with his hoodie up. If the law caught him he was dead. He was on the verge of something great and he couldn't die now. Terelle grew up in a bad neighborhood. He and his family had constantly been being robbed by the rich government types and when his dad didn't have any more money to steal, they killed him. The government of New Phoenix was extremely corrupt. And it was killing people. He was done.
Terelle turned down a dark alley and maneuvered through the streets until he found the guy. A guy who was about twenty years old was leaning casually against a wall wearing an all-black hoodie. When he looked up he revealed his thin facial structure. His eyes were dark green and his hair was blonde. Across his left cheek was a nasty scar and he had a prosthetic left leg. He had a backpack slung on his shoulder. Terelle took off his hoodie revealing dark skin, brown eyes, and curly hair. Terelle was tall and buff, he was very strong, smart, and capable.
Terelle stood casually next to his informant. “What’d ya get?”
“There is going to be a convoy of New Phoenix militia moving down Glendale and Camels Valley,” Greyson said cooley, “They’ll have a shipment of military-grade weapons and armor.”
“Good that should even the odds.” Terelle responded thoughtfully, “Are you sure you don't want to get paid?”
“Nah,” Greyson responded. “It's payment enough that you're doing something to end this tyranny.”
“Yeah well, while the rich folk are sittin’ pretty, everyone else is in a hell hole. Something had to be done.”
“Yeah, it took long enough,” Greyson sighed. “The city was founded in like 3500 right? It's been five hundred years.”
“Maybe it wasn’t always like this,” Terelle stated.
“Maybe.”
“But let's focus on the here and now, we gotta stop those in power from killing even more people.”
“Always one to get to the point,” Greyson mumbled under his breath. He reached inside of his backpack, pulled out a tablet, and handed it to Terelle. “This has all the info I got.”
“All of it?
“Yep.”
“Not just what I asked for?”
Greyson nodded.
“Holy Crap…” Terelle was taken aback. “How much is that?”
“Approximately Five Hundred Gigabytes worth of info on all the evil shtick these guys have pulled since the year 3925.”
Terelles' eyes went wide.
“With this,” Greyson added, “You could not only defeat our enemy but make them hated so much that they’ll not be able to show their faces anywhere in town without getting killed immediately.”
“That's if they escape my guys,” Terelle said confidently. He started to leave but Greyson grabbed his shoulder.
“One last thing,” He reached back into his backpack, pulled out a book, and handed it to Terelle, “Before you do anything, read this.”
Terelle took the book and read the title.
“The Art of War huh,”
“Read it,” Greyson said sternly “The guy who wrote it was Sun Tzu, an absolutely genius strategist and king in China. Back before the bombs dropped many soldiers would read it to help with their own strategy.”
“You really think I need this?” Terelle growled.
Greyson shook his head, “Careful not to get cocky, because that could kill ya.”
Terelle felt very angry that Greyson might doubt his ability. He turned and walked away.
I choose
I choose to love you in silence,
For silence will shield me from rejection.
i choose to love you from a distance,
For distance will protect from me from pain
I choose to feel you in the wind,
For the wind is gentle on my skin than my heart feeling the warmth of your own
I choose to look away from eye contact,
For the fear you will see the war that goes deep into my eyes
I choose to not let love in whole heartedly, for the fear of being in capable and left behind
I choose to be on my own, to experience what it’s like to step into my soul
For now, I choose to love you in silence
Because
Because my foolish heart
can’t understand.
My eyes they see,
but can’t comprehend.
How the man that looks like you,
sounds like you, and feels like you,
isn’t the same man that for me,
once stopped time.
Who shut down the chaos,
and ordered my mind.
That patiently accepted the parts in me
I was told that I should hide.
The man that cooled
the volcano in my soul.
Who kept on returning,
giving me hope.
Who steady and calmly
encouraged my dreams.
Who respected and valued
the perspective I’d bring.
The man who’d show up
soaking wet at my door.
Before the sun rose
in the middle of a storm.
Just to spend an hour
holding me while I slept.
Leaving me cookies and coffee
as off to work he went.
I’d roll over and settle into
the warm space left in the bed.
Feeling for the first time,
my starving soul finally fed.
My mind rages against
the truth that you show.
Because if that was all a lie,
then there is truly no hope.
Out of the Woods
I promised myself
I'd get a tattoo
if I survive this winter -
a little outline of a dress
on my right shoulder.
She said, you should
probably be in-patient
and I smiled
the little grim outline
of anger and repugnance.
Winter is like that
one day you're fine
just shopping for lettuce
and toiletries, and
the next day you're in bed
contemplating the best way
to fade quietly into January.
I'm looking forward to spring,
the tattoo artist will ask me
they always do -
the inspiration for my tattoo.
I'll say I survived
that the winter didn't kill me
that I'm just fine, thank you,
the calamity of slowing suffocating
behind me like a bad dream
the kind that leaves you gasping.
I can only hope the tattoo artist
won't be horrified, but
he's probably seen worse
and that makes me even happier
to be out of the woods.
Just Because
I paid my bill
I seen her look at me
I ask her out
She enjoyed me
We met again although we were taken
We learned to love
Outside of the relationships we were faking
Passion double then tripled
Into a world we couldn't control
It continued for months
Time stood still
Love had new definition
We were both taken
But not by each other
The love in our hearts lived on
We were never unhappily together
We separated
she found me
We stopped talking
She called me
We somehow twined our souls together
The love will never die
You Are My Home
When I feel at a loss,
like a babe in the woods,
Stumbling through the thick bramble
On a trail I don't know...
When snarls and roots
From the morass assail
I just look to your face
And the mad storms and gales
Just die down around us
Like the lamb who lies down
Welcoming in the peace with
His whole heart and soul...
You sow a warm space in me,
Deep down in my bones...
In your eyes I find blessings
When the days turn to stone...
You nurture and love me...
And inspire endless songs
From the depths of my heart...
And for you I go on.
You are my home beauty!...
You are my home...
In your eyes and your lips,
You're the path I was shown...
You are my home beauty!...
You are my home...
I am yours now so endlessly,
Rushing to you...
In all that you say and
In all that you do...
You are my one home...
Let me take you in arms,
Lift you to the sunrise
In a wreath of wildflowers
And bath you in my eyes...
Let me soothe all your woes...
I'll turn on the bath tap
And we'll watch the dirt wash
Down through the drains
As we clap with delight...
Come to me sweet one,
Don't you know it's alright?...
Let us share in the proof
That is our living breath,
And we mustn't forget
While the mountains may fall,
And the carts may upset...
I will be here right by you
Through black holes in the night...
You are my home by the
Dusty twilight...
2/14/24
Bunny Villaire
For: Mavia