It is useless to fight against the chains.

A figure stepped out from one of the corners of my cell. The shadow that concealed it looked too small for anyone to use as cover, it must have been hiding there for a long time, or it had just come in.

"Who are you?"

If I told you, you would not know who I am.

"Answer the question!"

You are in no possition to tell me what to do.

The figure stepped closer, then crouched down to where I was sitting, so that we were face to face. The figure seemed to be a woman in her late 20s, but in her face, there was a saddness that stained her face, making her look twice as old. Her blonde hair seemed to glow very dimmly, making it look almost white. When I saw her eyes, I had to take a second to breath again. There was no iris or pupil, just the whites of her eyes, but she did not act like she couldn't see, she just kept staring at me.

"How did you get in here? There's no way you were hiding in that corner the whole time I've been here."

That won't matter once I tell you why I am here.

Even though I could hear her voice, her mouth did not move. She just stood there and watched me, waiting for a response.

"Then why are you here?"

Her lips curved in the slightest, probably the closest she's ever come to actually smiling.

Why, to get you out of this wretched place.

"How-"

Do you really belive that you can make it out of here? That there is any hope for you even if you do escape?

I looked at the ground, avoiding eye contact.

I am not from here, in fact, you would consider me to be dead.

My heart stopped, and for a second, she seemed to fade. When I looked back at her, she seemed to be just as real as ever, as if she had never died in the first place.

I will make a deal with you, I will switch you placces, so that you may be given a chance to be something, and I will be given another chance as well.

"I don't understand..."

Without me, you will rot here, and once you get to the other side, you will be nothing! I am giving you a chance to make something of yourself, so that you will never be just another soul who wishes you would have done better in your life.

"Either way I die?"

She shook her head.

"When can I get out of here?"

The figure smiled, but not like the one before. This time, she actually smiled.

Right now.

A small, and sick little girl, laying in a bed of white, and no one around to help her.

When she opened her eyes, she was suprised to see herself, laying there; motionless.

Others would have cried, or be angry with what this meant, but not her.

She started skipping around the room, with a huge smile stuck on her face, only stopping to look out of the window, at the flower beds below.

“Why are you so happy?”

A black shadow of a man appeared in the corner. She couldn’t see his face, then again, she couldn’t really see anything other than the black that consumed him.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Nevermind, it’s none of my buisness.”

“Do you think that I could go outside before we have to go?”

He seemed stunned, but answered, “Um, sure.”

He grabbed her hand, and then they were outside.

She got to work and smelled all of the flowers and picked up the pretty ones. She rolled in the grass and then started to make some flower crowns out of the flowers she thought were pretty.

“Thank you.” she said.

“What?”

“Thank you. I was never allowed to go outside. The doctor said that I was too sick.”

“Do you know why you’re here? Don’t you know what happened to you?”

“Yes, I know. I’m dead, aren’t I?”

They looked at eachother for a while, not saying anything.

“My mom and dad spent a lot of money on me so that I could lay in that bed for longer than I should have.” She said while handing him one of the two flower crowns she made.

“Now, they don’t have to worry abou that.” She put on the other crown on her own head.

“I’m ready to go now.” she said grabbing his hand.

“Y-you’re welcome.” He said, then lead her to the afterlife.

It’s 3 AM. An official phone alert wakes you up. It says “DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON”. You have hundreds of notifications. Hundreds of random numbers are sending “It’s a beautiful night tonight. Look outside.”

PART ONE

I didn’t sleep well last night. I tossed and turned until I fell asleep, but even then, it was hard to stay asleep. In the dream, I started out in a room, all around me was nothing, just a blank white void. Then I heard them. Their screams echo in my head, but it didn’t sound like normal screaming, it sounded too uniform, like they planned when and what pitch to scream at. When I opened my eyes, I realized that it was too early to be awake, but was I really awake? I could still hear the screaming, I can hear them, they-Oh. It was just my phone. Wait what!? I shoot up into a sitting position, my head wasn’t ready for the sudden movement, so I gave my head a moment to catch up with the rest of me, then I grabbed my phone to see what was going on.

It was a phone alert...and, all it said was, “DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON.”? What was even more bizzare was the fact that I had hundreds of texts, all from people who I don’t know. The fact that I don’t get close to any notifictions at all startled me even more. I was about to deleted all of the messages, thinking it was all a scam, but when I read some of them, they all said the same thing, one after the next, all of them. “It’s a beautiful night tonight. Look outside.”

“And that’s when you came.” I told the police officer as he got out a peice of cloth and some type of device next to him.

“Did you look at the moon?” he said.

“No sir, not after reading a warning like that.”

“Good, but just to make sure, I’m going to ask you a few questions.”

“Alright, shoot.”

“Ok, what color is this blindfold?” He turned off the lights, the switch was right behind him, so it was easy for him to reach. I couldn’t really tell when he held it up, but it sounded like he has held it up by now.

“Um, it’s hard to see it, can you turn the lights back on?”

I wasn’t really paying attention to the color of the blindfold when he pulled it out.

“Just answer the question.”

Squinting my eyes, I tried to focus on where the blindfold should be.

“Is it a dark green?” I asked.

“No.” He said, he then turned the lights back on.

“Wait, but you’re not even holding the blindfold!” In truth, he just stood there in the dark waiting for me to answer.

“Thank you for the cooperation,” he said, “Please, put on the blindfold, I’m going to take you somewhere safe, away from here.”

I wrapped the blindfold around head, so that it layed over my eyes. I started to tie it.

“Is this so that I don’t look at the moon?”

“That’s right.”

I finished tying it and felt the officer grab my hand, and lead me to the door, he then opened it, and led me out of my apartment, and down the hall. He started to turn at random points and going through halls that shouldn’t exist. How much has changed since I’ve been asleep? I was completely lost at this point, so falling throughout the walk was enevitable.

“Wait.” he stopped walking, probably to listen to what I wanted to say. “Why don’t you need a blindfold?” Why did I walk around blind and not him?

”Well, ” he said, “I-” BANG!

A gun shot fired, interupting what he had started to say. The shot seemed to be fired on the floor above us, it was followed by the sounds of screams and more gunfire.

“What the hell was that!?”

Instead of answering, he grabbed my arm and started to run. I tried best that I could to keep up and not fall on my face in the process. We reached a pair of doors, as we were running out, I was shoved by something, hitting my side on the door, but I had no time to react, because the officer yanked on my arm and continued to run at full speed. We ran through what I assumed to be a parking lot, and we continued to run until I could feel the street beneath my feet. Why would we be crossing the street, wouldn’t he just park in the parking lot? As we reached the other side, I heard the doors of a bus open. Why would he be using a bus?! He lead me inside of the bus and I heard the doors start to close behind me. He started to untie the blindfold as we entered.

Once the blindfold was off, I expected to see, well, the inside of a bus, but when I looked around, I realized that this was not just a regular bus. There were strange devices all around, and all except for six of the seats had been ripped out. There was a table in the back that was covered with weapons, and all of the windows were blacked out a covered with the strange devices that littered the floor.

“Buckle up!” I heard someone yell behind me.

I turned to seethe driver closing a-what she thought was a recently built in-door seperating the driver’s side from the passenger’s side. Before he closed the door all of the way, he looked at my, smiled, and said, “Pleasure to meet you, your majesty.” While bowing his head, he closed the door, and locked it.

It’s 3 AM. An official phone alert wakes you up. It says “DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON”. You have hundreds of notifications. Hundreds of random numbers are sending “It’s a beautiful night tonight. Look outside.”

PART ONE

I didn’t sleep well last night. I tossed and turned until I fell asleep, but even then, it was hard to stay asleep. In the dream, I started out in a room, all around me was nothing, just a blank white void. Then I heard them. Their screams echo in my head, but it didn’t sound like normal screaming, it sounded too uniform, like they planned when and what pitch to scream at. When I opened my eyes, I realized that it was too early to be awake, but was I really awake? I could still hear the screaming, I can hear them, they-Oh. It was just my phone. Wait what!? I shoot up into a sitting position, my head wasn’t ready for the sudden movement, so I gave my head a moment to catch up with the rest of me, then I grabbed my phone to see what was going on.

It was a phone alert...and, all it said was, “DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON.”? What was even more bizzare was the fact that I had hundreds of texts, all from people who I don’t know. The fact that I don’t get close to any notifictions at all startled me even more. I was about to deleted all of the messages, thinking it was all a scam, but when I read some of them, they all said the same thing, one after the next, all of them. “It’s a beautiful night tonight. Look outside.”

“And that’s when you came.” I told the police officer as he got out a peice of cloth and some type of device next to him.

“Did you look at the moon?” he said.

“No sir, not after reading a warning like that.”

“Good, but just to make sure, I’m going to ask you a few questions.”

“Alright, shoot.”

“Ok, what color is this blindfold?” He turned off the lights, the switch was right behind him, so it was easy for him to reach. I couldn’t really tell when he held it up, but it sounded like he has held it up by now.

“Um, it’s hard to see it, can you turn the lights back on?”

I wasn’t really paying attention to the color of the blindfold when he pulled it out.

“Just answer the question.”

Squinting my eyes, I tried to focus on where the blindfold should be.

“Is it a dark green?” I asked.

“No.” He said, he then turned the lights back on.

“Wait, but you’re not even holding the blindfold!” In truth, he just stood there in the dark waiting for me to answer.

"Thank you for the cooperation," he said, "Please, put on the blindfold, I'm going to take you somewhere safe, away from here."

I wrapped the blindfold around head, so that it layed over my eyes. I started to tie it.

"Is this so that I don't look at the moon?"

"That's right."

I finished tying it and felt the officer grab my hand, and lead me to the door, he then opened it, and led me out of my apartment, and down the hall. He started to turn at random points and going through halls that shouldn't exist. How much has changed since I've been asleep? I was completely lost at this point, so falling throughout the walk was enevitable.

"Wait." he stopped walking, probably to listen to what I wanted to say. "Why don't you need a blindfold?" Why did I walk around blind and not him?

"Well, " he said, "I-" BANG!

A gun shot fired, interupting what he had started to say. The shot seemed to be fired on the floor above us, it was followed by the sounds of screams and more gunfire.

"What the hell was that!?"

Instead of answering, he grabbed my arm and started to run. I tried best that I could to keep up and not fall on my face in the process. We reached a pair of doors, as we were running out, I was shoved by something, hitting my side on the door, but I had no time to react, because the officer yanked on my arm and continued to run at full speed. We ran through what I assumed to be a parking lot, and we continued to run until I could feel the street beneath my feet. Why would we be crossing the street, wouldn't he just park in the parking lot? As we reached the other side, I heard the doors of a bus open. Why would he be using a bus?! He lead me inside of the bus and I heard the doors start to close behind me. He started to untie the blindfold as we entered.

Once the blindfold was off, I expected to see, well, the inside of a bus, but when I looked around, I realized that this was not just a regular bus. There were strange devices all around, and all except for six of the seats had been ripped out. There was a table in the back that was covered with weapons, and all of the windows were blacked out a covered with the strange devices that littered the floor.

"Buckle up!" I heard someone yell behind me.

I turned to seethe driver closing a-what she thought was a recently built in-door seperating the driver's side from the passenger's side. Before he closed the door all of the way, he looked at my, smiled, and said, "Pleasure to meet you your majesty." While bowing his head, he closed the door, and locked it.

They grabbed my hand and put it in water.

“This is blue,” they said, “it is cool and calm.”

They handed me grass, leaves, and made me smell mint.

“This is green, they told me, “it is life and energy.”

They put me next to a fire.

“This is red”, they stated, “it is warmth and light.”

"It's quite clear why she doesn't love you back."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've been trying to understand her character, and I don't know why, but she's scared. She's never been loved before, and she doesn't want to let down whoever she's with."

"..."

"She has no idea what she's doing, what she has to do to be considered, "the right person" She just doen't understand how it all works."

- From a Dream I Had

Look at how beautiful they are.

I wonder what they're thinking.

What secrets lie beneath? What lies they have told? What imperfections do they have?

Do they know their own beauty? Probably. They probably admire themselves above anyone else.

Did they just look back at me?

No, they don't care about you.

Yeah, probably; I mean, why would they?

I wonder what they're talking abou-wait a second, was that my name I heard?

No, they would never want to talk about a loser like you.

Yeah, probably.

They're turning back to me! Maybe they want to talk to me, we could be friends! We-

"Can I borrow a pencil?"

Oh. "Sure"

We brushed hands, but I guess that's it.

But was that really it? They only wanted a pencil?

Well, I guess they didn't actually want to talk to me.

Afterall, why would they?

I'm a freak, a loser, somebody who no one cares about.

Why would someone so beautiful want to talk to me?

It sounds hard and hurtful, but so many people do it. They may not know it, but they do it.

Let's say we all started out with a rock. Just a rock. To carry around till the end of your days.

Some don't mind, while others would rather "die" than continue on with this "burden".

So, they give it to someone else, so that she can "hold on to it till they get back"

But as she goes on, others will start to take advantage of her, giving her their rocks so that they can go on without worrying about their rocks.

Over time, with all of the rock's weight, she stops to look at her new hoard. She can no longer move. she can't continue to walk, for everyone's rocks altogether create a mountain.

She became stuck, and could no longer do anything, or go anywhere, yet, over time, she was fine. She made a life for herself by the mountain. She would no longer be angry at the people who would drop off their rocks by her mountain. Over time, she had the weight of the world in her possession.

She enjoyed being able to relieve everyone else from their misery; but like everyone else, her life must come to an end, and someone else must continue to bear the burden of the world.