Dancing in the water, free from duty

One with each other

Leaping through the surf

Perfect family bonds and groups

Happiness follows them as they go

Into the sunset they swim

Never stopping, always going

Hello! I’ve been gone a bit lately, sorry. I just found out that a friend of mine has leukemia. We aren’t close or anything, but we’ve played on sports teams, and we go to school together. It has been hard on my whole family, because we do know them. She is only 12. We are all praying for the best, and hoping for the same. That’s just why I’ve been gone a lot lately. I also have been working on a few bigger projects, so stay tuned for those!

Some nights Mommy goes to work. She packs her big bag with her strings and a few triangles of fabric, and she leaves. She comes back at 3, but usually I am asleep. She also has a lot of one dollar bills. Sometimes she has lipstick on her face. She is cranky those nights. I always like the day after she goes to work because we go to McDonalds and get I get chicken nuggets. Even when she is angry, I still like it when Mommy works.

Light didn't reach here. It was dark and cold. My room. My prison. My captors led me here a long time ago. I had been an innocent child. Now I was part of human trafficking. Right now, I was in a room in the back of a store. My captors would lead rich men to me, where they would have their way. I had a client tonight. I had one almost every night, but this was a new man I think. I hoped he would be gentle. I still had cuts from the last man. I still needed time to prepare for him though.

A few hours later, I was ready. A soft knock caused the door to open, and I sat seductively on the bed. It was a man with a police badge out. Great I though. A fetish. I looked closer as he came in more. The badge looked really real...

"Police. Please put on clothes. We are removing you from the situation."

I was free. Free! I grabbed at my nightgown, and threw on a t-shirt and shorts. I smiled broadly as I was walked out.

It was the trial. I was the star witness.

"Miss Drake, you were held captive by these men?"

"Yes your honor."

A few hours later...

"Guilty!"

I was really free! I walked out jubilantly. I took three steps. Then bang. I fell. Pain enveloped my whole body.

"Got her boss."

I knew that voice. The mafia. I knew what had happened. Plan X. If they were caught, the mafia would kill the girls. I didn't think they would do it though. I yelled for help, then I shut my eyes. I didn't open them again.

The thick smoke hung in the air. The last licks of flames chased after each other. The fire department hung in a batch as a few tried to extinguish the last fires. Littering the city were scars. What was factories and homes was now piled of ash and wood. Families hugged each other as they mourned the lost ones, and their homes. A young mother clutched an empty pile of rags as she hugged three children to her side. Tears streamed down her face. As she looked up, all she saw was a cloud. A dark cloud, that stunk with the stench of death. She set the rags on a pile of ash and bones with scraps of clothing. The bones were tiny. Fifteen other people were ash and bones around the city, and thousands of homes were ash. On the bright side, the next fire stopped at the edge of the city. The young mother saw it too. She clutched her new bundle of rags close, this time with a baby inside. The losses made the city safe. That was the last smoke cloud above London.