I know the sky is blue and the grass is green. That light of day and night comes from stars, near and far. I hear the chatter of people. But in the dead of night, as my eyes plead to close. I tell myself a story. A story of green skies and blue grass. Of starless skies contrasted by electric lamps. Some tales of loneliness with some emptiness on the side. And the characters, from the big to the small. Not a detail is left out. Their wants and desires become my own. Their dreams of reaching the top of the sky make me want to fly. The urgent desire to run and survive. The way I jerk awake with every doze. The countless days passed of compiling these stories in my brain, hoping and praying not to forget. The half-finished titles of legends. I wish sleep grasped that no dream it could give me is better than simply keeping my eyes open for a few more seconds.

Hey, my name is Jess. I'm a 16 year old who goes to high school in a typical town. Only thing that is different is that I'm an online student. I went to in person school before and i loved it. I played many sports like basketball and i had my best friend Arlo. My best friend was actually just my best friend tell he asked me to a dance in sophomore year and i started having a little feeling. I day dream about him coming to see me, Think of this. I'm getting ready for the day and he knocks on the door. I'm confused because no one should be coming over. I answer it and its my best friend with flowers. He ask me to Prom. Junior prom isn't like senior prom but who cares its still prom. I hope he didn't forget about me though. We play games like trivia because i don't play sport games the consul. I think I'm going to go to sleep now. Someone is at the door? Is it him? OMG ARLO!! What are you doing? Of course i will say yes. *Dogs bark* Really it was a dream. Hey at least i know he cares about me in my dreams. Now I'm going to finish that dream goodnight.

It's just past nightfall, in one of the most secluded settlements in the kingdom Ingegerdith. We were in the local tavern -the only one this small town had- and it was full of drunk patrons, tavern girls, children, and weary travelers. Everyone seems to be in a joyous mood as they celebrate this year's fall harvest.

There is food and drinks being passed around, and many people are crowding the bars and tables. The most crowded area is in the middle of the tavern, where I sit on an old chair atop a table. My green hood and cloak swishing around as I tell the crowd stories from lands far away and the tales of my friend's and i’s adventures. We were the guests of honor at this little celebration, for we were partially responsible for the success of this year's harvest.

I sat back down on my chair, reaching out to grab a drink that was offered to me. I don't partake in ales often but since it was a celebration I might as well take what is given to me and drink it gladly. As I'm sitting and taking a short break from my usual telling of stories and singing of songs I look around, trying to find the one friend of mine who was actually on time today. After a bit of searching, I see her bright yellow dress and sunny orange hair, her head swaying and her hands moving around as she speaks with the bartender. I'm fairly sure she's arranging for cookies to be made. After a moment she turns around to look at me and waves. I wave back and she breaks out into her usual happy expression.

I once again stand up and begin to tell yet another tale of adventure, this one happening to be a town favorite. As the story continues I hear cheers and loud greetings. Looking up towards the door I can see that the other three have arrived. The stone-faced green and black Dragonborn immediately slinking over to an empty corner that was saved just for them, while the other two headed towards the bar.

I smile and shout greetings at them “Celosia! Delmar! Tatsuya! Join the fun, there are cookies and drinks!”

The Dragonborn, Tatsuya, immediately looks up at me and then towards the Bar where the dark-haired siren, Delmar, is speaking to the bar keep and Helian, the one who had ordered cookies earlier. Moments pass and Delmar grabs two plates of cookies and brings them over to a less grumpy-looking Tatsuya. Laughing joyously I open my book again and continue to tell the tale I had started.

“Come on Bard! Sing us a song!”

“One of the ones you sang at the harvest!”

“Something good for our celebration!”

Having finished the fifteenth or sixteenth story of the night the shouts for music and songs became louder and louder. Smiling, I hop down, quickly agreeing to their requests.

“Of course of course! But wouldn't you all rather hear a duet, me and the lovely Celosia!!” I happily rushed over to the redheaded Nereid, who stood up, fixing her deep red dress that nearly looked like constantly crashing waves of flowing fire.

There were many cheers as she grabbed my hand and we both rushed back to my table. As we hopped up on top of it there were many cheers for Celosia, some cheers for me were also thrown in.

“Well, I suppose if you all want to hear me sing, I couldn't just deny you all of such a thing.” Celosia smiled and feigned to be pretentious over the crowd, who just laughed and cheered in response to her jokes.

“Come on Celosia, we all know you've been practicing all month for this!” Delmar shouts happily, taking off his glasses and cleaning them afterwards.

“Come on Celosia! We want to hear you sing!! Helian smiled, clapping and cheering the redhead on.

I motioned to the tavern boy who was holding a lute “John! Play us something, you know the one don't you?”

Immediately the blonde boy's face lit up with a smile as he grabbed the lute and began to play the tune of celebration. Celosia and I started to dance atop the table, with the rest of the crowd following the dance on the floor or atop other tables.

The lute tune became louder and smoothed out into the song that Riordan and Celosia were to sing.

Celosia began the song out, singing beautifully.

“Er komt een soldaat Die een machtig zwaard draagt Hij zal je stad afbreken Oh lei, oh lai, oh, heer Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh, heer Hij zal je stad afbreken Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh, heer”

Riordan and Celosia danced atop the table, dancing to the song and the cheers of the crowd. Riordan was smiling and full of energy and began to sing the second verse.

“Er zal een dichter komen Wiens wapen zijn woord is Hij zal je verslaan met zijn tong Oh lei, oh lai, oh, heer Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh, heer Hij zal je verslaan met zijn tong Oh lei, oh lai, oh, heer”

Celosia and Riordan, still dancing and cheering along with the crowd, began to sing the last verse together.

“Er zal een heerser komen Wiens wenkbrauw in doorn wordt gelegd Gesmeerd met olie zoals David's jongen Oh lei, oh lai, oh, heer Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh, heer Gesmeerd met olie zoals David's jongen Oh lei, oh lai, oh, heer Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh, heer Hij zal je stad afbreken, oh lei, oh lai Ohh”

Riordan and Celosia, laughing and smiling, hopped down off of the table and into the crowd, letting the tavern full of people finish their singing.

“Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lai, oh

Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lai, oh

Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lai

Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lai, oh”

“Oh, that was lovely Riordan!” Helian ran forward and grabbed onto Riordan, smiling and still swaying.

“Thank you!” Riordan smiled and cheered happily “I rather enjoyed it! How about you Celiosa?”

The redhead smiled and flipped her hair over her shoulders. “It was fabulous! I think I was on tune the whole time too!”

“You both sang beautifully.” Delmar approached the group of three, pulling along Tatsuya who was stuffing their face with cookies from a platter in their hands.

“Tatsuya!” Helianthus, or Helian, went towards the Dragonborn, pulling them into a tight hug.

“Hmmp.” The green and black scaled Dragonborn huffed and stared at Helian with their heterochromatic eyes.

“I was wondering where you got off to!” orange hair bangs bouncing as she releases the Dragonborn.

“Hmmp.” Tatsuya smiled a bit, stuffing another cookie into their mouth before reaching out towards Helianthus to tuck a loose strand of hair behind their golden bandana.

“I'm glad you all made it! Even if it took you guys a while.” Smiling, I quickly nabbed my favorite type of cookie, an oatmeal raisin one, off Tatsuya’s plate. Their green and gray eyes glared at me for a second before they huffed again and went back to chomping on the cookie in their hand.

“We would have made it on time if it wasn't for a certain someone taking forever.” Celosia giggled, crossing her arms and shooting a playful glare at Delmar.

“You all know that these coats don't get perfectly white and crisp on their own.” Delmar smiled, returning the Nereid's glare.

We began laughing and taking turns ‘stealing’ cookies off a certain Dragon’s plate. The partying and celebration continued deep into the night, all of us were having an amazing time - as we usually do at these gatherings -.

*Song: Soldier Poet King, by the Oh Hellos in Dutch*

its invaded my head

took up an apartment

and made me pay the rent

word after word is my penance

no free time to be named

i'll work until it breaks me,

until the lake of motivation dries

into fuel for the flame.

i find myself becoming

a shell of who i am

waiting for my own characters to fill me

with their flaws and their regret.

i stay up at night mourning

for things i've never done

because they are starting to become me.

their memories are mine,

their love is my own.

their spotify playlist is what i listen to

whenever i'm alone.

and i find myself singing along

to someone else's heartbreak.

i can feel my own flaws in their voice

their experiences as if they are mine.

and i'm beginning to regret starting this

because it's taking over my mind.

maybe i've finally done it,

maybe this is it.

the next great novel, my biggest hit,

and all i had to give up

was my identity,

exchanging myself for a character

that i don't even like.

this'll be the novel that puts me on the radar,

catapults me into fame.

and this'll be the novel

that kills me

before i ever get the chance

to enjoy its success.