Random Poem Post #15 (Nov. 21, 2008)

November 21st, 2008

I tell you I am

The one who spoke

And let out the secret

Not to be told

_

A look in the eyes

Means a thousand words

A spin in a dance

Can spin the world

One word spoken

Can leave someone broken

One day taken

Costs another token

I tell you I am

The one who spoke

And let out the secret

Not to be told

I tell you I did

The wrongest deed

And a punishment

May be what I need

_

Cut off their tongue

Leave them to bleed

Leave them to die

Pay them no heed

A house that burns

Could be the right turn

A broken hand

Could be enough to learn

I tell you I am

The one who spoke

And let out the secret

Not to be told

I tell you that I

Should maybe be gone

For I was the one

Who did something wrong

_

I tell you I am

The one who spoke

And let out the secret

Not to be told

I tell you I should

Be the one left to bleed

Leave me to die

Pay me no heed.

Redemption League #1: As You Sow

November 21st, 2008

NOTE: This may be taken down unless I get an OK from the admin. Almost all characters included in this story are property of other authors and/or directors and screenwriters. I am only having a little fun and filling in some might-have-beens. No copyright infringement is intended.

Prologue

 

     My life has been manipulated, bartered and infested by every manner of unusual creature in Creation before I was even born. Hex, name any kind of alien or vampire or knight of the bloody Round Table you can think of and chances are I’ve met them—probably at the business end of a weapon. All kinds of weapons! There are perhaps three people I know that actually prefer a gun over a broadsword. Jedi Knights’ lightsabers that thing can cut through five feet of solid steel before you can say jumping Jawas, a book of trick matches, enchanted daggers… My pals may be Goliaths, but most of them know that David was the smart cookie. Hey, there’s an idea for a weapon—cookies! Especially if it’s Anakin’s night to fix dessert.

     Drat. That was not how I meant to start. It’s official, I’m no good at telling stories. But this just my way of starting one, okay? And besides, what fun is it to get set down in the middle of a story with people you don’t know? So yeah, there’s something you probably didn’t about Anakin: he can’t cook. Neither can I, and I’m a girl for the love of Luthien.

     I’ve rubbed shoulders with just about every creature in the universe. And those I haven’t, I’m probably related to, thanks to the Spirit Lords getting panicky when the war they planned ended in near genocide for nearly ten races. Good job, well done, you guys are geniuses. Jerks. Except Rayden, lord of fire and thunder, who I owe my life to. And then of course there’s Calypso, my godmother, my aunt, my eternal tormentor. But that’s another story.

     Anyway, these guys used a helpless unborn baby for their schemes just because they couldn’t handle the consequences of their actions. To even out the “cosmic balance,” they gave me the genetics of Elves, vampires, spirits, Jedi, and some creatures yet to be named. What that bunch of jerks seemed to conveniently forget was that in making me analogous with all those races, they were also obligating me to commit to animosity with those races’ enemies. How’s that for an earful, O masters of gi-normous confusing riddle talk?

     Not a year later, somebody with a grudge against my father decided to kidnap one of his children. I was the youngest of eight daughters, and the easiest to grab. He sent me not only to another dimension, but back in time! We still haven’t found out who this creep was.

    Now, this lousy little slime-sucker dumped me in a random ditch to die. But a woman named Felicity Rosenberg drove by and saw me. She adopted me. She was, in all honesty, an awesome mom. Every Saturday she took me out for a sundae and taught me right from wrong. Thank God for people like Felicity.

     The only thing she did that made me truly angry was naming me. She called me Bethany Emma Rosenberg. Bethany Emma. What the hex?! Not like it stuck. I started telling people my name was Roxanne. I didn’t know it then, but Roxanne is a Persian name meaning ‘dawn.’ Somehow I knew even with my childish mind that the dawn was something constant and lovely.

     But it was, of course, too good to last. Because guess what? A bloody Sith Lord just happened to stumble on my nearly-dormant Force signature from five galaxies away and decided that I had the perfect potential to be his next victim… er, apprentice. So he sends this pyscho former Jedi bounty hunter called Aurra Sing after me! Starting to see a pattern here?

     The only reason I wasn’t on my way to becoming Lady Exar Kun then and there was because Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi had been tracking her and set me free. I was six at this time, maybe a year or so over the Jedi exception limit. Maybe the Force wanted Qui-Gon to get in some cajoling practice so Anakin would be sure to get in later.

    So I got some Jedi training in. I was immediately marked as a trouble-maker, since I was fond of painting graffiti on the walls and “borrowing” training lightsabers for whenever I went out of the Temple. It’s a wonder they didn’t kick me out. Six years passed. Between missions Qui-Gon passed on his knowledge of people and taught me to be conscious of the living Force, not worried about what the future might bring. Yoda and several others looked down on his unorthodox methods and tried to make him do things by the book. Many tried to undo his influence on me, but I think they only made us both stronger. Because of these incidents I made no friends other than Qui-Gon— and was sure I never would.

     Then came a fateful day.

     Naboo was under siege and since Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had been hired by the Supreme Chancellor to force a settlement with the Trade Federation, Qui-Gon invited me along. He knew how much I hated politics even back then. Now I loathe them so much I can’t even hang with Leia without wanting to bite her head off.

     The Trade Federation had invaded Naboo and Qui-Gon thought it best that we take the Queen to Coruscant to push things along in the Senate. On the way to the capitol we were forced to make a detour to Tatooine while we made repairs. Well. There we met this amazing kid named Anakin. He and I connected instantly. He became my brother. We knew each other better than we knew ourselves.

     We couldn’t have met at a more oppurtune time, for mere days afterwards Qui-Gon Jinn met his end at the hands of a Sith Lord. That day I swore that I would never, never let death take my friends if it was in my power to save them. I could not endure that pain again.

     One day, after Anakin had been admitted to the Temple and I was starting to truly run amok, we were down at his favorite scrap heap when suddenly we stumbled on a dimensional portal. We tumbled through space and time, into a land populated by tall, beautiful people with pointed ears, short folk with ridiculously hairy feet, and a handful of gifted beings with long beards and walking sticks. Give ya three guesses, and the first two don’t count. After that encounter the portals would open to both of us at inoppurtune moments—in the middle of a battle, conference, or even baths. Those were the worst.

     By this time I was nearly thirteen, and I should have been chosen by a Master to continue my training. But Middle-earth had a hold on me, and my attachment to Anakin made the Council worry. They might have given me a second chance, but I didn’t let them. I wandered off to see Estel, my friend from Rivendell, on the day I should have been chosen, and continued to wander off from then on. They never exactly kicked me out, but from that day on I was the Temple pariah, even though I fought on their side.

     The rest is pretty much history.

     One last thing: my life is bizarre and screwy and insane…and utterly beautiful. Yes, it can be painful. But I’m not fooling myself. I love what I am. Because embodying everything, not just the dawn, is a real constant.

     On with the story…

 

Chapter One

 

     From what he had once described as “the next place,” Death watched the Battle of Naboo rage in the starry vacuum and lush meadow planet below it. At least in this battle most of the screaming came from grating metal and exploding wreckage rather than mortal throats.

      Had he been in physical form at the moment, Death would have sighed.

      Another Naboo fighter crashed to the ground as the rest of the fleet headed for the Trade Federation control ship. The pilot, a young human male, didn’t waste his last breath on useless cries. His whisper of “Good luck” to his comrades was cut short by the combustion of the engine, and sequentially his corporeal form.

     Then there was the boy, a small sandy-haired, blue-eyed Podracer of nine standard years. He wasn’t frightened. It wasn’t his time, and somehow he knew it. As he looked closer Death knew that the boy feared him, and rebelled against him. But Skywalker’s lack of fear in the midst of battle intrigued the being he never knew was watching.

     Unlike many others the Reaper knew…

     No, he told himself sternly.

     Susan Parrish, still alive, married to the “guy from the coffee shop”—later Death had learned his name was Peter Smith—had moved on.

     But oh, how Death wanted it all back, every little mortal detail. The softness of a bed, the sounds of car engines, the feeling of air entering and leaving his lungs, the soft scuff of shoes on hard ground, the roughness of stone and the smoothness of silk, the smell of food, the taste of peanut butter. And the sound of his mortal name.

     Joe Black.

     In the palace, the queen and a handful of soldiers fought their way towards the throne room. With them was a girl, a stick of a Jedi trainee with untamable dirty-blond hair and startling sea-green eyes. She had just enough fear to keep herself from running blind.

     Death could not read the future, per say. But he saw in these people a potential for greatness…or the greatest fall since the Crusades. How strange. He had lived among mortals for nearly a week, and they stilled managed to surprise him.

     But what if he existed as one of them until they no longer surprised them?

     The idea came unbidden, which was in itself an impulse left from his last encounter. And it gave possibility to an insane idea. The girl, the boy, the Jedi Knight who’s Master lay at his door— Death could walk with them. Stars, he could fight beside them if he so chose.

     Why not?

     The body of the young pilot was horribly burned, but Death’s “spirit” would handle that easily. Claiming the body of a mortal was not so much complicated as it was odd-feeling. First there was finding the empty space where the soul had been, putting himself in that place, and forcing himself to consciousness. Rather than the sensation of waking was the sense of jumping off a cliff into something solid, warm, and pulsing.

     Death slipped into the soul’s void, and jumped.

 

*  *  *

 

     Roxanne had purposely blocked her sense of the unifying Force, because she was certain that if she opened herself to it she would be overcome by the disturbances of souls being ripped from their corporeal forms. In the fields far beyond the palace, Gungans were being trampled by droids. In space above, fighters were shot down. In the Trade Federation camps, people died of starvation.

     She knew it could be worse. That didn’t change the sick feeling in her stomach.

     Amidala darted around the corner of the Naboo Palace, blasting a Federation droid in the head without stopping. Captain Panaka, a perpetual look of disapproval etched into his features, kept to the Queen’s side.

     Suddenly the small party was surrounded by battle droids, hateful spidery stacks of metal. The guards aimed their weapons, but there were at least ten to their six.

     “Throw down your weapons,” said Amidala. “They win this round.”

     Panaka scowled. “But we can’t—”

     Amidala glared. “Captain, I said throw down your weapons.”

     Roxanne ground her teeth and threw down her training lightsaber. The guards did the same with blasters, grappling hooks and liquid cable lauchers. This was not good. She needed to get to Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan!

     The droids herded the Queen and her party towards the throne room, and the Viceroy looked smugly at the young monarch.

     “Your little insurrection is at an end, Your Highness. Time for you to sign the treaty and end this pointless debate in the Senate.”

     Amidala prepared a snide reply, when Sabe ran past the doorway, dressed in a uniform identical to her own.

     “Viceroy! Your occupation here has ended!”

     Nute Gunray’s buggy eyes widened until it looked as though they would pop out of his head. “Get her! This one’s a decoy,” he shouted. His voice was strange, nasal like he had a cold, the accents on the wrong syllables.

     Amidala ran to the throne at the back of the room and opened the secret compartment in the arm. She hastily grabbed the two blasters out and threw one to Panaka, holding one on Gunray.

     “Now Viceroy, we will discuss a new treaty.”

     “Hey,” said on of the guards, “Where’s the Jedi girl?”

     Amidala looked around. Roxanne had vanished.

 

*  *  *

 

     Obi-Wan had never known true anger until now.

     The Sith Lord’s red and black tattooed face leered at him from behind a blazing sheet of scarlet made by his whirling double-bladed lightsaber. Obi-Wan had never gone up against this kind of weapon, or this kind of foe. But it didn’t matter. He would kill him.

     His shimmering blue lightsaber cut against the red, stopping the confusing whirl. He exchanged blow for blow with no thought, only a strangely comforting heat that kept him from having to put words to anything. He could have been fighting for a minute or an hour, he had no clue. But suddenly words broke the raging silence.

     “Obi-Wan!”

     It was Roxanne. She ran onto the walkway, snapping him out of his raging stupor. He had been fighting in anger.

     His concentration dropped. And so did he.

     The Sith took advantage of Obi-Wan’s lapse and Force shoved him off the walkway into a shaft. Obi-Wan clung to an outlet cap on the side and flailed his legs uselessly as the Sith Lord kicked his lightsaber down as well. It tumbled down the shaft, never hitting the sides, until Obi-Wan couldn’t see it anymore.

     It couldn’t end like this. Obi-Wan’s anger had faded, but it left a resolution of durasteel. Qui-Gon’s death would not be in vain. He sent out a tendril of the Force, feeling his fallen Master’s lightsaber still lying at its owner’s feet. With a burst of willpower, he called the weapon to his hand, Force-jumped up onto the walkway behind the Sith and with one clean slice, cut the tattooed Zabrak in two at the waist.

     As the two halves of the black-clad body went tumbling down the shaft, Obi-Wan felt no joy. Only a cool satisfaction that justice had been dealt.

     He deactivated his Master’s lightsaber and turned. Roxanne knelt with Qui-Gon’s head in her lap, tears running down her face as the old Jedi struggled for breath. Obi-Wan ran over and knelt next to him.

     “I…it’s too late,” Qui-Gon rasped.

     Roxanne shook her head. “Don’t talk like that,” she sobbed.

     “No,” Obi-Wan whispered.

     Qui-Gon reached out a hand to him. “Promise…promise me you’ll train the boy.”

     Obi-Wan nodded hard, fighting his own tears. “Yes Master!”

     Qui-Gon’s voice was lower than a whisper. “He…is the chosen one. He will…bring balance. Train him.”

     There was a small sound, like the rustle of sheets in the middle of the night, in the universal power that a select group of beings knew as the Force. But to two Padawans, it was as loud as any explosion. It was the sound of the soul of a great Jedi joining that power, out of touch forevermore.

     “Qui-Gon!”

     His name was an almost silent whisper on small lips, but Roxy felt as though the whole galaxy should have screamed. Qui-Gon Jinn was dead.

     Obi-Wan and Roxanne sat together over his body and wept.

Short Poems

November 21st, 2008

Touch

Your fingers touch
They say so much
More then words can say
You speak a lie
You touch with truth
I know your secret
You love me
—–
Secrets

Secrets hidden
Secrets locked
Secrets pushing us away
Secrets hurt
Secrets lie
Secrets keeping me away
All your dirty little secrets
—–
Looks

Eyes are watching
Whispering
Laughing
Making a fool of me

Eyes that scorn
Eyes that mock
Eyes that keep me up at night
Keep alive my fears

Eyes that stab and hurt
Looks are louder then words
—–
Sighing

Sighing
Dying
People are crying

Keep me safe from harm

Stolen from me
You left behind me
Come back and save me from harm
I miss you
—–
Love

Hug you
Love me
Kiss you
Take me

Smile at me
Smile at you
Love me forever
Love you forever

Love makes the world go round

—–

There Is An Ocean

There is an ocean
Deep and blue
That separates me from you

It tastes of salt,
by the tears we’ve shed

There is an ocean
Deep and blue
That separates me from you

It’s deep color,
from the sadness lost

There is an ocean
Deep and blue
That separates me from you

Random Poem Post #14 (Nov. 20, 2008)

November 21st, 2008

Gazing out over the city

Watching the clouds pass

Tracing the electrical wires

With my long bare fingers

But God, O my

Why must it be

That the glory has fallen

When the fight’s just begun

O God, O my

Why must it be

That the fire must die

Just as it’s been lit

__________________

Feet slipping on the terrain

Sky’s gonna fall on us

Broken hands which look as if

They’ve been used a million uses

My God, O my

Why must it be

That the glory must die

When the fights just begun

O God, O my

Why must it be

That the fire must die

Just as it’s lit

__________________

Look at the fallen bodies

Watch the black birds soar

See each heart as it

Breaks in front of your eyes

But God, O my

Why must it be

The the glory must die

When the fight’s just begun

O God, O my

Just tell me how

The fire’s gone out

When I swore it was lit

_________________________

Feel the warmth of hands

Taste the salt of the seas

Shoot the man whos made

The dumb decision to fight you

But O God, O my

How could it be

That our glory is lost

When my battle’s just begun

O God, O my

How could it be

That my fire’s out already

When I swore it’d just been lit

____________________________

Sleep on the floor

Dream of a better life

Wish for this moment

Never to come to an end

But O God, O my

I wonder if it could be

That our glory really is lost

When the fight’s just begun

O God, O my

I wonder if it’s possible

For the fire to die

So soon after being lit

__________________

But God, O my

Why must it be

That the glory has fallen

When the fight’s just begun

O God, O my

Why must it be

That the fire must die

Just as it’s been lit?

You

November 20th, 2008

You make me want to die a thousand deaths

In earth and sky and sea

You make me wish that every breath

Could be the love you see

 

You make me want to scream aloud

For all of Heav’n to hear

You make me want to pay the price

That would cost me all too dear

 

You make me want to say the things

My heart would not forgive me for

You make me want to be the wings

That will bear you up forevermore

Chapter 19: A Plan…(The Story of Aaleyah Kiara Fallyn)

November 20th, 2008

by raven14

I looked around me. Sven was riding on my right, and a big, burly men was on my left. How hard could this be?

Hard.

                                                                                   ~

Two boys, a man, and a woman each sit on a galloping horse. They rush toward a city…they don’t have much time.

                                                                                   ~

My plan was ready. Now I just had to carry it out…

We stopped suddenly, and the burly man told me to get off his horse. He walked over to me to enfore this command.

“Get off the horse now,” he said, reaching up to grab me. I knew exactly what was going on. They were afraid I might still try to run, and they were going to tie me up. I had to put my plan in action!

Suddenly I kicked my horse in the flanks. It set off at a wild gallop. My hair streamed out behind me, and I hung on for dear life. I could hear the men shouting and giving chase. I had to be faster than them…

I knew what else I had to do. I summoned heat out of the air…and formed a large fire orb in my hands. I threw it over my shoulder, glancing back briefly to see where to aim. Then I sat forward and hunched down…Here it comes!  I thought… It hit the ground and exploded. The men screamed- but the wall of fire didn’t stop them for long. They just made their horses leap over it, and were soon on my heels again.

What was I to do now? Get into the crowds, and then jump off my horse? People will help me, surely! They wouldn’t watch a girl be chased and killed or hurt by twenty men. They wouldn’t!  But the truth was, they probably would…probably…

I didn’t know for sure. I had to chance it. I raced into the town. More screams filled the air as people lunged out my way. This was it. I had to jump now!

I sprang from my horse- and just before I hit the ground, a sharp, fiery pain spread through my shoulder. They had shot me with an arrow. I could feel it embed itself in my flesh.

I hit the ground hard, and gasped with the pain of my back, shoulder, and fall combined. People just ran around crazily, not doing anything sensible. But then, what would I have done if a girl came racing into town on a horse like a madwoman and then jumped off of the horse? I wouldn’t have any idea what was going on.

“Help!” I screamed, standing up. “Those men are trying to hurt me!”

The people turned to look at my attackers on their horses, galloping toward me. But they decided they shouldn’t believe me when my attackers, now on foot, chasing me, shouted, “Stop her! She’s a runaway!”

I turned and fled down the street, every part of me screaming in pain. My breath became ragged…but I had to keep going! But where would I go? How far could I make it until the pain killed me, or I was caught again?

“Aaleyah!” I heard someone shout above the madness. I looked frantically around, and saw a person standing up ahead of me. How on earth did they know my name? That didn’t matter- what did matter was that I would have to dodge them somehow. They were probably waiting to ambush me or distract me…

Then the person ran toward me with his sword drawn. I screamed again and tried to dodge him, but suddenly others were following him- another boy, and a man.

I suddenly realized- it was Adan, Shastara, and Japheth! They had come to rescue me! I nearly fainted with relief…then realized something else. How could three men hold off an entire mob?

Adan and Shastara were alive?! I looked at the two of them more closely- it was indeed them! They hadn’t been killed after all! Was it possible?

The fact that there was a huge mob in front of them didn’t bother them; they just rushed at the crowd swinging their swords. The peasants instantly stood aside- no one had said there swords and actual fighting involved in this chase. They were done now. They didn’t want their limbs sliced off.

However, the barbarians who had been holding me captive for the last two days didn’t hesitate to meet them, also brandishing their swords. They jumped off their horses, and the real fight began.

Should I keep running, or stop and catch my breath? I feared if I stopped too long, I wouldn’t be able to move again.

I never got to decide, because suddenly I was being dragged backward. Someone had an iron grip on my arms, and try as I might I couldn’t get away.

“Adan! Shastara!” I screamed. But then my new captor kicked me, jolting my whole body and causing me such pain that I blacked out.

                                                                                        ~

When I awoke, I was lying down on a small bunk. The room I was in was also small, and the walls were wooden, as was the bench and the chest inside. The door to the room was closed…and when I tried to get up, I found I was tied to the bunk.

A suddenly lilting and lurching motion tilted the room. I nearly vomited. The room became stiller than it had been before, but a gentle rocking motion continued. I heard shouting from outside the door, something about sails and a deck…

Sails. A deck.

I was on a ship- probably the ship the barbarians had been trying to get me on. They had succeeded. There was no hope for me now.

All was lost.

I was really, and truly a goner.

Supergirl

November 19th, 2008

Wow…. this is the most I’ve posted all in one day/night….

-

By Empathy

-

Superman, Superman
You say you’re my Superman
You say I need saving
You say you’re the man

You swoop in not looking
You jump in to save me
You think I need saving
In truth you don’t know

This isn’t the real me
In life I’m so different
I’m my own Supergirl

You come in all puffed up
You don’t seem to realize
That I don’t want you here
You think really you know me?

This isn’t the real me
In life I’m so different
I’m my own Supergirl

You might think you know me
But I keep the real me
All locked up away
‘Cause I might hurt you

I know you’re just trying
To keep me all safe
But what I’d really like
Is you outta the way

You’re my friend, I don’t want to scar you forever

This isn’t the real me
In life I’m so different
I’m my own Supergirl

This isn’t the real me
In life I’m so different
‘Cause I’m my own Supergirl
‘Cause I’m really my own Supergirl!

Sky City (Chapter the Seventh)

November 19th, 2008

*tries to decide to throw post the chapter and then run, or run and not even bother posting the post* Hi! Um….. I’M SO SORRY I HAVEN’T POSTED SKY CITY IN A WHILE!!! I’VE BEEN SO BUSY!!!!! Drama ends tomorrow….. save me……. Okay. Here’s Sky City, Chapter the Seventh. Hee hee hee…. Hope you don’t murder me for saying/making Clara be - *zips lips* HA. Looks like you’ll have to read to find out!!!

-

By Empathy

-

Pronunciation Guide:

Aureola - uh-ray-oo-la
Ordinatri - or-dee-na-tree

-

Order Chapters Should Be Read In:

Ist Dream Sequence
Chapter the First
Chapter the Second
Chapter the Third
Chapter the Fourth
Chapter the Fifth
2nd Dream Sequence
1st Waking Hours
Chapter the Sixth
Chapter the Seventh (this post.)

-
Over the next few hours of walking, the pain just hazed over me - inescapable. I wasn’t aware of where I was or what I was doing. I was quickly sinking into a fever. Maybe from infection. Who knew what dirt , wood chips, branches, leaves, etc, I’d landed on. It was still seemingly impossible that I’d actually survived that fall. But I had.

Everything felt like a dream, and I felt increasingly more and more dreamy and tired - all I wanted to do was sleep.

My back felt as though it was against a inferno, and I was the wood.

I was jarred back into awareness when pain was jolted up and down my body after Clara shook me sharply.

“What?” I mumbled. “Are we there yet?”

Clara’s voice had a almost hearable hint of panic in it. “Aureola? Aureola? Stay with me! Stay with me! Please! Please! You can’t sleep now! You can’t sleep now! Stay awake! Stay awake! Aureola! Aureola! Aureola!” Why was she repeating herself? Why was she yelling? Everything seemed to have an echo now . . .

“Don’t yell so. What’s wrong?”

Her voice held uncovered panic now. “You can’t sleep! You can’t sleep! I think we’re almost there! Hold on! Hold on! Aureola! Aureola! Aureola! AUREOLA! ”

“Just a quick nap . . . “ I mumbled, and sank into oblivion.

~

When I awoke, I was in the Sky City Hospital. It’s funny, we’re so far ahead of you with our advanced technology, and yet, all of our hospitals, here and on earth, are the same. Same smells, same sounds, same colors (blinding white).

When my eyes opened, the first thing I was aware of was my body. Hyper aware of it. I felt so strange, like I was missing some major thing on my body had been changed -

Where was the pain? I almost cried. It was gone!

A white haired (of course) doctor leaned over me and into my line of vision. He said to someone behind him I could not see, “She’s awake. Her family can come in.”

I was pretty sure that my family had it out for me when they all seemed to jump on me all at once, making it immensely hard to breath.

Dad was out from his workshop for once, Mom was not with the Sky City counselors, and Nimbus wasn’t playing with his windrider.

As because of me.

Dad looked tired, and old. Mom’s cheeks were wet. Nimbus was pale.

I didn’t know what to say as they got off me, letting me breath freely. I mean, I know they loved me, but - I don’t know. It seemed strange to see them out of their normal habitations.

Nimbus was the one who broke the small silence. “Rola, if you wanted our attention more, you just had to ask. Not - go jump off a rooftop.” Nimbus, though still pale, looked vaguely impressed with what I’d done (accidentally). Go figure. Nimbus is 17 with white hair (of course), pink tinged eye color, and the older brother skill of getting under my skin. Don’t all brothers have that?

After that little speech, Mom looked like she wanted to yell at me or hug and kiss me, but wasn’t sure which, and Dad looked strained.

“I’m sorry?” I said in a tiny voice after a moments silence.

Mom burst into tears, and Dad wrapped an arm around her shoulders, his eyes bright as well. Nimbus had buried his head in his hands.

“’Rola, do me a favor. Don’t ever go jumping off rooftops again, okay?” Nimbus’s voice came out muffled.

“Sure, Nimbus. I wasn’t planning on it anyway.”

There was silence for a moment, while I struggled with trying to remember something. I was forgetting something very important, and it niggled at the edge of my conscience until -

“OH!” I cried, sitting bolt upright in bed. My family look up at me startled, from where they stood at my the side of my bed, whispering. “Where’s Clara?”

When no one answered, and I looked closely at all their faces.

Nimbus looked blank. Dad looked grim. And Mom’s face had darkened.

“What? What is it? What aren’t you telling me? Is she hurt? She didn’t say she was but - ”

“Aureola,” Dad said when my worried voice died away. “Listen, she - Clara isn’t what she - appears to be. She’s - “ He stopped.

“Dad, Clara’s my friend. What happened to her?” There was strain in my voice. As I said the words, I realized them true. I’d known Clara for such a short time, and yet I felt close to her already, though she was very strange.

Mom tried, and said what Dad couldn’t say. “Sweet, Clara was lying to you. She’s really - “ I opened my mouth to protest that Clara wouldn’t lie. She just wouldn’t! She was one of those honest people. “ - a spy for Caligo. We found she was from Caligo after she let slip while panicking about you. She’s quite the actress. She’s now in custody. Rola, we think she was going to try and hurt some of us in some way - an assassin. We found a dagger on her. Although we’re not sure that she is a spy, all the evidence is against her. Why else would she leave Caligo anyway?”

The words died on my lips. The words I was about to use to defend my friend - She was never your friend, Aureola. I thought angrily - Clara from Mom, now tasted bitter and terrible in my mouth.

Who are you, Clara?

Free Fall

November 19th, 2008

By Empathy

-

Let go . . .
Free fall . . .

Feel the wind in our faces
The adrenaline in our systems
Powerful feeling
Embrace

Living up top on cloud nine
Nothing will ever touch us (nothing)
Soak it up
Freedom

Free fall, free fall!
Laugh into the wind!

Who cares that we have vertigo?
We’re the wind, the fire - free
Dare devil antics
Never have regrets

Living life to the fullest
Let them try and stop us
Life is good
We’re flying

Free fall, free fall!
Laugh into the wind!

Free fall, free fall!
Laugh into the wind!

On another ledge now
Never touch the ground
Let’s let go again.
Free fall!

Free fall, free fall!
Laugh into the wind!

Life is good, life is sweet
No regrets - an easy life
Let go
Free fall

Laugh into the wind!
‘Cause here we go again!

Free fall . . .

Free fall . . .

Free fall . . .

Why

November 19th, 2008

Why in spring, do birds come back?

Why is grass green, not blue ?

So what’s the hurry to grow up?

Is there nothing else to do?

Why were we made at all?

Why does death exist?

If all that people do is hate

then Why does love persist?

There’s so much more to learn

to know

And so much left to do.

So alas I must leave you now

goodbye, au’voir, adieu.