Elysian Eagle

Elysian Eagle

Volume 2 Edition 3 2018

Table of Contents

TVHS WRITE LIFE V.2 Edition 3 March 2018 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF CREATIVE DIRECTOR

ISABELLE CLUKEY

TARA WALKER ASSISTANT EDITOR DESIGN TEAM

SIERRA PLACE

JADEN HETZEL EDITORIAL STAFF MARKETING DIRECTOR

EMMA HOUCKES

KAELYN GIEFER

KYLIE JACOBSON

ADAM KNIGHT

STAFF ADVISOR

JENNIFER SOLT

LINDSY BROWN

Roses and Thorns, by Isabelle Clukey...

Sinking, by Sydney Chase...

Dear Sadness, by Sierra Place...

Bear Claw, by Caleb Sweezy...

What is this feeling, by Sierra Place...

Change, by Anonymous...

Grave, by Tori Bobko...

With in these walls, by Deandria Handy...

Astra, by Ky Jacobson...

Zefens, by Sarah J. Baker...

Cave Dwellers, by Adrian Juarez...

Terraseĝoj, by Lincoln Solt...

3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 17 25 31

Roses And thorns To the world she was a pretty little flower Locked up in her high marbled tower.

She was the Bishop’s daughter The offspring of only the purest water.

She was a perfect red rose Untouched by the bitter winter snow.

Oh how little did they know‌ How vengeance would escape her lips to flow.

Upon the deceitful Kings All their truths her words would bring.

And the white linen lies she would expose Despite the doors they would desperately try to close.

Upon the hushed Queens, Who had been silenced by cruel means.

Their quiet opinions would have a voice To stay or to go would be their choice.

Upon the disguised Squire With his sweet honey brimmed words, he was quite the liar.

A man who wore two faces, She would steal all his aces.

Upon the great Lords Making deals with the devil while cutting one another with swords.

Hush, they exclaimed embittered A crimson plot unraveled would soon be whispered.

She would be a thorn in the backs of traitors Who had left nothing in her fragile heart but craters.

She would soon become their lovely nightmare And end all their deceptive affairs.

Her words would ring true And all those who ever underestimated her would soon lose.

Even the most perfect rose can bring down a throne. ~Isabelle Clukey

Sinking It’s not that kind of drowning… It’s like she is trapped in the ocean and she’s done nothing but try to stay afloat.

Although no matter what, a wave just comes and knocks her under… And she’s always trying to find her way up and yet it’s like someone has added weights to her ankles. . . But she’s not alone. There are people with her…

People she cares about and doesn’t want drowning either, so she is holding them up… And now some being comes and decides that this isn’t enough.

Now she is going to have a storm over her head. And now she is this little 5’1 person trapped in the ocean, waves crashing over her, weights around her ankles, holding up people she loves, and now a raging storm over her head.

Patiently waiting for that ray of sun as the clouds break in the sky, and for a boat to finally rescue her. ~Sydney Chase

Dear sadness, I don’t hate you, Even though all too often you make me feel alone, I know you don’t mean it, I know those skeletal claw marks you leave on my body aren’t meant to hurt me, But I’m fragile like broken porcelain, Cracked, The scars you give me would make the moon howl back at the wolf, You bring baggage to the table but it’s not your fault that I can’t always handle it, You need me to handle it, You cling to me hoping I can somehow save your childlike innocence from the things of the past, So I take the beatings to protect you, My one companion, My sweet solemn sadness, You hide in my chest, Behind the rib cage, I use it as armor, And when I can’t stand because of the weight of the memories you play for me, Like old movies, You tell me you’re sorry, Like sorry means more than just words, You tell me you’re the only one for me, My bittersweet one true love, You sing in my ear the sweet nothings of loneliness, You tell me I’m worthless and undeserving of the life I have, Then when the sobs quite you apologize again, You hold my hand and hug me close to your chest The sharp darkness of your fingers dig into my shoulders, But I still come running back, Even though your kiss tastes of kerosene and smoke, I love you even when you beat me down, Even when you splinter my armor and shatter my caged bird heart, I run to you, As sick as it sounds, I love your venomous words, I love your dangerous company, I need your pain, It keeps me going, It makes me stronger, You’re not as heavy now, I’m used to the scars and the insomnia, I’m used to your deadly embrace, I’m used to avoiding the subject.

Forever yours, Sierra

what is this feeling Bear Claw The bear’s fur, reflecting that of stubble.

The bear’s countenance shows nothing but trouble.

But is it trouble really or is it thought Does this great bear sit out to rot?

Nay- I say nay! For this is a wise bear That sits on this fine joy.

For a wise bear sits on a wise bear Thinks When a great grizzly plants its feet on the ground, take comfortFor it’s a kind, smiley, wise bear that sits around ~Caleb Sweezy

Stillness, An ache I can not reach, It brushes the surface but I can’t see it, It runs from light, It hides from my eyes.

What is this feeling?

Like all my blood rushing through my chest, Like the flowers losing their petals all at once.

What is this feeling?

Of soft knives brushing moldable flesh, So that they can see what’s inside, What is this feeling?

Of standing alone, Spotlight beaming over your shoulders, As if it’s trying to scare the darkness away But it’s not quite bright enough, What is this feeling?

This numbness that haunts me, It feels like ice on sore muscles, It feels like wanting to cry but not having any feelings to let out, What is this feeling?

When my mother asks me how I’m feeling, I say I don’t know, Because it’s easier than saying nothing, It’s easier than saying I’m numb and I don’t know why -Sierra Place

Change

Only now did it occur to me that the reason I’m no longer in love with you Is not because you’ve changed It’s because I’ve watched larger than life men die It’s because I’ve aged twenty five years while you’ve aged only one It’s because grief has whispered secrets in my ear that you won’t hear for decades It’s because the compassion I had for your problems was buried six feet deep And it’s because I’ve walked through hell and back Twice I’m the one who’s changed The only real pain you’ve felt in a long time was when I did what you never thought I’d have the guts to do.

Did that kill a part of the man within you?

Did my leaving leave you with gray hairs at seventeen?

Did my goodbye harshly echo truths into your small ears until you could no longer hear?

Did me breaking your heart make every other problem in the world seem insignificant because now you finally know this is the worst it can get?

Until you let that part of you die Until you grow up Until you can hear clearly And only after you can recognize true catastrophe Maybe, just maybe, We could be the world again. ~Anonymous

Darling, I lost my sweetness

Darling,

to your words of poison.

How did we become to be?

Is it you that has been searching for me?

Or is it I that has been searching for you?

We tried our hands at this deck; you the King and me your Queen.

But the cards have changed, and I’m afraid I’m not yours to keep.

You became the Joker as I became the number two.

What a unpleasant pair we are in this world of grim.

You dug yourself a grave and took me along with you for safe keeping.

I felt safe and secure, like nothing could ever harm me.

Not even you.

You taught me how to dance with my demons, and told me that life is a lie.

I had the heart then to believe you as I never believed you to be the prince of lies.

Bottle to the lips, you were happy.

Smoke to the lungs, you were lonely.

Did I ever tell you, darling?

Hell never looked so beautiful with those roses you painted black.

I wish I would’ve known then that those black roses were for me.

Useless, scared, empty, why have I become these things?

Ahh, the pleasure of these tears tells me my heart still beats, but it doesn’t beat no more for you.

Can I dig myself out this grave?

- Tori Bobko

WITHIN THESE WALLS

Hello, I am 9 years old and I have no brothers or sisters. I live with my mom and dad who seem to push me aside any chance they get. When we left Chicago about a month ago, my parents told me this would be a fresh start for all of us. They told me things just weren’t going well there and leaving would be good for the family, so they decided to move to Colorado. My name is Robbie and I am in fourth grade, and the one peculiarity I have is that I see this shadow… this dark shadow. It began about a week ago when we first moved in. Observing it proved to be inconsequential, for it always seemed to just stand in one place, pointing to my basement door before disappearing. The creepiest thing is that it always happened at night.

Ever since the move, that’s when the thing appeared. I don’t know the reason why it materialized and I don’t really want to know. I’m not really scared of it- I sort of expect it every night.

But the one thing I don’t understand is why he points to our basement door. I go down there every now and again to clean or fetch something for my parents, but I never see anything strange or unusual. Though it still comes back, points to the door, and disappears every night. The timing is the same too.

I always seem to wake up at 1:00 am and walk out to the living room. I would wait and watch the door, and sure enough the friendly guest pays me a visit, delivering a message that I can’t understand. This had been going on for about a week or so until one terrifying night.

I got up at my usual time and saw the figure. It evaporated in front of my eyes but instead of pointing at the door and disappearing like before, the figure walked down the basement stairs with me following closely behind. It pointed to the wall across from the basement staircase, then disintegrated. That was completely surprising and scary even. I couldn’t help but feel like the shadow was trying to lead me to something… since the routine has always been the same. Until this one night and I didn’t get the reason why, UNTIL NOW… I observed the wall very carefully, examining every inch and saw nothing strange.

I was about to head back to bed after an alarming yawn telling me I’m tired until I saw a book.

Now, I myself don’t have very many books because I’m not really a reader. But from just a glance, I knew the book was not mine. It was black and covered in a blanket of dust. It was

old and had to have been untouched for at least five years. The book was buried under all kinds of boxes and was sitting vertically against the wall I had observed so carefully. I picked the book up and blew the dust off. I choked from the dirty particles that flew from the book. I sat down on the bottom stair of the basement and looked at the book in curiosity. It had no title and no author on the cover, even on the spine. The book was just plain with no writing of any sort on the outside. I slowly opened the cover and gave out a shriek at the sight of a spider crawling out of the first page. I stomped furiously and sat back down. I heard movement upstairs, so I ran back to my room with the book clinging to my hand. I was afraid I may have awoken my parents so I turned the basement light off and dove into my bed scrambling to get my blankets on and stuffed the book under my pillow as I pretended to have been asleep the whole time. My dad walked in my bedroom, then shut the door behind him as he headed back to sleep. I waited a little bit so he could be asleep for at least a minute or two then threw the covers off. I turned on my light, then grabbed the book. I opened the cover and then to the next page and that’s where the story began…

“I happen to live within the walls. It’s lonely here. I wish I had a friend or someone to talk to.

I would be a good friend. I would sing to my friend, play games with them, tell secrets that only we would know. We would be best friends. But I can’t be the only good friend. They have to be too. They can’t run and tell on me. They can’t stay away from me, leaving me alone. They can’t have any other friends, ONLY me.

“Sadly, the so-called friends I had before weren’t that good. They all broke my rules. They should have known better. They should have NEVER BROKEN MY RULES… So now they are gone because I had to get rid of them. No one deserves terrible friends like them. I was being a good friend for everyone. Getting rid of them wasn’t easy. I was hurt because I still missed them so I always kept a souvenir. It’s the one thing about them I miss, so I keep it.

“I have an interesting collection. The collection grows bigger because no one can OBEY MY RULES! But I know someone will and that’s why I stay within the walls. I know they will come and when they do, we’ll be together FOREVER. Both of us within the walls telling our secrets.

That one person will be so lucky because I don’t pick just anyone. You have to be chosen. You have to meet MY STANDARDS. You have to be SPECIAL. You have to be by yourself, no one else, no other siblings. You have to feel alone and pushed aside. You have to feel sad and angry.

You have to be filled with sorrow. And so I’ve chosen YOU ROBBIE…You are perfect and soon you and me will be together. I’ll take you with me and you will never be alone ever AGAIN. I’m so happy you came here from Chicago. I’m so HAPPY… and you will be too, just wait. I’ll be there soon. You’ll love it here...WITHIN THESE WALLS…” Then the book ended.

This a letter to anyone. Anyone at all… it’s been so long and it’s so dark. No one should be here… not in this house. You’ll end up like me. Stuck, scared, cold… but you’ll never be alone…

HE loves everyone, and if he chooses you, OBEY HIS RULES because if you disobey, you’ll join his collection. You don’t want see it, the terrifying, blood-curdling collection. So I warn everyone and anyone to never enter this house, never come in the basement. HE may see you and if HE likes you, he’ll want you to be his friend and you’ll be stuck like me… WITHIN THESE WALLS… Robbie… ~Deandria Handy

ASTRA

She had been born of an explosion.

Her first memories were simply light and color. No sound.

Just the shattering burst of silver that brought her to life in the vast emptiness, as her consciousness became substance.

She lived for billions of years. Eons. Twirling, burning, twinkling in the night sky.

There were others like her. She could feel them, glowing with golden pulsing light behind her.

Some were larger. Some were smaller. Some burned silver and hovered like her, but others were coated in water, ice, or fire, and spun in cadence to the pulsing of their heartbeats.

The heartbeats of the stars. The heartbeats of the planets. The heartbeats of the universe.

The heartbeats of life.

She lived for what she thought could be an eternity, burning in the night sky. Her only pastime was watching a curious planet spinning below her, green and blue.

But one night, she felt something different on that planet. It was intelligent and alive and there.

Though she could not know it, she had witnessed the start of humanity. Through the years, she watched, mystified.

The presence grew and grew, until it covered the entirety of the planet. Lights began shining from the planet. Artificial lights.

And though she was a star and could not feel fear, there was an undeniable unease than coursed through her.

She was full of the magic of the universe, and the presence on the planet was somehow harnessing it. She watched and watched, as the lights grew brighter and humanity spread.

She was a star, glowing and bright and alive.

But stars also die.

One night she wakes to another explosion.

And for the first time in eons, everything is black.

She wakes up.

Something is different.

She has consciousness. She has a shadow. She has hands. The air is full of light, but it is dim.

Choking.

And that’s when she feels it. Emotions, rushing through her, pushing up in her, drowning her.

Drowning her.

She begins to shake and realizes her face wet and she’s covered in red stickiness and she is so, so afraid.

Jax pumped his legs even harder, hoping it would make his bicycle go faster. It didn’t.

He was at top speed, racing down a deserted road along miles of cornfields. He surveyed the landscape before him. Yep, there it was. Still there.

A faint silver glow, emanating from the heart of an abandoned field in front of him. Now he could smell it- sulfur, something burning, smoke, and something he didn’t quite recognize.

His heart thumped. He probably shouldn’t be here, speeding down a dark road in the middle of the night. But he had to see it for himself.

He’d be back before anyone noticed. He’d make it back with time to spare. There’s no way he’d get lost- he knew these cornfields better than the back of his hand. Quick, he thought, and exhaled. It’ll be quick. In and out.

And with that thought, he swerved, braked, jumped off his bike, and plunged into the cornfield.

Jax had been the first one to notice the shooting star.

It began as a pinprick of light in the distance. Then it grew brighter. Then it grew larger.

Then it started falling.

Jax had watched, mesmerized, as the star shot across the sky. The burning silver ball of fire was getting bigger and more blinding by the millisecond.

Jax had also been the first one to notice that something was wrong.

Didn’t most shooting stars just disintegrate when they reached Earth’s atmosphere?

And if they didn’t… that meant that they were way larger, way hotter, and way more destructive than other shooting stars.

He shot a glance behind him into the house. Would it be worth it to wake up his older brother, Dylan? His dad was on a research trip, leaving him and his brother by themselves, so Dylan was the only one around. But he was asleep, and Jax didn’t want to make him grumpy.

He remembered his binoculars, and fumbled for them underneath the porch rocking chair.

Jax finally managed to tug off the binocular cover, and he lifted it to his eyes. The star was magnified by the power of the binoculars, and he watched in awe.

It was a spiraling golden burst of light.

Jax kept waiting for it to disappear, but it never did. It just kept coming.

Jax pushed through the corn and then stopped. He’d made it.

The crater was small. Smaller than he’d imagined. Some logical part of him felt sore with unease.

A shooting star this size… There was no way it had been big enough to make it all the way through the mesosphere without simply burning up. So how had it managed to make all the way to the earth?

The crater still fizzled, and white steam rose in wisps around the edges. Jax could feel

the star’s heat rolling off the ground towards him. He looked on in awe. Small pieces of burning rock were strewn about the crater, and the smells were now overpowering.

Stalks of nearly disintegrated corn lay on the outskirts of the gaping hole. Jax tried to peer farther into the deep crater, but the smoke was blocking his vision. Anything in the middle would’ve been turned to ash anyways. He turned to explore the other side of the crater when a flash of motion in his peripheral vision stopped him.

Slowly, he turned back around and looked in the center of the crater. The smoke was beginning to drift away. He had a clear view of the very middle.

Jax’s heart was pounding so loud he thought it might fly out of his chest.

There, in the center of the white-hot crater, was a girl.

She was just a kid. Couldn’t be more than twelve or thirteen years old. But somehow Jax felt like he was looking at the oldest person in the world.

Her hair was light blonde. It gleamed in the dim light, and was the only part of her not covered in dirt or blood.

Her eyes were black. She had flecks of silver in her irises. She tilted her head and looked at Jax, and as she did a streak of blue fear flashed in her her dark eyes.

She was young but ageless. Her eyes were dark but gleamed. She looked innocent and scared, but as Jax stared into the depths of her glassy eyes, he felt she must know all the secrets in the universe.

-Kylie K. Jacobson

Zefens

By Sarah J. Baker 1

Tired from her long day of work, Rita leaped into bed and quickly dozed off to sleep. She had spent her day correcting small errors and making minor program tweaks to the Zefens. Her hard work was finally paying off, and after almost two years her company was only a fourteen hours away from releasing the first wave of robots that do practically everything around the house, from taking care of the children, to cleaning and making the meals. The release was highly anticipated, in most of the world, greatly because the company only revealed the project to the public one month ago. Rita had been recruited by the IHome Inc.’s CEO himself; Kendrick Wallace, a tall, straight-forward, and somewhat frail man in his mid forties, who up until now had done very little to benefit the company. Most of his days spent playing golf rather than working. He told her to name her price, and immediately put her in charge of the entire project.

Rita worked ninety hour weeks most of those two years, because although she had a team of technology experts and mechanics to help her, this project was hers and she was accountable for its success. Finally, once the largest part of the work had concluded, she reduced her efforts to sixty hours, usually taking a day off each week.

Having gotten used to the reduced time, the last two days had been somewhat jarring, and certainly had taken their toll on her.

As she woke up the following morning, Rita went out to the coffee shop down the street and began to enjoy her day off, and watched as most shops and restaurants closed down for the day. It was only eight in the morning, but the shop workers were all making their way down to the IHome store and getting in line to ensure that they would be able to buy a Zefen before they were on backorder. Rita was happy that she didn’t have to do this, she had three Zefens at home, waiting in their boxes, ready for use.

As the day went on, the city became more and more hectic. Traffic was at a complete standstill, and security and police presence was at a record high. At noon exactly, the doors to the IHome store opened, and in flooded a sea of crazed shoppers, frantically running through the aisles, until they reached the back of the store.

People were being pushed down, trampled, shoved out of the way, and some fights began to start; though they were quickly stopped by the security. Approximately two-hundred-eighty million Zefens were sold that afternoon in the United States, and more than four billion worldwide.

Over the next four weeks, the world went wild for Zefens. They never strayed from the number one trending hashtag on every social media platform, and giant billboards were in nearly every city in North America, Europe, and Asia. The product was very high in quality, user friendly, efficient, and the robots even had a human-like communication system. These robots had the most advanced capabilities the world had ever seen.

2

As the months went on the craze died down, but the product was still very popular, and it was hard to go a day without seeing or hearing about a Zefen. And so far Rita hadn’t had to make a single program update, because there was hardly any complaints. The robots were very independent, and stayed out of people’s way, which was all they wanted them to do. The only complaints the company had received was from a very annoying man named Albert Chang. Albert Chang was a sixty-two year old short, slightly balding man with a reputation for being extremely critical and dissatisfied with essentially every product he has ever owned. Within twelve hours of purchasing a Zefen he had complained that he must have a defective one. So the company mailed him a replacement, free of charge. But of course he still wasn’t satisfied. This went on and on for quite a while, until the company began to ignore his complaints, which only made him more persistent. He was completely harmless, but nonetheless annoying. He would wait outside the IHome store, or even sometimes “run into” Rita at the grocery store or around town. It was starting to become a regular part of her week.

To her confusion, Rita had not heard from Albert in almost two-weeks, which had never happened before. It was a feeling of relief, but in a weird way, she kind of missed him. The company was very happy to not have worry about Albert causing negative publicity, and even gave out company wide bonuses after he stopped coming around, assuming an employee had somehow convinced him to leave them alone.

Rita was doing very well since the release of the Zefens, because she got payed very minimally before their release, since the company was not certain of how well the machines would sell. After they were released, Rita began making bi-weekly commission checks of six-figures. She had never had much money, always scraping the bottom of what is considered an average salary, and therefore had absolutely no idea

what to do with so much money. She started by catching up on some overdue bills, and paying off her student loans. Then it started to become harder to decide what to spend it all on. Rita ended up buying her parents a house, and giving some money to charity. Finally she had decided to take a good vacation, and bought tickets for her and some friends to go on a Caribbean cruise that was going to set sail in six days.

She was watching tv while eating lunch in her living room that afternoon while her Zefens quietly cleaned the house. Aimlessly, Rita flipped through the channels, occasionally watching a show for a couple of minutes, but never settling on any one channel. Eventually, she started watching the news. A few interesting stories were going on, but as usual the vast majority were fluff pieces.

Just as she was starting to zone out, a flash went across the screen, jolting her attention back to the program. In all capital letters it said “ALERT,” followed by an obnoxious alarm sound. The show cut to the main anchor, who with a very suddenly grim expression announced that over forty people had gone missing in the country over the last two days. Four of which were from Miami, where Rita lived, and they were announced one by one. There were three girls whose names Rita didn’t recognize, and Albert Chang. Rita felt horrible that Albert was missing, and was ashamed that she had felt relief for him leaving her alone. But even more concerning to her was what could have possibly happened over the last two days that could have made forty people, including Albert Chang, go missing?

3

After the disappearances of those forty people, nearly one-hundred-fifty more went missing worldwide, over the course of about three weeks. And another three-hundred went missing over the next month. The world was confused, and scared. No one knew where these people were going, or who was taking them. Airports were shutting down indefinitely, because some countries believed that air travel might be making it easier for whoever was taking these people to transport them.

This didn’t help the situation however. Each month more and more people began to vanish. By the time six months had passed, nearly three-hundred-million people were missing worldwide. Police presence was at an all time record high, but it did very little to comfort citizens, considering the still increasing numbers of disappearing people. What was especially concerning was that there was not a single suspect or lead for who might be kidnapping all these people.

As Rita drove through town, it became very clear to her how scared the world was. Hardly anyone was out walking on the streets, and if they did they went in groups, in hopes that it would keep them safe. Rita pulled off the highway and drove the final few minutes before arriving at her newly purchased house in North Miami.

It was a beautiful, and quite large property. She brought inside and unpacked the seven boxes she could fit into her car, which was mostly necessities and some work items. The only other items in the house were a blow up mattress, and a few groceries inside the fridge. The rest of her items would be packed up later in the week and brought over by a moving company in two weeks. Rita didn’t mind having to wait a while to have the move completed, because she found the new and empty house strangely peaceful and enjoyed the simplicity. She sat with her back against the wall and opened up her laptop, which suddenly had a lot of notifications popping up. She clicked on them and saw a lot of emails from her boss, Kendrick Wallace, saying that over the last couple of days a lot more complaints had been filing in about Zefens and that she needed to develop an update that could be sent out wirelessly within the next two weeks. This hardly gave her enough information or time to complete the update, so she quickly closed her laptop, grabbed her car keys, and started driving to the tech office, knowing she was in for a few weeks of intense work.

4

While working on the update, Rita and her team were getting very close to fixing the problems with the machines. They weren’t critical problems, just some problems with the interactive portion of the robot’s functions. Nearly all of the complaints about the Zefens were that they had been behaving rudely and inconsiderately to the people in the house, but what was confusing to Rita and her co-workers was why all of these complaints were coming in all at once, so many months after the robots were initially released. They couldn’t figure out a reason for it, but they weren’t able to dwell on it long because they had plenty of work to do.

Just as they finished the first week of work, more people vanished. This time it was the largest amount to ever go missing at once, over a billion people disappeared in just under seven hours. A national curfew was placed, stating that Americans were to be in their homes between nine in the evening and seven in the morning.

More than ever, people were panicking. A large amount of people practically became shut-ins, too terrified to ever leave their homes. Rita was beginning to be scared, especially because two of her close friends were a part of the billion that just went missing.

5 Six days after the national curfew was set, Rita was driving through town at

around seven-thirty in the morning, which looked like a ghost town, since people were scared to leave their homes until it was brighter outside. The sun was just rising, when the weirdest thing happened. As Rita drove past the East Miami public park, she glanced over towards it and did a double-take because she saw three Zefens traveling in a perfect line on the side walk on the other side of the park, heading the opposite way of her, towards a nearby neighborhood. She slowed down as she took a second glance, and saw the Zefen in the back of the line turn its head towards her for a moment and then back forward, and then all of the robots sped up quite a bit.

Rita was extremely confused and quickly turned a corner so she could be on the other side of the park and see them again, but when she got to the other side of the park there was so trace of the Zefens. She pulled over and sat in disbelief for a couple of minutes. Finally she convinced herself that she must be seeing things because the Zefens couldn’t possibly in the park, because they were programmed to never leave the house that they were powered on in. She drove the rest of the way to her office to continue her work.

There was a meeting that day, which the staff were only notified of the evening before. Most of the company’s employees were there, and it took quite a while before the reason for the meeting became clear. Angela Ybarra, the head of human resources went to the front of the room and solemnly announced that Kendrick Wallace had gone missing the previous morning, and stated that of the other investors would be taking his place.

6

Over the next week Rita and her team released the update, but they were still receiving the same complaints weeks later, and some Zefen owners even claimed that the problems had worsened. Rita’s team went back to brainstorming new ways to make more effective program tweaks. During these few weeks, another 1.5 billion people went missing. And during this time Rita had another Zefen spotting out in the town. This time she was pulling out of the parking lot of her office and she saw at least ten Zefens across the street zoom around the street corner and out of view within two seconds.

The town was becoming very eerie, with almost seventy percent of its citizens refusing to leave their homes. Doing this was clearly not helping, since more and more people continued to disappear. The total worldwide missing persons count was up to 3.9 billion.

Rita was frustrated because during the two day period when the moving company she had hired was supposed to move her items to her new house, the truck, never came and dropped off her possessions. She called the company and they said they had no idea where the truck might be. Only ten days later the company closed

down, because all of their drivers quit. This meant that over three-quarters of Rita’s possessions were gone. She had to get the rest from her house herself.

Rita got to her house and decided to eat dinner before she packed everything into her car. She made some pasta and sat in front of the tv, turning on the news.

Just as she was finishing her meal, breaking news came across the screen. In the mansion of one of the newly missing people in St. Louis almost six hundred people were found dead. There was another house in Bozeman with the same thing. And an empty factory in Los Angeles with nearly four thousand found dead inside. Calls were coming in all night to the news station, each reporting a newly found location, containing large amounts of dead people. This news report went on for a few hours, announcing locations and the number found there. Then suddenly the main news camera seemed to have fallen to the floor, and then some very high pitched noises played, followed by crashing sounds, and screams and then silence. Then after almost thirty seconds of complete silence, the camera feed abruptly stopped.

Rita recognized that high pitched noise. That was the noise the Zefens had made during an error in an early trial, almost a year ago. She realized in that moment what must be going on, and was grateful her Zefens had been lost with the moving truck. She debated for almost an hour on what to do. She decided to go the office and see if anyone from her team was there, so that they could figure out a plan to stop all of this. She threw on her jacket and grabbed her car keys. She ran out the door, and when she looked up she stopped in her tracks. In front of her as far as the eye could see were Zefens, thousands of them, moving towards her.

Cave Dwellers Summer is an exciting time for anyone. The warm air and late nights make the season incredible. So understandably, Gregory, a 12 year old boy from Spokane, Washington, was quite frustrated when his mother signed him up for a class trip to Spain in the upcoming summer. The idea of him missing an entire month of summer to go look at caves and boring artwork in Spain haunted his thoughts. Instead he would rather have been building rafts and going on long bike rides with his best friends. No matter how hard he pleaded for his freedom, his mother stayed strong with her decision.

“Mom, I won’t see Kenny or Josh for an entire month!” cried Gregory.

“I can’t get you out of it now, Gregory. Your plane ticket is already purchased and your father and I have made our own vacation plans. Spain is a beautiful place; the beaches and art will be great for you to see!”

Gregory mumbled, “Well if you like it so much, why don’t you go instead?”

“What did you say, young man?!” yelled his mother.

Gregory quickly ran into his room, locking the door behind him. He was truly devastated he would lose his glorious summer months to a scary distant place with people he did not know. Two weeks was all he had left with his friends and freedom. Unfortunately, that two weeks felt more like two hours for Gregory.

He had a blast with his friends playing baseball and tag after school. The fun they had made it even harder to jump into his mom’s sedan and make the drive to the airport for the flight that would start the journey of a lifetime. One 14 hour flight would be needed for him to reach the capital of Spain, the glorious city of Madrid.

Outside the gate of his flight Gregory felt lost, but the confused looks of his peers helped him feel that he wasn’t alone. A girl sat on the floor clutching her large stuffed bear and rocking. She looked horrified. A light pink luggage tag read “Avery” on her polka dotted bag. Gregory tried to look away, but her stunning blue eyes and bright blonde hair had him locked on the girl. Embarrassed, he tried to talk to other boys around him to get his mind off this new girl. Daniel, the closest to Greg, spoke loudly with the girls next to him, and eventually scared them off. Sadly, he turned to Greg with disappointment as he had already run out of females to flirt with in the first 30 minutes of the trip. Greg remained unfazed by the other girls except the shy one, Avery. He halfway hoped he was seated next to her on the next plane, but also hoped he could stay away from her. The idea of an embarrassing moment ruining his chances was terrifying.

Boarding the plane, Greg saw Avery seated next to a group of her friends. With a sigh of relief, the boy could relax on his 14 hour flight. At least, that’s what he thought.

After takeoff, as they flew over the ocean, the captain came onto the PA system for an announcement.

“Attention all passengers, this is your captain speaking. There has been a large earthquake on the far western coast of the state and many more in other states.”

This shocking news sent the passenger cabin into a frenzy. Everyone was concerned about family and friends as other abnormal earthquakes had torn through Eastern Europe, killing many. The panic overwhelmed many of the young campers in Greg’s group, and supervisors were struggling to contain them. In this utter chaos Greg’s normally shy personality receded and a leader with a calm head emerged. He comforted his peers with a collection of helpful words.

Crisis was averted in the cabin as Greg calmed his newly discovered friends. Greg fought back a grin as many thanked him for helping. Even Avery thought he was a big help. He was filled with pride. The flight continued with no current news about the earthquakes, which started to worry him. Although he did not have family in the affected areas, he still worried for others, and with his parents leaving for California in a few weeks, he worried for their safety. As night fell on the plane, he drifted to sleep.

Cold breezes and a smell of sulfur filled his dormant mind, and a deep cave opened up in front of Greg. It created a piercing silence. Total unknown territory laid in front of his eyes. Terror crippled his mind as the ceiling began to shake and crumble in front of him.

Boulders fell like missiles towards him.

He woke. Sweating and shivering, Greg looked around the dimly lit cabin searching for eyes who might have witnessed his nightmare. Realizing it was almost 3 a.m., he assumed no one had seen him jump to consciousness. The true fear he felt began to overtake him as his body begged for sleep after such a long day of travel. The dream wasn’t a big deal. At least not then.

The next day Greg, Daniel, Avery and the others had made it safe to their first of many hotels on their extensive trip. Waking up from another nap trying to acclimate to the intense time change, Greg looked around his hotel room, noticing he had been assigned roommates with Daniel. After a sigh of disappointment, he decided he could live with the loud and brash boy for the trip. The group was supposed to meet for lunch at the hotel café at 11:45 before the first day of exploration. A trip around a local market didn’t excite the group and a much more exciting alternative was chosen.

After lunch, where Greg embarrassingly picked a cheeseburger instead of the local cuisine, the group boarded a bus. This bus would take them to the spectacular Lanzarote beaches.

This area consisted of not only beaches but museums and caves. The idea of exploring a cave on the beach gave Greg goosebumps. His excitement was palpable. His father was a geologist and had told him about the importance of the caves in Spain. Not just to geology, but the cultural aspect as well, as many sacred spots we located in caves all over the country. As the bus seemingly crawled towards the beach, Greg began to worry. His nightmare from a few nights before was based in a cavern that matched the description of this cave.

What if he was in danger? Truly scared, Greg tried to relax and pulled up the news on his phone. He was shocked.

The unbelievably strong earthquakes kept crippling the western coast of the United States.

Many non coastal cities were being affected as well. As Greg continued to dig into the de-

tails on the disasters, he heard a soft voice call him. He snapped his head back across the bus to see who was calling.

“Greg, we have to get off now. We are finally here,” whispered Avery.

Slightly stunned she knew his name, Greg struggled to form a reply.

“Oh…yeah…um, thank you.”

Both obviously embarrassed by the awkward interaction, they exited the bus promptly.

The group congregated near a museum, and after being admitted into the giant place, Greg was immediately drawn towards it all. So many fossils, pieces of art, and ancient artifacts from the surrounding area amazed him. One specific mural caught his eye. This colorful masterpiece involved a scene with an unnatural being with a golden aura around him. He was similarly designed to a Greek god; the person was in peak physical condition.

He was standing on top of a mountain, holding a staff with an intricate insignia on the top.

A crescent moon with the Greek Sigma was in the middle. This emblem didn’t catch the eyes of anyone but Greg. Although its relevance wasn’t apparent, Greg knew it was an odd piece for a Spanish museum.

Walking around the museum, Greg was determined to find Avery and capitalize on this easy opportunity to talk with his newly founded crush. Spotting her near an old fossil, Greg conjured the courage to go up to her. After running the possible scenarios through his head, he felt prepared for anything the girl could throw at him.

“Hey Avery, what is your favorite part of the exhibit so far?” His voice rang out to the small girl from Greg with an obvious confidence, rightfully correcting his awful mumble earlier in the day.

“Oh hello, Greg. So far I loved the picture of the god on the mountain. It was really mysterious and kind of spooky.”

Delighted she had the same interest as him, Greg exclaimed, “No way, that is my favorite part as well! Did you see the insignia on his staff? It seems really out of place.”

“I agree, being in Spain I would think the symbol would be Latin, not Greek.”

Greg couldn’t believe this girl. She was smart, funny, and cute. He found that he couldn’t hold back a smile while listening to her talk. Feeling his confidence balloon, he felt he could do this all day. To his disappointment though, the group was required to leave the museum and go to the beach. Many shouted for joy, as the warm ocean was a new thing for many. Not Greg; he wanted to keep exploring and hopefully find something new. Even at home he was always working to find new things in his backyard and around town. In this new country he couldn’t think of any new things to find.

After the group had changed into flip flops and swimming suits, they laid out towels and then ran into the water. After ten minutes it was obvious Greg didn’t like the beach. Sitting stationary looking back at the shore he spotted a rock face with a possible opening. Intrigued by this new possibility Greg crept towards the cave. believing no one would notice.

However, someone did. Avery had seen the same cave and as she saw Greg going she felt

she should follow. The two met at the mouth of the dimly lit cave.

“You didn’t think you could go without me, did you?”Avery said jokingly, They both laughed and entered the cave. Sunlight seemed to draw the path to travel though the mysterious cave. Both traveled like snails would, carefully and slowly, because the rocks were wet and the flip flops were not helping either. As they traveled deeper the light faded but neither noticed. Both shivering, they didn’t complain because of the fun they were having.

That all changed. A slight earthquake caused much of the cave to rumble. The entrance to the cave had collapsed. The silence was broken by screams from both.

“Greg, where are you?” screamed Avery in pure terror.

Greg, unable to stay calm, started to climb back up, but without light his quest was worthless.

Looking back down the cave it hit him. His nightmare had become a reality, with the sulfur smell filling the cavern.

A green glow appeared within the cave. A lighted sign of some sort.

“Should we go to it?” asked Avery.

“It might be what caused the earthquake. What if we make it worse?”

“I am pretty sure this is as bad as it can get. Trapped inside a cave with no light. Our best bet is traveling towards the light and hopefully get an idea how to get out of here.”

In agreement they both followed the light. As it grew they recognized the logo.

“That is the same emblem on the staff of the god from the painting.”

“Okay, this is getting too crazy for me,” Avery said, beginning to stress out.

Another rumble sent Greg flying towards the floating emblem. He landed on it created a loud bang. After the explosion and the dust had settled a door to a lit room appeared. Without hesitation Avery walked into the room with Greg following. Inside they had found a new world.

World maps with beeping lights covered the walls. With no one inside, the lost kids looked around. They noticed a map of the United States and went towards it. With many red lights flashing up and down the west coast of the country. Greg looked intensely at the maps.

“These dots show where the earthquakes are happening, Avery. What is this place?”

Scared and lost, they searched for clues. As they went through them rooms they found another door with the insignia on it. Greg pressed it and the door unlocked.

Inside this room, they found a control panel beneath a large monitor. Curiously Avery pressed buttons. As the monitor illuminated, a large message appeared on the screen reading*Today’s scheduled attacks on the Following Cities: Toronto, Spokane, Sacramento* “What does this mean, Greg? The attack on Spokane is near my house!” cried Avery.

“Look over here, Avery. This panel says something about disabling.”

Greg typed away, as if he was a trained hacker in an action movie. As he furiously worked, a door began to open. Frightened, the children hid under a desk. A tall man emerged from the doorway. His thin gray glasses and white hair were accompanied by a long white coat. He came towards the desk that Avery and Greg were hiding underneath. He soon became disinterested and left. Greg popped back up and worked again.

“Avery, these people are triggering earthquakes! But I think I can stop them. I took a coding

class last summer and all of this stuff is very basic.”

“Please fix it!” Avery cried to Greg.

Diving deeper into the program, Greg found the solution to this problem. He had discovered how this group was creating massive earthquakes with such ease. Massive amounts of explosives were tactically placed to create huge landslides.

“This is horrible. Why would anyone want to do this, and hurt so many people?” cried Avery.

“I am pretty sure I found out why,” Greg said as he pointed towards a new screen.

A giant display had a quote: “Destruction Leads to Chaos. After Chaos, new leadership must emerge.”

“This group must be trying to take over the world. They are destroying cities and countries.

Everything is crumbling because of their horrible actions. They think they can get the ultimate power from this destruction.”

“Greg, if this is true, what do we do?”

“I think I may be able to disarm the bombs so they don’t explode and then we can leave and get help.”

Greg furiously looked around the rooms, sprinting to each stand and trying his best to unlock something to help his cause. Avery, determined to help, found a new door with the Insignia and entered.

“Greg, I found the master panel!” shouted Avery.

She began to work furiously, knowing she was responsible for the lives of so many. The system was coded in Greek lettering. Which was not difficult for Avery, since she could understand every coded message and was slicing through the program. Then she reached a problem and hesitated. After carefully reading the page she discovered she had found the problem Greg was talking about. She believed the explosives could all be launched or disabled from there.

Greg and Avery plotted away with the green Sigma insignia shining on their faces. The only clue they had was the insignia on each option. Both parts of the emblem, the moon and the letter.

“In math, the Sigma represents the sum of all. All throughout their plans they talked about destruction of the entire world. So wouldn’t that mean it was their end goal? The final destruction?” Avery said confidently.

“That’s perfect!” shouted Greg.

As Avery pressed the button a message appeared, confirming the successful disarming of the bombs. The worldwide natural disaster network was finished. The two smiled as they found exit doors back towards the surface. They snuck around many guards who were still oblivious to what the kids had done.

Back on the beach they found the group. Worried they would be scolded for leaving, they hesitantly walked towards the others.

Daniel loudly yelled, “Where have you been?”

“Nowhere,” both said in sync with a smile.

No one would believe they saved the world from total destruction, but it was okay with them.

They knew, and that was all that mattered. ~Adrian Juarez

Terraseĝoj

The world was quiet before the war. So quiet, the screams were heard throughout the planet.

The first screams, and the last. Only the smart creatures who got off the planet, who heeded the warnings, survived. The war ended seconds after it began, with the debris of Terraseĝoj flying into space. I remember the pain, the sorrow. I remember all the loss. I remember the pointless cause and the disastrous result. I remember the day all of that life ended. I remember, because I was there.

It was near the end of our three-year journey. My crewmates and I were sent to Terraseĝoj to find life. Terraseĝoj is the closest unexplored planet in a habitable zone in the Milky Way. We took our ship, the Espero, from Mars to the dock on Proxima Centauri B where we ran tests.

I worked as the ship’s engine mechanic along with my partner, Mike Bryson. We knew this ship like the back of our hands and better than anyone else in the galaxy. The Espero was a model T-14a VASIMR, the only one ever made. On our journey, we were carrying about 300 staff, over 150 scientists and researchers, and about 50 rich people who had no purpose to the mission, but paid their way into space.

I was fiddling with the north magnet of the engine, trying to exact its angle to 12 decimal places for near-optimal efficiency with the refraction standard. The light of Gliese 876 was approaching closer every day. I longed for the trip to be over. All I wanted to do was get off this ship. Mike and I worked and slept on shifts, but that’s the only thing we did. We had no free time, no time for fun. Just work and sleep.

I was sitting there, pondering this, when my thoughts were abruptly interrupted by an incredible jolt going through the ship. I was thrown into the far wall, my face slamming hard into a cabinet. My nose felt broken and I tasted blood. The power went out, but the red alarm lights stayed flashing. I took a step toward the door before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

I awoke to see Mike running down the stairs toward me. He had probably been woken up by the sudden movement of the ship. He was talking but I was badly concussed and couldn’t understand what he was saying. The rest of the room was silent. The engines had stopped running, and we were too far away to hear anyone else on the ship. “It’s cold,” I tried to say.

Mike gave a questioning look before realizing I didn’t know what he was saying. He held out his arm. I took it and was hoisted to my wobbly feet. Mike helped me walk up the stairs and into the elevator. He pressed the button to the medical floor, and we began to rise.

The power must have come back on while I was unconscious. The elevator music played and light came down from the single light bulb hanging a few inches from the roof of the elevator.

We had almost reached the cafeteria when the elevator screeched to a halt, throwing Mike and I to the ground. Mike quickly got up and began pushing buttons on the wall, trying to get the elevator to move. I lay in pain on the ground, unable to get up. Mike tried to pry the doors of the elevator open, but to no avail. I began to scan the small elevator for some

way to get out as Mike called for help into the corridor. I looked up and saw the crack in the ceiling where the emergency exit was located. I tapped Mike’s leg and pointed up. He helped me to my feet and threw the panel off the ceiling. He hoisted me up through the hole and onto the top of the elevator. My senses were coming back to me and I looked around.

“See anything?” asked Mike.

“Yes, a doorway about eight feet up.”

“Good. See if you can get up there, I’ll be right behind you.”

I nodded, standing up. I couldn’t reach the opening by myself, but luckily I had a few places to put my feet and I was able to make it up to the doorway. I glanced around, we were at the cafeteria level of the ship. There was a problem, though. Besides the grunts of Mike climbing out of the elevator, the ship was silent. There was not another soul around. I stood up and heard the scuffles of footsteps echoing through the shaft. Mike heard it too, and looked around quickly.

I kept walking, Mike close behind. The air seemed to get cooler every step I took.

The red warning light flashed against bright white lights above. The ship remained silent apart from the sound of our shoes clacking against the tile floor.

“Where is everybody?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” said Mike, “I woke up after the ship shook and ran to the engine room where I found you out cold on the floor.”

The smell of breakfast food was strong as we passed the kitchens. We turned into one of them, it was empty. I looked around while Mike continued to the next one. I reached for a cutting knife from one of the tables and just as I picked it up, I heard Mike yelling, “Don’t shoot!”

I ran over to him, knife in hand. Mike was staring into the barrel of a gun. I turned into the room, knife raised, and found two more guns pointed at me. I glanced around. All the cooks and three security guards were present in the room. I raised my arms. “What’s going on?” I asked.

“We were attacked,” said one of the guards. “We don’t know who is still alive.”

“Who attacked you?” asked Mike.

“We don’t know. As soon as the alarms went off, we hid here. We could hear the screams above.”

The guards lowered their guns and Mike and I dropped our hands to our sides. This kitchen was right next to the staircase, we could hear scuffling far above. I scanned the room. The sinks were overrun with dirty dishes.

“Can you get the water going?” I asked.

“No,” responded a cook. “I think the pipes burst in the crash.”

“What did we hit?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but the sudden lurch must have been caused by a collision with something.”

We talked for a while. The ship was so quiet. I explained that the engine had shut off.

We eventually decided that a few of us; two guards, three cooks, and I, would try to find other people upstairs while the rest stayed behind. There were only three guns, which the guards kept, so the cooks and I collected knives around the rooms. After about a half an hour, we began climbing the stairs.

We had been climbing for about ten minutes when we heard a noise above. I looked up to see the darkness above.The staircase had no power. We continued to ascend the staircase, periodically hearing the noises of movement above. At last we heard the sound of shoes coming into contact with the floor, closer than before. About two floors up, a door was flung open.Three people ran out, screaming. Another set of footsteps could be heard, followed by gunshots.

We all began running up to help when we heard the clicking of the man’s gun; the clip was empty. The man holding the gun threw it through the doorway. He began to follow the other three who had already ran down to the next landing and onto the next set of stairs. I was looking at the doorway as I ran and was the first to see it. The thing was almost human-sized, but was on all fours and looked like a large rodent, with two large teeth sticking out of its mouth.

The security guards began to fire above as the first two people running down reached us. They were soon followed by a third person; the fourth had tripped on the landing directly above us. I ran up a few stairs to get a better view of the beast which approached the man that had fallen over. I yelled at the man to get up and run, but it was too late.

I looked away as the man cried out in pain. Then the cries stopped. I took a few steps down and heard the creature land heavily behind me. I turned around to see its massive teeth just a few feet away. It growled lowly and stared at me with a rage I’d never seen before. Suddenly, it winced and looked down to the stairs below. A guard had hit the beast with a bullet. The beast shrieked and jumped, with amazing agility, down to the level below, right in front of the guard that had hit it. Before the guard could get another shot off, the beast slashed at him, cutting his chest and knocking him to the floor. I didn’t stay to watch the rest, as the others continued down the stairs, I ascended upward. I slipped into one of the housing floors and hid inside a room.

The room was empty. I didn’t hear gunfire or yells, it was silent. I waited in the room for a long time and heard nothing. As I was thought about getting up and searching around, I heard the whirring of the elevator at the end of the hall opening. I crouched down and listened.

“What was that thing?” said a voice.

“I don’t know,” said another voice. “We need to find some sort of weapon in case it attacks again.”

“I agree.” I recognized that voice. It was Mike!

“Mike!” I called as I got up and ran out of the room. Mike was standing with two of the cooks. “What happened?” I asked Mike.

“We were attacked,” said Mike. “Where is the rest of your group?”

“We were attacked too,” I said, “In the the staircase.”

“Did you see it?”

“Yes, it was huge,” I explained. “How many of you are left?”

“Just me, Hugo, and Jack,” said Mike, pointing to each person.

Jack walked back into the elevator and began checking the panels.

“Before we were attacked, we think we figured out where the impact of the collision happened,” said Jack.

“Where?” I asked.

“On the top of the ship,” said Mike. “I think it destroyed some important wiring. If we ever want the engine to start again, we have got to get up there and fix it.”

“Do you think that’s where the beast came from?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but where the beast came from doesn’t matter. What matters is our survival,” said Mike.

With that, he and Hugo began walking towards the elevator, “Find the button for the maintenance floor yet?” asked Mike.

“Yeah, it’s right--” Jack was cut off as the entire elevator dropped suddenly. We ran to the edge to see it crash at the bottom of the shaft. The noise echoed loudly throughout the ship. So loud that we didn’t hear the door behind us fly open and the beast walk closer.

“Jack!” called Hugo down to the bottom of the shaft. “Jack, are you ugh--” Hugo yelled as we turned to the beast right next to us. “It has me. Help, please!” Hugo cried.

We couldn’t do anything for him, we could only watch. In despair, Hugo dropped to his knees. He lowered his head and waited for the end to come, but it didn’t. The beast began pawing at the back of Hugo like a puppy finding a new friend. I glanced at Mike and back to Hugo. The beast circled Hugo, sniffing him over. Then, to our absolute disbelief, the beast rolled over. I walked over slowly and began rubbing its belly. This beast really was like a dog. It was a kind and playful animal. The only people it hurt were the people who tried to hurt it. The problem was, what was happening to the elevators. Mike realized this too and walked to the elevator shaft and looked around.

I got up and walked over to him, Hugo began rubbing the creature’s belly. Mike tapped my arm and I looked down at his hand. He was pointing at the top of the doorframe. There was a little recording device barely sticking out from the wall, blinking red.

“We’re being watched,” whispered Mike under his breath. “Someone set this up.”

There was a whiz and the sound of an impact. Mike and I turned around to see Hugo falling to the floor. He had been shot. I looked to the door and saw the captain of the ship holding a phaser. “Why did you kill him?” shouted Mike.

The creature got up, realizing what was going on.

“You know too much, Mike,” said the captain and blasted Mike down the elevator shaft.

“No!” I yelled.

I couldn’t stand there. I knew I was next.

“We had to test the capabilities of the alien species. We landed on Terraseĝoj weeks ago.

We need to run more tests and we can’t have you blabbing about it,” said the captain, charging his phaser.

Just before he fired, the alien jumped up and charged toward the captain. The captain changed his aim to the alien and fired. The laser struck the alien in the forehead and it collapsed to the ground. The captain fell to his knees with tears beginning to run down his face. I walked towards him and picked up his dropped phaser, but he was too preoccupied in his sadness to hear the noise of me charging it.

“What have I done?” whispered the captain to himself, just as my finger slips from the trigger.

The ship was silent once more.

~Lincoln Solt