Hard eyes glared up at him from behind an oaken counter. He paid no mind to them or their owner as he swung his legs over the rusty stool and dropped into its seat. His boots clicked down onto the bronze pole that served as a footrest. Jackson reached up and took his broad hat from his head, setting it down on the stool to his right.

“Gimme an ale. Somethin’ strong and dark. And a hunk of bread if you would be so kind,” he said. The barkeep continued to shine the glass in her hands for a moment before setting it down.

She was a pretty maid, couldn’t have been more than ten and seven with auburn hair that hung down to her shoulders. The soft flicker of a fire burning in the corner of the room brought out the green in her fierce eyes. She grabbed a tankard from the bottom shelf behind her and unstoppered the great wooden barrel that hung over the edge of the bar. A thick, dark mead flowed from the hole where the cork had been and drained into the glass below. The lass ripped some bread off of a hard white loaf behind the counter and set it on a tray with the ale beside. She slid it down towards him with a scrape and tapped the bar twice with her fingers.

“That’ll be two coppers for the ale, one for the bread, and another ten if’n you’ll be wantin’ a room,” she said with a cold stare. Jack took three coins from the purse at his belt and slid them to her over the countertop. He wouldn’t be needing a room tonight. Not if everything went as it should. He took a swig from his tankard and looked around the room, sweeping over the chairs scattered across the room and huddled around the hearth. The dusty men occupying them stared back with hard defiance. All except one. Do I know him? The man stared shiftily down at his boots as he drank from a rusty tin mug. He looked to be about twenty years of age with oily black hair hanging down to cover his bulbous nose and hideous twisted lips covered in scars.

It was not the most pristine of establishments. In fact, it was just about as dusty and forlorn as any of the saloons Jackson Blake had visited in his day. But if catching outlaws was a religion, this rusty bar was his Shangri-La. That’s Long Bill Waters, sure as day. I’ve never seen a bandit so ugly. Looks like he's got five or six friends in tow.

Jackson finished his drink with a few slow gulps and slid it down the counter to rest in the barkeep’s hand. The men around the fire were talking in hushed voices now, glancing occasionally in his direction. A few of them looked nervous, fidgeting as if they were waiting for something urgent. Jackson didn’t like that any more than he did the silver-grey six shooters that hung from each and every belt in the circle.

He casually reached down to his hip and felt reassuring cold steel beneath his grip. He was ready for whatever they might bring. This was not his first rodeo.

One of the men stood slowly and sauntered over to the bar, his boots clicking on the hardwood floor as he walked. He sat down next to Jackson’s hat and ordered a whiskey, straight. He cast a fleeting glance over in Jack’s direction, lingering just a second too long on the pistols by his side. They’re looking for trouble, but so am I.

“You been to Fort Griffin ‘bout this time last year? I’m lookin’ for a friend of mine. Might be you can help me find ‘im,” Jackson spoke up. The man fidgeted his gaze over to meet Jackson’s.

“Can’t say that I have. As to yer friend, I would need name or a face.” Jack reached into his pocket and set a crumpled piece of brown paper on the bar.

“Just so happens I have both. You seen this man before?” Jackson noticed the man’s neck tense as he unfolded the paper and stared at the face looking back at him.

“Son of a bitch…” The man’s hand shot down to the pistol at his side, but too late. Jackson’s own six-shooter was already in his hand and leveled at the outlaw’s chest. POP! POP! The first round caught him in the shoulder as he tried to rise. The second slammed into his chest right over his heart. He let out a soft gasp as his head hit the floor. The barkeep screamed out of shock and dropped the glass she was shining, glass shattered over the floorboards.

Around the fire the men were jumping out of their seats, drawing guns and kicking chairs out of the way. Bill Waters fired the first shot as soon as his finger found the trigger. The bullet whizzed past Jack’s head and buried itself into the shelf behind the bar. The barkeep fled the room through the back door as Jackson vaulted over the counter to take her place. Dozens of bullets screamed into the thick wood around the bounty hunter’s head as he huddled beneath the bar. The sound of their exit was so thunderous he had to grit his teeth to keep from crying out. I need to shoot my way out of here. Wait for an opening, stay alert.

By then three of the five that stood around the hearth had run out of ammunition and stopped to reload, kneeling on the hardwood floor. Jack took notice and drew his second gun from his belt. One, two, three. He jumped up, guns barking. A bullet struck through one bandit’s throat at the navel, sparking a fountain of red that sprayed in every direction. Another grazed the shoulder of the man next to him and knocked him from his feet, where Jackson finished him off. But for every shot the bounty hunter got off, his remaining targets sent three singing back through the air.

Jackson recoiled from a round that buried itself in the wood next to his arm on the bar and another ten that whistled past his head. He ducked back behind the counter. The outlaws continued to fire while he shoved six rounds into their chamber’s and caught his breath, protected by the thick wooden counter. This’ll never work. Those that are left won’t fall for that again. Jack unstoppered a bottle of gin that rested on the shelf behind him and took a long swig.

Suddenly the gunfire ceased and a cold silence filled the room. Smoke from both sides of the bar floated up to the rafters. “Bounty hunter!” a deep, gruff voice called out. “We’ll give you a choice now. Lay down your weapons and come on out here and we’ll spare the girl. Keep firing and my next bullet goes through her skull.” The girl. Dammit, how did they get to her? This’ll cost me.

He raised his hands over the edge of the counter and slowly rose to his feet. “I’m comin’ out.” Four bandits and one bartender stood in a semicircle around a scene of demolition. Blood pooled under a pile of what had once been chairs but had been reduced to firewood by the scrambling gunmen. The girl was unharmed as of yet but they had her surrounded, steel bared.

Long Bill flicked the barrel of his pistol over in Jack’s direction. “Walk.” He pointed to a spot on the floor in front of him. Jack climbed over the bar and walked slowly over, both palms raised. “You put up a hell of a fight, hunter. But we canyon boys have seen a fight or two in our days, and we’re not so easily incapacitated as it were.”

Jack looked over to the girl standing in the midst of their group. She caught his gaze and held it for a brief moment. He saw a flicker in her eye in that second, a look that frightened him. “Just you wait,” her eyes said. “Wait and see.” Jackson felt a knot twist in his belly. Ah, shit. She’s gonna try something.

Bill Waters took a step forward and raised his gun to level with the bounty hunter’s teeth. “Now, seeing as that you have surrendered, we will be doing whatsoever we like with your life and gold.” Jack swallowed back the nervous tension that had reached the back of his throat. He felt suddenly cold, then hot, as chills swept over his body. How am I gonna get out of this? The outlaw turned back and nodded his head at the barkeep girl behind him. “And hers.”

“You promised,” Jack scrambled to his feet in protest and advanced on Bill’s posse.

“Whoa, there cowboy. Back on up now,” Bill cocked the hammer of his pistol. “Now what we promised and what we intend to deliver are not one and the same. Being as we are humble thieves and murderers ourselves, we do not place too much emphasis on keeping promises. We’re bandits, you should know that. Are you ready to die now, boy?” Behind his shoulder, the girl inched forward. Jack looked down at her hands, which were removing something black and slick from the folds of her gown, he thought it to be a knife.

Jack cocked back his head and spit full in the outlaw’s face. “Well I guess that answers that,” one of the posse offered.

Bill raised his pistol again and made Jackson return to his knees. Jack closed his eyes. If you’re gonna do something, girl, do it quick. He looked back up and stared Bill dead in the face, defiant. Long Bill laughed, “I’ve never had much of a pension for allowing last words and the like, but…”

Suddenly the girl’s hands snaked out and Jack could see the object entwined within. If only for a fleeting glance, he could make out silvery circles raised over a a slick black surface. The length of the small flat rectangle was strewn with lines running from beginning to end. Small bright lights shone from one end, flashing on and off.

“What in the hell…” One of the posse began. But the room was suddenly filled with a shrill, high-pitched whine which seemed to echo off of the rafters and fill Jack’s head, his eyes, his chest. He sank to his knees and clasped his hands over his ears. The lights were shining violently now, throbbing red. Only the girl remained standing, seemingly unaffected by the sounds or the lights. The outlaws lay flat on the floor, rolling around and covering their ears. How the hell is she doing this?

Suddenly the lights and the sounds ceased. An eerie silence replaced them, and the light from the fire dimmed. Jack started to rise before… SCREEEECH! What looked like tiny lightning bolts flew from the end of the black device and shot out in every direction. Jackson was lifted off of his feet and thrown into the far wall, crashing violently against the wooden panels. A chair exploded onto the floor next to him and an empty tankard slammed into the small of his back.

He lay there on the floor for what could have been thirty seconds or an hour before he rolled painfully onto his side. He tried to open his eyes, but found that smoke filled the air thick and black. Off to his right someone was coughing as if they meant to die, so, Jackson crawled in that direction, bumping into rubble and burning chairs as he went. By the time he reached the source of the noise, he managed to open one eye and could see the room burning and collapsing around him. Three bodies lay atop one another underneath a fallen roof beam. Another had made it as far as the front door before he had died of burns, gunshots, or some combination of the two by the look of him. Jack crawled over to where he had dropped his six-shooters and gripped them tightly in his hands. He would do well to keep them around.

The coughing was coming from Long Bill Waters. He had fallen in the confusion of the blast, getting trapped by cascading debris, and lay with a pistol in his hand underneath the collapsed beam. Thick red blood clung to the skin of his chest, and flowed grisly from his mouth and left ear. Jackson kicked the pistol away and bent down over the man. “Your days of murder and rape are over, but not entirely by my hand. I’m sorry.” He raised his gun and put a bullet through the man’s brain. The blood spattered up into Jack’s face, and he wiped it from his brow.

Just then the rubble by the door shifted and a pair of dusty hands clawed its way out of the pile. Another one’s still alive. Jack looked back over his shoulder to see if he could find the last of the bandits, but when he looked back the pile was moved and the hand was gone. Shit, how did he move so fast? Through the smoke-blackened window he caught a glimpse of auburn hair fleeing towards the stables. Shit, how did she move so fast? He clambered over Bill’s body and went out of the door.

He limped slightly as he ran. The blast had slammed his leg into the wall with bone-shattering force, but he was hard to break, and recovered quickly. A crescent moon lit his way around the back of the burning saloon and into the barn doors.

She was saddling up a mottled brown palfrey when he caught up, her fingers working deftly over the old leather straps. Either she didn’t notice his footsteps crossing the stable threshold and creeping up behind her, or she did not mean to finish what she had started. Jack, however, was not given to such luxuries. “Where are you stealing off to with that horse? I have some questions that require answers.” Jackson cocked back his pistol to help make his point.

She turned and stared him down. “I’m done here. There’s work elsewhere for me. For you, too, it would seem.”

“So you’re a hunter.” Jack couldn’t believe his own ignorance. Of course she was. He lowered his gun, but didn’t put it away. “You know you didn’t finish Long Bill off. The credit’s mine.”

“I figured as much after I heard that shot. Thing is, I was headed out of the door when that building collapsed.” She turned back and resumed working on the saddle. The young mare whinnied. “Got trapped beneath a falling beam and couldn’t see much on account of the smoke—”

“How did you do that. I’ve never seen something so powerful.” Her silence told him more than her words could have. “Well you’re a fool if you think I’ll let you walk out of here. Not after that.”

She faced him and laughed quietly. Her eyes sparkled green in the moonlight shining through the open doors. “Good thing I’m not walking.”

And suddenly a pistol was in her hand and she was hurling bullets his way. Jack felt a force strong as a train rip into his stomach and knock him off his feet. A blinding pain rose up to his head and he screamed in agony. She swung up onto the saddle and kicked the horse twice in the ribs, galloping out of the barn. Jack realized he still had gun in one hand, and squeezed two rounds from the barrel. The first flew through the night sky past her head and off into the desert. The second slammed into her leg above the thigh and drew a dark stream of blood that shone in the blue moonlight. But she held onto the saddle with a yelp of pain and rode off towards the distant hills.

Jackson rolled to his side and pushed himself up to sit. The pain was nauseating, and he turned to retch in the straw on the floor. Taking leave of his senses, he drew in a sharp breath that sent a new wave of pain rolling over his stomach. He struggled to his feet and found a saddle on the wall. I can’t let this go unpunished. She won’t get away.  He hobbled over to a lean grey horse in the corner of the stable and threw the saddle up. He groaned his way through the straps and up onto the mount. In the distant moonlight he could see the dust from her trail rising into the night sky. Warm blood slicked down the side of his shirt and fell onto the ground in large drops; his head swam. He kicked the horse in its side and rode off after her.

At first the trail was easy to find. But as the soft sand turned to clay and rock, her trail all but disappeared. The only distinguishing path left was the rare drop of blood that fell from her leg and shone deep purple against the brown and red ground. She went to the hills, and he followed.

Jack caught her on a red sandstone butte three hundred feet above the desert floor. His horse made it only three fourths of the way up the trail before it became too steep and rocky to navigate. He continued on foot, passing a mottled brown palfrey along the way. The top of the butte was covered in green moss that proved a soft foothold; his boots dug into the soft ground. She was sitting on a twisted log facing away from him, the ground before covered in a pool of slick red. His own blood still seeped from the wound in his stomach, but he gritted his teeth and pushed forwards.

“End of the road, I fear. This is as far as it goes.” Jackson called out as he advanced on her seat. “That was a helluva shot back there. You almost did me in, but you’ll find I’m a bit harder to kill.” She stared ahead, ignoring his words. She still had a small pistol, but it lay on the ground in front of her.

Jack reached the log and hobbled around its side, using one hand for support on the rough, dry surface, and the other to nest the six shooter glinting in the moonlight. “You see, the truth is that I like a good fight, under the right circumstances. I like it almost as much the reward when I win. But you meant to take that reward from me. I’ve been tracking Long Bill Waters for longer than you’ve been playing this game.” Jack reached the front of the log and aimed his pistol at her head. “The game’s over.” She stared off into the distance, her hands resting on the dry wood to her sides. Talk about dignity in defeat. “Are you hearing this? I said it’s over.”

She made no move or sound. Jackson moved to her front and saw his error. She sat slumped over, the light gone from her emerald eyes. Her head drooped down into her navel. She’s gone. Jack breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t much like executions. He holstered his pistol. It should be just about morning now. He turned towards the coming light. But if he was looking for a sunrise, he didn’t find it.

Hard eyes glared up at him from behind a shiny six shooter. He stared back. His mouth gaped open in shock. “You’re wrong, hunter. The game’s just begun.”

“How did you…” but Jackson stopped himself before he started. Of course. He had seen it before, at the saloon. “You’ll pay for this.”

“You’ll have to catch me first.” She squeezed the trigger. POP! A brief flame burst from the barrel sending a hard bullet screaming through the air and through Jackson Blake’s left eye. Darkness crept up to cover the world.

— - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - —

Jack Masterson awoke in a cold, blue room with white sheets pulled up over his chest. His eyes felt heavy with disuse and his arms were leaden weights sinking into the firm springs of the mattress. It was daytime, the yellow beams of light streamed through the windows and thin curtains. He blinked to adjust his vision and pressed a small blue button to his side to raise himself into a seated position. “Game Master!” he croaked, his voice cracking and sharp to ears.

Electrical nodes attached to different spots around his chest, legs, and arms. The control cap sat heavily on his head, and he reached up feebly to pry it off. The wires that covered his body took slightly less effort to pull off, but even that proved to strain his fingers and wrists. He was reaching for the last pair on his legs when the game master came running in on two stubby legs, dressed head to toe in regulation blue.

“Masterson? What happened, you were first in the rankings since last week!” The man sputtered. He gave him a quizzical stare. Jack glared back and swallowed to clear his throat.

“I think we have a hacker.”

By: Symone McCollum 

It was a warm summer day in Funnyton village. The sun set perfectly on top of the hill while the cool breeze blew to ease everyone’s mind of how hot it was earlier in the day. The birds flew in the sky as though they were chasing each other. The stray cats were roaming the streets trying to find a place to stay cool. The kids were playing hopscotch in the street and the parents were home reading books. This suburban area was always peaceful, full of perfect people, and quiet. Little did the people of Funnyton village know that their lives were going to change quicker than they could imagine.

My family was perfect. There’s me, Anna, my mom Sally, my father Steve, my two little brothers Jake and Jaaz, and our dog Kenny. My father is a successful surgeon and everyone in town always goes to him when they feel bad about the way they looked. My mother is a house mom and takes care of my baby brother Jaaz. My mother and father have been married for 25 years. My mom had me when she was 19 and my father was 21. They often tell me that they fell in love the moment they laid eyes on each other.

“I can still remember how your mother looked the first time I saw her. She was wearing a pink shirt, half off her shoulder, half not. She had on these blue high jeans with these gold shoes. Her hair was in a brown curly fro. Her hair was blowing in the wind. When she noticed me, she kept trying to fix her hair after every breeze of wind. I thought it was cute. Man, your mother was gorgeous.” My mother raised her eyebrows as she walked into the room.

“Was?” my mother asked.

“Honey, you were and still are,” he said as he gave her a big sloppy kiss. Yuck! I walked away and went into my room.

I laid down on my bed, plopped my white earphones in and put on my favorite Beyonce song. Suddenly, I heard a big bang outside of my window. It sounded like thee tree outside banged into my window. I got up and went to open the door and crawled out onto my patio. I looked around and nothing was there. Thump! I looked around again and saw nothing. I plopped my earphones back in my ear and was walking back into my room. As I grabbed the handle I felt a hand grab me from behind. I tried to scream but it’s hand was over my mouth. I turned around to see who it was, and it was my boyfriend Mike.

“Jesus Mike you scared the crap out of me,” I yelled. I smacked him on the side of his face playfully and he laughed.

“I just wanted to surprise you.”

“Well congrats. How’d you get up here?”

“I climbed the tree,” he laughed. “I know you’re in trouble but I wanted to see you. Glad I got you not to scream before your parents heard us. Can I come in?”

Mike and I walked into my room and he started kissing on my cheek. I’m still a virgin and Mike knows I’m not ready for anything but he tries to test me anyway. Sometimes I like it, but sometimes I just want to talk to him without any of the extra stuff.

“Knock it off Mike. You know how I feel about that.”

“I’m sorry Annie. You know I don’t mean it like that.”

“It’s fine,” I said as I was pulling my shirt back up. “What did you come here for?”

“Well... sit down.”

I didn’t know what he wanted to say to me but I kind of didn’t want to know either because I knew whatever he wanted to tell me wasn’t good. Mike can usually settle for FaceTime calls when I was in trouble, but since he wanted to be face to face meant a lot.

“Whelp, what is it?” I asked calmly while plopping on my bed.

“You know those things you can’t control? Like the weather or when your mom tells you no?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Um, yeah. There’s a lot of things we can’t control like how you’re preparing me for this speech but won’t get to the point. What’s going on Mike?”

“Remember when we first met? Up at riverside park. You were walking your dog and noticed me staring at you on the bench? You kept trying to push your hair behind your ear but it was too thick so it just kept sliding?” Mike asked me. He started smiling, so I couldn’t help but to smile back.

“Yes. And Kenny kept barking at you so you got really scared and wouldn’t come up to me.” I laughed. I had to gather myself before my parents came upstairs to figure out why I was laughing so hard.

“I wasn’t scared Annie, that dog is just crazy?” He said while laughing.

“Yeah right. So what is the point of your story?”

“I just want you to know that I love you, no matter what. I will never leave your side okay? And I need you to promise to never leave mine. Promise me, right now Annie.” He looked down at me and his face was serious. His light face now showed cheeks that were red and his eyes now resembled eyes of hurt.

“Did you cheat on me Mike?”

“Dammit Annie! No. Just promise me.”

“I love you Mike. I will never leave your side no matter what. I promise.” I kissed his cheek. “Now, tell me what’s going on?”

“You know how I’ve been in and out of the hospital for months now. And they’ve been doing tests with my heart but yesterday they finally told me that I had a cardiac tumor. You know what that is right?”

I blacked out. This couldn’t be real. No, it can’t be. This had to be a joke. I felt my face go hot not because I was angry, but because I was shocked. My entire world was crashing down before my eyes. The love of my life could be dying! What could I do? What do I say? No...here they come. The water works.

“Babe, stop crying. It’s going to be alright.” He caressed my hand. He kissed my forehead and I decided that I had to get my shit together. If he was strong, I needed to be too.

“What are you going to do? Like what’s the next step? Is everything going to be okay? What did your mom say? What’s going to happen to you?” I started crying again.

“Annie, I am going to be okay. I promise. My mom is fine, she is dealing with it like we all are. But, that’s not all that I had to tell you. I met with this other doctor after I found out the news and he told me something different than my regular doctor.”

“What was it?”

He rubbed his chin. His face turned red and he turned away from me.

“The second doctor, James, told me that there was only one option. He told me that...”

He stopped. I held his hand and told him that everything will be okay. His face was full of tears before I knew it. I didn’t know what to do. I mean, I could easily be selfish in that moment and cry too but it wasn’t about me. It wasn’t about his mother or his family, it was about him. His life was on the line. I didn’t want to push him anymore, so I just laid his head on my chest and let him get it out. He’d let me know when he was ready to.

After he left, I sat on my bed looking up at my ceiling. My ceiling was painted with yellow stars from when I was a child. These were the stars I looked up to when something bad happened in my life. Like when my parents were talking about divorce, my dog died, and when my cat ran away. When I looked at these stars I kept thinking about Mike. I kept thinking of ways I could help, but realized there were none. Maybe I could give him my heart...but then I wouldn’t be alive. I just didn’t know what to do, but I promised to be there for him through whatever, and I’m keeping that promise.

Later that night, I kept calling Mike but he wasn’t answering his phone. My hands were starting to shake. A broke out in a sweat a few times while trying to take a nap and get my mind off of him. Suddenly I got a text in the middle of the night that said “open up.” I ran to my bedroom door as quick as I could to make sure everyone in the house was asleep. I heard my father snoring louder than anything else and knew it was safe to let him in. I tiptoed down the steps and went to the front door. I opened up and he was standing there. His hair looked like he placed acid on certain places because they were going bald. His eyes were red and puffy and his lips were dry. I hugged him.

“Come in,” I said.

He placed his bookbag down at my feet and hugged me. He kissed me on the forehead. His lips felt soft but rough. I held his left hand and with his right hand he picked up his bag and followed me into the house. We sat down on the loveseat and he laid down on my lap. I wanted to ask him why he didn’t answer me earlier, but I wasn’t going to say anything until he brought it up first. He kept rubbed my arm. His hands were soft and moist. I knew it helped him cope, so I let him rub away as I caressed his ear. After about ten minutes of silence and rubbing, he finally sat up and looked me in the eyes. His eyes looked like he was in pain. I tried to look away but I couldn’t. I wanted to know what he was going to say.

“I’m sorry about earlier. I went to go see the first doctor this morning and the second one in the afternoon. I’m just now getting back in town. Neither of them had any good news for me man. I don’t know what I’m going to do.” His face turned red. He put his face into his hands and left it there. I held his thumb in hopes that he would continue his story.

“The first doctor said I have a week to live. We caught the tumor too late in and it was no pills or anything they could do to prevent it. The only option we have besides me just dying is to have a heart transplant.”

“What’s wrong with getting the surgery?” I asked.

“It cost one million dollars Annie. I don’t have that kind of money. My mom doesn’t have that kind of money. No one can have that much money in a week man.” His eyes started to water but I wiped them before anything fell.

“What did the other doctor say?”

“Annie, what I tell you, you can not tell anyone. Can you promise me that?” he held my hand.

I knew something was up, but nothing could be worse than trying to deal with his death if I lost him. If the doctor had any news that could save him, I was game.

“I promise.”

“Well, I went to the second doctor and I went into there scared of my mind. Annie, I’m afraid to die. It’s too soon for me to die. So, when I went to him he told me the same thing as the other doctor but he offered me one more option. He said that I can have someone else’s heart but I would have to get it on my own and the machine. The machine costs $10,000 but he said I didn’t have to buy it if I knew what he meant.”

I didn’t know what to say. “Do you mean...steal someone’s heart?”

He looked at me and grabbed my hand. “Uh, yes Annie.”

I brought my hand back from him. My face got hot. My hands started to shake. I started to get up but he grabbed my arm.

“So who’s heart can you get?”

“That’s the thing. And you can not tell anybody! But... I took Joey’s.”

My heart stopped. Joey was Mike’s little brother. He was only seven. Before I could even talk I started crying. I tried to get up and run away from him. He was no longer the boy I knew and loved. He was a monster! I know he’s sick and needs help, but how could he end his little brother’s life?

“So where is Joey?” I asked while tears poured from my eyes.

“I hid him in the basement. Mom thinks he ran away... I feel terrible Annie I really do but there was no other choice. He was right there.” He started crying. “And you promised to help me out and be there for me. Remember? Remember Annie? I need you right now. I need you to get that machine for me. Please Annie there is no other option. Do you want me to die? DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE?” He started yelling. As he yelled, tears poured down from his hazel eyes. I wanted to hold him, but I couldn’t bring myself to. He was a monster.

“You are a monster Mike. You killed your little brother! Anyone you could’ve chosen and you killed him! What is wrong with you!? You’re a monster. I hate you and get out of my house!” I pulled him by his shirt off the couch and tried to push him towards the door. He didn’t put up a fight. He let me. I started slapping his chest crying in frustration. How could he do that to his little brother. And imagine what he could do to me!

“I’m sorry Annie. I’m sorry. But you promised to help me. You have to help me.” He grabbed my arm to stop the blows. He put his hand on my chin and lifted my head up to look him in the eyes.  When I looked at him I saw a little boy afraid of what was about to happen. There was a weakness in his eyes I couldn’t help but to feel for. I pulled my head away and asked him what he wanted from me.

“I need you to get the machine for me. The place is right up the street. They only have one security guard so it’ll be easy to sneak in. I can’t go because I’m becoming weak. I will get caught. Once I get this machine I’ll be alright Annie. Please. All I have to do is put the circular machine on my brother’s heart. It’ll suck his heart into it and hold it in place. Then, I place it on my heart and it sucks my heart out, shoots it on the ground and puts his heart in the place of mine. The doctor said it’s painless. Please.”

He kissed my forehead and held my hand. I couldn’t look him in the eyes though. Now I was stuck. Should I save my boyfriend’s life? Should I report him for killing a child? Would he betray me? Would the machine accidentally take my heart instead? I didn’t know what to do.

“If you do it, it has to be tonight Annie.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t Mike. Please, leave.” I took my hand away from his and opened up the door for him. He bent his head down and turned around. Then, he faced me, kissed me on the forehead and turned back towards the door.

“I never meant to hurt anyone Annie. I love you.” He walked out and I closed the door behind him.

As I laid down in my bed, I started crying. I wanted to know what could’ve happened if I would’ve gotten the machine for him. I would’ve saved his life, but I would’ve been committing and condoning a crime. I loved him, but because I loved him I needed to let him go. I didn’t want to apart of that. I kept thinking about him until my eyes closed. When I woke up the next morning, my mom was sitting at my bed side.

“Mom? What’s going on?” I stretched out across my bed and rubbed my eyes. She sat there with a blank face. Her eyes were red as if she was up all night. Her face was pale.

“Something happened with Mike. Get dressed I’ll meet you downstairs.”

Although I was done with Mike in my mind, I wasn’t done in my heart. I brushed my teeth as quickly as I could, threw on a top and some shorts and ran out my door downstairs. I grabbed my mom’s arm to get her attention because she wasn’t facing me, but she didn’t turn around.

“Mom? Hello? What’s going on! Look at me!”

When she turned around I jumped. Her eyes were now black. Her nose was missing and her mouth had green snake like features coming out of a hole. Her skin was purple and when she opened up to say something to me, it came out as a dry moan. Within seconds, she fell out on the couch. Her eyes closed, she lay there still. I ran around the house to find everyone else. I found my father in the kitchen, laid out across the table. His face was turned towards the wall. When I titlted his head towards me, his eyes were opened but he wasn’t moving. He looked exactly how my mom did, but the snake things in his mouth were still moving. I left his head dangling over the table and ran to find my little brothers in their rooms. They were still in bed sleeping. As I turned around to run and find help, Mike was standing behind me. He looked like my parents, but stronger and taller.

“Mike... what is going on? Did you do this to my mom and dad?”

He started walking closer towards me. “Yes. You hurt me Annie. I had to hurt everyone around you. Your brothers are next, then you.” He kept walking towards me.

“Before you kill us, how did this happen?” I asked, backing away slowly.

“Joey had a a good heart, but I grabbed the wrong machine. The one I took was nuclear and instead of leaving Joey’s heart as it was, it leaked nuclear acid on it that formed me into this monster. If you would’ve gotten the machine for me none of this would’ve happened. I just needed you for one thing Annie. How could you hurt me?” He kept walking towards me while his snake like features were snapping towards me... ready to bite.

Without hesitation, I took the baby’s stroller in the room, swung it at Mike and he fell back. I grabbed the boys and we ran downstairs. Mike wasn’t too far behind us.

“Come back here!” He shouted.

We kept running. I pushed the boys out of the way as Mike kept chasing me. I ran into the kitchen and saw my father had a knife in his hand. I snatched it and kept my body turned away from Mike. When I felt him on me I turned around and put the knife into his stomach. I twisted it  and as his soul was escaping his monster features disappeared and his regular face was showing. When I realized it was Mike and not a monster. As he fell to the ground, I ran.

I grabbed my brothers and we ran out the door and up the street. We didn’t stop running. I didn’t know where we were going. I just had to get out of there. As we were running away the only thing I could hear in my ear was Mike’s voice saying, “Annie...why couldn’t you help me? I thought you loved me?”

In 1946, one year after World War 2. After observing Earth for countless years, aliens have decided that humans are two destructive. This is due to the aliens promise to preserve planets and after seeing the destruction of the Atom bomb determine that the risk for allowing humanity to continue was too great. Using a device the aliens have that can determine the path that a species will follow. The aliens have seen more of the destructive wars that are fought by the humans as well as all of the damage on the environment that will be done in the future. The new war began on New Years day with the aliens demonstrating their technology by sending soldiers with protective suits that are powered by oxygen. This combined with their laser weapon technology quickly put battles in their favor. The aliens send their troops from an armada in ships that are in space right outside the gravitational of earth. In charge of all the ships is the mothership that is lead by the main groups of aliens in charged. In an effort to save humanity all nations teamed together to face off against the threat. However, humanity is losing this war, with the remnants of society that were able to make it to safety are now living in Antarctica in bases under the ice. Those that were not lucky enough to be rescued try to survive their extinction in the place they once called home.  As a form of respect for their culture the aliens have captured some human in order to study and experiment them. However those who have manage to escape after experimentation have notice that they have become something beyond human. Humans who have special gifts caused by the experimentations. It’s with one of those humans that our story begins.

As I wake up to the bright light in front of my face I look around the room I’m in. Bright lights, symbols I can barely translate, and aliens who look really mad that I’m awake. The aliens are looking as they always do with their full gray skin with the large eyes and that’s it. An odd thing that I never understood with these aliens is that the same areas on the side of their heads that these aliens used the hear are the same things they speak out of. It’s really annoying because the sound isn’t focused to sound as one voice, so instead it sounds like two people talking at once. Really aggravating and impractical. Then here I am, laying down on this table tapped wearing my same baggy red shirt and old worn out coat. It’s not that I like wearing this old stuff it is just that no one makes clothes anymore in any areas except for the main civilian areas. So i’m stuck wearing the same clothes that I worn since the attacks began. Good thing I haven’t grown at all. Otherwise I would be in a lot of trouble.

“So is this the fourth or fifth time you guys have captured me? Cause I honestly stopped counting.” I say to the aliens in hopes I can get them to slip up.

Getting captured has been very aggravating for someone like me, Everytime I get captured the aliens bring me to the same kind of ship, and try to do the same tricks that they always do. They forget that I’m one of the test subjects that escaped during their experimenting. I notice now that my trick worked as the aliens look at me in an attempt to figure out who I am. This clears up two things to me, one, this alien does not know who I am which leads to two, he does not know of what I am capable of. So I begin using the curse these freaks gave me as I vibrate my molecules fast enough to break the holdings on me and before they know it, I’m already running to the exit out of here.

It takes over a minute for those idiots to figure out i’m gone and the alarm goes off, but that shouldn’t be a problem. The plan is always the same when I’m getting out of one of their bases, find the map thats always at the same spot right in the middle of the ship, find the flight deck, knock over everyone I run past just to freak them out. It’s been like this the last three or four times and I doubt it will be any different. The aliens hate changing any parts of anything they build or create. But yet their fine with changing people they don’t know, like humans, those hypocrites

Making it to the map I see all of their different symbols. Thankfully I’ve looked at this map enough times to know the symbol order for the flight deck. “ Let’s see flight deck, right there. All I have to get through is the test labs?” I must not be putting those symbols together correctly. What kind of idiots would put the area where you test prisoners right by the exit? Running now I see the exit in my sight and I realized that these aliens are those idiots.

Seems like there aren’t guards at the exit yet, which means I’ve broke my new track record. With the extra time, how about a look around the lab. Let’s see what words I can make out. I see this earpiece in a glass container and vibrate my hand through to grab it.

“Let’s see I can make out the first four letters as tran, so let’s hope that means translator. Suddenly I can make out the intruder alert that’s being shouted over the alarm.

“Sweet it’s a translator. If I was a character in a story that could only have the readers understand the aliens language by my understanding this would be super convenient.” Having decided that nothing else is of convenient value I head run to one of their ships and escape.

First things first, so I’m not followed I need to turn the cloaking on. That way I can just quietly cruise down to Earth. Just because I can move fast, doesn’t mean I like speeding my way everywhere. As I look down at Earth, and you know what’s interesting? Even when these aliens are on a mass extinction of a species, they still act as eco-friendly as possible. They plant trees, clean rivers, and other eco-friendly things. You wouldn’t be able to tell there was a war going on the planet if it wasn’t for the well….war part.

“Stupid war” I say to myself. I was starting my first year of college when the war began. I was on my way to my parents house for a New Years break only to find that everyone I knew was gone. I quickly was capture by the aliens and became “speedy,” the apparent name that was given to me by what’s left of any gossip in this world.

Snapping me from my thoughts is the super loud sound from the alien ships communicator, all of the ships get the transmission from the aliens mothership, even if one is missing in action. I guess they just assumed no one would ever be willing to steal their ships.

“Did anyone find the missing test subject?” says what I assume is some high commanding officer in the aliens army.

“No. He got on one of our ships and flew away.” “It’s best to assume that he has turned on cloaking and is on his way back to earth” Said an alien who I assume was in charge of the flagship that I had escaped from.

“Should we send scouts to find him?”

“No, it doesn’t matter if he escaped or not. That was the Fifth time we caught him” (I knew it was four or five times) “ We will find him again. Besides we need all the troops ready for the attack on their base in Alaska. The drills will be ready soon.”

Man, the aliens found the base in Alaska. The Alaskan base doesn’t have many civilians there. It’s mostly a military base. It’s where the army keeps it’s stockpile of weapons for the war against the aliens. I’ve heard the base is underground in the ice, which means that those drills are not going to be good. This would be the part where my conscience tells me to do the right thing for absolutely no reward. Well I guess it’s time to be the good guy so it time I speed towards earth.

This is why it sucks to be one of those alien test subjects. Sure I escaped certain death from the aliens, but all other humans are afraid of me. Which shouldn’t be a problem, but I don’t want to hurt any human, or make myself look worse than I already do. So I can’t run when they come to arrest me. Which is why i’m in this easily escapable prison in Canada. If I don’t tell the person in charge about the ongoing attack we’ll all be, well actually i’ll be fine. It’s all the people at this base and eventually the people at the antarctic base that will be in trouble. But according from the Knowledge I got from my parents before they were well killed was that if you don’t at least try to help those in danger, the grief will kill you later. So running out of here is unfortunately not yet an option. I notice the door far away open up and an old man started walking towards my cell. He had a scar across his face which was partly covered by the eye patch over his right eye. I assume he’s seen his share of battle and it cost him his eye. However if it’s from the last war or this one I guess I’ll never know.

“You should know by now that the alien’s escaped test subjects are seen as threats for humanity.” Says someone who i hope is the guy in charge.“ I assume by the the burn marks on your shoes that you must run a lot. Which means that you’re the one my army calls speedy.”

“ Yeah that’s me. Which means that you are aware that I can get through these bars very easily.” I say as I vibrate fast enough to walk through the bars.

“ Yeah I know which means you’re here for something and that‘s what i’m here to find out. I hope that you aren’t here to help the aliens which gives me enough reason to trust you.”

“ I guessing that ‘trust’ is why there are no armed guard in this cell with us. I have information thats super important and is a matter of life and death. At least for you and your army it’s a matter of life and death.  “ I was recently captured again by the aliens and as I was escaping I found this translator, I say as I point at the earpiece attached to the right ear. “ As I was flying back to earth using a ship I stole from them I heard them talk about an attack on this very base. They said they are using some special drills they developed.”

The general had all the color drain from his face, but quickly regained composure. “ I was worried we would have an attack on this base. My scouts recently saw signs of another attack, but I had no idea that it would be this close. Do you have any full proof that they are going to be attacking here.”

The nerve of this guy. “What, you don’t believe me? But no the only thing that I have is what I heard over the radio.” The general turned away for a second to think to himself, but then quickly turned back around.

“ It’s not that I don’t believe you, but we have two problems. One, people hate test subjects like you. So the chance that they will believe you telling me all of this is close to zero percent. Especially if with claim that the device in your ear is a device that can translate what they are saying.  The other problem is that we have no idea what the machines that they are using to drill through the ice look like. So it’s going to be hard for us to prepare for something that we don’t even know what it looks like.”

“So then what are you going to do? I told you what you needed to know so I’m outta here.”

“ We are going to need to find proof about the machines. I’m going to need your help to find them and I can guarantee they will be some form of a rewards.” Once he said that he peaked my interest. Nothing is better than doing good and getting a reward for doing it. However considering the only thing these military guys have our weapons. Not something that I need nor am I a fan of.

“ So what would this reward be. Not like money is necessary and considering I can move faster than any weapon you can shoot, I don’t need any weapons ether.”

“The reward would be a chance to start humanities faith in the test subjects like you. With your speed you should be able to find and steal the blueprints for the machines and give us the edge in the next battle. After my army learns to trust you and the other test subjects we will be able to team up and win this battle for humanity once and for all.”

You know if my conscience was bugging me before to help just people who might be kill. It’s increased by ten when the topic of the other escaped test subjects are brought up. So as much as I’m not gonna like doing this I’m gonna have to.

“ I’ll do it. But we have another problem. The blueprints are more than likely on the mothership, and it’s not like they’re just gonna let us fly up there.” The general look at me and laughed.

“ Well that will be the simplest part of this mission. Everyone that is captured by the aliens in this area are assumed to be for the military. Due to this they get taken to the mothership for a more advanced interrogation. So in other words the plan is for you to get captured. Which from my understanding you are very good at.”

This is not going to be fun.

Random fact, The projectiles that are fired from the aliens weapons move a lot faster than any of the bullets fired by any of the guns are earth. The reason why I know this is that I just recently broke out of the same kind of containment room that was just like the last room I was captured in. However the aliens seem to know me by now so I was quickly fired at. I zoomed fast around corners knocking over the aliens I run past. This mothership is way bigger than of the other ships. There are so many corridors and I have absolutely no idea where I am. To make matters worse I realizes that I’m running to fast and no longer I have any shoes, but that’s besides the point. I need to find their battle plans room to get the blueprints for the machines down below.

After running around for way too long (for me that’s like two minutes). I realize that I need to treat this like one of my usual escapes. So what better way to find this blueprint and my way outta here while i’m at it then to find a map of this place. So going by my knowledge of all the other ships that there’s a map into the middle. So I head into what I hope is the middle and make my way through the ship.

I gotta admit I’m impressed. Well I was right about my theory on the middle on the ship having the map, but the middle of this mothership is literally the map! This place is absolutely huge. But thankfully the spelling for all the rooms are the same so it’s time to head to the battle plans room.

Now I’m on my way to the battle plans room, and that when I notice that there’s no guards shooting at me anymore. Plus that loud intruder alert noise that I usually hear isn’t going off. Maybe they just assume that I was pulling one of my usual escapes and that I’m already gone. Well aliens, I find the lack of trying to find me very insulting. But no matter I’ve made it to the battle room. It’s what you would expect from the average battle plan room. Large table in the middle with the plenty of chairs around it for meetings with a Monitor at the front of the room projecting what I think is the machine I’m looking for. That suspicion of if it is the device or not is quickly changed as i see a clear diagram of the drill digging into the ice. So I quickly used the device given to me to print it out. Plus for added measure I took some photos of it using the camera the general had given me. You know what would be handy? A camera that can take colored photo. But considering these aliens don’t even have colored technology.  So i guess that technology is impossible to get.

Now that is done it’s time to head to the flight deck. Running through the corridor it makes me wonder, what if the ships they have there are the flagships that I normally escape from? That would be awesome and regardless of what anyone says. If that ship is there I am taking it and it will be mine and no one is going to tell me otherwise. Finally I make it to the flight deck and what do I see one of those flagships waiting to be taken and more guards then I have ever seen in my life.  They aren’t even taking prisoners this time they start firing away and quickly I dash towards the ship. If I can run as fast as I think I can I should be able to make it to the ship before they even know what hit them. I run past the guards, knocking them over just in case as I make my way to the ship. Running through the flagship interior I know so well I make it to the drive console and fly on out of here, Now I can sit back and relax as I fly close enough to the base and run to deliver the blueprints. All of my troubles are over...except for the alien that I now see is right behind me.

“Thank you translator or I would have never realized this dude was behind me” The alien was now laying on the floor presumably dead. It’s not that I wanted to kill him, I just didn’t want to take that chance of him being around. But still I hate getting my hands dirty. So this is what happened. I was sitting back getting ready to relax when all I hear behind me is;

“It seems that I’m the only one smart enough to stay in the obvious ship you would take. It seems I have the upper hand now.” The alien said which what I assume was a smug for look at them. But that look quickly faded as I ran toward him, grabbed his gun, and shot him before he even realized what happened. However now that this minor conflict is over with, it’s time to head down to earth.

The Story of Diamond Philips

Stream: Fire

By: Jules James

The name is Diamond Phillips and this is a story about what I went through during the year of 2100. I will start off by telling you about myself. I was born on February, 29, 2083 in West Philadelphia. I lived with my father, Greg Phillips, but I called him Wawa because he told me that’s where he was when he found out Angela, my mother, was about to give birth to me. Wawa worked as a contractor who builds houses and hospitals. He was born in West Philadelphia too but we moved to New York after his wife abandoned me and him. Me and my dad got along perfectly, we're like best friends. We told each other everything and we always hung out. I must say I loved that man to death. His death would tear me down from the inside out.

Now, the lady who gave birth to me was Angela Martin. She was from South Philly and also was a drug addict. She died in 2097. It’s not much I could say about her for the simple fact that I really didn’t know her. All I knew is before 2100 came I didn’t like her much. My reason for this is because I never had a mother figure in my life and I blamed that on her. I never saw my mother in real life, only in pictures. When Angela's funeral came I refused to go because when I needed my mother she wasn't there for me so I thought that I wasn't going to be there for her.

Other than Wawa, I had no other family in my life, but I do had this friend, she was my best friend. Her name was Mia but people called her Mo, that wass her dyke name. At first she was hard to get along with but by the end of sophomore year we ended up becoming best of friends.

I was also raised as a Christian. I questioned myself of whether or not I still was a Christian. I still went to church, once in a while but the person I was drew me from that religion. During 2100, I was single but I also was bi-sexual. I never had sex with a guy but I did with a girl once, only for fun though.

My relationship life wasn’t the best. I’ve had 18 “boyfriends” altogether but only 1 real boyfriends, the others only wanted to fuck. And I only had 1 girlfriend, sadly we didn’t work out.

Enough about the people around me, I’ll continue telling you about me. During the time of 2100, I was in 11th grade and I attended Turner High and I received good grades such as A’s and B’s. As much as I didn’t want to do the work I knew I had to just to keep my father happy. I was all he had, I didn’t want to be a disappointment to him.

I was smart, quiet, defensive, persistent, emotional, and I had anger issues. I was a basic young girl who tried to finish up high school, had no hobbies and no favorite sports. I hated the way I looked and the reason for that was because I looked like my mother. I was scared that I was going to be just like her and I didn’t want that. So I thought if I changed how I looked then I would be different from her. When I was 17 I was 5’4: I had tattoos on my chest, arms, and thighs, I had to cover up the skin that was just like my mother’s. I dyed my long black hair to blonde and I cut it. I was full in the chest and butt area, and I wore makeup all the time. My goal was to get rid of the look of my mother as much as I could no matter how much I had to change the way I looked. I mostly wore all black and my clothes were fitted just enough to show far my beautiful curves.

There’s one more thing you should know before I start my story. Everyone other than Wawa and Mo didn’t like me and the reason for that is because I was different and no one actually tried to get to know me. That was the reason I kept my distance. My happiness was all that mattered.

Now I’ll began my story:

I ran. I ran at an incredible pace so she wouldn’t see me coming. I flew through the cold, hard metal doors of my school, which created a strong breeze that hit everyone that was in my way. I went inside every girl’s bathroom and I looked in every stall but she was no where to be found. After I went in all of the bathrooms I then went to the place she had to be, her rusted 25 year old locker. Her locker was the first locker installed inside of our school. People call it the ancient locker.

When I got there, there was a group of people there, including Tia. We were both dressed alike, we were in fighting clothes with our hair tied up. I was the one who had to break the intense silence.

“You was talkin’ a lot of shit yesterday, why you so quiet now?” I said putting my book bag on the ground. I’m not going to lie, she was a brave bitch but so was I.

“The only reason I ain’t saying anything is because I prefer to use my hands other than wasting my breath with you.” She turned around to everyone behind her and said something that turned all of my sanity off. “Don’t worry about her. She just mad because I saw her mom yesterday for the first time and that was more than how many times she saw her mother. I put up a picture of her on Tweinstabook. Y’all should go see it.”, She said.

As she laughed, a boy with his phone out, it was set on video mode, asked, “Wait, but didn’t her mom died like three years ago from cocain?” She turned back around to me with a smirk on her face.

“Oh yea, oops. Maybe it was another dirty ass old crackhead that I saw then.” Everyone behind her gave out their “ooo’s” and I didn’t want to hear anymore of the bullshit.

Before I knew it my left hand was connected to her nose that stood out more than  her hard effort she put into her Tweinstabook pictures trying to expose a butt that never existed. Lucky for me she didn’t know how to fight and I found that out by noticing the only thing she was doing was pulling my hair, like that was never been done to me before. But because my head was down and I couldn’t see her face, to aim at it some more, I had no choice but to knee her in a not so delightful place. That one hit brought her down on the ground, which gave me the advantage to get on top of her and start fisting her face in a few times.

I heard kids yelling, videos being taken, flashes, and a lot of other loud things that, for no reason, made me angrier which made all my hits on her face harder. But then I heard Officer Smith work his way to us. He pushed his way through the crowd so he could try to get me off of her.

When he finally came and got me off of her I looked her dead in her bloody face and said, “Try talkin’ about my mom again, bitch.” She covered her face and started to weep. Officer Smith and I walked away while the blood drops off my fist followed me.

I got suspended that day. They sent me home after the fight and suspended me for a week. When I was on my way home I thought my dad was still going to be asleep by time I got there and I would just explain to him what happen when he wakes up. But I was wrong. When I got home he was getting himself ready to go somewhere. He also had a bag packed.

“Wawa, where are you going?”, I asked putting my bag down slowly, hoping it wouldn’t touch my knuckles.

“Did you forget what today is?”, he asked. After a few milliseconds a nebulous look appeared on his face.

“Why aren’t you in school right now?”

“I’ve gotten suspended. It’s a long story involving a fight. I’ll tell you later.” I tried to change the subject quickly.

“So what’s the special occasion?”, I asked

“Your mother’s 3 year death.” I rolled eyes then quickly painted a polite smile on my face.

“I hope you have fun at the graveyard daddy. I’ll see you when you come back.”

“Oh well I’m going to stay in Philly for a day so I won’t be back until tomorrow night.”

“That’s even better, I’ll just stay with Mo tonight.” I was on my way to my room to pack some clothes but then Wawa stopped me.

“Wait, there’s something I wanna talk to you about.”, he said in a low voice, trying to sit me down.

“What is it?”, I asked. He pulled out this hackneyed paper from out of his back pocket, it looked like it was there for years.

“I’ve had this information for a while and I was thinking maybe,” he began to hesitate “... maybe you would like to go back in time?” I was confused with where he was getting at.

“Why would I do that? What’s back there for me?”

“Your mother.”, He said gaving me a sharp stare in my eyes.

“What?No... I won’t... I refuse...I...” I couldn’t complete any of my sentences. I was too appalled by his suggesting. Why in the hell would I ever go to see her?

“I don’t wanna hear it. I’m your father and I command you to go see her tomorrow. Do you understand me?” Wawa said with a loud tone of voice.

I had no choice by to reply by saying, “Yes Wawa.”

“Good. Now it will cause $1,000 so here you go.” He handed me a thick envelope that said, “Back in Time Money”.

“Now with this, you will go to the Franklin Museum, to the Time Machine exhibit, and give the people the money that’s in this envelope. And when they ask where do you want to go you have to say the first house on 58th and Christian Street on March 10, 2084.”, Wawa explained.

“Why this date?”

“This was the day she left.” This was a lot to take in. One part of me didn’t want to go because I didn’t want to see her face or hear her voice. But another part of me wanted answers to all my questions. I didn’t know what to do but I knew someone who would help me, Mo.

After Wawa left , I went upstairs to pack my bag and then I texted Mo to tell her that I was on my way over her house to spend a night.

When I got to her house she was home by herself. When she opened the door for me she only had on black and white ball shorts, a black sports bra, and white socks with Nike sandals. Her hair was wrapped in a bun and she looked like she just got out of bed, which made sense since she skipped school that day. But even though she was not there to see the fight between me and that girl she still had people there to tell her about it.

Time was going by fast and all l wanted to do was go take a shower and talk to Mo. And that’s exactly what I did. After I got out of the shower took of my clothes that was covered with my blood and Tia’s blood and threw on my pajama shorts and the matching shirt that came with it. I went to meet Mo in her room so we can begin our long talk. When I entered her room she was sitting on her bed.

“Come here girly and tell me what’s going on.”, she said as she patted on her bed. I took a seat next to her and my mouth began to run. It felt like it was running at 90mi./hr.

“Well, you know Tia, like the bully she is, she started talking about my mom. And you know how I get when people start to talk about my mom, I snapped. I had to fuck her up because she just kept running her mouth. She wouldn’t shut up. So after they suspended me for a week I went home and I saw my dad about to leave. He told me he was going to Philly to see my mom at the graveyard for her third year death and he is going to stay there for a day. But then he was like he want to go to the Franklin Museum to use the Time Machine to go back in time to go talk to her and I just don’t know if I should go or not. HELP.” When I was finished saying all of this I was out of breathe but Mo was just laughing. I think the speed of my talking was amusing to her.

“You lucky I’m your best friend cause if I wasn’t I don’t think I would have understand you. But anyways, I’m going to skip over the fight because that is totally irrelevant, but we are going to talk about going to see your mother. I think you should go see her. “You lucky I’m as good of a friend as I am or I would’ve not been able to understand anything you just said. But anyway, you’ve been in a hundred fights because of her and I think you should talk to her about how you feel. And you can’t say that you don’t feel anything because you wouldn’t fight for someone you don’t care for. And you know you have questions for her so why don’t you just...”, before she had the chance to finish her speech I stole a kiss. Both of our soft lips connected and the kiss that I thought was only going to be just a peck for maybe 20-25 seconds ended up being a long. passionate,  love kiss that lasted for hours.

After a few hours into our kissing, I detached our lips from each and looked her in her eyes.

“If you really want me to go see my mother than I will.”, I said in a low, soft voice.

“To be honest, what I really want is you.” She spoke just as soft while smiling and leaning in for another hours long kiss and a cuddle session. And that is how we end our night together.

She woke me up the next morning around 10 o’clock and told me I should get ready to go the museum before it gets crowded and she was right. I threw on my black crop top with my black tights and I put on my make up and repacked my bag and I was ready to go. But before I left, I gave my girlfriend a nice “think about me” kiss and then I was on my way to the museum.

When I got there it wasn’t crowded at all but when I my turn came I was hella nervous. After I gave the workers the money for the use of the machine and I told them where I wanted to go, they told me somethings I should know before they started me up. The workers told me that I only have 15 minutes inside the past and nothing longer. They also told me to not do anything that could negatively affect the future, basically don’t kill anyone. After the workers was done explaining everything. They put me inside the machine and strapped me in. They closed the door and told me to count in my head to 30 with my eyes closed. I started counting as I heard the machine start up and I felt the air blowing through my hair.

When I got to 30, I was there. I was standing right outside of the house my mother a banned me and my father in. Then I saw her. I saw her long caramel soft legs exit the door with her perfectly curvy shaped body following it. Her long black hair that was put away into a ponytail and her incredible ass was the last to exit.

I went behind a bush as she came down the stairs and waited for a G bus to take her away from me forever.

“Hi Angela.”, I said. When she looked at me I could tell that she didn’t know who I was.And she seemed high by the abject smell of weed in her breath and the redness in her eyes.

“Ummmm.... Do I know you? Who are you?”, she asked.

“No you don’t know me... Well you do but not as much as you should. I’m Diamond Phillips.” She gave me a hard stare.

“What?”

“I’m your daughter but from the future.” I was emotionless at first because I didn’t know how to feel.

“Oh my god, it is you Dia. What are you doing here?”, she asked.

“I have so many questions I want to ask you. Like why are you leaving?Do you even care about me? Did you...”, she stopped me.

“These are questions I never wanted to hear you ask so that’s why I’m leaving while you are or while you was young. But I guess the U.S. figured out how to created a time machine. But I do owe you an explanation. I’m leaving because I want to find help for myself. I didn’t want you to grow up with a crackhead mother so I’m taking myself to rehab for a few years.”, my mother explained.

“I was forced to grow up without a mother. When you was finished with rehab why didn’t you come back?” Tears was flowing down my face.

“I had plans too. Maybe I did try to come back. Did y’all happen to move at anytime?”

“Yea, we moved to Brooklyn a few months after you left.”

“I probably tried to come back but y’all was probably already gone. I left for your life and and for mines baby girl. I have nothing but love for you. I would never want to hurt you.”, then she started crying.

“Mom, I love you but you physically and mentally destroyed me when it came to me not having a mother figure in my life. I forced myself to change my physical appearance because I was sure that if I looked like you then I would be like you and I didn’t want that. I want to be there for my child, when or if I have them. But now that I know why you  did what you did, I can’t be mad. All you really wanted to better your life for your family.”

“May I give my beautiful daughter a hug, please?”, she asked.

“Yes you may mom.” We hugged and cried on each other for 5 minutes.

Then she asked, “So I have a question, how is our relationship right now?”

“I'm sorry to say but you’re dead back in my time. This is my first time seeing you in person. You died when I was 14 years old. I had so much hate for you that I didn’t even go to your funeral. But not my dad. He still love you so very much. He went to your funeral and he go see your gravesite every year.” I started to fade.

“MOM”, I yelled.

“ Baby girl, I want you to remember this one thing, I will never go a day without thinking of you. I love you baby.”, she wiped away her tears as I slowly became transparent.

The last thing I was able to say was, “I love you too mommy.”

Having a family is a dream for many people. The thoughts of coming home everyday after a long hard day of work to a loving family is a wish to be fulfilled. Making something that you’ve built from love is a blessing, and thats what a child is. Putting all hope, faith, love, and care into a tiny baby to help them grow into the person who has it all. To someone who people look up to, who has a future, who has a good life. Knowing that there is no such thing as a perfect, you still will try everything in your power to have something as perfect as possible. Someone you always wanted to be, its now the time to try and make that happen. Watching a baby grow, from being born, to crawling, to their first words then to their first foot steps. The moments are precious and are meant to be cherished forever.

When someone has a child they will do anything in their power to keep them from falling, getting hurt, and from losing. Making sure they are always happy and having what they want, when they want it. Even if that means you doing things that you never wish to do but will anyways because you’re doing it for the light of your life. Even though you may not be capable to do so, you’ll still try your hardest to make sure that it will happen. Having a child can change a person forever. The way they think, to the way they do things, to the way they love and see things. Making you finally see the light of the gray years that passed. In the darkest days. The feeling of a full heart, just for a tiny baby. That feeling of having a child will make you happy every second of every day. Even when there are fights, miscommunications, regrets, and tears. Your child will always know where home is.

But what if you aren’t able to have that. The ability to make a love child. You’ll do anything to have the capability of creating a beautiful creature.  You’ll do anything to have that, even if that means taking in someone else's child as your own. Thats how Maria and John saw it. And thats exactly what they did. They wanted a child, no matter the race, the gender, healthy or sick. They’d love it as their own. Never giving up on something that meant so much to them.

John was a Doctor, one of the top plastic surgeons around. He performed over a thousand surgeries, where all were very satisfied. He made enough money a year to help support his small family that he always wished for. He had it all. Because being one of the younger doctors on his field and being very talented at what he did, he was a bit more liked, with his age and his charming looks. Maria on the other hand was not as good looking as John. She didn’t make as much money as he did and wasn’t as liked. The thing is, John didn’t care about her money, he made enough to make both of them stable. He didn't care about her appearance. Looks didn’t matter to John, he was completely fine with Maria’s appearance. The way someone looks shouldn't be the reason to start a relationship with someone its the way you feels towards and about them. Matter of fact, he liked the way she looked, she had a different kind of beauty. The way she spoke gave him chills. Her words grabbed a hold of his heart which made it no longer his, but hers. It was love at first sight for the both of them. The thought of him not being with her broke his heart, he couldn’t imagine life without her. Thats when they finally decided after three years of happy strong marriage, it was time to expand their family with a baby.  

Trying for a few months, many doctor appointments, injections, and tears, it was impossible for the them to ever have a baby. Maria’s body could not stand the what was needed when trying to have a baby. She was devastated, broken down. She tried so hard, did everything in her power she could to try and conceive, but nothing worked. A long month of grieving, barely able to eat, barely able to speak, John finally rose the conversations about adoption. A big responsibility, long process, questions, and wonders. Where they up for it? Caring for another person’s child. Having to face the fact that they are not the child’s birth parents. It was all too much but despite all the fears, they began the process of really being a family. Almost a year being past, the adoption was almost final. John and Maria were now going to be the new parents of a healthy baby boy by the name of Jack. Jack Mask was his name, no one really knew where Mask originated from but they weren’t going to change who Jack really was. Like they said, they’ll love him no matter what. For some odd reason, though the name was different, it fit him. They finally got what they always wished for.  

Everything was great, Jack loved his new home and Maria and John loved being parents. As time flew by and Jack was growing from a baby to a developing boy it was time for Maria and John to start thinking about schooling for Jack. For some odd reason, Jack wasn’t as comfortable with other children, not comfortable with people in general. There wasn’t a problem with family because they knew Jack since he was a baby, but you couldn’t bring different people around Jack because nothing ever turned out right. He would spaz out, shouting, kicking, crying, and no one knew what to do to stop him. The only way for Jack to really calm down is to get the people he saw as strangers out of his presence. Maria and John didn’t know what to do anymore, it was either bring new people around Jack and hear him scream and shout or it was having no communication with anyone when it come to Jack having to meet new people. After several doctors appointments to see if anything was actually mentally wrong with Jack, but there wasn’t. After a few weeks of John and Maria consulting about their son about school there was no other choice than to place Jack in homeschool. There were scared about the whole face the thoughts everything not working out right enough to keep Jack in home school because he didn’t have the ability to stay focus, or the ability to memorize things that he’d learn and then recap by doing a project or taking a test. But all they could do was try. At first, John and Maria didn’t know how to homeschool Jack, they both worked. While John was performing surgeries, Maria was cleaning houses so who was going to teach Jack. Thank god that Maria’s sister Jamie somehow joined into the conversation and suggested to John and Maria that she could homeschool Jack while they are at work with his cousin Alex. They seemed to get along well since they are around the same age and understood each other, agreeing with aunt Jaime to homeschool Jack Mask, the situation of schools was no longer a problem.

Everything seemed to be working out fine, Jack was doing better in school then John and Maria expected, he averaged out in grades as a’s and b’s which is good enough for them. Alex and Jack seemed to get really close as they began to see each other everyday for school. But the only thing is that Alex was loud and outspoken where Jack was always the shy one who kept to himself and came to a whisper when he actually spoke once in a while. John and Maria seemed to be okay with the fact that Jack was shy and to himself most of the time. He was comfortable with who he was and that is all that matters. One day while Jack and Alex were at school, Alex suggested to do a project about halloween because of it being early October, he liked the idea. Jaime being okay with that she gave a project of researching about any halloween character and then make them with some type of arts and crafts. Alex did no what he wanted to do at first, he was stuck between a ghost, a which, or a vampire. Where Jack did know what to do his project on. He never really went out for halloween except once but something bad happened and Maria and John never let that happened again, but that was when Jack Mask was only one years old, so he doesn’t remember anything that happened that day. John and Maria don’t like to talk about it so they try to keep it in the past. Jack always had a thing for people in colorful mask, dark clothes with bright ascents, with velvet material. He was looking up different types of monsters that are “seen” around halloween time. He came across some type of monster that caught his eye immediately. It was called the “joker mardi gra monster”, this monster was all that Jack loved. Searching up pictures of this creature, Jack fell in love with the whole look. He began researching about this mysterious creature. He researched day and night, and when he wasn’t he would draw pictures of the monsters. One picture he drew that his mother found was a family of these “people”, she was a little curious but she didn’t ask Jack about it because she understood he was a young boy and was exploring in his own ways. In the drawing, there was tiny words spread around the paper, but in a way to understood what it said in a sentence. “I will come home soon.” Maria didn’t understand what it meant, she just thought he was playing but thats when everything started to change.

Jack would stay in his room on the computer he received for his school work, he would sit up all day and all night on this computer. One day while Maria had off from work she went into Jack’s room to see what was going on while he was at school and went into his history just to see what he has been looking up all this time. The history list was full of google searches saying, “what am I going threw?”, “Feathers growing from my face”, “Body suit growing from nowhere”, “Joker”, “Mardi gra”, “Monster”. She was confused and didn’t know what to do or say. She questioned on whether or not this is just a stage her son was going through or something serious. But because Jack didn’t approach her with anything, so she thought is was best to just leave it alone.

The next day it seemed like everything was changing about Jack, his appearance, his mood, his voice, everything. Being new parents, Maria and John thought he was just going thru an early stage of puberty or something along those lines. But it wasn’t, it was something way more than that. The next morning Jack went down to the kitchen to get breakfast, he was thinking about either cereal or pancakes, walking into the kitchen and saying “good morning” to his mother there was a loud smash of a plate and a horrible scream that came from his mothers mouth.

“Jack, you scared me, why do you have that ugly mask and outfit on? Where did you

get that at?” Maria said while cleaning up the broken dishes.

Jack’s father ran down the stairs in alarmed from hearing the bloody scream;

“Whats going on down here? Maria why’d you scream like that, is everything okay?” John said while trying to catch his breath.

“Look at the costume your son has on!”

Jack then turned around facing his father in confusion,

“What costume? I have no costume on, what are you talking about?” Jack said while slamming his hand on the counter in anger.

“Where did that come from Jack, get that off before you give your mother a heart attack, I fix faces not hearts.”

Jack finally went to the mirror in the living room to see what his mother and father was talking about. Being a little hesitant to look in the mirror to see what they were talking about he finally gain the courage.

“No, its happening! Why me? Why mom why?” Jack screamed while tears were streaming down his face.

“What do you mean sweetie? Just take the outfit off, you’ll be fine, here I’ll help.” Maria said while smiling coming getting close to Jack.

“Stay away mom, please I don’t know what can happen to you if you touch me, don’t even look at me!” Jack screamed and cried crawling backwards to get away from his mother.

Jack knew this was going to happen soon enough, he thought it was just some stages but it was real. It was like all those dreams that he had. He became what we was researching, as joker mardi gra monster. From all of the research that was done he found out that these type of monsters as well as many others come from a place called Halloween World. Its a place like Earth but is different in a way where they have monsters instead of humans. They sip on witches brew instead of wine. They eat worms and cow eyeballs instead of spaghetti and meatballs. They are all around different from what a human is and does. But to get to Halloween World you can’t just take a plane there or drive a car, in order to get into that world you need to find the portal that leads the right way into the element. Unless you actually know where this portal is you can not find it until you are giving the ring of worlds by someone who actually lives in Halloween World.

Jack told his mother and father everything he knew about what he was now and the place he had came from. It was hard for him to everything out so he went to grab his computer to show his parents a video he found about the type of monster he is now. Though it was all so much to take in, they had to except their son for who he was now. They were still going to love him like how he was before all of this happened to him.

Months past by and Jack didn’t go to school anymore, it was all too much to take in and hold. So during the day he would continue to research how to go over to the Halloween World to see where he really came from. Why his real parents gave him up. And what he has to do to go back to a normal ten year old boy. Not having to wear this colorful, feather, shiny mask every day without taking it off. Not being able to remove this suit that was now his new skin. He wanted to know so much about himself from what he knows already. He knew that the only way from him to know everything is until he gets to the other world. He needed that ring.

Today was the day that everything was going to happen, Jack was going to get his ring, he was going to cross over to the other world and see what he really came from. Who he came from and why’d they let him go. The day was October 31st, halloween and Jack’s life is about to change. But Jack, Maria, nor John knew what was going to go on. Maria and John finally agreeing on letting Jack out for halloween again since he’s older and he actually wanted. Jack was going out trick-or-treating with his cousin Alex then after treating for all their candy to rot their teeth, they were going to go carve pumpkins at Alex’s house. Alex was going to be a mummy, he was so excited because his costume actually looks pretty real. Jack on the other hand can’t change his costume because it wasn’t a costume it was his real skin. Only because of how unique it was and how much it resembled halloween, he was okay with wearing it and going out.

While getting ready at Jack’s house he started to feel weird, like a sick feeling.

“Ahhhhh, ohhhh, ugh, ow,” Jack cried then falling to the floor.

“JACKY, are you okay? Whats wrong? Want me to go get your mom?” Alex said with a panic.

“I just don’t feel that well, I’ll be fine just give me a second.” Jack said while holding on hand on his stomach and the other over his purple lips.

Jack didn’t know what was going on. To him, it felt like someone was twisting his already twisted intestines. Like someone was holding and not letting go of them, holding them like they were trying to save themselves from falling in a body of water with sharks. After a half and hour or so Jack felt completely fine. It was weird. One minute he was in complete pain but the next he was completely fine. It didn’t make sense but now that it was gone, he was not even going to question it. Jack finished “getting ready” and it was time to leave and explore the world for the first actual time by himself, well with his cousin Alex. After Maria and Jamie being good mothers and telling their children what and what not to do they finally let them off to get their candy. So many things were running through Jack’s head and not knowing if it meant anything important or was it just a state of fear. He couldn’t put in words what he was feeling inside. There was a mix of emotions running through Jack Mask. The one step out of his front door and it all hit him. Reality hit him hard in the face and he knew where he had to be. Not with these type of people who he really is not. Not these people who are nothing like him. He needed to find a way to get back to where he really belonged, he needs that ring, but where does he find it at? Then he started to remember everyone who put a good impression on his life. His caring father who took him in, his loving mother who even though she didn’t give birth to him she still cared for him as his own. He thought about the two people who didn’t judge him at all when helping him grow and become better, his aunt Jaime and cousin Alex. Alex, his only friend. He could just up and leave Alex alone, that was his best friend. He loved Alex to death and would never want to hurt him but it was either the change to see where he come from or staying with the family that took him in. Cared for him. Fought for him to be theirs.

Jack try to put all the emotions and thoughts behind him to try and make the best  out of have some fun with his cousin. Trick-or-treat to get all the candy a kid could ever wish for. Walking down the street with Alex, Jack looked back and glanced at his house for one of the last times ever, turning back around to find a tear rolling down his face.

The boys were out trick-or-treating for only about a hour or so and their bags were filled to the brim. A ton of people ran up to them to complement how amazing their outfits were. They were pretty happy about what they have received for the night so they decided to head home.

“Alex im not feeling that good so I think I’m just going to go home instead of your house to carve pumpkins, we can just do it tomorrow after lunch!” Jack said while holding his stomach.

“Okay just have aunt Maria call my mom and we can do that and make sure you have you mom check your candy before you eat it, you know, just to make sure everything is safe,” Alex said with eye glaring onto his big bag of candy. Both walked the separate ways to their own houses without looking back.

Jack finally got to his house, waiting a few minutes to enter the house he looked at him candy bag and notice something. It was a shiny red rock sticking out in the middle or the candy that he received.

“What the hell is this?” Jack said to himself while reaching down into the bag to retrieve the mysterious item.

Jack eyes opened wide with his mouth following, it was a ring. Could it be the ring he needed to get the Halloween World. Sticking the ring in his pocket and then walked in the house like nothing ever happened.

“Hello sweetie, how was it? Did you have fun with Alex?” Maria said with a large smile on her face fixing a little snack for Jack.

“Good mom, I had a lot of fun, I’m not that hungry so I don’t need my snack, actually my tummy is hurting a little bit I think I’m going to go lay down and try to sleep.” Jack said while holding his stomach with both hands.

“You didn’t eat any candy did you sweetie, you know i'm suppose to check every piece to make sure everything is okay with it.”

“No mom I just think I ate something earlier to mess up my tummy.” Jack said while throwing the bag on the floor and running up stairs.

Jack ran to his room closing the door fast but silent. He didn’t want to worry anyone in the house with a loud bang. He went right in his pocket to examine the ring with a closer eye. He pulled it out and and as soon and his eye hit the ruby that was on the ring it glowed. Bright lighting up the whole room with a red foggy light. There was a bang in his closet randomly with a beep, there was silence after that. Jack jumped up and went to his closet door to see what was going on in there. He took a moment to gain the confidence to open the door. After thinking of what could be in there he finally opened the door. There was now a blueish purple light that was shining. There was a swirl or different colors just hovering over his shoe rack with a an inscription on the wall. It looked like scribbles but for some reason he was able to read it right away. “Once you come, you can never go!”, Jack finally found the portal that leads the the Halloween World. He knew that it was either a choice of staying with the family who took him in as his own, continue to be freak in the world or “normal” or go and explore where he really came from. Thoughts were running through his head and tears were running down his face, he didn’t know what to do.

Being in an environment with people that are completely different than you can be really uncomfortable at times, and that’s a big reason as to why I never say much when I’m at school. There’s nobody I can truly relate to therefore if I talk about things that interest me or I believe in I’ll just get looked at weirdly. I’m horrible at keeping my thoughts and emotions in, so you can imagine how stressful it is for me to act like I’m somebody I’m not. If I feel a certain way about something I make it known, but when I’m at school I can’t do this, and it’s honestly the most frustrating thing. SLA has changed me in ways that I didn’t want to change. Staying true to myself is a big part of my life, and I just simply can’t do that here without feeling extremely uncomfortable.

Changes occurs throughout our lives. There are some we are able to recognize and there are some we cannot see with the naked eye. An individual can play many roles when it comes to creating and sustaining change. By being an activist for a cause, an individual can bring about many changes; big or small . Becoming a role model for others who want to create change or just coming out of the blue to solve an injustice could account also as a step for change. All it takes for change to happen is for an individual to take that first step, say that first word, make an effort in standing up to an injustice and changes will gradually start to occur.

Nelson Mandela is one of many individuals who stood up for what he believed in.

Not only did he stand up for what he believed in, he in fact became a leader to his cause and the many who looked up to him. This leadership aspect-the ability to focus on your goals even at times you are put in the face of danger- was very important to his perception of freeing South Africa from apartheid. He believed it was his destiny to solve this injustice no matter what the consequences were to be. He stated in his autobiography, “As a leader, I have always followed the principles I first saw demonstrated by the regent at the Great Palace. I have always endeavored to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent a consensus of what I heard in the discussion. I always remember the regent's axiom: a leader, he said, is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.”

Creating change is all about  and perseverance and determination. Sacrifices may come at times but it’s all about taking chances and standing for what you believe in.

Mandela had to sacrifice the well being of his family to establish change. He was unable to  be a part of many family gatherings. He was not there to see his children grow up. He was not even able to attend the funerals of his oldest son or mother, both of whom died while he was still in prison. His family had to share him with the world.This was a sacrifice he was willing to make. Mandela stated in an interview, “ I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, a thousand unremembered moments, produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system which imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, From henceforth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise.” He believed his struggle was not for himself but in fact for his people; for his nation.