ALOOF
Janine could sneak up on everyone – almost.
Her father was excluded – he had more experience than her, and she swore his feet rarely touched the ground – he sort of just hovered, held up by his own ego.
The other person was the boy who sat in front of her in history class: Falkner.
She'd never understand how he could always catch her, until the day he took her to his father's aviary.
When the hawk landed on his outstretched arm, Janine didn't know whether to be more impressed by the bird or the suddenly much more interesting boy holding it.
—
BLOOD
Brendan only got the feeling when his father did something bad.
He'd be anywhere – anywhere from in class or deep asleep in his dorm room, but he could never escape it.
Sometimes, it would be a mild discomfort. But other times were worse – a sick, twisted feeling in his stomach that would nauseate him for a day.
Then he would see the news and hear a story about a woman losing half her flesh to fire, or an elderly couple found dead in their home.
Maxie always rang afterwards, and Brendan would try his hardest to forgive his father again.
—
TOWER BLOCK
Giovanni and Ariana were the couple – Archer assumed – who lived across the luxurious hall of his apartment building. They had one surly looking son. Archer didn't know his name.
Giovanni ran a company that's purpose was blurry, and Ariana was a party planner of some sort. It made sense they could afford the apartment in the best part of town – Archer's own job at the city radio station paid just enough for rent and to put food on his table.
They were the most glamorous and atrocious couple Archer had the pleasure of knowing.
And by atrocious, he meant genius.
—
TAXI
He had jumped into the cab before he realised that there was already another person inside.
"Oh," he exclaimed, "I am very sorry, I did not understand–"
His English was stilted and terribly rusty – he hated speaking it normally and frequently got embarrassed in everyday conversation. But this time he didn't stop his stunted conversation thanks to nerves.
The man had lifted his head from his paper, and Emmet saw a face identical to his own staring back at him.
The stranger – Ingo, he knew – stared wide-eyed for a moment before smiling and crying at the same time, "Emmet."
—
SEARCH
"Do you believe yourself close to finding it?" her grandfather asked as she poured tea.
The question startled her. She wasn't aware her grandfather knew she was looking at all.
"What do you mean?" Korrina asked nervously. She didn't even like tea, but drunk it anyway to hide her wavering smile.
"Oh, don't be daft," Gurkinn admonished. "It was in that old book you found in the attic – what was it called again?"
"The Tower of Aura," she murmured. "The ancient stone of mastery called the Lucarionite. It's a myth, grandpa."
He grumbled, "Myth or no, keep looking. It's important."
—
LIVELY
The strange egg was warm to the touch, he noticed. It was larger than any other egg from an animal he had seen, and red and blue in colour.
Drake had discovered it one day during a great storm that left him shipwrecked on a small island home to a lone lighthouse. He had sought refuge there while he waited for rescue.
Inside was a skeleton belonging to a creature Drake couldn't make out. If the storm hadn't threatened to kill him, he might have fled at the sight.
Underneath the skeleton was the egg. Drake didn't leave it behind.
—
REMORSEFUL
Professor Oak's house, steps away from the academy, was hushed.
"You did well," Daisy said finally, holding Green's history test. Her brother beamed.
"All that studying you made me do really helped," he replied and shrugged, nonchalant. "I probably don't even need to keep doing it – I'm on top of most of my classes now."
Daisy stared at her little brother suspiciously. "That's true," she said slowly, "But I know that when you were supposed to be studying the night before the exam you were playing video games in Hilbert and Cheren's dorm."
Green winced, "Well, it's a funny story."
—
DISMISS
"But milady," he exclaimed as another maid packed her belongings – her personal butler was too busy yelling at her.
"I do not wish to be called that anymore," Caitlin said primly at her vanity, brushing her hair. Locks as thick as hers needed all the care she could give. Usually Darach brushed it. "I will be going to a school with other children my age, therefore I am no longer a lady and you are no longer in my service."
He looked pained, and she sighed.
"I will be home during holidays, Darach," she said gently. "I'll be home soon."
—
HEAVY
May always dreamt she was in the middle of the ocean, a massive storm raging around her. The skies would be black and the rain belted down with such ferocity that it bruised her flesh.
Then it was hot – the sun was blazing and there would be no escaping the oppressive, burning heat.
She dreamt she dived underwater to gain relief but only felt scalded instead. The boiling water lay heavily on her lungs and she drowned and burned at the same time.
Every time she dreamt she thought the same thing – that it was Brendan who held her understand.
—
FORWARD
Calem keeps his hair short this time around, and the thought of it shocks her more than it should. He is still the same person – they always are, forever unchanging.
The first time a thousand years had passed she met Calem by accident. She cried and had thrown herself into his arms, and while he had patted her back in comfort, she knew he remembered nothing.
After that she tried to find the reawakened gods to set things right, but could not find her way back to Geosenge. After five cycles, she gave up.
"You're new here?"
She smiles sadly.
