RICHARD
Only words
It doesn’t matter what I say, or how I say it; the truth of the matter is that all you ever seem to hear are the wrong words.
You hear only want you want to hear, twisting and misinterpreting what I say to your own ends, and turning them against me.
I don’t know where it all went wrong, or why you changed.
I never changed.
Why haven’t I left? After all, that’s what you want, isn’t it?
But I’ll never leave.
Because I still believe you can change again.
And once more, we can be the way we were.
LIZZIE
The way we were always using the wrong words was a waterproof ticket to getting ourselves into a bottomless pit of trouble. It was definitely not safe to poke the beast but we insisted on doing it. At some point, we even came up with a language of our own. “Speaking in an unknown language won’t get you out of this mess,” she said, her eyes rolling in a remarkably odd way. We wanted to laugh but we didn’t, of course. Instead, we underlined random words in her books. Till this day, she keeps trying to figure it all out.
SERENDIPIDY
You imagine you’re safe.
Hiding away in the depths of the forest, far from the sounds of village life, you shun the daylight, sneaking out only under the cover of darkness, snatching a few stolen leftovers from the cooking fires, and covering your tracks at the first hint of dawn.
You imagine you’re safe, but you’re not at all.
You will never be safe.
And when the next full moon rises, the men of the village will seek you out, hunt you down and drag you, kicking and screaming to the elders.
A virgin sacrifice.
Cast into the bottomless pit.
DUANE
I looked over the old leather box with my flashlight. Somehow it had remained waterproof. Inside was a small delicate sheet of yellowed paper. In the center were two diagonal lines and an arrow pointing away from them. I held out the paper for my guide to see.
“I have heard stories of that mark being found in caves near my village,” he said.
“You are about to embark on a great adventure, my friend.”
I was excited, but didn’t think I could solve the meaning of the symbol before my time ran out. Maybe I’ll come back next week.
NORVAL JOE
Billbert frowned at Sabrina. “These two guys aren’t from the Guild of the Dark Knights. They’re just bullies.”
“That’s right,” the one in the middle of the sidewalk said. “We’re bullies and we’re going to beat the crap out of you. Bringing girls with you isn’t going to keep you safe.”
Sabrina spoke a word from an unknown language and clouds began to gather around them.
Billbert smirked. “I hope your jacket’s waterproof, because you’re about to get really wet.”
The bully stepped forward laughing. “My mom always said a little rain never hurt anyone, but my fist sure has.”
PLANET Z
When Sadie was born, she was constantly making noise.
Laughing, screaming, cooing.
And then, her first words.
At first, her parents thought they were babble words.
But they were utterly incomprehensible.
“We’re not sure what they are,” said the experts.
Colleges and universities around the world worked on the mystery for weeks, until one researcher figured it out.
“Does she have candy in her mouth?” she asked.
Sadie’s parents pulled a lolipop out of her mouth, and the kid swore up a storm.
“This is the last time we let the doctor give her those after a visit,” they said.