Young Writers Society

Phor

I reached the palace,
Passing by my sister,
Who gave me a look that said,
“I told you so.”
I swept past her
And asked my chief advisor
If I could be excused to my room for a moment.
I had to think.
Think of some way to really help the kingdom,
Like what I said in my speech.
I made a promise, and it had to be kept.
A hand was grasped,
And I needed to pull it up.
But how?
How would I improve the kingdom
In such a way
That I would be respected from all over?
My chief advisor had told me
That I would be in a meeting with
All the advisors and other servants
That had helped my parents and other monarchs.
I was not looking forward to it, but
I was a queen after all,
So what choice did I have?
I decided to simply avoid it,
And stall as long as I could,
And come up with a plan that night.
I went to many meetings,
Talking about being a queen,
The role of one, and how to act.
It was all boring and awful and seemed to drag
On and on like a never ending trek around the planet.
It was an extremely long and exhausting day,
And a wave of relief crashed over me once it was all done,
And it was time to bid my subjects goodnight.
The life of a queen was certainly not an easy
Or enjoyable one,
And it was only the first day.
Not only did I have to add more fish
To a crowded pond of thoughts,
But they were all big fish,
And some may eat one another if I wasn’t careful.
I finally managed to trudge back to my quarters
And flop onto my bed.
I had now taken my parents room,
But now there was a new bed,
A rather large,
Four-poster one
With white mesh curtains
Drawn across the posts.
It was,
Sure enough,
A bed fit for a queen,
But I wasn’t even sure if
I myself was fit for a queen.
I was just about to lie down
And figure out what exactly
I was going to do with this kingdom,
When something very strange happened.
A loud, thunderous voice
That had no source spoke,
And it seemed like it was addressing all of the land.
It was saying some sort of prophecy, or curse,
And I thought nothing of it,
Until it mentioned my name!
It said that I was to find a scepter
Made of gold and emerald,
And go to Sufferers Point,
Or else everyone would die!
And at first,
I had no clue as to what this scepter was,
Until it dawned on me.
The scepter that voice was referring to
Was the legendary Emeraldblade Scepter!
It was carried by a monarch of our family
Who had been deemed benevolent and generous
And an amazing ruler to the kingdom.
It was presented by the monarch’s advisors,
When they decide that the monarch deserved it.
It is a sign of greatness and kindness,
And is the highest honor a monarch can get.
My mother used to hold that scepter,
It was adorned in gold vines and at the top
Was an ancient emerald,
One that was discovered when Eastlake Kingdom
Was first founded,
And there was an abundance of emeralds.
One of those emeralds was cut, polished,
And placed on the scepter.
I always admired my mother for carrying that scepter,
And thought she was the most amazing woman I had ever seen,
For being able to earn it.
I always told myself,
If I ever became queen,
I would try to earn it.
And now here I am.
I’m queen, and I have to earn this scepter,
Or, according to this curse,
The Grimm Kingdom will perish.
It is an awful lot of pressure,
But it is also the perfect opportunity,
Because if I do something to earn that scepter,
I will have kept my promise,
And I will remain a respected ruler,
And earn I memorable legacy
As a portrait in the halls of our castle.
That has always been my dream,
And I will accomplish it.
I’ll have but four weeks to acquire that scepter,
And maybe then,
I will be the leader I was always meant to be.
Maybe my mother is watching me at this moment.
Maybe she made that curse because she thought
I could get that scepter.
Whatever the case,
I won’t let her down.
Even if I don’t save the whole land,
I’ll be a real queen,
And that is much more rewarding.


The next day, I must attend more meetings,
And other matters that a queen must do.
It seems to be even more exhausting than yesterday.
Even more things to worry about,
It seems like they had been waiting their whole lives
To throw all these things at me.
Is this what my parents had to live through?
Running around the castle,
Talking, negotiating, deciding,
Did they ever become sick of it?
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like
To be a regular person,
With no destiny or legacy to live up to,
No sky that was mandatory to touch,
Only what you decided,
Only the height that you wanted,
Would be how high you go.
It would be quite boring,
Though perhaps more calm,
And full with less expectations,
And less tight on the mind.
Yes, I get served the kingdom’s best food every day,
Sleep in the kingdom’s best linens every night,
And yes…
maybe
sometimes
i
wish
things
were
different…
But life goes on.
If you were born it royalty,
It’s royalty you will be!
There’s no escaping! It is what it is…
Anyways, in the time I wasn’t trying to remember everything,
I was thinking,
What could I do to improve this kingdom?
All the homes seemed to be fine,
People got enough food, I think,
And people were happy,
As far as I could tell.
It was a happy kingdom.
What could I do to a happy kingdom but make it better?
I could build something…
Maybe a marketplace?
A plaza?
Or an amphitheater?
No, there was already a theater,
And schools and hospitals and military bases…
This kingdom seemed to have everything!
What could possibly be added to improve it?
The monarchy training was not helping me think,
And my subjects didn’t seem to be happy
That I was daydreaming.
So what?
I’m not allowed to think?
I’m trying to improve the kingdom, you know.
Well, everybody had heard the prophecy last night.
It was the town’s latest gossip,
And people were desperately trying to figure out
How I was going to get that scepter.
I guess they didn't know that I was asking myself the same thing,
And losing my mind over it.
There had to be something.
There was always something.
My father used to say to me
That there was always a different way,
Another option,
No matter what.
It just may not be a good option,
But will never be stuck.
But I sure did feel stuck.
And it was definitely not nice to be stuck.
The days proceeded on,
And I could come up with nothing at all,
Even if I stretched my mind,
Trying to come up with something.
But nothing came.
At last, all the training was done,
And I was to go out across the kingdom
In my special carriage
With my advisors
Just to look around the kingdom,
So that people could see their queen.
I wasn’t sure whether to feel nervous or excited,
Or perhaps nothing at all.
The day came, and it was time to go out, wave,
And look around at the various neighborhoods.
It would take the whole day to tour around the kingdom,
So it would be another long day.
It started out nicely, I waved at the citizens,
Like I did during the coronation.
My advisors told me about the different neighborhoods,
And a little bit of their history.
It was all going smoothly so far,
Though the cobblestone was certainly not smooth,
Until something caught my eye.

1365 words

In the morning at half past six,
while the pink sky still twinkled,
Cerise was woken by a tapping---
startled by a rapping at the window.

A little bird no bigger than her hand
twittered on the window stand.
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes,
Cerise hurried to its side.
She slid the window open,
and the bird hopped onto her hand.

"Who are you, little friend," she murmured
as its head rubbed against her thumb.
"Have you lost your way, or are you on the run?"

It flapped its silver blue wings, shook its grey head,
and it gestured to its left leg,
pointing it up towards her face.

There was a tiny scroll tied to its tiny leg.
Cerise delicately untied it;
she unraveled it
towards the light peeking over the horizon.

It was a message from her dear godmother,
a sorceress from a distant land.

The message was short and to the point:
She was relaying a message from a more powerful being.
Cerise must go on a quest
and guide strangers into doing the right thing for them.
It may be difficult. It may be long.
But it must be done.

The bird shook its head and flapped its wings.
To her surprise, she noticed another scroll tied to its right leg.
She gently unwrapped it.

The message was once again short:
On your doorstep, there is a package.
A snow globe, tried and true.
Shake it once and look inside.
The past will be revealed to you.

"How interesting," Cerise mused
at the table with bird and globe.
"It looks just like an ordinary object,
but there must be something special inside."

The bird tweeted and hopped.
Its little eye sparkled in question.
"Well, of course, I'm going," she said.
Across her face, a grin blossomed.

"What an adventure this will be!"

For some reason,
This boy fascinated me.
Perhaps, it was the fact that he had everything that I didn't.
He had everything that my lonely,
Little heart craved.
His dark black hair shone in the sun,
Like a raven flying too high in the sky.
He had no idea how beautiful he was.
His big green eyes looked just like my mother's.
He was small, just like me,
So i considered him to be something like
A brother,
Who grew up with me.

The first time i saw him, he was tiny,
But every year I would return to the village.
His village.
My village.
My mothers village.
The place i was meant to be,
But no one saw me as i truly was.
They only saw me as a beast,
A monster,
Something rather off dead,
Because they saw me as a destructor.
Actually,
I was already destroyed.

When I was 17, he was still smaller than me.
He was probably still a child.
I returned to the village at the age of seventeen and
Watched him there,
Tending to sheep and chickens in a field.
He wasn't doing any work,
Just laying there, staring at the sky.
He sat up, with a grin on his face
And he began to scream.

“ITS A WOLF!!! I SEE A WOLF!!
A BIG
SCARY
UGLY
HORRRIBLE
WOLF!!
HELP ME!! HELP ME! HELP ME!!!”

I thought that he had seen me.
I turned around and sprinted as fast as I possibly could,
Turning my back to the village and
Taking cover in the trees.
I didn't return until the very next year.
That day haunted me.
What if they saw me and
What if they tried to hunt me?
Would the other wolves help protect me?
Probably not.
Not unless they were in danger too.
I was nothing to them,
Only a failure,
Only a reminder of my father.
I think they blamed me for his death.
They hated me.
I was nothing to them.

A week had passed since her quest began:
Cerise started to cross the vast land
meeting strangers and making friends.

Her snow globe she carried
with her--- she never tarried.
She never knew when someone needed her help.

But a week had passed since her quest began,
and no one needed her help.

Cerise started in her little town,
but no dilemmas arose.
Then she circled across the region,
yet no problems festered.

She tried to boost her spirits,
and joked about the dreadful weather.
Yet the pressure of her quest
tested her positivity.

Dejected and pitying herself,
she stopped by an inn for the night.
She paid for her room and a plate of food,
and settled at the first table under the light.
Cerise opened her map and crossed off
Angel Falls, three towns over her own.

"Another failed attempt," she sighed.
"Their citizens were too full of pride.
Whatever problems, if any, they had,
they just sent me off, just like that!"

Sipping her tea in a low mood,
she struggled on what now to do.
The snow globe felt heavy in her pouch.

Cerise shook her head and clutched her fist.
No one said this quest would be easy.
She pumped herself up.
"Something will come. I know it."

Shanti was on her way to Anastasia in order to ask for help to track the magical lotus. Legend has it that the lotus can cure any illness and lift any curse. Lots of people have tried to find it already and for thousands of years not one single person has been successful. This mission was nearly impossible, but not totally impossible.

As Shanti strolled through the forest again,
She chatted with the birdies
tjirp tjirp tjirp
She danced under the snow
Let it go…

She arrived at the beautiful beach
Surrounded by the pretty shells
And little creatures, like drumstick
I mean HayHay
And Porky – anyways ….

”something was seriously wrong here”
Shanti thought as she walked on,
”Did Anastasia redecorate?
‘Cause last time I checked Anastasia
Lived somewhere where there was snow
And here there’s sun and sand, like a lot of it”

This was so not making sense,
But yet here she was.
She walked on thinking this was just a shortcut perhaps
And just as she was about to step
Off the beach into the woods again
It felt like she bumped into something
And it pushed her back with such force
That she stumbled back and fell into the sand

She stood up and wiped the sand off her pants
She tried again and got pushed away again
This was tiring and so not working
She used her ice powers to make a blast,
But in vain
She used her animal powers, her singing voice,
And even her survival, archery skills.
Nothing seemed to work.

Shanti was out of options and
slammed her head against the invisible barrier
In order to think of something
Both HayHay and Porky looked weird at her
For their could see no wall or something

HayHay did not pay attention after a while anymore
And walked through the invisible barrier into the woods
In search of a nice rock to swallow next
”You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Shanti exclaimed and threw her hands in the air

Shanti knew she didn’t have a lot of time,
But now she had to take a break of all the action
When HayHay came back, he puked a large rock
Shanti shook her head,
”I might as well wait for someone, right?”
She sat down on the rock and took a second
Of breathing in the salty sea air
And washing her feet in the ocean

Several seconds later Shanti saw something on the horizon
Coming closer and closer. Could it be Sven?
Nah, Kristoff must’ve found him already by now, right?

It looked like… a boat!
Shanti got up as quickly as she could
And started waving and shouting, “Help!”

The waves were wild and wide,
But the ocean served as her guide,
Dancing to her beat and listening to her wishes
It stood by her side brave and true
And there on the boat, stood she,
Daughter of the Chief, who also left her family in search of help
The one and only Moana.

As Moana stepped of her boat,
A big eagle who was flying above the boat
Stormed towards the ground,
It looked like it was heading for HayHay
Shanti quickly grabbed HayHay and shielded him
The eagle transformed into Maui!
“You got away this time, drumstick
Next time you’re in my belly.”
He chuckled.

“Hey there, mortal being,
I’m Maui, demigod of the sea and wind,
Hero of men -”

“Maui, can we give her a second?”
Moana then asked pointing to Shanti
Whose jaw had reached the ground
She quickly composed herself
And made a slight bow,
“Princess Moana, I’m Shanti.”

“Aloha Shanti, what brings you to Motu Nui?”
Moana said her blue eyes
reflecting the ocean waters

“Well, I was actually on my way to Russia,
To princess Anastasia and her fiance, Dimitri.
To help me find the magical lotus to rescue my kingdom
You see, Dimitri is a tracker so I’m pretty confidant
That he can help me with finding the flower.”
Shanti said as she explained her entire missions
And desire to free her kingdom
and restore the peace once again

Just then Moana burst out laughing
Shanti didn’t understand this
There was nothing funny about this
She went through a lot of challenges
And someone like Moana should understand

Moana went against her father’s wishes on a mission,
Where she met Maui who deceived her at first
And then she went to battle Te Fiti
That was not an easy journey and one to laugh about

Still Moana couldn’t stop laughing
Then Maui joined her,
As did HayHay and Porky
What was this madness?
Shanti thought, why Moana not taking her seriously?

“Hahaaha, stupid girl!” Moana then said
And slowly transformed into the ugly Ursula
With one of her slimy tentacle’s Ursula grabbed Shanti
And raised her in the air.

At the same moment, HayHay transformed into baby Melody,
Porky and Maui into the two pet eels of Ursula.
Shanti blinked a couple of times to make sure
that what she was seeing was the harsh truth.
Nothing was real? Or was it?

No sooner had Cerise made up her mind,
she heard a commotion outside.
Rushing out of her seat,
she wondered what it could be.

Opening the door with a bang,
she swung her spoon like a weapon,
only to discover an annoyed stable boy
drenched in water.

"Oh my, are you alright?" she cried.
Grabbing napkins from a passing waiter,
she dotted his face and hands dry.
He accepted her help with quiet thanks,
but his face still looked stony.
Cerise frowned.

"If you don't mind my asking,
why do you look so frustrated?"
She poked his face
with a mischievous grin on her own.

The teen sighed and shook his head.
"My father refuses to let me join the army!
I'm not a boy anymore. I can handle myself."

Cerise nodded with sympathy.
"You're nearly grown, I see."
She pulled out her magical item.
"What does the snow globe say?"
She shook it gently, and the inside changed.

Snowfall revealed a room late at night.
A little boy laid sleeping, to their sight.
His father tiptoed in and kissed his head---
quietly tucked him into bed.

Cerise looked up and smiled.
"Not a boy, that is true,
but his son is how he sees you.
When you were born,
and now that you're grown.
Protection he wants for you."

The stableboy looked at her, tears in his eyes.
He didn't know why he felt so surprised.
"He just wants me to be safe," he said.
"Thank you, miss. Now I understand."

Cerise bid him farewell and turned back.
Inside the inn, she smiled wide.

It took me a whole year to return,
But I finally did.
Fear consumed me, thinking that
I had been seen.
Perhaps they would try and kill me,
If they saw me at all.
They hated me.
I was never accepted there.

Cautiously, I approached the human village.
To confess,
I missed the boy.
Something about his dark hair
Attracted me.
I was mesmerized by him
And his perfect life.
He had everything that I did not
And he was the version of me that I
Wished I could be.

I sat there, behind his pasture,
Watching him tend to his chickens and sheep.
He was so careless.
It made me laugh.
It also made my blood boil.
He was clumsy,
Even I could have been better than him.
He lay there, watching the clouds and chewing on grass,
Twiddling his thumbs.

He glanced around him,
As if he was checking his surroundings for something…
Or someone.
I was well out of sight,
There was no way that he could see me.

And suddenly,
Again,
He
Screamed.

“A WOLF!!
THERE IS A WOLF!
A BIG
BAD
EVIL
AND SCARY WOLF!!!”

I panicked, again.
There is no way he could have seen me,
I was completely hidden
And he had never even looked
In my direction.

I decided to pause.
Stay still.
And listen.

Right away,
Other people ran into the field,
Holding their pitch forks,
Flaming with fire.

“Where is the wolf, Thomas?”

Thomas. That was his name.

The people, looking terrified,
Surveyed the area,
Screaming for him.
They were terrified.
They were scared,
Because they loved him.
They didn't want him to be hurt.
That boy actually had people who loved him
Why do they love him
And not me.
What has he done to deserve this.

Suddenly, i became very scared.
There must be another wolf,
I thought.
Perhaps one of the big guys in the pack, out to get me.

But then,
Something happened that i never would have
Expected.

Thomas burst out laughing,
At the people who loved him.
I find human love to be such an interesting thing,
It resembles love of animals, sure,
But it is not quite the same.
You can trust the birds
To return to their nests.
And you can trust the bees
To make their honey.
But humans, well,
They are the richest creatures in the land,
But they are the only ones who hurt their own.

It seems that you need to be perfect in order
To be loved.
And I am not perfect.
I wasn't perfect.
Neither were my father nor my mother
And maybe that is how
They created such
A monster of a child,
Lynn.

“HAHA! I got you!!!
You scaredy cats,
Scared of a wolf, are you?”

He made it up.
There was no wolf,
He only wanted them to come and see him.
He only wanted attention
And he got it.
He was the boy who cried wolf.

Phor

I saw something in my periphery
it was a part of town
that seemed more monochrome
and perhaps gloomier than the rest.
I thought that was strange.
I asked my chief advisor about that
but her told me we should not go there
for, as he claimed,
that part of town was not fit for a queen.
I was astonished.
How could he say such a thing?
A queen belongs anywhere she sets her mind to,
was what I told him,
and so, reluctantly,
he ordered the carriage to go to that part of town.
But as we were reaching there,
I had the most peculiar feeling,
and a wave of sadness and misery washed over me.
As we entered this part of town,
all around me,
I could see
children lying down on the sidewalks,
people pacing back and forth with regret,
and an invisible cloud of sorrow hanging over everything.
This part of town was so different from anywhere I had been before,
Everyone there had such full faces and bright eyes,
but here,
they all had sunken cheeks and gazes of despair.
I had never seen anything like this.
I felt such pain, such hopelessness to see that people couk\ld suffer so much.
Was this really what their lives were like?
How could my parents have seen this and do nothing?
Did they not know?
Or did they simply not care?
Maybe they thought it wasn't worth the effort
that these people didn't deserve to be helped.
Were my parents really like that?
I always thought they were good, kind people,
who were generous to their citizens.
But how could they let this happen?
And the deeper we went, the worse things I saw,
and I slowly started rethinking everything I knew.
I was happy, sipping cups of tea and eating cream puffs
while these people waited,
waited for some miracle,
some help,
some hope,
but they were given none.
We stood by while this was happening like it was nothing.
like it was normal.
Maybe that's what it was.
My parents thought it was normal.
But this is not normal.
I always thought everyone's lives were like mine -
happy, but perhaps more simple.
But all these people wanted was to be happy.
but they couldn't be.
I asked my advisor how all of this happened.
He sighed,
and he explained that it was for various reasons,
unable to get a job,
being evicted,
or something else.
I nearly cried for the second time in a carriage.
All I wished was for these people to be happy.
There must be something I could do.
But maybe there was.
I was queen, after all.
I could help these people,
help them sleep under a roof,
help them eat food and water,
and help them live their life like the are supposed to.
Maybe this was what I was meant to do,
Help these people.
Maybe I could get the scepter if I did so.
Finally, I was doing something for the greater of our kingdom.

Before we continue my tale,
I want to tell you a story.
The story of my beautiful, beloved mother,
Sarah-Lynn.

Golden hair,
Like a princess.
It flowed down her back,
Like a snake slithering towards you,
Drawing you in,
Before it takes its next bite.

Big eyes,
Round like suns,
Shining in the sky.
She was my sun,
And I was her son.
Her beloved creation,
And her, mine.

Brown eyes,
Not like coal,
But like forest trees.
I still see her there,
Living in the woods,
Where I am cast away-
Eternally bound to the fate of a beast.
I am not a beast.
I am half human,
Basically enough,
But treated like nothing.

She was small,
But her heart could light a thousand furnaces.
She was independent,
But willing to submit to humility,
Like a diligent servant.
Giving to those in need freely,
Not holding back a single tear
To shed, as she mourned with a heart filled with sorrow.
She felt things as deeply as the sea.
I do not know how deep the sea is,
I do not know the depth of the pain she felt,
But I know that it was immense.

My mother was
A creature
Created to love.
A human.
To me, she was perfect.
She is perfect.

Sarah-Lynn,
Like a whisper in the wind,
You flow freely through my veins and
Live in my bones.
You gnaw at my knees like
A woodpecker with a tree.
You will never leave me,
Because you are the only woman I have ever loved.
You are the only human who has ever loved me.

Sometimes I wonder where your family is.
Disowned you.
Who could love a beast
As hideous as my father.
A wolf,
Less than you,
Downgrading your life for love?
They could never understand.
Neither will I.
Perhaps that is why I hate myself.
Perhaps that is why I am unlovable.
Perhaps that is why
I need
To be
Like
You.

My Sarah-Lynn.

My father was a hero.
Until everyone hated him.

The price of love is what killed him,
So, perhaps i killed him,
With my own life.

My father was the leader of the wolf pack.
A hero, strong, true, and heartless.
I once heard a story,
Which scared me to the bone.

For no reason at all, besides being a monster,
My father once murdered an entire village of humans.
All by himself.
He is the reason why humans hate my so much,
Because they see him
In me.
They don't fear me, because i am small and weak.
But they still carry the burden of their loss.
So they blame me,
His living heir.

Its as if,
I am the son of a king,
Except my father was exiled
When he loved a human woman.

No one could ever love a beast, right?

Wrong,
My beautiful mother, sarah-lynn,
Loved him truly and powerfully and fully,
With every piece of her heart.

My father,
A wolf.
Dark fur which had turned gray because
Of his old age.
His hair represented his wisdom,
The battles he fought and won,
The innocent people he killed,
The life he had.

His eyes resembled
Black holes,
Leading into eternal darkness.
Intimidating features plagues his face.
He was huge, nearly the size of four wolves.

He was real.
He was strong.
He was the dad I would have loved,
If i had been able to spend my life with him.

A hop, skip, and a jump away,
The next town was another journey’s day.
Cerise had heard news of a bakery
about to go under due to its employee.
So she shouldered her bag
and paid for her tab.
Then she paid for a coach
that, unluckily enough, was occupied with a roach.
Although she kept up good cheer,
by the window Cerise stayed near.

She watched the world pass by,
seeing people walk and birds fly.
From her home she was a good distance;
but Cerise would be lying if she said she didn’t miss it.
It had been a week since she left the familiar.
She still remembered it clear as a picture.
Her warm bed and decorated pillows.
In the backyard, her growing weeping Willow,
and the cozy living room with the fireplace’s glow.

Cerise was honored to go on her quest,
and to be chosen to do it, no less.
However, homesickness was taking a toll;
she had never been so far from home before.
The coach rumbled as it hit a crack;
but Cerise didn’t spare it a single glance.
She sighed and slumped in her seat.
She was feeling beat.
Silently tapping her faithful bag,
She sighed again, letting the noise drag.

Suddenly, she felt a jolt inside.
She sat up, staring at the bag wide-eyed.
What was going on?
Suspicion pointed it as the coachman’s con.
Shaking off that ridiculous thought,
Cerise zipped the bag open and brought
out her magical item: the snow globe.
The sheet she had wrapped it in had become disrobed.

The snow globe was pulsating a color she’d never seen before.
Then, it shuddered violently. In shock, she dropped it onto the floor.
It rolled under the seat in front of her, spooking the bug.
It scurried away, giving its antennas a shrug.

Cerise gasped and dropped onto her knees.
Though she was scared, if the globe broke, her godmother wouldn’t be pleased.
She peeked under the seat, then sighed in relief.
The snow globe, dimmer now, looked in good shape.
Still, she was puzzled over what had taken place.
She inched closer and pulled the snow globe out.
The object looked completely normal. It caused her some doubt.
Did what just happened…actually happen?
She rolled it over in her hands, but it looked the same
as it did before. Was the trick of the sunlight to blame?

Pursing her lips, Cerise attempted to put it back inside.
Then it glowed again, the second time on her ride.
As it did before with the boy, the inside started to snow.

By the street, a young boy with short, blond hair
danced around in a circle without a care.
Then the boy tripped over his foot,
covering his face and clothes in dust and soot.
His eyes shimmered with tears;
bright red went to his ears.

An older girl with cropped brown hair
rushed to his side with flair.
She gave him a crooked smile,
said the soot gave his clothes great style.
She didn’t make a scene,
but she wiped his face clean.
She told him to keep his chin up
and make life worthwhile.

The scene ended; the snow globe quieted.
Cerise sat silently, mind whirling.
That girl in the globe was her, the boy a neighbor.
It had been so long ago, she had forgotten.
But why would the snow globe show her her past?
She thought it only worked for other people’s pasts.
She stared at the snow globe intently, but it was done.
Pushing it into her bag, the snow globe’s top was caught by the sun.
And, suddenly, Cerise understood.
She didn’t know how or why, but she could.
Her younger self’s words echoed in her head:
Make life worthwhile, she had said.
Her positivity was her greatest strength.
If she’s positive to others, she must be so as well to herself.

It was okay to be sad about what she missed,
but Cerise also had this wonderful gift!
Not only could she help other people do what’s right for them,
it was a chance to help them find themselves.
Cerise hugged the bag close to her chest,
With this self revelation, she was feeling so much zest!

The boy who cried wolf
Reminded me of my mother.
He lived in her old house in the human village
So i always thought
Perhaps
Maybe, just maybe,
There was a chance i was related to him.

He seemed to so easily have everything i had ever dreamed of.
He was a human,
He was loved,
He was safe,
He was accepted in the village,
And he was cherished by a big family.

I returned to watch him, year after year.
He did the same thing
So often.
And every time,
They still came.
Because he was worth it.
Their love was too strong.
But every time he did it,
As the years continued on,
I could sense their irritation with him growing immensely.

I hated him,
But he meant everything to me
Because he was one thing in my life that never left.
Like a fly that never stops buzzing.
He was always there and i could always hear him.
I grew obsessed and began to watch him daily,
Returning closer and closer to him every time.
All i wanted was to smell him,
Or feel his skin,
Or see his eyes up close.
I wanted to be him
And perhaps,
Wanting to be him,
Made me want to love him.

I started to go at night
And sit outside of the window that
My father used to sit outside of.
The boy, Thomas,
Stayed in my mothers old room.
I would sit outside of his room,
Always too afraid to say anything.
But i would just listen to him,
Or watch him from a distance.
He looked so peaceful when he slept.
Watching his mother care for him seemed to
Fill a void in my heart.
I pretended i was him
And everything felt okay.
I pretended his mother was my own.
And it made me feel safe for the first
Time in my entire life.

In his home, there was peace.
But the village grew contentious.
The boy was a nuisance,
Always causing trouble.
I could sense their irritation growing daily.

Finally, I returned to the field one day,
Watching him, pretending I was him.
I was on a quest for the most hated person in the land,
After hearing the booming voice from the sky,
I only had weeks to find him,
Not only to save myself, but the entire world.
From the way he turned his head,
I knew what he was going to do.

Before I could even move,
He screamed…

“THERE IS A WOLF!
A BIG
SCARY
UGLY
FEROCIOUS
WOLF!!!”

The villagers ran to his aide.
He laughed,
As always.
It was the same that it had been for years.
But this time,
One thing was different.

It was a sentence said by another villager.

“This must be the most hated boy in all of the land.”

I have found him.
This is him.
The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

Phor

I saw the rest of the kingdom while on the tour
I had never seen these people before
and passed by farms of wheat
and towns with scents so sweet
the carriage carried us with its polished wooden wheels
carrying us through dirt paths past forests and fields.
It was wonderous to see my kingdom thrive
the one I would hope to someday revive
But to my surprise, I saw more towns
with the same kind of people I had seen had drowned
in piles of sorrow, and sadness and grief,
all the people there looked like they barely did eat.
My stomach shifted inside of me
as I had to just let them be
live their miserable lives
until I could prevent their demise.
Find a solution that no ruler had before,
the best that someone had done, I had to do more.
But helping them live was harder than I thought,
for I had not concept or idea of what I sought.
When I returned to the castle, to the library I went
because I could not let these people simply lament.
I started pilfer and pick through pages
of towns that too had been suffering for ages.
I was shocked by how the most horrible things
had been ignored by the queens and kings.

I saw sketches of plagued villages
filled with children who were starving
and adults who had lost all hope.
But these books always painted them
as
some kind of
animal.
One that was so disgusting and improper
that they did not deserve to be helped.
These people had lost their homes,
families,
lives.
And not a single monarch cared for them
or helped them through.
How can my family have existed for generations
and be this cruel?
It was a lot for me to fix,
I had to stitch up centuries of the kingdom's bleeding wounds,
or else these people would suffer
just like those in the book.
Why had my family brought upon me this burden?
Well, I already knew the answer.
They didn't.
They expected me to have the same reaction
as every other monarch in my family,
which is to just turn away.
Pivot your heels,
draw a glance of judgement,
and simply ignore it all.
There was no burden they gave me.
There was no sack of sand.
There was no boulder,
no jug of water,
because they never picked it up in the first place.
They just kicked it and let it run and roll down the hill.
Let it sink into the dirt and soil.
But I will pick it up.
It is a burden,
one that nobody has told me to carry,
But I will hold it over my head anyway.

I wanted to learn more about their situation so I could help them.
I asked my advisors,
but they told me not to dabble in these matters,
as they were "unimportant"
and "not the priority" they said.
I was beginning to resent them slightly
but I said nothing and simply moved on.
The only way I could find out
was ask the locals.
They themselves would surely know.
Once I had free time,
I went out in my carriage,
dressing in something as ordinary as possible,
so as to make them feel more comfortable.
The couch went far through the town,
and people waved as the horse's heels went
clack clack clack
on the cobblestone pathway.
I got out of the carriage at a neighborhood
near the gloom town.
I walked to a nearby house
and knocked on the door.
The door was quickly answered,
and as soon as the woman there saw me,
she immediately bowed and started to speak respectfully.
She had this look in her eyes,
not quite like the people in the dreary town,
but her eyes seemed to sag
and her cheeks drooped.
She seemed tired, perhaps lonely.
No, she was not like those people,
but she was on the brink of perhaps becoming them.
She asked me why I was here in a place like this,
so I explained to her,
without telling her why exactly I needed the information.

Phor

TW: racism I guess??

She spoke slowly,
as if telling some sort of story,
when she told me what I wanted to hear.
According to what the woman said,
the outskirts of the city
had always been like a desert outside a rain forest,
a barren land that usually held trouble.
The people who lived there were mostly
people called the Breanurians,
who were descendants of the first people
who settled on the land of Eastlake Kingdom.
They were treated like otherworldly beings,
ones who did not deserve to thrive along
in civilization.
They were shunned and shoved,
and they took refuge in this little village on the outskirts of town
where they lived in peace
although sometimes
people would pass by,
looking at them with hatred in their hearts.
They completely cut them off from society
so that they would have to fend for themselves.
They would not but from or sell to them,
not converse to or interact with them,
so they had to find other means or getting money.
But the community was small,
and the only source of money was from within,
and since people didn’t get much to begin with,
they fell into poverty,
the streets became their new home,
but nobody wanted to help them,
some because they didn’t even know they existed,
others didn’t think they were civilized enough to be helped.
Some people very so poor
that they tried to steal,
and that all but made people hate them further.
The woman’s voice was starting to break,
and the turned her head inwards towards her house for a moment,
before turning back to face me.
I could tell she was biting back tears.
She said she herself tried to help to heal them as much as she could,
but the little she did would do nothing
to the situation as a whole.
My own eyelids began to fill with water,
but I quickly absorbed them in the wrist of my glove.

It was late afternoon when Cerise finally got off the coach.
The coachman handed her bags to her,
Then with a tip of his hat, he left her alone.
Cerise stretched her hands over her arms,
Then down to her toes. Once her body felt warmed up,
She picked up her bags and looked around.
The station was empty save for the ticketmaster,
Leaning on the other side of the counter,
slowly counting the coins he had collected from the day,
Looking very bored. He barely moved as she walked up to him,
And did not look up when she was right in front of him,
Staring expectantly at the man, whose name “Michael”,
Was pinned on a name tag on his uniform.
Cerise cleared her throat, but when Michael didn’t stir,
She rapped her knuckles on the counter,
Knocking over the coins from his pile.
Michael jerked upward and blinked twice
Until his eyes settled on her face, then they widened in shock.

“Forgive me, miss,” he said. His face went beet red.
“I did not see you there.” He stumbled over his next few words,
Gesturing wildly because of his embarrassment.

“Woah, it’s okay,” she said, trying to placate him.
“Slow day, huh?”
Michael blushed again, giving her a sheepish smile.

“Yeah. Honestly, you’re my first customer all day,” he said.
He brushed his sandy hair out of his eyes. “And… it’s also my first job too, so—”
On giving him a closer look, Cerise determined that he did look very young,
Just a little older than the stable boy she had met a while back.

“Well, congratulations on the job,” Cerise said, giving him a smile.
“Besides, it’ll pick up speed, I’m sure. People
always need to travel somewhere. Especially by coach.”

Michael nodded, his shoulders becoming more relaxed.
“That’s true. Thanks. Um, anyway, where are you coming from?
I haven’t seen you around here before.”

Cerise gave a small laugh.
“I’m doing some traveling on my own at the moment, actually.”

“For how long?”

“Hmm, not sure, to be honest. This trip kind of came
Out of the blue. These quests, you know.”

Michael nodded slowly, but his eyebrows were furrowed.
“Yeah…” he said. “I do know. Quests and all that.”

Cerise looked around the station, noting all the barren spaces.
There was a large cobweb in the upper corner of the room.
“By the way, um, what is this place? I thought I was supposed
To be in Redwood Town, but this doesn’t appear to be it.”

Michael grimaced.
“Yeah, this is more of a resting spot than anything.
Coaches usually just come by to take a break before they resume their journey.”

Cerise gaped at him.
“What? That sleazy coachman! He told me we would be going all the way.”

Michael pursed his lips sympathetically.
“Yeah, some of them will do that to ya. Sorry, miss.”

“Yeah, it’s okay,” she said. “Just please tell me
That I won’t be stuck here all night.”
She clasped her hands toward him.

“Don’t worry, miss. The next coach is coming in—”
He checked the schedule next to him “---thirty minutes.”

Cerise groaned. Laid her head on the counter.
“You’re kidding me! Please tell me you’re kidding?
I won’t be able to get into town until nightfall.”

“I’m really sorry, miss, but there’s nothing I can do.”

Cerise shook herself off and took a deep breath.
“Please, call me Cerise. And that’s okay. I know it’s not your fault.”

"Thanks. And, er, my name's Michael, but, ah,
you can probably tell by my name tag, huh?"
He pointed to it.
Cerise nodded tiredly.