momma always said i was going to go out in a bang.

little did she know how right she was.

the odor drifts through the air, ripping into my nostrils with its pungent tang.

i relish in it.

in my mind, i can already feel the flames licking up my body, consuming me.

i can't wait.

i don my wedding gown of kerosene, drenching every inch.

no one can see me.

i'm hidden in the shadows-

it's bad luck to see a bride on her wedding day.

my lover is death, and we seal our vows with a single match.

I look down at my scarred hands as the sound of a building collapsing nearby, and shrill screams echo throughout the air. My eyes adjust to the chaos around me, forcing me to witness pain and anguish on the faces of hundreds. As I stand in the middle of the disorder around me, I look up to the cloudless sky, and a Boeing plane falling from grace, crashing down into a nearby field, causing the earth to tremble under my feet. I look on in horror as the plane’s rear end catches fire and explodes instantly,

“Dystopia…” I breathe out.

Campus had that eye-of-the-storm emptiness that only existed between arrive-at-the-bar and stumble-from-the-bar o'clock.

Yet, my insomia-propelled legs brought me past hunched shoulders, a lit cigarette.

I slowed down. She noticed.

"There's no purpose. To any of this," she called over the weighted darkness.

"You mean life?"

She took a drag. "I should sleep." She looked restless, not tired.

"What about this?" Her eyes reflected stars at me. "There's no purpose to us meeting?"

Another drag. "None I can see."

I didn't see it either. Not until later, when she admitted what she'd almost done that night.

What I almost lost.

The moonlight flickers on the stormy sea as waves are tossed against craggy rocks. I always come here around midnight, when no one else is here. It feels so peaceful - just the waves, the moon, and me. All my problems melt away, if only temporarily.

Suddenly someone appears next to me. He's young and handsome, and when he looks me in the eyes it's like he's staring straight into my soul. For some reason he seems familiar, but I can't figure out why.

He holds out a hand. "Lets go on an adventure."

That was always his favorite saying.

I am Arabella, a princess. Mother says that we are insignificant rabbits, and should watch out. I don’t need to do that. I am special.

“Bell! Go outside!” Mother calls.

“It’s Arabella. Bell is too common,” I respond, sticking my nose in the air.

While having fun, I ignore my mother’s warning cry.

“Bell! Watch out!” I hear a loud shout and glance up. A fox is there.

“I am the future queen, and I demand you to go away!”

I continue to proclaim my greatness, ignoring the horrified looks from my mother.

 The jaws of the fox opened wide…

We have been at it for hours. Bernie says he won't rest until the apple in front of us, is elsewhere. The inconceivable task of teleporation. I watch him press the button for the millionth time and I watch as nothing happens. I tell him it's useless and that it simply cannot be done but Bernie's opinion strays from the logic. Then, an explosion of light erupts in the place where the apple once sat. I run over to the booth and there in the spot that is usually empty, sits an apple with a bite taken out of it.

There was once a girl named Henrietta. She loved honeysuckle flowers. She loved them so much, she use to suck the nectar out of each one of them.

One day, she became so thirsty for them she didn't know what to do. So, she picked all of them off of the bush she could. She made honeysuckle juice! Because of that, she was able to quench her thirst!

Henrietta had so much honeysuckle juice though. She didn't know what to do with all of it. So instead of opening up a lemonade stand, she opened up a large honeysuckle stand!

“What the hell are you doing?” Ellie demands.

Nyssa looks at her sheepishly. “Baking?”

“Where did you even find all this flour?” Her feet kick up little white plumes as she stomps to the fridge. She pulls out an apple and turns to glare at Nyssa. “How did you manage to get flour in the fridge?”

“I opened it? I needed the butter.”

“But there’s flour on every shelf!”

Nyssa’s sigh releases a puff of flour. “I’m not very good at looking.”

Floury dust devils chase Ellie out of the kitchen. Nyssa sneezes, and a snowstorm rages through the kitchen.

“Honey, can I ask you something that’s troubling me?”

“Sure.”

“Are you having an affair? Please be truthful.”

“Are you pulling a fast one?”

“No, I am darn serious.”

“What makes you think I am having an affair?”

“This afternoon, I again saw you driving around with that woman.”

“Which woman? In the morning, on way to the restaurant, I just stopped at Costco. After that, I was in the restaurant the whole day. I gave up my corporate career and opened the restaurant so we could spend more time together.”

“How did you then fall for her?”

“I didn’t.”

There was literally nothing I could do. I went to every professor's office hours, every TA's tutoring hours, every supplemental session, and online help there was. I stayed up to date with all my assignments, meetings, projects, everything! I are three square meals a day, exercised half the week, and I was doing perfectly fine until final exams rolled around. I don't care if quarantine started after term! That virus was spreading well before that, and as a resident on one of the world's leading universities, I wasn't going to risk going to class. That's stupid. What am I? Ignorant?