his eyes were like soft emeralds that dazzled in the sunlight,

blonde wisps of hair shifting about as he walked

in powerful strides

his lips only uttered the truth,

and his voice would resound as if angels had sung

with untold wisdom lying behind that charming grin of his,

he was perfect

everyone adored him --

they worshipped the very ground he walked on,

begging for just one glance from the handsome stranger

of course,

to which he would give them with the gentle crease of his eyelids

and the parting of his lips to showcase his rows of white teeth

he wasn't crude, either

but held a kind soul within the depths of his chest

that pounded for justice and all things good:

the town's hero

but one day there was thunder,

rain pouring from the clouds above,

an omen of wickedness

through the plumes of mist,

down came a witch

she had green skin,

sickly irises

and a nasty frown

she proclaimed that she wanted to seek their famous "mascot,"

as the town had cursed her eons ago

she wanted revenge:

to remove their beloved hero

so the blonde came,

riding on his white steed,

determined to do what was right

he knew he had to fight for this,

to not risk the town's demise,

for he loved all the people within it

witch!

he exclaimed, a prominent and smug grin on his face,

i have come!

but when the woman turned around,

the hero could not believe his eyes

although her skin looked like the color of a musty bog,

and her eyes were rather deterring,

she was beautiful

before he could comment,

the witch cackled and pointed at finger at the blonde

fool!

she laughed,

you've only come to meet your doom!

i was once the princess of this wretched town,

but they turned me into this ogre-like figure!

it's horrendous,

so you shall pay!

the hero bent down on one knee,

bowing to the witch

she grumbled confusedly and lowered her arm

what are you doing,

she asked, seriously puzzled

i-i'm here to kill you

but the hero only regarded her with a sanguine smile

and lifted his glimmering eyes to meet her gaze

princess,

he declared valiantly,

though this curse has affected you so,

i still believe that your beauty holds no bounds!

your youthful glow still radiates on,

even in such a form

i would be honored to

the witch rolled her eyes before he could speak more

and zapped him with her index finger

so the hero crumbled into a tiny pile of dust

and the sky cleared up within mere seconds

the former witch transformed

into her natural form,

a fair-skinned,

beige-haired princess,

a puffy pink ballgown hugging her body,

and a small diamond tiara on top of her head to finish the look

you really thought i'd leave the curse on just because

you thought i looked good?

she snorted, condescendingly looking down on the pile of ashes

please,

you're delusional

she suddenly sneezed,

scattering the dust in the breeze,

and sniffed,

rubbing her nose

besides,

she continued, adjusting her gown and crown,

i'm a lesbian

the end

“Mommy!!!!”

A small girl teeters on unsteady feet, running to her mom as fast as she can manage. Mother and daughter’s matching smiles light up their faces, the only trait they have in common. Emmy had always taken after her father. A sudden tear, so common in the past weeks, comes to the mother’s eye. Emmy would never see him, never understand how much he had loved her. One day, she too would feel lost and betrayed by her father’s sudden death. He hadn’t deserved it and neither did the two left behind. Mother falters, pausing before her child, not wanting Emmy to feel the wetness on her mother’s face when she was lifted of the ground and spun into a hug.

A small girl teeters on unsteady feet, seeing the front steps and unable to stop.

The ambulance arrives too late.

My name is Alice and I ran away from my home at sixteen. I was born in Fargo, North Dakota to a mother who loved me less than she loved the fentanyl she was addicted to and to a father who left the second he heard I was a girl. The only way I survived as long as I have is because my mother’s husband, Frank, who will never be my daddy, found us a month in January a month after I was born. He said he would help us if my mother worked for him, mom never knew what the work she would be doing was, she just wanted more money for drugs. Frank turned out to be the only pimp living in Fargo, North Dakota and started forcing my mother to sell herself to the small number of clients that would pay for prostitution.

By the age of five, Frank stopped caring about me and only let me live with him as long as my mom kept doing her job. At ten I realized I was asexual, I saw what my mom was doing just to keep us warm and I never wanted to do that. The clock started ticking as to when I would have to leave, so at sixteen I decided to run from Fargo as far as I could. I ended up in Savanna, Georgia working in a cafe to pay my rent and going to high school during the day. Because of all the trouble that I had at home in Fargo I had learned to spend most of my time in either the school’s library or the public library down the street. I was a perfect student, top of my class in both of my high schools and knowing that I would have a better future than my mother.

When I was applying to colleges I knew I had to put myself out there and I applied to Vasser and the University of Georgia. The only two places I had time to apply to with my studies and work at the cafe. Vasser accepted me! I was thrilled, and I got almost a full ride for my four years there. At Vasser, I founded the asexual awareness club so I could meet people like me and so that I could increase the acceptance of asexual people on campus. By senior year our club had twenty members and we were the most respected club on campus, we were finally able to buy a house off-campus and are known to throw killer parties to this day providing a safe space for all. After my senior year, I didn’t know what I would do with myself, I got a bachelors in English and Theater arts but I didn’t want to be a teacher so I started writing. I got published in the New York Times and the New Yorker, both offered me jobs and I accepted the New York Times’s offer and I began to write about war and conflict. The Times sent me off to South Sudan so that I could write about the conflict there. I went to South Sudan and got shot at so many times I lost count, but I wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles. I finally called my mom and she invited me back to come to see her, she said she had gotten clean and out of Frank’s influence and she was a teacher at the local elementary school now. I decided to fly out to see her, I landed in Fargo and decided to take an Uber, we were pulling out of the airport and got T-boned by a drunk driver. I was brought to the local hospital and started feeling better when I decided to write this, but I don’t know if something feels a little off with me lately. I’m going to ask my doctor about it, Doctor!

Alice died of an infection she got during surgery to fix her broken arm, she was 34.

The townspeople waved as Anna walked down the road, collecting berries as she went. The men watched her, marvelling at how she grew from being a knee-high toddler to a blossoming young woman. The ladies cooking in their kitchen all paused to wave at Anna as she skipped past. Anna's best friend, Lauren, stopped her on the outskirts of town, where she had been sitting in the pasture picking flowers.

"Anna!"

"Lauren!"

Anna ran over to Lauren who pulled her into her arms. They were best friends since preschool, and Anna always checked in on Lauren since she was still reeling from the brutal death of her parents. Lauren handed her best friend some daisies.

"I picked these for you. They'll help you on your journey."

"Thank you, Lauren! I love you. I'm so glad I got to see you before I left."

"Well, you were not leaving without saying goodbye to me." Lauren chuckled, then with sadness in her eyes, "I'm going to miss you. I can't believe you're doing this for me."

"I'm doing this for the town, love. No one deserves to die anymore. I'll do whatever I can to prevent it."

"I want to go see you off."

"You know it's too dangerous. I'm just glad I got to see your face before I left."

A tear fell down Lauren's cheek, and Anna wiped it away. Lauren looked longingly into Anna's eyes and leaned in to kiss her. Anna giggled awkwardly and deflected it by turning her head and letting the kiss land on her cheek.

"It won't work if I'm not pure," Anna whispered.

"But I'm about to lose you," Lauren protested.

Anna started to speak, but the mayor, who was headed to the spot, saw her and beckoned for her. She wrapped her arms around Lauren for the last time and kissed her forehead. Then, she joined the mayor who took her hand and walked with her into the forest. They were met with the priest and several militiamen, who were armed with shovels and pickaxes. The men seized her and tied her arms and legs tightly. She struggled, mainly from necessity, until she was bound tightly with little hope of escaping. The men retreated to the bushes and waited quietly.

After about ten minutes, something emerged from the brush. Except for the glowing red eyes and the clear horns on its shoulders, it looked like a child that was pretending to be a ghost. It saw Anna and snarled, which made an eerie green jack-o-lantern smile across the sheet. It neared Anna, and she trembled. the creature's mouth began to extend to taste her flesh when it stopped abruptly and took a deep whiff of her. It snarled and backed up in horror.

"Whore!" it shrieked in an almost feminine growl.

"Your mama!" Anna yelled back.

"Who makes a whore a sacrifice!" the creature growled, punching a tree.

Anna rolled her eyes. The creature walked over and began to untie Anna, muttering about how far it had come only to have a cum dumpster for a sacrifice (among other things) when the men jumped out. Brazenly, they began to beat the creature until its iridescent purple blood was splattered all over the forest. A fleck of blood was sprayed on Anna's shirt (as she had fallen as the hot female leads often do in a struggle that has nothing to do with them) and she screamed.

"Eww! Get it off me!"

"Please, bitch. Like you aren't always wearing--"

A townsman drove a pickax through the creature's head, extinguishing its glowing red eyes before it could even finish its insult. The fatal blow splashed Anna with more blood, and Anna, shrieking, went running into the forest. She raced as fast as she could in 8-inch heels towards nothing in particular. She turned and dove into different trails until she saw the sparkling water of the creek. She sped towards it to wash her clothes off when her feet her pulled out from under her by a protruding tree root. Before she could react, she fell hard onto a rock and died instantly inches from the sparkling pure water.