I stared into his bright blue eyes, memorizing how they always sparkle with electricity. He reached up to my face and wiped a tear from my cheek. I lowered my lips onto his and we slowly shared one last kiss. Memories flooded my head. Our nightly walks next to the glistening lake. Our first kiss under the stars. How he held me as I sobbed after my mother’s funeral.

“I love you,” he gasped. I pulled back and brushed some stray strands of hair from his pale face.

“I love you too,” I said, holding back the torrent of tears.

You and I may not see eye to eye. Where you see fireworks and warmth from a fire in a cozy cottage, I see explosions killing millions of people and my neighbors in tears after watching their beloved home burn down. I cannot see the world in your eyes anymore. Too much has happened and more is to come. We live in an age of danger, secrets, and lies, where kids are bullies and made fun based on their race or a disability. No this was not the world you probably imagined. Jumping from couch to couch, avoiding the lava floor and saving your bear from the evil hands of a made up character, you dreamt of a world where you were a superhero, saving people’s lives. Sorry to break your dreams kiddo, but superheroes don’t exist. There are evil people and normal people. But no superheroes. No one to come and save you when you are being bullied. No one to save your favorite aunt from cancer. No one to stop a car from hitting and killing your friend. There’s no one. It’s lonely here. I don’t have friends who care about me and everyone is just so busy trying to get that A or that job that they don’t care who they run over to get there. The world we live in now, dreams are crushed and the reality is too hard to live in. I remember a time being you and feeling like nothing could stop me. That time is over. It’s time to grow up.

“It was an accident! I swear. I didn’t...nothing was going to happen. Nothing is happening.”

I stood there, in front of my boyfriend, wishing I was dead.

“You gotta believe me!” Tears were streaming down my face. I hated myself. I hated myself so much. If only he could understand. His face was blank with no emotions showing. I searched his deep blue eyes for forgiveness.

He finally moved and ruffled his hair with his hand. He looked down and sighed.

“I-I don’t understand. Why?”

He looked at me, now with confusion and hurt. My heart broke into billions of pieces. I wish I could go back in time and slap myself. How could I be so stupid. How could I betray his trust. He gave me everything and I just threw it away. It was one kiss. One kiss that threw 2 years of love and friendship away.

I took a deep breath and wiped my tears away. “Look, Josh,” He looked up and me, “Yes, I did go to his house. That part is true. I’m sorry. He texted me saying it was an emergency. You know we were friends. So I went over to his house to see if anything was wrong. I was scared ok. My judgement got the better of me. I should have called, I know.

Then when I went inside the house, Paul was like I need to talk to you. I asked him if he was in trouble. He was insistent. He took me into his room. He started talking about random things, like how we have a project and if we wanted to be partners. I asked him what the emergency was. Like why was I here? And he told me.” I paused, “he told me that he had feelings for me. I kinda sat there. I was shocked. I told him that I already have a boyfriend. Then he just leaned over and stared into my eyes, and then kissed me. I swear I jumped back and ran out of the room. He kissed me and I left. That’s all. I was revolted by his behavior. I never knew he was going to do something like this. You gotta believe me. Please Josh. Please.” I looked at him with pleading eyes, searching his face for any sign of forgiveness.

He sighed again and looked away. I could feel the waves of hurt coming off of him. I would rather die then be here, hurting him.

“I just need some space, to think,” he said, getting up.

“Oh ok,” I said. That was good right. He was going to think. He wasn’t going to break up with me yet. Yet.

The door was open. I crept inside and walked towards the desk. I reached out and sighed with relief. My hot chocolate was still warm. I switched off the light and started walking towards the living room. I stopped. It sounded like someone was opening a drawer in the kitchen, but the problem was that I was home alone.

I had lived in this old house for practically my whole life. 17 years. My mother and father both had day jobs, working for 6 hours and leaving me home alone. After coming back from school on the bus, I had 3 hours to myself. Spending that much time in an old, creaky house, you would know some things. What sound does this door make or that cabinet? So I knew exactly which drawer was creakily opened. The one with the knives in it.

The whole house was dark except for the Christmas tree. It definitely looked like nobody was home. But if the perpetrator thought that nobody was home then why did he need a knife? Why not a gun? But I did know one thing: I had the element of surprise.

I quietly set down my mug and carefully walked towards my parent’s room. I knew which floorboards creaked and so I had stealth on my side. Fortunately, the perpetrator didn’t and I could tell he was already in the living room. He or an overweight woman. The floorboards don’t lie. There was a safe in my parent’s closet. They didn’t know that I knew the code for it. I mean it didn’t take too long to crack since it was the date my parents got married. How romantic.

I heard a click and opened the door of the safe. There it was, shining bright even in the dark. A semi-automatic Glock pistol. I smiled. The floorboards creaked behind me.

“Thought you would never come,” I said, turning around. My perpetrator was dressed in all black with his hood pulled down and shadows covering his face. The moonlight cast a pale light on the 6 in knife, making it eerily glow. I hid the gun behind my back.

“What do you want,” I asked, “I swear I don’t have anymore cookies left. Santa must have eaten them all.” I was trying to waste time. What this man didn’t know is that the moment he entered, a silent alarm went off, warning the nearby police station of an intruder. This might be an old, creaky house, but its security is the state of the art. It has to be with my parents line of work.

The man looked surprised, as if he didn’t expect to see me here.

“Move away from the safe and I won’t kill you,” he said, gesturing with the knife.

“I’m going to need you to put your hands up” I said, pulling the gun out from behind my back. The man’s eyes widened in shock and he stumbled back.

“On the ground now! Get your ass in the ground now or I’ll put a bullet in you!” I was hoping that he would listen and do exactly what I told him to do. The man froze. I could see him processing my words and deciding on what to do. He studied me a bit and then came onto a decision. Unfortunately, it was the wrong one. He lunged at me, swinging the glinting knife in an arc. In that moment I knew two things. One, the gun has no ammo (I might have accidentally emptied it on a trip to the woods.) Two, this man wanted to kill me. I dived to the side, narrowly avoiding the knife’s brutal edge. He quickly recovered and lunged again, this time bringing the knife straight down, as if to stab me. I brought up my gun and pulled the trigger. It worked! No bullet came out but the man still flinched. Using the precious seconds I had, I got up and ran across the room. I grabbed my mug, hoping that it was still hot, and flung it at him. The coffee mug hit right on target and broke on impact. There was now a bloody gash on his forehead. I continued running down the hallway. I could begin to hear the sirens and see flashing lights, signaling that the police were near. Almost there. The front door came into my view. I reached out for the door handle and stopped. Something didn’t feel right. The world rolled over and suddenly the door was sideways. I could feel my shirt getting wet. Maybe I slipped? I reached behind me and felt it. The knife. My fingers came back red. With my blood. The police were now right outside. Doors slamming and radios gawking. The man walked up to me and smiled. He was holding a Manila envelope.

“Sweet dreams,” he said.

Colors were now swirling in my vision, and the door was becoming more blurrier by the second. I could feel a heaviness trying to envelope my body, trying to close my eyelids and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. I felt a tear running down my face. Sorry mom. Sorry dad. I felt cool air. Someone was shouting. I closed my eyes and sighed.

Just have some faith.

There it was again. That word. Faith. Only five letters, but the one of the most powerful words. To me, it was just some expression. Like something that didn’t mean anything. Like saying I like your shirt to someone just for the sake of making a conversation. You don’t really mean it. So standing there, looking at my grandma with tubes running over her body, my parents succumbing to tears, people whispering about a word-a word so bad that people start crying-and I don’t know why we are here. Even I, a 10 year old, can tell she is near death’s door. But why? Why do we stand here, acting like everything’s ok. Like she will get better and come back. Because she won’t. Can’t. Didn’t. Again, forward a few months and same situation. This time my uncle. Same word that made everyone cry. And yet, instead of leaving-doctors said it was too late-we stayed and prayed. Prayed until he took his last breath. That leads us to that word again. Faith. Faith was what made us stand next to our loved ones and prayed for a miracle, even when the doctors said that there was nothing to be done. Now you can see how powerful of a word Faith is. It can destroy and build. If someone were to lose faith, they would lose their purpose in life. They would lose themselves.

However, with faith, humans can do the impossible. They can climb mountains, live through extreme pain, or just have belief. Nevertheless, faith can be really powerful. Which is why I stand here, with my mother and father, staring at my grandma, uncle, grandpa, a friend's father, a friend, and never faltering, never falling into the deep, debths of loss and sadness. I have faith, faith that everything will be fine. And with faith, humanity will prosper. Because that’s it isn’t it? Faith is what makes humans humans. Faith gives the human in humanity. Faith, therefore, is more. Faith can crawl from the depths and appear out of nowhere- it is magical and powerful and cannot be defined with just one word. Faith can be love, sorrow, fear, or happiness; all in just one word. So when someone says, have faith, I look up and smile at them, for I know I will always have faith as it is a part of me. A part of being a human.

This day could not get any worse. I was already late for school and now I have red and blue flashing lights in my rearview mirror. Cussing with such ferocity that my grandmother would walk out from her grave and drag me to hell with her, I switch my right indicator on and changed lanes. I waited impatiently in the car-my fingers tapping on the steering wheel. I glanced at the rearview mirror and saw that the officer was still in his car. Gosh, what’s taking so long. I debated whether I should make a run for it. Maybe I could lose the cop in the inside roads. Appearing out of nowhere, the officer tapped on my window. I jolted in my seat with surprise. Sighing with regret on missing the opportunity for a quick getaway, I opened my window and prepared myself for what was to come.

“You know why I stopped you?” Asked the officer.

I sighed. I had no time for these games.

“No officer, had I known why you would stop me, we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.”

“Ahh someone is cheeky today. Why are you so nervous then?”

I definitely was very close in putting the car in drive and throwing the cop off. I took a deep breath and said, “Sorry sir, I am just really late for school and will get into loads of trouble and I am really anxious for that and scared of the fine I might receive.”

“Ya, I understand how stressful school can get. You know my daughter...”

He drones on and on as precious minutes passed me by. I literally had beads of sweat down my back. I wondered if the cop would be convicted of murder if I had a heart attack right here.

“Alright young chap,” he said, breaking my train of thought, ”Let me have you step out of the car and walk over to my vehicle and we can get you booked so you can be on your way.”

Now I definitely liked the sound of that. I released my seatbelt, opened the car door, got out, and followed the officer back to his cop car. He told me that apparently I had been speeding, which I figured, and when I asked him by how much, he told me 5mph. Wait. 5 motherf*cking miles per hour. Is he shitting me? He fricking pulled me over for 5mph over the limit??

“Yes, we are very strict about speeding. Have pulled people over for less,” he said.

In my mind, I imagined him saying, Excuse me grandma, I’m sorry but you were speeding 1 mph over the limit. I’m gonna have to take you to jail. No you are going to have to leave your cane in the car because it could be a weapon hazard. Was this guy for real?

“Sir, I thought that since this is my first time getting pulled over that I should be let off with just a warning?”

“Sorry, new rule,” the officer replied back.

“ What!? I have not heard about any new rules like that. Bro just let me go and I’ll be on my way.” I started towards my car.

The officer grabbed me and said, “Ok kid I’m gonna have you turn around. You need to calm down.”

“You know what, F*ck you. I will not let you f*cking cuff me for going 5mph over the speed limit. That’s bullsh*t!”

As his majesty, the asshole, and I were bickering, some rando had gotten into my car and turned it on because I let the f*cking keys in the ignition. I looked up and saw my car drive away.

Well sh*t ya that was the worst day of my life. No car. $1,000 fine. No school. Ya I was definitely screwed. But hey, could have been worse. Actually scratch that, that was f*cked up.

I was running, running as fast as my little legs could carry me, which actually was not that fast. It was dark. I could not see a single thing in front of me, which is not ideal for a quick getaway. I saw the opportunity to escape my captors and took it. Now, I was stuck in the middle of the forest with no light source and no food or water, while getting chased by three, angry men with guns. Yup life was great. They were getting closer; I could hear their movements getting louder. I couldn’t keep up the pace much longer and so I turned towards a big tree and sat next to it where I would be hidden from view by the bushes that surround it. I quieted my breath. They got closer. My breath quickened. One of them stood 5 feet from where I sat. Very close. Too close. He turned. Scoured the bushed with his beady eyes. I stayed as still as I could, hoping he doesn’t see me. He looked down. I looked down. He smiled and looked right at me. Tears rolled down my face as I glanced at my bright-colored shoelaces sticking out. I was as lucky as a dead fish. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, here I come.

“Clear!”

“Clear!”

“Clear!”

“Sir there’s nobody here!”

Special Agent Mark Antony was on a deadline. He had 48 hours to find Stephenie Marelovois, daughter of Mayor Marelovois of Newlands. He was on a deadline to find the most powerful human being’s daughter of the Newlands. He had limited information of her kidnapping and had to act diligently and quickly to catch up with her captors before they crossed the border. He had to command thousands of men and dedicate thousands of their hours to scour the huge country line which was millions of acres all in 2 days. Piece of cake.

It was dark. I heard water dripping somewhere. Water! I crawled towards the source. Drip. I crawled some more until the stone floor felt wet. I shivered. It was cold in this..cave? I think it was a cave. Only a cave could be this damp and cold. My dry throat and my rumbling stomach made it hard to think. How do I get out of here?

Disappointed I told my troops to move out. There was no one here. We had covered most of the country side. Now there was the city and the deep jungle to cover as well. The city would take years to clear out and the jungle was overgrown with different types of plants and trees. I doubted anyone lived there. Well on the other hand it would be easier to hide a little human in a hundred square acres of plants. “Guys we are rolling out,” I yelled. I needed to go back to headquarters and think this through. I couldn’t afford anymore mess ups. She needed to be found now.

I reached the water and was disappointed to see that it was only drops coming from the ceiling. I opened my mouth and swallowed a couple. Sigh. It was heaven. I looked around and saw that my eyes had started to adjust to what little light there was. I looked around the cave, inspecting every nook and cranny. I tried to find the source of the light but I was unsuccessful. Suddenly I heard a door open and a flood of light came into the cave. I glared at the light source, my eyes trying to adjust. My eyes widened at what I had seen and a scream escaped my mouth.

I sat heavily on my chair and put my head in my hands. We had reached another road block. I just came back from the briefing where I talked to the senior officer on the case. He told me he would not give me the manpower to go into that forest and try to play find a needle in a haystack. Time was running out and nobody was listening to me. Time to go solo. I headed towards the weapons directory and grabbed 2 knives, a handgun, and a rifle. You never know what you are going to find.

...to be continued