The Book of Mara

I walked this path once more as I had done a million times before on similar days like this. However, this time it had to work. The timing was exact, the weather was exact, and the day was exact. Everything had aligned absolutely perfectly, and I knew that because I had made sure of it before I had even left my parent's house this morning. Every detail was crucial to my cause. I had tried everything else over the last 10 years, and this, this was my last hope. Pulling my brown fleece jacket closer around myself, I desperately tried to ignore the coldness seeping into my bones despite the thick coat I had on. I wasn't going to let anything keep me from doing this today, even if it meant the shivering and the teeth clattering painfully.The well-worn cobblestone walkway twisted and wound around the green grass that highlighted the red and yellow leaves hanging from every tree and bush that lined both sides. Autumn had come in a vibrate flash of rainy days and colors. Normally, I would

The reminder of my brother gave me something to focus on as my mind spun around the unbelievable nature of my predicament. I turned back to find the man grabbing an odd green pack off the ground outside the circle of trees and rocks. He still had the look of concern on his face. But he was no longer seemed interested in grabbing me again, which I took as a sign of hope. He lifted his hand to me with his palm out as if he were trying to show me that he would not hurt me. He hissed something again. His tone sounded a bit more soothing than the other. If a hiss could sound soothing. He waved me over to him and pointed to a path off to the side of the clearing."What?" I asked him. "You want me to follow you?" He hissed again. This time it seemed more urgent and made the gesture again for me to come closer. Still unsure if I could trust him, I stood there looking between him and the path several times as I tried to get a read on the situation. I guess I didn't have much to lose, I thoug

I looked out through the metal bars that covered the window in the small cell I had been thrown into. I wouldn't have expected this cell to have a view, but beyond the bars that guarded the window sprawled the valley up to the hilltop. I pushed the surprising light, metal bed over to the window to look out it and watched the grass blow in the wind. It shimmered lighter shades of green and blue like a rolling kaleidoscope.Even with the amazing view, watching it for hours had become tedious. I crawled down, sitting on the stained grey mattress that felt harder than rocks underneath my backside, and stared at the wooden door that was barring me from leaving. I picked at my filthy clothes and wished that I had brought a clean set with me. I had intended to bring my backpack with me. Yet, it had seemed frivolous when I wasn't sure exactly what I would find. The one thing I wish I had grabbed the most was my hair tie. My long curly red hair was sticking to me and driving me crazy. I grabbe

I laid on the bed staring up at the ceiling, counting the blocks for the thirtieth time. Oddly enough, the number hadn't changed from the 75 that I had counted a half an hour ago. I was going crazy; I knew I was. I was the picture-perfect definition of insanity. I couldn't take this anymore. Jumping up, I raced to the door and began pounding on it. "Erik! Bring me, Erik! Please!! Erik!" I screamed. The guard on the other side of the door hissed something back at me, slamming his arm on the door. I knew it was more than likely he was telling me to shut up, but I didn't care. I was not going to spend one more hour in this tiny room staring out this window, wondering what my fate was."Look ya giant, gold, greenish… people… I want to speak to my brother! Doesn't the prisoner get some sort of rights! This is inhumane! Even on earth, they got let out once a day!" I shouted. "You're not on earth," replied a voice just beyond my view. "Erik," I gasped out happily. "Look, I know you don't

I spent the rest of the night in an uncomfortable silence with my eyes pinned to the ground, unwilling to look up through all the frolicking or random moans and sounds that echoed throughout the room. Occasionally, King Tohrah would reach out and touch my hand as if to make sure I wasn't going to be running away. However, when I didn't look up, he would let go and continue speaking to someone. Of course, they all still sounded like hisses and little growls for the most part. Occasionally, I could make out the word "sssahhh" every once and a while.A few times, I heard Erik say something in English. But I wasn't even going to try and look up to see what was going on. I was too afraid of seeing some of those naked people, and the bawdy acts that they were performing on each other.It wasn't long before hunger, exhaustion, and stress had my eyes drifting shut and my body melting into the chair. I had almost fallen when a strong hand grabbed my shoulder to hold me in the chair."It's time