To lose control, Emmet thought to himself, sitting alone on the cream coloured bed, as if it were an island, alone and floating in a vast ocean of turbulent blue, the last vestiges of what could be considered solid where he currently lay down, was a terrible thing. "one    two    three    four     five..." he counted and timed, as he breathed. His control had not cracked when he was offered the position as facility director. He had maintained his composure and a respectable expression as his person was insulted and his family threatened. He had accepted the position with grace, sacrificing his personal romantic relationships with a calm enough demeanor, standing still and saying nothing as Doctor Johnstone threw weak punch after weak punch, with her shaking, fragile arms, at his unmoving chest.He had not flinched when she called him a heartless bastard, and he was not inclined to

Digging in the garden was something simple and easy. It didn't require much thought, and as soon as one had found themselves a sturdy enough stick, then they were set. They were free to dig to their heart's content.Maybe they would find themselves a dinosaur bone. Maybe they would find themselves pirate treasure, or maybe even a Roman coin, if they were lucky.Digging was a mindless task that made your back break and your legs strain to keep you upright.And it was in those mindless moments, outside, that it occurred to Lila that she could just simply... leave.She could leave right now and she could seek out a new and better life away from here. She would never have to hurt again. She would never have to go to sleep crying again. She would be able to play like all the other children, she would be able to go to friend's houses, play with their electronics, eat their cookies and biscuits.She would be able to hate school, just like eve

"Lila! Lila!" Lila's mother screamed out, her loud, high pitched shriek echoed out throughout the house and the garden.Lila, herself, froze up, the feeling of ice running through her veins, freezing her heart. She heard each and every beat of her heart, loud and clear, a thumping rhythm that counted down the seconds of her life like the drum beat of her execution.Her legs shook, unable to move under the control of her mind anymore, seemingly developing their own consciousness and volition, electing to remain stuck to exactly where she had hidden herself at the side of the house, rather than running away.Lila dryly swallowed once, twice, before holding her breath to try and focus herself.If she ran away now, her mother would only be more and more angry whether she was caught or not. If her mother catched up to her, then she would be met the fury of a volcan's lava, forced to travel to receive the victim of their rage. But if Lila wasn't ca

As soon as the sun sunk below the horizon, dying the sky as red as Jasper's hair, and the room was finally, mercifully, empty, Lila decided that it was time to at least learn the time.She shifted her head incrementally, lifting her shoulders up to keep the pillows away from her sensitive scalp, so she could shift just enough for her eyes to strain to the side to read the clock. Through blurry vision and her tears, Lila figured out that it was only seven in the evening.Her father would arrive home in approximately half an hour and would get out of his work clothes to dress in his nightie, and then the family would have supper. Lila would get some free time to play on the living room carpet at his feet as he watched whatever old episode of Star Trek again, for the two hundredth time, before he got tired of Lila, and sent her off to sleep.It was the only real time that she had with him, and he was hardly ever interested in what she said and what she

It was otherwise another innocuous day as Lila walked home from school, kicking along sticks on the path with her school shoes and feeling sick to her stomach as she kept on going.The sun was beginning to set under the horizon, shining out a bright, vivid gold, lighting up the both the trees behind Lila, and the shallow ditch that ran concurrently with the path, following it for a little while before abruptly disappearing, the sunken ground which made it rising for no apparent reason to become flat and level with the path.It was currently autumn, with various piles of rotting leaves filling up the hole in the Earth, and not particularly ideal to jump into and pretend that you were in a trench. That experience was reserved for only a few days in the summer - days that had decidedly passed a while ago.Lila was reminded, by the sight, of several assesments that she had due on the Monday, after the weekend, on History, French, and Computer Science to complete ove