The Child Left Behind: Poetry Of Christopher J Scarver

For nearly five centuries, no child has drawn a first breath. The Creator sealed the womb of the world, and humanity learned to live without its future. But in the depths of Triune, another kind of genesis rose. From the Middle comes a child with power and lineage to rival the Creator. Not born, but woven. Not raised, but awakened. Bodies shaped by design. Souls coaxed from silence. Each one a crafted echo of what humanity once was. Those who survive their emergence ascend to the Upper. Those who falter are reclaimed by the dark. On the night meant to mark their passage into adulthood, five friends stumble upon a truth older than scripture and sharper than prophecy: The first humans were not what they were told. The gods were not who they claimed to be. And the Children of Triune were never meant to ask why. Some truths don't set you free, they come for you.

She stayed when she should have walked away… loved when she should have stopped breathing for someone who never chose her. While she fought to save a child slipping through her fingers, she watch her husband drifted back to his ex, leaving her to carry a love that was already dying. She begged for time. He gave her silence. She begged for help. He gave her indifference. And when a chance finally came to save their child… he turned away. That same day, he chose celebration over life. The past over everything they had built and their child never came back. Grief should have ended her story but instead, it broke her into something unrecognizable. Now she met someone new and just when she finally stepped into a new life built from her ashes. Her ex husband came back… wanting her again.

After being missing for eighteen years, I was finally found by my wealthy birth parents. The impostor—the young man who had taken my place all this time—dropped to his knees, sobbing. "Goodbye, Mom and Dad. Thank you for raising me. Now that Jason is back, this family doesn't need me anymore." My parents hugged him with heartbreaking tenderness. "Don't be ridiculous," they said. "You're our only real son." Even my fiancée confessed her love to him. "I don't care who you really are. You're the only one I love." They all orbited around him, like planets around the sun. When I was nearly killed in a car accident, they were too busy throwing a birthday party for his dog. So I packed my things in silence. Without a word, I accepted an invitation from the space agency to join a five-year satellite research mission in complete isolation. Yet after I left, it was like the whole family lost their minds. They scoured the entire country, desperate to find any trace of me.

A priest has shown up at my first birthday party. He claims that I'm a cursed soul—that my presence will bring doom to those close to me, and my existence itself can snatch everyone's luck. The only way to counter this is to give me up to an orphanage and let me live a life of poverty and suffering. Without a family, I'll be able to overcome my fate as a cursed soul. Daddy has the priest cast out of our home immediately. Meanwhile, Mommy hugs me tightly. "My son is the luckiest boy in the whole wide world!" But everything has changed when my younger brother, Andy Lawson, has fallen off the 20th floor. His body is completely shattered from the fall. I can only stand by the window uneasily. Fear is evident in my eyes as I wave my hands with all my might. "It wasn't me! It really wasn't me!" The wind that day is very strong, but it can never drown out Mommy's cries. Daddy hoists me up and stuffs me into Andy's coffin. I keep latching onto the sides of the coffin to the point my fingers are all bloodied and trampled over. At the same time, I keep screaming for Mommy. Mommy stares at me blankly at first. But her hollow gaze is soon filled with hatred. "Why aren't you the one dead? That priest told us that you'll have to stay in the coffin for seven whole days and nights just to atone for your sins! Only then can Andy's soul rest in peace! "This is your fate and your sin, Adam!" The heavy lid slowly covers the coffin, soon sealing my hoarse cries and screams away. A long time later, a few voices ring out amid the sorrowful melody played by the organ. "Why is there a tiny gap in the coffin? Hurry up and nail it shut! We can't afford to have misfortune spread to us!" When the final nail is bolted onto the lid, I close my eyes. Mommy, Daddy, I'm no longer a cursed soul.

When I got home, I received dozens of voice messages from a parent. They had been sent in the group chat with other parents of children in the same kindergarten class as my daughter, Lily. [Ms. Channing, didn't I tell you that my daughter is allergic to furry toys? Why did you allow that boy, Sparky, to give my daughter a hugging bear?] Ms. Channing quickly denied this. No child called Sparky had ever studied in the kindergarten. Another parent was also furious about this. [How can you claim that? My son said Sparky would always force him to play hide-and-seek. If he refuses, Sparky would grab his hair!] I quickly asked Lily what this was about. Lily took out a hugging bear from behind her back and told me about it. [Ms. Channing can't see Sparky. Only smart children can see him. Sparky is a little boy with red eyes. Every child who plays hide-and-seek with Sparky will get a hugging bear.]

Jeff Pritchet isn’t much different from other teenage boys, with one exception. His monstrous, spider-like appearance and loner persona make him a target for bullying, when all he wants is a friend who sees beyond the surface.The unconventional pair find themselves marked for hatred, and when his bond to Aarav is threatened, Jeff discovers a sinister side he never knew he had, proving that, when pushed too far, emotions can be deadlier than venom.©️ Crystal Lake Publishing