Chapter Five

CAD EYED THE MAN THAT LAY ON THE GROUND. His hair was reddish blonde, his face bruised from the fall and a small cut on the side of his right cheek. His ax lay several yards away, lying in the muddied banks of the creek.

The man pushed Cad forward, making his knees land in mud. Cad turned his head slightly to the left and saw his kidnapper grabbed the other man by his hand and brought him to his feet.

I. Swingset
Quiet, hush
Don’t say a word
Breathe, push
Bring me a little closer
Swing, rush
Upward toes to the sky
Euphoria in my veins
Staccato creak of the swingset chains
Just enough childhood
To bring a smile to my face.

II. One Step at a Time
I’m releasing the little bits of myself
still attached to you
I’ve been like a willow tree
quiet and unassuming
leaning deep over the grass
but now
I will emerge.

Chapter Three

CAD BOLTED THROUGH THE FOREST, GLANCED BACK ONE OR TWICE. Good, Beck was still there. The arrows in Cad’s quiver jiggled and his arms ached from carrying his bow. Twice he’d tripped and fallen; the first time he had scraped his head from a holly tree and the bruised his hand on the bark of a sycamore.

Chapter Two

AFTER THE MARKET AND CAD LEAVING EMBER WITH ARIA, the boys went to go visit Alfrick. Alfrick was a dwarf that lived in a small cottage outside the village. Most of the villagers said he was a “crazy hermit” that practiced sorcery and other forms of magic.

But Cad knew better. Back when Cad had first moved in with Beck’s family, he had ran away from their home after, supposedly, speaking to a bird. He’d ran deep, deep into the forest which he had named the Sanctuary.

Chapter One

A YOUNG BOY WATCHED FROM BEHIND A TREE. He eyed his prey with skill and knowledge. To him, these two went together hand-in-hand as a bow and an arrow. The prey, a beautiful snow stag, was standing between two oak trees. It rubbed its antlers against one of the trees and then shook its head.

So close, to graduation, to my 18th birthday, to finally moving out and going to college and making my own choices; and I’m excited and terrified at the same time. I’m so ready, ready to be done with this last painful semester of high school, ready to go see and do and try new things, ready to learn that I can take care of myself, to some degree, ready to discover who I am, to continue discovering who I am, ready to maybe fall in love.

I. Overexposed
Lying exposed in the fluorescent box
Surgical paper crinkles against my back
Impersonal hands press soft tissue
Those intimate parts of me no one is supposed to touch
Inhale, she says, I breathe in hand sanitizer aroma
Exhale, she says, I breathe out the sterile remains
Removes the ice metal from my ribs, the signal of the end
Put on my shirt and I'm no longer a lab specimen
They call a "patient".

I was happy for three-quarters of an hour on Tuesday: between the arrival of Shadow Hand by Anne Elisabeth Stengl and a letter in the mail and leaving for my brother’s last at-home basketball game of the season.
I’d spent the morning scrubbing the kitchen cabinets, but that wasn’t a matter of happiness—more like satisfaction and accomplishment. And even the basketball game wasn’t necessarily a gamebreaker; it was only a five-minute drive in, instead of the fifty or seventy-minute drives to the last four games over the past two weeks.

I. Truly
You showed me the ring
I loved the glow in your eye when you asked
If I thought she would like it
I have been dreading this day for such a long time
But now that it’s here I can’t even express
How happy and excited and elated I am for you
That diamond will look
So pretty on her finger
I can already see the light in her eyes when
You say the magic words
I will be at your wedding and I’ll watch you two
Dancing in the reception hall and I’ll know that you’ll last
Sometimes when you love someone

I’d see them every Sunday morning as they drove into the church parking lot. He’d drop her off by the front door, and then she’d wait for him as he went to park the car, greeting whoever was at the front door with a sweet smile and warm hug. Then as he’d lumber up to the entryway, he would reach out his long arms for a giant, heart-warming embrace.