One day, a plane crashed on the border of Mexico and America. Right, exactly on the border. Where did they bury the survivors?

In retrospect, this seems rather obvious written out on the page.

I scream

He spins

In the light

Like a book I read

But not

In the book

He was prepared

Ready

I am not

He spins

And I see

The look

Shock...

And just a hint...

Sadness

His short blond hair

His black glasses

Falling off

Wide

Shocked

Sad

Blue eyes

Blue

Like the sky he soared in

Blue

Like the lightning he protected me with

He falls

I scream

I sob

I sob for what I lost

An amazing man

Kind

Determined

Just

The only demigod

To add temples

Altars

Shrines

For all the gods

I sob for what could have been

A relationship

A marriage

Even Hera would approve of

Kids

With my brown hair

With his blue eyes

That are frozen

Like Khione

Who finally got

Her icy prize

And yet

I’m relieved

We stopped the bad guys

We saved the day

Again

Again

Again

We will always be the heores

But at what price?

And then

Then I am gone

Rushed away

On Tempest

His final act

And I’m on a beach

With an injured demigod

An aggressive music-loving pandos

An incredibly useless

Selfish

Fallen

Mortal

God

And Tempest

His venti

His wind

His horse

His ally

His friend

I’m sobbing

Distraught

Mad at everything

And everyone

But I tell Tempest

To get him

The one who died

No, is dying

The one who saved me

The one I loved

For real

Then he’s here

Broken

Dying

And my father

I realize

Where we are

A cruel reminder

Of what I already

Lost

Although

Nothing

As awful

As losing

Him

The god and the pandos are

Gone

Left

Told by my father

My broken

Lost

Wandering

Father

Tristan McLean

Who now has a new purpose

He told them

To get help

Help arrives

But

No

Too

Late

He

Is

Dead

He is gone

I cannot get him back

Left forever

Leaving me behind

Where I cannot follow

And I hate

Apollo

I hate

Hades

I hate

Zeus

Jupiter

Hera

Aphrodite

I hate them

All

But most of all

I hate

Loathe

Detest

With every single fiber of my being

Him

The murderer

Extravagant

Useless

Selfish

Self-proclaimed “deity”

Murderous

“Emperor”

Caligula

Caligula

Stole

Him

From me

My beautifu

Loyal

Just

Fair

Determined

Loving

Saving

Grace

My

Jason

Grace

Fire burns. Kiara learned this the hard way.

The flickering flame was irresistible. It constantly changed, orange and red and yellow and sometimes white. She leaned in. It warmed her face. Closer and closer. Her nose was almost touching it. She leaned back just a bit. She slid her finger up in front of her face. Closer to the candle, and then...

“OW!”

Keith’s new socks were blue. They were black. They were turquoise, they were grey, they were white, they were green.

What Keith’s new socks WEREN’T was magic. And magic was all that matters in a world of fairies and trolls and goblins and dragons.

Keith was about 97% sure that he knew a spell he could perform, though.

Using a discarded wand of his brother’s, Keith leaned over his new socks, chanting, “Bippity, bibbity, bokks. Take these non-magic socks. Make them new, and magic in them imbue.”

Keith’s new socks glowed. They floated. They fizzed and popped a bit.

And then they stopped. Everything.

Keith excitedly pulled on his new socks. “Boppity, bokkity, bork. Did my magic work?”

Nothing happened. Nothing glowed, nothing floated, nothing fizzed, nothing popped.

Keith was sorely disappointed.

THE END

“Is it supposed to look like that?” I turned around and hung my head down between my knees in a ridiculous attempt to get another perspective.

“I’m not sure. The glowing seems a little odd, though.” My roommate, John, brushed his brown hair out of his eyes to get a better look. The orb we had built had just suddenly started glowing. We weren’t sure why.

John and I were engineering majors. Our challenge: to create an orb that could float. Our teacher, Mrs. Willis, had been incredibly mysterious about the entire thing.

Well, our orb floated. In fact, it flew! It was zooming around our heads. It seemed to be exploring the room. And glowing. Glowing brightly. So brightly, we worried someone would discover us. And then, it started humming. Softly at first, but then louder and louder. Soon, it was bright as a star and louder than dice in a cup. It was also getting faster. It was a bright flash by our heads, everywhere at once.

“What did you do to it?” I whisper-screamed at John. I had to scream loud enough to be heard over the orb, but at the same time, whisper quiet enough to not make excess noise.

“I just put a cool-looking purple stone next to it. That’s the only thing I can think of that may have affected it!”

“Well, where is it now?”

“I don’t know! It’s gone!”

“Well, that’s just great!” I glared at John. “Help me catch the orb!” It was all over the room. I snatched at it, but only grabbed air. John clapped his hands above his head to try and grab it, but failed.

Suddenly, it stopped humming. It stopped glowing. It stopped flying around the room. It slowly settled back onto our desk.

John and I looked at each other and made a unanimous decision. I snatched up the orb. John opened the window. I threw it out as hard as I could - which, admittedly, wasn’t very far. But it was enough to make it land in the forests our college overlooked, far, far below.

We started our orb again. This one floated - barely. But enough to pass. It didn’t fly. It didn’t glow. It didn’t hum. We never saw our original orb again.

But I went for a walk two weeks later. I told John it was for inspiration, but not really. I walked where I was sure that it had fallen.

It wasn’t there. Nothing. No wreckage, no ruins. Absolutely nothing.

It was free in the forest.