Charlotte Hale hated that she had to gather wild berries. It wasn’t that gathering wild berries was hard. It was that gathering them was not hard and at sixteen, she felt like it was demeaning. Her eight-year-old stepbrother, Albert, was perfectly capable of the task. So she could not, for the life of her, understand why she had to be the one to gather stupid frickin’ wild berries. “I need them for the salad, Char,” her m...

  High school is starting and I should be so excited.  I am going to high school and my expectations are over the moon.  Maybe just a little nervous ‘cause there will be so many students and teachers there I haven’t met.  I don't know if any of my friends will be in my classes. Makes me nervous to have all new people.It still feels warm, but knowing the cooler autumn weather is just around the corner, I have several sweat...

After I obtained my driver license, my father and mother independently counseled me about sex. The talks were embarrassing but when done, they both had let me know their expectations about teenage sexual behaviors. Later, when I compared myself with other kids, I was glad I had my parents. The other kids had no freedoms and no boundaries. I had both. The other kids were confused about what was acceptable but I wasn’t. Oth...

The rain seems so soft and friendly. Comforting; as if its entire meaning of existence is to engulf you like a child in a blanket. Simply reassuring you that everything will be alright. This road is beaten and brittle. The cracks quietly outline the years of torture that this road has witnessed. The withered leaves yawn as they try to cover up my mistakes, tired of knowing I won't listen. They pray that I will believe the...

**Picks up a cigarette. Lights it. Puff puff, Cough, cough (chokes). Switches it off** I don’t even like smoking. Worse still I am right outside a cancer ward. Alright, I don’t even know how I’m gonna start this story. Physical appearance? Boy, would I like to address that elephant in the room. I am not an elephant per se, but if you put two slim bodies together, they would probably fit in my pants. The world seems to acc...

Chapter 10Thomas took Luke's hand awkwardly and shook. "Hi," he managed to say"We were going to go to the dance but decided against it, we didn't feel like dressing up. So we stayed in and put on some Netflix. How was the dance?""It was..." He was having trouble finding words. He felt sick; he needed to get out of there fast. "I-I uhh. Tell you later. Gotta get home, curfew, dad, kill me." He turned briskly walked away af...

Chapter 9The school was filled with green all over on Saint Patricks day. Students either with green clothes, green hair, or green anything really, wandered around the halls in festivity. No one was more festive than the twins Caleb and Liam, as Thomas learned the hard way when he forgot to wear green that day. They wore ceremonial kilts and had their faces painted green and carried, what looked like some cheap Toy's R us...

Chapter 8Thomas was the first person to arrive at the North Plaza Cinemas. He didn't know what movie they were going to watch, but it was Friday evening, and it got him out of the house. He went off the side to practice tricks on his board while waiting. Eventually, Miranda walked up to the entrance and stood around waiting.He rolled over to her, and she greeted him with a smile. "Where's the others?" He asked.She shrugge...

Chapter 7Thomas dragged himself home for the long walk after the psychotic little girl, and the mysterious hood figure vanished. Each step was getting more painful than the last the further he went, but he was almost home, for that he was grateful. Why the hell did she have to hit my legs too? He thought to himself. Why the hell did she attack me for that matter? Once home he warmed up in the shower then crawled into bed...

Chapter 6The girls seemed to fight all the way through October. Thomas never figured out why but they made up at Halloween. Guess Miranda was right, girls just fight. Between classes, Thomas was heading to the vending machines until Kellen showed up and pulled him into a nearby empty classroom. He ducked low and told Thomas to do the same. "What's going on?" Thomas whispered as he ducked down. "Caleb and Liam are coming t...

Chapter 5Saturday night at eight, Thomas sat in his room trying to convince himself not to go to the party. I said I'd be there, I have to go now... God, why did I say I'd go? Screw you peer pressure!His dad was downstairs watching TV, he would have to leap out the window and grab the tree branch. The rain had stopped several minutes ago, and the skies looked to be clearing. He opened the window at long lost and pulled th...

Chapter 4Though the day started exciting it quickly become boring and average after the excitement from earlier that morning died down. Classes as always were mundane, and lunch was decent. After fifth period, Thomas went to his locker to put his books away, no homework, meant no extra weight load. That and for whatever reason it was school policy to leave your books in your locker unless you needed them for homework or a...

Chapter 3After the girls dropped him off at the bridge and Thomas walked the rest of the way home, he went to his room, to the Tome. It seemed to be calling to him, the thought scared him, though, and he turned away from retrieving it. Instead, he went into the kitchen, his dad was there staring into the fridge.Tony let out a sigh when he heard Thomas approach and said, "I'm out of beer.""And we're out of food," Thomas re...

Chapter 2Miranda woke to the beeping of a pulse monitor. She found herself in a hospital bed, her best friend Normia had a chair pulled up beside her and was sitting cross-legged texting on her phone. "What happened?" Miranda asked lightly. Normia looked up at her through opal green eyes and said, "Hey bitch." Miranda rolled her eyes and flipped Normia off. Normia put her phone down and pulled her long wavy black hair int...

Chapter 1The final bell rang and all of Mr. Green's sixth period history class was full. Of course by now all the students could think about was, "One more class left, and it's home free." But Mr. Green was a special teacher who could hold the student’s attention even in a mundane course like history. After typing some more things onto his computer, Mr. Green got up and began taking roll call. After half a dozen names wer...