Maturity

I like to boast in my maturity and claim to be an adult, but most of the time that charade feels like it's going to fall apart. I enjoy being a kind and doing childish things and all of the joy it seems to bring. At least it brings joys to someone else because inside I just hate myself. In my heart of hearts I'm a child yearning from love, I need physical validation not some being up above. I act confident in myself, but it's really just another masked picked up off the shelf. My head is a sea of screaming, voices calling out "Look at me!" and "Somebody love me", and I can't escape the feeling. I pour myself out for everyone, yet in the end I'm left alone. Maturity set aside, I'm just a child crying inside. 

The Tithe of War Part III: Wrath

    I awoke in a fog of dank smells and shuffling feet. My senses quickly gathered themselves and I lashed outward at the cage in front of me. A loud yell and powerful punch aimed at the bars ended in nothing, but a possibly broken hand and cathartic release. That damned woman, I should've known she was up to something. She was always a schemer and a hell of a tactician. I had to hand it to Artymexia, she had this well planned out and it worked. Damn my arrogance! I sat down in my cell, resigning myself to quiet thoughts and pondering my own escape. The dragonkin would expect something clever from an elf, so I can scratch off trying to snatch it from a guard as he walks by. I could rush them as they bring in food, they'll have to keep me alive, but I expect they'd bring multiple guards and use their flames to keep me at bay.
    "Oh how the mighty have fallen." a voice jeered as it shuffled towards my cell.
    "Tch - couldn't think of anything better than that?" I almost laughed, but managed to contain it.
    "Smart talk coming from a guy in prison." I was finally greeted by the large scowling face of their General Commander Orsu.
     He entered the cell rather abruptly, almost tearing the door off, and his tail swished back and forth as he sauntered in. Orsu clearly thought pretty highly of himself for capturing me and his promotion for said action, but if he's anything like I remember he's dumb and will slip up eventually. Soon rather than later hopefully, I didn't have time to waste on these cretins. I stood up coming barely up to Orsu's nostrils, which pumped out hot breaths onto my face. Quickly scanning him over, he lacked a lot of the scars and missing scales that an average dragonkin would have, meaning a cushy life handed to him by what would most likely be merchant parents who bought his rank. Orsu clearly lacked any competent battle skills, but still his impressive size relative to mine and the lack of weapons on my end made things doubly difficult.
     "You know, I don't exactly know why we're keeping you alive Elfin." he sneered, leaning his body over mine, trying to assert dominance.
     I smirked staring back at him, "And I don't know how a soft belly like you made it to Commander."
     That one struck a nerve, dragonkin are known for having remarkably resilient bodies being able to resist a lot of punishment, so calling one a soft belly was challenging their status as a soldier. It's almost the equivalent of calling someone stupid, but the dragonkin's impressive strength left little room for intelligence, so insulting their intelligence is futile.
     Orsu cocked his fist back as far as it could go, "You're going to pay for that one."
     Despite his size, Orsu is deceptively quick, but not quick enough. It took a simple feign right dodge and he tumbled off balance.
     "Oh am I now?" I smiled, kicking his back hard, sending him to the ground before taking off out of the cell and down the hall way.
     I wanted to begin laughing, but before I could I managed to run into a dragonkin's arm and subsequently get clothes-lined. The laughter was substituted with coughing and gagging before a being knocked out and dragged away. I blinked my eyes open again and my head was ringing. The blood crusted on my face made my skin feel uncomfortable and the upside down orientation was off-putting. They were smart enough this time to cuff my hands and feet, adding the extra precaution to dangle me upside down.
     "Thought you could scamper off could you?" Orsu growled, obviously upset.
     "Well," I coughed, throat feeling rough from being passed out, "your kind isn't exactly known for speed."
     "Yeah well your kind is known for being rich and I think I can get a good price for you."
     "What the hell do the dragonkins want with Elven gold?" It seemed odd to ransom me, our currency had no exchange rate as we never traded with them, which also meant I wouldn't be ransomed but I couldn't let them know.
     "We may not use it, but the humans do." Orsu grinned pulling me by my hair and bringing my face up to his, "And they'll hand over plenty of their fancy weapons and explosives for it." He laughed before slamming me down again, racking my head hard against the wall. In the second I had before being knocked out, I tried hard to remember what he said. Trading weapons was illegal no matter your species. What were they up to now?

Gas Station Breakfast: Chapter 1

The car pulled into the gas station with a small whine. The brakes could probably use replacing soon, but there wasn’t much time for repairs at least not today. Once to a full stop, two boys about 18 stepped out both stretching hard. Bones and joints cracked and popped as they yawned looking over at each other. The air was stale and dry, but it was better than sitting in that car for any longer.

          “Hey, I’m gonna go inside and grab some food.” One of the boys called to the other.

          The remaining boy simply nodded and walked to the back of the car and got ready to begin filling up the gas. He ran a hand through his sand-blonde hair as he leaned back against the gas station pump. The bags around his eyes were getting pretty bad, but they only had a few more hours to go. He leaned down to get a look at himself in the mirror and tried to polish himself up as best he could. Fidgeting with his hair and shirt nothing seemed to settle right for him.

          “Is this too casual? Maybe I should button a few up.” He muttered to himself as he did up a few buttons before the meter clicked off.

          He stood back up and topped off the gas to make the amount even. He sighed as he put the nozzle back in and turned around to go inside and pay. As he began heading in the other boy came out waving to him. After a few minutes he came back out, cramming a receipt into his pocket and holding a 1 liter Coke bottle in the other.

          “Still can’t decide on your outfit Sam?” He laughed as he leaned against the car, crossing his arms on the hood.

          “You know what Glenn you can shut up.” He began patting himself down for the keys.

          Glenn just smiled and pulled his sweatshirt up over his shoulders before opening the car door. It whined as he pulled on it and much like everything else with the car it seemed like it was about to fall off. They both slid in and strapped themselves in, hoping to finish off the last leg of this adventure in one shot.

5 months ago

          Sam lay in his bed yawning with a laptop resting on his chest. It wasn’t an exciting life he lived, but it was comfortable and easy. Before everything changed that is, but for now he was a simple 4.0 GPA, all around nerd that really didn’t ever venture out of Small Haven, the cheesiest town ever. With its Ma & Pa stores and population of around 12 it was hard to believe that anyone would be content living here.

          Small Haven was the type of town you find in a Hallmark movie. Everything is perfectly serene and in place. Nothing ever goes wrong and everyone knows everyone. The perfect type of town that is perfect for someone who just wants a safe and comfortable life with no hardships, but no excitement as well. Sam was stuck here and was completely fine with the status quo. The high school was small as well and offered little for a non-rebel like Sam. Glenn was only friends with him because they were neighbors and it seemed tradition in Small Haven that any neighbors with children were forced to co-mingle. Again this was more than a fine arrangement for Sam and Glenn seemed content as well, they even planned to go to the same college together, but Glenn had plans larger than their hometown. He had plans to move out West somewhere, he didn’t care wear, and start his writing career. Sam, on the other hand, knew he would go into IT somewhere but when asked where he drew a blank. He always thought he’d grab a map and a dart then let fate decide, but he was always scared of where it’d land.

          A small town that left little room for friends also left little room for girlfriends. Sam wasn’t socially awkward or terrible with women; he was simply disinterested and possibly afraid. The high school didn’t offer much variety either, which only helped to stunt his growth in this area. There wasn’t much point in dating for the sake of dating and by the time your graduating it seemed pointless to date because then what if you don’t go to the same college? What if we just break up? Why date for only a few months then? Or at least these are the ways the Sam always justified it in his mind whenever asked.

          These reasons and the mere shock of it are what caused Sam hesitate a moment when a new friend request popped up on his Facebook while he was lying in bed. They had a few mutual friends who were just vague faces from the cafeteria. Remi something-or-other, he couldn’t remember her last name but those were irrelevant to Sam, seemed to appear out of nowhere. The instant panic and shock set into Sam because all the logical questions like “who is she” and “why did she add me” were popping around in his head. Almost subconsciously he hit the Confirm button regardless without any real reason why, he wasn’t even aware his hand was moving at first.

          He blinked a few times at his screen looking at her picture before dismissing the pop-up. Sam quickly closed his laptop and sat up rubbing his eyes. Groaning, he shoved the PC off his lap and shuffled out of his bed. It may have been Saturday, but lying around all day probably isn’t best whether or not it’s already noon. Plans may not have been made yet, but flipping through his phone and drawers Sam could find something to do and to wear. Whichever came first. Small Haven may have been uninteresting, but there were enough surrounding areas that gave them something to do. If nothing else, Sam could wander off into the neighboring forest like when he was younger. He might have been afraid to leave town in the future, but small ventures like this were within his comfort zone.

          For a while nothing came out of the computer click and no one around him made any mention of the new clandestine friendship. After a few days Sam had almost forgotten Remi completely, that is until he noticed some recent status updates. He didn’t check it as often as other teenagers did, so it took him quite a bit of time to notice that she had become single.  It had originally made no difference to Sam because she was miles away and they hadn’t messaged each other yet. That is until a few weeks later on a particularly boring night for Sam and apparently Remi as well.

          “Hey.” Sam typed into the messenger.

          “Hey.” She responded a few minutes later.

          “Sorry, I don’t mean to bother you. We’ve just been friends for a bit and haven’t ever chatted.”

          “So how are we friends then?” he could almost hear her snap back.

          “I guess we aren’t friends then.”

          “I…guess not” Sam sighed a bit, great start on this one.

          He sat in silence for a bit watching the unresponsive Remi’s chat window. After a few minutes passed he closed his laptop, setting it on the nightstand next to him. He sighed, rubbing one eye with his palm, turning his head to check the time. 11:54PM. School was in about 8 hours, which gave him about 5 hours of actual sleep before beginning a new day. This all amounted to typical night for Sam: late nights, little sleep, and a depression growing just a little bit more with another one of life’s disappointments.