He heard the trees rustle, and the distant joyous laughter. The key to recalling memories, Demetri thought, was the sound. If you could hear it, then all you need to do to be there, is close your eyes. 

Demetri looked around. The party was bright, people laughed and danced in the middle of the cramped living room, screaming the lyrics. Careless teenagers trying to vanish into the music and sound. Demetri closed his eyes, and blocked it out all out. He went deaf, his mind blocking out the sound. Silence. He was sitting at a table at the party, but he could just as easily be sitting at a bench. He fabricated sounds. 

Demetri hadn’t always been in control of his auditory hallucinations. They came as a side effect of Demetri’s schizophrenia. Everybody could pretend to not hear something, but what happened when your unstable mind panicked and went creative mode on your senses? Well, you learned to use it to the best of your abilities. 

The party finally faded, a headache building behind Demetri’s ears, as he breathed out a calming breath. He heard trees rustling again. Demetri heard a breeze brush against his ear, and a voice calling out to him. Demetri didn’t open his eyes, no need to. He was sitting on a summer day at his favorite bench in the park he went to in his old town. He heard the quiet bustle of cars, and the strumming of the guitar player, who “played for the sun”. At least that’s what he said when Demetri had asked him why he played outside everyday. 

“I play for the sun, and for whatever tomorrow brings.” He had told 8 year old Demetri with a gap toothed but friendly smile. Demetri heard it all. Suddenly he heard the pounding of a mallet against wood. His setting changed, and he was sitting on his lawn at his old house, in the fall. The wind was louder this day, and he heard lots of leaves being crunched. Demetri could almost feel the soft brittle leaves under his hands, which come to think of it, he had trouble feeling in general… The pounding continued, pulling Demetri further into the hallucination. The pounding was of a “For Sale” sign being pounded into Demetri’s front lawn. 

His setting changed again, drastically and without provocation, like it had when Demetri was younger. Demetri tried to open his eyes, but something was holding him back.

Yelling. Screaming voices, and pounding feet. Followed by shattered glass that filled the silence more then the screams did. Demetri couldn’t feel his body, all he could do was hear. He was huddled in the basement closet, barely over 10. All of the sound muffled by the towels around him, which made the room the quietest in the house. The room Demetri retreated to to convince himself he wasn’t hearing anything. The sound of a door opening broke the silence, and Demetri felt his aunts arms wrap around him, and hold him as he sobbed. 

Demetri heard the judge. He fell out of his aunts loving arms and into a courtroom.

“Victoria Donovan is guilty of manslaughter of her husband Samuel Donovan, and is sentenced to 60 years in prison. In addition, she is guilty for the abuse of her son Demetri Donovan, which adds an additional 10 years to her sentence.” The slam of the judges hammer on the stand felt like a blow directly to Demetri’s head. Sound became a cacophony in Demetri’s ears, and time flowed by, he heard sentences and parts of conversations, he heard crying and laughing. He heard his name spoken a thousand times. Every so often he would hear the strum of a guitar on a sunny day. Demetri’s eyes snapped open finally. 

Tears streamed from his face. And he blinked them away and looked around. Only one person was in the hospital room. He gave Demetri a gap toothed smile, and ran his hand across his guitar strings, filling the room with music. 

“I play for the sun Demetri, and occasionally for those people in need”

You were scared

But why wouldn’t you be?

For the thing you feared

Was destroying everything

Flames consumed your life

The heat pulling tears from your eyes

You tried to convince yourself it was fine

Tried to live in harmony with the lies

You put up walls

And closed the doors

But this was just setting up for a bigger fall

And you always wanted more

More of the heat

More of the life

More of the tears

More of the light

But now you want less

Less of the fear

Less of the smoke

Less of the seering

Less of the small

Voices in your head pleading

For more

So you run from the flames, 

Away from the burning Mansion rooms

Rooms already piles of burning embers

With cursed whispers

Rising with the smoke

And the silence

Hissing for more

The story should end here

With everything you care about

Already gone

But its not over yet

Even though I’m struggling to rhyme

I still have my message

Just because everything is burning

Doesn’t mean everything is over

Just stop looking

At what you lost

And look for what you can gain

Because the rain

Does come

Please continue to want more

More water

More love

More of the things that matter

More laughter

More of the things that make you smile

Because its been a while

Since you’ve lit a flame

To Lina Adams, who wanted to see more of this.

Fire rose around the figure. The Man watched in horror as the flames spilled from the figure, consuming the wooden floor boards of The Mansion. The Man took off running, the pure size of the mansion would prove a maze for the fiery figure, and burning through every closed door and wall would hopefully slow the figure down. To burn down the entire Mansion would be impossible. Though while The Mansion went to infinity, there came a point where The Man would have to comprehend new rooms to escape through, rooms existing only because he perceived them. 

The many complex rules of the Mansion often boggled The Man’s head, and he had to keep his mind focused on a single thing, or he would slip through the floor of The Mansion itself, and disappear into infinity. Even thinking about that, The boards under The Man’s feet felt less steady. He kept running, bursting in and out of elaborate rooms. He saw none of the others, best he could tell they were all in the Theater. He had to lead the fiery figure away. The Man struggled for an idea, then an idea finally popped into his head. 

This was not the first Fire they had had in The Mansion. How it had gotten here probably had to deal with Fire’s closeness to infinity, and developing consciousness, which wasn’t common but possible. It had then appeared in The Mansion as a byproduct of its conscious birth. Most Fires appeared outside The Mansion, and couldn’t find a way in, rarely did they appear directly into a Mansion room. In order for that to happen… someone on the inside would have to perceive it.

Someone had let the Fire in! The Man lurched to a stop as he entered a ballroom. He had almost forgotten of its existence, that should mean some of the others had forgotten about it to, decreasing the state of the room. Holes had appeared in the walls extending into the darkness, and the once shiny marble floor was frosted and cracked with age. Golden draperies lay at the base of the shattered windows that led to infinity. This room would have to do.

The Fire entered through the door The Man had come in. It was a dark black mannequin, with rough humanoid features, flames sparking off its body. The Man retreated further into the ballroom, the Fire quickly gaining on him. Then The Man stepped out of the room and closed his eyes. In his mind’s eye, he stopped perceiving the ballroom, he imagined a kitchen instead, forgetting the ballroom all together, taking it out of The Mansion. Heat grazed The Man’s face, and He snapped his eyes open. In front of him was an old fashioned medieval kitchen, not quite what he was imagining but close enough. The heat came from a normal fire in the hearth, and The Man relaxed. The ballroom had vanished into infinity taking the Fire with it.

Now to find who in The Mansion, was trying to destroy everything.

Dear Honor

Are you dead yet?

Or is your absence 

Just a seasonal thing?

Will you still hold 

The door open?

You were so bold

Back when you were with them

The others don’t know what to do

They try so hard to live up to your reputation

But Equality

Doesn’t have enough Mercy

And Love

Is to personal.

Dear Honor

Will you come back?

Chivalry lacks

Your style, and Valor

Is too aggressive.

Dear Honor

Are you dead yet?

Because we almost are

We are sorry we pushed you away

Because now our foundations sway

We didn’t realize

Couldn’t even visualize

How essential you were 

To our struggling culture,

Justice finds our fate satisfying

But the rest of us have started apologizing

Because we want

To live to fight another day

So please don’t wait

To come to our aid.

Dear Honor

Are you dead yet?

Because we are now

Sincerely:

The Remains of the Council of Virtues 

Honor stood in the doorway. His silhouette was tall, proud, not as prideful as Pride himself, it was more respectful, not quite welcoming, more commanding. Honor stepped into The Mansion. Taking in his tattered surroundings. It had been a long time since he left the Council of Virtues, left them with control over the mortals, and hopefully to not wipe them out. 

“Hello!” Honor shouted, his voice echoed in the mansion, ringing through the walls. The front entryway walls were ripped, wallpaper pealing to the floor. Holes pocked the floor, exposing the emptiness beneath The Mansion. Honor watched his step as he crossed the threshold, entering the dining room. Here, he found somebody. 

“Empathy?” Honor asked. The woman was short, and slight, her voice had always been quiet in The Mansion. Empathy looked up sharply, taking in Honor with surprise. Honor stepped closer, getting a better look at her. Empathies beige dress was torn, and her snowflake skin faded to a sickly gray. 

“Honor?” She asked, she looked asleep. “We called for you Honor, its too late, Empathy is Indifferent, so is Love, and Valor, Chivalry and Pride. Equality is still true to herself, but even she is caving. Justice is still strong, but he too is dying, as lies consume the mortal world. Most of us are already Indifferent.”

“Indifferent?” Honor asked, helping the previous Empathy sit down on a tattered chair. 

“We thought we couldn’t die, and we were right, we have a worse fate, the absence of everything, Indifference.” The dead Empathy said, now she was Indifferent, just like the others, but nevertheless that was her name. Indifferent.

Honor stepped back from Indifference. She sat at the dining room table, looking away from Honor, out the window at the Tertiary Realms. Honor left the dining room, haunted. Indifference Empathy hadn’t responded to his shout, the other Indifferent wouldn’t either. Honor truly was late. He had only spent a few centuries away from The Mansion, trusting it, and the following Council of Virtues to hold together the minds of the mortal races. The mortal races! Honor rushed through the house, coming in and out of shadowed rooms that were more wreckage then Mansion finery. 

Honor felt himself changing, his cloudy blue skin shifted into a darker blue with specks of yellow. He was changing into a different Virtue, it didn’t happen very often, and Honor would have felt surprised if he already wasn’t shocked into sadness by the state of The Mansion

Honor saw more Indifferent as he neared The Mansion’s Theater. Crippled Pride looked up at Honor, and he thought he saw anger reflected in his pale colorless features, but when he looked back, Pride was still Indifferent, his gaze sliding over Honor as if he wasn’t there. Honor continued finally opening the door to the Theater. Inside he found 5 Virtues still colored and hard at work managing the mortal world. The theater was a perfectly circular room, with hundreds of chairs facing a center stage, where a planet spun. Earth currently. Earth always had the weakest followers of the Virtues, but that meant that it had the occasional strong follower.

“You can’t do that Justice!” The voice was Mercy’s. Mercy wore a faded blue dress, and her cherry colored hair was pulled up in a sloppy bun. Shadows clung to her eyes, and her shiny porcelain skin was cracked. 

“If you keep yelling Mercy, you might just take my job.” Passion snickered. Passion was one of the earlier members of the council and looked the healthiest. She wore a red dress, and her skin was black marble, her white wavy hair was let loose. The only thing about her that looked worn were her cracked nails. 

“That man deserves none of your attention Mercy. He had been delivered to the law, therefore he was under my jurisdiction.” Justice said, waving away the two girls. Justice wore a sharp maroon suit, and stood right up to the railing, gazing into the world. It took Honor a minute to realize that Justice was leaning on the rail for support, and that his once strong immortal body was shaking with effort. Equality was likewise gazing into the world, but she was collapsed in one of the chairs, her fingers rubbing her forehead. Her left hand had already lost all it’s color, turning to a lifeless gray, she wasn’t doing much talking, which said a lot about her current state.

“Who are you? In the shadows? Another Indifferent?” The voice came from the final surviving member of the virtues, he was a young boy with gold flaked skin that sparkled in the light, or it should. It had taken on a sickly green tone. Judgement. 

“I have come to give you my assistance.” Honor stepped into the room. Everybody gasped. Judgement jumped back, his aged green skin suddenly brightening up to a yellow. 

“Honor?” Equality asked regarding him, her skin seemed to regain some of its color in his presence. She stood, and gazed at him. Honor stepped closer, and as he drew near to the final surviving virtues their characters strengthened, affected by his presence. Justice stood up straight, the shaking subsiding. Mercy’s porcelain skin snapped back, spider webs of cracks vanishing. They all just stared at him.

“You are no longer Honor though.” Mercy said, color flooding her skin, and his light took the edge off her voice. 

“I am afraid not. I am no longer Honor, that is why I give you my honor by showing up. For I no longer exist under that title.”

“Then what are you?” Passion asked, her eyes taking in his figure. His once cloudy blue skin was a deeper blue, with stars of yellow. He was still tall, but had lost some of the bulk Honor had had. He wore a simple sweater and jeans. His hair was longer this time, and it looked light yellow. 

“I am now Hope, and have come to restore The Mansion, and bring order to the mortal world.” Hope said, smiling as a light sparked in his eyes, and flickered like a flame. Honor was truly dead, he had turned into what the Council needed. He just Hoped it was enough.

How do you create meaning from nothing

How do you conjure up words that sting

Like trying to describe sour

Or giving someone a flower

You know it’s possible

You just don’t know how 

Or where to begin

Or what

So I will start with a sunflower

A yellow flower, that spends hours

Facing the brightest thing it knows

Natures optimist

I’m no botanist

But did you know that sunflowers

Will face east until the sun arrives

Always striving

For the light

And I like the message that this entails

But this goes deeper than the surface

I am going to go off the rails

And give up on saving face

I want to be the human version of a Sunflower

I want to surround myself with Sunflowers

I want to be showered

In sunshine,

And spend my hours

In starlight,

Waiting for mornings light

So even when it seems like there is nothing

Just know that nothing has meaning

Nothing can at least become waiting

Waiting for the rising

Sun to come

Because who wouldn’t want to become

The human version of a Sunflower

-Sorry for the formatting of this, their are line separations that don’t show up on this format, still working through that. Thank you for your patience.

Evangeline cupped the yellow flower in her hand. She hated her name, so long, and hard to spell, it had taken her 3 years to say her own name right. Evangeline was not like most mortals, maybe that was why she had been given a complicated name, because that’s what she was, complicating. Evangeline studied the soft petals of the sunflower, her skin a shade off from purple, leaning towards blue. Sometimes she wished she could be like other mortals, more creatures of thought, then passion. Which said a lot about Evangeline’s people. 

Evangeline raised her eye, looking around the field, she found it ironic that sunflowers grew under the light of Ether lamps. The intricate iron and copper workings of this structure supported a giant light, that floated near the top of the dome, and shed light similar to sunlight, but more blue. It was duller than the average Ether lamp. Evangeline looked back down at the sunflower, then she ate it. Not like a carnivore! She didn’t messily shove the whole thing in her mouth. Evangeline was above such acts of untamed hunger, unlike some of her kind.

She carefully plucked off its petals, and laid them on her tongue, where she savored the taste of a sunflower. She didn’t taste like other mortals, she tasted color. She resisted scrunching her face at the sourness that was yellow, and then a warm more honey kind of flavor (at least what she guessed honey tasted like). Then she swallowed it, it left a milky aftertaste. She ate all of the pedals, and felt the Ether energy within build. 

“Are you done ma’am?” A polite voice asked. Evangeline turned, and opened her eyes, the bliss of yellow fading. The gardener was mortal, but not an Ether-being, like Evangeline. She was human with skin tanned dark from working under the Ether light. 

“Yes, I am finished, thankyou.” Evangeline thanked the gardener, who was giving her a curious look.

“You’re not like others that have come to me looking for Ether.” The gardener said, accepting payment from Evangeline, it came in the form of a brown pouch.

“No, I am not. I apologize for the actions of my kind, we can come off as aggressive.” Evangeline said, picking up her coat, from where she had folded and placed it on a nearby bench.

“Before you go, if you don’t mind, could you re-spark my Ether metal?” The gardener asked, with a pleading smile, and needy eyes. Evangeline sighed at the improper terminology. “Ether metal” didn’t exist, what did exist was a connection between Ether energy and metal. 

Ether technology had come along with the Ether species, and Evangeline didn’t blame the humans for not knowing more about the technology they relied upon so heavily. She understood how blind the humans were to Ether. They couldn’t feel the energy under their feet. Evangeline followed the gardener to the metal pillars that surrounded the open aired platform garden. The pillars arched to form an open-aired metal dome above the garden, the lamp hung a few feet from the top off the dome. Evangline laid a hand on the pillar, it was carved intricately with vines, to encourage Ether energy, and it did help. No one knew why shaping metal into plant-like shapes allowed for better travel of Ether energy, not even Evangeline’s people. Evangeline felt the Ether flowing through the metal beam. It was weaker then it should be, the ground realizing that the metal was not a plant. All Ether came from the ground, it gave plants their energy to grow, and in some cases, metal to make lights work.

She felt the metal roots of the structure, and with her limited Ether manipulating abilities, convinced the ground that this metal beam, was a plant needing nutrients. Unlike most Ether acts, this was easy, pulling Ether from the ground when you already had good roots was a piece of cake. Ether gave itself up to the metal roots, and the Ether light at the top of the structure shone a bit more true, almost like sunlight, but still too blue. 

The gardener could feel none of the transaction that just took place between Evangeline and the ground, all she saw was Evangeline touching the metal beam, and her light got brighter. Therefore, it must be “Ether metal”. Evangeline shook her head as she let go of the beam, her awareness of the ground fading. 

“Thankyou kindly ma’am, that should last me a whole year before I need it tuned up again.”

“Not quite, it will only last a day, if we don’t get the other pillars.” Evangeline said, walking to the next pillar. She could have tried to extend her consciousness to support the whole structure and reconnect them all at once, but that would undoubtedly cost her the Ether energy she had just eaten. So she went to all 6 pillars, tolerating 6 over inflated thank you’s, and praises of her abilities. 

If only she knew what Evangeline wouldn’t do to be a human, or even a lesser mortal species. Anything to get away from the Ether species. It’s not that she didn’t like the Ether, she found the Ether abilities very useful, but the way everybody looked at her! She wanted to be able to walk down the street, and not have people bow to her, or in the more unpleasant cases, scoff. 

Evangeline left the gardener, continuing her walk through town. The town was all underground, but with all of the Ether lamps, you couldn’t tell. The giant chasm they all lived in fit the Ether species just fine. Though the Ether species could manipulate, and hold certain amounts of Ether, they couldn’t live on the surface.

This was not a mystery. Like a moth drawn to a flame, the blazing yellow Ether of the sun would completely override/overwhelm their Ether sensitive minds. In direct sunlight an Ether dependent creature would burst into flames by the power consumed.

So Ether species stayed underground, eating plant life to restock the Ether within them. Evangeline was once again reminded of the irony that she had just eaten a sunflower.

Then the ground shook. Evangeline stumbled on the path, but kept her balance. The Ether lamps all around the cavern grew impossibly bright before finally exploding! What was happening? Evangeline felt it, the brightness above. She felt Earth’s Ether cower before the brightness of the sun. The cavern ceiling broke. Evangeline looked down, shielding her eyes. Sunlight hit her. 

The Ether of the sunflower quivered within. Evangeline shook, keeping her eyes shut, as she curled up on the ground. The taste of yellow came to her tongue unprovoked. The Sun’s Ether forced its way in, becoming every aspect of Evangeline. Evangeline coughed, but kept her eyes closed. Her skin absorbed the Ether, becoming bright, and burning. The last thing she remembered tasting was the bitter-sweet of the Sun, that could have almost been the same yellow as a sunflower.

Post #1.5

You want me to write a typical teenager poem

You want me to trade my heart of gold

For a heart of coal

To give up my life

And say that everything, just isn’t right

You want to hear about crying

You want to know I’ve suffered

But I’m too busy singing

My voice away, to the song I burnt

Into my soul

The lyrics you won’t know

But know that’s it’s not despair they preach

With a low voice

And a full heart, I plead

Everything is better than it seems

The sun hasn’t gone out

The rain does go away

Don’t get washed away with it

Come outside, and lay

Down, relax, and take a deep breath

Everything will be okay

Life isn’t war

I plead that it’s something more

Something worth fighting for

But something that doesn’t want fighting at all

I’m not saying to stand down when conflict arises

Just don’t beat down those that have trouble rising

And don’t be afraid to use your voice

To say something you haven’t heard in a while

I’m getting away from myself though

My mind finds it easy to flow 

When all I’m doing is tapping

Not talking

But that’s how today is, isn’t it?

So welcome to my blog fellow writer

Where I only write

By Starlight

And sing when the sky is darker

Then my thoughts

Welcome to my night sky,

Where I write

By Starlight

But fight

For Sunshine

Post # 1

I am not going to glorify this, because it needs no glorifying. I will write whatever I please, will it make sense? Probably not. Will it be good? Maybe. Is it worth your time? Probably not. Will it be entertaining? Most likely.

I will post pretty regularly, but the content will not be consistent. I will have good grammar, but also be consistently wrong with the mistakes I do make. These are the only words you can trust I am not lying to your face about: I enjoy certain types of pain, and the average person would consider me insane… for multiple reasons, I aspire to grow a pair of wings and eventually take flight, until then, being on the ground is acceptable, I appreciate the reliable moving of time, it’s pretty neat. Hope you enjoy my blog!