(???) Are you ok?

  Only sand was seen throughout every corner and cranny of what she id eyes on.

  The desert gciers that stood stall amid the burning heat flew away the burning sand that flowed throughout the ever-growing concept of time itself. With time non-existent, or rather just ever moving forward, who can say that a person would even dare to live in a world where time is non-existent?

  As for Gwen, her jaw dropped wide open followed by both of her eyes widening at the sudden change of scenery. Since her legs were still paralyzed from the fall from earlier, she had both of her hands pced on the burning sand that enveloped her wrists.

  Her throat quivering, she puckered her lips followed by her cheekbones stiffening from what she saw right in front of her.

  (Gwen) W-What … was I … what … what is this … where …

  (???) I know you have a lot of questions. People act like this during their first time here.

  In front of her own eyes, was a man cd in all bck.

  He looked to be old, old enough to be in his 50s or 60s. His body not even facing the direction of the freckled clueless woman in back of him, he had both of his hands inside of his pants pockets.

  As he tilted his head down.

  (???) You touched the crystal, yes? Do you have it with you?

  Gwen looked down to where her right hand was swallowed up by the burning sand. Pulling it out quickly, her knuckles and palms were bruised and sunburnt from the pain that she ignored when speaking to him.

  Noticing that she didn’t even have the crystal at all, tears began to well up inside of her own eyes.

  (Gwen) I … I don’t—

  (???) Don’t worry, the only thing that you could’ve brought was yourself, your soul, and clothes. Everything else would’ve stayed in your world.

  Still having her hands enveloped in the quickened sand, she slowly pced her butt down on the sinking substance that soon got into her skin. Having her legs and feet spread out, she let out a huge gulp from her throat as the hot wind blew straight across her face.

  Her eyes molested from the burning heat, she closed them shut as she put her right elbow to cover her eyes.

  (Gwen) How can you deal with this heat? How are you still alive in this dump?

  (???) You have no idea…

  Gwen looked through the old man’s thin gray hair that barely touched the ends of his neck, his wrinkles and face hidden with hair covering the sides of his face. Continuing to block the burning dust from getting into her eyes, her lips curled upward into her mouth.

  While the old man tilted his head upward as he continued to look into the sandy gciers in front of him.

  (Gwen) Why did you take me here? Just who are you? And what do you want from me?

  (???) I’ll answer all of those questions but on one condition.

  The old man continued to have both of his hands inside his pants pockets, his fingers mingling with the tiny open holes that were the same length as his fingernails. Having his body seen the far ends of the world’s sandy horizon, he let out a sigh as his body slouched forward, as the blowing sand continued to pelt his clothes.

  (???) If you promise to reflect on your past, you will know everything about the upcoming future, but at a ter date.

  Pulling out his hands, he didn’t dare to look back at the freckled paralyzed woman who continued to barely let out teardrops from her face.

  Having them motionless to his sides, he saw the ever-burning sand that created a wave of heat of epic proportions, as if he was seeing new phenomena right in front of him. With Gwen squinting her eyes at the sweltering waves of heat far off in the distance, even the sight of it caused Gwen’s throat to parch like a mummy.

  (Gwen) E-Everything? What is this about?

  (???) Simir to I, me and you are both chosen, followed by many others…

  In his right hand, he grasped a metal-like object that caressed the linings of his palms and wrinkled skin.

  Showcasing the metal to the outer right side of his body, Gwen took in the sight as her body leaned forward at the shining object. Her hands trembling under the weight of her chest and head, her elbows creaked under the colliding joints and bones that cshed like brittle swords.

  (???) Here.

  He then tossed the bck device with a backward throw, the metal slowly traversing in the zero-humidity air. Landing right in front of her, Gwen stared into the contents of the metal as she hovered her face with a widened stare.

  (???) It’ll only showcase your turning points as toward the woman you are now.

  Extending her right hand onto the top of the device, she bristled the metal with her fingernails as a mencholic bald flew through her ears. Her breath drew shorter and shorter, her body completely forgot that she was newly paralyzed, leading to her falling on the burning sand with her chest smming first.

  But just as she made contact with the sand, her fingers grazed the top of the metal device.

  The sounds of the glistening stopping, the world she saw right in front of her…

  Vanished.

  As if she was sucked into nothing, not even total darkness was enough to describe what y beyond that vanishment. Feeling as if her soul was projected out of her body, her senses all seemed to be forgotten and misled, leading to her feeling as if she was nothing at all.

  Since nothing is nothing, and nothing can be described as nothing, then nothing is not necessarily nothing.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Ostermonath 17, 49 / 6:12PM)

  A man’s cries deafened the silenced room.

  Burrowing his face inside the poorly washed bed sheets, his wails and sorrow continued to wash away the filth of the cloth. His hands were wrapping the upper part of his head, his messy medium-length hair had enough oil to unstick a frying egg.

  And seeing the man’s state was a little girl that peeked through the opening of an old wooden door, her face botched with huge freckles.

  (???’s thoughts) Daddy’s crying…

  Her fingers tched onto the ends of the loosely hinged doorknob, and the little freckled-faced girl slowly opened the door as its hinges unveiled its antique age.

  While the man continued to swallow in his despair, his wailing and shrieking underneath the bed sheets caused his vocals to squeeze themselves up. Tilting his face upward, his nose and mouth soon were brought toward the edge of bed sheets, taking a whiff of oxygen to relieve his purple face.

  (???) Angie…

  Unable to describe the face he was making, the little girl only saw the back of his head as his crying started to slow. Gripping the edge of the bed sheets with his curled fingers, his whole body shook in a trembling frenzy.

  (???) Damn it all … why her …

  To the right of him, a picture of a man and a woman along with a newborn child and little girl was on dispy, as all of them were wearing overalls and loosened white fabriced shirts.

  Standing up in less than a second, the man pushed his body with just his heels, shaking the wooden floorboards beneath his feet, causing the little girl whom he didn’t notice to flinch backward. Still having her peeking face on the peephole of the old wooden door, the man quickly turned around to exit out of his bedroom door.

  And with a thrust of the handle, the wooden door swung open.

  (???) Ow!

  She sat down on the wood below, the front end of her forehead reddened from the thrust of the old door. Putting both of her hands onto the reddish bruise, small tears lit up the corners of her eyes followed by loud sniffles assaulting her nostrils.

  She then saw her father continuing to walk toward the kitchen, not caring in the slightest for her wellbeing.

  Tracing her steps along the old wooden floorboards, she walked through the old but well-maintained hallway filled with pictures and photos that were hung up on the walls. Ignoring the family photos they used to be past, the little girl continued to walk on the creaking floor until she reached the kitchen.

  (???) Daddy…

  Peeking her head out from the corner, her father in front of her rummaged through the fridge with both of his bare hands. Whatever leftovers that he stacked inside of the fridge, rolled in the back of him as it accumuted dust and grime from the floor.

  Stopping for one single second, his eyes caught the whiff of a bottle in the back of the fridge, causing him to moisten his lips with his pink tongue.

  Thrusting his right hand into the back of the metal fridge, his fingers grasped the beverage that could soothe any pain…

  (???’s thoughts) For Angie…

  The bottle already opened up, and the man pced his lips onto the brown liquor bottle that awaited his tongue.

  Swirling his tongue, the sticky beverage tingled and nourished the contents of his teeth and gums, his already yellow teeth turning more brittle by the second. Followed by the way his feet were glued to the ground, he straightened himself as he angled his head 180 degrees up.

  With the liquor continuing to caress his tongue, he forced the contents of the bottle to deepen down toward his throat.

  (???) D-Daddy…

  She pced both of her hands onto the wooden edge of the wall, splinters already forming along her smooth and porcein-like palms.

  Tears continuing to well up from within the crevices of her snted eyes, she witnessed the climax of his long kiss with the liquor bottle at hand as he finally pulled the bottle out of his mouth. Slouching forward, he gripped the brown bottle with just his right hand alone, his fingers loosening the gss that soon started to behave under the contents of gravity.

  (???) That hit the spot…

  The strain of the alcohol content he drank with one swoop soon hit him like a freight train. Colpsing onto the wooden ground, his back hit the old floor creating a loud thump that rocked the entire kitchen room.

  Laying on the ground with breath that could drunken a beast-human, the man spread out his arms and legs as he looked up toward the old wooden ceiling above him.

  (???) W-What was I going to do again…? W-Was I supposed to feed G-Gwen dinner—

  Failing to undergo his thought, the man soon closed his eyes as the alcohol cimed victory over him.

  And right in front of him, was a little girl that widened her eyes from the spectacle at hand, her hands curled up into hardened fists.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Luyen 3, 52 / 4:32PM)

  Six years ter…

  A barrage of objects can be heard against the wooden walls of the pce they called home.

  Inside a small wooden room, many books and papers that were drawn with homemade pencils were scattered across the old creaky ground. The curtains of the room not letting any light bestow upon the dirt-filled papers, made as if the room itself was detached from the rest of the world.

  (???) Make it stop…

  Snuggled under the bnkets and bedsheets that tucked him inside like a small baby, the sounds coming from outside of the door continued to raid against his ears.

  Both of his palms shut the evil noise from entering in, the boy with dark brown hair and light freckles tightened his hold on his ears.

  As he stared down at the bed sheets that restricted light from entering.

  (???) Mommy…

  Rocking back and forth, he tucked his elbows into the space of his armpits, his body heat creating a little batched oven that drenched his entire body in sweat.

  His breathing fastened, his heartbeat pounding.

  He waited for the touch of a motherly figure, a touch he wasn’t familiar with ever since he was merely a baby.

  (???) Gwen…

  Clenching his eyes shut, the room that was disconnected from the outside world soon became reality as his vision turned from imminent darkness to imminent nothingness.

  His mind filled with thoughts, he clenched the ends of his teeth as his cavity-filled mors soon started to chip from the pressure.

  (???) I don’t want to—

  The sounds of the hellish fighting soon ceased.

  Several seconds ter, the door to his room swung.

  His body froze up as if he were ice, his arms and legs that helped cradle him like a baby ball stopped. Not letting a breath draw out from his button nose nostrils, the boy puckered his lips into his mouth as he used his teeth to pin them down.

  (???) I don’t want to be hit…

  Not able to hear the incoming footsteps drawing closer, he did however feel the bnkets above him soon gave way. Emerging out of the darkness that he enclosed himself in, he opened his eyes as he still had both of his hands covering his ears.

  He then turned his head slowly, as well as letting his palms free from the grip that he contained on his ears. Upon seeing the face in front of him—

  His voice couldn’t even let out a few simple words as his vocals rebelled against him.

  (???) It’s ok.

  A feminine voice rocked against the little eardrums that he was born with.

  Arching his body upward, the crevices of his eyes started to build up water that wanted to emerge like a flowing river. Seeing that the tween girl had many freckles on her face, her long hair braided to a ponytail, the only person in the world that could have those features was none other than…

  (???) Gwen!

  The boy’s eyes traversed through the many botched wounds that were seen all around the girl’s face and body.

  Both her eyes and cheeks had a purple glow to them, along with blood trickling down from the right corner of her lips. Cuts and rips riddling through her pin white overalls that were stained with week-old mud and dirt, the boy also noticed that both her hands were reddened with blistering calluses that seemed as if she was hitting something.

  (???) D-Did—

  (Gwen) Hey, quiet down. Dad’s still in a bad mood so try not to disturb him, okay?

  (???) But Gwen—

  Gwen then wrapped both of her arms around the boy’s neck, drawing his body toward hers.

  Having his head pced right alongside her chest, his ears trickled from the pounding heartbeat that molested his ears. Pushing up his face, the boy gently wrapped his arms across her lower waist, his fingers digging into the fabric of her clothing.

  Instead of pushing out words, he soon pushed out tears that rolled down from all angles of his eyes.

  (Gwen) Hey, I said quiet down. I’m here, ain’t I Maverick?

  In the room that didn’t let light draw in, she continued to hold his head toward her chest. Pcing her chin onto the top of his head, a small sniffle came out.

  As she gently wept, tears raced down her cheeks.

  (Gwen’s thoughts) Why didn’t Dad believe me…

  Wetting her brother’s oily hair with her tears, she stared into the darkening curtains that blocked the light from entering in. Grinding the tops of all her teeth, bits of teeth were soon chipped away as her cavity-filled teeth shrieked with pain.

  While sharpening her bloodshot eyes.

  (Gwen’s thoughts) I was touched by his best friend and he took his side…

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  (Octavian 12, 52 / 10:30PM)

  Outside of the old wooden house where the two freckled kids lived was a vast field filled with sunflowers.

  During the day, the meadow of that sunflower field brightened the area around the old wooden house that was smack dabbled into the middle of nowhere. And during the night, the meadow would become a cesspool of darkness that even the moonlight wouldn’t break through.

  And inside of the sunflower fields that stretched the many acres that surround the old wooden house, was the rustling of two animals in the dead of night—no, not animals but rather…

  (Maverick) Where are we going?

  (Gwen) Anywhere but there!

  The clouds above darkened the night sky, Gwen looked up toward the mencholic sky with a pleaful face.

  Gripping her brother’s wrist, her fingernails tched onto the white overalls of her brother’s fabric, making a slight tear on the old cloth. Not that it mattered, she continued to thrust her old torn shoes off of the fertile dirt, as the many holes on the bottom of her soles let in the abundance of soil getting in.

  Meanwhile, Maverick looked behind toward the old wooden house that they could barely see with the naked eye.

  (Maverick) B-But Daddy’s going to beat us if we—

  (Gwen) I’ll just take your beating too! That’s what I always did!

  (Maverick) But I don’t want Daddy to beat you!

  Dirt and bugs tching onto their freckled faces, the darkness of the night continued to swallow them up. Her breath both hardened and fastened, Gwen opened her mouth as the dirt and bugs from earlier soon got inside of her cavity-filled mouth.

  Unable to let alone swallow the small spiders and muddied dirt that intertwined inside of her mouth, Gwen closed her eyes, the scenario from earlier pying like a film.

  (Gwen's Dad’s Friend in Gwen’s thoughts) Your daddy doesn’t give two shits about you, so how about I treat you good…

  If the cold night didn’t shiver her, the evilness that she heard from that disgusting beer-filled mouth did.

  Swaying her head repeatedly, the coldness of the darkened night soon started to turn her button nose red, along with the joints of her hands slowing down. Tasting the unusually cold summer air, her mouth soon closed up as if her tongue was shivering from the dreaded temperature.

  (Gwen’s thoughts) I don’t … I don’t…

  Being in front of Maverick, she didn’t let a single flower smack upon Maverick’s smooth and chubby face, with not even a speck of dirt traced on his nose or forehead. As the relentless assault of the sunflowers that she pushed through continued to redden her face from the hard stems, the ever-growing darkness continued to consume her.

  (Gwen’s thoughts) I don’t like the dark…

  Her right foot fell behind it causing her body to unch forward, leading to her chin smming into the soft soil that cushioned her skin.

  Since she still had her right hand gripping Maverick, she also dragged him down along with herself, leading to him falling right next to her. As both brother and sister were lying motionless on the cold soil that got inside their clothes, they didn’t even budge their feet or legs to stand them back up.

  (Gwen) You ok Maverick?

  (Maverick) I think I’m bleeding.

  (Gwen) It’s ok, I’ll give you a bandaid ter.

  Having her palms grasping the soil that soothed her unclean hands, she lifted her face toward the sky that was darkened from the clouds above.

  And in that instant, as if divine intervention appeared right in front of her, the darkened clouds that blocked the night sky…

  Started to clear off.

  Setting her butt down on the soil, she had both of her palms digging into the soil that she was well familiar with, as the boy right next to her did the same thing. With both of them seeing the clouds part away, the sky was a beacon of hope for both of them soon delivered its divine message.

  By giving both a sky filled with millions of stars, far etched across the culmination of the cosmos.

  (Gwen) Wow…

  The zero-light-polluted sky rained down on the two kids who looked up toward the beacon of hope that they long awaited.

  Their eyes twinkled like the stars in the night sky, their irises glued to the pearly whites like gum on a poverty-ridden sidewalk. Unable to even decipher or name a single star in the night sky, both of them opened their mouths agape at the light show that they both yearned for.

  Both were always lower than dirt, living in a house that reeked with the smell of beer and mold. But right in front of them, they saw what y beyond just the dirt and the mud of their white-trash life.

  (Gwen’s thoughts) Stars…

  She forgot the coldness of the air around her, she forgot about the bruises and scars that she accumuted throughout the past six years.

  She forgot what it felt like to see the stars with a loving mother and father.

  Her left hand being held, she continued to glue her snted eyes onto the cosmic consteltions and gaxies as Maverick’s right hand gripped hers. As if his whole consciousness was pulled onto the bright sky, he slowly stood up and he remained his head up at the ever-glowing night sky.

  While letting go of his right hand.

  (Maverick) Gwen…

  Being brought back to reality, she turned her head toward her brother’s meek voice. Her body still sitting down on the cold soil that started to freeze up her bottom, and her sparkling eyes continued to hold the image of the night sky.

  (Maverick) How about we py a game of tag?

  Slowly bringing herself up, she soon towered him with her above-average height. By turning her face and body toward her little brother, both of them were face to face with one another, both of their eyes glittering like the night sky above.

  Still starstruck, she let out a warm cheerful smile. Putting her right hand forward, she stuck out her thumb upward, closing her left eye as she tilted her head to the right.

  While the chilling wind blew from the north.

  (Gwen) Sure. This time I’ll beat you for sure.

  (Maverick) Hehe, then catch me if you can!

  Sprinting away into the sunflower meadow that was lit up by the glowing night sky, both brother and sister spent the rest of the night running and sleeping in the bristling meadow.

  Forgetting the dark humid home that both were obliged to stay in, both for once in their life, spend a night in a pce where the wind howled instead of the smell of beer.