21 Guns Lyrics

I was serious. Did you doubt it?

Do you know what's worth fighting for?
When it's not worth dying for?
Does it take your breath away
And you feel yourself suffocating?

Does the pain weigh out the pride?
And you look for a place to hide?
Did someone break your heart inside?
You're in ruins

One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms, give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky, you and I

When you're at the end of the road
And you lost all sense of control
And your thoughts have taken their toll
When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul

Your faith walks on broken glass
And the hangover doesn't pass
Nothing's ever built to last
You're in ruins

One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms, give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky, you and I

Did you try to live on your own
When you burned down the house and home?
Did you stand too close to the fire
Like a liar looking for forgiveness from a stone?

When it's time to live and let die
And you can't get another try
Something inside this heart has died
You're in ruins

One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms, give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky

One, 21 guns
Lay down your arms, give up the fight
One, 21 guns
Throw up your arms into the sky, you and I

Website: http://www.elyrics.net/read/g/green-day-lyrics/21-guns-lyrics.html
FAVORITE SONG

Favorite Songs

Still bored. You can usually tell my mood by the music I listen to. So, here's a list of my current favorite songs- in my favored order.

1. 21 Guns by Green Day
2. How to Save a Life by The Fray
3. Don't Stop Believing by Journey
   
4. Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
5. Evacuate the Dance Floor by Cascada
6. Sweet Dreams by Beyonce
7. Goodbye by Kristinia DeBarge
8. Learning to Fly by Tom Petty
9. Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne
10. Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day
11. Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day
12. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) by Green Day
13. Just a Dream by Carrie Underwood

bored, bored, bored (I am seriously considering memorizing the lyrics to all of these songs)
why is it that the closer you get to a holiday the more bored you are???

Very. Very. Bored.

So, 12 inches of snow outside? Just came back from snowboarding? 9:00 at night? I'm bored to death. So, I'm going to post a few quizzes her. Wish me luck.

Quizzes Girls Games

Quizzes Girls Games

Quizzes Girls Games

Quizzes Girls Games

(BTW: why on earth could I date a vampire? they're not even real! unless you count bats and mosquitoes)

Quizzes Girls Games

told you i was super bored.

Happy Turkey Day!

Sorry about this being Sunday when Thanksgiving was clearly Thursday. My bad. But we were at the beach, which basically means seafood and swimming every day. But my parents wouldn't let me swim because they were worried about my health- I was like, so what if I have a stuffy nose? It's probably just the weird heating system in our hotel.
On top of which, my parents told me that there wasn't an indoor pool in the hotel, so I- shocker- didn't bring my bathing suit. And once we got there, what do you know! Indoor pool!
But the beach was really great, anyways. There was this group of dolphins that would play around about 100 feet away from the sand every day while I was eating breakfast. Did I mention my ambition to be a marine biologist? So the dolphins were awesome.
I also bought the book that I've been waiting for since last year, The Fourth Apprentice by Erin Hunter. Yay! And it's really good.
-Kayla

Wynter Sora Diaries #4

Dear Diary,
You know how some people say, "Oh gosh I'm so bored."
Well, this is me:

"I'm freaking bored to death, which is weird because I'm getting chased by zombies. Ha ha. I know that I sound kind of insane. I probably am insane. Ha ha ha."
Yeah. Freaky.
But seriously true.
I think that I'm going crazy. Since when is getting chased by highly contagious zombies boring? Oh, yeah. When it became a daily routine. No, that's not funny. Or is it? Like I said, crazy. I'm so crazy! Ha ha ha!
I'm even creeping myself out. That's insane! That's crazy!
Okay. I've been using the word crazy way too much. And before I start repeating everything that I've already said, I better record the top 10 best ways to kill a zombie.

1) rocket launcher
2) SMG
3) frying pan
4) chainsaw
5) shotgun
6) music from the 50's
7) grenade
8) fire
9) bomb
10) speeding bus

Sadly, the only weapons that I've been able to get my hands on are numbers three, five, six, eight, and surprisingly ten. Long story that involves someone leaving their keys in their van and a horde of zombies.
Let me explain the 50's music.
That stuff is just awful. I'm sorry, but it is. If you can manage to find a really old CD or an iPod with the music on it, and then some kind of speaker device and start playing it, the zombies start running away. Seriously. I almost died laughing the first time I tried it.
I don't even know what day it is. Or even the month. I'm pretty sure about the year, but what does it matter? I'm insane. That kind of benefits the smashing with a frying pan.
-Wynter Sora

Things I hate about Twilight

Sorry for all the anti-Twilight stuff, but Twilight (no surprise) really ticks me off. And here are some reasons why!

1. Bella does not get eaten.
2. Bella makes 165 references to Edward's beauty.
3. Edward's breath apparently smells good- like, what?
4. Bella's heart literally stops when Edwards kisses her.
5. Everyone loves the books, even though the ONLY ONE that I like is New Moon because a) it's the only one that has a plot that actually makes sense and b) Edward isn't there to make me barf with his breath.
6. THE VAMPIRES SPARKLE. That is really, really... creepy. Unnatural. Guaranteed to drive me insane.
7. Edward can't read Bella's mind. I'd like to see his face when he finds out how many times she refers to him as godlike or thinks about his "perfectness."
8. Bella loves kissing Edward, even though I can find zero ways that kissing a rock would be at all attractive. Even if i was a very good-looking rock.
9. When Bella kisses Edward in Breaking Dawn, she literally tastes his lips. Ew.
   
10. Bella does not get flattened by a car!
11. Edward watches Bella sleep every night. OMG stalker!!! :P
12. Edward has nothing better to do in his immortal life than enroll in high school.
    
13. There are sadly more fangirls than Twilight haters.
14. The books are well written, but the story is just BLEGH.
15. The plot actually arrives on page 372 out of 498. That's just sad.

The worst ones out of those are numbers 1 and six. Plus number 15 is disturbing.

Twilight Part One

I've decided to make an anti-Twilight story. Not really a story, but you get the meaning. Anyways, for those of you who don't want to read the book, you don't have too!
P.S. it's really not that bad, I'm just ticked off at the countless Edward fangirls

Bella: I'm so perfect and my life is so tragic because I chose to move from Phoenix to Forks, Washington and PITY ME!!!!
Random guys: hi!
Bella: yuck you guys are nerds!
Random girl who turns out to be named Jessica: those pretty people over there are staring at you
Bella: ooh, they're pretty like me! except for I have to say that I don't think I'm pretty so that readers don't think that I'm all vain and stuck up!
Readers: too late
Bella: ooh, who's that perfect godlike one over there with the bronze hair? *stars in her eyes, daydreams, random crap like that*
Jessica: that's Edward Cullen, he's too pretty to date
Bella: you asked him on a date??? :0
Jessica: NO, I-
Mike: hey aren't I good enough for you Bella? did I mention how beautiful you are yet? did I mention how much I want to marry you?
Bella: wat?
Jessica: grr!
Bella: OK awkward! but i have to shift my attention back to the pretty people! OMG Edward and I are like made for each other because we're both albinos even though I'm not really and I horribly overuse that joke!
Edward: *stares at her*
Bella: GASP!!!
Plot: hmm, is this actually me?
Readers: sorry, but if it is than it's horribly pitiful
Edward's eyes: *are black*
Bella: ooh, his eyes are so perfect MARRY ME EDWARD
Mike: what about me? *sulks*
Eric: what about me? *sulks*

Fast forward to a better (not really) part of the book
Tyler's van: DIE STUPID GIRL!!!! HA HA HA
Edward: oh no my perfect Bella is going to die!!! (leaps over four cars, no this is NOT hinting that he's a vampire)
Bella: yay!
Edward: you say yay when you're about to die???
Bella: you saved me... you saved me... you saved me...
Edward: don't make me regret it. wait what am I talking about? i heart you!
Paramedic dude: she's wacko
Edward: she hit her head, put this neck brace on her
Bella: ew it makes me look like a nerd!
Carlisle: hello Bella!
Bella: GASP you're hot! but not as much as Edward!
Carlisle: there's not reason for you to stay here. go ask Edward how he managed to jump over four cars to save you life even though I have no idea why he bothered. have a good day!
Bella: ooh, Edward, I love you even though you keep telling me that we shouldn't be friends and I'm probably going to end up dying from you sucking my blood!
Logic: wait what?
Plot: I'm going to die from an overdose of pain pills.

Stay tuned for Part Two! Will Bella and Edward fall in love? Will we get lucky and have Edward kill Bella? (spoiler: unfortunately, no.)

Wynter Sora Diaries #3

Dear Diary,

It's been three weeks and two days since I last wrote. Probably because I've been so busy fighting for my life, trying not to catch the illness which is now all over the city, and then avoiding the zombie-like infected people that are trying to eat my brains. Braaaaiiinns. My only weapon is not exactly my weapon of choice. No, it's not a rocket launcher or a machine gun; it's a frying pan. Yes, I am beating zombies to death with a frying pan.
On a "fun" scale of one to ten, zombies are about -42.
Well then. The illness does not effect animals, so it's not a whole I Am Legend thing. It's kind of more like Left 4 Dead, except for no Boomers or Spitters or Smokers. Plus no crazy Jockeys, because in this world, every zombie tries to leap onto your back.
One good thing is that there are no killer mutant zombie clowns.
What's worse that a clown? A killer mutant. What's worse that a killer mutant? A killer mutant zombie. What's worse that a killer mutant zombie? A killer mutant zombie clown. They're your worst nightmare, the ultimate evil. They're even more demented than regular clowns, which is saying a lot.
Crap! I have to go. I'll try to write soon, but the sun's setting and I seriously don't want to get caught in the middle of the horde.
-Wynter Sora

Mystery, Secrecy, and Memory

I'm going for the poem thing again. Still not that good.

People forget
Time forgets
The human mind forgets
Your mind is clouded
You can't remember
You fight to know
You fight to feel
But it doesn't come
A fog drifts over your mind
Something akin to despair
But deeper and with a rage
That despair does not bring
You're wondering
Why is this happening?
Why can I not remember?
Time is a selfish thing
It takes from you
It steals from you
Then it forgets
What you want to remember
All that you held close
Is lost in a sea
Of distant memory
The secrets, the lies
The memories and injustices
Are all wiped clear
You wake up
You look around
Your mind is a fresh slate
A clean piece of paper
The whole world is waiting
To reveal its lies
To reveal it all
Mysteries, secrets, and memories
Night is over
Day has begun

Greek Mythology Part Two

Topic: Hestia

Hestia, the goddess of home and hearth, is totally awesome. The only goddess that's more awesome than her is Artemis. But anyways, Hestia was really freaking cool. She was the first and last born of Cronos and Rhea. She was the first to be swallowed by Cronos, so she was the last to be barfed up (BTW, mega ew).
Hestia was one of the maiden goddesses. Poseidon and Apollo both wanted to marry her, but she decided that no way, she wasn't gonna be a wife. So Zeus gave her a high honor instead of having to marry, and that was to be the goddess of (as stated before) the home and hearth.
Cool Fact: in most ancient Greek homes, before they could be accepted as part of the family, children had to walk around the symbol of Hestia in honor of the goddess. Cool.

Topic: Persephone

We all know Persephone as Demeter's daughter, the girl who ate the pomegranate, the one that got stuck in the Underworld, the cause for winter, blah blah blah. I decided to post the story of just what led up to getting stuck in the realm of the dead; it wasn't entirely her fault.
So Persephone was picking flowers with a bunch of other maidens when suddenly Hades appears out of the ground. Okay, I kind of need to explain why the king of the dead is springing up out of the ground like the flower that we all know he's not. So before this happens, Zeus tells Hades that he could marry Persephone without consulting her, so Persephone's completely freaking out and Hades is just like, "Come on, you're my wife, it's time to introduce you to your new kingdom."
As you can imagine, the goddess of springtime is not thrilled to be in the Underworld, even with Hades kindly giving her a tour. Meanwhile, Demeter is all like "Oh no my daughter's been stolen by Hades crap!!!" And Persephone's life is kind of sucking at this point. Let's review: she's called Kore, which means "girl", she's all flowery, and she's the daughter of a NATURE FERTILITY GODDESS. The only nature in the Underworld is, like, a few dead trees here and there.
Persephone got so depressed that she wouldn't sleep and wouldn't eat much of anything. I know that most people think that Hades tricked her into eating the pomegranate seeds, but really it was this annoying dude with an annoying name, Ascalaphus. So when Demeter finally figured out where her daughter was, there was no joyful reunion, nooo, she finds out that her daughter has to spend her life in the Underworld.
Eventually Demeter rescues her, but Persephone had to spend a third of the year in the Underworld. Sucks to be her.

Lyrics to Disturbia (by Rhianna)

Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum
Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum
Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum
Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum

What's wrong with me?
Why do I feel like this?
I'm going crazy now

No more gas in the rig
Can't even get it started
Nothing heard, nothing said
Can't even speak about it
All my life on my head
Don't want to think about it
Feels like I'm going insane
Yeah

It's a thief in the night
To come and grab you
It can creep up inside you
And consume you
A disease of the mind
It can control you
It's too close for comfort

Throw on your break lights
We're in the city of wonder
Ain't gon play nice
Watch out, you might just go under
Better think twice
Your train of thought will be altered
So if you must faulter be wise
Your mind is in disturbia
It's like the darkness is the light
Disturbia
Am I scaring you tonight
Your mind is in disturbia
Ain't used to what you like
Disturbia
Disturbia

Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum
Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum
Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum
Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum

Faded pictures on the wall
It's like they talkin' to me
Disconnectin' your call
Your phone don't even ring
I gotta get out
Or figure this shit out
It's too close for comfort

It's a thief in the night
To come and grab you
It can creep up inside you
And consume you
A disease of the mind
It can control you
I feel like a monster

Throw on your break lights
We're in the city of wonder
Ain't gonna play nice
Watch out, you might just go under
Better think twice
Your train of thought will be altered
So if you must faulter be wise
Your mind is in disturbia
It's like the darkness is the light
Disturbia
Am I scaring you tonight
Your mind is in disturbia
Ain't used to what you like
Disturbia
Disturbia

Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum
Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum
Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum
Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum Disturbia

Release me from this curse im in,
Try to maintain that I'm struggling
You can't go, go, go
I think I'm going to oh, oh, oh

Throw on your break lights
We're in the city of wonder
Ain't gonna play nice
Watch out, you might just go under
Better think twice
Your train of thought will be altered
So if you must faulter be wise
Your mind is in disturbia
It's like the darkness is the light
Disturbia
Am I scaring you tonight
Your mind is in disturbia
Ain't used to what you like
Disturbia
Disturbia

Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum
Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum
Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum
Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum

What a random post...
Sorry, I'm in a bad mood and I was just listening to some dark dark dark music, so I decided to go on YouTube and find the lyrics to one of my favorite songs. Enjoy!

Greek Mythology Part One

I'm studying Greek mythology in school, and I figured that I'd do some more research on Google, and so... presenting Greek Mythology Part One!!!!
Topic: Don't tick off a goddess.

There's this story about Artemis and a guy called Actaeon. So Artemis (who is, for those of you that don't know, the goddess of the hunt and freaking awesome) had just hunted for about 10 hours and thought that a nice bath would be good. So she was bathing herself, and along comes Actaeon and sees her naked. Now, everyone knows that if you see a naked goddess you run away and PRAY that she doesn't notice. But Actaeon must have been really stupid, because he kept standing there watching her. So then Artemis turns around and she's like, "How dare you spy on my while I'm freaking naked!!!! >:( And so she turns him into a stag and makes his dogs tear them apart. Word to the wise: don't get on Artemis's bad side.

Demeter, who was usually good-tempered, got really mad at this dude named Erysichthon or something. I'm going to quote directly from the website that I read most of these myths from, http://www.paleothea.com/
So, this young cocky man led a group of twenty men into one of Demeter's SACRED GROVES. It was planted for Demeter by the Pelasgians at Dotium. This by itself was enough to constitute serious punishment, but it doesn't end there. Apparently Erysichthon was building a new banqueting hall, and hoping to find cheap wood. He started cutting down the sacred trees to provide timber for his little building project. I would have flipped out, personally, but Demeter - the chill goddess that she was - merely took the form of Nicippe (that means Conquering Mare by the way), the priestess of the grove, and calmly ordered him to stop. At that, Erysichthon raised his axe and threatened to cut her down. At that point Demeter had had enough. She changed back to her true form and cursed him to be eternally hunger. The more he ate, the hungrier and thinner he got. He ate his parents out of house and home (literally) and then went to the streets, where he ate the dirt.

Like Artemis, Athena was surprised by an onlooker while bathing, but she took it better. She simply blinded him, and she gave him inward sight and the ability to tell the future from birds, somehow. And then there's the story of Arachne, where the girl's so ashamed (I think) she hangs herself and then Athena comes along and turns her into a spider.

Hera got mad at a lot of mortals, which was totally Zeus's fault, because he cheated on her and slept with random people. Hera was also not too nice to the children of these woman, and therefore resulted stuff like the Twelve Labors of Hercules.

Wynter Sora Diaries #2

Dear Diary,
I am currently writing the alarming news of two days ago in a red pen.

Two days ago, a mysterious disease was found in Asia. The disease spread with an alarming rate through Russia and China, until it leaked into the Middle East. The mysterious virus killed 40% of all human life in Asia in the past two days.
Now, as of this morning, the virus has reached the United States.
The fabric of my life, already torn because of my family's death last year, and because of this stupid war, became even more frayed as the few people left in New York City panicked. I hope that I am not one of the ones to fall ill, though 13% of the population on the Pacific Coast have Seattle is close to being wiped off the face of the Earth. Two percent of the army has fallen ill.
Great, now my pen's running out of ink.
Okay. New pen, with purple ink. I can continue this diary. Ah, the convenience of a pen collection!
So, as I was saying, the end of the world is at hand. With the countries of the world being weakened already by this World War 3, a disease has to pick the worse time to strike.
Crap! Now this pen's running out of ink. What's wrong with the world???
Okay, I swear that if this pen runs out of ink I'll freaking kill myself. I have no idea what the disease is supposed to be- some elaborate flu? Bacteria, virus, or parasite? The illness has not yet spread to where I live but it's only a matter of time until it does, which freaking sucks. I would swear, but after my mom died I decided to keep my promise to her, made when I was just a little girl; I will never, ever swear until I'm twenty-one.
-Wynter Sora

Wynter Sora Diaries 1

This is not the same Wynter Sora as in my earlier story. I just reused the name. This story is about a girl that is witnessing the end of the world.
My brother though up of this pretty good idea; world's population at 11 billion, oil drying up, US and China going into a depression, Russia in a civil war, the works. I'm adding a little to it; Italy and Australia in a war, Switzerland using the atom bombs they've secretly been building over the years, Germany pretty much fading into non-existence, while the Dominican Republic is so overcrowded that they had to make artificial islands. And a girl (I'm going to let you decide the age) is caught in the middle of it.
It's the year 2053. The phrase 'get a life' has evolved to a whole new meaning.

Dear Diary,
Today is January 7th, 2053. Otherwise known as The Year No One Wants to Be In or The Year of Why Don't I Just Shoot Myself and Get It Over With. At least, that's what I call it. Mom would've laughed and gotten the little inside joke, but, well, she's been dead for two years now. I've been all alone for two years.
Books probably seem like a weird thing to collect now that the world's ending. Pens, too. But by collecting, reading, and drawing, I can take my mind of more depressing stuff, like "Oh my god I'm gonna die."
So, in collecting books that people have thrown away, I stumbled across this little blank journal. At first I wanted to burn the paper, but now... I guess I'm just hoping that if humanity survives and this becomes something people teach in history class, I want to have a record of all the horrible and stupid stuff that humanity has done in my lifetime.
But, no worries, there probably won't be a future generation to read all my secrets. So I'm going to write anything that comes to mind.
So, first topic (and this is really mushy), there is no more love for poor Wynter Sora. My boyfriend died last week, which really sucked. I mean, after he promised that he'd be there for me always (again with the mushiness, blah) and then he had to go and die. Like everyone else.
At least I haven't become prey for the gangs that now openly haunt new York City, though I guess that's because I'm on good terms with most of them. In fact, I'm more or less "friends" with the leader of one. She also happens to be the one that lent me a gun so I could get some "target practice" for "my own safety" on the billboard for Target (the store). So I'm kind of... safe in her- I guess you could call it territory.
Second topic- someone let the animals out of the huge zoo here, so on top of trying to find something to eat and some way to live in a dying city in a dying country, you have to be kind of careful where you choose to sleep so that you don't end up as something's next meal. I've had a few bad scrapes with lions that involved bricks, ladders, and gravity.
Have you ever tried to evade a lion with a backpack full of books, pens, and paper? Not exactly easy. Of course, I realize only afterwords that it would have been easier to simply drop the backpack. Idiot.
Well, it's getting dark, so I guess I'll just have to write again tomorrow.
-Wynter Sora

More Quizzes!!!

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Michelina Bellsong

This new story, and it might not really take off, is about a "normal" person named Michelina Bellsong. Uh huh, that's her name.

Some people go to the sunny tip of Florida to treat their depressions. I was among those people, and my first summer was not off to a great start.
BOOM!!!
The sudden thunder rattles my glass windows of the cheap, 1-bedroom 1-bath house that I'd more or less bought upon my arrival. Even though I'd only been here a couple of weeks, I knew the weather patterns. It didn't help anything that I'd come her to get rid of; my depression, my sarcastic attitude, or my irritation. I'd been anticipating long strolls down the beach, filling my lungs with fresh ocean air and listening to the sea gulls call to each other, maybe even taking a swim every evening, not gardening in the rain.
"Hey," a voice called.
I turned to see a girl with golden hair and blue eyes coming towards me. "Your lawn furniture sucks," she informed me.
"Thanks. Where do you live, girl?"
The kid pointed to the house alongside mine. "You're my new neighbor. We've been vacationing in Maine for the past two weeks."
"Hey, I'm Micky." I stuck my hand out.
The girl shook it and frowned. "Micky's a name for a boy or a mouse. You believe in life after death?"
I frowned, too. "Frankly, I'm not sure if I believe in life before death."
The girl snapped her fingers. "I knew you were suicidal. Not only did you name yourself after a mouse-"
"I didn't name myself after a mouse."
"Oh yeah?" The girl raised her eyebrows. "Micky isn't a girl's name. Your name's probably Michele. Most woman your age are Michele or Heather or Courtney."
"My age?"
"No offense intended. So what is your name?"
I sighed. "It's Michelina."
The girl wrinkled her nose. "Too precious."
"Michelina Bellsong."
"No wonder you're suicidal. And beautiful. If someone's got a beautiful name, they get a beautiful body. I'm Lilani Anderson. Can you think of more boring name?"
"Lilani's not boring," I objected. "And I'm not suicidal."
"Anderson is boring. It's one of the most common last names, up there with Brown and Miller and Green. Half of me is kind of pretty-"
"You're very pretty," I assured her. It was true. With her golden hair and bright blue eyes, the girl had a Hollywood model look.
"Half of me," Lilani insisted, "means my appearance. The rest of me, like my fashion sense and train of thought, is very, very boring. It's something that can fade in a crowd of people. Something that's nice in the background but not up close."
"Your train of thought isn't boring." And, as if to emphasize what I'd said, a beam of light shout through the clouds and landed right on her.
"Uh huh. And then look at you. You've got a great body and a great face, other than that my-life-is-so-depressing look in your eyes. You have depression that you can't explain. The treatments don't work. You came to Florida because you were hoping that the bright sunshine and ocean would help, but instead you got this." Lilani gestured towards the sopping wet ground.
I was stunned. "Girl, you are an amazing piece of work."
"Thanks. I must be right. I can sort of tell that about people. It shows in their eyes. So, back to my earlier point, are you suicidal?"
I sighed again. "Kid, why don' you just tell me what I am and save us time?"
Lilani beamed. She had perfect, straight white teeth. "You're not suicidal. That's good. I like you, as a neighbor, I mean. Don't move back to the mountains."
"How did you know that I moved from the mountains?"
"You keep staring at that little hill over there real wistfully. And you've got a GO APP STATE shirt on."
I'd forgotten about my shirt. Maybe moving away from Boone, NC had been a bad idea, but I hadn't known that Florida would be such a rainy, depressing place.
"What's that?" Lilani asked, pointing to the bush at my feet.
"A rosebush."
"No, really."
"Really. It's a rosebush."
"No roses. Barely any leaves."
"Lots of thorns," I pointed out.
"I bet that it pulls up its roots late at night and walks around the neighborhood, eating stray cats."
"Lock your doors," I laughed.
Lilani laughed, too. It was the first time I'd laughed in a long time.

I'm a chocolate eyeball!!! oh no!

don't believe me? well then!

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100 Things to do before i die #whatever

I can't remember what # I'm on, live w/ it.

1. be a zombie in a haunted house
2. climb the 2nd highest mountain in the world, K2-14 or something
3. buy Left 4 Dead 2
4. teach my dog how to sit
5. finish reading Wormwood
6. finish reading Rebel Angels
7. finish reading Weedflower
8. read Wuthering Heights
9. read Jane Erye
10. read I Am Legend (the book, not the movie)
11. be in a movie
12. kiss a guy (NO I DO NOT HAVE ANYONE IN MIND!!!)
13. get 300 songs on my iPod
14. get over my fear of Ferris wheels
15. get over my fear of elevators
16. quit being claustrophobic (can you do that?)
17. get a Lamborghini, Mercedes, or stretch limo (preferably the first or last one)
18. get my driver's license
19. swim in the Pacific Ocean
20. swim in the Indian Ocean
21. swim in the Mediterranean Sea
22. go to college
23. eat sushi!
24. discover a new species of porpoise
25. buy part of the Atlantic Ocean
    

Halloween

I know that it's not even October yet, but my best friend got her Halloween costume and I know what I want to be. I'm going to be a cat for the second year (not in a row). My best friend is going to be a witch, so, of course I'll be her cat, even though she's allergic to cats.
I was at Claire's in the mall and I saw this adorable leopard-print (I think that it was leopard-print, not exactly sure what that is, forgive me for being a dork) cat mask and tail, and at Rue 21 I saw elbow-length net-like black gloves that were also adorable. I want to have plastic fangs, too, and maybe even some fake blood, making my Kitty costume a Vampire Kitty costume. I have no idea what my brother's going as (fingers crossed that he isn't going as me, like he did one year, long story), maybe a hillbilly or zombie or a combination of the two? If my brother is reading this, do not take that idea, that would give me nightmares for eternity.
So, Vampire Kitty or just Kitty? Right now I'm all for the first one, but if I can't get vampire teeth or blood...
Another random post. Hope you enjoyed!
-Kayla

Twilight

I seriously don't understand the fuss about Twilight. I mean, sure, its well written, but I mean, SPARKLING VAMPIRES WTH.
Bella's just stupid- I mean, marrying a vampire that tries to decide whether he loves you or wants to kill you more? That's a little out there. And Edward can't decide on a personality so I guess he doesn't have one other than 'creepy stalker.' Charlie is completely oblivious to everything, but he's one of my favorite characters just because he's not completely insane.
In my point of view the only people that actually made the book worth reading were Alice and Jasper. Alice can see the future (how cool is that?) and, well, I've always liked the side characters, and I really think that the book should have talked a little more about Jasper. Plus I always wanted to read ahead to see what stupid life-threatening stunt Bella would pull next, and why Edward went along with it.
I was halfway through the book before I actually realized that all the mysterious events were indeed going to come to a point... three books later. And Breaking Dawn made me even more confused. They should have wrapped it all up with Edward and Bella getting married and skipping of into the sunset sparkling, because apparently that's what vampires do. Instead Bella got pregnant with some kind of half-vampire demon thing and Jacob imprinted on her, because of course you can't have a baby without your best friend falling in love with it.
So then the Volturi came. I fail to see a point in the Volturi other than "We need to scare the vampires so we can have an epic battle that's not a battle at all!" Vampire guard? Come again? Sure, they're supposed to be royal and everything, but... seriously. A vampire guard.
And then there are people who fall in love with Edward and Jasper and Emmett and Carlisle, mostly Edward. There are two problems with that, a) they all are in love and married, not to mention WAY too old for a teenager, and b) THEY AREN'T REAL. Its sad how people can willingly fall in love with a fictional character.
-Kayla

Ivestigation

Yet another body found, with the telltale black paper bird on top of the victim's throat. On top of what appeared to be a knife slash, actually, coated in the teenager's blood. Once again, I cursed the Birds for taking a life.
I guess I should introduce myself.
I'm Nicole. My last name isn't important. I'm nineteen. I work for the scattered remains of the FBI in North America, trying to track down those killers. Yeah, the Birds. Pretty strange name, if you ask me, but then again I'm not part of that secret gang. Not so secret anymore.
"This brings the number of kills up to over one hundred twenty, in this state" Hannah said grimly beside me. "If only we knew where their base was, we could strike them down."
I sighed. "Yeah, if only we knew. But we don't. They're killing people all over the Untied States. All over North America. We don't even know which country their base is in! We haven't caught a single one, you know. Not a single one in ten years of searching. There must be hundreds of them!"
The Birds had killed my parents when I was nine. I had looked after my little sisters until two years before, when the Birds had killed them, too.
"Should we go get the rest of our team, Boss?" Hannah asked.
I took a deep breath. The FBI had been scattered, most of them killed. We were now each assigned a 'team' to work with. I just happened to be a leader.
"Yeah, let's go get them."
My team was all girls, not one of them over twenty-five. I was the youngest, but also the leader. I'd made it two years without being killed or quitting my work. That was a long time, seeing as the number of murders was inclining.
So, yeah, I was the leader. My best friend and second-in-command was Chloe. Hannah and her twin sister, Kate, were very stealthy. They could move through a leaf pile without making a sound. Heather had joined my group only a month ago, with a girl she'd never met in her life until they had met a week before she came; Molly, who was mysterious and not altogether trusted.
They called us the Special Circumstances, after that one book.

Ditching ideas

So, no more Wynter Sora stuff. Ditching as promised. Joyful celebration and all that.
Just wanted to say that I'm taking my brothers idea, yet again. This story is about a secret gang called the Birds. I know, strange name, couldn't come up with anything else. They leave no fingerprints, no footprints, nothing except a small Origami bird made out of black construction paper.
Enjoy.

Cats

I'd have to say that my favorite type of cats is a mix breed. Other than that, I like maincoons and Abassians. If that's how to spell it; my spell check quit working again, ugh!
So I got a Nintendo DS game called Petz Cats Clan, and I have 3 beautiful kittens! Aspen's the male, and then I have Duchess (gray) and Crystal (light ten/brown/white).
Another completely random post... enjoy!

100 places to go before I die

100 places to go before I die. Not exactly one hundred, but you get the idea.

1. Las Vegas
2. Denver, Colorado
3. Alaska
4. Hawaii
5. Wyoming
6. Italy
7. Rome
8. Spain
9. the Caribbean Islands
10. the Dominican Republic
11. Lake Eyre (is that how u spell it?)
12. Paris, France
13. London
14. North Dakota
15. China

I know that its kind of random, but I went to New York City over the summer and that got me thinking... 100 places to go before I die! Yes!
So sorry for the randomness (is that even a word? Who cares) and try to bear with the colors, I just figured out how to do that and I'm excited! Yay me!

1. 
   

Wynter Sora

As predicted, I'm trashing my Thieves' Guild story and making up a story about a girl called Wynter Sora Green. Evidently, her parents were fond of unusual names. She's sixteen, with long brown hair and green eyes. I'm not sure if Millbrook, Ohio is a real place- I saw the name in a book.

I pressed the gas pedal down and my old Mercedes rumbled to life, the engine protesting. Sure, it was a blue piece of junk, but it was my blue piece of junk. I'd bought it with my own money.
Smiling to myself, I pulled out of Burger King's parking lot and onto the interstate. I hated Burger King, but after an hour or fruitless searching for a restaurant hunger had made me cave.
I was headed to my grandparent's house beside Lake Michigan, away from the relentless heat of Millbrook, Ohio. Every summer, I happily let my parents drive me to their house. Now that I had my Mercedes, I could drive myself and be free of their squabbling.
It took me thirty minutes to reach my grandparent's house from Burger King, twenty along the interstate and another ten down the winding sandy road. I finally came to a stop at their driveway, my engine stuttering as I took the keys out of the ignition.
Yep, it was a crappy car.
Gram looked up from her garden. A small pile of limp weeds lay at her feet. She was death to anything that threatened to invade her prized flowers.
"Wynter, honey! I was worried when your parents called and said that you were driving up here alone! Did you have a safe drive?" she called as I stepped out of the car.
"Obviously," I laughed. "No dents in the Mercedes and no broken bones."
"Thank goodness," Gram laughed back.
I smiled. Why did Gram always take better care of me than my mom? She was patient, concerned, kind- everything that Mom wasn't. And she truly cared about me.
"Your grandfather's in the washing room, trying to fix the dryer. He'll be glad for a break." Gram opened to door for me. "I'll send him out to get your luggage."
"Thanks," I sighed, kicking my shoes off and collapsing at the dining room table.
"I'll make some ice tea," Gram promised as she headed off toward the laundry room to inform Grandpa that I'd arrived.
I sat back in the chair and let my eyes drift close. Driving up by myself had been a lot more challenging than I'd expected, but I was victorious. After a long day of being cramped in the car, I was glad to be at my grandparents' house. Maybe tomorrow I could go swimming in the lake with Jake, if he was...
"Hey, Wynter!" Grandpa called, flinging the dining room door open. "I'm glad to see that you made it okay."
"Hi, Grandpa. Is Jake in town this week?"
"Yes, he'll be here all summer," Grandpa answered as Gram started preparing the ice tea. "Why? No one back at Millbrook caught your eye?"
I scowled. "Jake's only a friend, and you know that. He'll never be more than just a friend."
Gram set a glass of ice tea down in front of me and glared at Grandpa. Just then Gally, their golden retriever, burst into the room and covered me with slobbery licks.
"Gally! Gross! Stop it!" I complained. Gally's ears perked up, and he suddenly attacked the trash can.
"Galileo!" Gram shrieked as she dragged the dog from his meal. "Golden retriever, my foot! You're nothing but a glorified trash hound!"
Summer had truly begun.

!!!!!

Okay I know that I just posted about 3 seconds ago but I really don't have anything else to do, and anyways I think I better just waste the time prattling on about some unimportant thing... how about really good songs?
How to Save a Life by The Fray depresses me but is a really good song!
Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), and Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day... make that everything by Green Day...
Okay, there's this really weird song called Don't Trust Me, I have no idea who it's by, that I have a sudden craving to put on my iPod and listen to ALL THE TIME. Freaky! So I was with my friend this one day, and her dad was driving us out to eat, and the song plays. Then on the way back the song plays. Then when we're going back to my house the song plays and now I am in love with that song! It's the weirdest song on the planet!
ANYTHING by Cascada and Lady Gaga! Well, I only really like Poker Face and Just Dance by Lady Gaga, but okay.
Ugh stupid writer's block! I will post more later... (three seconds later posts)

What to write about...

Ugh! :( :( :(
I have NO IDEAS! NONE! I'm so sad! Usually I'm full of ideas and I have to kind of go through them and throw away the ones that aren't good. But now right now! I have absolutely no ideas! Is this called a writer's block or something?
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7 ways to know that you're obsessed with Twilight

I just thought about that because I saw an icon on the internet (i just googled icons and it popped up!) that said "Twilight, Bathroom, Twilight, Eating, Twilight, OMG BREATHE!!!!
So here's 7 ways to know you're obsessed with Twilight. BTW I have seen all of these happen IN MY CLASS at school. (!)

1) Fall in love with one of the characters.
2) Every other word out of your mouth is "Twilight," "Edward," or "vampire."
3) Write on everything that Edward Cullen is hot. (why would anyone think that???)
4) Create an icon about Twilight.
5) Constantly draw Twilight stuff.
6) Throw glitter on yourself and walk around in the sun saying "Hi I'm a vampire." (this did not actually happen in my class, but I did see it happen.)
7) Scream at someone when they say that Twilight isn't real. It's not. Get over it.

Extraterrestrial Life

When most people think of aliens, they think of a vaguely human-like thing with a small body, a huge head, and gigantic eyes. Or they may think of a bug-eyes monster with thousands of slimy tenticales that oozes out of underground caves.
It's pretty pathetic how limited our imaginations are.
I think that human minds can't even begin to imagine what aliens look like. No matter how hard we try, everything we think of looks somewhat like a person or animal on Earth. Sometimes I think of things that look like bacteria under a microscope, except for they're as big as a German Shepard, or things that shine so bright that you can't see what they actually look like. That's basically the limit of my imagination. Pretty pathetic.
So my mom came up with this really good story. You know the standard picture that everyone comes up with when you think of aliens? Well, what if they were humans way, way in the future. And the reason we see them is because they've figured out how to time travel.
Pretty good, huh?
So I kind of want to start a series on that... but I don't know how to begin... huh.
-Kayla

So What

The mission was just too easy.

The Thieves' Guild had run out of some things like paper and surgical supplies, and Sally and I were supposed to get some more. They kept all of the surgical suplies in a special storage shed, and Sally split up to go get some while I went to get the paper, fire kits, and bottled water.
It was a good thing that I had my backpack. I landed by a storage shed and opened the door. Nobody here at the university had much use for paper, but there were huge stacks along the walls. I grabbed two packages and rummaged around for the fire kits. I put one in my backpack and another two on my hoverboard. The bottled water was in the next shed over, and I grabbed some water purifiers and dried food while I was over there.

"You get your stuff?"
Sally's backpack was bulging. It was true that we didn't really need the surgical things, but since everyone liked to have tattoos and other really awesome things, Jarred always got some. And since I was going to get one of those tattoos like Maggie, it was a good thing that Sally was getting the stuff.
"Yeah. Let's go changed." The skirt and shoes were really starting to bother me, and if I didn't get out of the shirt in two seconds I was going to scream. And I did not look good with Sunshine hair. The sooner I got that removed, the better.

"What would you like the tattoo to look like, sweetie?"
I examined the choices that I had. "Hmmm... I'll get the one with the wring of black roses with red thorns," I said. "Right here." I pointed to my forearm.
"Okay, sweetie. Anything else?" the doctor asked.
"No thanks."
The doctor held a shot steady and pushed the needle into my skin.
When the surgery was done, I peered into the mirror and watched the ring of roses spin and pulse. I grinned and looked down at my arm. The rose thorns looked so sharp that I half expected to be cut by them.
"Thanks," I told the doctor.

Hey There

"Does it look really bad? Be honest with me, Amaria."

I sighed. I'd been in the Thieves' Guild for two months now, and had been finally promoted from a Recruit to a Member.

Maggie, a Member of one year, stood in front of me. She had curled her silver hair and put a tattoo on her wrist. The tattoo pulsed in time with her heartbeat.

"Not at all, Maggie. You look awesome."
"Thanks!" Maggie's smile was blinding.
I peered at the back of my hoverboard. Something had gone wrong with it. Ah-ha! I ran my finger over the a metal piece, brushing a tiny pebble to the ground. Then I snapped the back on, stepped back, and flicked the switch. It worked perfectly.
"Good thing you got that fixed," Maggie said, touching her curls. "You're going on another mission, right?" Her fingers drifted from her hair to stroke the shiny tattoo.
"Right."
"You gonna dye your hair?"
"I heard that the newest fashion is supposed to be cherry red. Popsicle-colored. I'm not dyeing my hair red, so maybe... Sunshine?" I picked up a bottle of bright yellow single-use hair dye. "And when I get back, I'm getting on of those tattoos."
Maggie laughed and tossed a bag of stage makeup at me. "Go get 'em."

"Refresh my memory. Why am I riding one of these awesome hoverboards?" I asked. "Only royalty is supposed to have them, in which case I should have left my hair black and put on some better, non-stupid, actually fashionable clothes." I peered down at my floor-length brown taffeta skirt with hundreds of ruffles and sleeveless, skin-tight pink silk top. My skirt covered my shoes, but they had so many straps it looked like my feet were some kind of dangerous animal that I was concerned might escape.
"Because we're awesome," Sally said. Her outfit wasn't much better. She had on a really short cotton miniskirt that was the plainest shade of beige, and her top was dark green and had elbow-length sleeves. She was wearing flat striped slippers with bows all over the sides. "But I know what you mean. Have people gone fashion-dead?"
I shifted my weight to my left foot, zooming around a turn.
"Slow down or you'll get arrested, and then Jarred's gonna rip your head off," Sally called from behind me. I sighed. We weren't even at the university yet, but I stopped leaning forward and straightened my spine.
"Let's go," I sighed again.

Study Hard

This was just a little too easy. The worst thing that could happen was that I might trigger some alarm, and the sprinklers would wash away the makeup that hid my real, supernatural, wild face from sight. If I went into public without makeup- if any of us did- everyone would either stare in awe at our beauty or run from our wild eyes and savage expression.
I thanked God for being able to change eye color. If I went around with my turquoise eyes- yes, they were turquoise, and very bright, very wild, very supernatural, very beautiful- it would just be weird.
I tucked the book under my arm and walked casually toward the window. I undid the clasp and pushed the lower part of the window up. That was one of the advantages of the old-fashioned library- the windows could be opened. I slipped onto the thin ledge and swung my arms, one hand clutching the book.
It was only twenty feet to the ground. I stepped lightly into the air and dropped, landing with a very soft thud on the ground.
I cursed my CH for not being able to go faster, but I was in the woods in about five minutes. The alarms had clanged when I dropped from the window, but even though there was no sigh of pursuit, I took the long way, looping through miles of trees and skirting the lake.
"You got it?"
Tom melted out of the shadows. He had Sally and Jarred with him. Jarred. Why would Jarred, the leader of the Thieves' Guild, want to see if I had completed my mission?
I wordlessly handed the book over.
Sally smiled at me. "Did you raise the alarms? It's no good unless you set an alarm or two off."
"The alarms didn't seem to like me jumping from the window," I informed her.
Sally's wild laugh echoed off the trees.
"Good work," Jarred said, startling me. Then he turned to the shadows. "Take this agent to the dining room."
Two more members stepped out of the shadows and stood beside me. The 'dining room' was really just a few scattered chairs and an endless stream of food.
"Good work, Amaria," Jarred said. I thought that I was going to faint. The leader of the Thieves' Guild had called me an agent, but more than that, he had called me Amaria.

Welcome Back

It all seemed so ridiculous to me. Getting the Updated Weather Record from a barely secured library- was this what the Theives' Guild members went around doing all day?
I parked my CH and punched in the lock-code. Stupid thing. The university was huge, but the main library was hard to miss. It was huge.
The library was air-conditioned, with huge computers sitting everywhere. It was a bit more like a museum than a library. All the other libraries were a bit more modern than this one. So stealing the book should be easy.
I walked up to the lady at the front desk and tapped on the wood. She looked up from her book, her eyes widening as she took in my black hair. Not many people except royalty had black hair these days. Obviously, though, I wasn't royalty, as my clothes screamed.
"May I help you, Miss?"
I smiled, flashing my perfect white teeth. "Actually, yes. I'm looking for a book called the Updated Weather Record. I need it for a special report for school. My name's Amanda Rose."
Amanda seemed like a believable name, though few people had the last name Rose. Mostly people took on the last names of the gang or cliche they belonged to.
"Amanda Rose? I'm sorry, honey, but you're not on the list." The lady typed something into the computer.
"I'm a new student. Easily overlooked." I made my voice sound tragic. "I'm rather used to it, though. If not for my black hair, no body would look at me twice."
"No, you're very pretty, dear," the lady comforted. "If you came in today, your name wouldn't be on the list. It gets updated every Friday. Now, the Updated Weather Guide is in Hallway C 12."
I smiled at her again and walked off. Who says that sweet-talking never got anyone anywhere?

The Thieves' Guild

I'm abandoning my diary idea. I'm probably going to end up abandoning this one, too, but I really don't care. The girl's name is Amaria. It's maybe a hundred or so years in the future. Enjoy.

It just didn't seem fair that if you weren't living in such pitiful conditions that you lived under a bush and went without food for days, you drove a glossy black limosine, lived in a mansion, and was overweight. That's why I joined the Thieves' Guild.
"Okay, Amaria," Tom said. "Your first mission is going to be stealing a book from the library."
"Stealing a book? That's it?" I had thought that the Thieves' Guild stole things of more use than books, but...
"It's your first mission, and we don't want to make you do anything too dangerous. We aren't like your everyday criminals. Not only do we sneak, but we also blend. We're a team of genetically enhanced criminals," Sallie explained.
I rubbed my arm, where the scar from my operation still lingered. Right. We were super-soldiers. Jarred had made us like that, made us so good that no one had a prayer of beating us.
"So what's this telltale book I'm supposed to steal?" I asked, flicking the switch on my insanely fast hoverboard. It instantly snapped up to knee level, and I stepped onto it.
"You're not using that," Sallie sighed. "You're using this." She tossed me a classic, slow hoverboard. It was the type that students used when they traveled around the university.
I flicked the off switch and grabbed the classic hoverboard, which was usually referred to as the CH. These things weren't solar powered- it was pretty annoying, with the whole the-battery-might-run-out thing. Ugh.
"By the way, Amaria, you need to change into these," Sallie added. She tossed a miniskirt and sleeveless dark red top at me.
"Fashion has certainly taken a dip, hasn't is?" I said dryly as I carried the clothes into the woods and away from Tom's sight.
When I was finished changing, Sallie put my long midnight-black hair into a ponytail. She fluffed it until it looked like I just rolled out of bed. The newest stile.
"Get the Updated Weather Record," Tom called as I rode the stupidly slow CH toward the university.
"Make yourself look clumsier," Sallie yelled just before I rounded a turn. I shifted my weight to one foot and felt the CH respond by tipping awkwardly to one side.
The Updated Weather Record? What in the world?

Afterthoughts

Dear Diary,

Hello again! I actually had more than one meal today, which hasn't happened in more than a month. I've staked my claim to the Super-Duper Mart. It has food, and since it's in the seldom-traveled-to part of New York City, I don't think that anyone's going to take it from me.
By the way, I found out exactly what the mysterious sickness is! I don't know its scientific name, but it starts with an A, and it's commonly referred to as Zombie Syndrome. Wonderful, isn't it? it causes people to, like, lose their minds and become a cannibal or something. Pretty scary, right?
Well, I'm going to keep this short, because now I'm really tired. I just ate half a box of Cheese-Its (Fire ate the other half) and a few almost-rotten apples. Yuck.
-Direen

With, Without, Within

Dear Diary,

It's kind of sad how you're my best friend. It's even more sad how I'm talking to you, when you can't talk back... or at least I think you can't...

Okay. Now I'm starting to freak myself out.

Today I was seriously thinking about going to Broadway and risking the gangs. I mean, there's actual food there, and I was really hungry. If the gang leaders don't like you, though, you get killed, but maybe, just maybe, they would like me. I hoped.

So I was going toward Broadway, thinking that maybe, just maybe, I would be able to get out alive, when I hear something in the bushes. It really freaked me out, because there's lions running around everywhere and also people infected with an incurable disease that's so deadly that everyone who catches it dies, and it's also extremely contagious. Then I see a tan nose poke out of the bushes, and then a tan-and-black head, followed by the rest of the dog. It was a German Shepard, maybe a year old, and so adorable he took my breath away. I named him Firecracker.

(Yes, i know that i named the dog in my Black Sun series Firecracker, too)

It turns out that the only food wasn't on Broadway. After scrounging through a few grocery stores with Firecracker following me, I had found a box of Hamburger Helper, a few handfuls of dog food, an almost empty box of Captain Crunch cereal, and a few bottles of water that were just a little bit dirty. I ate the Hamburger Helper raw, drank two of the bottles of water, gave Firecracker some of the dog food, and stuffed the Captain Crunch and the other water bottles into my backpack for tomorrow. Fire and I slept in an old gas station.
-Direen

Answers

I'm ditching the whole shapeshifters thing. This is a new story about the diary of a girl while the world is being torn apart. Three end-of-the-world things are happening at once; sickness, World War 3, and, to top it off, an asteroid that will hit the planet in a year. The girl's name is pronounced Die-reen. Enjoy!

Dear Diary,

It's kind of sad when I start talking to inanimate objects. I guess that I'll just be thankful for now that the inanimate objects aren't talking back.

What started the war? I don't really know. What started the sickness? I don't really know that, either. And of course no one can explain the asteroid that's going to crash into Earth next year. Well, not really next year. More like six months from now. So whoop-de-doo.
Life sucks, and then you die.
New York City's in chaos. Broadway is Gang Central, and the only reason that people go to see the Statue of Liberty anymore is because they're compelled to jump off the top in an effort to kill themselves. Pretty stupid, because the only way to get to the top of Lady Liberty is if you have a ginormous ladder. It's kind of ironic that people go to Lady Liberty to kill themselves.
I had to abandon my perfectly good home, and now I'm living on the streets. I've been collecting paper for about a month now, and I finally have enough for a diary. It's kind of hand to see since some of the sheets are newspaper, but I'm not picky.
Breakfast this morning was a half-cut of rainwater I collected from last night's shower and a piece of moldy bread. Delicious. Yeah, right. Well, at least I had breakfast. And at least nobody's stolen my metal cup of my backpack. I'm not sure what I would do without my tattered sleeping bag or my picture of my cat, Whisker, who was ironically the last member of my family (besides me) to die. Poor kitty.
I don't really miss my 'parents' (they weren't my real parents). I had Whisker until a month ago, when the building we were sleeping in caught on fire. At least he died quickly, instead of burning to death. The building collapsed on him. *Sniff*
I'm currently living on the streets, looking for a place to live. The Empire State building is army headquarters, and Central Park is where most of the sick people are. All the animals escaped from Central Park, so now you see lions in the street and exotic birds flying above your head. Now to mention the stampedes of zebras trampling people.
-Direen

Fading Spots

Leah's dreams were horrible that night.

She dreamed about when she was a kid, when she still had her parents. How disappointed her father was because she wasn't a shapeshifting bird, like her parents. She woke with the memories fresh on her mind.

"A cheetah? She can shift into a cheetah? Not a hawk, not an eagle, but a lousy freaking cheetah?"
That was her dad's voice, sharp with disappointment. The only memories she had of him were fuzzy, and all they were about was his disappointment.
"Cheetahs aren't useful to the People," her father hissed. "Birds are. I'd be happy if she was a blue jay, for crying out loud. I'd be happy if she was a hummingbird. But not a cheetah."
"Dear, a cheetah's good. She'll be fast, she'll be a spy. She'll be the only cheetah in the People. Come on. This is good." Leah's mother always had tried to make things up for him.

Leah remembered the day that she had refused to join the People. Her mother was pulling at her shirt, growling impatiently, "Come on."
Leah shook her head. She was fourteen at this time. "I won't go. I hate the People. They kill humans. I hate them, I hate them, I hate them!"
Her mother looked shocked. "But you are part of the People. It's in your blood. Your father won't see you, won't speak to you until you're an official member. Don't you want to make Daddy proud?"
"I hate my father. He left when I was three because I was a cheetah, instead of a precious hawk like you or an eagle like him." Leah tore herself free, shifted, and ran as a cheetah.

Next was when she had gotten excepted into Elizabeth's gang. She had been petrified. She was only fifteen at the time.
"Look," Elizabeth was saying. "The first person to bring me back the SCG wins."
Leah still didn't know what SCG stood for. She just ran as fast as she could, got something, brought it back. She remembered how happy Elizabeth had been, jumping up and down like a child, taking Leah to meet the other members of the gang, Mist and Sparrow, the two witch sisters, and Sara, the startlingly beautiful member. Leah had been surprised by Sara's beauty, even though she was a vampire.

Leah mentally shoved the memories into a small, dark corner of her brain. She was going on a top-secret mission. She ran outside, her hair flowing out behind her, and met Elizabeth and Mist standing by the meeting place.
Leah was surprised that Sara, usually the earliest riser, wasn't already out here. "Where's Sara?" she asked.
Sparrow came running. Suddenly she was beside Leah, her eyes huge and scared. "Where's Sara?" she echoed.
Mist and Elizabeth both sighed at once.
"Sara's the reason we're on this mission," Elizabeth murmured. "She's been taken by the People."

Kalaeha

I was reading this book about vampires and shapeshifters and witches and werewolves and such, so I decided to start a series about a shapeshifting cheetah, the fastest four-legged animal on the planet. Her name's Kalaeha (Kah-lae-hah) but her nickname's Leah. Here it goes.

Kalaeha peered out from underneath the ferns. She knew that her golden coat stood out so badly against the green. Shapeshifting cheetahs were always a brighter gold than regular cheetahs. Even so, she hoped that the vampire hunter wouldn't see her as she stalked him through the woods.

This guy, this vampire hunter, was following Leah's boss and best friend. Elizabeth was a vampire, yes, but she was a good vampire that was a Dark Knight. And this person- this stupid person, this stupid vampire hunter who was a vampire- was trying to kill her. Trying to kill Elizabeth.

He wasn't a vampire hunter, Leah realized. He was part of the People. A growl rose in her throat, but she swallowed it and crawled after the vampire.

Leah was sixteen, seventeen next fall. Not that ages mattered. She would stay at nineteen forever. Every shapeshifter stopped aging once they reached a certain point. Her age from birth was nineteen. When she was in human form, Leah's dark read hair fell to her waist. Her burning green eyes didn't look human. Proably because she wasn't human. She was the only cheetah she knew with such green eyes. In human form, she was tall, slender, and fast. She didn't know if her speed and being so agile came from being a cheetah or if they were just natural.

The vampire stopped and crouched down, his back still to Leah. She crept forward, placing each paw carefully, until she was only about three yards away. Up ahead, she could see Elizabeth, her blond hair tied up in a tight bun (as always), completely oblivious to the hunter and the weapon he was holding. He drew back his arm to throw.

Leah pounced.

She caught the hunter squarely in his broad shoulderd and sank her teeth into his neck. The vampire screamed. Elizabeth came running.

Leah's teeth were strong enough to kill vampires. That was what they were desinged for. Shapeshifters and vampires had been enemies until very recently, when the Dark Knights were formed.

The body beneath her went limp. Leah slipped into his mind to make sure he was really dead. She could feel his last thought running through his head. "I've failed the People."

"Kalaeha!"

Elizabeth only used Leah's full name when she was really upset about her. Leah sighed silently and shifted back. She was standing there in her jeans and T-shirt. The reason that they disappeared and appeared with her was because they were made out of the fur of other shifters.

"Kalaeha, you should have told me- that was too dangerous!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

Dangerous? Sure, he was a hunter, but they were the best of the best. They were the extreme Dark Knights. The spear wouldn't have killed Elizabeth, only wounded her, but they were going to be sent on a mission tomorrow. Without their leader, Elizabeth's gang was without their main fighter. Besides Leah, of course.

Elizabeth bent down and yanked something from the hunter's neck. Leah's stomach lurched. It was the People's way of ranking- by the color of the bead on the necklace. This guy's bead was dark red. Red alone was pretty high. Dark red was about as good as it got.

"Huh," Leah said in a level tone, trying not to let her surprise show. "Didn't put up much of a fight for being dark red."

Elizabeth frowned. "But don't you see? If he'd caught you, you would have died!"

Leah wanted to say "But he didn't catch me." Instead she murmured, "I'm sorry, boss."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and threw her arms around Leah's neck, standing on her toes to do so. She had stopped ageing at fifteen, but she was really around thirty. And she was small for her age. She had a bloodthirsty and dangerous look in her eyes, though, and then people wondered why she was so good at fighting. One only had to look into those pretty silver eyes to find out.

"I really am sorry," Leah mumbled, hugging her back. She wasn't very good at emotional things. "Really, really sorry. But he was going to kill you- I saw his mind. He was sent here by the People to kill you."

Elizabeth let go of Leah's neck and half-smiled. "Fine, fine. And at least he didn't hurt you. Now let's go get some sleep, and then we'll go on our mission."

Frisky

Frisky was my cat. She was black and white. One day she went into the woods and never came back. This is a story about where she went.

Waiting. Waiting. I looked up at the stars and moon. They seemed to be calling to me. "Shadow, Shadow." How annoying that the stars and moon knew my secret name. They can be very annoying, you know. Always chattering.
Most cats are magical. That's an understatement. But some cats are more magical than others. I'm one of them.
Have you ever looked into a fire and seen a wavy part right above it? That's a doorway between the world of the not magical and the world of the magical. It's a doorway between my home and this place where I was held captive.
My people wouldn't mind if I left. Sure, they'd be sad for a while. But they'd get over it. Maybe not for twenty years, but eventually.
I ran to the doorway that was in the house- the washing machine. I popped the door open and jumped inside- straight through the doorway.
I landed in a field hard. Ouch- I'd forgotten how rough the journey was. It had been fifty years since I'd been here, if you counted in human years. In cat years, it had been... six months? Maybe a year. I doubted it.
Huge stone walls rose up on either side of the field. A small hole was in one side. Only a small cat like me could fit through it. I squeezed myself out of the field and into the open air. Magic air is so much better than non-magic air. I filled my lungs and took off running faster than a non-magic cheetah could. I streaked over the land, my paws barely touching the ground, until I saw it.
Gold City. My home.
I ran, slower this time, to the gates. The guards let me inside.
"SHADOW!!!!!!!!"
It was Isabel's voice. I spun around and rushed over to her. "Isabel!"
Isabel was smiling as only a cat can. "I thought that you'd decided to stay in that place! How could you stand being there for eight months?"
Eight months. I had been close.
"I had very nice people. I thought that I was content there. But last night the moon ans stars called me. I had to come back."
Isabel purred. I looked around, and that's when I noticed that we were the only cats in sight. Everybody else was a different animal, mostly... dogs.

Shadows of the Sea

I've decided to abandon my Black Sun series- it's just not going in the direction a want it to. So this is a short story about an underwater paradise. Every little detail may not be correct because I don't have my ocean book with me! I know that Shadows on the Sea is a name of a book but I really don't care because this is just a short story on my blog.

Where there is water, there is life.
Snorkeling was so fun, Samantha never wanted to get out of the water. She smiled the best she could at her mom, who smiled back. The coral reef was absolutely teeming with life. Bright, colorful fish darted this way and that while they swam through the underwater paradise.
Sam could swear that the clownfish was giving her the evil eye when she almost ran into him. She used to have a clownfish as a pet. That is, until Dad had knocked its tank over and the stupid raccoon- what type of person keeps a raccoon as a pet?- had eaten him.
Something small and bright swam just a few feet away. Sam reached out to touch it, but suddenly it was gone. That was one fast swimmer. She twisted around, trying to find it, but it was hidden from sight.
Oh well. There were plenty of other things to look at. Such as the bright blue fish, looking a lot like Dori in Finding Nemo, that kept circling her mom, wondering what these huge, ugly creatures were and why they were invading its home.
While Sam's mom twirled around in the water, Sam looked around again for the bright thing. There it was! It was floating lazily near a fish. The fish snapped at it, but it swam away faster than Sam thought possible.
Leaving her mom, and ignoring what always happening in horror movies when one person goes off alone, Sam swam after it. After about fifteen minutes it disappeared, leaving Sam stranded in an underwater cave.
A shadow came toward her.
A shadow.
A shadow.
A submarine.
That was the last thing that Sam remembered.

School's STILL not over?

IT'S JUNE!!!!!!!!! And yet I'm still trapped in school, watching movies and wasting the day by going outside. Like I couldn't go outside well enough on my own, at my house, relaxing, doing absolutely nothing at all!
Field day and DARE graduation and Pet Sharing Day and all that junk is this week. But what ticks me off is that we have a half day a week from today. Why not just let Friday be the last day of school? Why stick another four hours on? Just so we can watch movies and play board games, or go outside and walk aimlessly around the track while the boys try to hit us with the football. Or maybe even have a lecture from Coach Murphy about not forgetting all of his previous lectures over the summer. I mean, please. Why can't those few people just stop cheating at dodgeball, for crying out loud, so that we don't have to waste PE time? Is it really that hard?
Since we have already done everything in PE so many times people groan when they walk in the gym, Coach lets us have Freeday Friday. Which basically means that I spent 30 minutes trying not to get pegged in the face with the tetherball (is that how you spell it?) that Jeana was swinging around. >:(
SO WHY CAN'T THE SCHOOL YEAR JUST END?!?!?!?!?!?!

Just FYI

In 2012, the earth is supposed to basically die. It's kinda nice knowing about that. Not.
I seriously don't believe in that stuff. But if you knew that your last day was coming- if you knew the exact second that you would die- what would you do?
Would to fall on your knees and pray or spend the days partying? Would you wander about on the streets or shut yourself up in an underground 'sanctuary'? Would you go on a diet, determined to lose those stubborn pounds, or eat all the junk that you could get your hands on?
Would you go around trying to convince people that this was just like what happened with the dinosaurs, to make way for other life? Would you sob your heart out at the prospect of dying? If you owned a pizza place, would you stop business or keep going to feed people when every other restaurant shut down? What would you do if you were in the government?
It should happen in 2012. Just FYI.

Alleyways

THIS IS NOT PART OF MY BLACK SUN/WASTELAND SERIES!!!!! It is its own little story!!!

Isabel peered out of the shadows in the alleyway. Someone was coming. She could tell by the footsteps that it wasn't a member of the Gold Serpent, or GS, gang. A cop? A guard?
As the mysterious footsteps came closer, Isabel realized that it was a person from a gang- but not the GS. How dare they come here! This was the GS part of town, and anyone else who came here was under Katherine's rule. Or, if Katherine was somewhere else, Sam's rule. They had to ask permission.
Isabel caught sight of the intruder. He was tall, maybe six-two, with crazy light brown hair and a dirty, tattered jacket. The emblem for the Poison Viper gang was clearly visible. Isabel clenched her teeth. This boy was not alone, either. From either side of him emerged two other people, a girl and another boy. Both had blond hair and looked like siblings.
"Is there anyone around here?" the tall boy asked.
"Nope," the girl answered. "Nobody tracking us, nobody ahead, either. Let's move."
Isabel's fingers tightened around her weapon- a flashlight. There was a bulge under the blond-haired boy's slightly cleaner jacket. It looked like a gun. A gun! They were violating the peace treaty just by being here. If they brought a gun, they might as well declare war.
So, since they had a gun- maybe two- the flashlight was useless. Could she run and warn Katherine before they reached the main camp? She was fast, and if she took the back way in, she might be able to make it.
Not the back way, she reminded herself. That was loaded with cops. The shortcut was risky- it went right along the bordering highway, and she might be seen if she wasn't careful. But she had no choice.
Five minutes later, she was running along the top of the old Wal*Mart, trying desperately to build up speed. In one flying leap she cleared the eight-foot gap between the Wal*Mart and the coffee shop, which would have been a lot lower if the previous owner hadn't built an apartment on top.
Finally she stopped, gasping for breath, at the hideout. Without pausing she burst inside.
"They're coming!" she gasped to Katherine. "The Vipers! They're coming!"

Rough Silk

Another day. Another seemingly endless day of trekking through the wilderness, looking for anything that might possibly mean food or shelter. Looking for a town. Traveling miles and miles before collapsing onto holey blankets with rocks serving as our pillows.
That really made me want to smack those nutty people who say things like, "Save it for a rainy day" and "Life's full of wonderful things." I wanted to shout in their faces, "My mom's dead, I'm practically starving to death, and I've got nowhere to go! I'm only fourteen! Face it! It's pouring!"
I grimaced and raised my foot. As it came down, the rock beneath it gave way. I slipped and skidded all the way back down the hill. As I looked up at Vanessa and Melissa's surprised and concerned faces, I realized how steep the hill really was. More like a mountain. And I had to climb all the way back up.
Well, crap.
Fire scrambled down to my side. I smiled at him. He was really an incredibly cute dog, his eyes a liquid brown and his face taking on such an innocent quality that it made him seem almost human. I hiked up to where the kids were waiting and we resumed our walk.
When the sun was about halfway up in the sky, we reached the top of the treacherous hill. I sucked in my breath as I surveyed the landscape below.
I could see a town, with small dots that I assumed were people moving slowly around. I mentally slapped myself for not buying binoculars.
We literally slid down the hill and raced each other to the entrance. "Last one in's a mutated ant!" Melissa called. I grinned, knowing that it was supposed to be "rotten egg", not "mutated ant". But it fit.
"My feet are sore," Vanessa puffed.
"I'm hungry," Melissa complained.
"Suck it up," I teased.
Fire barked and won the race.

Love

Here's another free verse. The reading EOGs are tomorrow, so I guess that I'd try again... maybe about something better, though.

Love.
You always feel it.
It lives in you, turning all of the wrong things right
And all the good things better.
It warms you from the ends of your hair to the bottoms of your toes.
Everybody has loved something.
Nobody hates everything.

This one is a little bit shorter- still, I like it. Kind of like the fear one better, though... just 'cause.

Fear

I'm trying to write some free verse poetry. (key word: trying) Hope you enjoy!

Fear.
It lives. It breathes.
It is a thrashing animal,
Hungry to escape,
Thirsting to consume.
It is always there, in some dark place
Inside of you.
It never lets go, it never leaves.
You may not know that it's there.
You may not feel its cold grip on your heart, your soul.
Sometimes
it
jumps
out.
You scream. You leap through the air.
And then it retreats to that dark place from which it came.
The only way to escape it
The only way to keep it from escaping
Is in the luxury
And fantasy of sleep.

Yeah, I know that it's a little... well, different, to say the least. :P

Hot Ice

"We weren't born in a Vault," Vanessa began. "In fact, we didn't live in a Vault until I was six. Four years ago. We never knew our parents. Well, at least, we didn't know that Dr. Sumart was really our dad until a year after he was dead."
"That sucked big time," Melissa added.
"Anyways, we weren't on our own. Mrs. Amy took care of us. She was so nice. She had a dog called Venus, and when Venus had puppies, she gave one to us. We wanted to call Fire Jupiter at first. We tried to train him to come to his name, but he just wouldn't respond.
"So one day, after two months of unsuccessful training, some lightning lit a brush fire. That happened all of the time, you know, but it just so happened that it was only about a hundred yards away from where Fire was sleeping. The dog can sleep through anything- a hurricane, people screaming as a meteor streaked toward them, seagulls, absolute quiet- as soon as he hit the ground, he was out. So we ran toward him, screaming 'Jupiter, Jupiter!' and he just lays there. Then I scream, "Jupiter, there's a FIRE!"
"And then I say, 'Fire! Fire!' and he comes running. We don't know why he responds to Fire, but he does. Later we changed it to Firecracker, after he ran toward a firecracker spitting sparks and caught his tail on fire." Satisfied, Melissa finished the story.
"That's cool," I said, reaching over to stroke Fire's ears. "But how did you get him into a Vault?"
"Well, the Vault didn't have an Overseer," Vanessa explained.
"What?" I couldn't believe my ears. "I thought that a Vault had to have an Overseer. Who was in charge?"
"No one. We all helped each other. We all shared two ovens, and eight tables, and pots and pans. Mrs. Amy always said, 'Why do eight women need eight stoves?' There weren't many people living there, anyways."
My brain spun. A dog that responded to something he'd never heard before? A Vault without and Overseer? What was next?