The Well-Dressed Girl Inside the Virtual World

The Well-Dressed Girl Inside the Virtual World

The anti-virus soldier sighed in relief. The virus war was finally over, with his life intact and capital city of Core unharmed. Everywhere he looked, the people reveled in fractal fireworks and virtual eateries, cheers and loud shouts heard all around.

But there was one girl who caught his eye, dressed in layers of black fabric tipped with greens at the ends, and a large purple ribbon hanging at her side. She held a nonchalant face, possibly disappointment. He was reminded of the ocean for some reason.

Behind an alley she disappeared, and his curiosity prompted him to follow. 

"Don't move." The sound of two swords made him pause his footsteps.

He gulped. How had he failed to notice it was a trap?

"Who are you?" She asked, silver sword at the nape of his neck. 

"I was...um..." he awkwardly paused, "enraptured by your beauty?"

Which was true. A silence followed, broken only by the revelries outside the alley. The next response was something he didn't expect: a giggle.

"Thanks. Let's meet again sometime." The two swords disappeared in bits of fragmented data.

"S-sure! My name is-"

But by the time he turned around, she was already gone.

The Simple Drawing Containing Many Memories

The Simple Drawing Containing Many Memories

I once visited Wonderland. It was an amazing place with white rabbits and strange hatters. I talked with the Queen of Hearts and the Red Queen, who weren't at all evil. The White Queen had a fragile complexion, and the kings were off in some grandiloquent journey. 

I've met many people down the rabbit hole.

But as all good journeys, it too ended. I am now 20. 

I think about my adventures there, and how I wish I could have stayed. But reality and fantasy tend to be at conflicts with one another, so in the end I had to leave. After a tearful goodbye and one last tea party, I asked the Cheshire Cat to draw the way I looked in Wonderland. It was spot on.

It was a simple drawing (since he had paws and all, but it was quite good). Nothing special except for who drew it and the meanings behind it that only I know. But it also contained a very important something.

All the memories I had there.

I can't access Wonderland anymore, for that is where only children and their reveries reside. At heart, I still am a child, but I know that to go back would hinder my growing up process.

...

I have to wonder if Alice looked like Alice in Wonderland, or if she was some sort of marmoreal version of herself.

I hope the residents are all well. I think of them daily.

The Winter Fairy Suspiciously Living in the Dark Woods

Painting by AK

The Winter Fairy Suspiciously Living in the Dark Woods

The woods behind Granny Smith's home was unusually dark to be called Autumn Leaf Woods ( the trees were dead and lacked life), but people report that nothing really "dark" happens in the woods. They compare as a little brother to the Enchanted Forest behind Grandfather Fuji's home.

But unlike the Enchanted Forest, with its beautiful crisp leaves and littered autumn leaf paths, the Dark Woods was inundated with magical creatures. But they were common magical creatures, so there were no dragons or Minotaurs.

There was, however, a suspicious Winter Fairy that lived in a dead oak tree in the center of the woods. Apparently, she appointed herself the name Jane, and that her being there was something only she could know. But I heard rumors of love, and that she left her snow-capped mountains for a lonely Spring Fairy named Faolan (he appointed himself that name too).

They had such strange names that didn't fit their complexions.

I hope they find each other one day.

I Can Hold Your Flowers For You!

Painting by AK

I Can Hold Your Flowers For You!

There is a strange girl in the park known as the Flower Girl (nobody knows her real name). Each day she holds a different flower, and the people remark that lost flowers are her specialty: from a rose gone missing to a sunflower gone rogue. I never understood it myself, but it was nice to know that there was a flower heroine among us. 

People say that she can "hold" your flowers for you, but I never really understood it myself until I came to the park one day with a Gardenia in hand. She stared at me from a distance, a rose held in her right hand, and I uncomfortably made my way to her. 

"I see you have a Gardenia. Did you know in the language of flowers, it means 'I love you in secret'?"

I respond that I didn't, before she smiled once more. As though I were controlled, I automatically handed her the flower, and a breeze picked up. Surrounded by various petals that circled us, coming from who-knows-where, there was something oddly surreal about it.

And before I could blink, she was already gone.

Your flower will appear when the right time comes...

Data

Data

The function I have been programmed to execute will eventuate as a result of the data collected for the amelioration of the collective.

No miscalculation is authorized during this time period. I am a perfect being.

Begin data extraction out of Subject 9. 1%. 50%. Subject appears to be unstable. 60%. Losing subject to heart failure. Bring heart-stabilizing bacterium to 11%. Subject is stable. 80%. Subject is silent.

Submitting? Perhaps.

100%.

No life in eyes. There is movement, however.

The subject now serves the collective.

I am a perfect being.

It Burns!

Picture by Maxwell

It Burns! 

"Why." 

Nearby the carnival played Walking on Sunshine by Katrina & The Waves. Colorfully dressed people walked to and fro from stall to stall, buying various season collectibles he considered tacky. It was as if everyone were in a music video advertising the season he despised: the hot, blistering season of summer. He could already imagine the camera obnoxiously zooming on yellow dresses and vanilla ice cream cones.

"At least I have you," he murmured to the tree he sat under, hoping to drive anyone sane away from his irritated mood (he did this by yelling to the tree whenever someone attempted to approach him).

But really, it was futile as the fire cookie above seemed content on forcing him to walk on its sunshine. Not even the leaves provided comfort, as the sun's rays pierced through its plant-like barrier. Or perhaps they opened way intentionally?

I feel the love, I feel the love...

Even the song attempted to coerce him into joining, lyrics sung with jubilant glee!

He was suddenly hit by a wayward water balloon.

"Sorry mister!" 

"Joy."

He sighed. He didn't really mind, he supposed. The happy smiles that everyone exhibited (minus the crying child near the toy stall) slowly gave way to a small smile forming on his face.

But, of course, he still enjoyed winter more.

The Little Creature Who Frowned a Lot

The Little Creature Who Frowned a Lot

I saw an adorable thing when I walked home from school today. It sat next to a cherry tree that appeared to have popped out of nowhere. Strangely enough, the park was a maple tree type of park.

It had small ears that reminded me of my own puppy's, stubby feet and a small tail, and empty eyes that weren't scary at all. I wished that it had smiled though. I wanted to hug it, but there was a bunch of picnickers that sat next to it, but I don't think anyone acknowledge its being. I watched it from a distance, picnickers eating picnic food.

Of course, when they saw me staring and sent an intimidating person after me (perhaps to ask why I was eyeing their cake, which was next to the thing), I flew out of there.

I vowed to try again the next day, but I said that at 2 in the morning along with muses of changing my life. But I wouldn't be deterred.

After school, the thing wasn't there anymore. So I began searching everywhere for it could possibly be: behind bushes, in the treetops, hiding in the garden, perhaps? I checked all around the cherry tree, but it wasn't there either.

To my surprise, it was well camouflaged in a collage of maple trees. This time, however, it was smiling at my appearance.

"Thank you for looking for me. I was quite lonely. Nobody ever noticed me before."

I asked it who it was. It said it was a he, and his name was George. Anything else after that was a secret, but that was okay.

We talked about why nobody really noticed him. He said he was a ghost, but he later said he was joking. Then we talked about his stubs, to which he was offended when I called them stubs. (Though he later agreed that there was no better name for them, so we called them stubs anyways). We continued talking until it grew dark and the white moon cast its light on the park.

"If you keep looking for me in the oddest of places, you'll find me eventually."

I left the park, mentally preparing myself for another thingy-treasure-hunt.

But now that I thought about it...what was he?