As we land on this unknown planet, we realize this one is like none we’ve ever seen before. The air is hot yet thin. As the entrance opens, we see a majority of blue. Not much land is on this planet. Most is a never-ending body of water.  The fog is thick, cloaking everything above the ground. Not afraid of consequences, I take off my glove and touch the ground. To my surprise, the ground is cold, soft like the dirt yet blue like the ocean. My fingers leave soft indents in the ground. I am astonished I haven’t fallen through. We trek blindly along the flat terrain. I am discouraged, I observe no sign of life. I have not seen a sign of life on any planet since Drobis, the red-hot phantom of the sky. I continue, in a straight path. The sky fades to purple as the beginning of a new day. Air blows from an unknown source. I had not paid much attention to it until it suddenly ceased. The atmosphere becomes unnervingly silent. That’s when we begin to come across creatures. They fly in the air and skitter across the ground. The flying ones, like bats, swoop down toward us. They are slick and yellow, wings of a butterfly, tail like a snake. As they whiz past, I barely catch a glimpse. The land ones, are fuzzy. For a moment, one stands close and still. I notice it’s fur is blue, blending in with its surroundings. The fur is short and dense. The ears are small and round. Long, sharp horns protrude from its head. The water creatures, clear like glass, slide through the dark sea. Their bodies translucent, they are tiny beads. No eyes, no mouths. How they thrive, I don’t know.

It was a sunny, peaceful day on the lake. As my family sat inside the auburn cabin playing board games, I sat on the pier to write and clear my head. Birds chirped all around me as the water in the lake swayed peacefully. I’ve been coming to this same spot to write ever since my aunt gifted me a notebook, for Christmas, when I was seven. It was like my own little hideout to detach from the world. I usually go out to write whenever I’m overly stressed whether it’s with work or school or my family. As the sun began to set, the sky filled with purples and blues as the air began to chill. I began to finish up writing before my mother called me inside. As I began to walk towards the cabin, I noticed something odd in the water. A kayak was approaching the pier from afar, but there was something off about it. Unfortunately, I forgot to put in my contacts that morning, so I couldn’t quite make out what was so weird about it. So, I sat on the pier to wait and see what was so weird. Eventually, the kayak came close enough for me to see. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it approaching: a brown bulldog was steering the kayak. I began to laugh hysterically as the dog passed by. After a couple minutes of laughing, the dog made me realize that no stress is worth my time when I have so much positivity surrounding me. With this thought in mind, I ran back to the house to my cheerful family to join them in their games.

 

Utopia, a planet appearing to be as perfect as can be – its solid, warm surface with just enough wind and heat coming from above, ambient surroundings full of colorful wildlife and habitats, such as neon-green lizards and golden skylights lighting up magenta monopolies.  Every kind of business imaginable – deemed huge or small – are constantly booming with success, created entirely with the establishing of well-thought-out plans of new technology, such as incredibly-fast hovercrafts, high-tech holograms, and life-sized robots equipped with accurate emotions and the ability to accomplish everyday tasks, such as mowing several acres of land and running out to the store to buy a laundry list of supplies.  There is a slight, sweet smell to the air that catches the attention of anyone with a keen sense of their surroundings, and the clouds are bubblegum pink and sky blue, mistaken for soaring puffs of cotton candy.  Touching the edges of benches and buildings, it appears that everything is spotless and smooth as glass.  The environment around is eerily quiet, so that a feeling of peace is passed to its inhabitants.  Humans are over-joyed with their new planet, ecstatic about living on one that has enough resources to last hundreds of thousands of years.  There is no worry for food, either, as there are tons of grocery stores with large shipments of fresh fruit, steaming vegetables, and mouthwatering desserts.  Endless, evergreen forests and wild jungles are out in the distance, filled to the brim with families of giant tigers and rainbow toucans.  Nothing quite meets the potential of this nearly-impossible way of living, and Utopia will continue to prosper for eons.

~ Heather Dillman

I’m sitting on the end of the dock and enjoying the sun light and my feet in the water, everything was going great. Then for some reason I got the urge to go for a swim, so I take off my shirt and jump in the water and swim so far out that I cannot reach the bottom. I am out there weighting to water when I get a weird feeling like something isn’t right, but I could figure it out, so I start to swim back to land and the sense of feeling gets stronger, and I don’t feel so good anymore, like something is just there waiting for me, so I start to swim faster trying to get back to the dock. I make it to the dock and go to the bathroom and look in the mirror, I then peer at a stall and go into it and sit, “I had to poop” “that’s what that feeling was”

Today I decided to visit the local Chinese buffet. Being vegetarian, I must be VERY cautious at buffets. People could accidently mix meat with products without meat easily. But here I am, with some guy from school on a lunch date at a buffet. After being seated, we stand up and walk over to the buffet itself. We observe the variety of foods, and make our decisions. I chose to get lo mien and some sautéed broccoli as my friend got general tsos chicken and fried rice. We go back to our table and begin to eat, then we realize that we still have yet to receive our drinks! His eyes are watering from how spicy his general tsos chicken becomes after 4 bites. Finally, the waitress arrived, “Dr. Pepper for you, and Pepsi for you”, then she quickly speeds away. I have been coming to this buffet for 12 years and have not once ever seen this woman. Perhaps she’s brand new here? We go back to eating our delicious food. I take a bite of lo mien and instantly begin freaking out. I must have not realized it but there was a piece of sesame chicken in it! I start panicking, not knowing what to do. I decide to take a sip of my Dr. Pepper, in hope that it will wash it all down. Suddenly, I begin to feel light headed and all of my vision becomes a blur. I close my eyes for what feels like one second, and open them back up only to find myself laying in a hospital bed. What happened? My mind is running in circles and is everywhere. The guy I was with at the restaurant is sitting beside me, and I ask him what had happened. Apparently, the woman who had given us our drinks was not an employee. She had been his ex-girlfriend’s cousin’s sister’s boyfriend’s cousin. She was sent out by his ex because she was jealous of him taking me out on a date. The “waitress” who wasn’t really our waitress drugged me in response. If it wasn’t for that little piece of chicken I wouldn’t be in this situation probably, I wasn’t even thirsty.

The second the doors open, people start racing into the rustic old theater. Some that look in place, and some who don’t fit in at all are flooding in. The smoke dances in the air through the bright lights. The lights start to fade, and the singer everyone has been waiting in agony to see comes running out. The music begins to play so loud your ears feel like they could bleed. People are jumping everywhere, their sweat rubbing against yours. Even though there are strangers surrounding, the person next to you becomes your best friend for the night. Screams cover the whole room, nobody misses one word to any song. You can feel the music beating in your chest. As your throat starts to burn and you lose your voice, you know that it was a great night. You exit into the cold night with nothing but a smile and a great memory.

Dear Bed,

the first day we met as one of the most beautiful days of my life. As soon as I walked into my room I knew we were going to be close. You inspire me in so many ways, you make sure my brain is well rested and I’m ready for the day. You’re the most loyal person in my entire life. Your so committed. It’s almost like we don’t even have to talk to each other to know what were thinking We have a very bright future together knowing that every night you will be right there to take care of me when I’m tired. I know some nights I sleep in other places like at a friend’s house or on my couch or sometimes even on the floor, I don’t do it to make you jealous, I just do it because that’s where I fall asleep. You know I will always come back to you. Your where I feel most confortable and safe.

Love, Brandon

Once upon a time I had a dream that I lived in a small hut in the middle of the woods. It was quiet where I lived but I liked it, for I was not much of a people person. Every morning I looked at my green face in the mirror and hated how I looked. Then, one day I donkey came along and forced a friendship upon me. There was nothing I could do to stop him because he refused to go away. After a few of the king’s men tried to evict me of my land, the donkey and I had enough. We marched up to the Kings castle to chew him out. After some exchange of words, the king agreed not to evict me if I could do one thing for him. Set out to rescue a beautiful princess. The donkey and I were able to rescue the princess but I had a conflict forming within me. I started to fall in love with the princess. I knew I had to turn over the princess but she was the love of my life. There was only one thing wrong with this princess, she wasn’t green like I was. I didn’t think I had a chance with her. But it was worth a shot, even if it meant I wouldn’t get my land back.

 

Drew Colby

Our ship lands through purple light and haze-

a dusty atmospheric cloud of mystery that hovers over the soft ,

marshmellow surface of Perseus, third planet from the sun Tintern.

 

Securing our masks and radiation guns, we emerge from the the ship

and our anti-gravity boots hold us tightly to the strange, soft

surface.  The ground below us more

like a marshmellow than solid surface. Our boots sink as we step forward.

 

“This is a beautiful planet. UNbelievable. Can’t believe I’m here.”,

Mitchel said, as he stared at the large pink  mountains off to the east;

against the neon green sky, they shone brilliantly and still.

 

“It is wondrous. ” Williams said. “We should begin taking the measurements,

we only have an hour ‘s  supply of oxyg…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Williams filled the radio transmitter

with a scream that shattered the day dreams of the other members.

 

Cortez whipped around to see Williams being attacked by a 6-foot

worm-creature; its  hungry mouth was attached to Williams face mask

and in its writhing tail was a human arm, which it had ripped from his body.

 

Blood spurted out into the atmosphere, globs  resembling dark red roses

spilled and floated weirrdly from where Williams arm used to be.

 

“HOLY SHI….” Cortez was unable to finish his sentence, another worm

had shattered his helmet with angry teeth, was sucking the life from his face.

 

Suddenly the things were everywhere, and in the silence of this weird alien world

six men squirmed to their deaths in the mouths of alien things never imagined,

while a hot sun burst and burned beyond pink mountains,  through a cloudless green sky.

 

MR. H

People just walk pass. Sometimes they’ll take a quick look, but usually keep moving. I can hear cars moving by which is interesting, you can tell who has an old car vs new. People faces look highly annoyed or tired. I bet people don’t want to be here. With no movement, inside or outside, the school feels extremely lonely. I’m struggling to find things to write about because the hallway is so boring between classes. Nothing happens out here, feels like i’m facing death.

-Seyi