I watch as the prison guard shackles my hands and feet, the chains jangling. If you distance yourself away enough, it sounds a little like tinkling chimes... a broken music box. Huh. Who'd have thought it.

It's been a kind of haze, I've been living in. I've been living in a kind of 'half-light'. I wonder if I'm in shock?

Probably.

She's gone, isn't she? So what does that make me?

I knew every ...

Grip my heart

Seize my mind

Everything slows but time

Beacon that Fear is, shines

Solace, I’ve left behind.

Panic seizes my heart.

Can’t breathe,

My breath’s too short

All that I want is to

Stop.

Scream. Scream.

Rabbit hole, down I go

Mind pleads,

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Breathe. Breathe.

World spins to fast, I know.

All that I want is to

Stop.

Think. Think.

Too fast, too deep, too slow.

Forge...

Jewel slowly descended the wire that she'd thrown down from the skylight of the great domed roof and paused. Her eyes scanned the vast space, barely lit by the kiss of moonlight that shone from above, ears straining to catch any rustling, any footsteps, any sign of life.

Silence.

Okay then. *Show time.*

She nimbly descended the remainder of the rope, sliver knife clenched between her teeth befo...

Humphrey stifled a yawn and edged his hand towards the plate of biscuits again. Surely, one more wouldn’t hurt.

His eyes flitted up at the oversized clock that hung on the mahogany-paneled wall and groaned inwardly. Why did time seem to slow to snails’ pace whenever the board congregated like this?

“Good, good! Let’s move onto the next item on the agenda then,” said Witherby as he shuffled his ...

Heron glanced down at the wheelbarrow and looked behind him. He'd been pruning the hedges more slowly than he could have been doing. Far slower. Anything to extend the time before the Prince would deem it safe for him to pass through the magical wall of thorny roses.

His eyes flitted back to the wheelbarrow below him. Beautiful, oversized, luscious pink roses that sparkled and glinted in the sun ...

It's funny - the thoughts you think about when life gets so grave that your mind just needs to escape. For Venus, it was Cedric. Who would look after him? He was just a plant. A sad looking plant at that, but...

Her head jerked up towards the high, tiny, barred window above her as she heard the raucous crowd jeering. They must have brought him out. He must be there. So close.

Her heart clenched ...

Vines grow wild here

Twisting into windows

Over the rooftops

And through the dreams of the city dwellers

Who know nothing other than these vines

That suck the air dry of its vitality

And the life from their souls.

For, to them, nothing is out of the ordinary

To gasp for their next breath

To sleep fitful nights

Of stifled nightmares

To live days bound in these organic chains.

For this is the city t...

The cashier’s hand tensed as he grabbed on to the brown paper bag a little too long. He wasn’t letting go.

I clenched my jaw and tried to ease my groceries out from his grasp, eyes flitting back at the line of people slowly building behind me.

My stomach growled, an indication of how long it had been since I’d eaten. Too long.

I inadvertently glanced at the cashier’s face to see that all-too k...

Help me. *Help*.

I live within a cacophony. It seizes my heart in an iron-like grip as it roars the roars of a thousand lions. My screams drown in the never-ending noise, and as I close my eyes, my hands over my ears, I suddenly realize...

I can stop this. I can switch the outside off. Turn off the phone notifications. Hey, here's a wild idea... *turn off the phone*.

Turn off YouTube, email, In...

Wariner pursed his lips as his eyes looked skyward toward the Crystal castle that sprawled above him.

He blinked. There it was, soaring into the sky - a scene he’d travelled so far and for so long to reach. For months, it had been a vague, dim destination in his mind’s eye. And now that he stood facing it - well, it almost seemed as though he were in a dream.

But it *wasn’t* a dream. Not a good...