The Eight Tales of Life

Part 1: The Witch

The rope was thick and coarse as it dug into her skin. She was bound by the hands to the back of a wooden chair. Her legs were tied up to the legs of the chair. She woke up and felt a jabbing pain in her chest. She knew, even before knowing where she was or what had happened, that she was in serious danger. She jostled around and tried to break free until she realized she was bound to the chair. . She knew she couldn’t possibly have much time left. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to remember what had happened. She was fighting with someone. A man. He was trying to have her publicly killed for being a creature that was ‘ungodly’. She tried to run away, but they found her. It was some group of men. They were all dressed in dark clothes and covered themselves from her. She tried to fight them off, but before she was able to use her powers, one of them struck her on the head. She was knocked unconscious. The ringleader of the group dragged her body to his old barn in the back of his house where he kept his animals. He moved them temporarily to make room for the girl and for her murder . He and the whole town believed she came from hell and should be tortured and killed off as a sign of power against evil. A cruel message that any hellacious creature would be met with the same fate as her if they dared to enter their realm.

She knew how people felt about her, but she couldn’t always hide her powers well. She could be stubborn as her Bull zodiac implied. She slipped up and was caught by more than one person. She also made herself much more obvious when she tattooed herself with these markings all over her arms that represented different things she used to cast spells or symbols that emphasized her powers. She wanted to be able to trace over them with her fingers as she cast spells to amplify her powers and do stronger magic. She attempted to hide them- always wearing long sleeves, but an empowered, righteous, and yet rude and invasive man was looking at her beauty, being the red-haired, slim figured, soft pale-skinned girl she was, while next to her in a market. He was so close to her that when she reached for an apple, he could see the tiniest part of a black ink tattoo peeking out from under her sleeve. He seized her arm and yanked up her sleeve before she could get a word out, he started shouting about the unnatural markings on her arm and how anti-religious they were. That was the incident that started her kidnapping. She was young in her early 20s. She was born in late April many many years ago. She was a Taurus, an Earth sign. She, because of this, naturally inherited Earth powers, and those would be the spells she could cast the best that could affect thousands of people simultaneously. She was desperate for a source of greater power to free herself.

She was hungry, tired, and covered in injuries. In the July heat, she was sweating and getting very frustrated. She was debilitated by now . She looked up and saw a faint light peek through the holes and slits in the wooden framework of the barn. She could just make out the moon and stars. They were glimmering on this particular night and she closed her eyes and focused her attention . She opened her eyes again and looked up at the stars and whispered a spell into the moonlight.

“The guided hand of the universe

Intervene in this moment

Watchful eye

A stars goodnight

A fateful breath of air

Flower of violet, lavender, and sun

Energies of ruling summers dusk night

An unjust act must be fixed

A call of freedom

Let it flow through these lands like a powerful glacier wind

A green light’s travel

I look to you in guidance of escape

There are lost souls in this world that know nothing but murder-hate-rape

A body with potential and power

Allow me to shift my position

In moon light’s promise and marigold flower

I so swear to use the Earth’s grip

And protect the innocent in burdensome lone

Waters from the highest peak sip

And drink it all to unleash the throne

A crowned power emerald-colored jewel

Let me sink into this night my own.”

A man forcefully opened the barn doors holding a candle stick. It was the kidnapper ready to do his ‘just acts of God.’ He came in during her last verse. Confused at these words, he stood there. She opened her eyes and the candle went out.

Part 2: The Bull

A world of strength and power, competition is enforced upon all and entering is mandatory. He’s something of a legend now. He has talents these civilizations have never seen before. His strength has been unmatched from the start. He is a dream and gleaming hope of anyone who owns these magnificent creatures. This one is rumored to be so cunning that he outsmarts even humans sometimes. So quick on his hooves that not even a cheetah could catch him. So fierce in his power and anger that even the king of all jungles wouldn’t pick a fight with this animal. He has won awards in multiple competitions. His owners are filthy rich because of him and ugly with greed and conceit. They grin in an evil jest and one could almost see all the gold and rubies and precious gems fall out of their mouths onto the ground. The crazed eyes look of nothing but solid gold coins. As he whips this powerful almighty winning ‘beast’. He controls every situation this animal will ever find itself in. For this animal is a prized bull, a powerful, huge, lucky bull. He has never lost a single fight in his entire short lived life. His powerful legs walk amongst the earth and tell a story of greed, strength, pride, anger, competition, and focus. Focusing would be his ultimate lesson, for this one night he met fate. It was another highly anticipated bull fight. On this day like no other, he was tired and ready for rest. His owners though, of course, couldn’t care less in the world. He was called to start getting ready for tonight’s ‘grand’ fight. This time though, the bull wouldn’t move. He refused the command to come to his owners and turned away. Furious and impatient, they whipped him until he would comply. One or two licks were good enough to get him to give in. He walked slowly over as they began to wash him and make him look as good as his performance level was. Unlike all other nights, his opposing side refused to see another failure to this simple creature. They had been trying to figure out a plot for his demise for weeks. Finally, just a couple nights before this one they did! They decided that it was obvious no amount of training, bulking a bull up, or buying a new one would work as a strategy to win against the legend himself. The only way to win was to cheat. They gathered their things after they prepped their fighting bull and made their way into the village. They were heading towards the fight with amusement looking forward to the outcome this time around. The legendary bull was brought to the fight. He was fed a light snack of sorts while waiting for the festivities to start. That was the only way to get an animal of his size and stature to be energized. The time had come for the fight. The audience roared in excitement, eagerly waiting to watch this bull powerfully dominate his opponent and crush him. The bulls were behind their gates opposite of each other. Suddenly the gates lifted, and the fight began! The opponent came running out, but the legendary bull of all bulls wouldn’t move. Growing frustrated and impatient they whipped him very hard. He made a huffing noise and ran out to meet the other bull. They bumped heads like rams and were fighting for control. Everything was pointing to the legend reclaiming his throne. His position was better, he was clearly bigger, faster, better footing. Suddenly, the opponents, standing very close to the fight in the crowd, held up a green glowing lantern. They shined it towards the bulls for a brief moment. Long enough to hopefully distract the bull and short enough to go unnoticed by the crowd. Everyone seemed to pay it no mind as the bulls themselves outshined the whole world that night. However, the legendary bull was indeed distracted. It caught his gaze and he stopped immediately in his tracks. The bull couldn’t understand what was happening or make any sense of it. But he knew it was something important. Something he couldn’t take his eyes off of. Time seemed to almost move in slow motion in the bull’s perspective. When the lantern went out, the opposing men grinned knowing it had worked and what was to come of it. The bull was frozen. Staring into the distance of where the light had been. The whole thing happened within less than minutes, but it felt like so long for the bull himself. Suddenly, he felt an extremely sharp stinging sensation in his neck as he hit the floor. The other bull took his opportunity and charged at his neck and pushed him to the ground hard. The bull had a feeling it should rest. It knew tonight was not its night somehow and yet was forced to meet his end. The bull died almost instantly before even processing what had happened. All he could see was a powerful green light.

Part 3: The Princess and Her Baby

“Once upon a time, there lived a fair queen and her young daughter, the princess. The king had passed several years before the start of this story. It was an older time when women were considered less important than men. The queen’s time of power and ruling the throne was coming to an end as she was getting older and so was her daughter. By 18 truly her daughter should have been coordinated and crowned the new queen as tradition states for the next ruling blood in line. Since the queen bore no son or other children of any sort, the princess was the one who was promised the power. The king wanted more children but had a heart attack before this destiny could ever be fulfilled. The queen, devastated by the loss of the only partner she knew since their arranged marriage, refused to marry again. Other powerful figures in the kingdom spoke out against the queen still ruling without a king or even prince. However, nobody knew what to do as the queen was still above all of them in power. The queen had been fighting for 3 years to the date of this story for her daughter to be crowned queen. She was a 21 year old princess which was unheard of. Her 18th birthday should have been her rightful time. Progress was being made at first, the people wanted to uphold traditions that ran strong throughout the nation’s long history. Then one night the princess’s secret was revealed to the courts and people. She had a secret baby girl out of wedlock to an unknown town boy. The people were furious for several reasons at the royals. They couldn’t believe the princess would do something so unlawful, they were furious it was kept from them, and they were frustrated it was yet again another girl. No prince in the castle again to them meant no help from a rightful leader and a collapsed government was on the horizon. There was much talk in the kingdom since then. The people demanded that action be taken against the crown! The queen herself was furious at this secret getting out. Rumor had it that it was one of the royal’s servants who outed the princess in an attempt to earn some kind of reward for the information, such as gold. The greed and the ignorance outraged the queen so much. She knew the people would kick them out of the castle within due time. She knew that the next richest and upper class positioned male would take the late king’s place. She also knew she had run out of excuses and the people did not want to hear anything she or any royal had to say any longer. Overwhelmed with anger, she vowed revenge on the wicked greddy soul that came after her daughter. So one day, she had her servants bake her a couple of different pastry items. Additionally, she requested a chocolate cake be made. She was supposedly going to throw one last grand party before handing off her throne to the next wealthiest in line as the people demanded of her. She had decided this was the best option and would hold the most dignity and elegance for her to give it up herself instead of fighting her people. While all the baking was underway the princess was spending time with her little one. She was a one year old baby bundled and wrapped in blankets. The princess did not care what her reputation was or what her status was. She was proud of her daughter and knew she would become someone great one day with or without something as stupid and superficial as a crown. The queen, on the other hand, slipped away from her tower. She made her way to the royal kitchen where the servants were hard at work. She saw the start of the chocolate cake being made at the end of the kitchen. She walked through, past all the servants making pastries. They looked up, confused as to why she was in some place like a kitchen in dress clothes. They all looked around the room amongst each other, but didn’t say a word. They kept their heads down and continued their work. She wore a long dress with sleeves that were more open cut at the ends near her hands. She held a tiny bottle in one of her hands, and when it seemed that nobody was particularly paying attention to her, she opened it and flung her arm above the batter and back. She peeked down and saw the dark green liquid in the bowl. She huffed and grabbed a wooden spoon. She looked at her servants and sighed. “It’s as if I have to help or do the entire thing by myself!” The servants looked confused as she stirred the bowl until everything was well mixed together. “I mean really! Nobody is even working on this cake left alone here. Soon the ingredients will go bad!” Immediately a servant came to where she was standing and apologized to her majesty. They took the spoon from her and began working right away. She nodded and made her way out of the kitchen. She went back to her tower to dispose of the little bottle in her hand so no one would ever know. Another hour passed after this and the queen fell asleep in her bed. The princess tucked her baby in so she could rest and went down the stairs to see what had been going on while she had been distracted for the past two hours. She smelled something divine and made her way to the kitchen. There were several different baked goods cooling off on the tables. She looked at all of them and admired how beautifully baked and decorated they were. She always praised how hard the servants worked. They all had glass coverings on them and she knew they were for the last grand event her family would host. She made eye contact with a chocolate cake in the corner. She smiled and thought a piece missing won’t kill anyone. It’s not like there is anything else left to lose in the reputation of herself or her family. She tried to be very quiet so as to not get caught. She took a very thin piece and wrapped it in a cloth and snuck it upstairs to her tower. She began eating as she sat near her baby and watched her dozing off. She wanted to make sure she was okay. She then stared out the window while she ate. She had eaten at least half of the cake when all of a sudden, she noticed something rather strange. She saw a gleaming green light in the sky. Green? She thought. How unusual and she put the cake down and made her way to the window. She stared at it deeply and couldn’t explain it to anyone or make sense of it, but something about it called out to her. It made her feel something very powerful inside of her. She stared in awe as she gripped part of the window. Then, very out of nowhere the princess felt an immense sharp pain in her chest. She grabbed at her dress trying to get air and whined. She began to slide down the wall as she lost strength in her body. All she could do was look at her baby as she collapsed onto the floor. She died instantly the moment her head touched the floor. Her baby then woke up almost exactly when it happened and began crying and screaming. The commotion woke up the queen in the tower next door and she made her way over to see why her daughter couldn’t manage to calm her own baby. When she reached the doorway and saw her daughter on the floor she collapsed next to her and began crying. She desperately pulled her body closer and tried to find her heartbeat. But it was too late. She looked all around to try to figure out what happened. Then she saw crumbs and a wrapped up cloth on her bed. She dropped her daughter’s lifeless body and flung to her bed. She unwrapped the cloth and saw the very chocolate cake she had poisoned earlier in the hopes of killing the one who took everything from her daughter and the family. She screamed out to the very top of her lungs and sobbed uncontrollably as she went back down and clutched her daughter in her arms. The servants heard all the fuss and ran up the stairs. They were all shocked and very heavy hearted. The princess was such a sweet and gentle soul. A good and honest ruler. The funeral took place the next week as they buried her near the castle. The whole kingdom was upset with the loss. The queen was under great suspicion being the only person near her during her time of death seen by multiple witnesses. If she was to be locked away for her crimes, the baby would have no place to go. So, before anything was decided, she sent the baby off with a trusted footman of the palace to see that she makes it onto a ship and leaves the country. Across the ocean she would live on an entirely different continent. A new starting point for her family and the only chance she considered her granddaughter would have at a healthy life. Nobody knows for sure what happened to the princess’s baby. Legend has it she did become as great as her mother had determined she would be. The end.” The woman closed the story book and pulled the covers up on her daughter’s bed. “But mom I thought you said this was based on a true story of a queen?” the little girl questioned. “It was!” her mother said. “There really was a queen who tried to poison a servant who disobeyed her and had her plan go horribly wrong. It’s based on the death of the princess from years and years ago.” She tried to explain, but her daughter was still confused. “If it’s true, then why doesn’t anyone know what happened to the baby?” She was determined to get answers. “Because the baby was sent away sweetheart, no one kept track of her after that her identity was changed. She lived a normal life that nobody recorded. They only record historical figures and keep track of their lives.” The mother tried to make her understand, but the little girl was tired and frustrated and sighed as she turned over and went to sleep.

Part 4: The Alien

She tumbled over and over only seeing blackness. When she finally woke up very suddenly, she began to panic. She realised she was confined in a tight space and forced into a ball-like position. She was trapped in what almost could be compared to a giant bubble. It was a transparent sphere of force she couldn’t break. It was spinning as it kept her floating throughout the universe. But what universe was this? It wasn’t hers, she realized. She couldn’t recognize anything at all of the planets she could make out. They looked different from her own. She was scared and couldn’t remember anything of how she got there. Her skin was mint green, her eyes were large and black, she had a completely different internal structure and similar external structure to a human woman. Her brain being much larger than ours. She is taller and much more powerful. Her intuition isn’t just sensing things, she can see things before they happen. Her kind is extremely advanced and has technology that is centuries ahead of Earth’s. From a different universe, she was sent to hopelessly float around our dying universe for the rest of her life until either she dies first or our universe dies first. Her rulers sent her here because it is known as the ‘broken universe’ thanks to Earth. The people of Earth are considered to be less intelligent and ignorant. Earth is considered very run down and out of control to the point it tarnished the entire galaxy. The people there ruined their own universe and its reputation. She had been swept of the majority of her memories including, of course, how she had gotten here in this confinement as part of her punishment so she would eventually go insane. She could only get tiny random flashbacks of things that didn’t make sense to her. She saw herself in some kind of room with her people doing some kind of research related work. She couldn’t piece anything together. All she knew was she did something to define her planet’s rulers, something rebellious to try to help the causes she believed in. She felt a great evil was upon her in the flashbacks. Like the expressions and body language of everyone around her was off and suggested something wasn’t right. She was growing weak and tired. She knew she needed help. As her trap grew closer to Earth she did the only thing she could think of to do. She opened her third eye and shot out a powerful beaming green light down to the planet as a distress signal in the hopes someone would find her and save her. She held the light out as far and long as she could before she passed out again. She woke up with still no sign of help, but she got an immediate sharp pain in her chest. Something was off in the universe; she could feel it. A soul she's connected to has just been incredibly impacted by something. Her senses know it, but what and who? Her sphere-like imprisonment suddenly went flying forward and spun out of control launching her a few feet forward before stopping. She knew it had something to do with the pain in her chest. She’s scared and worried for whoever it is. She wants to help them, but she needs help herself. She knows her end is near and hope is a very low possibility. She closes her eyes and tries to remember anything that could help her now. She remembers bits and pieces of her reading something. She concentrates very hard. “Northern lights green grievance, souls leave and enter it, look at its power and see God's eyes, in the strongest color of life…” Her thoughts get hazed and confused; she can’t tell if she remembered it right. She has gone so long without replenishments she is starting to fade out. She begins to run out of air and sees the stars.

Part 5: The Rival and the Girl

She was driving home from her place of work. She was tired; it was only her first week there. She fought hard- arguably too hard for this job. She didn’t care; she was trying to be a successful woman in a time when women can’t be successful. She had moved from the city to the mountain counties. She gave up a lot for this opportunity. Some could say she cheated her way there. Although she was hardworking, she used an extra measure to ensure her competition was out of her way. She had simply cast a little spell on a package and delayed him from ever showing up to the interview that's all. She couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t as innocent of an act as she wanted to believe it was. She rolled her eyes and continued driving trying to focus on anything else. She arrived at a stop light that was red. She stopped and waited for a while. So many things were on her mind it was hard for her to push all her thoughts away. She just really wanted to go home. She looked up at the light and saw it turned green. She started to take her foot off the brake when she looked closer and noticed the light began to vibrate. She got a very weird feeling very suddenly. She’s felt off all week. Something had been going on that she couldn’t explain in the universe. She sat at the light and stared. She squinted confused trying to figure out what was going on. The light began to shake very violently. She was in awe. She had never seen anything like it before. Then the green in the light beamed out at her. It got stronger and stronger and seemed to be coming from behind the light all the way to the mountains. Confused and curious, she inched up into the middle of the intersection trying to examine the back of the light. She couldn't understand what was happening, but she got a weird sense that something was calling out to her from somewhere she wouldn’t be able to see. She started to feel like her life was in danger. Getting chills she was trying to decide where to go or what to do from here. Too petrified to move, she just kept trying to study the light. She inched her car up a tiny bit more, when out of nowhere a dark colored car came flying towards her from the other side of the intersection and smashed into the side of her car. It takes her a long time to wake up. She slowly lifts her head as broken pieces of glass fall off of her face. There is broken glass everywhere. She looks in the rearview mirror at herself and sees there is broken glass stuck in her face. She winces as she pulls the small pieces out and off of her skin. Her face is all scratched up on the side and small little trails of blood were coming out of her from all the glass she removed. She looked around and there was no car to be found. The car and the man driving it were gone entirely. “Unbelievable,” she said to herself quietly as she slowly started to get herself up and out of the car. She was okay; with just some minor injuries but her car took some significant damage. She stood there for a moment trying to decide what to do. She felt a sudden sharp shooting pain in her chest. Something happened just then, but what? She was confused and anxious. She quickly looked up at the green light thinking that it was caused by the person trying to signal out to her. When she looked at it though, it was nothing like before. There was no vibration or powerful beaming of the light. It went back to a normal functioning stop light like nothing happened. She looked down the road on all sides of the intersection in the hopes she could see something or see the car that crashed into her and fled, but there was nothing. It was dark at night and she was alone.

A week or two before any of this happened, she was trying out for a job. She had learned through the grapevine so to speak though, that she was rumored to be getting passed up for the job because they were looking for a man. Infuriated by these rumors she went to find out more information. When she met with the man that interviewed her for the job, he said that she was getting a little too hostile and needed to calm her emotions down. He told her they think the company has found a more professional candidate and if he interviews well, they want to hire him on sight. He assured her though, that she was their second pick and could possibly try for the position again if the man ever quits. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She just stood there blank for a while. They suggested that she should go now. She stormed out enraged at this news. She sat in her car for a while trying to figure out what to do about this. Then something came to her. She went back into the office and asked the receptionist if she could take a look at the other candidate’s resume. She told her that she wasn’t being picked because she was quote unquote lacking something the other candidate had that she supposedly did not. The receptionist, well aware of it being a man's office and sexist era in time, knew exactly what she meant by this and why she was angry. Having probably faced sexism numerous times herself by her employer, she was able to sympathize with her. She gave her a copy of his resume and the girl walked out. She went in her car and looked at it again. She grinned, as it had just what she needed to put her plot into motion, his address. She drove off and went home.

The man woke up and slowly got out of his bed. This is days after the girl found out he was favored for the position over her. He lived by himself in a small rundown apartment. He was a pretty depressed, grumpy, pessimistic type. There weren't many things that amused him and he was certainly not the life of any party. He was older than the girl by at least twenty years. He made a sad looking bowl of cereal and ate it. He got himself cleaned up and went to check the mail. When he opened his front door, he found a small brown package. How weird, he thought. Nobody sends packages to him. He brought it inside the apartment and sat down on the couch. He looked at it for a while. He noticed a small piece of bleach blonde hair stuck between the paper. He held it up in the light for a moment and stared at it. He threw the hair away and began to open the package. He threw the wrappings away and saw a small marigold flower wrapped in a yellow ribbon at the stem. He was very puzzled by this. He held the flower up and looked at it for a long time. Before he knew what was happening to him he saw black. When he finally came to, he was lying half on the couch and the flower had fallen out of his hand onto the floor. What had happened? He was confused as to how he fell asleep. It made sense; he’d been tired, he thought. He never sleeps well. He’s always tired. He got himself up walking past the flower on the floor. He’d forgotten all about that and didn't even notice it. He went outside and saw he had mail again. How strange, they delivered the mail twice? He hardly ever got mail at all, especially on a slow day like Monday. He noticed a neighbor in the hall and had a small short conversation with them. Towards the end they mentioned it was a weird Thursday for them. “Thursday?” he yelled. “Today is thursday?” The woman in the hall looked confused. “Yes, today is Thursday,” she stammered. He ran back in the house and called up the office he was expecting to work at soon. He was supposed to interview for them on Monday and now it was Thursday? They talked for a little while and the man on the other end of the phone told him he was marked as a no call/no show interviewee and they hired the girl instead who showed up. “What girl?” He questioned angrily. The man on the other end of the phone said “Some blonde short haired girl, the boss said she made quite an impression and was actually here- early.” He hung up the phone and slammed it against the wall. He was so frustrated and confused. He had already been fired from his last job and to lose this one to some girl? He was furious. He noticed the flower on the ground and went to it to pick it up. He realized whatever was going on with that flower, was the reason he passed out for days on end without waking. But he wasn’t hungry, or thirsty, or anything. It was like he was only asleep for an hour tops. He had no idea what had happened, but he was determined to find out. He grabbed his coat and left.

Part 6: The Boy

A northern star

I reach out and pull the white light in

I read her directions

It’s complicated

She’s all around me

Nowhere no one knows

It’s hard to see her

A hair similar to fire

She reoccurs and reincarnates every night

I know not of what her lights intel

She’s a keeper of my frozen secrets

I look to you in guidance of escape

There are lost souls in this world

That know nothing but murder hate rape

A body with potential and power

Allow me to shift my position

In moon light's promise and marigold flower

I so swear to use the earth’s grip

And protect the innocent in burdensome lone

Waters from the highest peak sip

And drink it all to unleash the throne

A crowned power emerald colored jewel

Let me sink into this night my own

I look at her and promise

Gold drips from her lips

She’s a queen-goddess-pharaoh-ruler

...Of some sort

I’ll look to her forever

She’s inevitable and present

Any and all endeavor

I look to her

In all forces mighty of nature

She could hurricane or blossom sweet flower

Her intentions come to me with peace

She speaks softly, soft lips at ease

My mind when she walks the earth

She is every tree, leaf, inch of dirt, and drop of water

I see her most clearest form only in moonlight,

Or should I say the light of the stars

And frozen over pond of harsh evil winters in my backyard

She is my greatest curiosity and peace of worship

I hold what she stands for completely in my array

Of thoughts and mannerisms

I do only as she would say

But awaken with a gloomy sky of grey

And a heart sanken

When she disappears in the morning’s eye

I whisper her an ode and kiss her back to sleep

Not by mouth or cheek, but at the feet

A loyal observer and listener

To her heartbeat.

He didn’t always understand what he was writing. The words had a way of just coming out of him and onto the paper. He didn’t even always understand what certain words meant that he used. He’d remember some of them from different dreams he’d had and some were just things that were stuck in his brain that he couldn’t ever get out. They didn’t originate from any place he could pinpoint, but for some reason he got a strange feeling they were important. A lot of the imagery in his writings came from dreams he had. Some of them were recurring dreams that he would dream over and over again for days on end. Some were things he swore he’d seen in little flashpoints throughout his daily routine. Nonetheless, where or how these words found him he had a talent. He was a skinny, bleach blonde colored hair, blue eyed gentle boy. He was only a boy somewhere around 13 or so, and he could write like a grown man who’d been places and seen things. The only place he’d ever been in his young life was his family’s small farm in the Wisconsin area. He worked on his father’s dairy farm from the time he could walk. His parents were simple people who were just focused on making ends meet and staying alive. He didn’t live a bad life by any means, but not an extraordinary one either. His parents loved him very much just as any parents have ever loved their son. Still though, he felt there was much about himself he had to keep hidden from his parents. He wished he could show them his writings and they’d maybe even be proud of him. He had always been a reader and read every book they ever put in front of him. Fast too; he would have been great had he been in school and had help from teachers. Still with all that reading, he was so young to be able to form the poetry he could form. He even knew this himself that his content was mature. He had daydreams of showing his parents and seeing their delight and excitement at the young author they had created. He was aware though, that in reality what they wanted him to focus on was working the farm and getting faster at it. The faster he could do his part the more money they could potentially make. And money to a broke small family in the cold northern states, was unfortunately everything. Still he always found time to sneak a piece of paper out from somewhere and write down his dreams and thoughts and feelings. He thought of it as a great and thrilling escape. His physical body was stuck here doing this boring tasking work, but his mental state? His mind could go anywhere and do anything he’d like. He could be anything and express any emotion or thought and the piece of paper would always think it was appropriate no matter what, unlike his father, because it was just a mere nonliving plane for him to write on. Whenever he had any opinion or feeling that was outside of progress on the farm, appreciation for his parents, or an idea on how to make more money that was realistic, his father wanted nothing to do with it and sternly shut him down every time. His father considered this tough- but necessary love. A way to teach his son values and what should be his priorities. A man without proper priorities wasn’t a man at all. They lived in a small house with the farm in the back and a small pond next to the house, just before all the trees, that would freeze up every winter. He always thought the pond was beautiful and considered it a great inspiration for his writings. He considered elements of nature like water and trees to be very powerful and important. He ate his super and said good night to his folks. He kissed his mother and went to sleep.

She’s a creation straight out of heaven

I see God’s eyes when I look at her

Cathartic

Dark chocolate swirls of hair

My mouth waters

She’s poise; when she poses I stare

I look up she’s above me

Stretches her lips

And the whitest doves fly from her teeth

Rose petals fall off her lips at kisses peak

She’s the top of a mountain

And the view I seek

Her words way bricks on my chest

Heavyset

She’s a gentle nights rest

And happy mornings wake

A float on water

And an ice on skate

I watch her hand tie my stomach into a knot with a bow

As she smiles and walks off

I thread and I sow

A conversation to fancy her ears

She’s caught off guard and pleased

To my blood sweat tears

She meets my advancement

I disform and disfigure in front of her

Each step she takes is enhancement

I can’t breathe

What’s in your heart?

I’ll tell you what’s in mine

Divine beauty pretty lovely

Heart of thousand kisses

She is in mine...always

That night he had a dream of a brunette woman he would come to be infatuated with. In the dream he was a successful author. He had published many books, and more specifically, many poetry books. The woman worked for his publicist in his dream. She was some kind of secretary or maybe receptionist. He envisioned when they first met that night when he was asleep and woke up to write a love poem about her. He would come to have many dreams about her over the next couple years of his life. He was always careful to write down the details of what occurred in his dreams. She was something like his muse as he wrote several more poems about her he’d hoped to publish one day like in his dream. According to all his dreams over the next couple years, he’d be a very successful author and happily married to the woman. His stories and poems would get read for generations and generations after him. Now who exactly she was? He didn’t know. But he always had a feeling he would meet her one day. The next night he would have a dream about a night sky like he had never seen before, and strange feelings of familiarity and senses come to him from it. He woke up to write a short piece that flew out of him. It was like he had read those words before somewhere he couldn’t remember.

I levitate and shift as I wake

To a painted skyline

I give it my soul to take

It has lots of different colored eyes

As souls leave and enter it

And my many different forms rise

It peers down at me

Northern lights green grievance

Power in the stars

I see her and her allegiance

In two different rows from a force of nature

I watch as the sky is tore

I look up to see

And saw the many walks of the ones before

Breathe their breaths before air ever filled my cheek

Die in bloods red stain

From their images I seek

A deeper meaning to their scars

I try to help as I watch her struggle to sleep

She begins to run out of air and sees the stars

It swept her away mighty winds speed

She was like no other I had ever seen

She had cried out in need

In such great pain and strife

Look at its power and see God's eyes

In the strongest color of life

Green lights swept them all away til morning's time

Part 7: The Marigold Flower

“You only get the powers of a witch if all 8 walks of life end up successful,” she read from her book about how witches form. She was raised in the city but moved since. She was adopted and had a happy childhood. Her memories never died though of her birth mother and watching her die in front of her. Never getting to learn how her mother died, she was sent to live in this country and start over for her own protection. That was all she knew about her beginnings. She figured out she had magic pretty quickly and was able to hide it from others. LIke all other witches she found her people quickly too. She grew up with help from older witches who taught her how to use her magic and gave her books. The girl had something she wanted to do using her magic in the present time though. Step number one was to enchant a marigold flower, as the book of spells instructed, to cause the first non magic bearing person to touch it to fall into almost a coma for a short time. Just a couple of days, she thought. Nothing severe. She was in a small shed she made using magic to hold all her books and used to cast spells that were in the trees near her new house. She used a potion and a spell to create the marigold flower and to enchant it. She wrapped it in a neat yellow bow for an extra touch. Then she placed it in a brown box and delivered it herself to the address written on the resume she got from the receptionist. Once all that was complete, she was soon called in for an interview, showed up as early as she could, and got the job. She left smiling feeling proud of herself. Sure she used the help of her magic again, but this time it was for a just reason. Days after this she would see something peculiar and get into a car crash that all changed her path. After these events, the young witch was determined to figure out what these strange occurrences were and what they meant. She still had that strange feeling from before and needed to figure it all out. She believes the green light was sent to her as a signal from her soulmate. Thinking it was some kind of sign. However, lots of elements about that night didn't make sense. Like the car crash, who it was and where the driver went after, the violent shaking of the light and who caused it, much less how it happened. She started a potion from her book of spells to give her powerful insight. A look into what was happening and why. The potion consisted of many elements including a drop or two of her own blood, honey, some wax from a candle she used for spells, carnelian stone for clarity, water from a river, and petals off of an amaryllis flower. All underneath a fire pit. She waited as all the ingredients formed together. As the potion came together she saw storm clouds come in when she looked out the door. She felt a stinging sensation in her throat. She knew something was happening. She went to the potion and looked into it. She was a princess walking up a flight of spiral stairs in a tower. It was her mother holding something wrapped in a cloth. She rewatched her mothers untimely death. Just as she saw her mother’s body hit the floor a loud clap of thunder roared and almost knocked her to her feet. Then she saw the queen grasping onto her mother’s lifeless body and saw herself as a baby screaming behind her. The funeral was shown and then she saw the queen getting locked away after being found responsible for poisoning her. Another roar of thunder could be heard as she stared in horror. Why did she kill her only daughter? The potion changed colors and swirled around. She dips her hand very carefully in the potion and quickly back out. Thoughts suddenly come rushing to her mind. Information she didn’t know before was now there. Her mother's life was reincarnated eight different times. After she was killed by her mother, karma stepped in and cursed her next life to be short lived and a slow painful death. The potion then showed her mother’s soul becoming a new body, changing into a new form. She saw her stand up as a green creature. She was an alien from some other planet the witch had never seen before. The potion swirled faster as she watched the alien’s entire life happen, the corrupt rulers, her choice to rebel and fight for her people, her getting caught, them stripping her mind of almost every memory she had ever made robbed of her incredibly beautiful and futuristic advanced life, her being knocked unconscious sent to live out the rest of her life trapped floating through the broken universe to go insane, and the alien opening her third eye and beaming out an incredibly powerful green light to her for help. The thunder cracked loudly again and this time lightning came down and struck the shed stopping the potion immediately as the girl was thrown about five feet backwards. It took her a little while to get enough strength to stand up. She stood up and tried to shake off the feeling of being thrown. When she felt her strength returning to her she immediately started running. She ran to her house and went inside. She grabbed her car keys and shut the door behind her. Once she was in her car she drove to the spot she had seen the green light. She had no idea what she was doing there or any type of plan to form, she just knew that was the last place her mother’s reincarnated soul tried to contact her for help. She decided at least she could wait there if nothing else in case something happened. Desperate for another sign, she waited for hours. Finally, she was so hungry she felt like she was going to collapse. She decided to go get some food from a nearby diner. That way she was close by and could leave immediately if she felt something. She went to the diner and sat down in a booth. A weird feeling came over her. Was this it? Should she leave? She couldn’t tell if it was a sign or her about to pass out in hunger. A waiter approached her. And this is where fate stepped in. It was none other than her rival. The man she got the job over due largely to her spell. She felt it immediately and was shocked and speechless. So was he as he realized who she was too. He looked around at the very vacant diner to see if his manager was near before sitting across from her. She stared at him confused and not able to decide where this was going. “You’re alright!” he proclaimed. “What?” she asked, lost at what he was talking about. “I thought I might have seriously hurt you..” he stammered as he was rubbing his shaky hands together. “Hurt me?” she questioned. “Look, I’ve got to tell you something, but you have to swear to me you won’t freak out.” he started. “Um..okay?” she said still very lost. “I-I’m the one who..was driving the car that night that hit your car at the intersection up there.” He stuttered as he pointed to the place she had just waited hours at. “You?” She questioned. “It was you who hit me and then just drove off?!” She was irritated, but noticed the condition this man was in and started to feel bad for him. “You're the girl that sent me the package aren’t you?” he questioned. She grew speechless again as she got caught in her tracks. “I know it was you. I don’t know how you did it, but you put something in that packaging or maybe the flower that knocked me out for days! I lost the interview and the job because of you,” he said, making perfect eye contact with her not looking away once. She was stunned and frozen. “How-” she murmured slowly but he cut her off. “How’d I know it was you?” He asked. He held out a small bleach blonde hair he had originally thrown away near her hair and compared the strands. They were identical. “Your hair was caught in the wrappings,” he explained. “Once I woke up and realized what day it was, I called the office. They told me a girl got the job and the girl he described matched your description. Especially the hair color,” he said as he moved the strand of hair from her head and tossed it on the floor. “You have to understand I was angry,” he continued. “I was driving home one night a little while after this and saw and stopped at an intersection. That intersection.” He pointed again to it. “I saw your car in the middle of the intersection just stopped. I had a red light and you had a green light. Yet you were just stopped in the middle of the intersection. Just staring at the light. Blocking the intersection and getting in the way once again. I looked at you and knew who you were.” He went on as he leaned closer and whispered, “I could feel it.” She was getting chills as her mouth hung open slightly from shock. He had begun to creep her out a little. “I started thinking about how I had just gotten fired and how YOU stole the position I was promised. Another opportunity lost. An overwhelming wave of anger came over me you see. Before I knew it my foot was off the brake and on the gas.” She couldn’t believe it. “Next thing I knew,” he continued, “My car was smashed right into your car. I immediately realized I had done something insane and awful. I-I got out of the car and ran to your side door. I looked in to see if you were okay, and I saw you breathing. It looked like you were starting to come to, and I panicked. I got back in my car as quickly as I could and I took off.” He finished. They stared in silence at each other for a good couple of minutes. “I-I’m..so sorry,” He said to her quietly. “It was awful, I was just so furious.” He seemed to be getting emotional and watery in his eyes. She was still in shock but she reached over to the napkins to hand him one. He wasn’t paying attention and reached for one himself as well. Their hands touch and they both feel a very strong and powerful feeling come over them. She felt the same way she did the night of the green light. Staring at him hard for a long time it all connected. The alien was supposedly set to die a painful slow death according to fate. The alien was also from a whole different universe vastly ahead in time of ours. She died before the girl could save her. Then she reincarnated into him! That’s why he looked so dreadful. He was part of the curse from the queen. Both of those lives had dreadful qualities to them and were punishments. As she came to these realizations, the man suddenly began clutching his chest. He was gasping and gasping for air. NO, she thought. Not again, Mom, I just found you! She began to panic and yelled for help. He falls to the floor and dies. Her mother’s life gets reincarnated again to a life her daughter never could find. This is because she is reincarnated, ironically, given her daughter’s history with it, into a single marigold flower.

Part 8: The Pear Tree

Upon a fruit bearer

Grew seven lively branches

All of them the more rarer

Than any other that would come to be

They are interconnected and intertwined

That much was clear to see

Each one of them affected the others lives

From mistakes to glory

From stabbing pains like knives

All different areas in time

Seven souls walked across the line

Of symmetry sown between the grime

They walk on beneath each feet

They are connected not at the hand

But the soul and heartbeat

Connection of powerful blood

They each come from royalty

From the crown down to the rose bud

Strength and magic run through each one’s vein

They face challenges and touch the lives of many

They survived different types of pain

Some lived as legends, others died before fame

Each one special for different reasons

They paint a bigger picture inside the frame

From the sun to the moon

From yin to yang

The symmetry met each other soon

In this we find the eighth life and final one

From the tree of life with its tell all branches

Once the tree itself had passed it was all said and done

The boy had grown up to be a very smart and talented young man. Everything from his dreams had come true. He had moved to the city and searched out a publicist. They loved his stories and, after some minor editing to them, published his stories! When he had become an established author for this publishing company, He met what would be the love of his life. The brunette woman from his dreams. He saw her holding some files and talking to another woman in the office. He recognized her immediately, and from that point on did any and everything in his power to get her to date him. They started dating and fell in love. Years later they were married, and celebrated the success of the young author together. He had children and a heart full of happiness and love. When he died years and years later, he had become quite a famous author. His books would be read for generations and generations to come, just like in his dreams.

In fact, new generations of young witches would study his poems for better understanding of what happened to the two witches he would end up writing all about over the next couple of years. To them, he was something of a witch historian. To normal people, he was an imaginative author and incredible poet. He would go on to write about the girl from the first poem, the witch, and tell all about her life. He wrote that she was discovered to be a witch and kidnapped by a group of men. He wrote that she used her magic to escape and had to flee her loved hometown across the northern United States. She went all the way across the country, with the help of her magic of course, to somewhere in Washington state. Which gave some great insight to what actually happened to what would end up being a famous witch girl. One that normal people considered a legend and dressed up as for halloween in her hometown every year. And one that real witches considered a very powerful monarch and historic figure. One that the boy learned much later towards the end of his life was actually his soul from years before him. He came to understand he had inherited much of her powers too and that's why he could see past and future events he shouldn’t be able to. He discovered through his dreams and visions he was a reincarnation that came after many other different lives before him. Most of which he had written poems and dreamt about as a young boy. This inspired him to write what was one of his last pieces. His tree of life poem. He also learned that the person who is most comfortable out of all the lives and feels most like themselves is the sole born. The rest of the lives are merely different versions of the sole person in different time periods. He is her and she is him. One of his final visions revealed that the last life would be that of a pear tree. Growing fruit to feed the hungry and showing symbolism of the eight different all powerful lives that came to be.