

NdinonziMy name is Rufaro. I'm turning nine soon. I like going to school, even though I have to walk a long time to get there, because I can meet my friends. Some of them are from other villages, and I wouldn't see them if I didn't go. I like some of my teachers. Ms Machegutu is very nice. She says I'm a good pupil, and maybe I can go to high school if my grades are good. I don't think I will, Baba doesn't make enough money. He gets drunk very often, Amai says it's because times are hard. I don't understand. Times have always been hard.Ndinonzi
My name is Tendai. I'm 22. I've been living in the capital for 4 years now. Even though I have my A-le


Warworld pt 1"Remind me what the fuck we're doing down here again," said Sam, wiping the rest of the powder off her nose. She gave her fingertip a cursory glance and, after a second, rubbed it onto her gums.Warworld pt 1
"It's called a Pulitzer, baby girl," I said, crushing the cigarette butt beneath my heel. "Once this shit hits the press, we're gonna be famous. Hey, you think Kelly Ripa looks like she gives good head?"
Sam snorted. "That skinny-lipped, wide-mouthed bitch? Puh-lease, Max." She sniffed loudly a few times as her body fought the screaming effects of the drugs. "Seriously though, fuck, what makes you think they're


Warworld pt 2"Okay," said Sam. "That, I didn't see coming." Mr. Ayres grinned savagely. "Magnificent, isn't she?" My tongue suddenly felt very clumsy and dry in my mouth. I swallowed as best I could and muttered something that could have been an agreement. Annaor rather, Artemis walked slowly, confidently, to the center of the arena floor as the animals backed away in response, snarling balefully at her. She began to turn in a steady circle, hunched low to the ground, twirling the javelin slowly above her head as the spectators waited with bated breath to see who would strike first. &nbsWarworld pt 2


CHAIN 4: International Tag TRANSLATION CHAIN 4CHAIN 4: International Tag
* You don't have to be an expert to join in here! Chain 4 is all about playing and having fun, experimenting and trying things out. :)
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* Anyone can join in!
* Have fun!
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ORIGINAL TEXT:
FO


Voices From A Distant StarLog:: 24-08-2012 2139 Luna, Sol SystemVoices From A Distant Star
I don't know how you will ever receive this, but I'm transmitting this through every imaginable coded channel in the hopes that whatever cosmic perfection that brought you to me will somehow carry this message through the years and the stars to wherever you are.
I miss you.
Find me. Please.
Log:: 31-08-2012 1527
!!!
Log:: ??-??-???? XXXX Unk.
Dearest,
I am here. I never left you. I am here.
The Exodus begins soon. The Teachers shall leave us to our own, and we will go


CHAIN 1 : HomesickOriginal Poem: HomesickCHAIN 1 : Homesick
By Salli Shepherd (salshep)
Do not let them see you blink, Mother said, so I am careful to turn away when my eyes dry out. My grip on the brush is clumsy. Colours speck and dazzle, slop like foam on rocks;
the teacher dabs their brilliance from my flaking arms. Children whisper
behind starfish hands; they go to play in the bright, hot yard but I stay in, as Mother told me. Below the window theres a tank of golden fish that circle, circle, following their own reflections.
I dip my fi
Frutti di Mare

WaspsMy nets, screen doors, pins in a matchbox and vials on the lab bench do not keep the wasps away. I feel antennas on my hand, the creeping legs on my ankle. I hear buzzing under flickering light. Wasps have murals of Babylon on their abdomens, the black roofs against the yellow stretch of sunlight. They smother the insides of my walls, press the insulation aside with tiny segment claws, whisper their wings against the wires. They lay their larvae in the wood, I hear the house creak with their writhing bulk and I try not to breathe as their antennas twitch out of the cracks and I do not breathe until the morning.Wasps
I don't go outside


Fractions of Infinity"******, is it?" she said. "That's an unusual name."Fractions of Infinity
It was strange to hear this woman say my name. Not the words themselves -I had become used to hearing people say it was a odd name- but the way she said it. I couldn't put my finger on it, but hearing her voice was like picturing a snake in the tall grass: coiled and ready to strike. Each word was the gleam of a cold eye, each inflection the quick dart of a tounge. Prodding. Probing.
Tasting.
I snuck a glance at the swell of her breasts, nestled in the white fabric. She caught me staring and I quickly looked away. She smiled, then, revealing perfectly


Tracking the Heartbeats21:00 - Tracking the heartbeats through sonarTracking the Heartbeats
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
At this point, I have to remind myself to keep breathing. Micromanaging even the most
natural of bodily functions is tiring and monotonous, but it keeps me awake. Alert. Alive.
I know that if I drift off, I die.
There is a steel rod through my left thigh, disturbingly close to my girly parts. My right arm
is currently bent at a 90 degree angle. The bad kind. Every attempt I make to even shift my body in the slightest way is rewarded by a meteor shower of pain blazing an


In Sickness and in HealthIt had seemed like such a good idea at the time. Dr Surya thought back to the bustling cities and their happy people now ghost towns where those few still living hid at home or lay dying in understaffed hospitals. If she had realised sooner what was going on maybe there would have been some chance. After all, she was one of the lead chemists in the Project, and that had to count for something. There was a cold breeze through a crumbled hole in the wall and Dr Surya pulled a blanket more tightly around her shoulders. Its fabric was worn and tattered but it was the cleanest she could find and it seemed to reflect her emotionaIn Sickness and in Health


Dry Clean OnlyThere is nothing on earth I abhor more than laundry day. It is the eater of a thousand productive hours, the devourer of days on end. Each moment of procrastination, from the point at which you first start looking very carefully at a shirt that any rational person would discredit as dirty, to the point where you no longer have any other underwear to turn inside out feeds the beast, waiting for that enviable day off, when you naively think to yourself:Dry Clean Only
“Well, I’ve got a little time to kill, might as well do a little laundry.”
Next thing you know, it’s 10 years later and the man who used to be the kid next door is goin


The Ones Who RememberWE ARE THE ONES WHO REMEMBER. So I was told, and so I tell you. We are the immortality of countless people. I live on a Craft whose purpose is to observe dying planets and people. Usually, the people know they're all about to die. We travel to them, live briefly among them in disguise. Learn about them. And so, though we cannot save the planet, we save some of what it was. For posterity, I guess. The memory capability of the Craft is immense. I've never seen any other so grand as our own. Though some government Crafts migThe Ones Who Remember
Candy