16 Years Ago Our Country Was Attacked. I remember the moment I found out. I had gone to to the Media Center in my high school, we were allowed to go see all the home rooms gingerbread houses we had made, something to bring the students closer together. I had looked up at TV as I knew CNN would be on. And there it was: A PLANE had hit one of the towers. The person sitting there thought it couldn’t be real. As I was watching this news the second tower hit. I and the rest of the class that had gone down rushed back to our Spanish class to let the rest know what happened. We sat there in shock. We were told to turn it off at the end of first period. Many didn’t listen. It filled the news. People panicked. There were lines going many, many blocks at the gas stations. The world had stopped turning for the US that morning. The fear that ran through the country was high. Would their city be next? Top Ten Lists of places that could be hit came out, would they be hit? What more damage was going to happen at the hands of the, then, unknown attackers. The country put their faith in their leaders and their military. And we declared war on terrorism. And we went after those that dare attacked our civilians. Looking back, it was a surreal time. But one thing is for sure, I will NEVER FORGET!

Blink
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In a blink life can change. I sit here in contemplation as I stare out the window on this plane. This flight from change.

I close my eyes and I see my white picket fence, my happily ever after. The ending of my hard lived fairy tale. I fear the change now. I fear what happened after the happily ever after. I closed my fist around the box I have had in my hand this whole journey.

The enclosure that holds a gold band that symbolized the trading of my last name for another. What a trade it was. To shed my past for a future I saw only full of happiness, never imagining the pain it would cause as it changed through the life I was living. I have the papers to make the change back to my old name.

But instead of facing it, I stared at the blacktop roads for hours running from that change, just to get on a plane out of the country to avoid it all. Back to my home, hoping to ignore my failure.

I remember the tense feeling of the room when I walked into my bedroom. I had left work early for a doctor’s appointment. I was pregnant. I saw him with her. I spit out three words ‘We are done.’ I walked out.

But now I flee from the change. I hold the papers but fear signing them. Fear the change it will bring in my life. Perhaps when I stop running I will be able to face it. But for now, I run, to protect my mind as my heart breaks and my soul weeps.

For now I run from change, but I know one day I will have to stop running. But today is not that day.

Transformation
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I look into my mirror. I smile; it is old, centuries old, and mine. I touch up my lipstick, after all, I am about to assert my mask I have created to the masses. My transformation was not an easy one. I came from a lower life form upon this space station, called Earth III, to a twenty-seven-year-old Queen. Well, a queen in my own right. There is not much I can’t obtain now in this new life. From the cleanest of water to actual plants that are so rare, to the rarest of processions, such as my prize horse, Silver Speed. I am due at the studio soon, an interview about my life and how I made it from nothing to everything. I smirk as I snapped my compact mirror shut and take a deep breath. It had nothing to do with the distribution of my books and my music, but due to the last diamond from Earth resting upon my knuckle. As I said my transformation wasn’t easy, with the cost of saying yes, because now after ten years I am finally a widow. The year is 2563 and the fifth revolution for equality ended with hemlock upon one man’s lips and one woman’s sacrificed innocence.

Running

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I sit here at my desk and twirl my elm wand as I create a water lily. Honestly, I do not know why I like that bloody flower, but I do. My husband used to bring me them from the pond he had built just outside our property line. We couldn’t have the pond on the property because of some if the rituals we did. Being necromancers, powerful ones at that, the lilies would have disintegrated into dust every time we did a ritual. Thus, to make sure he could bring me them when he fancied, the pound was built off our property. I flicked my wand and set the water lily ablaze. I roughly wiped the tear that fell down my cheek and stood up and left the study. I was leaving the house. Moving away from the memories. I had never felt so powerless than the night my husband was murdered. A thousand years and my heart still burns. I never saw immortality as a curse until I realized I couldn’t spend it with the love of my youth.

I walked to my car. I snorted as I looked at it. After all, I have been around since before Christ. However, those GPS units are a lot handier than roadmaps, especially when one is alone and can’t read a map and drive. I turned the key and pressed the button to start the directions towards my new home away, finally, from my past.

Six hours later I stopped at a truck stop. I walked in, used the restroom, and walked around the place to stretch. Almost twenty-five hundred years old, though I barely look twenty, I need to move my limbs more than a standard mortal. I snorted at the choppers that one would see on television. Why would anybody need that? But the place had everything from twine to glass and plastic trinkets. Why I would never understand and I had spent centuries being a nomad.

I soon grabbed some water and snacks, paid for them and my gas, and left. Strange places truck stops, all walks of life gather there, reminds me of watering holes in ancient times. I drove off shaking myself out of the thoughts of my past.

Thirty hours later, and a few more stops, I parked in front of my new home, sleek, modern, and across the country. So different than any other house I owned. Running from my past, mostly. I stood in the back yard with my elm wand pointed to the ground, and created ad pond with water lilies. My only reminder of my past. But then again, I always had a soft spot for the flower my husband gave me, always. For eternity… just like I would live. Immortality had never seemed a curse… until it was.

Copyright Katherine Rochholz AKA a crazy little creature I made up long ago!

Alats- They are funny little creatures they talk in their own way; they are never more than a few inches high.  They are cousins of the brownies.  Except where the brownies are helpful, Alats are destructive most of the time.  Now they can be tamed and helpful just like the brownies, but most are playful, and want to play and wreak havoc. Their fur is a bright pink, their heads shaped like a humans but with a cat’s nose and ears. Alats like to play common everyday things like string and little tin toys.

Bare
Katherine Rochholz
Copyright 2017

Sometimes I lay awake
Sometimes I feel like giving up
Sometimes I feel completely fake
Sometimes thoughts overflow the cup
Sometimes I just need to call you
Sometimes I just need to cry
Sometimes nothing I know is true
Sometimes I am forced to say goodbye
Sometimes I just need to see you
Sometimes drinking to forget makes it worse
Sometimes I don’t know how to make it through
Sometimes life feels more like a curse
Sometimes I feel like I am drowning
Sometimes I don’t want to continue on
Sometimes the pain is so loud in its howling
Sometimes my life seems to crumble like Babylon
Sometimes I lay awake
Sometimes I feel like giving up
Sometimes I feel completely fake
Sometimes thoughts over flow the cup

Elemental Mazes Excerpt:
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