Lily Martinson

being in good company at long last. Because Bellamy no longer worked at the [airport]. No longer lived at her [apartment]. No longer knew a [Milo]. This life, like so many of her other lives, couldn’t be allowed to exist anymore, or they would all come tumbling down down [down] on top of her, pressing against her chest until breath was a distant memory. Bellamy’s mind was the library of Alexandria, vast and beautiful and aflame, ashes fluttering around her eyes and lips. But it was okay, really, she reminded herself. This happened a lot, this outburst-relocation-repeat song and dance. Right now, she had to focus on her escape. Bellamy reached for her [phone] [keys] and added the company-issued [laptop] to her bag for later. While the other workers struggled to register what had just happened—Bellamy, quiet, vacant-eyed [Bellamy]! Did harm to the only person who could draw her out of her shell, the only person to whom she ever spoke!—she was dashing for the [door], getting herself thoroughly lost in the bustling crowd of travelers. She looked around for a [ticket] to anywhere —Baltimore, Philadelphia, the sunken city of Atlantis for all Bellamy cared—and spotted one in no time. She slipped it out of its owner’s jeans pocket, skipped [security] in an awkward maneuver that involved someone’s hot latte and some quick thinking, and was on the [plane] before the ticket was even missed. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. 54321. It wasn’t working. Bellamy was only grounded by the familiar, the things that were supposed to exist, but this sudden exit was new and unexpected. Her eyes became glassy, her expression vague. When the flight attendant offered her a refreshment, she nearly attacked him too. Bellamy was a fugitive now. A runaway. Her eyes brimmed with distrust. No one dared sit next to her, and it was a good thing, too. She might have hurt them just like she hurt … well, you know. Unfortunately, she still had a few hours of her [flight] left before her destination would enter the world. So Bellamy looked out her [window] as she forced her mind blank and admired the view from above. Watched the [land] below, exploding into vibrant being and then flickering out as Bellamy’s [plane] passed by.

A Hidden Soul

Lily Martinson

The day was somber and dreary. Ridley could tell a storm was coming, for the sky was darkened with clouds and all the creatures of the woods had vanished. Heading up the hill to the house he heard the Master’s hideous scream yelling at him to come or face a brutal beating.

He had been a servant to the Master for more than a year now, with the Master becoming ever more tortuous than before. After long hours every day, Ridley would stumble back to his room in the attic, eat some mostly smushed potatoes, if he was lucky, and collapse onto a makeshift bed immediately falling into a deep slumber.

When he was just a boy, his mother died and not long after his father abandoned Ridley and his two sisters and three brothers. After that, the sisters were taken in by the nuns to be turned into proper citizens and the brothers found work at factories away in the big cities. Thirteen year old Ridley, having nowhere to go, began a life as a thief, living off of scraps and sleeping in the musty and dark alleyways of the town. Two years later, he was caught for stealing a loaf of bread and wound up at the Master’s for punishment. Ridley spent his next year sweeping floors, preparing meals, and climbing the steep hill on his way back from gathering wood.

Once Ridley finally reached the top, he saw the Master’s house with its dusty shutters and rickety door that screamed in agony every time it was opened. A wire fence that was half rusted wound all the way around the property leaving a tiny gap where a gravel pathway led up to a very unstable front porch. Behind the house, there was a shed and wood pile that needed chopping and on the left side there was a circular brick wall covered head to toe with ivy. The Master had forbidden Ridley to enter this mysterious place but every night he would watch the Master from his attic window go through a door in the wall with a pair of clippers and return an hour later.

Just then the Master shouted for Ridley again. He ran inside and stopped before the Master. The Master was a rather portly man around his fifties. He had silvery hair and a bushy mustache. He had on a suit and in the pocket of it, a freshly cut white rose. Ridley noticed the whip that had slapped him many times, resting at the side of the Master.

“Get dressed,” said the Master sternly, “We have guests”

“Yes sir,” replied Ridley as he headed upstairs to change. He put on the dusty suit that was his father’s, combed his hair, and patched up the holes in his shoes.

A while later arrived two guests: a plump lady with a towering wig and extravagant dress and a man, who looked similar to the Master, who wore a top hat and carried a cane. Ridley took their coats but stopped when he heard the two whispering.

“Do you have to do this?” whispered the lady.

“Yes” replied the man, “Business must go on and he’s hogging all my workers! All competition is to be eliminated.”

Perplexed, Ridley quickly set down the coats and led them to the dining room then went back to the kitchen to receive the food. The Master and the guests were chattering away when he came back. “Ridley,” said the Master, “Why don’t you bake that cake that you made for my birthday for our guests.”

“That would be wonderful!” exclaimed the lady, “I do love cake.”

“Absolutely!” said Ridley, eyeing the whip. He found it strange that the Master wanted a cake. When he had made one last time it took a tremendously long time but the Master still took one bite and threw it out the window saying it tasted like dirt. Suspicious, Ridley walked to the kitchen and pretended to bake a cake, then tiptoed back to the dining room to eavesdrop.

“The boy’s been with me for a year now.” exclaimed the Master. He had a

fake smile across his face, “Nice boy but sometimes stubborn. I do my best to please him while still fulfilling his punishment.”

“I thought his punishment only lasted two months.” questioned the man.

“Er… Yes! I pay him now. Very well too, almost five pieces a day!” said the Master. At that Ridley stepped back startled. He should have been set free ten months ago! He thought about running, for the Master no longer controlled him, but then an idea slowly formed in his head. A sly smirk spread across his face. Ridley would run away but first have revenge, on the pain he’d been through, on the Master, on his life. . . . . The glittering key shone bright wedged between the two planks. This was where the Master had hidden it after his midnight ritual. The clippers, with its sharp steel blade, lay beside the key.

“Take it!” thought Ridley, “Take it! Take it! Take it!” He quickly snached the key and clippers and took off running to the forbidden wall. The key slid smoothly into the lock and Ridley pushed the door open. Inside was a magnificent sight. White roses grew all the way around the wall and up to the arch at the top. In the center was a basin of water where more roses floated like swans completely covering it.

Ridley slowly moved across the stone floor over to the basin. He watched the roses glide through the water. Just then all the roses parted, leaving one rose still floating in the middle. Ridley’s hand shifted to the clippers. He reached out and cut the rose. Before he could grab it, the rose was rapidly pulled down into the murky water of the basin. Slowly a blurred image appeared in the basin. After a while Ridley realized that it showed the Master, and the Master was whipping him. Ridley quickly cut another rose. The next image showed the Master throwing the cake out the window and the next of the Master burning Ridley’s mother’s quilt, the only thing he was allowed to keep. Ridley cut every last rose and each showed an image of the Master’s evilness. When he was finally finished the basin started bubbling and all the roses emerged again only this time they were wilted. All that was left were some rotting petals and sharp thorns. All of a sudden the roses on the wall wilted too. The petals fell off one by one and the thorns lengthened twice their size.

Ridley knew he must escape and lunged for the door, but before he could run, it slammed open and standing there was a man wearing a suit and holding a whip. It was the Master.

“Do you know what you have done!” the Master screamed, “No person shall cut my soul and not pay!”

Ridley was frozen with fear but finally gathered his courage.

“You are the one who needs to pay! You’ve labored and tortured and cheated me, but I’m free now. I’ll never work for a despicable man like you again!”

The Master's face turned white but then changed into a sly smirk. “You’re not free, you foolish boy, you’re trapped. Trapped here in my soul garden… with no escape.” The Masters whip cracked. Ridley looked wildly around for an exit but found the Master right. Panicked, he hurled the clippers at the Master. They soared through the air and landed right in the middle of his head. He fell down with a thud. The Master was dead. Ridley raced out as fast as he could but in his rapidness he ran into the side of the wall. Thorns dug into his leg as he screamed in agony. Limping Ridley made his way toward the woods. Needles shot through his body tearing him apart. Every bit of him felt like it was being ripped to shreds. Being whipped to death by the Master would have been ten times better. Still Ridley had to keep going. Once deep in the thicket of the woods he stopped to rest.

“Why did I do it?” he muttered, “Why didn’t I just run away?” Why? Why? Why? Why? Ridley regretted everything he had ever done. He was a criminal once again, only now a murderer. The police would take him away and send him to a different Master. Only… the police didn’t know. Ridley could start a new life. One he controlled. One in a different town. One away from the dead body of the master.

“Free.” whispered Ridley, “Free, Free, Free! Free! FREE!” Joy flooded him. Was this what freedom felt like? Ridley had never been happier in his life. His heart swelled as big as a balloon, but all of a sudden it stopped