Hero stories 1

Heroes EN GLISH 6, PROCIVITAS LUND

KAPITEL 1

The Woman I Knew Was Strong Everything started with a love for a beautiful strong woman.

It was the 10th of December and cold. The snow was placed on the ground as a soft sheet and I went for a coffee after work. There she was, the love of my life, Mila Cullins. She was the most wonderful woman and had a very special view on the world, she would constantly take care of the earth. All its nature and her fellow human beings. A warm-hearted person simply, that's what I liked with her.The sad thing was that she had a husband. And not anybody, without the best chemist in the city. They were happy together, it could be seen, but Mila was constantly in the shadow of him.

The 11th december I read in the newspaper that Al Knight had come up with a serum that would gain access to a higher percentage of the brain capacity. I guess that was what Mila and Al celebrated last night. It must be dangerous. We who are chemists should realize that you should never experiment with your brain and its assets. What does Mila actually see in him? I suppose love takes over the issue of security and leads to stupidity. If I was her husband and loved her I would never had put her in such a big danger.

A week later, the 18th december I was out to buy some christmas present. I walked down the Glisten street and I was so busy carrying the Christmas presents without slipping on the snow that I went straight into a woman. Or it turned out, she was more unaware than I was and walked right into me. Â I looked up and said sorry. Then I realized it was Mila. And at the same time I did that discovery my hand started shaking, not of the cold, but because I got nervous.

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She looked at me and I could see the fear in her eyes. She pulled me into a back street to tell me what could be the beginning of an end. The end of all civilization. She told me how Al had tested the new serum and gained access to a higher brain capacity and information that could not leak to the general public. She was scared and devastated. He was very aggressive and almost vicious according to Mila. When the dose was over, he could not wait for the next one. That's why she was looking for me, she had found me in a magazine for chemists, and was hoping that she and I could stop him.

After two weeks, Mila and I had been working together to stop Al. For each dose of the serum he took, the percentage of the brain capacity increased and he became more dangerous. He couldn't  be stopped and he became increasingly dangerous. He emptied money with his intelligence with IT and data. He gained access to much more than an individual ever will have access to. After all, this was the two best weeks of my life. Mila and I came closer to each other through long working days and long evenings. When Mila was afraid, she could lean on my shoulder, leading to one and another kiss. I loved her. If she only knew.

We had a plan. In the end of the day, we had a serum with counteracting effect. A kind of death's serum that shuts down one nerve after another. It was unfortunately necessary, Al could not be stopped in another way.

Mila ran home to Al hoping he could take her back. He opened the door and she cried and told how much she loved him. He was normal for once. Not crazy or threatening, probably his dose had ended. I had a watchful eye on them. Al sat in a chair explaining how much he had missed Mila and that they could take the next dose together. Mila said she would do everything for him. Al ask Mila, in confidence, to replenish a new dose with the serum. Mila went to the kitchen, completed a new dose, but in this case it was the death serum. She sat down in the chair beside him and slowly pushed the needle into his arm. She injects half the serum before Al understands that it is the wrong serum, he takes out the syringe rapidly and splits into Milas arm.

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In that moment I could see one nerve after the other locked down. Her eyes looked one last time at me through the window. I started crying, but at the same time I was happy. Her eyes told me “I did it. I am a hero”. I looked at here and whispered “You are a hero. My hero”.

The story of Kian Hians, the chemistry of the Liberty State. Dedicated to my beloved Mila Cullin.

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KAPITEL 2

Human VS Donut This story takes place in the year of 2017, and the earth has been taken over by Spacedonuts. These evil creatures come from the planet Donutverse, in a galaxy far far away.

When the Spacedonuts came to earth 4 years ago to take over the planet, there was one special donut that did not like the idea of taking over planet after planet.

And he’s name was, xxxDonutDude. So when the Spacedonut king ordered all the Spacedonuts to take over the planet of earth, xxxdonutdude ran away from the other Spacedonuts to a secret planet that only he know exists.

The Spacedonuts had full control over earth but there are still some humans that were fighting against the Spacedonuts. There are different rebel groups around the world. North America's group is called “Angry Mericans”. South America’s group call themselves “Loco Burritos”. Scandinavia also got a rebel group and there name is “Modern Vikings”. Almost every continent and group of people had a rebel group except of France, Spacedonuts really hate France for some reason. So France was the first country that they exterminated.

But there was something that the Spacedonuts did not count with, meanwhile they were busy taking over the earth, xxxdonutdude have been building an army of small robots and he also got in contact with the leader of the rebel group Loco burritos. Loco burritos leader was called “Juan”. Juan also had a big army of both humans and robots.

Together xxxdonutdude and Juan were unstoppable. They thought so at least.

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When both xxxdonutdude and Juan had their armies ready they started to plan the attack against the Spacedonuts. The plan was to get all the Spacedonuts that were on the earth in one place, and to make that happen Juan and some other scientist build a huge magnet, they called it the “Donutmagnet 9000”. When the magnet turns on it will begin to drag all the Spacedonuts towards the magnet, and also paralyses them for about 10 minutes. And when all the Spacedonuts are in the trap, the humans can kill them without worrying that the Spacedonuts will attack.

So the day came, the day that they all had been waiting for. Juan and his army started the donutmagnet 9000 and they were very nervous, but also exited. Suddenly they heard a sound from a far distance. It was the Spacedonuts that came flying through the sky and got paralysed when they came near the magnet. So Juan and his army started to attack the Spacedonuts and it worked perfectly, at first. But after a few minutes the paralysing effect wouldn’t work, so the Spacedonuts started to fight back and it became a bloody battle. Juan thought for himself “Where the hell is xxxdonutdude”. And two seconds later xxxdonutdude and his army of robots came flying from the sky and they killed all the Spacedonuts in just a few minutes. Xxxdonutdudes robots were so powerful that the Spacedonuts had no chance to defend themselves.

Juan and xxxdonutdude started to celebrate their victory and they decided to have a huge party and invite everyone from all the rebel groups around the world.

They had a big barbeque party and everyone enjoyed themselves. Juan pulled xxxdonutdude to the side and said “how can we thank you xxxdonutdude for helping us save our planet?” xxxdonutdude answered by saving “you don’t need to thank me in any way, I will now travel to another planet that needs my help, goodbye earth”. And so he left. Juan promised himself to tell the story about how a great warrior came from space and helped the humans destroy the evil Spacedonuts to his children and grandchildren, so they could tell the story to their children and so on.

Now the people of earth could start rebuilding their society and live happily ever after.

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KAPITEL 3

The Loveman This story is about the Loveman, actually named Axwuel. He is living in a big house in a small village outside Miami with his wife Roberto and his daughters Louise and Caroline.

Already as a child. Axwuel started to be interested in couples of the same sex.

He saw that same-sex marriage couples were treated differently compared to “ordinary” couples and he wanted to do something to change the situation. When Axwuel came up in the teenage years he started being interested in boys himself.

He was fascinated that two persons with the same sex could love each other more than just being friends, sisters or brothers.

In Axwuel’s family it was unacceptable to be homosexual. His dad was saying that homosexuality was a disease that every person in the world was afraid of, and when you once got it you never could be healthy from it.

Axwuel had been dating girls before he understood that he was homosexual.

But in every relationship he had, it didn’t feel right to 100%. It was something that felt wrong and he needed to end all his relationships. Until one day. A guy in another class moved in just three houses from Axwuel’s family. The guy was named Roberto. Roberto was in the same age as Axwuel and they start having company with each other to the school. They soon became really good friends and one day Axwuel knew that he was in love with Roberto. He told Roberto how he felt and Roberto explained that he felt the same for Axwuel.

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Roberto and Axwuel soon became the first guys in the school that had a relationship of the same sex. Axwuel did also understand what it was that he had missed in the other relationships he had with the girls. He was missing a boy. He didn’t say anything to his father about the relationship until he was 18 years old.

His dad flipped out and said that he wasn't welcome in his house anymore. Axwuel did not have any money and neither a good education apart from high school.

But he was lucky. Roberto’s family was really rich and thought it was really fun that Roberto had found a nice guy like Axwuel. They bought a apartment for the young boys and after Roberto graduated from Harvard's Law Program, Axwuel started to lecture about homosexuality in schools around the country..

Axwuel was contacted by many newspapers and had many requests doing interviews with different media. He was just 22 and the whole USA knew him as the LoveMan who was spreading love to everybody.

Axwuel’s dad began to contact him again and ask him if he could do a lecture for him too. Axwuel went home to his parents and gave them an hour of education about what homosexuallity really is. His dad began crying directly after the presentation and said that he was sorry for all the years they had lost, and also that he felt sorry for not accepting that Axwuel was homosexual. It was on this day that Axwuel came up with the following quote: “It’s always possible to get a person to understand that wrong is not right”.

When Axwuel turned 25 he married Roberto as the first same-sex couple in the state they were living. The state is still unknown because R & A didn’t want to be famous because it was the first same-sex wedding. At the age of 30 years Roberto and Axwuel adopt two twins from South Africa.

Axwuel is now working as a professor in homosexuality. He is seen as a hero by many people fighting for equal rights regardless of sexual orientation. He is known as The LoveMan and also as the first person ever fighting for the issue. Once a week Axwuel flies to or takes the car to a school somewhere in the world and teaches the kids what is right.. He is doing this on his own expense, since it’s so important to him.

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Axwuel’s and Roberto’s kids, Caroline and Louise are now 16 years and Caroline has a boyfriend called Mark. Louise is spending her spare time researching about equal rights and LoveMan is still fighting for his thing and will be doing so throughout his life.

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KAPITEL 4

The Mad Hero It has been five years since my father mysteriously disappeared, all I know is that I must hide in this forest. I used to train a lot with my friends when we were younger, but I haven’t seen them for many years. What is the purpose of the sword I wield? I suppose it is to protect my mother, she is the only member left in my family.

“Hey son, could you get me some mushrooms down the river”? I quickly stood up and replied with “of course”.

My mother hands me a basket and I set off to fetch some mushrooms. Suddenly I hear a loud scream, I can immediately tell whose voice it is, it is my mother! I drop my basket and sprint faster than ever across the forest, I tumble on roots as I try to make my way forward. To my surprise I see my mother being carried away by a man, wearing a black mask and covered in dark attire. Who the hell are you, I ask while unsheathing my sword. Suddenly I'm surrounded by hundreds of soldiers. He turned around and faced me. “Have you not heard of me? Maybe that’s because you’ve been living in this forest for so long. My name is Darkos, he said as he lowered my mother down from his shoulders.

You better let my mother go now or else you’ll pay! Darkos starts laughing. “You’re in no position to make demands boy, look around you, you are completely surrounded.”That is what you think Darkos, but a challenge does not faze me! Infuriated I run towards Darkos with the only intention of shoving my sword in his chest to save my mother. Darkos unsheathed his sword and ran towards me, we clashed. I look forward, Darkos face is right in front of me. I look down and see a lot of blood, I think I got him!. Then I take a closer look, and I realize that it 9

wasn’t his blood, but mine. “The weak ones have no place in this world” I hear as I fall to the ground. I can feel the ground shaking, before I go unconscious and everything goes black.

As I wake up, I can hear two voices, voices that are somehow familiar to me.

My vision is blurred and I can barely see anything, considering the warmth I guess I'm inside a house, or a hut of some kind.“Look Dan he’s waking up” Finally, we have been waiting for three days after all. Three days I though, has it really been three days? Who are you guys, I asked. Dan starts laughing. “Do you not remember your childhood friends”? Wait… I remember that voice, could it be Dan and Linda? I have not seen Dan and Linda for many years. I trained with them when I was younger, Dan is a tall young man with dark hair. While Linda on the other hand is a short woman with long blonde hair. They are my childhood friends who suddenly disappeared, I have considered them my best friends. But they are dead, are they not?

“I take your silence as if you do not know what I'm talking about, it’s Dan and Linda you dummy” Linda said. I was shocked, if this was under normal circumstances I’d stand up and hug my friends, but I have no time to overreact, who knows where Darkos has taken my mother. Wait.. But where have you guys been all this time? I glanced at Linda as she took a deep breath, before finally uttering a sentence. “Well, a little bit of here and there, the world is not like it used to be, Darkos has almost taken over all the cities in the country, we have been hiding in the shadows all this time” I'm really glad that you guys are alright, but my mother was kidnapped by Darkos, do you know where he has taken her? Dan starts talking. “I would not say that I know the exact location, but rumour has it that Darkos takes his prisoners to work in a mine south from here, there is a possibility that she is there.” I look down at my chest and rip off the bandages, my wound has been mysteriously healed but it has left a big scar on my chest. Alright, I have a plan, we go by sunset, then we can free the prisoners and take back my mother without going into a full-scale battle.

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Both Linda and Dan nodded, even though they know firsthand how dangerous Darkos was, they still decided to aid me in my quest. *A few hours later we arrived in front of the mine* From a distance we see four soldiers, each one carrying a torch while patrolling and guarding the entrance. Dan, Linda, you guys take the ones on the right, I will handle the ones on the left. As I sneaked forward, I completely blend in with the darkness. I reach for my back pocket and unsheath a dagger, which will prove much more useful than my sword in situations like these. I got behind one of the guards, and stabbed him in the throat while holding his mouth. One guard down, now onto the next one… I look at the other guard and we made eye contact, he saw me, even though I'm barely visible. My reflexes took action and I immediately threw my dagger at him, impaling his skull. It seems as if Linda and Dan completed their task as well. My heart is still pounding from the adrenaline, but I'm not done yet, this is only the beginning. I'm walking towards Dan and Linda when something suddenly comes to my mind. “Guys, take their uniforms, we will need them, as well as the keys they carry. We alone are not enough to defeat Darkos, but what if we free all the slaves to cause chaos and then go after him?” Linda and Dan nodded. Disguised as guards, we start walking down the cave. I see a lot of different cells, and many workers. But no guards, how come? Well, nevermind I thought, as I start to open cells. After a short period of time, almost all workers were free, but I unfortunately lost Dan and Linda in the chaos, but after carefully evaluating the situation, I decide that I should go look for my mother instead of finding my friends.

I run past many prisoners as I try to make it forward, after following a lot of paths, which all lead to a dead end, I finally find a room. I carefully grab the door handle and open the door. I walk closer, and I see someone hanging from a rope.

Unsure of who it is, I walk even closer. Upon closer inspection, I see a familiar face, almost too familiar. It’s my mother.. I'm shocked, I fall to the ground on my knees, tears start to drop from my cheeks. I crawl closer to her dead body, and then, the lights suddenly turn on. I see Darkos sitting on a throne, and Linda & Dan standing by his side, followed by his army standing in front of him. I can see Dan and Linda smirking at me.

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By using every ounce of strength I got, I finally uttered a few words. Da-a-an, Lin-n-nda? What is this? Why are you standing side by side with him? He killed my mother!

Linda looked at me with her fierce empty eyes before she started talking. “We have been with Darkos for a long time, and we are no longer the friends you used to know, he showed us the righteous path, and taught us how to be strong.” But why did she have to die?? I responded with tears. Darkos stood up and responded.

“Because she was weak! We will create a new era where only the strong may live!

Weak people like your mother would only hinder us from creating the perfect world!” Without me noticing, my tears stopped. My mother didn’t die because she did something wrong, she died for nothing! She died because she was considered weak! If I only possessed more strength, then this wouldn’t have happened!! The people I’ve considered my closest friends are now my enemies, I'm completely alone, At that moment, something inside me broke, I couldn’t feel despair nor sorrow, I only felt anger rushing through me, and the darkness I felt made me much stronger. I grab my sword with such force, that the handle starts breaking into my hand.

Full of anger I rushed towards Darkos slashing every soldier on my way to him.

By the way Darkos described his ideology that there’s isn’t room for the weak, I thought they were stronger. Without any afterthought I slashed both Linda and Dan. Darkos stands up and attacks me, but it’s futile, my new power is beyond his understanding. Killing you Darkos, is something that has to be done, for all of us.

Yea, this is how it should be, Darkos responded. The weak deserve to die, and the strong deserve to live. You know what Darkos, you’re actually right, and right now you’re the one that’s weak, I said as I pierced his heart. I pick up Darkos sword and sit on his throne. Today a new era begins, I say, while raising my sword.

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KAPITEL 5

The Lost Hero “In the ruins of a big city, our hero awakens.”

The last thing I remember is being engulfed in darkness, pleading and screaming for the light.

I reached for it, and when I finally reached it I ended up here. As I try to collect my thoughts, the only things I do realise is that haven`t got a clue as to who I am, where I am or why. The only thing I have going for me is that I believe in destiny, that everything happens for a reason. Following that logic, I derive that I am here for a reason. I stand up and inhale. As the air enter my lungs I expect it to be refreshing, but in actuality I cannot feel the air passing through my lungs. My thoughts were cut short as I noticed a large shard of glass in front of me. Through the glass I can see me, when I see me, I get startled, so much in fact that I jump back. It`s not because I am ugly, it`s because “me” is a blue glowing ghostly thing.

As I am about to throw a rock at my reflection I hear someone crying, approximately 100 meter to my left, I have no idea how I knew the exact location, but my legs did not let me think it through. I rushed to the location, my body knew what to do, even if I did not. As I close in on the sorrowful sound I see a big capsule burrowed half way into the ground. Through the foggy window of the capsule I see a girl, her hands are in front of her face, somehow I know that she is terrified, somehow I also know that I need to help her, or rather that I have a urge to do so.

While scrutinizing the capsule I notice a button located on the top of the capsule. I also see a tree beside the capsule, fitting the pieces together in my head, a plan is starting to form. I run towards the tree and swing myself up, now at the top of the tree I jump onto the capsule, and press the button on top of it. The capsule is quite slippy, as such I can feel myself slipping and soon falling to the ground. As I 13

stand up again and start to dust myself off, I see a figure emerging from the capsule. I put on my most dazzling smile and greet her in a heroes fashion “Greetings my fair lady”. The lone girl replied by looking as if she had seen a ghost, which honestly hurt me. The fog has started to clear out, and I can finally make out her face. Beautiful blue eyes, long brown hair, everything about her makes me want to protect her. She looked straight at me and asked while stuttering, “hello mr ghost, where is my mom and dad, what happened to our city?” City I said while looking around me, oh you mean these ruins, hard to believe they used to be a city though, I hoped that you would tell me how they came to be, ruins do not appear from nothing. Heeeey, wait a sec, did you call me a ghost? well, that explains my ghostlike appearance. The girl stumbled on her own feet and suddenly started to cry again.

Hey lady, what is the matter, did you remember something? She tried to say something, but it would not come out the way she wanted to. Okay, we can start by sitting down and taking a breather I said as I sat down beside her. I turned my head to my left and watched her correcting her posture.

She began talking, this time she managed to speak clearly, and I heard every word she said. “A bomb struck, we were told it would, way too late. My dad, he managed to secure me, in a shelter he had created for such situations, he surely had one for himself and my mother as well, but it all happened so fast”. Before she could finish her story, I could hear a strange sound to my right, it sounded like a twisted grunt which made the blood inside my veins freeze. I could feel the thing closing in on us. 500 meters, 300 meters and now I can feel it behind the corner of the house at my right. As the thing came into our vision, the lone girl started to scream in a voice filled with despair. I could feel my legs shake as I saw the strange thing appear in front of us, but my body knows that keeping her safe is my call, my purpose. As I expect it to take a leap at me, it takes a leap through me instead, right onto the lone girl. How could I be so stupid, I am a ghost, of course the beast would pass right through me. Help me she said over and over again as she desperately tried to fend of the beast. I tried to punch it, kick it, all to no avail. A thought entered into my head, a ghost should be able to possess someone, right? I went to the girls side and focused my mind into taking over her body. And everything went black for a second, when I opened my eyes I was inside the lone girl. I 14

could feel my(her rather) blood boiling, I was so angry at the beast that I punched it as hard as I could in the face, It rolled over, away from me(her)-(god this is annoying). As I panted and tried to come up with a plan, I noticed a iron pipe laying conveniently beside the beast. I ran towards the pipe, evading being torn into pieces by sharp claws, I took a hand of the pipe and hit the beast on its head as hard as I could. It fell to the ground while uttering its last gnarl. After leaving her body the lone girl and I rested our backs onto the grounds. Together we watched a star lit sky, the many stars are sparkling as if celebrating our first victory.

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KAPITEL 6

I am a Hero It was a normal day. School started in half an hour and I was ready to leave my house. Like every other morning, I had skipped breakfast since I felt sick. School always made me feel that way. Once I actually thought I was going to throw up, but I didn’t. I wished I had though, because then my mom would have let me stay at home. Otherwise she had always taught me to face my fears, she said I wouldn't feel any better staying at home. I guess that was true…

It was a cold morning and I could feel my cheeks getting red when I walked out the door. I was still not feeling very well, but the weather calmed me down. I took a deep breath and felt the cold air entering my body, cooling it down.

When entering school a few minutes later, it was loud and crowded. I liked it better outside, alone. It was weird in a way, because most of the people in school pretended they didn’t see me, but I knew they did. The reason they all looked away and avoided me was because they felt sorry for me, at least some did. I wished, though, that no one felt sorry for me. I hate it when people feel sorry for you and yet they aren’t doing anything to make you feel better...

All of a sudden I got interrupted in my thinking. The girl passed me, and with a soft voice she called me “lesbian”. She had been doing that continuously for over 3 years but I did not care as much anymore. Sure it didn’t make me feel any better, but what really made me feel bad was that people like her existed.

I looked at her and her friends walking all the way through the hallway, and at first I wished my gaze could kill them all. But then I regret thinking that because the world wouldn’t get much better without them.

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Then something happened, the thing that did bother me. I saw them stopping by another girl, another lesbian girl. They were smiling at her in a mean way.

That was the problem with them, they were never laughing at you or doing things that you would immediately consider as mean. What they did was, they said subtle things, always with a smile on their lips, that just crawled under your skin and made you feel like the worst person ever. They’d once given me a “tips”, as they called it, advising me not to wear certain types of clothes, because it made me look fat. As a matter of fact, I was not even close to fat.

Anyhow, they were standing with this girl, smiling and watching her intensely.

They were looking all over her, in an obnoxious way. Now this made me feel sick.

They didn’t say anything, they just looked at her as if she was stupid or ugly, which she wasn’t. Then I heard them saying that “her life wouldn’t be so miserable if she wasn’t a lesbian”. They had said the exact same thing to me one year ago, when my dad left my mom. I knew it wasn’t my fault he left her, but in that moment everything felt like my fault. That day, I actually did throw up. It had never happened before but I couldn’t help myself, I felt awful. I went home, crying all the way.

When I got home my eyes were all swollen, and my blouse was wet from my tears.

My mom looked terrified when she saw me and all I could say was that I was sorry, and that I couldn't help it. I didn't have to say more though, because she understood what I meant and took a steady grip of my arms and told me never to say that again. She said she was proud of me, and that I should be as well.

When I saw the girl standing all alone, with her back pushed against the lockers, with the other girls burning her with their gazing and awful words, I felt like I had to do something. I could probably never make them feel as bad as the could make me feel, and perhaps they wouldn't care if I told them to stop. But I had to try, and the thing I felt strong and unstoppable, as if I had a superpower. I didn't feel insecure or bad about myself. I only felt like I could do whatever I wanted to do.

I took a steady grip of my books and walked towards the girls. I didn't stop until I was facing the one doing all the bullying, and then I said two sentences. Only two, but they were the best two sentences that had ever left my mouth. She and her friends were looking at me, I could tell they felt insecure and didn't know what 17

to answer, so instead they walked away. The other girl looked at me, and smiled. “Thank you� she said.

I don’t think I have ever made a better decision. Maybe it wasn't that big of a deal, but I felt warm in my whole body and I knew I had made a difference. I realised how easy it is to make good choices. Maybe anyone could have done what I just did, but the thing was that no one did. I was the one taking a step forward, facing my fears. I was the hero.

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KAPITEL 7

A Hero Story The year is 1942, May 12th. I woke up next to a guard standing beside my bed who strikes me with a huge stone in my stomach. Every morning he punches me to wake me up, I am surprised that my body has not got used to that pain. I jumped out of my bed in a few seconds because the guard threatened to kill me, that option did not sound that bad in the moment. But I cannot leave my little brother behind, I have to keep my promise to him that I said when we got separated from each other. I ran to the crematory where I had my task to cremate the dead bodies from the infirmary, or that is what the guards told all the prisoners but I knew what was going on. The infirmary is a codeword for gas chamber, where the prisoners were tricked into entering a shower which in fact is a gas chamber. In there they were choked with a gas called zyklon b. I got into the crematorium and there I saw a big pile in the middle of the room. At the bottom there we dead children, in the middle there were women and at the top were the men. This is probably the worst and the most horrible thing I have seen in my entire life, I have never seen so many dead children at once.

When I looked at the children they all reminded me of my little brother, what if Albin was one of those poor kids? I pulled the children out of the pile and bodies fell down from the pile once in while. This is the hardest thing I have done at this task assignment. But I think that the absolute worst that could happen right now is that Albin is somewhere in the huge pile. I was looking for a glimpse of Albin’s face, but I did not see him. It must mean that he is alive!

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I ran as fast as I could out from the crematory and shouted his name as loud as I could, but nobody answered. I ran to the edge of the camp where they usually lay the sick and injured ones and let them die a painful and slow death. When I came to the fence where the sick and injured ones were I saw his face clearly among the both old and young people. I cannot describe how happy I was when I saw his beautiful face, this felt like a light in my dark world. I ran towards him with a smile from my one side of ear to the other, at the same time i looked into his sea blue eyes that I almost drowned in. ‘’Albin! I thought I had lost you forever’’, I said to him while lifting him up in my arms. I carried him to a wall that he could lean against. ‘’Artur! You found me’’, he said while he almost fainted out of happiness. We hugged each other for a while and when we both leaned back I noticed blood on my sweater. I quickly lifted my shirt to see if it was mine but there were noting. I looked at Albin and saw that he pushed his hand hard against his waist, one of the guards had shot him. I pushed both my hands hard against the opened wound so it would stop bleeding, but it was like an open faucet. It would not stop, I did not want Albin to see it or know about it at all because he would only panic so I started to talk calmly to him, ‘’Albin, do you remember the promise I gave you earlier?’’. He looked at me smiling while he said ‘’Yes, you promised to give me my freedom again’’. I noticed that his eyes once in a while closed and it was hard for him to keep them open, was he about to die? ‘’I will not break that promise so you need to keep your eyes open. Okey?’’ I said and touched his soft chin with my bloody hand. He nodded at me so I put him on my back and looked for a escape. I saw a pit under the fence a little bit away, I looked back at Albin and said ‘’You need to hold tight around my neck now. Can you do that?’’. I felt how he stretched his arms around my neck and then I ran towards the pit. I dropped Albin beside the pit and crept underneath, when I got to the other side I heard someone shouting at us. It was a guard that saw me crawling under the fence. I took hold of Albin’s arm and pulled him underneath as fast as I could. I put him on my back again and started run as fast as I could, I heard gunshots repeatedly but I did not have time to look back. All the guards were in the age of 40 which was a benefit for me because they could not ran as fast as I could. I ran into a little forest and felt that Albin was slowly let go of my neck so I screamed at him ‘’Albin! Stay awake and

20

don’t let go!’’. I looked back to see if the guards were near us but I didn’t see them, but I still ran because I did not want to risk our lives.

When I was about to turn my head forward I tripped on a large rock that was hidden in the ground, which caused us both falling down the rocky and hard ground. I got up as fast again and ran towards Albin who said ‘’I cannot move my legs!’’. I lifted him on my back again and started running but I felt my left leg becoming cold and right after that an unbearable pain. I was shot! We both fell to the ground again, I crawled to Albin so we laid next to each other. ‘’I am so sorry Albin, I tried to give you your freedom back but I failed!’’, I said to him meanwhile rivers started flowing down my cheeks. ‘’Artur, you did not fail! I am free now’’, he said and wiped the tears down my cheek. I looked at the corner of the eye and saw that the guards came closer towards us. ‘’You are my hero, Artur!’’, Albin said to me while he reached for a hug.

In 1942 on May 12th Albin and Artur Komorowski were murdered near the small village Oswiecim in Polen by SS-men while they escaped from one of the most famous exterminations camps in history.

21

KAPITEL 8

An Extraordinary Hero Once upon a time, a couple of decades ago, a young and amazingly beautiful girl named Bella existed. Her eyes were as blue as the sea and her hair shone in a golden-brown color. Although her beauty was undeniable, her oddness and mysterious personality prevented her from encountering and obtaining genuine friends.

The loneliness and the hard time convincing herself she was admirable, made her doubt herself vigorously and she did not have the courage to demonstrate who she truly was. “I wish that someone would discover the real me”, she had said to her mother ever since she was a preschooler, to which her mother would always remaining replying “My love, you are unique, and one, delightful day you will most certainly demonstrate how significant you are for this world”. Bella desired to believe her mother so much that the anticipation took over her. She was extremely grateful that she at least had her wonderful mother, that always knew what she would respond to make Bella remain happy. But as the years went by and Bella had reached her teenage, she commenced to comprehend that the beautiful vision of a greater life, that her mother had told her about, was an unattainable dream.

Smaaaash, and her head hit the crude wall of the ladies bathroom in school.

The evil girl-gang she feared were on to her, just like they had ever been. Lisa, with her red eyes staring into Bella's soul with a deep emptiness, and her companions that stood by her side watching and cheering Lisa to hit Bella repeatedly, made Bella feel more small for each day that flew by. “Why me?”, was a thought that she had in her head on a daily basis, while looking herself in the mirror and seeing her bruised, gaunt, body. She longed for a different life….

22

One morning, Bella woke up with the sun striking her face, making her squint to see clear. She dried the tears she had gone to sleep with, and rose from the bed.

Suddenly she got a brief, dark image in her head. Bella shook it of surprised, and moved to the bathroom,washed her face with water, looked up in the mirror and saw a shadow behind her. Her vast scream of fear and surprise made the visions disappear, and when she slowly took a deep breath, she realized that she had not heard her mother in the house during the entire morning. When Bella nervously began to seek her mother, she encountered a living-room destroyed in every inch.

“WHAT IS OCCURRING?” she screamed to herself, not knowing where her mother was, not understanding what her visions had meant, and unable to comprehend that the house that she lived in alone with her precious mother, in their safe hometown Rosestone during her entire life, had been destroyed.

Bella sat down crying on the floor when a man appeared in her house. He informed her that he was her uncle she had never known about due to her mother's desire to keep Bella away from the life that she would now enter.

“Where is mom?” Bella screamed by desperation.

“Your mom has been taken by awfully cruel demons, that are now coming for all of our relatives. I know it is massive to take everything in this rapid but you are something extraordinary, you have abilities no one in our surrounding have!

You and I require to cooperate to rescue your mother before it is too late!”

All Bella could hear was murmur and her world had fallen apart when she did not have her mother beside her, but she knew that she had to do everything in her power in order to obtain her one and only security by her side.

“I have supernatural abilities?” , she heard herself saying to her uncle.

“Yes, and every other person of our bloodline. I will inform you about this, but for the moment we have to focus on letting you discover your abilities in order to find your mother.

23

Uncle Tom demonstrated how they both had the power to remove obstacles with the assistance of their mind, and that most of their kind could apprehend the future. While appreciating that Bella was able to anticipate the future, she understood that her earlier visions had been exactly about that, and her near future would be to fight the demons she had visioned caught her mother.

Bella and her companion went on their journey to seek her mother, and she continuously imaged her mother, hurt by the demons and fighting for her life. Although her abilities she had never experienced before frightened her, she was grateful that she had them due to that Bella could see the whereabouts of the mother.

Despite the progress they made in finding the mother, they commenced to encounter obstacles that brought them a step back from the goal. Bella was beginning to see images of the mother lying dead in front of the demons, thrilled about their victory. When the girl realized this, there was no turning back, Bella had to prevent the future in order to receive her beloved mother by Bella's side again!

As they hurried on, her visions started to fade, concurrently as the girl's pulse dropped, when realizing that Bella would maybe never see the mother again. Despite this, her uncle assured his niece that she would be fine, which made his niece feel more calm. The images in her head  had created a map for Bella and her companion to follow, and when these grew stronger, they could finally locate the home of the demons, a cave far away from civilisation, deeply hidden in the forest. Uncle Tom and Bella walked slowly into the dark cave, but not long after, a demon with shining eyes and teeth as strong as the teeth of a lion, tried to throw them out with its purple, glowing force, breaking out of its hands. Tom was defeated by it, although he tried utilizing his ability to remove the obstacle in his way. As he lay down looking completely dead, the girl's pulse grew stronger and her fear expanded. Shockingly, the uncle was not dead, but now powerless, and tried explaining that Bella had to rescue her mother on her own, with her own, characteristic and unique ability.The anger was enormous and Bella was determined to obtain her mother back, but confused about what Tom had meant. She ran deeper into the cave and the light became dim,  and 2 more demons appeared in front of her.

How would she now be able to reach the goal?

24

The demon that had fought her uncle, began with the help of its 2 companions fight her, continuously addressing a purple force from their hands, that she was incapable of responding to. What would an innocent, insecure girl like her do to be able to defeat something as mayor as 3 powerful demons?. The leader between the 3 demons punched her hard against the floor, almost leaving her dead. Â Then she saw something that reminded her of her regular life in school- the red eyes of the demon, that made her think of Lisa who had bullied her for years. A miracle happened and Bella rose. She did not know what her extraordinary ability was that both her mother and uncle had told her about, and how would she find out what it was now?

Clueless of how to act Bella suddenly commenced to scream the loudest she had ever done. The power of her scream forced the demons away from her and made them turn into ashes in front of her big, blue eyes. Bella had succeeded and could now reach her goal that was behind the demons that had stood in her way, namely her mother.

A few weeks after the “big day�, when Bella had not only found her mother again, but also herself and who she truly was, Bella began to attend school after a brief break. When she walked down the corridor the students in her surrounding did not longer look at her with loathe, they smiled at her and offered her to spend time with them anytime she desired. Even the girl-gang that had bullied her begged down to their knees for an apologie. Bella was not certain about how to react, but was conscious of that a demon most certainly is able to transform into a genuine individual, as long as you have the determination and bravery to not let it reach its own, cruel goal, and follow your own path by finding your true voice- which was exactly what Bella had done that one day, when she fought the demons that prevented her from finding herself.

25

KAPITEL 9

The Jaws of Death The smell of death is massive in Lupinus’s nose, when the lonely zombie is stumbling forward. He is sitting two meters above ground in a tall scots pine with his crowbar tightly held in his both hands. The empty eyes seem to be searching for him. Leaves are rustling as the living dead creature, that now almost is crawling, moves closer. Here is the proof that the apocalypse is real. He makes a fast decision, jumps down the temporary hiding place and buries his crowbar into the back of the zombie’s head. It is a strange feeling, as if hitting a human, but just an empty case. Repugnantly he repeats the hit, just to eliminate the unwanted company on the way.

Within a stone’s throw sits Pansy, embracing Echo the Siberian husky and has her eyes fixed to the ground. Even in this conditions, it is hard to escape the fact how pretty she is. “Who could have known that you would look that terrified. Once bitten twice shy.”, Lupinus grins between his heavy breaths. “Shut up”, Pansy replies with a smirk. “That’s all in the past. Now I know better.” A cold breath of air passes by and lets an emotion of resolute grow. The sky is empty, the forest is quiet. The autumn is approaching. “We should get going. We need to put as much distance between us and them, before sunset.”, Lupinus says. “I can’t understand that this...whole thing, is real.”, Pansy says. “I know what I saw. And you saw it too. We were lucky that we got away.” He puts his index- and middle finger up into the air and calculate the distance between the sun and the horizon. “Two hours until sunset. I hope that’ll be enough.” They exchange meaning glances. Echo looks excited as if he has no idea of what is going on.

26

Everything is about the crisis with the terrific zombie parasite, that infects by blood and saliva. The youths are heading for a secret laboratory in the mountains, that once belonged to Lupinus’s parents. In the laboratory, they hope to find a cure or at least shelter with necessities. “Would it be possible to mutate the parasite and remove the capability to transmit the disease?” The thoughts are many.

North ahead the landscape is opening up. In front of them, the forest is fading and gets replaced by an empty and rocky environment. This area has no sign of danger so far. When getting around a rock formation, they catch sight of an opening into the mountains, which looks to have an unnatural konstruction. The wind has started to scream and tears hard to their clothes. “I hope this is it. This could be the entrance to the secret laboratory.”, Lupinus says in a loud voice to overcome the wind. Suddenly Echo starts to make sharp barks. “Oh shit! Look up into the sky Lupinus!”, yells Pansy and grabs Lupinus’s arm. Echo has discovered a helicopter coming up from southwest and it flies very unsteady. It looks like people are hanging from the rails under the helicopter. “We must help the people. They are probably hurt!” Echo starts to bark again as if to warn her. He grabs one of her pants leg and pulls backward. That makes Pansy stop and she raises her eyes, just as the helicopter crashes into the ground about a 100 yards in front of them. Echo starts to growl. Lupinus puts his both hands to Pansy’s shoulders, “We need to run, now!”. Up from what is left of the helicopter, Lupinus sees human bodies with hungry eyes and bloody clothes. They make a quick recovery. Now they have new targets. It is almost as if he can hear the rattling teeths through the shouting wind.

Together they make a dash toward the tunnel, chased by the undead. Pansy is just a little deeper into the underground passage, when the ceiling starts to crack.

The tremors from the helicopter are destroying the opening into the mountains.

Blocks of boulders rains down as they throw themselves deeper into the tunnel.

Echo the siberian husky, gives Lupinus a hard push, which makes him launch forward. Lupinus rolls over just in time to see the massive boulder, that takes the life of his young friend. In the ear-splitting loud noises, he can hear one loud and clear bark. In the next moment, everything goes completely silent.

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Lupinus’s head is aching. He is totally covered in dust. The darkness is compact. Pansy is lying down just beside him and by telling of her breaths, she is fine.

But there is no Echo. He was buried alive under tons of heavy rocks. Lupinus puts his palms to his face, removing the dust. Echo’s last bark is still echoing inside of him. He can almost feel the warmth of the siberian husky from the wall of boulders, that now are blocking out all of the last sunlight. He tries to take a deep breath, but caughts when the small dust-particles are tickling his throat. The wave of sorrow fades a little when he feels a warm hand on his forearm. The hand is fumbling in the darkness and when it finds his, their fingers wrapps around each other.

A moment of relief. “He was my friend.”, the voice is not more than a whisper.

Pansy is moving her other hand to his chest. Her voice is more steady, “He did what he did. Now, we can’t change anything. Let’s just remember all the bright moments we had.” They help each other to stand up. “There’s no way out. Shall we continue walking deeper into the mountains?” “What choice do we have? I hope we picked the right tunnel that will lead us to the laboratory.” He strokes gently the back of his fingers against Pansy’s cheek. “Let the odds be in our favour.”

Hand in hand they are fumbling their way deeper into the mountains.

28

K A P I T E L 10

Bobby the cop Bobby was the worst cop in the city of New York, perhaps in the entire world.

With his impaired vision and hearing, and his beer belly hanging out a couple of inches from his hip, he was in no shape of being a cop. Although despite all of his disabilities he somehow succeeded with his education at the police academy, and thereby became a “guardian of the law�. It all came as a surprise to him that handguns were required in most assignments, since he never fired one before.

He got his first case two weeks after joining the NYPD and getting a partner, Harvey. They were on lookout at the docks when they heard gunshots, or Harvey heard them, Bobby was still sleeping. After countless tries to wake Bobby up Harvey finally pushed him out of the car so that they could approach the sounds of the gunshots. They came from a warehouse.

-Cover me, Harvey whispered approaching the door.

Bobby nodded and tailed him inside, but because of his mildly said flawed vision he got lost in the dark. It was not until he heard Harvey crying out for help that he found him tied up in a chair. Two men were standing behind him glaring down on him while a third threatened him with a knife.

-Help me Bobby, Harvey shouted when he saw Bobby.

Bobby froze, he did not know what to do.

-Bobby do something! Harvey shouted once more.

The three men turned around and aimed for Bobby with ominous faces, but Bobby had no clue of what to do. It was just as the three men were closing in on 29

him that he remembered his police education, and that he should have worn a pistol. He checked his front pockets - nothing there - checked the back pockets - a pistol! He grabbed it with both hands, slided the safety catch off, closed his eyes and pulled the trigger.

The following day the incident was all over the front page in multiple newspapers across the whole country. The incident where one single cop managed to take down a mob boss with two companions by shooting them all three in their knees with one single bullet. In addition 200 pounds of cocaine were found in the warehouse along with a crate filled with guns. No one mentioned that Bobby passed out after the shot and left his partner tied up for three hours until backup arrived.

Four months went by without any major incidents, but the tension escalated quickly when he and Harvey became in pursuit of a robber. It all began when the partners left the office. Bobby left a few minutes earlier to buy something to eat before he went home and left poor Harvey to do the last paperwork. But without any regrets he drove down to his favourite restaurant, Subway. He then ordered the usual and sat down by the window, but just as he was about to begin Harvey called him.

-Where are you? he asked heavily breathing.

-At Subway, why? Bobby asked, not having a clue of what was going on.

-Someone is robbing the central bank, it’s just across the street from where you are, Harvey shouted.

Bobby looked out the window and saw a man with a huge bag leave the building on the opposite side of the street.

-Yeah, I see him, Bobby answered.

-Pursue him, but do not make any attempt to arrest him until I get there, Harvey said with a very serious voice.

-But I just ordered my Mega XXXL Chillisub, Bobby answered, worried that he spent half his income in vain.

-Screw your sub, pursue him! Harvey shouted.

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-Yeah yeah, Bobby replied.

But Bobby didn’t want to waste such a beautiful sub so he grabbed the 40 pound sandwich and laid it on his back while he started running.

Now you are all wondering how a 220 pound man with a 40 pound sandwich on his back could outrun a well-trained robber running for his life. But Bobby knew all the shortcuts New York City had to offer. He ran into an alley and used some fire stairs to make it up on the roof offering a better view. The robber was one block away, but Bobby knew he could catch up. He ran as fast as he could with his sandwich rooftop by rooftop, until he finally came to a very narrow alley.

He stopped and looked down. The alley was about 20 feet deep and he had to jump 6 feet to get to the other side. If he wanted to catch the robber he had to be fast, so he jumped…….and made it. The only problem was that he dropped his 40 pound sandwich into the alley.

-AAAAAHHHHHHH! Bobby heard from the alley.

-Sorry! Bobby shouted back down.

He could not apprehend any reply so he was forced to cancel his hunt for the robber to assist the injured person down in the alley. Unfortunately there were no fire stairs in the alley so he had take a detour.

The next day Bobby was once again praised as the heroic cop of New York City for arresting a robber with 2 million dollars in cash. Bobby’s sandwich fell on the robber’s head and knocked him unconscious, which made it possible for the police to arrest him. No one ever knew whom Bobby really was hunting.

Bobby, the fearless hero of New York City, who saved the day once more.

31

K A P I T E L 11

An Everyday Hero I found myself sitting in my room, watching the neighbours children play hide and seek on the pavement. Autumn had just arrived and school had just started. There were bundles of leaves everywhere on the streets, leaving an explosion of leafs everytime a car went by. Autumn didn’t only mean darkness and cold weather. It also meant my birthday. Suddenly, my phone started ringing and it was one of my friends from high school. “Speaking of your birthday, do you have any plans for tonight?”, she said with a questioning but excited voice.

I was sitting on my bed in my room when I got the news. I screamed of joy and ran downstairs to tell my parents. “My friends got tickets to see my favorite musicians tonight at an arena in town and I can’t wait”, I said with a high pitch voice leaving my sleeping brother wide awake. “Wow, that’s great”, said mom whilst cleaning up the dishes from breakfast. I ran upstairs and started to get ready.

At 3.30 pm my group of friends rang the doorbell at my house. My friendgroup consisted of Anna, Lisa, Fredrica, Erica and Eddie. We had only known each other for a year but it felt more like +10 years. They were going to pick me up in Eddie’s car and then drive me to the arena where the concert would take place. We jumped in the car and started driving towards the stadium.

When we got to the arena, we went to our seats and waited for the band to start performing. We all knew every lyric to every song the band performed with.

We really had the best time making memories for life. When the show ended, Eddie went to pick up the car, leaving the rest of the group waiting for him outside 32

the arena. Suddenly, I heard a scream that made my whole entire body shiver.

“Wait, what was that!?”, I said with a worried look on my face. Suddenly, the scream appeared again and now the whole group heard it, leaving everyone at unease. We tried to figure out where the scream came from and tried to search the area. Unexpectedly we saw a group of men standing around a girl. The men looked older and it didn't look like a promising situation. Suddenly, Eric started walking towards them. “Eric, what are you doing?! Don’t you understand you’re getting yourself in danger by going there”, I said with a voice filled with frustration and panic. “If we don’t try and do something to help this girl, we will be responsible if something goes wrong, though I see it as a human responsibility to help other’s in need”, said Eric. We all looked at each other and knew that Eric was right.

We couldn't just walk away from this innocent girl, so we started walking towards the group of men.

When we were a couple of meters away from the girl, the group of men turned around and looked at us. One of them, stepped out of the circle and grabbed the girl's arm. The girl looked terrified and screamed until one of the men put his hand over her mouth. “Let her go”, I yelled. Some of the men bursted out laughing. “Do your really think a bunch of kids can fight a group of men?”, a tall man with a hood said. Suddenly, the group of men started walking towards us and started grabbing and pushing us towards a van. “What are you doing”, I said with a voice filled with panic. The men didn’t answer, instead they continued pushing and grabbing us. Suddenly, a car appeared in the distance. It started honking and I realised it was Eddie. Behind Eddie, came two police cars. When Eddie drove in to pick us up before, he had noticed we were gone, so he had started searching for us. When he saw us in the arms of the unreliable group of men, he saw a group of policemen walking on the side of the road. He yelled at the group of policemen pointing at the arena. “Follow me”, he said. The policemen, Eddie had screamed at, jumped out of their vehicle and arrested the group of men. When one of the policemen asked the girl if she wanted them to drive her home, Eddie interrupted quickly by saying, “We can drive her home safe, I promise”. Eddie held what he promised, and drove her home. The girl jumped out of the car and said, “Thank 33

you, for being brave. If it wasn’t for you, things could’ve gone way worse”. “You guys were my hero tonight”, she said. “It’s everyone’s duty to react when someone’s in danger”, Eric said. “Someone who steps up when everyone else backs down, that’s a hero to me”, she said with a smile that went directly to everyone’s hearts. She closed the door and walked up to her house.

When the group of friends had left the girl at her house, they sat in the car for some time. They were still in shock of what just had happened to them. I was speechless and so were the others. But, we all were confident to say that this incident would affect us for the rest of our lives.

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K A P I T E L 12

Saved by the shadows Millie had a superficial knowledge about the world outside her own. This was about to change. Millie who was a 13 years old girl spent most of her time studying or practicing the guitar but this girl was going to save the city.

The year was 2005 and Millie had successfully survived her first 13 years. It was a day like any other and Millie was on her way to school. She had felt observed since she left home and was unable to figure out from where she was being observed. It usually takes her 10 minutes to go to school but today she went a lot faster and it took her only 5. She had almost forgotten about the feeling of being observed when she got to school.

Outside the school stood a man with black rings around his eyes and once again the feeling of being observed came creeping at her. She recognized the man but she couldn’t tell from where. She was about to open the door when the man started screaming. He screamed something about “It burns, my head burns, you gotta stop this!” whilst running towards Millie. There were no time to react and he rammed her. Both of them fell to the ground. The man crawled up to Millie, his head touched her and she fainted and fell into a coma.

It was 8 months since that crazy man had rammed her to the ground and the machine that kept Millie alive started to make strange noises. It sounded like a bomb that was about to detonate. Usually people are exhausted after 8 months of coma but not this time, Millie just woke up and got out of bed like nothing had happened. She didn’t really recognize the room so she assumed that it was a hospital. But something didn’t really feel right. If she just woke up then where were the nurses and doctors that were supposed to check on her. And why were there no flo35

wers or get well cards? Didn’t anyone care? Then she saw it….. In the corner…

One small card… She read it and it said: “They now have the control over the city and we are unable to move you since you need the machine to stay alive. If you read this we will need your help. The info you need is `the man who rammed you died and he was a big enemy of the people who now control the city. Btw they can create any weapon in their minds by just thinking of them. You will have to save us´".

Millie was so confused. How was she supposed to stop a gang of people who were able to create weapons from their minds. Well this was going to be a problem for the future Millie, this Millie were obligated to fight the hunger problem. She left her room and headed to the hospital cafetería and she ate three questionable sandwiches. She couldn't care less since she was unable to remember a time where she was as hungry as this. She then walked back to get her stuff, but she kept tripping. The strange thing was that it seemed like she tripped on the shadows. The third time she fell to the ground she noticed something strange. She was able to drag the shadow. She had never been this scared in her entire life. Was she dead?

Was that the reason she was able to drag the shadow and no one came to check on her? No she definitely wasn’t dead. Some weeks of practice lead to the capability to control the shadow in different ways. She was able to use it to climb walls, create all kinds of things and also turn invisible when in contact with shadows. Her powers were a reluctant gift from the man who rammed her. Time went by and several months later she had fully learned how to control the shadow. It was time to leave the hospital and free the city.

It didn’t take long before she encountered her first minder. She had named her enemies minders since they were able to create weapons from their minds. This man created a burning sword. Unfortunately for him he was standing on a shadow and didn’t even have the time to react before Millie dragged away the shadow and he fell to the ground. She walked up to the man and demanded him to bring her to the leader of the minders. At first he looked confused probably because he didn’t know the word minders but he got up and started walking. 20 minutes later she stood in front of the leader. He created a minigun and started spraying. Fortunately their base was covered in shadows. So she turned invisible and ran up to 36

him but he must have heard her since he turned around and knocked her to the ground. She was now able to see that the major part of the inhabitants of the city were staring at her from a big cage on the other side of the room. Seeing them there gave her a new hope, she had to save them. She screamed and she felt the shadows taking control of her. She jumped up and with one hit demolished the leader. She opened the cage and she saved them all but Millie was no longer herself which lead to the fact that they had to lock her up. She had big black rings around her eyes. The darkness had consumed her and it felt like her head was burning.

She lasted only 3 months in prison before she died.

37

K A P I T E L 13

Strike Tamora was a small town girl who grew up in a very conservative home with her father, who had no mercy towards anyone, but in particular girls. Girls needed to be raised with strict rules and clear punishments otherwise they would turn out a disgrace to the family. Tamora had very few friends because her father would not allow any contact with people outside of the house. Although she was allowed to go to the store and buy things, but only if he had given her permission to go. To make sure no contact was made with anyone, Tamora's father Omar had her homeschooled with a teacher who was handpicked by Omar himself. The teacher was an old friend of her father and his name was mr Jarlsson but Tamora was allowed to call him by first name which was Ali. Tamora had now turned 18 years old and they had spent almost everyday together since the age of 6 so her friendship with Ali was extremely close. Through the years that passed Tamora had told Ali a few things about how her situation at home was, she told him about her father's rules and also about his punishments. Tamora never really told him exactly what had happened nor the reasons behind it, but when he arrived at the house to go inside and see her with new bruises everyday, he understood the meaning of my words without me even saying it.

One time when Ali got home to Tamora’s house for some lessons, he noticed a unusually big bruise on Tamora’s face and a big bandage across her nose. Ali asked Tamora what had happened and she told him that she had bumped into an edge of a door, when in reality her father had beaten her so badly her nose broke.

Ali was not stupid nor ignorant, he understood that bumping into a door would not result in a broken nose. He felt his pulse increasing, he clenched his fist and 38

tried to contain himself, but all he could feel was an unrelenting anger towards Tamora's father. After all this time, Ali had grown quite fond of Tamora, one could say that he even have caught feelings for her.

That night, after saying goodbye to Tamora and finishing the lessons, Ali went home, still upset after seeing Tamora's face like that; he wanted to help her. He grabbed a baseball bat, working himself up and gathering courage for what he was about to do. He drove back to Tamora's house and waited in his car until Omar left the house. After half an hour or so Omar went to take the trash out: it was now or never. He got out of his car, yelled Omars name while sprinting towards him. When Ali got close enough, he swung his bat towards Omar but it whiffed, Omar was a very agile man and had good reflexes, even in the dark Omar managed to avoid Ali’s attack. Omar got furious and started punching Ali’s face over and over again, Ali was on the ground bleeding and he did no longer fight back.

His head was torn to pieces and you could no longer feel him breath.

Tamora woke up by police sirens, she looked out of the window and the police was gathered around the house and her father was standing in handcuffs. Tamora could not believe her eyes. The only thing going through her mind was “Does this mean I’m free? Does this mean I’m allowed to have friends? Does this mean I won’t have to take my father's punishments anymore?”. Omar went to court and got sentenced for life. Tamora was forever grateful to Ali, because he saved her life.

Today Tamora works with children who have been abused, she is considered a hero to many people because of what she went through. Although, the only person who is a hero to her is Ali.

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K A P I T E L 14

With a Clean Conscience He woke up early, which his occupation made him do everyday. He took a quick shower and came out with only a towel covering his lower parts. In the kitchen was the breakfast already served by his tempted maid. Despite of her admirable appearance, her aspiration had never done anything but leave him unbothered.

Two hours prior to the trial, he parked his brand new BMW outside the office, where the assistant gave him the daily glance of desire. With his third cup of coffee this morning he sat down by his desk and prepared the last details for the trial.

He thought about how defending the wrong side of moral had never been an obstacle. People had been judging his lack of conscience for eight years, but he stood proud, he had never lost a case. People wondered, how he was able to sleep when he knew that people couldn’t feed their children because of him? It didn’t bother him, and even if it would, he had no right to complain. After all, he was the one with the sports car in the garage, a maid who did his laundry and a bank account with a figure he couldn’t describe in words.

This case, however, was remarkably different. The issue wasn’t to win the case, it was to do it with a clean conscience. Other employees within the company were working under terrible conditions. His pen fell to the floor but his focus was somewhere else and he didn’t pick it up. The 1900 labourers had finally come together and were demanding some kind of development, which was done by suing the management. There were also several documents that clearly said that the employees weren’t obliged to work more than eight hours straight, and if they did there would be compensation. Luckily, he was the only one who knew about the documents. He was also the only one with access to them.

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He was abruptly interrupted by a knock on the door. The nervousness came creeping up at him as he threw an eye on his golden Rolex. Luckily he had roughly an hour left before he had to leave. He told whoever had knocked to open the door and in came the teased assistant. Her eyes were telling him something as she handed him a paper bag with a cream cheese bagel. She excused herself and slowly bent over to pick up the pen he had dropped earlier.

He returned to his work and stated that the only possible way for those papers to be revealed was through him. He was the only one with knowledge of their existence, which made this an oddly simple case. But could he really keep them to himself when he knew the conditions they were working under? It was a tough battle he was fighting. Revealing the documents and lose his job, or winning the case.

A loud curse was heard within the glass walls of his office. Why wouldn’t the assistant’s behavior quit distracting him from his work? He threw an eye on her and she still hadn’t ceased her desperate attempts to make eye contact with him.

The solid wood doors flew open and the smell of justice hit him straight in the face. He had never before felt such guilt, 1900 people’s fates were in his hands and he was about to destroy every single one of them. He would throw them to the ground, where he would step on them as he drowned them in gasoline.

The documents that could save thousands of labourers from working 24 hours straight with no extra payment rested beneath his sweaty palms. So far he was on the verge of winning this case. The vast majority of the jury were by now fully convinced, but from nowhere came a feeling of sickness and an impulse of barfing.

He took the imaginary match and rubbed it against the imaginary striking surface. Before he would lit their fates on fire, he felt the cold sweat run along his forehead and a drip of salty, smelly fluid reached his eye. He stood up in front of everyone. The judge gave him a troubled look and asked him what was on his mind. He admitted that there were relevant details he had kept to himself. He handed the documents to the security guard, who quietly gave them to the judge.

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For a split second his heart may have quit beating. The judge announced that he had lost the case and every person in the room were astonished by what she had said.

As he left the courtroom he saw the love of his life. He ran towards him and they hugged each-other. If it’d been a cartoon there would be hearts sprouting around them. The assistant stood still and observed what was happening. The most attractive man at the office was..... homosexual?

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K A P I T E L 15

The Death of a Hero And so he fell, with his arms pressed against the side of his body and his eyes closed, because he didn’t want the last thing he saw of the place he had called his home from the day he was born, to be the golden light that forced its way through the clouds above and surrounded him while he no longer felt ground underneath his feet. He wasn’t scared though, but rather felt relief over the fact that wherever he would end up when the fall ended, would be better than the place he was now leaving.

Throughout his youth he was like a gift sent from above. People used to adore his warming smile, his golden hair and his ways, in which he made people feel appreciated only by doing the simplest of things. He was blameless in his ways from the day he was created and everything was just love, until he grew up and he faced an increasing number of people who turned against him.

Some would explain it as if it all was based on him becoming proud of his own beauty, ideas and opinions. Which might be an accurate thought, but in which way is it wrong being able to be proud of yourself in a society which tells you not to “Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor” they would say, but isn’t it a strength to dare to face the consequences that might appear when you stand up for yourself in front of people who question your appearance?

He felt that he and his fellow mistreated friends, lived an unfair life where they didn’t get to be who they really were and express their true feelings and opinions.

So he found that the only right thing to do to break through the wall of injustice and unbelief which they were forced to stay behind, was to actually take the first step himself to reach change. He believed that they were living under fear of the 43

power from one who considered himself better and that they deserved so much better than what they were given. So all he did was simply to stand up for the rights he thought they deserved, which really weren’t much to ask for. All he wanted was to no longer have to be scared of those who made him believe he wasn’t good enough, even though he was praised as a child, and who pushed him down, when he just tried to show the beauty his loved ones had made him believe he had, while he was still young. Hes also wanted to avoid the eventual upcoming future of continuous injustice and subjugation for those who were like him - those who didn’t fall under the peer pressure which was based on people’s ways of deciding what could be categorized as “perfection” and what could not.

The ones who didn’t agree with his beliefs and who instead teared him down, probably would think his life could be perceived as if it had been quite a disappointment because he didn’t make use of his privileges. They would call him a failure or even a traitor for the way he acted when he became older, with the argument that he had changed and should have sticked to his old behaviours, although those were exactly what he wanted to break free from since they kept him from being who he truly was. Though according to himself, he was a hero and deep down he knew people would agree with him, if everyone just weren’t so small minded and had the courage enough to question habitual manners.

By doing this, he also became a voice for so many who didn’t dare to face consequences themselves, but for that he was now facing the punishment of leaving the world which in which he once used to be loved. Although to him it was a victory to no longer be obliged to be with those who bullied him.

So as he felt the wind on his face while he got closer and closer to the dark end of his fall, he spread his wings for one last time because he knew, this would be the last time he would ever need them. And in that very moment he felt more alive than he had ever done before because his name was Lucifer, and although he didn’t ascend to heaven, he knew he would still exalt his throne above the stars of God and make himself like the most high.

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K A P I T E L 16

The Hero Story In the middle of a stormy night, out on a field amidst creaking trees and tall swaying grass stood a lonesome little house, its old wooden walls valiantly standing up the wind assaulting it. In the lonesome little house lived a lonesome old man.

“Oh, not again!” The old man groaned, his body having been thrown back against the wall by yet another of his failed magical experiments. He stood up, let out a short annoyed sigh and brushed off his robe and ruffled his coarse beard, charred from grey to black at the ends by the blast. “How bloody difficult could it possibly be to make some goddamn fireballs” he muttered to himself while hastily cleaning up the aftermath of his failure. As he was putting back the numerous bottles, potions, runes and artifacts to their rightful place in the cramped old house he heard a metallic, almost mechanical rustling behind him. The man frowned “You lot think I don’t know you’re there?” A myriad of small snake-like creatures with shimmering metallic scales burst forth from a shelf behind the old man, flying erratically around in the house curiously looking at all the wondrous things he had in his possession, as they always did. The house previously lit solely by a pale little oil lamp, barely capable of chasing away the shadows just an arm's length away was now bathed in all the colours of the rainbow as the lamp’s light reflected on the creature's scales. The man just continued picking up his things, only slightly faster and with a slightly deeper frown, knocking away any of the creatures that decided the old man’s face was the most interesting thing to study with their small, round eyes. It’s not that he didn’t find them beautiful, he certainly did, it’s only that “OH, BLOODY HELL!” The man dropped the things he was carrying and hobbled as quickly as he could to the corner of the cramped house, where he kept all his potions on an old aspen shelf. One of the creatures had managed to knock down his precious flask of Forlorn Ambers. He looked at the spilled substance as it vaporized before his eyes, a long, drawn out, quiet “Noooooo…” leaving his lips. It was a crucial ingredient in making fire runes and without it he could not continue 45

his experiments. All was not lost however, he recalled having one more flask out in his storage shed, the only problem was the weather. He looked out through a small window next to him. It was too dark to see anything but the rain smattering against the glass. The old man had a choice, he could wait for the storm to subside, which could take weeks this time of year, or he could attempt to go out there now.

It was cold. The wind whipped against the old man’s face and his fingers were numb, yet he had only gotten half way. It wasn’t actually all that far, a hundred meters at most, but he was upwind with torrents of rain battering him with his every step and his old bones were not used to being under such stress.

When he finally got to the shed he slammed to door shut and lit the small oil lamp standing on the shelf to the left of him. It didn’t provide a lot of light, but it was enough to light up the shed, which was barely any wider than the man was tall. The shed was visibly swaying and the woodwork was creaking, but it held.

Suddenly he felt something moving in his left sleeve and two small round eyes popped out. The old man startled as the creature darted out before him. “Bugger off ! He shouted as he attempted to shoo it away. With a glare locked onto the small thing he smacked it away so it flew in under some plank where it wouldn’t bother him. He then started looking for his spare flask of Forlorn Embers. He found Joyful Spirit Leaves, Bumbling Mushrooms of Moisture and Solid Tears of Stars, but, no Forlorn Embers. The man sat down and slowly exhaled, trying to let both his disappointment and anger out.

Then, within a timespan smaller than the blink of an eye, the shed collapsed.

An especially powerful gust of wind had hit the the structure form the side, breaking the already strained wooden beams supporting the it. When the old man had registered what had happened he noticed three things. First, that he was not hurt, second, that the collapse had revealed a flask Forlorn Embers he could find before and third, that the creature had gotten stuck under large chunk of planks. All of these things pleased the old man and after picking up the flask he, with a smirk on his face, turned towards where the door had been and was just about to start walking back to his house. But then he heard a faint squeaking from the rubble, accompanied with a dull metallic clang.

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The old man stopped moving, closed his eyes, sighed and turned around. Despite how much he disliked the little thing, he couldn’t just leave it there. He rushed back to the shed, or what remained of it, and sat down on his knees by the beam which the creature was stuck under. He attempted to lift the beam, but he was too weak. His eyes darted around looking for a way to get rid of the beam when it struck him. There was an easy way to completely turn the beam to ash, it only required some Forlorn Ember, roughly a flask of it, actually. Without much of a second though the old man ripped of the seal on the flask and poured it all on the beam. Before his eyes the beam turned black and then crumble into a fine ash. As soon as the beam was gone the old man moved his hand to grab the creature, only to hear a loud cracking sound to the left of him. One of the beams that were still standing had broken, now falling down over the man. He closed his eyes and made himself ready, he would not survive this.

There was a metallic clang and then a loud crash “Huh?” The man was not dead, to his own surprise. He opened his eyes and saw why. The creature he had just rescued had flown into the beam, so that it fell slightly to the side of the old man, rather than on him. The man stood up, brushed off his robe and said: “I guess you’re not all that bad” with a slight smile on his face. He then started slowly walking back to his hose, with the creature flying at his side.

“If tomorrow isn’t the due date, then today isn’t the do date”

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