Andres Sosa, 11, "That Which Stares Back"

Caroline Liu, 10, "So Long"

The war against the Darkeyes had been going on for 150 years. The grasslands of Terminus had become entirely barren and in some cases molten, ﬁres spreading across the land and a singed glow illuminating the ground in the black nights. In the distance, the Darkeyes’ city let off a faint orange glow, and many of the skyscrapers had been reduced to rubble and iron bars.

I rested my head on my backpack, lying behind a wall of what remained of a Terminus home. I faced away from the scorched city, the towers of what we called home reaching tall into the sky and letting off a lighthouse gleam as the sun bounced off their peaks. A ray of light hit my eye, and I turned away from the city, blinded.

I shifted for a better position out of the sun, my riﬂe slipping off my chest, when I heard a rustling in behind the wall. The sounds of the rushing wind became mufﬂed, and my ears could hear nothing else but the footsteps. Bm, bm, bmbm, bmbm, bm, bmbm. The steps lacked rhythm, I could not trace the location. Bm, bmbmbm, bm, bmbm. My heart exploded through my ears, the bright sun continuing to disorient me. Panic overcame, the sweat feeling heavy on my uniform, my hand on my trigger.

THIWP

A bullet slid through the wooden door, scraping the side of my leg. I fell to the ground and ﬁred along the wall, the steps reaching around the house. I tumbled under a table in the house, loosening my grip, listening. Bm, bm, bm, bm. Rhythm. I aimed two inches in front of the steps, BAM.

I heard a tumble behind the wall. Blood seeped through a crack in the base of the wall, flowing into the floorboard where I was resting. I stepped out from under the table, and found my way to the door. Cautiously, I rounded the corner of the house, finding the body laying against the outside wall. I approached it, slowly. My heart pounded in my ears, and my chest was tight as I reached down to turn over the body.

Dark irises lay open, staring through me. Tears dried up on the boy's face and his breath was short. He beckoned me closer, letting out a soft whisper.

“It was not always this way, bright eyes”

A sharp pain pierced my leg, sending me back. A needle, half empty and full of brown serum, the Brighteyes emblem engraved on the glass.

“Wha- what did you do to me?!”

“One of us now… one of us…”

His voice trailed, his final breath seeping through his dry lips. One of us. My eyes began to twitch. One of us. A throbbing pain enveloped my head. One of us. I fell to my knees, my hands landing in the pool of blood. I stared at my reflection, but it was not the same. An abyss filled the eyes that stared back. Dark eyes.