Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Quotes About Love
Here are my favorite Quotes about love, to get everyone in the mood for the upcoming New Year!
Quotes About Love
“You're gorgeous, you old
hag, and if I could give you just one gift ever for the rest of your life it
would be this. Confidence. It would be the gift of confidence. Either that or a
scented candle”
“After all this time?"
"Always...”
“When you know my love, my
love will warm you.”
― Ruby Dee
“I'm selfish, impatient and
a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to
handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't
deserve me at my best.”
“We accept the love we
think we deserve.”
“Love looks not with the
eyes, but with the mind.”
“You love me. Real or not
real?"
I tell him, "Real.”
“Love is like the wind, you
can't see it but you can feel it.”
“You don't love someone
because they're perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they're not.”
“Where there is love there
is life.”
“I have decided to stick to
love...Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
“When someone loves you,
the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in
their mouth.”
“In vain have I struggled.
It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell
you how ardently I admire and love you.”
“Gravitation is not
responsible for people falling in love.”
“Do you think I'm pretty?”
“I think you're beautiful.”
“Beautiful?”
“You are so beautiful, it
hurts sometimes.”
“I love you also means I
love you more than anyone loves you, or has loved you, or will love you, and
also, I love you in a way that no one loves you, or has loved you, or will love
you, and also, I love you in a way that I love no one else, and never have
loved anyone else, and never will love anyone else.”
“To me, Fearless is not the
absence of fear. It's not being completely unafraid. To me, Fearless is having
fears. Fearless is having doubts. Lots of them. To me, Fearless is living in
spite of those things that scare you to death.”
“I fell in love the way you
fall asleep: slowly, then all at once.”
“Have you ever been in
love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it
opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you
up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so
that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other
stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you.
They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile
at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets
inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a
phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter
working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not
just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart
pain. I hate love.”
“Look after my heart - I've
left it with you.”
“I'm saying that I'm a
moody, insecure, narrow-minded, jealous, borderline homicidal bitch, and I want
you to promise me that you're okay with that, because it's who I am, and you're
what I need.”
“Welcome to the wonderful
world of jealousy, he thought. For the price of admission, you get a splitting
headache, a nearly irresistible urge to commit murder, and an inferiority
complex. Yippee.”
“Love is a temporary
madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides, you
have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so
entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because
this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is
not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion, it is not the desire to
mate every second minute of the day, it is not lying awake at night imagining
that he is kissing every cranny of your body. No, don't blush, I am telling you
some truths. That is just being "in love", which any fool can do.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this
is both an art and a fortunate accident.”
“One day you will kiss a
man you can't breathe without, and find that breath is of little consequence.”
“Who, being loved, is
poor?”
“Lost love is still love.
It takes a different form, that's all. You can't see their smile or bring them
food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those
senses weaken another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You
nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it.”
“You could have fooled me.
Every time I called you, Luke said you were sick. I figured you were avoiding
me. Again."
"I wasn't. I did want
to talk to you. I've been thinking about you all the time."
"I've been thinking
about you, too."
"I really was sick. I
swear. I almost died back there on the ship, you know."
"I know. Every time
you almost die, I almost die myself.”
“The heart has its reasons
which reason knows not.”
“My wish is that you may be
loved to the point of madness.”
“If there is no love in the
world, we will make a new world, and we will give it walls, and we will furnish
it with soft, red interiors, from the inside out, and give it a knocker that
resonates like a diamond falling to a jeweler’s felt so that we should never hear
it. Love me, because love doesn't exist, and I have tried everything that
does.”
“Wherever you will go,
I will let you down,
But this lullaby goes on.”
“I'm in love with
you," he said quietly.
"Augustus," I
said.
"I am," he said.
He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling.
"I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the
simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that
love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that
we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been
returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever
have, and I am in love with you.”
“Peeta, how come I never
know when you're having a nightmare?” I say.
“I don't know. I don't
think I cry out or thrash around or anything. I just come to, paralyzed with
terror,” he says.
“You should wake me,” I
say, thinking about how I can interrupt his sleep two or three times on a bad
night. About how long it can take to calm me down.
“It's not necessary. My
nightmares are usually about losing you,” he says. “I'm okay once I realize
you're here.”
“To love life, to love it
even
when you have no stomach
for it
and everything you've held
dear
crumbles like burnt paper
in your hands,
your throat filled with the
silt of it.
When grief sits with you,
its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy
as water
more fit for gills than
lungs;
when grief weights you like
your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity
of grief,
you think, How can a body
withstand this?
Then you hold life like a
face
between your palms, a plain
face,
no charming smile, no
violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will
take you
I will love you, again.”
“I, um, I have this
problem. I broke up with my boyfriend, you see. And I'm pretty upset about it,
so I wanted to talk to my best friend. [...] The thing is, they're both you.”
“For the two of us, home
isn't a place. It is a person. And we are finally home.”
“Be with me always - take
any form - drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot
find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I can not
live without my soul!”
“The fate of your heart is
your choice and no one else gets a vote”
“Let me die the moment my
love dies.
Let me not outlive my own
capacity to love.
Let me die still loving,
and so, never die.”
“Well, it seems to me that
the best relationships - the ones that last - are frequently the ones that are
rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see
something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked
somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is... suddenly the only person
you can ever imagine yourself with.”
“and he suddenly knew that
if she killed herself, he would die. Maybe not immediately, maybe not with the
same blinding rush of pain, but it would happen. You couldn't live for very
long without a heart.”
“You are like nobody since
I love you.”
“If someone were to harm my
family or a friend or somebody I love, I would eat them. I might end up in jail
for 500 years, but I would eat them.”
“I will love you always.
When this red hair is white, I will still love you. When the smooth softness of
youth is replaced by the delicate softness of age, I will still want to touch
your skin. When your face is full of the lines of every smile you have ever
smiled, of every surprise I have seen flash through your eyes, when every tear
you have ever cried has left its mark upon your face, I will treasure you all
the more, because I was there to see it all. I will share your life with you,
Meredith, and I will love you until the last breath leaves your body or mine.”
“Why are old lovers able to
become friends? Two reasons. They never truly loved each other, or they love
each other still.”
“You are my life now.”
“For it was not into my ear
you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.”
“He made a sound like a
choked laughed before he reached out and pulled her into her arms. She was
aware of Luke watching them from the window, but she shut her eyes resolutely
and buried her face against Jace's shoulder. He smelled of salt and blood, and
only when his mouth came close to her ear did she understand what he was
saying, and it was the simplest litany of all: her name, just her name.”
“Afterward, I had the last
laugh. I made an air bubble at the bottom of the lake. Our friends kept waiting
for us to come up, but hey-when you are the son of Poseidon, you don't have to
hurry. And it was pretty much the best underwater kiss of all time.”
“I think I fell in love
with her, a little bit. Isn't that dumb? But it was like I knew her. Like she
was my oldest, dearest friend. The kind of person you can tell anything to, no
matter how bad, and they'll still love you, because they know you. I wanted to
go with her. I wanted her to notice me. And then she stopped walking. Under the
moon, she stopped. And looked at us. She looked at me. Maybe she was trying to
tell me something; I don't know. She probably didn't even know I was there. But
I'll always love her. All my life.”
“Nothing takes the taste
out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.”
“If you remember me, then I
don't care if everyone else forgets.”
“I'm gonna fight for you,
until your heart stops beating.”
“I think we ought to live
happily ever after.”
“The voice of Love seemed
to call to me, but it was a wrong number.”
“Then I realize what it is.
It's him. Something about him makes me feel like I am about to fall. Or turn to
liquid. Or burst into flames.”
“To love is to suffer. To
avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving.
Therefore, to love is to suffer; not to love is to suffer; to suffer is to
suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy, then, is to suffer, but suffering
makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be happy one must love or love to suffer or
suffer from too much happiness.”
“Time was passing like a
hand waving from a train I wanted to be on.
I hope you never have to
think about anything as much as I think about you.”
“Even when I'm dead, I'll
swim through the Earth,
like a mermaid of the soil,
just to be next to your bones.”
“Oh no. Don't smile. You'll
kill me. I stop breathing when you smile.”
“If I love you, what
business is it of yours?”
“Love is the jelly to
sunshine’s peanut butter. And if I tell you that I’m in sandwich with you, I’m
not just saying it to get in your Ziploc bag.”
“The course of true love
never did run smooth.”
“I'm saying I'm in love
with you! I've been in love with you this whole bleeding year!”
“I love you and it's
getting worse.”
One day you’ll
ask me which is more important to me, you or my life. I’ll say, “Of course, my
life.” And you’ll go walk away in tears without even knowing that you are my
life.
Falling in love is like jumping off a really tall
building. Your brain tells you it is not a good idea, but your heart tells you,
you can fly.
“There is nothing more
truly artistic than to love people.”
“Promise to give me a kiss
on my brow when I am dead. --I shall feel it."
She dropped her head again
on Marius' knees, and her eyelids closed. He thought the poor soul had
departed. Eponine remained motionless. All at once, at the very moment when
Marius fancied her asleep forever, she slowly opened her eyes in which appeared
the somber profundity of death, and said to him in a tone whose sweetness
seemed already to proceed from another world:--
"And by the way,
Monsieur Marius, I believe that I was a little bit in love with you.”
Merry Christmas!
Hope everyone is having a delightful holiday! I recieved many wonderful gifts, including the full series of My So-Called Life (That show is timeless) and two wonderful Mulder and Scully wigs for my X-Files parody.
It has been nothing but fun the past week, and I wanted to express just how grateful I am that my family was able to get together this Christmas.
I won't write too much; I have hugs to give and laughs to share, but I just wanted to post to wish every single person on the internet a fun-filled day (and rest of the week.)
It has been nothing but fun the past week, and I wanted to express just how grateful I am that my family was able to get together this Christmas.
I won't write too much; I have hugs to give and laughs to share, but I just wanted to post to wish every single person on the internet a fun-filled day (and rest of the week.)
The Machine
Here is a dystopian story I wrote, a Christmas special. Hope you enjoy it!
The Machine
It was a beautiful day in Xeuae.
Although
Aaron Cole, his sister Luna, and everyone else in the city had learned to
expect nothing different.
Aaron
was working in the wheat fields, as he did every day. His hands moved up and
down, tending the plants rhythmically. He knew the task like he knew the back
of his hand. He knew the motions even with his eyes closed, as if his hands
were not meant for anything else. He had known it ever since the day he was
born.
A
cool, pleasant breeze fell lightly onto his back. Birds chirped and trees
swayed in the wind. Bees buzzed softly as they weaved in and out of the lush
fields. The soothing sounds of machines whirring pervaded the crisp air. Over
the small hill beside the fields, flowers bloomed in the gardens. The largest
building as far as the eye could see was the Needs House, where dim light
reflected over the city. Far above, in the distance, the Tower kept watch over
the town.
“Nice
weather today,” Aaron heard a voice behind him say.
He
turned around, and saw his friend Joseph Clark standing there, baring a
gap-toothed smile. His friend had chocolate brown hair and tan skin, like the
rest of the boys in Xeuae. His creamy, hazel eyes sometimes reminded Aaron of a
wooded creature, and were playful, outgoing, and questioning at the same time.
“Sure
is,” replied Aaron, distracted. He craned his neck to find Luna, just to check
up on her. She was small for an 11-year old, but he could usually pick her out
in the gardens, where she worked.
He
surveyed the people that stood among the tall flowers and thick bushes. He
could see a young woman with striking red hair harvesting a beautiful, yellow
flower, and a small child of about three or four doing the same by her side.
His
heart plummeted. Luna wasn’t there. Where could she be? His eyes darted to the
Needs House. He squinted at the clear, glass walls. He could hear the machines humming
in the empty halls, see the marble floors shine in the sunlight, the cameras
turn periodically about the room, but he could not catch a glimpse of his
sister’s wispy brown hair.
“Hey,
Aaron, what is your problem?” Joseph demanded, eyeing him suspiciously. “Nothing,”
Aaron said hastily, his eyes still searching.
Just
then, two quick, screeching chimes were blasted from the Tower.
Immediately,
everyone put down whatever they were working on and made their way quickly to
the Needs House. Aaron followed the trail of workers, moving as quickly as he
could. “Luna,” he called. “Luna, are you here?” He struggled to see over the
crowd.
Joseph
pushed him forward. “Aaron, you’re holding everyone up!”
Aaron
continued to scramble, but he was eventually shoved to a machine. He quickly
attached the wires to his head and wrists. Situating himself in between the two
white, metal bars, he closed his eyes.
For
a moment, his mind went blank. Then a wonderful feeling seared through him. He
could feel his muscles loosen and his brain sharpen.
Then
the feeling ended, and he stepped away, energized and determined. “Luna!” he yelled.
Shoving
through the waves of citizens, he finally found her. She was sitting away from
the crowd, in a corner, staring intently out the glass wall. It seemed that she
was looking through the horizon,
rather than at it, but Luna rarely looked at things directly.
Aaron
relaxed. “Gosh, Luna, you scared me half to death.” He hugged her tightly, and
then turned serious. “Don’t sneak away anymore,” he warned.
Luna
stared at him with her unblinking, blue eyes, smiling slightly. She didn’t
answer.
This
was also expected. Aaron knew his sister was quiet. She didn’t speak unless she
had something to say, and her breathtaking, clear eyes were enough to silence
anyone else. “Have you been refreshed yet?” he asked.
Luna’s
smile disappeared. She slowly shook her head.
“Luna!”
he scolded, glancing around. Most people had already made their way outside,
back to their jobs.
Aaron
grabbed Luna’s hand. “Let’s go quickly,” he said, leading her to the closest
machine.
The machines were white and
rectangular, with wires sticking out of them. Some had bars, some didn’t, but there
was always a round, dented spot for the receiver to sit.
He hooked her up gently, trying
not to notice all the cameras turn on him. They were the only ones left in the
building now.
Luna
closed her eyes, and the machine began to whir. It usually only took a few
seconds for people her age to be refreshed completely. Aaron could take in all
of his energy in twenty seconds. He glanced at the giant, round clock on the
far wall of the Needs House. It had definitely been more than twenty seconds.
He
watched Luna intently. Everything looked normal, he was sure of it.
Suddenly,
the machine began to shake violently, and the wires snapped taut. Aaron panicked.
It had never done this before! The screen flashed distorted colors and symbols.
His
heart racing, Aaron started pressing all of the machine’s buttons. Nothing happened.
He tugged on the wires. The machine kept vibrating.
“It’s
okay, Luna,” he stammered helplessly as he continued to try to stop the
pulsating machine, but his sister looked surprisingly calm amidst the chaos.
Her eyes were still closed and she was breathing normally.
People
outside were starting to take notice. They stared into the Needs House with
horrified expressions, chattering amongst themselves. The cameras twisted and swiveled
and adjusted themselves, as if frantic to catch a glimpse of what was
occurring.
Aaron
was still grappling with the machine. For the first time, it struck him how
strong it was. He was sure it could easily crush Luna.
Then
something remarkable happened. It started to slow down. It subsided faster and
faster until the wires fell loose and popped out of Luna’s head with a click.
For
a moment it was silent. Aaron was paralyzed with confusion and fear. Then he
snapped to his senses.
“Luna!”
he cried. “Are you okay?” He shook her shoulders.
Slowly,
she opened her eyes. Aaron was shocked to find her still smiling. She rose from
the chair and left the building.
Aaron
followed her mindlessly, barely able to breathe. Behind him, the machine
fizzled and sputtered before finally turning off for good.
As
Aaron’s hands worked on the wheat, he pondered everything that had happened. He
couldn’t begin to understand what Luna had done. Had she broken the machine?
Why? How? His thoughts raced about.
He
was also painfully aware of the questioning stares he had been receiving, and
how his best friend Joseph hadn’t even glanced his way. And Joseph always had
something to say.
Aaron
gathered up his courage and spoke. “So, I take it you saw what happened in
there?”
Joseph
said nothing. He kept his eyes cast on the wheat, as if it were the most
important thing in the world.
“Joseph,
you have to understand,” Aaron pleaded, even though he didn’t understand
himself. “Whatever just happened…it wasn’t Luna’s fault.”
“For
heaven’s sake, would you keep your voice down?” Joseph said harshly.
Aaron
fell silent, surprised. Joseph had never spoken to him that way before.
“Look,”
Joseph started, his eyes wide in fear. “I don’t want to understand. All I know
is that that wasn’t supposed to
happen, Aaron.”
“I
know.”
“I’m
serious,” Joseph warned. He glanced over at the cameras. They were still facing
the Needs House. “Don’t talk about it again.”
“But…”
The
cameras turned on them. Glancing upward, Aaron could have sworn he saw the Tower
glisten, but it must have been his imagination.
He
nodded, and Joseph went back to work.
Aaron
looked towards the gardens. He sighed with relief when he saw his sister there.
The
next few hours were just as beautiful as the last. The sun kept shining, and the
mirrors of the Tower cast warm rays down on Aaron and Joseph in the fields.
Most
of the events of the morning had already been forgotten, to Aaron’s relief.
There were no more looks, and the cameras were turning normally again.
Joseph
was still a little uneasy, though, while talking to Aaron. Aaron figured he
probably still thought being around him was dangerous.
Aaron
hadn’t met up with Luna since their last terrifying encounter at the Needs
House. He would check up on her once he returned there, just to see if she was all
right.
Even
though Aaron tried not to think about what happened, he couldn’t help it. He
finally came to the conclusion that there was something wrong with the machine,
a virus that caused it to break. But even he had to admit that he had never
heard of anything like that happening.
At
the Needs House, Aaron was once again engulfed in a writhing crowd. He decided
to sit down and wait, this time, before refreshing himself.
But
as he stared at the stream of people flowing in, he couldn’t pick out his
sister.
And
after they all had trailed out, he had to accept that she simply wasn’t there.
He
looked quickly over the fields and the gardens, but she was nowhere to be
found, and he knew there was no other place in Xeuae she would be.
Defeated,
he sat down to rest. Soon, he knew, there would be two chimes and it would be
time to go back to the fields. Then, at the end of the day, he would go back to
the Needs House to be refreshed. Then back to the fields. Then again to the House.
Back and forth his entire life.
He
remembered when he had first been assigned to Luna, less than a week after he
was born. Of course, Aaron wasn’t her real brother, but he recalled that from
the moment he laid eyes on her, he had felt a connection between them, as if
they were related after all. From that day on, he made a promise to himself
that he would look after her. He wanted her to grow up right, to become someone
great, someone he always saw inside of her. It was an amazing to know that he
belonged to someone. He had someone to care for. He couldn’t let that go. He
needed to find her.
A glint of silver caught Aaron’s
eye. He lifted his head and looked forward at the Tower. It was as blinding as
always, with the two-way mirrored sides.
He tried to tell if his sister was
in there.
But why would she be? He thought. She did nothing wrong.
His
thoughts drifted to the encounter with the machine. Had Luna somehow done that? Whatever she had done? But he
hadn’t seen her do anything. She had
closed her eyes and stood there quietly. How could they think she’d done it?
His eleven-year-old sister…
“Aaron,
what are you doing? The chimes are about to ring.”
Aaron
turned around and saw Joseph there. “I don’t care,” he said gravely.
“Aaron,
come on,” urged Joseph, his tone
urgent now. “We have to go.”
“I
have to find her.” Aaron was resolved.
A
look of panic covered Joseph’s face. “What are you talking about?” he
whispered.
“I
think they took her.”
“Who?”
Aaron
glanced at the Tower again. He had to admit he didn’t know anything for sure,
but there was this burning feeling in his chest that she was up there. He stood
up and began to walk.
“Aaron,
where are you going?”
He
kept walking.
“Aaron,
come back!”
He
walked a little faster.
“Aaron,
you’ll never find her!”
He
began to run.
“Aaron,
they’ll arrest you! Aaron, they could—”
Joseph
was saying something else, but Aaron was too far away now to hear, and he knew
Joseph would not follow him. He was sprinting now, towards the Tower, towards
his sister, and away from everything he had ever known.
He
had been running for a while now, not looking back. It was getting late, and
the sun was setting beautifully over the trees. He could no longer see the
fields, and the gardens were merely a speck of color in the distance.
A
few people had watched him at first as he ran away, but eventually they went
back to their work. He hadn’t had a chance to see where the cameras were, but
he had a sure feeling they were pointing on him.
And
there was a sensation creeping up inside him, moving towards the bottom of his
spine, chilling his body. He had never felt it before, but he was sure it was
real.
Aaron
was tired.
Only
slightly, but the feeling was entirely new to him. He hadn’t been refreshed in
half a day, longer than he had ever gone. And he was beginning to wonder if he
could manage it any longer.
His
stomach grumbled. He nearly jumped out of fright. It had never made that noise
before. What did it mean?
He
stared at his destination, his eyesight beginning to blur. He could make it.
With
a surge of power, he was on his feet again.
The
Tower loomed over him. It was so bright; he couldn’t look at it directly. He
had imagined so many times what it would be like to see it up close, how
beautiful it would be.
But those were the dreams of a
little boy. This was real. He was there at last; in the place he was sure he
would find Luna. It was certainly not
beautiful.
Around
the Tower stood a barbed wire fence. Silver and shining, it eclipsed him in
shade.
His breathing was rapid, his eyes
were watering, and his legs were wobbling. He could barely stand without losing
his balance. He was a wreck.
How in the world did he expect to
get inside?
And
then he heard it.
A
piercing scream, reverberating through the air. Terrifying.
And
unmistakable.
Luna.
With
a new strength, he straightened his shoulder and grabbed the fence, squeezing
it hard. What were they doing to her?
Climb the fence, he commanded himself. Come on, Aaron, just climb the fence
already. For a moment, he stood there, perplexed. He had never climbed a
fence before, or anything, for that matter.
Hesitantly,
he placed a foot in between the wire of the fence. It shook precariously. Keep going, the voice in his head
reassured him. Another foot followed, and he pulled himself up.
Then,
just as easily, he tumbled back down.
Blowing
the grass out of his face, and filled now with a formidable determination, he repositioned
his foot.
He
closed his eyes and listened to the birds chirping in the trees, the buzzing of
machines. None of it sounded reassuring anymore. It seemed to feed his anger,
charging it with a new degree of strength.
He
hoisted himself up to the top of the fence, where he was just barely able to
slide over and drop roughly to the ground.
He
stayed there for a while, to make sure no one had noticed him. Then he peered
around.
He
was safe.
Now
all he had to do was find a way in.
The
doors of the Tower were hard to find at first, since everything was constructed
out of identical rows of mirrors.
When
he did find them, he was awestruck. They were the biggest, most intricate doors
he had ever seen. Getting in would be the easy part, he thought. He just needed
a disguise.
Looking
at himself in one of the mirrors, he realized this would be harder than he
thought. He was grimy and his hair stuck out in unsystematic places all over
his head. His clothes were tattered, and his face looked pale and sickly. He
clearly resembled a very frazzled boy.
Suddenly,
he heard a terrible screeching noise, like an engine starting. He braced
himself covering his ears.
Once
it was silent, he decided there was no time to wait. He gathered up his
courage, set the door ajar, and peeked inside.
To
his amazement, the hall was empty. He couldn’t see anything, not even a
machine.
Cautiously,
he stepped inside. Was this a trap? But who would set up a trap? No one knew he
was coming.
Nothing
reacted. Everything stayed still. He took another step. Still nothing.
He
walked all the way into the room and looked around one last time. Silence.
Snatching
the opportunity, he dashed up the stairs and around the corner, checking every
room. Each one was bare and desolate. In fact, it didn’t seem like anyone had
set foot in them for years.
None
were occupied by Luna.
After
unsuccessfully searching the fifth hallway, he could feel his legs falter
again. He felt weaker than he had ever been.
He
knew there were machines in the Tower, ones where he could be refreshed.
But
for the first time, he didn’t care. He never wanted to hook himself up to
another machine as long as he lived. If he wanted energy, he needed to find
another way, and there was no time for that now.
At
the end of the last hall was a giant room, with massive double doors that
reached all the way up to the ceiling. His eyes followed their length, then
fell to the doorknob.
He
opened it without hesitation, and gasped.
There,
in the middle of the room, the biggest machine he had ever seen.
And
seated in it was Luna.
He
couldn’t move. He couldn’t speak. He had made it. There she was.
After he got over the initial
shock, he raced over to her. Horrified, he found that Luna’s entire body had
been somehow attached. There were wires spanning all the way down her arms and
legs. Her eyes were closed, as if she was in a deep sleep.
He started ripping out the wires,
one by one, using almost the entire remainder of his strength. After he had
finished with the final connections, he started shaking her.
“L-Luna?” he said, his voice
hoarse and shaky. “Luna, are you okay?”
She didn’t seem to be responding.
Then a terrible thought struck
him.
What if she was dead?
No, he
thought. No, they wouldn’t. He shook
her harder, pressed his hands against her cheeks, demanded for her to wake up.
But his demands eventually turned to pleas, and his pleas to sobs, and soon, he
found himself unable to speak, he was sobbing so hard.
What had
they done? What had they done to his sister?
He hated them, he hated all of
them, whoever they were. They wanted everything to be perfect and uniform. They
didn’t want anything to be out of place, and if something was, they eliminated
it.
Luna was out of place. She was the
girl who didn’t belong. All because she had broken the machine.
He knew why. Because she
understood everything, in a way she knew he never would. Because she wanted to
protect him, and everyone else in Xeuae.
Because she could. She was smart
enough to, the inhabitants of the city were all smart enough to, only no one
else could see it but her. His brave, brave sister.
And
here he was now, crying into her lap.
“Aaron?”
Aaron
froze. Slowly, gradually, he looked up.
And
Luna was gazing at him, smiling. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
He
felt exhilarated and shocked and disbelieving all at once. “L-Luna?” he managed
to get out.
She
grinned wider. “What are you doing here?” she repeated.
He
was at a loss for words. He hugged her as hard as he could, then let his arms
fall limp. “Oh, Luna, thank goodness…” he panted, “thank goodness I found you.”
She
laughed, her laugh like ringing bells. “I want to go home,” she said.
Aaron
smiled. “Yes, we will, Luna, we sure will. Far, far away from here.” His words
flowed out in one long breath. “I am so sorry I let this happen to you. I’m
sorry I let these terrible people take you. But it’s okay now. I promise you
we’ll leave. We’ll never have to see another machine again.”
Her
smile faded. “No. I want to go back to Xeuae.”
He
frowned, perplexed. “What? Why?”
She
raised her eyebrows, as if she found it ridiculous he didn’t know. “Because Xeuae
is the most peaceful, beautiful, perfect town in the world.”
Aaron
stopped in his tracks. “What did you say?” he said quietly.
“I said,” she repeated
mechanically, “Because Xeuae is the most peaceful, beautiful, perfect town in
the—”
“No.” His frown turned into a
scowl as it began to sink in.
They
had changed her.
Altered
her mind with that machine. She was there, but she wasn’t. She wasn’t speaking
the words of Luna Cole. Luna Cole never spoke. She was speaking the words of Xeuae.
“What
did they do to you?” he murmured, his vision blurring.
She
laughed again, but it wasn’t her laugh. He had never heard that laugh before.
“Luna,
what did they do to you?” he said again, his voice weak.
The
voice of Xeuae just kept laughing, laughing and laughing, at him and at
everything else.
A
rage was stirring inside of Aaron.
Luna
stopped laughing. “Let’s never leave,” she said.
Aaron
exploded. “HOW COULD YOU?” he yelled at no one in particular. “WHAT HAVE YOU
DONE TO HER?”
There
was no answer.
“Aaron,
what are you doing?” Luna asked calmly.
Ignoring her, he opened the door
and screamed down the hall. “WHERE ARE YOU? WHO DID THIS TO HER?”
It
was so quiet he could have heard a pin drop.
“I’M
TALKING TO YOU!” he shouted. “I WANT HER BACK! I WANT MY SISTER BACK!” He
slammed his fist into the wall. A stabbing pain was riveting up his arm towards
his chest. “WHO ARE YOU? COWARD!” bellowed Aaron. “COME IN HERE AND TALK TO
ME!”
And
suddenly, as if they just appeared out of thin air, at least fifty men ran into
the room. They were soldiers, and heavily armed, their faces impassive and
their movements robotic.
Aaron
was frozen in shock.
The soldiers didn’t say a word,
didn’t stop for a second. They grabbed Aaron’s arms and legs and dragged him
across the room, his feet scraping against the floor.
Aaron fought back, screamed,
protested, but the men kept coming. They shoved Luna aside and sat Aaron down
at the machine, hooking up the wires swiftly and expertly.
“STOP!” Aaron cried, struggling to
escape with his limp muscles.
The soldiers pressed a button on
the machine.
It began to whir.
Aaron looked forward, at the
expressionless men before him, some with masks, some without, their armor
stretched before them, watching him like he was a mouse in a cage.
Then his eyelids began to feel
heavy. It was terribly hard just to keep them open. His eyes finally found his
sister, in the back of the room, her brown hair still, her blue eyes staring.
Slowly, her lips curled upward
into a smile.
And then a wonderful feeling
rushed through Aaron, like a flow of cool water through his veins and his mind.
He felt relaxed, safe, calmer than he had ever been.
Gradually, all of his pain and
worry floated away from him, like a balloon into the sky, disappearing forever
into the clouds.
He opened his eyes.
As his eyes adjusted to the light,
he saw Luna standing there in the empty room.
“What are we doing here?” he asked
groggily. “Where are we?”
Luna shrugged. “I want to go
home,” she said. “To Xeuae. I’m tired.”
He smiled at her. “Me, too,” Aaron
said.
He slid off the chair he had been
sitting on and placed a hand on her shoulder.
He pushed open the double doors,
and together, they walked back the way they had come.
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