“Anita didn’t gain consciousness until the inventor’s Abilene was already gone; crippled with grief, the inventor took to improving his clocks. He worked day and night. Anita saw glimpses of the dusty old room, littered with scraps of metal where he worked. She heard stories about Abilene, the inventor’s late wife, and as time went on, Anita took on the personality of Abilene. The inventor made Anita on his honeymoon.”
“’I find a pleasing humor in that fruit bowl. And the hanging lantern. And the — what is that vast… thing… over there?’
The juvenile servant rushed to the rich man’s side. ‘It is the ocean. Quite beautiful, if I may say?’
The rich man squinted his eyes, then clenched his fists, resisting the impending irritation. ‘Well, it was not there yesterday.’
‘It was, you just did not perceive its presence.'”
“Olivia didn’t reply. She was thinking about her parents, who had died in a fire 3 years ago. She remembered her mom’s caring smile and her dad’s gruff but tender voice. She missed them so much. She wished that Emily had not gotten cyborg implants. It separated them in a way because cyborgs tended to always stick to other cyborgs. Their friendship was growing tense.”
“As Jac swung open the heavy front door, an aroma of blood and flesh seized his unprepared nostrils. He slightly winced but he knew the smell was promising. The more rural the town, the better the meat, he decided. Fresh meat from the outskirts of Wales.”
“I’m watching my best friend get pinned down by a ghost. Maybe if Mom had listened to me, this wouldn’t be happening.
But we can’t just start here, can we?”
“‘Hello? Is this my customization?’ asked the fetus. The doctor gave a microphone to the couple so that they could talk to their son.
‘Hello, my beautiful son. Shall we get to it?’ asked Mary, wanting to get on with it.”
“It’s the alarm that woke me up that morning. Not my clock that’s seemingly harmless, but the Imperial Alarm. It has never been used before.
When we first moved to the Triwall Sector, the second thing our family was taught about was the Imperial Alarm. It’s reserved solely for emergencies such as natural disasters, and the unexpected death of a high ranking member of the Imperials. I remember the man who gave us a tour of the place, carefully pointing every single thing out.”
“Breaking through/
the salty water/
I swim back to shore/
My feet feel/
smooth rocks/
on the shore/
as I step onto/
the beach.”
“A soft pinging plays as the stewardess who’s probably been working in this airport for far too long asks, for the third time, for a passenger to give up their seat on the overbooked plane. The terminal is cold and stiff, unlike the hot and stuffy air awaiting me in 600 miles and 4 hours. I look out the large windows facing the tarmac.”
‘”Passports.’
‘Here are ours. My wife, Meena, my daughter, Adrika, and my son, Ravi.’
‘Okay,’ the customs agent replied with an eye roll.
He was thanked for his tireless work nonetheless, and the family continued on their way through the seemingly endless Heathrow hallways.”
“When you live on Jupiter’s coldest moon, Europa, it takes a lot to make you lose hope. Like if a neighboring moon, Io, were to or by chance began to deteriorate and rain chucks of itself onto Europa causing mass spread destruction. Another piece of Io came crashing down in the distance. People around me fell into a state of anarchy.”
“My heart was pounding as I peeked past the haybale to the crowd across the dirt road. I had never before seen this many demons gathered in the countryside. Was I safe? I wished profoundly that I was with my parents in the human world. The world where humans were at the top of the food chain. The world where I didn’t have to worry about being hunted down.”
“When I was in eighth grade, I was on the phone with a friend and she was telling me about a seventh grader who took an eighth grade honors math class. This shocked me for two reasons: one because of how smart he was and second, because he was not Asian and did not fit into that ‘smart’ stereotype.”
“Today is an important day. It’s the day that everything changes. I can finally be taken seriously by my family since I am now 18. I told my family I did not want anything big, just a cake. Not that they would ever listen.”
“The light was blinding and he was very drowsy. He was aware that he was in some type of room. His vision was still recovering and then all of a sudden he was aware that his nose was bleeding.”
“Thousands of years ago, the earth developed and developed with human safety and entertainment as the main goal because people on earth wanted to make it a better place. In their minds, if people were safe and happy, then what could go wrong?”
“It was an ordinary Tuesday morning. The sun shone through the cracks in the blinds. A light layer of frost covered the front yard. I regrettably got out of bed to eat breakfast. I got on the bus before arriving at the bane of my existence, school. I walked into my first class, math. Yuck! Students were piling into every classroom until the bell rang, and like magic, everyone disappeared into their rooms.”
“I’m not exactly human. I know, I know it’s a shock, but I’m a penguin.”
“The summer breeze whistles through my hair/
It swims through the grass and trees/
Makes the gleaming sun looks like a gem, so rare/
And dances on the waves in the seas.”
“I’ve been swimming competitively for eight years, but I’m not here to tell you about a whole eight years worth of swimming. I am here to tell you that swimming and other sports have an enormous impact on athletes who struggle with mental health. I want to spread awareness about this by sharing my story.”
“Many Harry Potter readers don’t question Lord Voldemort’s actions. They just accept the fact that he is evil and kills at least 20 people, if not hundreds more, and move on. However, I believe that there is always an excuse, or at least a reason, behind everything — even the actions of an evil wizard. That’s why I want to delve into Lord Voldemort’s crimes and why he commits them. Although Lord Voldemort’s actions are wrong, he has reasons for them. Some of them could be valid, others might just be interesting to explore.”
“The murder was timed perfectly. The target had no hope.
Never call the victim by their name. It personalizes the situation and you will hesitate as you realize what you are doing. The advice seeped into The Comrade’s mind as he threw the knife. It was a perfect hit, like always. The Comrade’s real name was Braydon, but nobody called him that. He had enhanced senses that allowed him to track things easily.”
“There are three types of small towns: the happy-go-lucky town, the murder town, and the normal one. Our town just so happens to be the last one. We all go to one school, shop for food at one store, eat out at one restaurant, and buy clothes at the same department store. It’s all very simple.”
“It began bouncing around her. Clufa didn’t mind. She was harnessing it, after all, so if it touched her, it would do nothing to her. She peered at the edge and saw the shadowy being.
Clufa didn’t bother to hide a small smile creeping across her face. She faced the man, and from behind her, she felt a cold chill. As she turned, Altzeroil let out a small breath.”
“Alabaster metal met obsidian with a clang that resonated throughout the courtyard, early morning light striking the pale blade in such a way that it seemed to glow from within. The trimmed maze of shrubs snaked around the two figures as they danced over and under in a deadly tango of reflex and skill. To a casual observer, it would seem that the pair were evenly matched, accustomed to each other’s fighting styles over years of practice. Yet a sharper eye might notice a slight misstep, a strike just off mark, a parry almost a second too late.”
“The goose is the garden/
Is becoming overgrown we need to trim the weeds/
Take over the driveway
Is really falling apart/
From you I can’t seem to think.”
“Hello. I hate the word ‘hello.’ I hate the word ‘shower.’ I hate the word ‘cheese-stick.’ I hate the word ‘hate’ most of all. It puts a bitter taste in my mouth, and that’s why I hate it so much.”
“In 1839, the highly revered words of ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ were first written by novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton in his historical play Cardinal Richelieu. Ever since, the use of this phrase has skyrocketed and is now commonly used and applied to everyday life. Despite the extremely common use of the phrase, in many cases, it has little effect due to the fact that many continue to question the might of the pen.”
“There was a suitcase. There was a bed. What was it doing there? The bed was the first bed that the legendary bedmaker would make. Now, the bedmaker would prefer if his name was not mentioned in this book, though it perplexes me, for he is already quite famous indeed. But from here on out, I will call the legendary bedmaker ‘Gustavo.'”