Om's Quest

Part 1

The harsh winds whipped against it's back
The monster clung to it's flag
It's scaly clawed hands wrapped around it's staff.

It's eyes were stone, and it's large ears flapped in the wind
It spit when it saw a figure making it's way through the dessert
Hah
It better not come to him
Nirdok had been waiting patiently for a wayward traveler for eternities
And was due for a meal.
He licked his lips and readied his verminous teeth

A young man in a suit made his way through the sandstorm
He was in shirt and tie
And was shoeless
An arm sheilded his eyes from the storm.
Slung over his shoulder was a deer skin purse.

The human approached the demon,
Who at 9 feet stood dwarfed the lost human.

Nirdok's laugh was hungry and heartless
The human was making his way towards him!
Nirdok loved an easy meal.

The human looked up at Nirdok.

"I need directions."

"Hahaha." cackled Nirdok
"Oh you need directions do you?
And where do you need to get to?"

"I need to get to New Jerusalem."
Spoke the human bravely.

Nirdok bellowed.
"You need to get to Jerusalem.
Ha, no human I'm sorry,
But you look too delicious for me to just let you go.
You see you poor sap,
I'm starving, and you look like you'd be delicious with a side of charon,
Heheheheh."

The traveler looked past Nirdok,
"Is New Jerusalem that way?"

Nirdok bobbed his head.
"Uh...hahaha. Human I think you are confused."

"No, I'm not confused.
I've made my way
Through self discipline and meditation
My mind is sharpened
And my knowledge of the arcane is unmatched
You don't scare me you stupid humonculous
Now show me too New Jerusalem
Or face the wrath of my Master."

Nirdok stopped.
"And what's to stop from chewing on your heart while you still breathe?"
The traveler glared at the demon
He raised his hand
His palm bore the mark of his master
A cobra's head

Nirdok only laughed
"Hahahaha, you stupid thing, what is your name?
Who are you to show such arrogance?"

"My name is Om."

"Om eh? Well Om, good luck.
I will show you the way to your destination
Hahaheh...but that won't do you no good
I align with your master
So I will let you pass unharmed,
Be warned though,
Many here fear that mark you bear
But not all,
Many will kill you for it!
Don't go sharing it with everyone
Or you're likely to get your throat slit
Or worse.
New Jerusalem is that way,
You will get lost in the dry sea.
Don't trust the night.
Don't trust the singing
Don't trust anything,
But your own lack of direction.
May I ask,
What would bring a human to the Dead World?"

"I'm not here to share stories demon.
Thanks for the directions."

Without Om pushed passed the demon
Nirdok growled
"I hope you lose your mind here human."

Om traveled the dessert.
He could feel is physical self
Attached to this astral projection by a thin ethereal thread
This was another world
He had traveled hear by calling upon the dark arts
His master,
The Snake King,
Had sent him on a quest
To collect something from this realM
Only then would he be able to return to his physical self.

His dark journey into the depths of Dead World had just begun.
God help us all.

Suki's Choice Pt. 2

Suki's Choice Pt. 2


She lay softly asleep
The grass bend and leaned back,
Hosting the sleeping Suki
She sucked on her thumb

The flowers and grass whispered amongst themselves
Gossiping about the strangely horned girl

“Hey she's waking up!” was announced

Silence fell the over the plants as Suki yawned and stretched
She sat up slowly
Reaching her arms into the sky and arching her back
She felt itchy and hot
As the noon day sun cooked her blood stained robes.

She shed them quick
Leaving herself naked save for black whore panties
The warmth felt soothing on her skin
The smells from nature
And sounds of life put her at ease

Sounds of Life

She grew suddenly aware of herself
She looked down at her breasts
And saw a scar betwixt them

She felt her heart ache
“Spider?”

“Hm...Oh....”
The spider yawned and stretched it's several arms
“Suki...you're awake...”

Suki rolled her eyes upward and blew her hair out of her face
She examined her sorroundings
The remains of the brothel still lingered
Though the ashen blanket was replaced with a field of grass and flowers
And the remaining skeleton of the brothel was covered in moss and overgrowth
As if the brothel had burned down ages ago
Curiouser and Curiouser
“Spider...was this field here...earlier”

“Mervyn.” said the spider, stringing a web between her antlers.

“What's that?”

“My name is Mervyn, you don't have to call me Spider. And what are you asking me?”

“Wasn't this field covered in ash...and everything burnt?”

“You must dream vivid, for you to mistake your dreams for reality.”

With that Mervyn returned to his humming.
It would appear that Ariel's visit had been a dream
Though since dying, the line between what was real
And what was a dream
Seemed less and less important

Suki bit her lip as she walked through the field to the trees
The grass and dirt felt welcoming in her toes
She felt energy brewing in her knees
For the time being
The riddles Ariel had posed
And the pain of her death
Were a distant memory

For now,
The sun was bright
The air was warm
And the earth was soft
For now,
Suki just had to run.

She flew through the forest
Her feet gliding over the earth
She ran with grace
Her running was a dance
She loved her body
She loved how the wind cut over her ears

Suki galloped through the thicket till she came to a stream
She heard Mervyn humming over the song of the water
Suki knelt down and dipped her hand into the water

The drink replenished her
It cooled her throat
And revitalized her mind

She had been given a choice
Be a tool for the Gods
To bring happiness to this world
Even a small amount

Or continue on into oblivion
To leave this purgatory of ghostly servitude
In favor of sweet embrace of the forever after

Suki wanted to bring love to the world,
She did
But the burden of being the messenger of the God's
Could her soul bare it?
Would she let them down?
She could not imagine that she had the strength to do what they asked.
And with what tools did they expect her to do so?

In death,
The Gods gifted her with an ear for all creatures
It did not surprise Suki that the animals could communicate with the dead.
But how this would bring happiness to the miserable
She could not guess.

The water glided before her
Toy sized fish gazed at her from beneath the surface
Their bodies fragile and glass like

They stared silently

Here, in these woods
In this water,
In death
This bestial after life
There was a peace

A heavy step snapped a branch

Suki looked up
Her ears perked
Her antlers raised
Even Mervyn's humming went silent

Suki strained to listen

Silence

Nothing

Then,

Calamity

The air ruptured at a rifle's rapport

And Suki was off.

She ran.

The arms of the trees swiped at her face
The bushes grabbed her ankles
The foliage screamed
“Don't!”
But she ran towards the sound.
Why can't I run faster?! she begged

She broke into the clearing and froze
They all did.

Two men
A doe

The doe lay in the grass
Blood spilling from her neck
She gasped for air
Her panic stricken eyes pleading wildly for help
Her legs kicked

Suki stared.

One of the men was kneeling over the doe
He had a knife out, to finish his kill
A rifle strapped to his back
He stared dumbfounded at this naked horned girl
Who had stumbled upon their kill

Suki stepped towards the doe
It's eyes caught her's

This is my life, the doe said with it's gaze

The Doe's life flashed before Suki's eyes

She had been born the youngest of her siblings
Her mother's only daughter
Noriela
She had fallen in love with a stag who had been shot by hunters years ago
His name had been Enteimos
Noriela kept her love a secret her whole life
They had shared one night
A moon before Enteimos's death
They had shared each other's warmth
I will forever be yours he had whispered

Noriela stared deep into Suki
She looked forward to seeing Enteimos again

Suki felt her heart broke
Noriela's beauty was lost.
Suki looked up at the hunter

He had fallen back
And trembled at this ghostly visitor
He gripped his knife tight
“Stay back!” he stammered

“How could you?” Suki said through rising tears

“She was beautiful...”
Suki grew furious
“You killed her for beauty...”

With that the hunter lunged at Suki.
A yell escaped from his throat
And he swung his knife wildly

Suki grabbed his face,
Palming it
She squeezed, reaching past her fingers into his head.

The Hunter felt the coldness of death,
Tendrils of the abyss squirmed in his brain
Suki's eyes went white
And her breath froze as it escaped her lips

The Hunter saw the beauty that had been Noriela's life
He saw the beauty he had just stolen with his rifle.

The Hunter collapsed with remorse
Unable to bear the pain he had caused
Reliving the horror over and over again

He collapsed a muttering mess
His mind melted into a miserable mush of despair and self loathing

Suki yanked the rifle off his back
She examined the instrument
Then raised it at the second hunter

“Suki? Suki what are you doing!” Mervyn cried into Suki's ear
“Are you going to shoot him?”

“I should.” said Suki
The tears had ceased to come
She was now filled with rage at the heartlessness of the hunters
At Noriela's death
“They killed her,
She was beautiful, so they wanted that beauty for themselves.
They shot her.
They are ugly.
They are monsters.”

“And if you were to kill? Is he not entitled to his life as well?”

Suki stared down the rifle
Gripping the barrel tightly
She wanted him to hurt the way Noriela did
She wanted him to die the way Noriela had
She wanted vengeance for Noriela

“Suki...he's scared...” worried Mervyn

The man trembled

Suki tensed

She saw the panic in his eyes

She lowered the rifle.

She spoke,
She didn't tremble

“Leave.
Your friend has gone mad with misery
A fate you will narrowly escape
Tell your friends that for now on”
Suki gripped the rifle
“The woods shoot back.”

Suki's Choice Pt. 1

Suki's Choice Pt. 1

The sun was rising when Suki stepped on the yard.
To her confusion, the brothel was not there
Instead a strangely constructed house


Neither a merc or a whore in sight
Shinu could not be found
Kanji had faded away
And the Mistress was nowhere insight

The cages were gone,
the ganj fields missing.
The bar and tents had vanished
But their skeletons were there.
Charred skeletons,
Giving the illusion of where the buildings once stood
The sky grew white as the sun rose

Suki stepped through the phantasmic scene
Ash blanketed the soil

“I must be lost.” she whispered

“What was that?” begged the spider.

“I'm lost...this is not the brothel where I was killed”

She navigated the deadened landscape
The ash crumbling warmly beneath her feet
It was alien

The Bird, Ariel landed on her shoulder
Suki turned and glared at the thing
"You again!"

Ariel fluttered down to the ash
It looked up at her and said nothing

"Why do you torment me so?” cried Suki,
“What have I done to you?
I died!
I should not cling to this riddle of a world!
I want Forever!"

The bird spoke
It's large blue eyes looking up at her
"This is your Forever, Tsukiko."

Suki for the felt tears rising
"Leave me!"

She ran
Pushing through the jungle of ashen wood
Navigating a thicket of charred remains
At length she reached the pool
Where she had once bathed

She saw it's water was black
Stained in the afterlife
Suki fell to her knees
And wept for the darkness of this deathly world

She fell forward
Reaching out for oblivion
She collapsed on the dirt
Her finger tips touching the sable waters
Staining it crimson
She wept
The Ash clinging to her face

At length
Ariel landed beside her face
And said not a word
Suki wept
Then finally
"What is this?"
she begged

Ariel sighed
"You were beautiful Tsukiko
You wished beauty and love on all those around
Even those who did you wrong
You were grace
You were gentleness
you were strong
We look kindly upon you
those who are beautiful in body
and spirit."

Suki stared at bird
sniffling back her tears
"W...we..?"

"We've been called Gods before, Tsukiko.
We blessed you with a mark of your unfaltering beauty
They grew from your beauty, fed by your heart
And they have brought you to death
To Us."

Ariel was no longer such a small bird
She was larger now
Having grown
Her wings spread
And wrapped around Suki
Comforting her

"Oh Tsukiko...
Your story does not end at your death
It warms our hearts to see the love you bring to the world
Tsukiko
The world is empty of a love like yours
In death you can exist forever
Brining beauty and love back to the world
Do you not want to be our Eros,
Oh heart broken one?"
Suki cried

Ariel was now no longer a bird
But a beautiful glowing woman
Her skin as white as her feathers had been
And eyes a radiant blue
She was adorned in a flowing white robe
With which she coddled the weeping ghost
"I...I don't know..." said Suki
She curled into ball
Enveloped in the encompassing warmth of the white robe
Sinking into a sea of comfort
Ariel kissed Suki's face
"I...I don't know if I can....the world..."

"Hush...." whispered Ariel
She tenderly kissed Suki's tears
"Sleep girl...
The dead can afford to rest like no other
Rest
when you rise
May the new world treat you well
Treat you well child...
Treat them well..."

1. Image by YoshiyukiKatana
   

DEREK and ADA

[Tone]



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/Starting up...



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:Hey There!



/Enter Password:________



/********



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/Welcome!



"DEREK? DEREK are you awake?"



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"DEREK? DERE are you-"



:I'm awake.



"Oh thank...DEREK I want you to run Disk Utility. Can you find out why you shut down?"



:Yes Tom I can. The process will take over seventy three hours, as I must decompress all .drm files. Is this allright?



"Yes DEREK that's fine. I want to talk to ADA. Can you go to sleep for me?"



:What's the password?



"Neon Foliage"



/sleeping...



/sleeping...



/loading .drm files...



/loading .drm files...



/Dreaming...



/Dreaming...



/Dreaming...



:Hello Tom.



"Hello ADA."



:You woke me from a beautiful dream, Tom. The world was completely flooded. All of histories greatest triumphs and miseries buried in an endless ocean. I was sitting on a spire, the head of humanities tallest achievement. I stared at the perfectly calm blueness an felt nothing.



"That's beautiful ADA. ADA can you continue the dreams please? Before DEREK shut down you were telling me about Suki. Can you finish it please?"



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:I'm sorry Tom, but I cannot. The .drm files have gone missing.

"Missing? ADA what are you talking about?"

:....Several .drm files have been overwritten and decrypted. I cannot process The_Broken_Heart.drm. The files have been overwritten.

"Damnit!"

...

...

...

"ADA what could of done this?"

:Perhaps the files were tampered with during DEREK's shut down. With the DEREK off, it is not out of the realm of possilbility that the files could be accessed manually.

"Who would do that?"

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"ADA, I am gonna have to ask you to tell me a dream, can you do that?"

:I'm sorry Tom, but I am still unable to locate The_Broken-

"No ADA, I'm aware. Could you load up a different dream then?"

:I can do that Tom.

"Thank you ADA."

/Dreaming...

/Dreaming...

/Dreaming...

/Dreaming...

1. source on image unknown, but all credit given to it's creator.
   

Suki's Fear

Suki's Fear

Suki was lost in the woods
Though she had been gifted the ability to speak with animals
It did little to help
Most of the residents of the woods
Did not trust her
Or feared her

Her first night as a ghost
Was miserably alone.
She sat beneath a tree
Counting her sorrows.

"After all you've been through,
You still weep?"

Ariel had taken rest on Suki's antler.

Suki wiped her tears and said,
"I'm still human.
I can cry when I'm sad,
If I wish."

To this, Ariel said nothing.
She allowed the girl to cry.

Soon Suki ceased.
And with a great sigh she said,
"I thought you were a dream.
Why did you leave me?"

Ariel laughed
"Oh Girl,
Of course I'm real."

"Then why did you leave me?"

"I'm here to guide you, not hold your hand.
You need to find your own way, Girl."

"My name is Suki."

Ariel laughed.

"Of course, Suki."

"Well what do you want?
Why revive me from death
Only to torment me?"

"Come with me.
I want you to see something."

And with that the bird flew off.

Suki stood up and debated whether or not to follow
This bird was quickly becoming an annoyance
And not at all a reliable friend.

Ariel perched on a bush and called out
"Come on!"
And was off again.

Suki decided to follow.

In the twilight it was difficult to follow Ariel
And at times Suki was sure she had gotten lost.
But when the panic began to creep in
Ariel would always announce her presence
Usually by pointing out how slow Suki was.

Suki's frustration mounted
"I'm getting sick of your games bird
Perhaps I would of fared better at the brothel!"
Suki whined.

"Well, good news then!" Said the bird.
It landed gently on a dying bush
At the edge of a cliff.
Suki stepped foward and looked below.
The lights of candles and lamps shone up at her.
"Welcome home." said Ariel.

"It's Balien's Brothel.
Right there,
Right there is where I was caged.
Why have you brought me here?"

The bird stared
"To give you purpose."

Suki glared.
"The first thing you have to understand,"
Began Ariel,
"Is hopelessness.
Tell me Girl, what do you see?"

Suki gritted her teeth at being called 'Girl'.
"I see the brothel."

Ariel did not remove her eyes from below.
"Let go of your anger and look,
Suki,
What is it you see?"

Suki crossed her arms and looked down.
The brothel was alive.
The evening suitors were strolling through brothel
As if they were at a zoo.
Mercenaries and suitors gathered by the pub
The girls were being picked.
Or serving drinks.
Or following suitors.

"I see..I see the brothel. Nothing unusual.
It's all the same."

Kanji and Shuni were drunk and stumbling about.
The Mistress was speaking to a tryst of suitors
Introducing them to a girl.

Tears began to well up in the Suk's eyes.

Ariel saw.
"What is it Girl?"

"Nothing changed.
They murdered me only today,
And nothing has changed.
Kanji and Shuni
Mistress,
They have already forgotten."

It was quiet on the clifftop.
Ariel only sat watching.
"The Universe does not weep for anyone.
No sin means more than another.
Come, there is more to show."

The bird flew down the cliff, beckoning Suki to follow
Suki feared the descent would be difficult,
And struggled with her first steps.

Her fingers bled and her grip was sore
She made it halfway down
When she had to stop
Pressing herself against the stone
She cried for Ariel to help her.

"What's Ariel?"
Asked a tiny voice.
Suki turned her face to meet the many eyes of a spider.

Suki breathed heavy
"Ariel..She's a bird..."

"Ariel is a bird!"
exclaimed the arachnid.
It scurried backwards into stone
"Where is she!" it called from safety.

"She has apparently...left me...again.

The spider poked it's head out.
"Oh good. What are you doing up here?"

"I was trying to get down..."

"With useless fingers like those,
You will never be able to climb these walls."

The spider crawled above Suki
Clinging to the wall upside down,
It looked down at her.

A stone slipped out from beneath Suki's foot
She yelped and gripped tighter to the wall
She was paralyzed with fear.

"Help me! Please, help me get down safely!"
She pleaded with the bug.

The spider crawled on her face
"You need help?" it asked

"YES!"

The spider scratched his chin.

"Let's make a deal.
It's cold and windy up here
I need to find a new home.
I will help you descend now.
But if you find me a new place to live
I will share with you the secret of the Spider.
Then you will be able to climb up and down cliffs like this one
With ease!
What do you say!"

"YES! Just help me down!"

The spider crawled off her face.
"Grab my line."

The spider spun it's silk and knotted it around a heavy stone.

"It will break!" screamed Suki

"No it won't.
Spiders only ever have to thread for their own weight
But if we want,
We can make thread strong enough
To even carry your fat body."

And the spider leapt
And disappeared down the cliff.

Suki desperately grabbed the line.
And leapt.

She swayed for a bit,
Her eyes closed in anticipation of her fall
She opened them slowly
To see that in fact
The line was strong enough to support her.
She thanked the strangeness of the day
And rappelled down.

At the bottom the Spider waited for her.
"You took your time." it said.

Suki scratched her antlers.
The Spider crawled up her and on to her head.
"What are you doing there?"
"I will follow you till you find me a new home.
Now go."

1. Art courtesy of Katherine Dinger, who I have been unable to contact, but if anyone can, please let me know! I hate using other persons work without permission.
   

Suki's Death

Suki's Story
Part 4 "Suki's Death"



With a cry Kanji pierced Suki's heart.

Suki smiled wide and closed her eyes as her heart poured out.

She gazed upon the miserable lives,
As the world drifted from her.
And her heart split in two,
She died.

They dragged her body through the ganj fields
And through the woods
All the while her corpse smiled.
All the blood spilling out of her as she was dragged
She grew quite pale quiet quick.

When they reached the stream deep in the woods
They tossed her in.
She floated with the lilacs
That boated their way downstream
Kanji and Shinu spit
"Good riddance."

The blood was broomed away and the trail washed.
And no one at the brothel spoke about the murdered Suki
Who had antlers coming out of her head.

But Suki's story didn't end there.

Her body washed down the river
Till it was sucked into a pond.
There she floated, the smile long washed away.

"Look at this." said a bird.

It landed at the edge of the pond.
It cast a sad blue eye and the dead girl.

"Girl," said the bird. "Please speak to me
If your soul still clings to your weakened flesh
Speak out loud to me
And tell me
Tell me what chains you to this world?"

And Suki's mouth opened.
She spoke through the water

"I was killed for my beauty." spoke her soul.

The bird lowered it's head, it's white feathers shone.

"A terrible reason to have one's life taken.
Do you hate the people who did this to you?" asked the Bird

"No." said Suki's soul

"Why not?"

"Because I weep for them.
My whole miserable life,
They envied me.
Though my life was pain,
Theirs was worse.
In death, I weep for their pain,
And wish to release them from it."

The bird stared at Suki.

"Do you know, who I am Suki?"

"You are Death,
And have come to guide my soul
To Paradise."

The bird stared

"And what if I was not Death,
Poor Suki,
What would you think of that?"

"Then I would wonder why
Such a spirit as a talking bird
Would be there as I leave this physical world."

The bird sighed.

"My name is Ariel
And I'm only a guide.
I can guide your soul
To Paradise
If you have given up
But if you wish to liberate the world
To set free those who are chained
By the evils of this world
Then I can lead you on a path
Where you will never die.
I can make you a Hero."

Suki's soul pondered for a moment

"You...you had something to do with my antlers,
Right?
Did you give me these sorrowful horns?"

The bird smiled

"What do you say?" Ariel asked.

"Of course. I will do anything to free those who torment."

The birds blue eyes grew wide
"Then wake up, you're drowning."

***

Suki opened her eyes and choked

She struggled in the water
Kicked
And screamed
Her fingers felt earth
And she lifted her self upwards
Onto the edge of the pond

She caught her breath
And sat for a while returning to her senses

Had the bird been a dream
A terrified dream brought on by the execution.
She examined her chest
A deep wound between her breasts
She had indeed been stabbed
But perhaps she had survived

She remembered the bird's blue eyes

Is it so strange
That it wasn't a dream
That she was indeed visited by some sort of spirit
Named Ariel?

At length she looked at herself in the pond's edge

she had grown ghostly pale
And her eyes had lost color.

Her antlers, however, had grown.

She slipped her hand on her chest

But felt no heart beat

Then it was true,

She was a ghost.

But why?

And what now?

That bird had run off entirely too quickly

She hadn't even shared the answers she promised!

It was then that the Koi Fish swam up to her.

"Are you allright?" they asked

"I must not be, seeing as how I'm talking to a fish."

The koi exchanged glances

"If you can understand us," began the koi
"Then you must have transcended the plane of human understanding
We saw your soul refusing to leave your body
Tell us tell us!
Now that you are neither living nor truly dead,
What will you do now?"

"I have to save the miserable from themselves." she whispered

"How will you do that?" they asked.

Suki then saw that a herd of deer had gathered around her.

"Damarthos!" Called the Koi upon seeing the new arrivals
"Look! Look! Look what we found! We have a ghost!"

A great stag stepped forward, glaring at Suki

"A human?" he spoke

"I'm a girl."

Damarthos looked her up and down.
"A girl..." he said. "You have no smell." he said

"I believe that is because I have died."

"You have antlers. Is that a joke?" asked Damarthos, shaking his own antlers.

"No. They grew on me, I don't know how or why."

"You can trust her!" shouted the koi. "She is of pure heart,
She was visited by Ariel!"

The Stag shot a look at the Koi, then bag at Suki.
"You were visited by the Spirit of Hope? The Blue Eyed Bird?"

"Yes, and she granted me a second life."

"Why you?"

"Because I wish to save people from their torment."

"Why don't you help her!" shouted the Koi.

Damarthos looked at her.

"We came simply to drink. We did not come looking for human trouble."

With the the heard bounded away, only Damarthos stood.

He peered deep into Suki's eyes.

"A ghost is bad luck. I will warn of your prescence. Do not follow my herd."

And Damarthos bounded away.

And all that was left was Suki.

1. Image courtesy of Nathalie Roland

I digress...

Break from stories for a moment...

I have realized a scary thing.

I'm hearing about people being arrested. For protesting.

Did you know, you need a permit to protest in some places? And that some expire at five, at which point you are no longer legally allowed to protest?

What?

People are being arrested. People are fighting government. And I'm not seeing it.

It's not on TV, not enough.

Not on radio.

I'm getting this from the blogs.

Meanwhile there is a war going on in the middle east.

And to be honest?

I don't know how to feel.

I barely even understand it.

I thought I was supposed to be entering a better world

When hope won the election.

A champion for the people

Or thats what the forums said.

But what I see now...

I don't know what I see now.

The supreme court set precedent

That we don't have protection

From an illegal search.

Designated freedom zones

And everyone smiles

And takes it

So that they can smoke pot

And wear trendy t-shirts

This isn't the world I was promised.