Lux

Leaving,

Evening is upon, so I leave,

Push through the crowds and arrive to my secret house,

And I enter.

 

Into the house and down the stairs,

Into the basement and into the tunnel,

Crawling under the wall,

And I’m free.

 

I run,

Running away from it all,

Because there’s no one to stop me,

Because I’m finally free.

 

I reach the woods,

The trees scratch me with their long, pointy fingers,

The plants tickle my feet,

 But I am here and I am free.

 

I enter the petite clearing,

They’re here.

 

The sun burns to the ground,

She illuminates the moon instead of Earth,

It’s almost as if everyday she becomes disgusted by us,

So she calls upon the moon because she needs a barrier between us.

 

The moonlight radiates onto our faces,

It gives us all a softness,

The moon cloaks us as we move like panthers through the night,

We prepare to light the planet ourselves.

 

We re-enter Nezzera,

 Still free, but now with a caution,

We approach the building with our fire,

Both in our hands and in our hearts.

 

The colors begin to dance, 

The wood crackling,

By the time Enforcement arrives,

We’ve vanished.

 

We don’t leave again that night,

Instead we return home, 

So when they come searching for the igniters,

We’re under no suspicion.

 

***

 

A walled city,                       

Secluded from the world,

A land in darkness,

Void of free thoughts.

 

Ruled by tyranny,

A greedy king,

Everyone is impoverished,

Excluding a high-ranking few.

 

A layer of silence covers everything,

Like frozen rain covering a field,

It’s not actually silent,

But there are no actual thoughts.

 

People are ruled with fear,

Divergent speaking equates death,

It’s almost like they’re afraid of thinking,

Because if you think about something too much it eventually twists itself into vocals,

And divergence equals death.

 

***

 

I have thoughts,

All the doctors say it’s a disease,

But I don’t think that,

I think they’re forced to think that.

 

I can’t be alone in my thoughts,

There has to be others,

Others who think like me,

Because even a disease cannot have only a single host.

 

Even if I’m all alone,

Maybe because they’ve been made to be so naive,

They’ll believe me.

 

I conspire.

 

It’s dangerous,

Just having the thought I did, if found out, means death,

So I look for people I can trust,

Some I’ve never talked to before,

But they draw me in,

Hopefully unlike quicksand.

 

Aubrey is the first,

She seems like a rabbit,

But in reality she’s a tigress,

Either way she remains in solitude,

She’s perfect for the plan.

 

I tell her I have a proposal, 

To come by my house after school,

She perks,

She’s like me.

 

Several others are recruited, 

All relative loners,

Then there’s less risk of being exposed,

And finally school ends.

 

They can’t all come at once,

It’s too different,

It would stand out like a rose in a clover field,

We would be destroyed before being born.

 

Aubrey and two others arrive,

Curiosity lights their eyes,

I enlighten them,

Are they in?

 

Silence.

I didn’t consider what to do if they rejected,

It would be too much of a hazard,

They would have to die.

 

I ask them a different question,

“Wouldn’t you want to taste freedom?”

Silence.

It’s vines begin to grow into every crack in my body.

 

Aubrey’s solemn voice shatters the silence,

“Curiosity killed the cat.”

What the Enforcement says, 

What the King says.

 

If I don’t have her I don’t have the plan,

I trust her, but her knowledge is a risk,

And I can’t kill her,

I can’t.

 

There’s wildfires in her eyes,

“But satisfaction brought him back.”

A part never stated.

She’s like me.

And she’s in.

 

The days pass by,

Everyday more recruits,

A vast universe,

We need a meeting place.

 

Violet, a known rebel at school, lives alone,

Her shack sits against the wall,

There’s a basement,

It’s the perfect escape.

 

Dirt spills,

It freckles the dull, gray floor,

Hands are already brown,

Progress.

 

Weeks pass by,

But finally it’s done,

Our tunnel,

Our pass to the freedom side.

 

Vast, uninhabited lands surround,

Freedom.

Distant trees reach their hands to the sky,

Freedom.

 

Violet uncovers a small clearing,

It’s perfect,

We remove deceased bush,

Aubrey makes trunks into benches,

I’m home.

 

We meet,

We plan,

We supply,

We mobilize.

 

Nezzera will no longer be sunken,

It, too, will be free.

 

***

 

The building danced with color,

A dance off destruction,

As the fire consumed it,

And as the darkness consumed us.

 

We were unsuspected.

Returning home,

Instead of fleeing,

Covered our tracks.

 

We let it settle a few days,

Then we leave once again.

 

We’re in the clearing,

Our haven, our Eden,

One day we won’t have to escape to here anymore,

Because Nezzera will be free.

 

I leave the clearing,

I head to a place where I can be truly alone,

A place where I can be imperfect and not a leader,

Alone.

 

The river speaks,

I step forward,

I let her embrace me,

Her cold body cleanses me.

 

I leave her grasp,

Her marks left on my body,

I return to the clearing,

But she lingers,

For a bit longer today it seems.

 

The sun falls in a hazing glow,

The dishonest moon rises, 

We prepare and soon enough,

The sun is rising up.

It’s almost time.

 

Our burning was successful,

This will be, too.

It’s almost time.

 

We return to the tunnel,

Shedding our freedom,

The way a snake sheds its skin.

But our skin will return.

 

We arrive at the castle,

It’s luxury more nauseating up close,

The castle is like a mansion in a trailer park,

It’s almost time.

 

I’m posing as a guest to the gala tonight,

With Aubrey as my personal maid.

The rest are servants or Enforcement.

It’s almost time.

 

The ballroom is the most extravagant thing you could imagine,

Filled with the most prominent people.

Aubrey got me invited,

She said I was the queen of a land called Lux.

 

The ballroom quiets and everyone sits,

Except for a man who walks to the stage,

He begins to speak.

I feel old metal on my hand.

 

It's time.

 

Gunshots,

Shrilling screams,

Blood splatters,

And I leave.

 

Aubrey follows me.

Enforcement is everywhere,

We run as our disguise,

It doesn’t work long.

 

Our faces aren’t flushed with fear,

We’re not running towards an exit,

“Go.” She shoves me and I go.

And she stops.

 

I hear her fight,

I twist through hallways,

All of the Enforcement is gone,

They took their battle to the ballroom.

 

I come upon ginormous french doors.

I’ve arrived.

 

The wood is soft, so it breaks easily,

And there in the center of a huge room,

On a white throne,

Sat the king.

 

I approach.

 

“Well, you must be the so called queen of Lux.”

I’m close now,

So I lunge.

My knife digs deep into the flesh.

 

I stab.

I stab.

I stab.

Even after his slow death is done,

His corpse continues to get stabbed.

 

I have killed the king.

 

Nezzera is free.

 

Aubrey and a few others show up.

The Enforcement surrendered.

The government is destroyed.

I am the queen.

Nezzera is mine.

And Nezzera is free.

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