a life in (6 x 100) words

❝and yet i pretend not to know why your image is painted in my eyes.❞ poetry #216 [© afterwords 2015]

My escape from Springfield, Massachusetts, came in the form of an exchange program to New Delhi, India, one plane ticket for 11:00 am on the thirteenth of July. I left, taking a big suitcase and my camera. I told myself I left for the experience I'd have there, but maybe I left because of the experience I'd had here. I don't know. All I know is that I left, and then I met Maya Sumedh. Luke Waters came into my life at 12:00 pm on the fourteenth of July, a Saturday. Probably the weirdest Saturday of my life - I picked up a cute guy from the airport, was in a car crash and stayed up the whole night talking to said cute guy. Maybe I even fell in love but I didn't know it until much later. All we had was four months and camera. A camera which proved more important than we ever imagined.

What has pushed you to believe taking your life is the answer? Are you really going to do it? What happens when death isn't as peaceful as you expected? What if a Reaper gives you something of an ultimatum? Witness first-hand what your death has brought to those around you, or remain wandering as a lost soul until you reach the point of insanity. "You can take your life, but what about the people around you? Aren't you taking theirs too?" Emily nearly laughed again, the idea was so ridiculous, but when she went to answer... she found she couldn't respond. What happens to them? ____________________ Author's Note: If you're looking for a sign not to kill yourself, this is it. [The Fighter's Series - Book 1] Formerly titled: Emily's Suicide Highest Ranking: #1 Paranormal

They met on the Trivandrum Mail. They rediscovered love on the Trivandrum Mail. Fourteen years have passed - they have changed. But the Trivandrum Mail hasn't.

Parker Elway is having dreams. Strange dreams; waking dreams; dreams in which she opens her eyes in the darkness to find herself paralyzed and surrounded by shadows from her deepest nightmares. The doctors call it sleep paralysis. But is it really so simple? As the waking terrors worsen and strange people begin to appear in town, Parker sets out to uncover the truth. And when she digs up a trove of hidden secrets and a dark past that everyone seems all too eager to forget, she begins to wonder: is her terrifying dream world merely the result of a sleep disorder? Or is it reality? [National Silver Medal Winner in the 2014 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards]

Delaney Escott lives in a world where popularity reigns supreme. If you want to be noticed, social status is everything. The government is run by the Superiors: a very exclusive group of individuals who are virtually flawless. They are smarter than us and stronger than us, and to join their ranks is the highest honor. The Superiors pay an annual visit to the top schools in the nation and evaluate the students, choosing one boy and one girl - the most Popular in the school - to go the Capitol and train for Superiority. Delaney thinks that she's the only one indifferent to (and perhaps even suspicious of) the Superiors, until Caleb Payne, the most popular boy in school, approaches her with a request. He has a task for her, one that he believes she is uniquely capable of completing. And as she helps him, Delaney discovers that the government is hiding many secrets - and that the truth of the Superiors is far from what people believe it to be. [Watty Awards 2012 Winner, Science-Fiction: On the Rise]