Cassie part two

by Anna Caporusso

Two black 'eyes' looking like dark pearls in her porcelain face let me freeze.

"I can't tell you. But trust me, we've to go."

"Where do we have to go?"

"Far away. Please. Come with me."

She took my hand again and tried to pull me with her. I stayed where I was.

"Cassie..."

"Dean! Come with me!"

"No, Cassie. Tell me what's up and where we have to go."

"I can't! We don't have any time left!", she shouted at me.

We heard voices coming out of the forest and steps that became louder every second. A small beam of a torch fell on my face.

"Run!"

Cassie's stunned face was reason enough for realizing that we had to run as fast as we could, if we wanted to survive this night. I grabbed her hand and began to sprint. Wood cracked beneath my naked feet but I didn't feel the pain I usually should have had. I heard men shouting only few meters behind us. I couldn't see anything, we were too fast again, unbelievable fast. How could it be possible that they're running almost as fast as we did? The shouting voices came closer and my heart beat so fast that I could her it loud in my own head. A gunshot made me stop suddenly. I could see the pain in Cassie's face, she got tears in her eyes, then she closed them. Her legs failed and she hit the dark, cold and dirty ground. A bit of blood ran out of her mouth. It didn't take long to think about what to do, I took her over my shoulder and continued the escape. Warm blood from her mouth dripped on my naked chest. Then suddenly, a second gunshot. Something black fell from the sky and hit the ground in front of me. One last tremble ran through the black feathered wings of the small crow. I jumped over the small, black, bleeding body and kept on running. I mustn't stop! They mustn't get us! 

I didn't know how long I was running now but I knew that I wouldn't maintain it any longer. I didn't get enough air anymore, it was hard to breath and my legs trembled. I slowed down. Afraid of what I could see now, I turned around. It was still in the middle of the night even if I had a feeling like running since hours. There was nobody behind me anymore. I really managed it. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment. I gasped when I suddenly heard a coughing close to me and realized that I was still carrying Cassie on my shoulder. I went on my knees and carefully put her on the ground. I softly stroked her hair from her face and looked at the dried blood on her chin. She coughed again.

"Cassie?"

Her eyes opened a little bit. But the way she looked at me was cold and it seemed more like she looked right through me. One single tear slowly ran down her face and mixed with a new drop of blood on her full lips which were pale and blue instead of red like they always were. 

"Cassie!"

No reaction. She was cold as ice, I noticed, when I touched her arm. She took one deep, loud breath. Then she closed her eyes again. No. She couldn't be dead now. She couldn't be dead. All the magic around her couldn't be gone. I felt it, all the time. There was a special kind of love between us. A love which couldn't die now. I enjoyed it to be close to her, to watch her smiling, to be with her, no matter how the situation was. I couldn't lose her now. I took her hands into mine. Thinking about losing her caused the most awful pain I've ever had. Pain in my chest which became bigger with every single breath. Pain which started burning through my whole body. I closed my eyes but I couldn't stop my tears. 

What is intelligence?

 by Giovanni Ferro

We have all heard the word intelligent many times in our life. However, I have never understood fully what one means by intelligent. One of my teachers says there are eight different intelligences, for example logical and linguistic intelligence, and they are all equally important. Often the word intelligent is used to refer to someone that has successful academic results, however, as you may see yourselves from the diagram, just by being successful in sports, or passionate about nature, you are, by definition, intelligent.

One may have extraordinary results in college or at school, but lack in sense of humor and rationality and therefore not be fully intelligent. Being able to understand how others are feeling and behaving in a certain way according to the situation we are living, are also aptitudes that can accent one's intelligence. A final example can be tied to positivity, being optimistic and always looking at the bright side of things can demonstrate that one knows his priorities and can distinguish what is really important from what is secondary. No human being is perfect and therefore intelligent at 360°. However, one may strive for perfection, and by demonstrating commitment and coherency in trying to obtain something he or she desires is one form or intelligence. Just by trying and not giving up, one can reach her greatest goal; success, or better, intelligence.

LOOK BEYOND...

by Filiberto Musso

Look beyond...

It isn't only snow,

It is the whiteness of purity

And the coldness of love

Look beyond...

It isn't only fire,

It is the brightness of the soul

And the heat of passion

 Look beyond...

It isn't only wind,

It is the strength of human beings

And the force of living

Look beyond...

It isn't only light,

It is the spark of change

And the knowledge of minds

Look beyond...

It is only nature,

It is the complexity of life

And the beauty of birth

Look beyond...

It isn't only water,

It is the calmness of anger

And the transparency of feelings

Look beyond...

It isn't what there is,

It is what you see

And who you are.

THE SEASONS

by Romina Dichio

 The air is crisp

Red, orange, and brown

No animal exists

Different sounds

~

The snow lay on the ground

The sky shown bright

Silent sounds

And a beautiful sight

~

The sun poked out

The flowers bloomed

Not one pout

And bumblebees zoomed

~

Hot days

The sun shines

All happy and gay

The wonderful smell of pine

Oh the seasons

THE COLORS OF THE OCEAN

by Alessandra Scevola

There was once a girl who lived in the sea

She was smart, pretty and her soul was free

Her name was Aqua and loved the color blue

Although by looking around, it was the only one she knew

Aqua decided to go on a journey to see what she could find

To escape her boring home and leave that blue behind

She saw a cliff ahead and decided to go deep

Moving her tail until she heard someone weep

She looked around

To find the origin of that sound

But all she could see was black

Until she saw a bright light coming out of a crack

She moved towards it and followed the cries

Which grew bigger and bigger until she saw green eyes

What a beautiful color she thought, wanting to go near

Until a shining drop floated towards her, resembling a tear

Aqua asked those emerald eyes what had made them sad

Thinking that if she knew she could make them glad

The green eyes looked at her, big and round in shape

And said that they were tired of all this black and that they could not escape

She then had an idea that sprouted in her mind

And so she asked the eyes "want to come in this adventure of mine?"

The jade eyes agreed, still a little worried though

And before they knew it they were ready to go

After swimming upward for quite a while

They reached the blue ocean and traveled in style

The green eyes however weren't just that anymore

But a green colored fish that was ready to soar

Their next adventure took them far away

To the coral reef where they met a stingray

After a little chat Aqua asked for directions

And then observed the vivid colors of that other dimension

It was unlike anything they had ever seen

There was red, purple and all the colors in between

She had so many to choose from, she could not pick

So she asked for the fish's opinion, who gave one real quick

The fish said "why not have more than one?"

So she looked for some reasons against it and she found none

So she took out here clam diary, which was empty and new

And she wrote down three colors red green and blue

DARK

by Claire Kendell

It's gotten worse,

The darkness has nursed,

Every bad thing to life.

The street is of garbage,

There is so much today

I can't remember the last time I saw sage,

Every green thing has been slayed!

It has become dark,

There is no more lakes or plants,

Only bark,

With nothing left to see like ants.

The ocean virtually empty,

The fish are all gone,

The sharks are left tempting,

All left not done.

It has all become dark,

Filling the air with smoke,

Making shapes like an ark,

Filling the air with croaks.

The green-- where has it gone?

It should have been strong.

It should have resisted,

The darkness that was misted.

It is dark now,

Never light.

The mountains are all destroyed,

They are now valleys of animals bones,

Trapped forever

Cold.

It is all dark,

It is all dark,

Dark. 

TWO DIRECTIONS IN LIFE

by Ignazio Zanon 

Two ideas go different ways in my mind 

I cannot choose both

And being only one person, long I thought 

And thought about one as long as I could 

But I chose the other 

I hope it will be understood 

HOME

by Valentina di Savino

The hustle and bustle of this foreign city 

The lights that fill my eyes

The traffic that shortens my life 

The cold that penetrates your bones 

The glory of European lifestyle 

But this isn't home 

I try to find peace within myself 

The desire to go home is stronger than I am 

I miss the peace and serenity 

I miss the warm wind in my hair 

I miss my home 

Home is where the heart is 

My heart was ripped out and kept there 

Maybe I've discovered the reason for my heartlessness 

I'm nothing but bare 

This isn't my home

It's not where my heart is 

I miss the clean air 

This isn't home 

Altruism?

by Luca Monnerjan 

The earth keeps spinning. Round and round, all the time. Wherever we are, whatever we do. It never stops. We don't even feel it spinning but it does, all the time. Although it sometimes feels to us, that we're standing still, we never do. And so does time. Time doesn't stop either, it never did and it never will. Everything we know and will ever know, was born, it lived and died. Like everything in this little world that seems so big to everyone. It seems so big, but it means nothing to the universe. Nothing we do is important in the end. Everything we do is for our own comfort in the end. Although we think it is not for ourselves, whenever you help someone it is also to comfort your conscience. Whenever you decide to not help someone it is for your own physical comfort. But we are so small in this endless seeming universe. Maybe it is not endless at all? Maybe it is just endless to us.

The Gaze, The Vision, The Sight

by Emily Teng                                                                                  

The gaze, people all directly turning to me. Thousands and millions of people I feel. My vision went blurry, my face is burning. The gaze seems like thousand miles of sunlight, the cheekbones sitting on my face lightening into dull red, and then bright red. The force of the gaze is pushing me down and down. At the end, I am pressed on the ground. My body sinking into the soil slowly. 'What a relief' I thought consciously closing my eyes.  

'You don't deserve! You don't earn!'  The screams and shouting went on for a longtime.   When I opened it again, the people had disappeared. Not only the people, the sand, the soil and stones all had turned, changed into liquid. I was floating. Why are the others all gone? 'Oh, probably because I'm different.' I probe my head into the water, the taste of salt came straight towards my tongue and down into my throat. The water is clear, clear enough that I sort of can see the bottom of it. Waves seemed to be pushing me up and down. A little voice mumbled beside my ear --- you're in the Atlantic Ocean! I was so frightened that I was splashing, flailing my legs as hard as possible. I tried to not move so I could keep afloat. 

The sun was slowly going down. The clouds painted the sky orange and then was sprayed with yellow. The sea level became clearer and clearer with the contrast of the sky. Birds flashing through the sky so fast that I could not see the true shape of them. After an hour, the view of the sea level darkened.  The whole environment around me magically grew pitch black. I was trying not to breath. Feeling alone, but I was glad that I escaped from the gaze of people. Suddenly, a tiny light came far away from the sea. It grew bigger and bigger.  When it came close enough to see its shape, I gazed at it for a long time. A huge ship made of blue metal wrapped with white lines, the side of it written- FREEDOM

And the clock ticks, tick, tick

by Agustina Molla 

Thinking, thinking and thinking about what I should write, but it seems like my imagination has come to an end like the exams. I'm so tired, I think I could fall asleep very easily. Everyone looks so concentrated and silent, and I can hear people drinking water and moving paper as they write their stories. So tired I couldn't even think, it's like the silence makes me even more tired. Looking at the clock makes it worse. It's like the time stopped. Looked again at the clock and finally one minute had passed. Can't think of anything...I'm blocked. The only thing in my mind is a picture of me on the couch skyping my friend and watching a movie...Looked at the clock again, 15 more minutes. In 15 minutes I could go outside, get in the car, get home and watch a movie... I just start daydreaming with my eyes wide open. Flashes of memories start coming to my mind. How happy was I when I went to Argentina, my friends, the pool, my family, the airport, and my friends again. I miss Argentina so much, I wish I could be there. It's summer there and it was so hot. Me in the pool with friends, I think I was the happiest person in the world, nothing mattered that day. It didn't matter if I had to come back to Italy. Everything that mattered was that I was there with my friends in the pool. That was it. Nike interrupts the flashes of memory telling me that in 3 minutes we would go home. How time works is something I'll never understand.

Swish

by Nike Klemmer 

The music was pounding in my ears as I changed into my basketball cloths. I slipped into my high ankle shoes but left the tying for later, like every time I had a game. Swedish House Mafias Greyhound was making my blood pump faster as I tied up my hair. It was early, and as I left the changing rooms I saw there wasn't anyone in the bleachers yet. I began walking the lengths of the court stretching my calves. The song switched and techno beat was blasting through my headphones. After a lap around the orange field, I chose a ball from the rack and let it roll around in my hands as I made my way to the three-point line. Bouncing the ball a couple of times, enjoying the feeling of the bumpy materials against my fingers, I crouch down, aimed and shot. Swish. I took out my headphones and packed away my iPod, forcing myself to focus solely on the game ahead. The empty gym echoes the sound of the ball thumping the gym floor. Dribbling through my legs I go up the free-shot line, aim and shoot. Swish. I smile to myself. Today was going to be a good game for me. I started stretching and when the first visitors started arriving I put the ball back on the rack. Sitting down against the cool, brick gym wall I tied up my shoelaces. The stuffing of the high tops molding my ankle and holding it tightly in place. The two different colored laces remind me of my first basketball game. My shoe lace had ripped and I had to borrow one from a friend. That day I had worn  neon orange and neon pink shoelaces. I shot my first three-pointer and my team won the game that day, and since then wearing two same colored shoelaces was out of question for me.

Cassie

by Anna Caporusso

I opened my eyes and turned my head towards the light which fell through the window and was burning my skin. The girl from last night was sitting next to me on my bed and her long red hair was hanging in bulky waves over her shoulders while she stared at the ground. 

"Cassie?"

Shocked, she stood up and turned around and tried to hide her face with her hands but I could see a tear running down her cheek which dripped onto my dark blue carpet. 

"What happened last night?" I asked her gently.

I could vaguely remember standing on the cliffs with the the dark forest behind me. Images of the deep sea sparkling in the bright light of the full moon appeared in my head. Cassie sat down again and smiled but her hypnotic green eyes remained serious betraying the smile. Her hand touched my face and her tiny, thin fingers caressed my chin. 

"You hit the ground and lost consciousness", she whispered to me.

"I hit the ground? Stop joking, tell me what happened last night?"

Horrible pain ran through my whole body as my voice became louder then Cassie started crying what seemed like thousands of tears each one dripping on to the blue carpet.

"Cassie, don't cry. Please. I'm sorry."

I wanted to to put my hand onto her head to calm her down and it broke my heart seeing her like this. 

"Don't touch me! Who do think you are?" She yelled and suddenly stopped crying, stood up quickly, went out of my small room slamming the white painted wooden door behind her. 

There I was, alone in my tiny bed, I couldn't remember the last night, and didn't know what to do. I put my head up, very slowly and tried to stand but it was impossible. My whole body ached, I felt paralysed and everything in my head was spinning. I decided to stay where I was and I closed my eyes. 

The next thing I knew, music started playing. Cassie's big green eyes were staring into mine. She put her thin arms around me and laughed, so happily, carefree like I'd never seen her before. Then she started dancing, spinning around and around. Her short black dress fluttered in the wind, her pale, white skin seemed like porcelain in the bright moonlight and her long, red hair danced and swayed with her body. I had to laugh too and I walked towards her and put my hands on her hips and danced. 
 

Bang! A loud noise woke me up. I jumped out of my bed immediately and hit the floor. Shocked I looked around and noticed that it must have been very late. I felt something cold and sharp and my arm started hurting. I stood up and looked out of the window. "Oh no" I thought as I stared at the of window of shattered glass.  Warm blood was running down my arms. The clouds outside moved and moonlight fell trough the broken window. I took one step backwards and hit my left foot on something big. It was a stone! I realised that someone had thrown a stone through my window! I sat down on my bed, my blood was dripping onto the floor. I bandaged my wounds and pulled my shirt off and pressed it into my arms. It didn't help.  I needed doctor but it was in the middle of the night. I was losing so  much blood. I needed to find my phone. Where was it? I stretched my hand out and fumbled for the light switch. Great, now the light doesn't work. 

"Is anyone out there?"

"Hello? IS ANYONE THERE?"

No answer. Okay I must find a way to get to the hospital! I grabbed my car keys and squinted my eyes and stood up. God! This pain! I pushed down the silver door knob.

"Stop. Where do you want to go?"

I turned abruptly at the sound of the voice. I knew this voice. I saw two naked feet on my windowsill. Cassie was jumping into my room. She stood on the shards of glass and they didn't seem to hurt her at all. I inspected her from bottom to top. She wasn't wearing shoes, her skinny black pants emphasised her long, thin legs. She wore a skinny top, which was also black and her red hair ran straight and covered  her shoulders.

"To the hospital" I replied curtly. 

 "Did you throw the stone?" I questioned.

"The front door was locked."

"Ah, okay. The front door was locked, so you smashed my window. Alright, that's fine."

She started smiling, her perfect, white teeth were shining in the moonlight. I didn't feel like smiling at the moment, I was still bleeding but there was something in that smile. It was magical.

"We have to go."

She was serious again.

"Yes we do. We've got to find a hospital."

"No, we haven't got enough time for a hospital at the moment. Just follow me."

She climbed on the windowsill and jumped outside into the woods. 

"Hurry up Dean, we don't have any time!"

Her voice already sounded far away. 

"Cassie!"

Nothing. I walked towards the window, the shards beneath my feet hurt. I put one foot onto the sill, then the other one and jumped out into the cold. The ground was wet but it felt good in contrast to the glass I felt before. Cold wind blew against my body. Damn, I was freezing! 

"Cassie?!"

I started running into the deep woods, shouting her name again and again. Suddenly she was standing right in front of me. Her face came close to my ear.

"Hurry up" she whispered with intent. 

She took my hand and started running again. We were getting faster and faster, I couldn't see anything around us anymore. It was strange, it felt like there was no gravity. I began to feel dizzy like I would lose control over my own body. The only thing I really noticed was her warm hand which was holding mine so tightly like she would never release it again. I remembered the dream I had last night, the way she laughed, her arms around me, her black dress. I felt like I had experienced it before but I still didn't know the end of the dream, I still didn't know what happened the night two days ago and now, now I didn't even know what I was running to. I seemed to know nothing neither about her nor about myself or what I did the last days. 

"Dean."

I heard  Cassie whisper my name, everything became slower, the trees around us were clear and I could see a light in front of us behind the last trees ahead of us. There was the cliff, the only thing that I could really remember. I was here two days ago. Cassie was still holding my hand and now she took my other hand. She looked at my bleeding arms.

"What are you doing?"

I didn't want to sound angry but it burned unbearably when her fingers touched my wounds.

"Shhhh be quiet."

I could not believe what I saw. The cuts were healing! The blood disappeared, my skin regenerated, without leaving any scarring. I stared at my arms, I was totally stunned. I wanted to say something, and I look looked up and saw Cassie who was staring straight in the eyes. A big wave of heat came over me and I couldn't do anything else than put my arms around her and pull her to my freezing body. She let me hold her in my arms, her face came closer, the green of her eyes stole my attention and were still staring at me. She softly pushed her lips onto my lips and I let her. But then she broke up and pressed her face against my shoulder. I tenderly stroked her hair and she started to cry.

"You are not a human, Cassie. What are you?"

She looked up and the green of her eyes was gone.

Those Last Two Words

by B.B.

It all happened the Summer before third grade when I was eight years old. My parents had to work so we stayed home those holidays, home in Washington D.C. the city where I was born. I still remember everything about that Summer; the smells of smoke with a mixture of the perfume of flowers from peoples' backyards; I remember the traffic on a normal day of work, the light at night from the offices and the stars which shone so brightly.  

That same Summer a friend came to visit me from Italy with her family. I was so happy and I knew nothing could ruin that moment. This was a special moment as it was the last time I would see her for a long time because she was moving to Vancouver for her father's job. I was happy just like children are on Christmas day opening the gifts beneath the Christmas tree. That moment ended as I watched her take the plane to Vancouver. I knew I would see her again but I wondered when that would be, I knew it wouldn't be soon.

A couple of weeks later, I knew something was wrong just by looking at how my parents acted around me. They kept asking me if I was okay and they took me to my favorite restaurant in Washington D.C. They were really strange. You know how some people are when they want to tell you something but are nervous about how you will react. That was how my parents were acting that week, until ... It was a Saturday and as soon as I woke up my parents told me that they wanted to talk to me. Their faces were red and they looked like they were about to cry, I could sense it from the tone in their voices and the dullness in their eyes.

They brought me inside a room, it was dark in there because the curtains were covering the windows and the light was switched off. Although I could hear the sound of the cars, it wasn't too noisy as it was Saturday. I can still taste the smell in the air of that moment. It was a mixture of my sister's perfume and smelly socks. All I could think about was why my parents wanted to talk to me. Did I do something wrong? Why were they acting so nervously?

The more they waited to tell me, the more I worried. My palms were sweating and my eyes were blinking and I was scared like the moments just before an exam. Then I saw something moving, it was my mom's lips, she was talking but the only thing I heard were the last two words. Those last two words were so strong that it felt like someone had taken the room and spun it so fast that I felt like I was going to faint. My head was about to explode and my legs were about to buckle. Those last two words were repeating themselves over and over they were echoing from the ceiling and bouncing off the walls. Something struck me, I'm not sure what it was but it was powerful, like someone had punched me in the face, like they lined me up and just knocked me down ... I knew nothing would be the same ever again.

I was a child and nothing I thought about was important. I thought only about myself, just like every other eight year old does. Every year when the day comes around, in my head I hear the same two words ...‘she’s gone’.  

The New Religion

by Paolo Antro      

 The gods I follow are really strange. Every morning I have to wake up early, at around 10:00a.m, to pray to my religious idols. On my shelf I have all the newest religious idols I could get my hands on. On the right I have a square object made of a shiny and robust material. This idol is supposed to represent the god of nature and fertility, as shown by the apple on the back. Once in a while the idol starts to shine brightly and I have to get under my bed sheets to not go blind. They tell me that when it lights up it means that I have done some crime against nature. The punishment for littering and polluting the wild is death, so I never tell anybody about the bright, blinding light.

      On the left of my shelf I have another idol, this one is smaller, but it has the same shape. It is a black box with an incision on it. It is nearly impossible to read, however after months of praying and consulting with my Lord I believe it says something like "siri". The priest said that the strange box represents the goddess of knowledge. It can answer any question it is asked using her power of "internet". It has saved us many times, when times were dark and food was scarce, Siri was able to give us advice on how to survive. Without her we wouldn't be able to survive. However, this doesn't make her less scary. Every time I approach her to ask her a question, she is somehow able to predict that and answers before me. After I ask the question she takes a few moments as if she was judging my soul. After a pause she replies if I want her to use her internet powers. I always chicken out at that moment, because I'm scared of what the answer could be and the consequences of such knowledge.

     In the middle of the shelf I got the biggest and greatest idol of them all. A huge square three times bigger than than any other idol of the two previous gods. Yet, this huge object is sustained by a small stick made by a material the priest call "aluminum".  This magical material is made out of flexible elements that are made out of small things my priest call "atums". In addition to being flexible these atums must be very strong to sustain the huge idol. Similar to the idol of the god of nature, it too has an apple on the front, but unlike the other idols it does nothing at all. It just stays silent and immobile all day, as if judging your entire being. In theology "machintosh" is the father of the god of nature and the goddess of knowledge, and based on your respect of nature and knowledge he decides where you will go after you die. If you are an evil-doer you go to heaven, while if you have been good all your life you will go to hell. I really hope that everybody I know and I will be able to transcend in hell.