I could kill him

By Florien Van weerelt 

I could kill him. How could he do that to me? What the hell was he thinking? I mean, I know I’ve been busy lately and we haven’t had that much time to ourselves, but I never expected that he’d cheat on me. And he didn’t even try to cover it up, he told me as if it was totally normal..

“Listen, Hannah, this is just an innocent and casual thing. It’s not anything against you, but you know how much my boss hates me. I don’t know why, but he can’t stand me. And um anyways, one day his daughter came here to have lunch with him, but some big meeting came up and he couldn’t go anymore, so I kept her company. Well, we were just flirting a little, and the next thing I know we were back in my office with the blinds closed. And, Han, listen to me. I felt so bad about it, and I was going to tell you, but then I realized something. I realized that Sarah, that’s Mr. Jensen’s daughter, actually liked me. And I figured that if I made her happy that she would talk highly of me to her father, and then maybe I would get a raise or a promotion or something. I don’t really know what I was expecting, I just wanted him to treat me better.”

“That’s complete and utter-“

“No it’s not Hannah. Remember that raise I got last week? Well, it’s really helped us financially. We’re finally able to send the kids to Brearley, one of New York’s most prestigious schools. I know that’s what you’ve always wanted, and I’m just trying to provide our kids with the most opportunities possible later in life.”

“Are you serious? Are you really telling me this right now? For God’s sake! You’re telling me that you’re having an affair with your boss’ daughter for our kids. Do you not realize what this will do to them? Growing up with only one parent is going to be tough for them and they’re always going to feel like they’re missing out on something. How could you jeopardize all of our lives like this?”

“It’s not my fault. God, get over it. What is it with you women? MOVE. ON. You let your emotions control every little thing. Seriously, it’s not that big of a deal, you’re just making it so much worse than it actually is. If only there could be a world without women like you…”

“What is wrong with you, Will? Try to honestly answer me. There’s nothing wrong with me, or women for that matter, you’re just a misogynistic pig.”

Trying to hold back the tears, I rushed out of his office with my head down, and I bumped into the one and only than Sarah. Not acknowledging her, I pushed her to the side and pressed the elevator button. What am I supposed to now? I can’t afford to live in New York city with the kids as a single parent. Where do I go now? I have to go somewhere, but I don’t deserve to have to leave. Will should leave. Maybe if I jeopardize his job he’ll be fired…Hmm, I’ll do that. I’m sure I have some embarrassing pictures and stories of him, many of which were related to illegal matters…Thank God for social media. It’s going to be so easy for me to post about him. I’ll start a blog, that way I can post stories, pictures, videos and whatever I want about him…And not only about him, but also about that tramp who he’s been cheating on with me.

But of course I need to make sure that I hurt Will the most at the end of all this. So I’ll target that whore first and I’ll target Will after that.

When I finally got home, I was a woman with a plan. First of all, I sent Will a text saying that I was sorry and that I had overreacted. I told him that I just needed some time to myself and asked him if I could have the apartment to myself tonight. He replied that it was okay and that he was glad that I had come to my senses. Walking towards my desk, I sat down and got ready for the next stage of my plan, turning on the computer.

The computer hummed to life and a blank screen popped up. After setting up an anonymous account on a blog site, the stories began.

POST 1: “Truth is that Sarah Jensen has been getting naughty with her daddy’s employees. Last I heard she has been having an affair with a married man - and not only that but, he has two young children as well. Talk about a home wrecker. The affair has been going on for months and while it seemed like she was only going to the office to visit her dad, she was actually going to sleep with another dad. To all of you out there: STEER CLEAR OF SARAH SLUT JENSEN AND THE WHOLE JENSEN FAMILY.”

—> SENT. POST SUCCESSFUL.

The amount of satisfaction that posting that first story brought me was indescribable. I quickly posted some images taken off of Sarah’s facebook page on the blog as well, and my work was done for the day. I spent the evening scoping out some good and embarrassing pictures of Will and writing down all the embarrassing and career-threatening stories I could think of.

The next morning, I opened up my computer and nearly fainted when I saw the headlines on the news.

“CEO OF NEW YORK TIMES FIRED AFTER SCANDALOUS DAUGHTER GETS BUSY WITH EMPLOYEES”

Intrigued of course, I clicked on it and my jaw dropped when I saw it: “Mark Jensen was fired last night after various scandalous stories involving his daughter were put up on an anonymous blog site. These stories were confirmed and are being further investigated. Apparently, Mark’s daughter, Sarah, has been causing quite a ruckus at the office and despite having affairs with employees, she has even had quite an influence in the decision making and legal matters of the company. Her father has been aware of what she has been doing this whole time and has refused to act. This is extremely unprofessional and last night, the board voted to have Mark Jensen removed from the company.”

I had done that. Oh my god. I couldn’t believe it! Besides causing problems for Sarah, I had gotten her father fired from his job! Logging on to my blog, I was astonished. More than 1 million views in one day! I knew it was time to post stories about Will and reveal that he has been having an affair with Sarah.

POST 5: “William Lantson has been revealed to be the employee that Sarah Jensen was having an affair with. Will has two children himself, but he didn’t let that stop him from sleeping with his boss’ daughter. But hey, I guess some people will do whatever it takes to get a promotion.”

Pleased with myself, I decided to treat myself to a lunch out with some friends. Within fifteen minutes I was seated at Panera Bread with Nicole and Julia, my two closest friends in the city.

“Wait, so that was you? That blog is yours?” They exclaimed when I told them about the blog.

“Yeah, it was me. Can you believe that I did something like that?”

“No, I mean, wow. Wait, so Will cheated on you?”

A Beautiful Nightmare

by Pedro Irrera

It was a grey Halloween night, just like every other year William and his friend Maude were given the permission by both their families to go around the North Inner city neighbourhood trick-or-treating.

It was a typical October evening in Dublin. A cold wind was blowing, shaking the few autumn leaves left on the trees. The streets were filled with puddles, which had formed during the afternoon’s heavy showers. The air was chilly and humid.Everything looked and felt like many of the other Halloweens William and Maud had spent together. Little did they know that that evening was going to be very different.

They decided to meet at Merrion Square, around 9 pm.  William had always been an obscure boy, keeping his feelings and thoughts to himself. But with Maud it had always felt different. They had been friends forever and he knew he could rely on her. It was 9pm, William on time as usual, spotted Maud coming from a few blocks away. Observing Maud’s shadow getting closer to him, William was overwhelmed a sense of discomfort. It was as if he felt somehow that this was going to be a different Halloween from all the past ones. They ran to the first door and knocked loudly, nobody answered. They waited patiently for someone to come out but nobody was there. Tired of waiting, William and Maud went to the next door and knocked a few times. No one there.

The next house was in Fitzwilliam Place, about two or three blocks away from William’s house, it was thought to be a haunted house, nobody came in, nobody came out from there. William had always prided himself as being braver than everyone else and Maud knew it. But unlike him, she was more cautious. It was as if they compensated each other. Though different, both had a free revolutionary spirit, never afraid of getting in trouble when they felt it was for a just and noble cause. Just a few months earlier, for instance, they had ignited a mini-revolt in their school when a group of English students had decided to occupy the football pitch during lunch breaks. Maud and William refused to leave the pitch and led a large group of students as they they reconquered their right to play football during their break.

This spirit for adventure was also what had brought them together in front of this house that Halloween. Although Maud protested, as she too felt something creepy in the air, William knocked on the door. Again no one answered. Yet unlike what had happened in front of the other homes, William decided to let himself in. He kicked the door, and when he turned away he heard a squeaky sound and saw Maud’s face which had turned extremely pale. He turned around and saw the door had opened.

Obviously the first idea that went through his mind was to run inside the house, and that’s what he did. He heard Maud mumbling behind him, as she followed him.. 
The house was dark, there were no lights on, and every step you made you could here the floor creak. “Is anyone there?” William shouted. He waited for an answer, but all they could hear was silence.

He walked up the stairs as slowly as he could. He turned around to check on Maud. She wasn’t there anymore. As if she had vanished in thin air.

“Maud?” said William, nobody replied. “Maud where are you?” he screamed desperately. No answer.

Then he saw her laying in a a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs. Large grey filthy rats raced over her. William screamed so loud he woke up from this terrible nightmare.  Maud was next to him reading a book of about the Irish Revival.

“What’s wrong?” she asked jolting from her chair.

“Nothing,” he said. “I dreamed that someone had died in a strange place.”

A light ray of sunshine peered through the clouds outside his window, and came to rest on Maud’s shoulder. It had been a regular Halloween after all, William thought.
Or maybe not?

CHRIST IN THE STORM

by Edoardo Cavaglià 

Alright. I’ll bring it over. Jason ended the call with a harsh “goodbye”. The Berlin haze started rising, covering my eyes and making tears fall from them. My suitcase weighed more than ever and I was anxious. The steps I made became continually wider. Leather shoes were not appropriate for a job like this, but I had to fit in the crowd. I felt like I finaly had a purpose, but as my excitement was rising, I knew I had to calm down and follow the procedure. The phone rang at 7:00 A.M as planned. The voice from the other end was unfamiliar to me.

“Put de case in de van and be shure you have de right one”. This was all he said to me. I knew the truck was supposed to stop in front of the cathedral but somehow it was 50 metres ahead, next to an abandoned construction. I reached the vehicle with my last breaths but the trunk was open already. Josh slowly reached for the suitcase: my job was done and yet I didn’t feel relieved at all. As Josh grabbed the suitcases, he stared deeply into my eyes, with a look of shame. Then, a sudden thump followed by a very disturbing whistle… 

The sunlight woke me up, and as I tried to sit up, my head started pulsing as it was going to explode in a short time. The window was right next to me so I opened it with great difficulty. As I was trying to understand where I was, in came a very young, pretty woman dressed in white. This female had a look, one of those looks that try to analyse you without having to speak to you. She wrote a couple of things on her notepad, then left. I was in a hospital. I used all my energies to sit up, and as I did, I noticed the same black van that caused me to be there. My heart started pounding but my thoughts were bright. I still had to remember why I was there and how I got injured. My mouth was as dry as sand so I felt relieved in sculling a plastic cup of water. I noticed my clothes on a leather chair in front of my bed. There was an envelope on top of them. I remember running, then falling to the ground. I was bleeding but couldn’t bother worrying about it. My purpose was greater than that. Finally I found the way to stand up. I didn’t know what I had to do, but I didn’t have much time left. As I grabbed my jacket, from the inside of it fell a rectangular canvas, upside down. It looked very old. I dressed up before picking it up, then I did. My eyes widened and I felt high for a second. I was holding a very old canvas, 381 years old exactly. The image was very familiar but I had no idea whatsoever of why I was holding it. It was Rembrandt’s  “Christ in the Storm”. The envelope, which I forgot about, was sitting on the chair. The address written on it must’ve been the one of the hospital. I opened without reading it. That’s when I realised I was in trouble. The simple phrase “get out of there or they will find you” made it clear that I had to go, and soon. As I shoved my feet in my leather shoes, I heard a loud knock on the door…

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.

The sea of hope

By Luca Sandretto

         … He was almost about to wake up; but every time he dreamed of lions, it is meant it was a good dream and he wanted to keep sleeping. The boy got him a clean shirt and his old pair of trousers. When the old man finally woke up it was very late in the morning.

- “Today you slept very late, old man.”

-  “I dreamed that I caught an amazing marlin, I was alone, I frighted, but at the end the shark ate him.”

- “Today you can fish a catch a real marlin and the sharks won’t eat him.” 

- “I hope so, but my boat is “salao”, it is more than 80 days that I haven’t caught a fish, not even a small tuna; do you know what time is it? My watch is broken.”

- “It’s very late, hurry up old man, the marlin is waiting for you”

The boy gave him two sardines, and he carried the coiled lines, the harpoon, the gaff and the sail all the way to his skiff.  That day the old man looked so skinny that it seemed that he could not even walk from his shack down the road to his boat; but his legs were very powerful and he never gave up.

He placed everything in the appropriate place, and he got his oars; he was ready to row outside the port, but before he did he called Manolin:

- “Tonight, in my dream I wished you were there with me and that I haven’t hooked that fish.”

-“Bye old man, don’t regret anything you do, and remember you are way better than me.”

-“Bye Manolin, catch a big fish for me today.”

The old man rowed out of the port and the sun had already risen.  It was very late to go fishing; but that night the old man had had a great dream and it was worth sleeping for longer. The old man was tired of rowing so he opened the sail and since it was a windy day the boat went faster; and the old man lay down on the skiff. 

-“Oh old man,” he said talked to himself, “how great would it be if Manolin was here? You could take a nap while he was fishing.” “Don’t think about him, now he is fishing with another boat, and it’s better this way.”

The old man was desperate, he was tired, he wasn’t fishing and deep inside, he thought there were no fish left for him.

-“Probably I fished them all in the past, and now all the fishes are gone or there in other parts of the sea, far away; but Manolin fished, so some fish somewhere are left.” “Come on old man, some fish have to be down there, probably you are just in the wrong place.” The old man said to himself “Try to go south-east” 

The old man opened his sail and turned the skiff to face the south east, he sailed for a few hours, he didn’t know how long because his watch stopped working, but it seemed a long time.

The old man threw the line and he tied it to the side of the skiff, he was hopeless, he thought that the last fish he fished was the last one of his life.

-“Old man, probably you should retire, leave more space for the young.” but when he turned the line was taut and the old man said … “it’s over”,