158
The secret's in the mischief,
the mischief's in their eyes.
Everybody loves someone
even though they lie.
the mischief's in their eyes.
Everybody loves someone
even though they lie.
157
I am the first daughter,
the sea, it came to me.
I heard you whisper in the hall
"She's me! She's really me."
the sea, it came to me.
I heard you whisper in the hall
"She's me! She's really me."
156
The fighting was too much for her
The blood, flowing free
She couldn't help but stare at them
Need to see, need to see
The blood, flowing free
She couldn't help but stare at them
Need to see, need to see
155
These thoughts occupy me,
wrap around my mind
This is what I think about
All the time, all the time
wrap around my mind
This is what I think about
All the time, all the time
151
All of her senses were keyed up, honed in on every detail, and they made her headache much worse.
142
His head in the clouds but his feet on the ground.
He received compliments graciously but never expected them.
That's why she loved him.
He received compliments graciously but never expected them.
That's why she loved him.
143
Well I've got no more to do, no further to run
I wanna go out and stay in the sun
I wanna leave this place, leave these memories behind
and move on from here in a new state of mind
I wanna go out and stay in the sun
I wanna leave this place, leave these memories behind
and move on from here in a new state of mind
135
She failed to understand how someone with so many varied interests still had trouble being intellectually stimulated by her university studies.
133
She didn't know if she was on speaking terms with the one person with which she wanted to have a conversation.
125
After she realized she couldn't fall asleep before 2 a.m. no matter what she tried, she chose to make better use of her nights.
122
Every time she saw a typo, she looked at the keyboard to see how easy it was to make that mistake.
104
She stopped speaking not because she ran out of things to say but because she could think of nothing else to add.
103
Hello, everyone, this is Scott Hannigan broadcasting from...well, I can't really say where, can I? I'd like to think we're all on the same team, but truth is, there are people against us and they might be picking up this signal.
Most folks are scared with what happened. I'm scared too, so you'll excuse me when I leave out personal details. I've been in radio for a long time--long before the corporations controlled what you heard--so when I came across this radio station after World Union Day (terrible name, by the way), I thought I'd check if it was usable. If you can hear me, that's proof this set up works.
I lived in a small town, and most everybody spread out and left. I don't have any family out in these parts, so I'm on my own. I try not to be out at night too much. Never know if someone's in the dark waiting to jump you. Not that I have anything worth taking. Got the clothes I'm wearing and my boots, that's it. But anyway, I'm rambling. It's not too bad, but it's lonely out here. I'm guess it's lonely for you out there too.
I'm checking the gear here and everything seems to be working, so if there are folks out there with working radios, you should be able to pick up this signal. Like I said, I'm an old radio man, and that means I like the sound of my own voice. I do have something to say if you're listening, though.
They took away our structure from the top down, on a global scale, and that's scary as hell. We don't have any guarantees anymore. We can't have any expectations. Nothing we knew in life is certain anymore. They changed the world for worse, but they didn't change any of us. They can't.
If you're out there and you're listening, I'm asking you to think about all the other people out there--we're all just as scared. We all want to be safe. We all want to wake up last week and realize this was a nightmare. We can't trust the governments to be there for us anymore, but we can trust each other. You're out there and you know I'm here. My voice is your proof. I think you've got to be out there, but I've gotta go on faith. Think about everyone out there going on faith, surviving on hope. That's what we have to do.
Or else, all those leaders we put into office, all those men and women who threw away their responsibilities to leave the world in chaos, they win. They're failures. They don't deserve a victory.
Don't let them ruin the whole world. We get through this, and we win.
Most folks are scared with what happened. I'm scared too, so you'll excuse me when I leave out personal details. I've been in radio for a long time--long before the corporations controlled what you heard--so when I came across this radio station after World Union Day (terrible name, by the way), I thought I'd check if it was usable. If you can hear me, that's proof this set up works.
I lived in a small town, and most everybody spread out and left. I don't have any family out in these parts, so I'm on my own. I try not to be out at night too much. Never know if someone's in the dark waiting to jump you. Not that I have anything worth taking. Got the clothes I'm wearing and my boots, that's it. But anyway, I'm rambling. It's not too bad, but it's lonely out here. I'm guess it's lonely for you out there too.
I'm checking the gear here and everything seems to be working, so if there are folks out there with working radios, you should be able to pick up this signal. Like I said, I'm an old radio man, and that means I like the sound of my own voice. I do have something to say if you're listening, though.
They took away our structure from the top down, on a global scale, and that's scary as hell. We don't have any guarantees anymore. We can't have any expectations. Nothing we knew in life is certain anymore. They changed the world for worse, but they didn't change any of us. They can't.
If you're out there and you're listening, I'm asking you to think about all the other people out there--we're all just as scared. We all want to be safe. We all want to wake up last week and realize this was a nightmare. We can't trust the governments to be there for us anymore, but we can trust each other. You're out there and you know I'm here. My voice is your proof. I think you've got to be out there, but I've gotta go on faith. Think about everyone out there going on faith, surviving on hope. That's what we have to do.
Or else, all those leaders we put into office, all those men and women who threw away their responsibilities to leave the world in chaos, they win. They're failures. They don't deserve a victory.
Don't let them ruin the whole world. We get through this, and we win.
94
The seven seconds it took for two subway trains to pass each other in opposite directions at top speed.
89
Her dreams trapped her in sleep, made her think she was awake and living her life while she was stuck in bed.
81
For a few seconds before she woke up, she thought she was back home sleeping in her own bed instead of sleeping halfway across the world.
74
Her vision flickered and the raindrops against the window turned into small black spiders descending on single strands of webbing.
70
Some days she didn't say a word until the afternoon and then her voice was raspy, as if she were losing despite not using it.
68
She pushed when she should have pulled, pulled when she should have pushed. Doorknobs were not her friends.
64
She couldn't help thinking about possibilities, about what her life might have been like if she made other choices.
63
She didn't mind being lost and walking around the same block twice if it meant a chance at giving someone déjà vu.
59
Some days, all she wanted to do when she got home was play piano but she never learned how to play any instrument.
54
Charlotte was in one of her states again when the world twisted and folded into something horrible as it poured into her mind. Voices were shrieks of terror in her ears or whispers of terrible things about to happen. Every person was her enemy. She saw it in the way they looked at her with cautious but confident eyes. Everything became a weapon to be used against her. Her skin tingled in anticipation. Her muscles tensed.
Charlotte walked down the sidewalk and avoided eye contact with every person she passed. If even one of them saw her, they might know. Even the dogs wouldn't look at her. They could sense something was wrong with her, something that couldn't be fixed.
Buses and cars blurred in front of her, each one a threat to her safety. The black and yellow taxi at the corner transformed into a monster in her vision. The hood snapped open to reveal massive jaws. The low rumble of the engine became a roar as it lurched forward to devour her, to make her disappear forever.
Charlotte blinked and the monster was a taxi again. She knew the dangers she saw were hallucinations but when she was experiencing them, they felt too real. The traffic wouldn't harm her and neither would people, but Charlotte could see what was coming and that...that was something to fear.
She turned the corner and walked in the light from the street lamps. Everything was lit here. Street lamps, business signs, and store windows--everything was light except for the darkening sky.
The nightmares were rushing in.
Charlotte walked down the sidewalk and avoided eye contact with every person she passed. If even one of them saw her, they might know. Even the dogs wouldn't look at her. They could sense something was wrong with her, something that couldn't be fixed.
Buses and cars blurred in front of her, each one a threat to her safety. The black and yellow taxi at the corner transformed into a monster in her vision. The hood snapped open to reveal massive jaws. The low rumble of the engine became a roar as it lurched forward to devour her, to make her disappear forever.
Charlotte blinked and the monster was a taxi again. She knew the dangers she saw were hallucinations but when she was experiencing them, they felt too real. The traffic wouldn't harm her and neither would people, but Charlotte could see what was coming and that...that was something to fear.
She turned the corner and walked in the light from the street lamps. Everything was lit here. Street lamps, business signs, and store windows--everything was light except for the darkening sky.
The nightmares were rushing in.
52
I don't know when the world ended. People thought it would be obvious. Nuclear war, a natural disaster--something would mark the end of civilization as we knew it. People thought December 31, 1999 (better known as Y2K) would crash all of our technology because computers couldn't possibly switch their dates from '99 to '00 without total failure. People thought the Mayans predicted the apocalypse when they ended their calendar on December 21, 2012.
But we're still here.
No, the end of the world was not so abrupt. It came quietly, without anyone noticing for a long time what was happening. Word leaders signed agreements behind closed doors. Governments melded until there was one government, until there was no government.
Radiation didn't kill us and the sun didn't black out. The worst death is the one you don't feel, because you don't know you're dead. We were free. We were done.
The day they made the announcement that our trusted leaders dissolved our world's structure started out like most days. Except the day was a little more special for me.
It was my twenty-fifth birthday.
But we're still here.
No, the end of the world was not so abrupt. It came quietly, without anyone noticing for a long time what was happening. Word leaders signed agreements behind closed doors. Governments melded until there was one government, until there was no government.
Radiation didn't kill us and the sun didn't black out. The worst death is the one you don't feel, because you don't know you're dead. We were free. We were done.
The day they made the announcement that our trusted leaders dissolved our world's structure started out like most days. Except the day was a little more special for me.
It was my twenty-fifth birthday.
44
After all the errands and everything she accomplished that day, maybe she would be tired enough to sleep (provided her mind allowed her rest).
39
As the girl's head slammed into the metal bench, the bystander felt the pain as if it were in his skull.
38
She will tire of you
And find something new
Always moving, always changing
Always learning
Her sleep filled with dreaming
She dreamed of sleeping
And find something new
Always moving, always changing
Always learning
Her sleep filled with dreaming
She dreamed of sleeping
35
The sun turned her hair a lighter, reddish brown over the summer, but she liked her usual shade just fine.
20
She felt the rhythm of the music, the throbbing beat. No need to listen for it, no reason to pay attention to the song.
15
The pain in her arm lessened until it was a single spot of soreness on her shoulder the width of a finger.
13
The more she read, the more she wanted to read. The more she watched, the more she wanted to watch.
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