SERENDIPITY

Art by MOrtiz. For more, follow her at IG: _miiart_

“Miss, are you okay?”

Serena opened her eyes and saw him. The man of her dreams. Prince Charming come alive. Casanova in the flesh.

And murmuring the very words she’d often fantasized that the man of her dreams would be saying at the precise moment she’d meet him.

She tried to smile, to come up with something witty, to show him she was more than just pretty (she was, everyone said so) and that she’s been waiting for him all her life. But she couldn’t. She just hurt so much.

“I got you, you’re going to be fine” he said.  “Don’t worry about anything, it’s all good.”

THE RUNWAY TO REDEMPTION

The blindingly bright lights brought Anahita back to that day, three hundred plus days ago, when she learned how to live a life.

And, like most life-changing events, she never saw it coming. One moment, the choir’s best singer, Afriel, was sentenced to vitam silencio, which meant his lovely voice would never be heard in song ever again. In the next moment, Anahita had raised her own voice in protest, and, in the third moment, she fell.

She took an instant to fall, an instant that could be measured in eons. She saw Afriel’s shocked face looking down at her and then, it became Roberto’s face. Of course, she didn’t know his name was Roberto then, he was just a face she didn’t know but one that seemed kind and welcoming.

He would bring her home that night and she would later learn that his shock was caused by his finding a naked girl right outside his apartment building. And that the said girl possessed the most angelic face on earth (Vogue opined) and the most heavenly body (was how Elle put it) in history.

She didn’t understand their fascination for her physical form, since everyone looked like her “back home” (Roberto never liked it when she said “up there”). And she couldn’t understand how they could take all these in stride, the dealing with bodily functions every day, the human imperfections that stained everything beautiful, and the messiness of emotions that pushed everyone to a state of misery, in one form or the other. It very clearly demonstrated to her why heaven was heaven and why everyone wanted to go there.

A KISS FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

Art by MOrtiz. More amazing art at IG: _miiart_

It was nearing the end of the movie, when the superhero lead has to choose between his lady love and preserving his secret identity that Vic gazed deeply into Rina’s eyes, leaned in close and kissed her.

            It was their first kiss and it was as sweet as he thought it would be. He felt her mouth open against his and the kiss became deeper, more intimate.

            “Oh wow,” Vic thought. “So this is what kissing your dream girl feels like. It’s certainly better and more exciting than when I kissed Julia. But then again, Julia and I are just friends.”

            “He’s kissing me!” thought Rina. “Or am I kissing him? Wait. OMG. We’re kissing already but he hasn’t asked me to be his girlfriend yet! He’s going to think I’m easy!!!”

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

Art by MOrtiz. IG: _miiart_

“Do you actually believe in this the-apocalypse-is-coming crap?”

S125,234 looked over to his left. S134,543 was shaking his head slowly as the others milled around them.

“Well, why shouldn’t we?” S125,234 asked.

“Good question. Which I can answer with another question.” S134,543 said. “Ever met anyone who actually saw, heard or experienced this coming apocalypse?”

S125,234 thought about that. And thought about it some more. Finally, he shook his head.

“Thought so.” S134,543 looked around. “And yet all these…sheep are willing to believe that it will happen. Do you know what I think? I think it’s all a hoax. A scary bedtime story to keep us in line so we don’t ask the more important question.” He paused for effect. “Who put us in here, locked us in and why?”

It was then the room began shaking violently. S125,234 was thrown to the ground, grunting as S134,543 fell on top of him. The world was thrown into chaos, as everyone struggled to regain their footing. The quakes grew even more violent and S125,234 suddenly felt like he was being buried alive under the weight of everyone piled on top of him. It was then that he felt someone pull him violently out of the pile.

“Over there” screamed S134,543, pulling S125,234 after of him. S125,234 saw that the wall in front of them had been split open, probably from the quakes. From behind, he heard the rush of water. The shock as the water crashed against him left him breathless and dizzy, and he could barely do anything more and ride the violent wave that was carrying him.

A LOVE STORY

Art by MOrtiz IG: _miiart_

She is the most beautiful woman in the world. And she’s mine.

It’s a lazy Saturday morning and, as is her habit, she’s lying down on the soft brown couch in the living room, reading a book. The sunlight filters in through the light green curtains, bathing her face with a brilliance that could only be described as ethereal.

I look at her from the end of the couch. She smiles softly, probably from a funny moment in her book or maybe just from the enjoyment of reading a well-crafted novel. She gently arches her back, adjusts her body on the couch, and keeps on reading. I keep on watching her.

DEAD AIR

Art by MOrtiz IG: _miiart_

            Had Joey known it took this long to die from a slit wrist, maybe he would have brought a book to the tub.

            Or, at the very least, his cellphone. So he could play a couple more stages of Candy Crush before finally finding out if there was a heaven or hell (but preferably, heaven).

            Joey slowly opened his eyes and looked at his sort-of-bleeding left wrist submerged in bathwater. Once in a while, pain would shoot up his arms, especially when he moved it and little tendrils of blood floated around in the water. His butt was getting numb, so Joey shifted his weight and tried to relax.

            He’s been sitting in the tub, trying to die for the last fifteen minutes. He didn’t feel any weaker, or nearer to death, which led Joey to believe he may not have cut his wrists deeply enough.

FARE WELL

Art by MOrtiz. IG: _miiart_

He hid under the couch and wished with all his might that they wouldn’t find him. Maybe then, it wouldn’t happen.

“Pablo? Where are you? Pablo?” His mom’s voice slowly faded away as the kitchen door closed behind her. Pablo sighed in relief. A small cloud of dust wafted up, causing Pablo’s nose to itch. Pablo sneezed as quietly as he could, shifted his weight off his slowly numbing right arm and lay flat on his back.

Pablo stared right up the bottom of the couch. It wasn’t very interesting, just a mesh of white nylon thread crisscrossed in a chaotically ordered pattern. He wished he brought a comic book or one of his toy soldiers to keep him company. Surely his most favorite officer, Lance Corporal James, could keep boredom at bay.

It was a mistake to think about Lance Corporal James, because it made him think of Andy. Andy was Pablo’s best friend and he was leaving today.

 Pablo didn’t know where Colorado but he knew it wasn’t in their town or even in the next town. His mom said Colorado was somewhere really far away, a place so far they’d have to take a plane to go there. Which was ridiculous, they could never do that, because they weren’t pilots. At least, Pablo wasn’t and he was pretty sure his mother wasn’t.

JUST HAVE FATE

Art by MOrtiz. IG: _miiart_

Shradha fixed her veil and sighed. It was finally time for her to meet her husband.

She had never met him before so she hated her prospective groom with a passion. It was a hatred equivalent to the love she felt for Anupam, the love of her life, stolen away by antiquated traditions that valued security over love. 

Thinking about her mystery groom always led her to thinking about Anupam. Handsome, intelligent, graceful, Anupam brought to life her idea of the perfect man, a man she could live the rest of her life with. And the moment she came to that conclusion was when, in their Quantum Physics 101, he detailed in his cigarette-hoarsened voice exactly the terrible mistake Albert Einstein made in 1933. He won not just the day but, more importantly, her soul.

With Max Planck in her brain and Anupam in her heart, the next ten months were the happiest in her life. Days spent arguing the merits of the Higgs boson were punctuated by nights of tea gone cold and forgotten in the heat of the night.

And then came her mother, with a pronouncement as dire as death calling.