Hate, Misery, and Greed were gathered around the table discussing their latest assignments. "What's up, Selfishness?" Misery said to Greed. Greed grinned wolfishly and carelessly flicked a crumb of potato chip onto the floor. He liked that variant of his name. He was thinking of using it more often. Truthfully all of them went by many names. Hate also went by "Loathing" or "Disdain," and he, too, was fond of all the variants of his name. Misery went by "Depression," "Anxiety," or "Mood Disorder." He rather liked the first two, but he thought "Mood Disorder" made him sound like a huffy teenaged girl. Still, he could work with it. Today they were planning on destroying the life of a young woman. Her name was Kelsey. She was a twenty-year-old girl living on campus for the first time. As it was her first time out of her father's house, it was a good time for an attack. Her parents had recently gotten a new jo

Once upon a time there was a star named Astrid. Astrid was a young star, relatively new, and she was situated right in the middle of a galaxy. She was young and small compared to all of the other stars in the galaxy, and she never really felt like she fit in or belonged. The older stars would tell her that her light did not reach as far as theirs did, for it took the light of a star such a long time to travel throughout the vastness of space. The places where her light went was relatively small compared to theirs. When she was older, she would know more, reach farther, be more important. The nebulae told her that she was not as beautiful as them. They had colors that dazzled: reds, greens, yellows. Astrid was only a ball of orange and yellow. She was relatively boring, compared to them. Astrid's light dimmed a little. She felt small and alone. She felt unloved and unimportant. Why was she here in the first place? Then, a Voice spoke to her. "You matter!" He said.

As she walked through the garden, the aroma of hyacinth tickled her nose. It was one of her favorite scents, and she smiled as she received it. Her bare feet touched the soft grass and she took her time, absorbing the sights and sensations of what was around her. It wasn't like she had anywhere else to be. "Hello," a voice said, and she stopped, looking around. She recognized the voice, though she did not yet see its owner. He had spoken to her many times over the past few months, and though at first he had seemed distasteful, she had grown accustomed to him. He wasn't so bad after all. "Hello," she said, spotting him at last. He dangled lazily from a branch above her head, flicking his tongue in and out, perhaps tasting the same scents in the air that she observed.  "Where are you going?" he asked her, his voice melodic and calming.  "Nowhere in particular," she said. "I should get home before the sun goes down, but t