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Since birth, I've always had this strange feeling, that I don't belong. Sometimes I can't sleep, thinking how uncomfortable I am, wondering why I can't fit in this society. The thoughts flood my head constantly, like waves crashing in a storm, but eventually, the clouds part and a ray of light shines through; this is my happiness, my inspiration: archaeology.

The past truly is fascinating, full of mysteries and communities we will never truly understand; what we see is only but a tiny portion of what once was. All my life I've been investigating, reading about it, like I was made for this. This year, I finally achieved my lifelong-awaited dream; I was invited to visit a newly found Egyptian temple. I've devoted my entire life to different archaeological studies, and this is what it has come to. At last, I was finally able to experience firsthand what it was like.

Inside the temple, there were different hieroglyphs inscribed on the walls. Upon closer inspection, it was clear they told the prophecy of the "ever returning." It seemed like a crazy idea, but not far off what they would've believed at that time. My team continued exploring the place; I was having the time of my life. Multiple texts to be read and jewelry to be admired; whoever made the temple really wanted to get on the ever-returning's good side, it appeared.

Out of the blue, someone shouted, "Hey, you should totally take a look at this," they said. I walked to where they were and found a mask resembling the ever-returning's face, resembling... My face. There was no time to process such a coincidence, for I heard a whisper that sent shivers down my spine.

"He found out, end him."

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Rebirth

We've all heard stories regarding the devil, this mysterious, mischievous entity. Many also consider it a character that exists only in fantasy; but what if I told you that it is more than real and is right among us. I'm sure some might've met it already. Appearing in our most terrifying nightmares, showing itself right in front of us in broad daylight.

That's the devil, and it's come for you. Try to run or hide, nothing matters anymore; surrounded by beautiful promises, incredible actions, and looking like a dream, makes you fall right into its trap. You're now enchanted and there is no turning back, once you're in, the only one that can take you out is the devil. Several weeks may go by without suspicion, with every word being better than the last, you think you're in paradise...

Suddenly, the situation turns upside down, after you've given your everything, it bites. You want to believe it's a fluke, a simple mistake on the devil's side, but its true colors begin to show. A rainbow losing its colors like autumn leaves surrendering to the inevitable embrace of winter, reality is grayscale now. Once the prettiest person you've ever seen, in a blink, transforms into a monster, and as swiftly as a ninja, it begins to attack.

With time, you're getting hurt, and an explicable pain surges across your body. Once you're down, and without looking back, the devil leaves, hunting for its next prey. Time after time, this story repeats itself, never changing or disappearing, the devil can always come back.

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The Devil Doesn’t Settle

Imagine a place where you can truly be free, where every step you take feels like you're floating around. In this place, every issue you thought you had vanished as a bubble bursting in the air, finally, peace. Your senses get sharper, you feel the breeze on your face, you smell the flowers as you pass by, has reality always been this pleasant? With every step you go a little bit further, gliding, smiling, asking yourself why haven't you tried this before.

You think you got it, but sometimes your foot feels stuck to the ground, your balance is thrown off and it'll take perfect coordination to get back on track. Make it a couple of times and continue your way, you can't expect freedom to be given to you, you must work for it. Still, it's nothing to worry about, everything around seems so beautiful working for it is worth it. Keep going, gliding, smiling.

The longer you keep your balance, the more exhausted you feel, suddenly your feet are heavier, and you start to sweat. You've gotten yourself into this, no matter what you try, there is no stopping. You panic, you flail your arms around - what will I do now? - you think. Every movement is harder than the last, and as an Icarus that flew too close to the sun, you fall. You're going down amazingly fast, you must decide how you're gonna try to save yourself, your arms? Knees? There is no way you're not getting hurt, is there?

By the moment you react to what just happened, you're already lying down in pain. Congratulations, you've experienced your first fall, an unavoidable step to success, to freedom. This is where you decide, will you get up and continue? Or will this be enough for you to go home? After all you've sacrificed, this is what it comes down to, what you do now will change everything going forward. Whatever you do, deep down you've finally found out that freedom hurts.

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Freedom Hurts

Time, a path we all walk, a concept, a dimension. Time is set, a minute is sixty seconds, sixty minutes is an hour, but time can change; a minute can feel like an hour, and an hour can feel like mere seconds. It all comes down to us, to our perception, we are the ones in control, well... our minds are.

It was a cold dawn after a sleepless night, Theo had an appointment he couldn't be late to, the more he tried to get up from bed, the more the sheets clung to him. Time was ticking and it wasn't gonna stop, Theo had to do his best in order to get ready, but at last, he left home, he could still get there; after walking, and walking, and walking, Theo had reached his destination, hungry, for having breakfast would have been too time consuming, he found himself in front of a long flight of stairs that reached down to the clouds.

Every step he took was harder than the last, temperature was dropping and eventually, light was as dim as fading candle. Was this really the place he was supposed to be in? He got down to the last floor, the walls were filled with barely readable posters, there were tables with toys, cards, boxes, but not a single person in the whole place. Theo was alone down there, and he would be for what felt like an eternity.

He lingered around, trying to read what was displayed on the walls, his hands behind his back, as a simple mistake would mean a disaster. At times, small groups of people came in, wandered for some minutes, and left without saying a single word; they had stickers, with some text on them, as they looked around, they pasted the stickers on the posters and the tables. He'd never seen anything like that before, on his whole way down there, the stickers remained a secret with no apparent origin.

As time passed, he grew hungrier than ever, he could barely feel his feet, all he could do now was walk, look around, and feel hopeless. Nothing else was going on, people came and went, but he was the only one to stay. Theo pondered why he had to be there, why was this appointment of such importance but there was no one to make sure he attended, he could've stayed at home, or so he thought. There was nothing he could do now, it was too late; he left fifteen minutes too early, fifteen minutes were enough for "them" to notice his absence.

The clouds were now empty once again. 

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The Everlasting Linger

There was once a little boy, with a great imagination, one could say that his ideas were bigger than the world he lived in. Every night, every day, he had something new on his mind, by his 10th birthday he had been a hero, a villain, a lover, a fighter, and everything in between.

We all have the concept that the older we become, the smaller our imagination becomes, in fact, people train theirs in order to keep coming up with new ideas. But this was not the case for our little dreamer, years passed, and he always retained his ability to create, his mind resembled entire galaxy, with every new story he made, a new planet was created; like the known universe, it was in constant expansion.

This boy eventually became an adult, with his own struggles, just like all of us. He had rent to pay, food to buy, and a lot more things to think about; in this ocean of responsibilities, how does one find happiness? He found it in art, a concept so big our world’s greatest minds wouldn’t be able to figure all of it out. This broadness is what appealed to him, a single word describing tons of new activities for him to try; despite all the hardships and obstacles in his way, he always found another path to fulfilling his purpose. A tiny dreamer can become giant, and the only one who gets to decide what they come to be, is oneself.

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A Tiny Dreamer