The city gates open painfully slowly, revealing a gloomy city full of shadows. The tightly packed houses are crumbling under the cloudy skies. Thieves glare at the newcomer, waiting for a chance to strike. The buildings are splashed with a powerless blue and shiver as ivy claws up the walls in vain. The people live grudgingly, belittling one another and feeling trapped in a downward spiral. Pathways sneak through the city, pumping it with people. Temples and monuments tower overhead, dominating the city. Despite wails from the prison, the newcomer's stride never breaks as thugs menace the streets. Shacks teeter at the end of the street. Suddenly

1. #1
The city gates creaked open painstakingly; the impenetrable walls
refusing to yield the secrets that lurked behind. Pores of light struggled
through, failing amidst the shadows, a fleeting respite to the gloom. Cut
curtly short, the houses massed together, pressed together beneath the
gloomy clouded skies. Thieves and pickpockets glared past the
newcomer; they knew they would have their chance, eventually…
Splashed with powerless blue, the buildings shivered as ivy clawed up
the walls in vain; just as the men lived in squalor, the buildings did too.
Grudgingly, the people lived, belittling one another. Truth be told they
were rats, rats trapped in a downward spiral. Pathways sneaked
through the city, paved the sleeping rocks, pumping it with people.
Majestically, temples, statues and monuments towered overhead,
dominating the city. The newcomer’s sandals slapped against the
ground and his stride never broke despite the wails of the doomed in
the prison. Oblivious the thugs menacing the street, noblemen strode
around. Despondent shacks, rotting and crumbling, teetered at the end
of the street. Suddenly men burst out…
#2
This is the first time I’ve ever been able to tell my story. The first time I’d been able
to unleash the unstoppable river which flows to melancholy tune of unimaginable
suffering. I’d never expected such an experience to happen to me, but I suppose you
never do. You never expect to be forced to enter a living hell in which only the lucky
can escape. You hear about such horror stories and see American ‘rom com’s’ about
them but you never really feel that it would happen to. My name is Lisa Burns and
this is my story.
It was the 22nd of November when it all began. It was the day that I found out the
dreaded news; the lump which I found on my left temple and had been avoiding to
take to the doctors had been in fact intoxicated with the monster which is cancer. I

2. knew that footprints of the beast were adding up inside of my mind with me forgetting
simple things such my mother’s birthday. Pointless information though it seems I
knew that it wasn’t right to forget such a potent date in my life in a flash. When the
doctor dropped the bombshell on me that the lump on my temple was in fact
malignant my life was like a whirlwind before my eyes. The most beautiful days
flashing before my eyes like a Lamborghini on the M25 with days like my baby girls
arrival standing out like a blooming rose in the winter. The image of the posters with
the end is nigh, which I was once ignored, along oxford street and instantly labelled
the person caressing the message with the stereotypical view of a traditional nutter.
But now I regret all my actions. Had God put this punishment on to me? The incident
was yet to happen.
The city gates creaked open painstakingly; the impenetrable walls
refusing to yield the secrets that lurked behind. Pores of light struggled
through, failing amidst the shadows, a fleeting respite to the gloom. Cut
curtly short, the houses massed together, pressed together beneath the
gloomy clouded skies. Thieves and pickpockets glared past the
newcomer; they knew they would have their chance, eventually…
Splashed with powerless blue, the buildings shivered as ivy clawed up
the walls in vain; just as the men lived in squalor, the buildings did too.
Grudgingly, the people lived, belittling one another. Truth be told they
were rats, rats trapped in a downward spiral. Pathways sneaked
through the city, paved the sleeping rocks, pumping it with people.
Majestically, temples, statues and monuments towered overhead,
dominating the city. The newcomer’s sandals slapped against the
ground and his stride never broke despite the wails of the doomed in
the prison. Oblivious the thugs menacing the street, noblemen strode
around. Despondent shacks, rotting and crumbling, teetered at the end
of the street. Suddenly men burst out…