Captured by the Monsters

by R.L. Caulder

We couldn’t afford to have an ember of fire within us, lest it turn into the light that sparked a mutiny.

I’d mom the fuck out of my cat, but human babies? No.

I understood the sentiment of heartbreak for the first time then, for surely my heart lay at her feet in tattered shreds.

“I don’t just want to immerse myself in your body, Sera. I want to immerse myself in your heart.”

“Careful, Sera,” Rowen cautioned, almost mocking. “You're playing with fire. Don’t let your body make a decision your heart’s not into.”

“Obviously not—my heart never came alive until I laid eyes on you. I know because it felt like that organ was dead inside of my chest, the same as our land was. But just as you’re doing with our lands, you breathed life into me. You make me feel alive, Sera. You give me a reason to want to live.”

Heroes to me aren’t special people who have superpowers. Heroes are the people who just choose to do the right thing, not expecting a reward in return. They make their choices because they wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing that there was something they could’ve done to help and hadn’t acted upon it.