Have you ever rolled down the side of a hill? Felt the grass brush against your skin and clothes as you tumble faster and faster. You don’t think about what the grass will do to your “perfectly” white shirt. You just take pleasure in the head rush and the wild abandon of rolling haphazardly down a grassy hill in the beautiful summer sunshine. This is what you wait all year for. This is what you wait for when you’re sat inside on those rainy grey days. When you have nothing to do but work. Nothing to do but go through the motions. But then that day comes. The sun shines and you go outside and you take up your position on the top of the hill and you roll. You roll for as long as you can. Each roll only ending when there’s nowhere left to go. You don’t worry about how your path’s never straight. You don’t worry about what you might hit. You don’t even worry about how the roll has to end, because then you just have to get up and do it again. You just walk back up the hill and start another roll. You do it until the sun goes in. Seriously though, you’re 26, get a job!

-Alice

I looked out at the new world. I was the first to set foot on it. I’d been here a good five minutes already, just taking it in. The creation of places like this is pretty blasé these days but it still takes my breath away every time I see one. I still marvel at the beauty of nature, despite it being all man-made. I marvel at the ancient-looking trees that haven’t been there more than a few months. I stare in awe of the animals going about their business. I wondered if they knew that they’d been born in test tubes and artificially aged to our exact specifications. I dug my heels into the soil and thought about how the exact chemical make-up wasn’t down to anything random like winds or the defecation of animals. Instead it had been carefully chosen by our highly skilled scientists. I ran over the blurb in my head. I’d spoken it so many times, I knew it better than the words to “Happy Birthday”. A grin spread across my face as a pun took shape in my mind. How silly it was but still so apt. “Happy Earthday, new world” I thought to myself.

-Alice

The wind rustled the trees. The first few discoloured leaves of the season floated gently to the ground like lonesome flakes of autumn confetti. The branches were swaying slightly. A floating dance in the wind. The grass joined in. Being swept about by the strong currents of air. The sun was getting low in the sky as the afternoon drew to a close. Clouds were hanging in strands across the sky, waiting to reflect the red rays of the coming sunset. Waiting to make a scene of beauty. Nature would soon be painting one of those pictures you think would only ever exist in a film. You could hear the minutes drifting away. That little ticking countdown to an event that happened every day, so no one really took notice of how beautiful it could be. On a day like this, the effect can be astounding. There wasn’t a hint of gloom in the sky. Nothing to sully the bold colours of the sunset. But no one would notice. No one would look out at it and be struck with inspiration. No feelings of indescribable beauty. Nothing. Such a pity everyone died in that gas attack.

-Alice