• She stood at the edge of the town, the soft lights calling her back in. She shook her head slowly, turning away once more from the comforting lights, and looked towards the abyss awaiting her. It was 11:58, if she didn’t do it now, it would be too late. She stepped forward, towards the cliff’s edge and looked down, as she had done many times before. But this time, instead of being in wonder at the swirling darkness, fear gripped her heart as the shadows below her swirled. They seemed to be reaching for her, begging her to join them. She took an involuntary step backward and swallowed hard, the fear making it harder.

    “I have to do this,” she told herself, once again stepping forward, “Without this, the town will stay the same forever, not knowing what it’s like beyond these cliffs.”

    She took a deep breath and closed her eyed. As she stepped forward, she heard shouting behind her, but ignored it. Turning now would make everything worthless, she told herself. And so, without another thought, she stepped off of the cliff’s edge and slipped into the swirling darkness, and the mysteries it held….



    Rowan Kreis walked through the small town streets, her eyes on the dark, cloudy sky above her. Because she was looking up, her pace was slowed so she wouldn’t trip and fall. She frowned slightly as she watched the gray clouds above her. It was a sky she had spent 15 years looking at. Not once in those years had the clouds moved aside, revealing the sun, or the blue sky. It was also chilly in the town, causing all the children to wear coats. The only reason that Rowan even knew that there was indeed a sun, was from the books that she read. Here in the town of Zuflucht, the books that Rowans read were a rare thing.

    Of course there were books in the town, but not like these. The town had books about the town, and children’s books about strange things, but never did they have anything that Rowan’s books had. She had found her books inside a small, secret room in her house, that she had found by accident, when she broke the wall. When Rowan discovered the books, she was immediately intrigued and had read them nonstop, whenever she could They spoke of a world, the same planet that she lived on, even, that was completely different from her own. In it, children went to a place called school, where they were taught things. In Zuflucht they had something similar, but it only lasted a few hours, and it was mostly filled with music, or drawing. There was no ‘teacher’ like the classes in her books had, because there were no adults. Everyone in Zuflucht was the same age as Rowan herself, and they all celebrated the same Birth Date as she did, January 1st.

    The things in the book were so strange, that Rowan could hardly believe them. But could something so vivid, and repeated in all these books really be fake?, she thought to herself, troubled. She had told another girl in town about the books, but the girl just looked at her strangely and had told her, “Of course they can’t be real! How silly! This is the real world, and those are fake, get your silly head out of those silly books Rowan.”

    Was she really being silly? She asked her self, frowning. “But these seem so real, and this town feels so…wrong,” she whispered to herself, looking away from the sky to watch her feet as she walked. Could all these books be lying to her? After countless similarities, the adults, the sky, the animals, could they really just be coincidental? All of them a lie? Or could they…

    Could they what? She thought to herself. Be true? But then this whole town would be a lie. Being so wrapped up in her thoughts, Rowan didn’t notice the movement from the alleyway, until she heard a crashing sound, and looked over. In the alleyway, Rowan saw something that made her stop, and open her mouth. A puce colored teddy bear, that may have reach just above her knee, stood in the alleyway, writing something on the wall, his back to her. Sensing her, the bear turned around. His mouth was sewn into a permanent grin, slightly psychotic looking, and his button eyes were sewn on badly, slightly off from each other.

    The bear laughed and, somehow, spoke, “Hello, Rowan dear,” he said, for the voice was definitely male.

    “Whu-whu” she managed to get out, but stood silently, staring at him wide eyed after that.

    “Name’s Frank,” he continued, as if she wasn’t shocked, “And, Rowan, you should be careful about what you read, heh heh,” Frank said with a chuckle. He capped the marker and turned his head, as if looking or something. “Now where did I…Ah yes, here it is.” Frank picked up a bottle in a paper bag and gulped some of it down. He noticed Rowan’s stare again, and held it out to her, “It’s great! It’s called beer, want some?”
    Rowan opened her mouth to reply but, found she couldn’t sat anything, instead, she gave the bear a desperate look and shook her head. She could smell it from here, and it did not smell good at all.

    The bear shrugged and took another drink, “Suit yourself kid,” and with that, he began to walk away. “Hey, wait!!” Rowan managed to shout, about a million questions on the tip of her tongue. The beard half turned back towards her, the creepy grin visible.

    “I’d be careful about what I asked Rowan, You may find you don’t like the answer, also, it could put you in danger.” After all, Curiosity might kill a little girl like you…

    Rowan paled slightly at his words, which almost sounded like a threat, and kept silent. She watched him leave, as he started to hum a song cheerfully, and out of tune. After he left, she remembered that that he had a marker, and had been writing something on the wall. Against his warning about her curiosity, she stepped forward to see what he had written. On the wall, neatly drawn, was the number fifteen.

    Fifteen, she thought to herself, fifteen what…?




    A week passed, and nothing much happened to Rowan. She half expected someone to come bursting in through her walls to take her and her books away. But those things only happened in her books, she told herself comfortingly, here in the town of Zuflucht, everyone was peaceful. There were rarely any fights, Rowan could only remember one, but somehow, she couldn’t really remember what happened. That didn’t really bother her too much though, it must have been when she was younger, so of course she would have forgotten it. One thing she did notice, though, as she took her usual walks through the town, were the numbers. Numbers were all over the sides of buildings, like the fifteen, but these were twenties or even as high as 5,840.

    “That’s about sixteen years, if it were days” she said out loud to herself, frowning. Every day she saw a number lower than the next, though, counting down from fifteen. There were only about eight days until the numbers reached zero. What happened then? She thought to herself, her heartbeat quickening. Her mind raced, but she couldn’t remember anything that might point to what would happen. What would all this thinking do? What could be so bad that she had to worry. The people in the town were happy, so what…. A sudden gust of wind blew her long, light brown hair into a tangled mess. As she tried to get the tangles out, she realized that she had continued walking, and had now ended up in a strange place. The edge of the town, which they were told was dangerous.

    She was somehow drawn to it though, when she realized where she was, and stepped forward, as if being pulled closer to the edge. The whole town was surrounded by the deep darkness that filled the edge of the down. Though the only place you could actually see the darkness, was here, at the cliff, where it seemed to bubble over and swirl on the ground. Rowan walked towards the cliff and looked over the edge. She felt dizzy, and a strange, creeping feeling touched her, like she had been in this very spot many, many times before, but she knew this was the first time she had been here. She squinted, thinking she saw some kind of light in the middle of the darkness. This was what pulled her, the small frail light, that she felt, more than saw. What is this, she thought to herself. She felt herself falling, and gasped in surprise, pulling herself away from the edge, falling to the ground. She panted in surprise and got up shakily.

    “Ha, I told you, Rowan, your curiosity will get you killed….” she heard from behind her. Turning, she saw Frank staring at her, smiling.

    “B-but I thought I saw…” she turned back to the darkness, but the light she’d seen, and felt, was gone now.

    “Saw what? A pink flying unicorn?”
    “N-no…it’s nothing, It was just my imagination,” she hesitated, but gathered her courage and asked, “Why are you writing the numbers on the walls? What will happen when they reach zero?”

    Frank seemed to be thinking, and after a while finally answered, “Well, it wouldn’t do any real harm to tell you, but you’d have to sit through my life story. And it’ll take a while too. But ask yourself this, do you really, REALLY want to know?”

    The last part was added menacingly, but Rowan’s curiosity gave her courage and she nodded, “I want, no I feel like I need to know…” she answered, trying to look into Frank’s button eyes.

    Frank’s shoulders hung and he sighed, “When will this girl ever learn? She’s got to change some time or another…maybe next time she’ll…” he muttered to himself.
    “What?” she asked, not hearing him very well.
    “It’s nothing, babe,” he responded and waved his hand, “Let’s go somewhere more comfortable than this, I’m about to freeze my tail off.” He then walked away, and Rowan ran after him. It was surprisingly hard to keep up with the little bear’s pace.




    They ended up at an old building that Rowan had never noticed before. Frank led her up to the top floor, and showed her into a comfortable looking room. “This is my place, not many people get to come here, so consider yourself special.”

    Rowan was silent, but nodded. She sat down when Frank offered her a seat, and then stared at him nervously. He sat down at a small desk and sorted through some papers. It was an odd sight, to Rowan, a patched up, crazy looking teddy bear looking through important looking papers. Finally he set them down and looked up at Rowan, “I suppose you still want to hear it, then?” he asked.

    She frowned slightly, but nodded, “Yes, that’s what I came here for…”
    Frank shook his head and then chuckled, “Whatever, you say, then, don’t regret it afterwards, now, where to begin
    “Well, like I said, I’d explain my reasons before telling you anything…many years ago I was just like any regular old teddy bear, a bit rundown, but nothing else abnormal. And I had a kid who loved me and took me everywhere. My girl took me everywhere she went, and we had lots of fun. But as she got older, she eventually played with me less and less,” he said, sighing sadly, “And unfortunately one day she forgot all about me. Threw me out the car window one day, while passing through this very town.
    “Well I wasn’t too happy about that, heartbroken, really, but a girl in this town found me and loved me again. Alas, the same thing happened, and I felt that I couldn’t bare it another time. So my grief gave me power, and then I was able to walk around, talk even. But that wasn’t what I wanted, I never wanted to forget anything ever again…in other words, I wanted a town in which the people would not grow past a certain age, and therefore, wouldn’t forget about their friends, like me…”

    Rowan frowned slightly, listening to his story, what he was telling her didn’t seem to be going anywhere, “What do you mean? How can you…” she trailed off and her frown deepened.
    “Hush, don’t interrupt my story!” he said, waving a pen at her. “Now, where was I, ah yes…So I looked some stuff up, what I won’t tell you, but nonetheless, I found a way to keep a small area entwined in an endless circle. This town will keep repeating itself every 5,840 days, or, every 16 years, the perfect age. The children won’t have forgotten their friends even at 16, but too much beyond that and they might be too far along to remember, and keep in touch. And there’s not much you can do, really. Everything in this town will reset itself on December 31st at exactly midnight. Now, I’ve told you what’s going on in this town, so leave me alone and get ready to be born again, Rowan. Always the troublemaker….”

    Before she even realized it, she was standing outside the building, staring wide-eyed at the door. Her mind was totally blank, and though she remembered everything he told her, she didn’t know how to respond to it. Numbly, she went home and sat down on her bed. Everything made sense now, why there were no adults, why they weren’t taught anything. Everything. But could it really, possibly true? Why should I trust the words of a crazy teddy bear, she thought to herself. But inside she knew it was true, somehow, she felt like she’d been through this before.

    “And if we’ve all been reborn again and again, then I might’ve, before this time, figured this out…but, why hasn’t it stopped?” she asked herself aloud. Though she racked her brain for memories, she couldn’t think, or remember anything she had done in her other lives. She rubbed her forehead, and laid down in her bed. “Maybe if I sleep something will come to me…”



    But nothing came to her, not even 7 days of thinking hard. On the last day, she was taking her usual walk, though she took more of an interest in her surroundings, as it would be her last walk. The night was creeping in on her, growing colder and darker. She ran through Frank’s story for about the millionth time, thinking about what he said “Everything in this town will reset itself on December 31st at exactly midnight. Now, I’ve told you what’s going on in this town, so leave me alone and get ready to be born again, Rowan.”

    “Everything in this town,” she muttered out loud, shivering from the cold. She gasped to herself, an idea forming in her head. “I know what I have to do,” she muttered to herself, the cold no longer bothering her. She ran off, in search of what would help her escape this town, and find a way to help it, somehow….





    She stood at the edge of the town, the soft lights calling her back in. She shook her head slowly, turning away once more from the comforting lights, and looked towards the abyss awaiting her. It was 11:58, if she didn’t do it now, it would be too late. She stepped forward, towards the cliff’s edge and looked down, as she had done many times before. But this time, instead of being in wonder at the swirling darkness, fear gripped her heart as the shadows below her swirled. They seemed to be reaching for her, begging her to join them. She took an involuntary step backward and swallowed hard, the fear making it harder.

    “I have to do this,” she told herself, once again stepping forward, “Without this, the town will stay the same forever, not knowing what it’s like beyond these cliffs.”

    She took a deep breath and closed her eyed. As she stepped forward, she heard shouting behind her, but ignored it. Turning now would make everything worthless, she told herself. And so, without another thought, she stepped off of the cliff’s edge and slipped into the swirling darkness, and the mysteries it held. She looked up as she fell, and saw that light again, and felt the warmth coming from it…..

    Frank whistled a tune as he walked through the nursery. Once again everything was right, and once again the town had begun again. HE walked to each of the sleeping babies, who had just been fed, and wrote their names down. He came upon the last baby and looked down at it. The baby girl was the only one awake still. He smiled down at her. She watched him quietly, curiously. “Hello again, Rowan, it seems you couldn’t quite escape this time either…..