BLURB 1:
It happened a really long time ago. Someone spoke the forbidden word and the world has been doomed ever since. I don't know what the word is. Don't ask it of me because I don't know! Anyway, one guy did figure out the word and he said it over and over and over again because he hated the human race and he wanted to annihilate the whole thing. That was kind of stupid of him because he himself was human, and you would figure that any sane and decent human would not want to speak a word that would curse his own race--seeing as he as a human would have to put up with any curse inflicted upon himself.
But we all know that people are more liable to do something stupid than something clever--so the word was spoken and a lot of bad things began to happen. Buildings crashed, bombs were dropped, and families were torn apart. And all because of a silly word.
It just so happened that there was a word that could put everything right again and all anyone had to do was speak the word, but nobody seemed to want to do this either. In fact, the more and more the buildings fell, and the men murdered and the women left their children, the more people wanted to say the terrible word.
And then people started saying the word all over the place. The word itself became very common place. So common place, nobody even knew what the word meant anymore. The word was translated into every language and people stopped flinching at the mention of it. And soon, everyone forgot that the reason all the bad things were happening around them was because of a word and they started blaming the bad on other things like money and the solar system.
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BLURB 2:
A woman was sitting by herself. Nobody could tell she was crying. This was because she sat alone. The amphitheatre where she sat had long been deserted, which meant that it made for a perfect place to go and cry by one’s self. The woman cried and cried because no one was there to stop her.
“Why are you crying?” said a man. The woman jumped at the sight of him.
“You scared me,” the woman said, looking up to see a man in a red petticoat. He looked to her like a ringmaster. She was smart enough to know that she was in a theatre, and not a circus tent, so she said:
“Are you an actor?”
“Oh,no. Are you?” the man replied with a smirk.
“Me?” the woman said. The thought of someone mistaking her for an actress was laughable, especially in her current conditions. Looking down at herself, she confirmed that she was indeed wearing the white linen dress that she had inherited from her godmother many years ago. It looked more like a potato sack than anything else.
“I am not,” the woman said.
“You sure are putting on a show,” said the man with a small smirk. He offered her a tissue.
“Oh, thank you,” she replied, blowing her nose. “I didn’t think anyone was in here. I certainly didn’t mean to interrupt you and your....thing” the woman stopped. Where had the man come in from? She had of course entered from the pit, a secret passage she had known about since childhood. But she had ceremoniously blocked off the opening. As far as she knew, all the other doors remained locked.
“I am a magician,” the man said, seeming to read her mind. “It is my job to appear out of nowhere.”
Before the woman could reply, the man had sat in the seat next to hers and taken her hand in his own. The woman drew in breath, realizing that it was ice cold. Looking into his eyes, the woman’s heart began to race. She knew this man from sometime very long ago.
“You are sad,” the magician said. It was not a question.
“I had been wishing, praying for it my entire life,” the woman said through choked breaths. “And now it is all ruined. Because it turns out, there was a mistake. And I have to give it back,”
“I helped you once,” said the magician. The woman’s heart raced faster. She was a little girl again, dancing circles around her father’s old friend. A man she knew to cast spells.
“I could say the words,” said the magician, “and no one would have to get hurt.”
“Would it hurt the baby?” the woman said, clutching at her stomach. Not even the bulkiness of the linen sack could disguise the bump where her stomach protruded.
“It would feel nothing,” the magician said. He released her hand. The woman didn’t speak, which seemed to mean an agreement had been made between the two of them.
“Aghata! Romancya! Eet beter vallence son agaust!” the magician cried.
The woman bent over crying.
“Stop it! STOP!”
