Detention.

Detention.

My friends are in the corridor while I am trapped inside a room with the elders who think they possess the power to groom each and every thought that stimulates my cloudy brain They all look down upon me as though I am the one to blame You would not know that I have been trying my very best for this environment we are trapped within is one I completely detest How could we possibly succeed playing their holy games when every single one of their sins burns like the hottest flame?

Lately, I have not been able to ever get my own way in the midst of the terror that has turned my world grey I expressed all the contents that have lead me into hysterics hoping my honesty would help but instead, they chose to barrack

There is something deeply wrong with you, they said We must convert you so you do not wind up dead They punished me for simply breathing, forcing dreadful pills down my throat We have saved his dark soul, they proudly gloat

I was excused from the room where I proceeded to get high, hoping to numb myself, forgetting their kindly-veiled lies They could never care about me even if they dare tried because even the best of intentions tend to be swallowed by the ego of those who feel they have done things right They named themselves the saviours of my tumultuous fight But the war I reside within will never be their victory to claim for every time I tried to scream aloud, they peered the other way

The next day, I returned to the same old detention room It is the space that carries all my impending dooms Things were back to normal as though nothing was ever amiss That is how I know they do not care if I cease to exist I leave my body, searching for life outside these dirty walls, wondering how far I could go if I could indeed have it all I sit very quietly, impatient for the clock to strike noon, praying all this destruction will be over soon

but my cycle of punishment always continues

—

Blue Serenity: Phase 0 Pure Life; Conditioned Into Darkness #7

written by Dan Roberts

Butane Games.

Sparks’ flame sets a fire to far purer days where we were quiet and naive, fulfilling all the requirements of the image they taught us to be

Time passes as we witness how we now behave, rebelling against the very systems that lead us to the pain we are now actively remedying

We clutch our fists and inhale anything that leads us to leaving this present space

These grand risks taken by minds ever idle are defiant acts created within the struggle that persists in the wake of a hypnosis leading us to our inevitable downfall We know enough to access our survival using each other to combat the tidal that leaves us gasping for the very air that has destroyed our souls all along

We are escaping the establishment in perfect places and hidden corners where we can be rendered invisible From basement make-out sessions to unified wild intoxication, we are on a grand mission to forget what we are all running from The truth is, it is the very same force that keeps us together Little do we know that this is what they wanted for us all along and our many footsteps into rebellion and escape keep us latched onto the pain they intend for us to feel

It is a losing game we willingly play, convinced we are winning the strategy they created Once again, we remain at the bottom, yearning for a different reality than the one we live in everyday

It is all a losing game

—

Blue Serenity: Phase 0 Pure Life; Conditioned Into Darkness #5

written by Dan Roberts

The Elders.

They grew from seeds far less fortunate than me That is what they told me as they ravaged communities filled with good intentions and possibilities Our lives were stalled by their terrible deeds

The teachings were passed down convincingly for the hurt tend to cause pain so easily Their hearts were lost fragments of shattered potential youth They evaporated into the blue and wrote this story I am telling you

Tradition taught vitally manifested into cycles, dangerously continuing a path of destruction onto the flowers, forever haunted We were doomed early on from ever blooming into the vibrant beauty we were designed to be

Yet, we dream at long last of breaking through the glass that holds us captive from a world we were barred from participating in We still have the fight within us despite the knives in our backs that communicate to us that we have no choice but to serve and respect the wrath of this lack of love that will inevitably turn us hard and cold We refuse to crumble into the ruins they perceive us to be

Our light still exists, somewhere, in hiding from all that tells us to become the evil that fills these halls of traumatic existence

We dream of perseverance

—

Blue Serenity: Phase 0 Pure Life; Conditioned Into Darkness #3

written by Dan Roberts

Trapped.

Welcome to the land of opportunity It sure is a sad tale to tell; the endless stories of how we all fell Let down by the forces who reined in superiority, we perished beneath the flames, locked away for simply breathing as the beings we were always meant to be

We are locked down for ages with all our pretty faces barricaded in dimmed corridors of expectations, harming our non-existent foundations We are left defenseless under this chaotic order where nobody asked to stand upon the precipice of the only life we have ever known to be true

We are trapped in a globe that once shined with youth but has grown old and corrupted too Is there anywhere else that we can be? Siblings sold their souls and destroyed their inner truth If it has not yet, it will happen to you soon

Pure bright energy locked in a black hole for eternity

We are all trapped for what feels like forever

—

Blue Serenity: Phase 0 Pure Life; Conditioned Into Darkness #1

written by Dan Roberts

Breaking Out.

Breaking out after years spent in these dark corridors We made sure to cause a commotion because we refuse to escape silently

Defiantly rebelling against those who stole our light High as hell, we knew well enough that our time was coming

We paid our dues and sacrificed a life so true when we existed in the basement where we were forced to comply and our dreams were made to die

All our perfect hues turned to gloom as our lives were depleted of any meaning Who we were meant to be went to die by cause of false character building

But now, we have escaped from the only place we know, opening the doors they kept locked and closed Finally seeing the light we imagined the world outside to be, we ran out of the dark we were enclosed within

We think we are free, but the world outside is unknown to us and despite breaking out, we still exist in the Midnight Valley finally being revealed to our hopeful eyes that have been constantly deceived

We may be many things but we are not yet free

—

Blue Serenity: Phase 0 Pure Life; Conditioned Into Darkness #8

written by Dan Roberts

Pure Life, Interrupted.

Idle minds dreaming of highs found in times of past, longing for sunshine underneath future’s bright breath Effervescent wishes not yet born into light with insistent desperation calling into the night Broken children craving lands they have not seen, residing in the sewers of lost hopeful dreams Incessant demands of what life should mean, as functionality becomes frozen from harmful misdeeds of those who claim ownership of their souls

They sit still in waiting for a timely escape from the hell they know too well haunting them every day

They sit still, patiently hoping to one day be met with the visual of what life looks like outside the blackened windows that keep them where they are

—

Blue Serenity: Phase 0 Pure Life; Conditioned Into Darkness #2

written by Dan Roberts