#teenage author

[iknowwhyimtired]

you know?

a free verse poem i wrote for english class

Teenagers are kind of funny, you know?

No, I don't mean our sense of humor; that's pretty hit or miss. 

I'm talking about how obsessed we are with things like 

A first kiss.

Friendship's bliss.

Looking slick in rain, shine, or snow.

Things that adults don't really talk about if it's not some distant memory, you know?

That phrase. That stupid phrase. It's so infuriatingly submissive, I think.

But we all use that phrase, day to day, because there are things we can't confidently say.

Say, "Man, my heart slammed against my ribs," and you look like a lovesick fool.

But add "you know?" to it, and, well, you look unfathomably cool. 

That's how it feels, anyway.

It's the nature of "cool," really, that gets me riled up.

Not caring

Not sharing

Riled up, I say! 

Because "cool" just means passive. Inoffensive, some may say.

I don't think that there's much wrong with that.

Adaptability is fine; I strive for it at times

When I fear turning others away.

you know?

I don't.

[keenflowercupcake]

Yep I'm Bragging

Yep I’m Bragging

When I became a parent, I said to myself, this little girl is going to better than me. I need her to know who she is and what she is capable of. (more…)

[assana-nadav]

Convection Current Thoughts

I’m a bit lost, I must admit. I find myself constantly thinking of the “past,” her and how much I miss her, yet I look at my “future,” my current girlfriend, in the face. I’ve come to realize I still love her, but not in that way meaning I don’t want to be with her. I wish we could have still been friends despite all that we’ve been through. I have also came to realize, the connection between her and I was the same connection I feel when I’m in the woods, when I’m focusing on the sun and wind, the feeling of grass. The type of feeling that practically rocks my core. 

Don’t get me wrong. I do have feelings for my current girlfriend. She’s everything I would want in a relationship, but the circumstances that I am in make it difficult to be in it 100%. Especially a relationship that is built off regret. I don’t regret her, I regret how we got together. A product of a back stab. However, I was the one with the knife thinking it was a shovel to help with my garden of happiness. 

I didn’t stop to think about who I would be hurting only about what would make me happy. I hadn’t been in so long nor had I been doing what I wanted for my- self. So when the opportunity presented itself I jumped. BUT I didn’t look before I jumped.

[morgan-m-steele-books]

NaNoWriMo 2017

I’ve been meaning to make a NaNo post, so better late than never, I suppose...

My project this year - Recensere: The Lost Queen

Genre - Fantasy

Main Character - Arya Miller

Synopsis - Arya Miller, the girl from the village, has never been anything but ordinary. Until the day her eyes turned blue and everything was thrown into chaos. Now, the girl must find her place in the magical kingdom of Recensere before the end of the Moons’ Cycle or the Magyk that’s been building up inside her will finally take her life.

Progress so far - 36,799 words

Excerpt - “Are you okay?” Arya asked softly. 

It took the Leprechaun a few seconds to register that someone had talked to him. He blinked a few times and looked up at the stranger. In a world full of brown-eyed Mortals, this one had blue eyes. So, not a Mortal, technically. Suddenly, he was very embarrassed to be in his current state.“D-don’t look at me. I’m hideous.”

“You’re Mortal.” Henry shook his head and set to work on the bonds that were holding the tall brunette. 

“Exactly. That’s me point.” Finnigan looked down on himself, the reality of the situation still not quite real to him. There was no way this was happening. He couldn’t be Mortal. It was impossible. It was horrible.

 “Do you feel alright?” Arya asked softly. There was kindness in her blue eyes, Finnigan decided. “Does anything hurt?”

“Everything hurts.” He groaned.

Thoughts so far - I love this world more than any I’ve ever written. All of these characters are already my children and I can’t wait to see where they take me.

What’s your NaNo project? 

[writingmyselfalive-blog]

She Stood There

She stood there, Her hair framing her face, Her smile lighting up like the night sky.

She stood there, With flowers in her hair, And diamonds in her eyes.

She stood there, Taking the breath from my lungs, And the stress from my mind.

She stood there, Watching me with those twinkling eyes, And smiling that heart-aching smile.

She stood there, Underneath the dim moonlight, Underneath and canopy of grey clouds.

I stood there, At 3am in the pouring rain, Not having a single care about what was to come...

-Krystal Dawn Poetry

[ada-slyvia-rose]

Go Play Dead

I think I made you

Up inside my head

Your words echo

Living and dead

I swear I’d trade

You for love instead

But I think you’re

In my head

Swear I saw you

Stone-cold dead

Can I have

Love instead?

Wish you’d stop

Haunting me

Wish you never

Came to be

Stop the whispers

Stop the voice

Go away as

I’ll rejoice

I think I made you

Up inside my head

Quit haunting the living

Go play dead

-R.S.

[aurumastrum]

attention authors!

i would like to start following more writers!

so please if you are:

a highschooler starting your first rough draft

want to publish poetry

have been published before

are trying to get published

want to be self published

if you write:

ANYTHING YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT

please reblog so i can follow you. I want to know about you're stories as a young author myself.

[keenflowercupcake]

Yep I'm Bragging

Yep I’m Bragging

When I became a parent, I said to myself, this little girl is going to better than me. I need her to know who she is and what she is capable of. (more…)

[ladofletters]

I'm trying to decide whether or not I should leave this book on a happy note.

[mosteamybeats]

The Condition We Call Human (a look at modern prejudice)

“…and I’ll be choosing your partners.” The class seemed to groan in unison. Mr. Williams smirked and turned to the board. “Yeah, yeah, I know we all hate each other, but doing this will be beneficial to you all.” He lectured and wrote the expectations of his latest assignment on the board. In the back of the class, Jeremiah rolled his eyes to the guy sitting next to him, Mason Ray. Without raising his hand Mason called out, “So how is writing with someone gonna help out us? And why’re we writin about the ‘human condition’?” He asked loudly. “What is ‘human condition’?” A white kid added in from the front of the class. Jeremiah smirked as Mr. Williams looked around the bad-mannered class full of loud-mouthed ingrates who would all drop out of high school right now if they wouldn’t be murdered by their folks. Mr. Williams decided to answer the questions, this time. Usually he just ignored the stupidity of the room and continued the lesson for the two percent of students who were actually trying to pass the class. “Writing with a partner is a key skill because it shows willingness to do something new, meet someone you haven’t met, and create art with two perspectives. This is a skill you all will need in life. Believe it or not, but you’ll all end up working with strangers in your life, and this is to help you prepare for that.” He answered and there were laughs around the room. Even Jeremiah grinned. He usually agreed with Mr. Williams’ points, but he missed a big part of his own argument with this one. Jeremiah leaned forward in his seat. “But, Mr. Williams, we all know each other in here, man. You can’t make us work with strangers when there ain’t no strangers here, man.” Except for a few nobodies at the front of the room, all of the students laughed and nodded along with Jeremiah. Mr. Williams smirked and placed his hand on the first desk at the front of the room, where a really tall white kid was sitting. “Alright, Mr. Kiet.” Mr. Williams agreed and smiled. This wasn’t a good sign. “Since you know everyone, what is this student’s name?” He nodded to the white boy sitting in the desk. The blond kid looked up at Mr. Williams and then looked back to Jeremiah. Jeremiah looked back at him, and drew a blank. He knew the guy’s face. They had a few classes together, and were in the same year but he didn’t know this guy at all. Defeated, Jeremiah shrugged one shoulder and leaned back in his seat. He slouched until it was uncomfortable on his back. “Kevin?” He guessed. A couple of those white kids at the front laughed, but the white boy Mr. Williams had asked about just turned red and turned to the front of the class. Mr. Williams nodded slowly and laughed before saying to the white boy, “The human condition means the unique qualities of interaction that make people different than animals. Like the way we communicate, to the way we dress…to the way we live. It’s all apart of what makes a human life different than anything else.” He explained patiently. The white boy just nodded and looked down to his desk. Mr. Williams looked up and made eye contact with Jeremiah. “What, man?” Jeremiah asked and sat up, not able to deal with how uncomfortable slouching was on his back. He didn’t like the way the teacher was staring at him. “This is Tobias Randall, Jeremiah.” Mr. Williams told him, “and he’s going to be your partner for the project.” The class erupted into wild laughter as Jeremiah and Tobias looked up at Mr. Williams with the same ‘you-can’t-be-serious’ look on their faces. But it was really too late. Mr. Williams already wrote it on his roster, and was busy settling the rest of the class down to assign the rest of the partners. After twenty minutes the class was finally under enough control for Mr. Williams to tell the students to break up and speak with their partners. Jeremiah leaned back in his seat and turned to Mason and Quantavious; his friends that he’s known since third grade. Mason was mixed; his mom was white and one of the nicest women Jeremiah had ever met. Quantavious was darker than any other black kid Jeremiah knew. Quan’s dad was actually from Africa, and his mom was born in the USA, but her family had been from Louisana. Their house always smelled exotic and spicy. “Man, that sucks you got stuck with the white boy.” Quan started out and Jeremiah just shrugged again as Mason laughed. “I think he smokes or something. I seen him hangin around with Nick and them.” Jeremiah clicked his tongue. He didn’t want to hang out with a dope head. “Uh…you’re Jeremiah, right?” All three of them turned to look at Tobias, who had been standing there for a while. For a kid who was six foot, Tobias Randall was the least threatening person in the world. He was string bean thin, and wore such hand-me-down clothes, either they were too short or too baggy. He was extremely white, and didn’t have freckles. His blond hair stopped just above his eyes, which were really, really light blue. He stuck out like a white light in a dark room. Jeremiah slouched into his seat and held didn’t look at Toby. “Yeah…whatcha want?” he asked. Tobias pulled a desk over and sat by Jeremiah. “Could you explain the human condition to me?” He asked. Jeremiah looked at Tobias like he had grown a third arm. Was this white boy serious? He sat forward in his seat and stared hard at Tobias, and he was looking back with the blankest expression on his face. “Man, didn’t you hear Mr. Williams?” He asked and Tobias nodded and looked at his desk. He picked at the edge of the fake-wood of the desk. “Yeah, but I don’t get what he meant…man.” Tobias spoke slowly, like every word he said was a struggle for his brain to pull out. He seemed like he was high. He didn’t smell like weed, though. ‘Maybe he’s just slow…’ Jeremiah figured and sucked his teeth, thoughtfully. “What’s your grades in here, Toby?” Jeremiah asked. Mason and Quan snickered behind him, and got up. The two left Jeremiah there with the out of place white boy. Toby just shrugged his shoulders. “Same as most of my grades. What’s the human condition?” Jeremiah frowned. He didn’t like the way that had sounded. “Man, the human condition is about us, alright? It’s about what we think is good about us, and what we think is bad.” Jeremiah explained leaning back in his seat as Tobias thought this over. “Like…how we cook?” Tobias asked, looking up at Jeremiah. He shook his head, and stayed leaned back. “Nah, hear me out. Some people cook bad and some people cook alright, and some are just awesome at it like they’ve been doin’ it forever, ya know?” Toby explained. “Man are you slow or something?” Jeremiah asked looking away, a grin on his face. “Kinda.” Tobias replied. “I don’t really learn as good as most. It takes me longer.” He explained and doodled in the corner of his paper. Jeremiah wrinkled his nose in disgust before he leaned forward in his seat. “Nah…I can’t fail this class cuz I got paired with the retard…” He grumbled, knowing full and well that if he didn’t do well on this assignment he’d fail the quarter. He hadn’t done any of the writing exercises in the class, and in a Composition class that was the same as if never doing homework in any other class. He looked over at Tobias, who seemed to be zoning out. He clicked his tongue. “A’ight, a’ight, listen here.” He leaned forward and took Toby’s pencil from his hand. “Huh?” Tobias looked down as Jeremiah scribbled an address on his paper. “This is where I live, man. Come over tomorrow and we’ll work out how we’re gonna do this. Cuz I ain’t gonna fail.” Jeremiah leaned back in his seat. He nearly fell out of his chair when Tobias grabbed his hand and shook it hard. For a thin guy, he had a really strong grip. “Sure man. Thanks.” Tobias said quietly and got up from his seat quickly. He pulled the desk to where it went--nearly fell-- and shuffled over to three white girls in the class. He sat down by them and began talking to them. The three girls suddenly smiled and began whispering to him. Jeremiah shook his head and leaned forward in his desk as Mason and Quan came over to him. “Cuzzo, what did you do?” Mason asked with a laugh and Quan joined him in laughing. Jeremiah just shrugged one shoulder and smiled to his friends. He glanced over at Toby and shook his head. “I dunno, man. I dunno…” That was on Friday. “Whacha writing, Jeremiah?” He looked up from his notebook and over to his father. He closed it and sat up on his bed. “Nuthin.” His father repeated the word and nodded thoughtfully. Jeremiah grinned and tossed the composition notebook onto the pile of various notebooks he kept by his head. The other notebooks were all spiral, but the book he had for comp class was an actually composition book, and it actually sucked to use. “Since you’re doin’ nothing come on down and say ‘hi’ to your sister.” Jeremiah grinned and got up from his bed. “Doesn’t she ever party or sumthin?” He asked as he joined his father, and headed back to the front room. “How can I do that knowing my baby brother would miss me?” And there she was, Savannah, standing all of her glorious five foot eight, dressed elegantly in a university hoodie (one size too large), old blue jeans and thick sports shoes. If it wasn’t for her perfectly sculpted hair and gentle use of make-up, Jeremiah would’ve asked what stranger had just walked into their house. Jeremiah walked over to her and she hugged him. “Forget to do your laundry?” Jeremiah asked and she laughed. “Just thought I’d be comfortable seeing my family.” She replied and pressed a kiss to her brother’s cheek. Jeremiah could feel her lip gloss on his cheek. He didn’t wipe it off. He just smiled fondly to his sister. Without a word, the two of them sprawled themselves onto the couch, and their dad went into the kitchen to make some food. “so…what’s up Jeremiah?” She asked and looked at him. Underneath her eye shadows, and liners, her dark brown eyes shined with a sharp intelligence. “Ah. I’ve got this comp project to work on…Mr. Williams’ got us doin creative writing on the human condition with partners.” He told his sister and she nodded to him.  “so…who’s your partner?” She asked and leaned her head against the arm of the sofa. Jeremiah shrugged. “Some slow kid named Toby.” Savannah clicked her tongue and sat up quickly. “Toby? As in Tobias Randall?” She smiled when Jeremiah shrugged. She hit him on the shoulder. “Shut up! That’s Michael’s younger brother.” She laughed when Jeremiah stared at her. “You mean that white guy you used to date? The ginger?” He asked. She laughed and nodded. Jeremiah sucked on his teeth and looked away. She laughed harder. “Quit it, Jeremiah! Michael was really nice. And smart, too. I bet he and Toby are still talkin to each other.” Jeremiah looked at his sister. “What do you mean ‘still talkin to each other’?” He asked her, like she was dumb. Her eyes got wide as she leaned toward him. “Well, my junior year, Michael told me that their mom finally lost custody of the two of them. He was freakin out thinking that he would loose his brother. We broke up cuz he was freakin out too much for me.” She told him and nodded as their father rejoined the room, with a couple of plates in his arms. “What’re we talkin about?” He asked as he set the plates down on the coffee table in front of the couch. Jeremiah and Savannah shrugged. Their father laughed and sat down on his armchair, on the other side of the coffee table. “Alright, since we aren’t talkin about anything, how about a movie?” He lifted the remote. Both Savannah and Jeremiah twisted and turned on the couch until they were all facing the t.v. “What’re we watching?” Their father asked. “Love and Basketball.” Savannah chirped up and Jeremiah shook his head. “Nah, nah, we’re watching ‘Baby Boy’.” He corrected and Savannah smacked his shoulder. “Uh uh!” She disagreed with a squeal in her voice. Their father sighed. “Well, while you two fight over it, I’m putting on Harlem Nights.” He laughed as both of his kids settled down to watch the movie. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- “You’re late, Toby.” Tobias kept his eyes down as he closed the door to the apartment with his foot. Michael usually wasn’t home this soon. Toby walked by the kitchen space, where Michael was leaned against the countertop, waiting on something in the oven. Tobias shuffled over to the loveseat and plopped down into the sinkhole of a seat. “…Nick gave me a ride home.” Tobias told his older brother. Michael didn’t say anything back, and Tobias concentrated on staring at his shoe laces. Before Michael could break the silence, Tobias got to his feet. “I have homework.” He moved forward, to go to his room. “Did you buy anything from him?” Tobias stopped and looked back at Michael who wasn’t looking back at him. Michael’s red hair looked just like their mom’s, but it was much shorter and healthier. Tobias shook his head and turned to go to his room again. “You know…the program downtown has an open slot…” Tobias spun on his heel. “I’m not going. I don’t need it, I’m not crazy Mike.” Michael nodded back to Toby and looked at him. Michael almost looked sleepy. “I’m not saying that, Toby. But maybe it’d help…” Michael shrugged his shoulders and looked away again. “It could be fun.” Tobias snorted. Michael didn’t bother turning to look at him. “Tobias, I’m only saying this to help you out.” “Yeah, right.” Toby said and continued to his room to work on his homework. Michael shook his head and looked at the oven after Tobias was gone. An hour or so later, Tobias remerged from the room to see Michael buttoning up the collared shirt of his uniform. “What, the assistant manager can’t lock up?” Tobias muttered. Michael looked over at Tobias and smiled to him. “Company policy.” Both Tobias and Michael said at the same time. It was supposed to be Michael’s day off, however, one of the messed up policies of the grocery store chain he worked for stated that only a manager could lock up when the store hours closed. Michael was currently the only manager working at the store and higher management refused to hire anyone else. Every day, Michael had to go to the store, at least an hour before closing, to officially announce store closing, lock up the registers, lockers, get all employees out of the store and have everything locked and secured. Closing the store had to take place at the same time every day, so Michael left early so everything could be done in an ‘orderly fashion’. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, and when I get back, we’ll have dinner and watch a movie.” He offered to Tobias. Toby snorted again and sat on their excuse of a couch. “What, no hot dates?” Michael laughed at Toby and messed up his younger brother’s hair. Tobias listened to his brother hustle around their apartment for his uniform pieces. He listened when the door opened, and before it closed, he called to Michael, “When Ma calls, tell her I said hey!” There was a brief pause, and Toby could almost feel Michael nod. Then the door closed. BANG! BANG! BANG! “Jeremiah! Get the door!” Tobias put his hands back into his pockets and looked down to his shoes. His right hand hurt some from banging on the door, but he had already been outside for half an hour. After knocking politely, maybe twice, he had pounded the wood. The door swung open and revealed Jeremiah. He looked the same from yesterday, same height, same build, same brown skin, and same clothes. Tobias wondered if he fell asleep in them. Jeremiah rubbed his eyes. “Man…what’re you doin?” Jeremiah asked, and rubbed his eyes, obviously still asleep. Toby wondered if he was too early. “Uh…you told me to come by today…so here I am.” Jeremiah looked up at Tobias. He looked jumpy, which Jeremiah could understand. This wasn’t the type of neighborhood for quiet guys like Tobias. Jeremiah could already hear the music from his neighbors, and the family across the street was probably beginning to barbeque. The Hispanics at the end of the block were already outside, messing around with hydraulic cars. “Man, what time is it..?” Jeremiah muttered. Tobias shrugged his shoulders. “I left my place around 1:30.” He offered. Jeremiah looked up at him again, and glanced down the street to the Hispanics. “How did you get here, man?” Again, Tobias shrugged. “I walked.” Jeremiah still stared to the end of the block. George, a Hispanic guy who went to their school looked over and waved. Jeremiah waved back, and then moved into the house. He left the door open for Tobias to enter, and he did. “Nice place.” Tobias muttered as he looked around. It was a small house- one level. There was a room door next to the front door on the right, and the front room had a simple living room set up: A couch that separated the front room from the entrance, a coffee table in front of the couch, an armchair on the other side of the couch, and a television set up against the wall of the front of the house. It was less crowded together than at the apartment. “Whatever, man…just chill here for a bit.” Jeremiah headed off and turned into a hallway at the end of the room. Tobias walked further into the room and sat down on the couch. He didn’t even sink into the cushion, but it felt soft. He sat there in silence, and stared at his shoes. “You’re Toby, right?” He jumped and turned to see one of the prettiest girl’s he’d ever met. She had on pajamas, but she had obviously put on some make-up, and her lips were shiny enough for Toby to tell she had put on lip-gloss. He knew this girl. This was the light-skinned black girl Michael had dated a while back. He nodded and she smiled to him. “So, where are you living now?” She asked him. “I live at Camstate apartments.” “That isn’t too far from here. So, you live alone?” Tobias shook his head, and she seemed happy to hear this. “Do you live with Michael?” Tobias nodded and looked down to his shoes again. Savannah stood up and gently placed her hand on Toby’s shoulder. “I’ll go get Jeremiah. He probably fell asleep getting dressed.” She laughed and left the room, through the same hallway that Jeremiah had left through. Tobias wondered if that was Jeremiah’s girlfriend.  ‘Wasn’t she in college now..?’ He wondered and settled himself back to staring at his shoes. Jeremiah reappeared from the hallway, pulling a plain white t-shirt over his head. It made his skin appear darker than it was. He looked more black than Filipino when he wore white, which was good, since he wasn’t Filipino. At least, Tobias didn’t think he was Filipino. “Are you Filipino?” Tobias asked when Jeremiah came over into the front room. “Nah. Are you Asian?” Jeremiah threw back, and Tobias shook his head. Jeremiah sat down in the armchair and turned to Tobias. “Alright, so you’re not smart, right? So I’m gonna help you out, but don’t ask me stupid questions like that. I’m black and that’s it.” “Fine. Sorry I asked.” Tobias took off his draw string bag and placed it on the coffee table. Jeremiah looked at the cheap bag and stood up. “Hold on, man. I just got up.” Jeremiah began to leave the living room again. Tobias turned and watched him this time. “What’re you doing now?” He asked and Jeremiah didn’t look back as he answered. “To take a piss,” he started out, “and get something to eat. I’m hungry as hell.” “So…is Savannah your girlfriend?” Tobias asked as they played Call of Duty on Jeremiah’s Xbox. Jeremiah didn’t even bother stopping. “Man, what did I tell you about stupid questions? Savannah’s my sister.” They fell into silence again as they played. It was nearly four in the afternoon and they still hadn’t done any work. Jeremiah kept coming up with other things to do. Just an hour ago they had headed down to George’s house and hung out for about fifteen minutes and let George show-off the car he and his older brother were working on. The car had been a piece of crap when they first got it, but with a lot of engine work, some new seat covers, and a paint job, the car was shaping up to be real nice. “Ah..shit.” An explosion erupted on the screen, blowing Tobias’ character to pieces. Jeremiah hit pause on the game and looked at Tobias, who seemed transfixed by the screen. “So…we’re just doin this all day?” Tobias asked. Jeremiah looked back at the screen. “Whacha talkin about? We ain’t gonna Call of Duty all day.” Jeremiah hit start again, but Tobias put his controller down and just watched Jeremiah play, his own screen unmoving. “I mean…we’re not really gonna do anything today.” Tobias said and Jeremiah shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t intend on doing anything today, even if Tobias was there, or not. It just wasn’t what he wanted to do. “Then I’m leaving.” “What?” Jeremiah looked over at Tobias, who had gotten to his feet. He was extremely tall. Tobias turned and grabbed his bag from the coffee table. “Hold on, wait.” Jeremiah got to his feet, “Why’re you leaving?” “Cuz. I didn’t come over to sit around on not do shit.” Tobias said to Jeremiah. He didn’t sound mad, but Jeremiah didn’t like it anyway. “I can not do shit at my own place. I came here cuz you didn’t want to fail right? Well we ain’t doin shit, so I’m going home.” “Shut the fuck up and get over here.” Tobias didn’t move. Jeremiah pointed to the couch. “Get over here. We’re gonna sit down and I’m gonna tell you about the human condition.” Tobias shuffled over back to the couch, as he passed Jeremiah, he hit Tobias’ shoulder lightly with his fist. “And you don’t talk to a tutor like that.” Tobias laughed and shook his head. That was Saturday morning, and afternoon… “So you got it.” Jeremiah stretched his arms above his head and Tobias nodded. “Cool. Now that you know, we gotta come up with a story about it to write about for Mr. Williams’ class.” Tobias nodded, this time much more slowly. He steepled his fingers together in thought, as he stared at the papers spread out on the coffee table. He eyes rested on his spiral notebook and stayed there. “Hey. Do you have a journal?” Tobias asked as he leaned forward and picked up his beat-up spiral notebook.  He turned to Jeremiah. “Yeah, why?” Tobias flipped through the notebook until he got to the entry he had made last night and tossed it into Jeremiah’s lap. “Cuz that’s what we’ll turn in for the assignment. We’ll right our journals and turn that in. It can be about …like…different life styles and stuff.” He explained while Jeremiah read over the entry on the paper and handed it back to Tobias. “So..like a diary thing?” He asked. The idea sounded stupid to him, but it was really easy to do. An easy grade was something Jeremiah looked forward to. “Yeah…like a Freedom Writer’s thing.” Tobias agreed.  Jeremiah grinned and nodded along. “A’ight. That’s fine, but I gotta twist for you….” And with that, Jeremiah told Tobias his dramatic twist. Tobias didn’t really like it at first, but it’d be easier for them to put it all together if they did it that way, so he agreed. For Mr. Williams, they’d right about their everyday lives as journal entries taken at any time during the day, and then they’d put them together as their project; a comparison between their lives. “You want something to eat  for lunch, man?” Jeremiah asked and Tobias laughed. “Yeah. I didn’t eat lunch.”  …pretty soon after that, Toby went home. Nothing else really happened that night. At least, not over here…. Jeremiah set the pencil down and looked at the notebook that was laid out on the bed. He hadn’t really read much into it yet, but he could Tobias had a lot of bad nights. If he hadn’t spent them alone listening to couple’s argue, he had been in bars, or night clubs, helping his brother get their mother to her own place alright, or get her out of a gutter. He picked up the notebook and read through more entries. He felt almost like he was spying on Tobias’ personal life. It felt like he was cheating (especially thinking of the bullcrap journal he had given to Tobias), but it was a part of their grade. “Man…I wonder what he’s doin’ now…” As he spoke, he heard a door close. Jeremiah got up from his chair and went over to the door and peaked out. He saw Savannah, completely dressed up, or dressed down (however adults would see it). She had on a pair of fishnet leggings over and a mini skirt. She was wearing a tight pink blouse and Jeremiah could see the lace of her black bra. Naturally her make-up, and heels matched the outfit perfectly, and she was putting in her earrings as she moved. Jeremiah rolled his eyes. This scene was nothing new to him. It was like catching his father come in late after a date Jeremiah was never told about. Jeremiah’s kinda smart, I’m just worried… Tobias set his pencil in the door of the car and looked up at the bar that Michael had just disappeared into. If he needed to, Tobias would also go into the bar to get their mom. It wouldn’t be the first time that Toby’s stature and appearance was used to get their mom out of some kind of mess. Tobias would watch the bar for a little while longer, and then he would go in. He slid over, in the backseat, to the opposite door and leaned in closer to the window. He got a better view of the bar this way. He felt his fingers run along the upholstery on the door, and his leg began to twitch. “C’mon…c’mon….Michael…it isn’t even the club…” Tobias whispered, and tried to hold his breath. It wouldn’t be okay for him to have a panic attack while just watching. He let his breathe go when his older brother appeared at the entrance followed by a drunk that was once a very nice lady; Tobias’ mother, Jan Baed. Michael held onto her and led her from the bar across the street, and over to his car. Tobias could hear her high, and sweet laugh. He had always liked it when she laughed, even when it was at him. He buckled his seat belt as Michael opened the car door and assisted Jan into the car. “You are such lovely gen’lemaaan….” She sang and slurred to Michael, without even looking back at Tobias. He didn’t say anything, and Michael just put on a tight-lipped smile. She giggled and moved her legs out of the way of the door. Michael closed the door and moved quickly over to the driver’s side, but not quick enough. “Not like Toby here…..Toby’s my ittiiie bittiiiee babiiieee….” And she laughed loudly, and glanced to him. Although there was a smile on her face, and alcohol in her voice, there was no humor in her eyes. Her green eyes stared back into his light blue ones. Then she laughed; that pretty laugh. Tobias looked away, as Michael got into the car. “Alright, let’s get you home, Mom.” Michael said to her and she laughed more. Tobias leaned forward and helped her with her seatbelt, but she was still oblivious to him. She even hummed, and pretended to be doing her seatbelt herself. Tobias sat back in his seat and Jan turned to Michael, her eyes shining brightly. “So! Michael-- I’m running behind on my rent this month…” She started out, and from that point, Tobias began to drown it out. It was all the same argument anyway; Michael would talk about responsibility, their mom would laugh and say he was too serious, Michael would stop the car and shout at her to listen to him, she would scream that she was unhappy and horrible, and probably vomit if she was drunk enough. Either way, Michael would give in, and would drive her home, and give her the money when they got her home. On the way, they’d drive in silence, but their mom would keep turning to Tobias and ask him if he passed 3rd grade, if he had finally admitted to being gay. She’d call him stupid, a waste of space. He was nothing but a not-so-pretty-face, like his father. Like his and Michael’s father, the deserter. Michael was her son. Her son the provider, but Tobias was that man’s spawn. And Tobias would sit there and listen to her ramble however he stopped hearing the words she was saying. He heard her broken heart, and felt that it was truly his fault. No doubt. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nick sat on the roof of his car, and puffed on a cigarette. His dyed black hair was just perfect enough to fall halfway over his eyes. It was nearly the end of November, and it was freezing, but he sat on the roof with blue jeans, a green and white striped hoodie, and dark green converse shoes, as if he wasn’t freezing this morning. He puffed on the cigarette and watched as high school students drifted past the alley way to the school’s parking lot. They trickled past, some in clusters, some alone, an occasional couple; a typical school morning. He leaned forward and glanced only his eyes down, getting a perfect view of his wife’s exposed chest. On the hood of his car, his high school sweetheart, and current wife, Lish laid, as if it were a comfortable water bed. She was propped up on her elbows; her hair was hacked in rakish style and dyed a bright violet, with hot pink high lights. Against her blue-white skin, it made her almost look like a cupcake with smashed icing. Her black hoodie was completely unzipped and halfway off of her shoulders, revealing her faded pink beater underneath, that went low on her chest. She wore a cotton black, short skirt, no type of tights, and black combat boots. But she didn’t look cold; she watched the high school kids too. “Keep looking down my shirt and I’ll cut off what you’re looking for.” She said apathetically. Nick grinned and snickered. “I love it when you talk dirty.” She scoffed and sat up, averting his gaze. “Aw, babe--” She cut him off. “Business.” A couple of high school freshman wandered over to them. Nick slid down from the roof, to the hood and placed his arm possessively around her shoulders. He chin-upped the two freshmen and one did the same back. “We heard you got stuff.” The smaller of the two said. “Well, you heard right, shortstop.” Nick said with a smile. “We’ve got all you could ever want. Cigarettes, pot, Ritalin, Ibuprofen, and if ya ask nice enough we can get ya anything.” He droned on, his timbre only ragged from smoking. The freshmen nodded. “My older brother said you two used to go here.” One started out, and Nick shrugged one shoulder. He rubbed his cheek, where black stubble made up most of what he called his ‘beard’. “Well, that was a long time ago. Some people think we still go here. Right, babe?” Nick smiled to Lish and she rolled her eyes and turned her heavily mascara covered eyes to the boys. She asked them what they wanted with only her eyes. “Look, I just want a cigarette.” Nick smiled and handed over the one he was smoking. “First one’s on the house.” He offered. The freshman grinned and took it. “But only the first one.” Nick reached in his pocket and pulled something from it. He motioned the freshman forward and held out the prize to them. “This here…is a kris. An old-fashioned, Indian knife. Like from India, not Apache, or whatever…” Nick whispered to them. “I use it here to keep up with payments to get rid of who bugs me.” He turned the knife expertly in his hand, and placed it on the tip of one of the freshman’s nose. “I’m warning you now. Fuck with me, or Lish…and I’ve got no problem fucking with you right back.” He glared into the freshman’s eyes, his grey orbs preying on the young student. Then Nick smiled and put the knife into his pocket and shook the scared freshman’s hand. “It’s a pleasure doin’ business with ya.” He said with a smile. “Yeah…sure.” The freshman agreed before both of them took off from the alley, leaving the cigarette behind, smoldering on the gravel. Nick pulled a new cigarette from his pocket and placed it, unlit, in his mouth. “Toby’s coming.” Lish said to him. Nick got off of his car and turned away from the front of the alley. “You deal with ‘im.” Lish rolled her eyes and turned them to Toby and smiled to him. Tobias shyly smiled back and held out his hand to Lish. She shook it and removed from Toby’s palm a couple of wrapped up bills. She slid this hand back and put the bills underneath the windshield wipers, like always. “You know, you’ve been coming to us for a while.” She said to Tobias and he shuffled his feet in the gravel. Lish smiled to Toby. “Since your freshman year.” Tobias nodded. This was going in a different direction than usual. Any other day, Nick would just give him a high-five and slide his purchase down his sleeve. Usually Lish didn’t even talk to him. “Hurry it up.” Nick said over to Lish, but she didn’t listen to him. She smiled at Tobias, and he looked up. Lish had a very nice smile when it was sincere. Any other smile looked about as awful as roadkill. “So here you go; your very own bottle.” She held up an entire pill bottle of the medicine he usually paid by the pill to get. She tossed it to him and he caught it. He looked up at her with astonishment. It even had his name printed on the label. “Next time, don’t forget your pills in the car.” Nick said over to Tobias and Lish winked at him. Tobias blinked and then he smiled and nodded to the two of them. “Thanks guys….” He said before he stuffed the pill bottle in his pocket and left the alley. Nick shook his head and turned back to the front of his car. He didn’t look at his wife. “It’s only fair. He paid us at least twice as much for a whole pill bottle.” He snickered and stuffed his hands in his pocket. Lish didn’t even smile at that. “Let’s just go. Our crowd doesn’t have lunch until one-thirty, anyway.” She slid off of the hood and went over to the passenger side of the car. Nick grinned and went to the driver’s side of the car, got in, and the black Cadillac silently slid backwards down the alley, as if it had never been there. And that Thursday night, was the away game. It was the first time our families met. Tobias and Savannah stood as Jeremiah made the shot. Their team was down, but not by much. It was a close game and the private school was putting up a good effort against their public high school team. On the other side of Tobias, his older brother Michael sat, watching the game. On the other side of Savannah, her father stood cheering on Jeremiah as well. The cheerleaders did their routine and a couple of students from Tobias’ school got up and moved in time to the cheers. They were loud, and they were supportive. It was all for the basketball team, for the athletes that drove home victorious. “Man, they’re better than when I went tot his school.” Michael laughed when Tobias sat back down. Savannah nodded in agreement. Michael leaned forward. “So number 13 is Jeremiah? The one you brought by last week?” “Yeah…he’s pretty good.” Tobias muttered. Savannah smiled to their father and he smiled back to her. They got up and cheered again as a boy from their school stole the ball from the home team. The cheers grew louder and louder as the team handled the ball all the way across the court. The shouts reached their loudest when a player took the three-point shot. There was a single moment of painful silence. Swis~h—! The whole vistor side erupted into the loudest cheering anyone had ever heard. Their team pulled into the lead with a three-point shot. No one even heard the teams be called back. The clock kept ticking down. There was no way for the home team to recover. They were too tired, and it was too late to work the solid defense of the visiting team. On the court, Jeremiah didn’t even hear the final buzzer, but he knew the game was over. He and the team were already shouting and jumping. They all swarmed the center of the field and danced upon the center display of the other team’s mascot. They all lifted the player who had scored the three-point shot; their rookie player. They were on top of the word, and it wasn’t even the finals. This was only the first away game. The team all rushed the couch and he hurried them down into the locker room, where the real celebration for the team would be. Jeremiah and the first few players tore into the locker room and ran at their things. They rapped, they sang, and they shouted in praise and happiness at their victory. There would be endless energy after a victorious game. “We’re goin to the play-offs!!”  Quan sang and a few others joined him in chorus. Jeremiah laughed and turned to his clothes. He grabbed his clothes and went to the showers while the rest still shouted. He jumped into the cold water, just long enough to get the sweat off. When he got out, he found himself cornered by Mason, Quan, and the rookie. Jeremiah just grinned to his friends and moved past them, to dry off. They turned and followed. It was making Jeremiah uneasy. “What, wanna watch me dress, too?” He guessed, and a few laughs came from the team members still celebrating at the front of the lockers. “Man…you’ve been hangin out with that dopehead a lot.” Mason started out and Jeremiah shrugged one shoulder as he dried off. “Just tutoring him.” Jeremiah’s nonchalance was met with snorts and clicks of the tongue. “Wha’choo tutorin’ a dopehead fer?” Mason asked, drawling his words stupidly. Jeremiah didn’t even look at him as he pulled out his dress shirt and black slacks from his bag. “You probably smoke more than him.” Jeremiah shot back and Mason scoffed. “Yeah, right. I smoke more than one of Nick’s stoners.” He replied sarcastically. Jeremiah turned to his friends and glared at them. “Yeah, that’s right.” He said and stepped to Mason. “Now ease up and get off my ass about what I do.” Jeremiah spat to Mason’s face. Quan immediately stepped between them. “Hold up hold  up….it ain’t even like that, man.” Quan told him. “We just tryin to make sure you don’t get caught up in some stupid shit.” Mason and the rookie nodded along. This time, Jeremiah scoffed. “Like what?” He turned back to his clothes. “Well, Toby’s been messin around with Nick’s girl.” The rookie told him. “And Nick’s kinda crazy. He’s been talkin about getting him back for it.” Jeremiah looked back at their all-too-serious faces. “Nah, nah. He’s not that stupid…” Jeremiah went back to changing, and the trio left him alone. They figured if he wanted to get shanked too, that was his business. You can’t help someone who won’t help himself. Jeremiah didn’t get on the home bus. He went over to his Dad, who was introducing himself to Michael. “You can call me D.J.” They were shaking hands, and Michael smiled to him. “Alright, D.J. My name hasn’t change, so it’s still Michael.” Their dad laughed at this, and that’s when Jeremiah remembered that Michael had dated Savannah once. Now that he wasn’t, their dad decided it was safe to be nice to him. Jeremiah caught his dad’s arm as he swung it back. “Watch out, Pop.” Jeremiah called and was met with a bunch of congratulations from his father, his sister, and Michael. He glanced over to see Tobias texting on his cell phone. He knew that it was a new phone, but didn’t know how. He knew Michael didn’t buy it for him. One of the reasons that Michael and Tobias lived where they did was because they were given free phone service. “Well, D.J. It was good catching up.” Michael said and smiled to Savannah, who smiled right back. Michael cut himself off before his look became a stare. “But— I have to go to work in the morning, and Toby still has school!” Michael slid his arm across Tobias’ shoulders. Since Michael was a good four inches shorter than Tobias, it looked pretty comical. Jeremiah and Savannah laughed. “See ya tomorrow, Jeremiah.” Tobias said distractedly, his eyes staying on his cell phone screen. Jeremiah just nodded before the brothers left them to themselves. D.J. looked at his son and placed a hand on his shoulders. “So, you took on a charity case?” He asked and Jeremiah shook his head. “It ain’t like that. He wants to pass the ACTs. And I said I’d help ‘im. Not like I was gonna study for them.” Jeremiah looked up at his dad and saw the disapproval on his face. Savannah turned from them and headed to the car. “Well! I think it’s a good thing. Maybe you’ll pass too, Jeremiah!”  The father watched as his son laughed and walked after his sister, the two of them joking about the ACTs, like it wasn’t the biggest test of the high school career. He sighed and followed after them. Michael yawned and ducked from his bedroom into the tiny hall that was the kitchen. He was going to start making some coffee, when he saw a pot already on. He leaned in close and noticed that it was halfway full. Perfect. He searched an overhead cupboard for his usual mug when he heard some snickers. He ducked down and peered into the front room and saw the grinning faces of Tobias and Jeremiah. “What time is it..?” Jeremiah and Tobias burst out laughing as Michael twisted the digital clock on the counter over and stared into the numbers twelve forty-eight. It wasn’t late enough for Michael to want to be awake just yet. “Yeah, yeah, keep laughing….” He left the hallway and headed back to his room. “You’re lucky it’s my day-off, or I’d…” his sentence was interrupted by the door closing. They twisted in their seats on the loveseat and laughed out loud. They kept on laughing even as the front door opened. “Hey there, Toby!” Jeremiah glanced back to see a short Hispanic guy standing there, looking even shorter weighed down by a couple of fully-stocked backpacks. “Wassup Rio?” Tobias leaned one arm into the air and pointed to Michael’s door. Rio nodded to this and ducked into the room. Jeremiah stared at Tobias for an answer. “Finals coming up at the community college. Rio’s the brainiac that helps out Michael.” “Cool, cool.” Jeremiah looked down at the notebooks in front of them. Every single paper was full of notes. “So, you think you got it?” Tobias leaned forward in his seat and stared at the papers. “Yeah. I think I do.” He smiled and nodded. Tobias held out his hand to Jeremiah and Jeremiah slapped the skin hard. They pulled back their hands, backhanded their hands together and then gripped. “Thanks, man.” “Hey, just make sure you’re there tomorrow, a’ight?” Jeremiah got to his feet and closed several of the notebooks that were his. Tobias laid down on the loveseat, and steepled his fingers together beneath his head and closed his eyes. He nodded to Jeremiah. “I’ll be there.” “Bet.” He hadn’t been there. However, Jeremiah didn’t know this until after the first day of testing. He got out and was just about to turn his cellphone ‘on’ when his sister grabbed his arm and dragged him to their car. “C’mon…” she urged him hurriedly, not giving him a chance to argue. She pushed him into the back seat and nearly threw herself into the front passenger seat. Their father sat in the front seat with a very grim face. Jeremiah looked between them. “What?” He demanded and he sat up. He slammed his seatbelt on as his father turned sharply from the parking lot drive. “What’s going on?” He demanded again, “where are we going?” “Michael called me while you were testing.” Savannah told him, her eyes full of tears. “Tobias wasn’t in today…” She looked back at Jeremiah, sadness and pity on her face before she turned away. Jeremiah turned to his father for the answer. Savannah couldn’t say it. “We’re going to the hospital.” Their father said. “Tobias was stabbed today.” All three of them heard the woman’s loud crying as they entered the hospital wing.  They saw Michael holding onto a woman as she sobbed into his chest loudly. Jeremiah had never seen her before, but she looked almost exactly like Michael. The same shade of red hair, and the same freckled skin, and the same type of face. Rio was there too, on the other side of Michael, watching this display with a mixed expression of sympathy and sadness. The woman looked up at Jeremiah and his family and she shot up from her seat and marched right over to them. She stuck her finger in Jeremiah’s face and screamed at him. “This is your fault! Toby wouldn’t’ve done it if you hadn’t filled his stupid head!” She screamed. Michael rushed forward and took a hold of her arm. She continued to scream and yell. Savannah took hold of Jeremiah’s hand, and trembled. Their father stood calmly by his children, while the hysterical mother turned to Michael and continued on, telling Michael how Toby was too slow to mess with anyone before this. “Ma’am.” Their father stared out, and she looked up at him, ready to scream, but he started before she did, “My name is Daniel Kiet, and Jeremiah is my son.  I’m sorry to hear about what happened to your boy, Tobias. But your son was messing around with a lot of stuff before he even met my son.” He stepped closer to her, and she shrunk away from him. Whether it was his stature, or his attitude, something about D.J. intimidated her. “Jeremiah isn’t responsible for what happened to him, and it won’t help your boy to act like a baby over it.” This seemed to calm her down. She stood up straight and attempted to compose herself. With a trembling lip and a shaking hand, she held out her arm to D.J. “My…my name is J-Jan…and this is…this is probably the first time I’ve been sober for Tobias.” D.J. shook her hand and Jan shook his. She cried again when their grip broke and she moved past Jeremiah and his family, and left the wing. “She won’t be back.” Michael whispered as a doctor entered the hallway. “All here to see Tobias Randall?” The doctor looked up and was surprised by the group he saw. One redheaded young man, a Hispanic young man, and three African Americans, one man, one young woman, and a teen age boy, all there to see Tobias. The doctor smiled and opened the door. “He’s well enough to see you.” 

------------------------------------------

I might actually rewrite it the complete way I wanted to. It was an assignment for my composition class so I toned it down a little bit. A little bit. I mean, it was supposed to be short, we only had a week to do it, and I managed to bust out a 17-page story from my intended beginning to a first-drafted intended ending. I was going to edit it at least four times, but I ran out of time. Enjoy my drabble!

[morgan-m-steele-books]

ATTENTION MICHIGAN FOLLOWERS

I have a signing at Barnes & Noble in Saginaw on October 14th with a bunch of other authors from 2-4. Johnathan Rand is doing an event there right before, if that makes a difference lmao. If any of you are able to make it out so support me, that'd be amazing. Even if you just want to say hi, I'd be super grateful. If I do well at this signing, they're more likely to ask me back, so it's important that I sell as many books as possible. Thanks so much! (If you have any questions, just send me an ask or a message.)

[ada-slyvia-rose]

Knocking

When he knocks four times

The reaper and his bride

They have come for you

All the stories are true

When he knocks four times

There’s nowhere to hide

He knows you tried

You danced alone

On the edge beside

There are gods and devils

And you’ve seen it all

Now it is time

To find a home to reside

-R.S.

[rozlindsblog]

So I wrote something.

It's like my own rendition of the Princess and the Pea. I don't know, I guess I'm a little inspired after Tangled. So it's like 3-4 pages long and pretty choppy, but yeah. I wrote it.

Anyone want to send it to Disney and make it a movie?

[morgan-m-steele-books]

My past two days have been pretty eventful to say the least. Had a book signing at the Made in MI Marketplace in Bay City (still going on if anyone is nearby), picked a dress for Homecoming, and went to my first Hockey Game.

[ada-slyvia-rose]

Sunshine(Prose Piece)

It was 10:35 p.m and Clarisse had finally decided to die. The cold night air gently swept her long hair against her face, and she lay against the ground, feeling an eerie sense of peace. Her entire body was exhausted, from limb to limb, and her throat ached with thirst. But it wasn’t the thirst that was getting to her. It was the cold.

                Clarisse had set out that morning armed with nothing but a pair of shorts and a shirt, her arms and legs covered with sunscreen to protect her pale skin from the burning sun. She had heard stories in the past of when the sun used to never be the enemy, when it instead served as a guide for those who worshipped it. But that was long gone, and now if one wished to go outdoors for any length of time, they had to put on almost two inches of sunscreen.

                She could feel the dull pain of her burns on her arms and legs, prickling pain that was soothed by the cold…too cold…burning cold air. The sunscreen had long ago worn off, in between the rubbing of the rough foliage she had to push through and the hot, deadly sun.

                Her foolishness astounded her, but she could only feel a dull feeling of despair at her ignorance. She had left early from her friend’s house, wanting to have a nice morning walk before her friend woke up, but stumbled off the trail. She saw a beautiful violet, dancing in the sunlight just off the path, and wished to pick it and bring it back to her friend’s mother, as a way to say thanks for letting her come over, especially when everyone nowadays was almost always fighting over food and water.

                Her friend lived on a relatively large natural reserve, a leftover from when the government was concerned with such things.  When everything started falling to pieces, her friend’s mother let Clarisse and her mother live on some of her land, and so Clarisse and her friend became the world’s greatest friends, wandering the large reserve, rich with wildlife and foliage. Her mother always told Clarisse that this was ‘a stark difference from how the rest of the world lives’ and they loved it.

                They had worn paths into the forest and were fregently warned not to stray from them lest danger strikes, but Clarisse had decided, in a fit of foolishness, to wander. She saw another violet, this one a dark rich blue-melting-into-purple, and wanted to pick that one as well. Then another, and another, until at no time at all she had a large bouquet in her hands. ‘That’s enough’ she had thought, and turned around to find the path, only it had vanished in a sea of green. She cried out, and dropped the violets, the flowers making a dull rasping sound against the earth. She turned wildly, struggling to find her way, and in a moment of panic, picked a random direction and ran.

 She ran as fast as she could, her heartbeat racing wildly in her ears, the hot humid air sucking her breath straight out of her lungs. The air was as thick as the hot soup her mother made her during the cold nights, and it made her feel as if she was going nowhere.

At some point, she stumbled, tripped, fell on her hands and knees and just lay there; in the hot heat of the middle of the day (it was early morning when she first set out, and now, hours upon hours later, only now was she resting). Her throat burned, but it was a pain she could endure, remembering the times when deep in the heart of summer, when every puddle of water had dried up and the forest was as dull as the dust, when her mother and her had rationed every drop of water, making one cupful stretch up as far as they could, oh the pain they could endure during those summer months. Her limbs burned, having never been exposed to the sun that long (she was always careful to take her walks early in the morning, and during noontime, her mother and her wore large hats to protect themselves, wary of the sun) a pain that she was unused to feeling and brought a sharp lump to her throat with every movement.

The sun made its slow descent into darkness, and Clarisse took a small nap, folding small ferns over her body in an effort to protect herself while she slept. When she woke, the sun was in the middle of a radiant sunset, bright reds and dark purples streaking themselves across the sky.

Clarisse watched it in awe for a moment, enraptured. It had become an evening tradition for her mother and her to sit on their small porch and watch the sunset, her mother’s large blue eyes reflecting every hue. Often Clarisse would watch her mother instead, mimicking every small gesture she made, comparing herself to her. They both had lblue eyes and dark hair, her mother’s chopped short for ‘practical’s sake’, but Clarisse felt she lacked her mother’s blunt, yet poetic witty remarks, her inner strength. Instead, she felt alternatively reflective and fiery, a spectrum of feeling that went beyond her mother’s calm.

She stumbled to her feet, painfully aware of the small blisters forming on them. She made her way towards the sunset, her only guide, chasing the last light before the cold enveloped her. It made her panic slightly inside, the thought of spending the night without fire, without warmth, why, Clarisse was more of a sunshine girl. She treasured the sun, her reverence for it only surpassed by her fear. The thought of shivering, alone, without the warmth of her mother…

She continued chasing the sun, wanting warmth, sometimes stumbling over twigs and leaves that lay twisted on the ground. Finally, her limbs growing frozen, she tripped over the very last twig and laid still, her toes and fingers grower number and number by the second. The night sky rippled above her, the clouds running wildly back and forth.

Closing her eyes, she whispered words under her breath. “Noir, the sky is noir. It is also bleu, with streaks of mauve, rose, and rouge…” She remembered standing still beside her mother, watching as she cried, papers burning in their small fireplace. “There goes my dream…” She remembered her mother carefully teaching her how to speak French, forcing her to read papers after papers, telling stories about the food, the people, the buildings, and the art. It all sounded so far away, like a dream world. Her mother would get this sad look in her eyes, a faraway gaze that both frightened her, and made her determined to learn everything she could for her mother’s sake.

She whimpered into the ground, struggling to feel anything she could. The countdown in her head had begun. “About an hour after the sunset,” Her mother would say, “The air drops to just above freezing. And that’s during the summer. In the winter, it drops below, far far below.”

“Why does that happen?”

Her mother would look away and calmly say, “Nobody knows, Clarisse…”

She was struggling to keep her eyes open, memories swirling in her head. It was a hard fight to keep her grip on reality, but deep down, Clarisse wanted to live. Two hours after sunset…three…

It was 10:35 p.m, and Clarisse was ready to die.