Winter Winds

Louise was 14 years old when she first saw her after the tragedy. Her aunt, Gottlieben, was a kind woman. She had piercing green eyes and wispy grey hair that was always done back into a perfect bun. She wrote in her journal every night, and read many books. Gottlieben was always optimistic, and she treasured her home and even her most distant family.
Louise walked down the hill from the Vietsburg Castle where she lived every day to her aunt's quaint cottage to take care of her. Louise learned how to cook delicious meals, helped her in her grand garden, and assisted her in keeping the house clean. She had done this every single day from the day she turned 10 to nearly her 14th birthday.
One day, Gottlieben and Louise went on a walk around the castle grounds. It was snowing and everything was beautiful and white. The moon lit up the blankets of snow and they sparkled in the night light. They eventually went back to the cottage because the winter winds quickly became too cold.
A few days later, Gottlieben developed pneumonia. Every day, her condition worsened, no matter how much Louise tried to help her get better. She passed away after a few weeks of having the illness, and five days before Christmas.
Louise was utterly heartbroken, and stayed in her room, which was up in the castle turret, most days. She didn't care to open the curtains and look out on the beautiful castle grounds and the town. Instead, she sat at her desk and thought about everything she could've done differently. Was it the cold winter wind that took her aunt? The crack in the wall that made the house a bit colder? She stopped writing in her journal and cooking; for each reminded her greatly of her aunt.
Aunt Gottlieben's will was read to the family, and in it Gottlieben left Louise some of her most beautiful jewelry, such as her beautiful garnet necklace. Louise wore the precious necklace every day so she could have a piece of her aunt close to her heart every hour of the day.
As spring approached, so did Louise's birthday. On her birthday, her mother came into her room and tried to reason with her to go outside and get fresh air. Louise wouldn't go, so her mother dragged her out of her room by her arm. As they descended the old spiraling steps, Louise grasped the garnet necklace with her free hand. They eventually made it outside and Louise's mother told her to get some fresh air, to take in the renewed landscape.
She looked on the grand Vietsburg Castle with new eyes. It seemed as if she had never layed her eyes upon the large turrets and great walls, enveloped in ivy and old trees, slowly climbing with their ancient tendrils across the castle walls. Every window was a unique stained glass masterpiece, each telling it's own family story or ancient fable. Moss and succulents grew in between the cracks of the old granite stones that made up the castle.
Louise decided to ascend the steps to the top of the old, now unused, watchtower. Her heart beat in her ears as she made her way to the top. Finally, she was on the highest level. She could see all of Ravensburg. The tops of the trees were populated with birds, and many people bustled over the cobblestone roads in the town. It was a warm day, and an untamed wind was picking up the blossoms off of the trees and swirling them through the air.
Louise turned to look at the rest of the countryside, but instead saw her aunt, standing on the opposite side of the watchtower. She was somewhat transparent, but appeared friendly and was smiling at Louise.
"I've been waiting for you to come outside Louise." her aunt said calmly.
"You're...you've been gone." Louise muttered, confused.
"I am. But I need your help. My will was not completely right. There is one other item I wish to give you Louise." aunt Gottlieben explained.
"What do you mean? You gave me your garnet necklace, what else?" Louise questioned.
"Come with me to my old cottage and I will show you." Gottlieben said, with one hand gesturing towards to stairs to guide Louise towards the cottage.
They descended the stairs together, and Gottlieben began talking to Louise. Soon, they were at Gottlieben's cottage. Louise took the key to the door out of her coat pocket where she hadn't removed it since December. She put the crooked key in the lock and turned the knob. The door creaked slightly as it was opened because it had been unused for so many months. Louise stepped into the remote cottage, and a flood of memories with her aunt came back to her.
"Where is it, Gottlieben?" Louise asked.
"Come with me and I'll point you in the right direction." Gottlieben answered.
She led Louise to the broom closet in the opposite side of the house. She gestured for Louise to open it. Louise swung open the door and quickly jumped back as two brooms clattered to the floor.
"The box on the top shelf, it's yours Louise." Gottlieben said, seemingly relieved and smiling.
Louise retrieved the box and set it on the floor. The top was a sliding lid, and Louise carefully removed it. Behind the lid were journals, all with dates on them and in perfect order. A single tear ran off of Louise's cheek and splashed to the floor.
Gottlieben spoke, "Now you have my whole life, from when I was younger than you. Every problem, sorrow, or joyful memory is in those books. You don't have to feel like I was cheated out of life. Once you read these, I think you will realize that my life was full and I am at peace."
"Thank you." Louise said quietly, clutching the necklace in her hands and staring at the journals.
"And one more thing Louise." aunt Gottlieben added, "Do not blame the winter winds."
Louise said goodbye and soon Gottlieben was gone. Louise took the box of journals and went back to the castle, ready to live again.

Writer's Block

It was a dull afternoon on Hill Street in Brandyn Wyatt's small apartment. Brandyn wrote short stories for Writer's Block Magazine, a magazine for writers in need for inspiration. Usually, he would just look at something outside or read a newspaper to find something to write about. But there was a serious problem; Brandyn was getting writer's block himself! He had read the newspaper, went on a walk, cartwheeled through the nearby park, and even made up a song about his fridge. But after all of that, he had nothing except a headache. So he went to the elevator to go outside and bang his head against a tree.

When the elevator door opened, he saw a monkey sitting on the ground. He cautiously looked at the monkey, seeing that it had a collar on it.

"Who owns a monkey in this town?" he asked himself.

Slowly, he reached his hand out to the collar, and held up the tag so he could read it.

It said:

Hi, I'm Lizzie

Please return to 5694 Dew Street

Brandyn, confused and dazed, picked up the monkey and brought her back into his apartment. Surprisingly, the monkey was not that heavy. He brought the monkey into his bathroom and weighed her. The scale read at 13 pounds. Brandyn grabbed his laptop and typed '12 pound domesticated monkey' into the search engine. The first result he clicked on. It had a long list of monkeys that you could buy and keep as a pet. He only found a few that could weigh 12 pounds. Of those, he looked at the picture and descriptions, and finally found what kind of monkey the one in his apartment was; a white faced capuchin. Brandyn found out that it ate mostly fruit, so he went into his cramped kitchen. Rummaging through his fridge, he found a mango, a bag of grapes, and three bananas.

He went into the bathroom to get the monkey, to find that she wasn't there. He looked all over and couldn't seem to find her. He had a sudden sinking feeling in his stomach. He had left the balcony door open! Quickly, Brandyn went out on the balcony looking for Lizzie. She was crawling up to the apartment window above his. Without a thought, he ran back into his apartment and got a broom. Then desperately, he swept it back and forth, trying to get Lizzie to fall into his arms or grab the broom or something! Anything but getting in the neighbor's apartment. Before he could realize what was going on, Lizzie was falling, and so was the broom. Choosing a living thing over household cleaning supplies, he caught Lizzie in his arms, the broom smacking him in the face, mainly eye area. His vision went black for a few seconds, and as it came back, he heard a loud crack. He looked down to see an utterly destroyed broom scattered in the street. Luckily, there were no cars or other things to damage in sight.

Holding Lizzie close, so to not let her escape again, Brandyn walked back into the apartment, slamming the balcony door shut. He went to his freezer, grabbed an ice pack, and held it up to his face where the broom smacked it. He gave Lizzie some grapes from the bag, and sliced the mango in half, giving half to Lizzie and the other half he ate.

Brandyn needed to get to the pet store.Surprisingly, Brandyn still had a small dog carrier from when he had to take care of his sister's chihuahua for three weeks. He put some grapes in the back of the carrier, and set it on the floor. Lizzie slowly walked towards it, she went in the carrier and started munching the grapes. Brandyn quickly closed the door, and Lizzie started making a high pitched squealing noise. It was horrid noise, but he had to get the carrier downstairs to his bike and strap it on the back. So he got some bungee cords and went to the elevator. Fortunately, there was no one in the elevator. He quickly pressed the lobby button. The squealing echoed immensely in the closed elevator. When he got down to the lobby, he quickly got outside and found his bike. He strapped the carrier on the back and was off.

The pet store was only about a mile away, but with all of the stoplights and the many staring bystanders and onlookers, it seemed much, much longer. Brandyn almost ran into the shrubs by the side of the pet store. He locked up his bike and unhooked the carrier. Trying to act as inconspicuous as possible, Brandyn walked into a pet store with a screeching monkey inside a small dog carrier. He walked up to an employee in the store. He was a tall man with a mustache and green eyes. He was holding a bulky bag of dog food in his arms. Brandyn opened the carrier door and Lizzie sprang out, immediately quieting down in the presence of the pet store employee, whose name was Paul according to his name tag. Paul dropped the bag of cat food, the kibbles showering the floor.

"You found her." Paul said surprisedly.

Paul introduced himself to Brandyn and closed the store for what he told his customers his lunch break. Brandyn told Paul how he had found Lizzie and everything that had happened. Paul then told Brandyn why he was so glad he found Lizzie.

"You see, Lizzie and Thom, her owner, used to come here a lot. He would pick up specially ordered food and things for Lizzie, since she isn't the usual cat or dog. Anyways, Thom was here with Lizzie when some idiots robbed the store and took the animals too. I don't know how Lizzie got away and survived in the city, but I'm just glad she is okay. I don't know how she got in that elevator either." Paul remarked.

"I never told you she came out of the elevator" Brandyn said confused.

Brandyn, trying to look normal, said he had to go, grabbed Lizzie and the carrier and quickly left the store. He grabbed his cellphone out of his pocket, ready to call the police. But somehow, the audio recorder on his phone had turned on in his pocket, and it had recorded the whole conversation. He quickly strapped the carrier on his bike and rode to the police station. He rode his bike as fast as he could to the police station. Panting and completely out of breath, he hopped off his bike and locked it up. He opened the carrier and picked up Lizzie, and they walked in the front door of the police station.

Brandyn went to the front desk, introduced himself, and asked where he could go to talk to a detective. The receptionist gave him a strange look and then directed him to a Dt. Raynor energetically.
"I cannot believe you found it sir! Right this way Mr. Wyatt!" the receptionist said, excitedly.
        The receptionist opened a door and ushered him in. A man was sitting at a dull desk with a bright desk lamp shining on a some papers the man was scribbling away on.
"Why, you found her!" detective Raynor exclaimed as he got up and forgot about the papers he was working on."
       Detective Raynor introduced himself and shook Brandyn's hand. He showed Brandyn a file of Paul Wilsyn, the man he had met at the pet store. From what was in the file, there had been clues leading detective Raynor to believe that Mr. Wilsyn had been illegally shipping and selling endangered animals, but there was never any solid proof.
     "I have this recording you may want to listen to." Brandyn commented to the detective.
                    ***************************************************************
     The next day Mr. Wilsyn was arrested by detective Raynor with the help of Brandyn's evidence and Lizzie. Lizzie was sent to the city zoo to be cared for, and Brandyn went back to his apartment. Although he was slightly crestfallen that, after all the excitement, he had to return to his daily life, he was officially free of writer's block. And he had a great story to tell.

Breath Of Life

Florence had only a few seconds of an advantage. They were coming- all of them. One misstep and she was dead. All she could hear was her heart in her ears. Her legs were being scraped up more and more as she sprinted through the thorny shrubs. Her lungs felt as if they had been thrown into a fiery furnace; each breath was a flame shooting through her throat. Maybe there was an owl hooting nearby, or a cougar ready to pounce on her, but she could only focus forward. It was twilight, and the canopy of the trees stopped the light from entering the forest.
She just had to make it out of the forest. By her rough memory, she was about 400 meters away. Her arms were weakening, but she pumped them faster. She couldn't go on like this forever, she was losing energy.
Florence began to slow down, ready to give up and let those devils win. Then she saw Lisele. Florence thought that the devils had captured and killed her. But Lisele was right beside Florence, running with her.
"I can't do this, Lisele." Florence whispered, nearly out of breath.
"Yes, Florence. Breathe, breathe the breath of life. Do you see it, the heavenly light?" Lisele answered.
Florence took in a deep breath and her lungs were doused from the flame engulfing them. It was the breath I life. She looked ahead and saw the light; she as almost there. Immediately, from her heart to her legs, sped up. Within seconds, Florence had crossed the boundary and was safe. She saw Frederick.
"Where is Lisele?! She was right beside me! Where is my sister?" Florence inquired.
Frederick answered "No... She-"
Two men walked by, each holding a side of a stretcher with Lisele's body lying on it.
"She's been dead since this morning Florence. I'm so sorry."
Florence understood the heavenly light that Lisele had seen, it was not the lights of civilization.

Two Person Dialogue

It was a hot, scorching day in an open field in Georgia. The sun was in the middle of the sky as a soft breeze blew through the surrounding forest. Two brothers were talking to each other nervously as one paced back and forth. They were Tyrone and Michael, Tyrone being the elder brother.
"What will we do, talk to them?" questioned Tyrone sarcastically.
"Maybe we could put food out? Or... or maybe call the cops?" Michael brainstormed.
Tyrone stopped pacing and gave Michael an are-you-insane look.
"Have you been to town? Have you heard the news reports?" Tyrone said, frustrated and exhausted.
"Yes, but they are just sick." argued Michael.
"You're my brother, and I care about you, but you are wrong!" exclaimed Tyrone.
"Let's say you're right Tyrone, what proof do you have?" reasoned Michael.
"When I went to the bank, I saw one of your friends from school being hauled away in handcuffs, trying to attack anyone in sight. He even tried to attack his girlfriend! It's not just a disease, it's a brain change! You have to understand, or you just won't survive!" Tyrone argued.
Michael stepped back, appalled, and said to his brother, " I thought you were fine, but you're probably dehydrated, you're not thinking straight...."
"I'm fine. I just wish you wouldn't be ignorant." Tyrone replied.

My Vignette

It was the first time in my life that I was participating in cross country. We were on our way to Seaside, Oregon for the biggest meet of the season. Runners and their coaches flocked to Seaside for the biggest meet of the season. Runners and their coaches flocked to Seaside from Hawaii, California, and Washington. We were to spend the night in oldarmy barracks, and races would take place the following morning. I was anxious, and I continues building up anxiety.

The morning was rushed as everyone ate quick breakfast of juice, power bars, and fruit. We all put our coats on and walked the course. Everything that I was previously worried about faded as new worries arose in my mind. We soon arrived at the mud pit. I would later find that it was so deep, it was up to my waist.

Once we had finished walking the course, we had about 20 minutes until until the race started. As my team and I gathered at the starting line, I began to realize just how people were here. Quickly, we pinned our numbers on our shirts and paints our faces, arms, and legs with green and gold. Then a cluster with people with drums or batons began to play loudly. It changed my whole experience. Suddenly, I was attentive, excited, and ready to run. As the heart-like thumps from the drums palpitated through the ground, I could fell them echo in feet.

The sky was calmly overcast and the wind blew sharply over the hills. They called the runners to the start and arms and legs trembled in an electrified excitement. The drums continued to shake the ground as the race began. All of the runners shot forward like herd of wild animals. As the runners spread out, I took my place in the middle of the pack.

After sprinting down a large sandy hill and keeping a steady pac eon the slow inclines, I approached the mud pit. Most of the runners were merely wading slowly through the sludge. But I unhesitantly plowed through it as fast as possible, nearly falling at one point.

As I made it over the last hill, I could see finish in the distance. The song "Keep On Running" popped into my mind as I continued on, utterly exhausted. Yet, when I began to hear the drums again, they galvanized me to run even faster than I thought I could. As I entered the last 100 meter stretch, I heard my team members and coaches screaming my name and cheering.

There was one runner about 5 meters in front of me. I had already hit my limit, but somehow began sprinting even faster. My lungs felt like they being enveloped in an inferno of exhaustion and dehydration. Everything flew by me as I propelled myself forward with my feet, scorched with friction and sweat. I nearly fell over as I tried to stop and tell the people my name and my number.

I was given a cup of watered down blue gatorade as I walked away from the finish line. I drank the whole cup as I walked to where my team was congregated. They congratulated me and we cheered on the remaining runners.

As we rode the bus back to Sweet Home that afternoon, all I could think about was how good I did in the race. I realized that day that there are a lot of people in this world, and with their help and encouragement, you can accomplish great things. I also realized that there are people in the world who accept you and will make your life better, you just need to find them.

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Why Are The Lights?

Sparks and lights; blinking, flashing

Is that one moving? A shooting star perhaps...

A night sky flashes in my eyes

Day and night, day and night

An entire universe condensed under my eyelids

Daydreaming is a lie

For when my eyes close

I see the night

The night is my peace

For in my eyes,

The night makes the world a beautiful place

The clouds will come

But they cannot cloud what is already dark.

A Night In The Forest

We set up our tent

As the sky darkens quickly

The ground is squishy and soft

I walk towards the tent, past the warm fire

Thousands of different shades of green

As far as the eye can see

I take off my pine needle encrusted, mud covered boots

And enter the comfort of the tent

Before I fall asleep I zip up all the doors

I sink into my sleeping bag

And listen to the loud silence

The steady dribbling of the rain above my head

And the trees whispering to each other

The river sings a mysterious lullaby

As the stars declare the night