My Life as a Fairytale

January 28, 2016January 28, 2016 ~ ~M ~ 15 Comments

Here’s another one of my short stories from my Writing Fiction class. Enjoy!

Here I stand alone again. The battle is finally over and the only thing that remains is the thin fine foggy mist that hides the ugliness beneath. Each soldier fought brave and hard as each one drew his sword in valiant effort. The hopes and dreams of a thousand men were all too soon drawn to a close and the blood stained hills are now all that remain. I am deeply saddened and wish that I could have done something to stop the fight.

It feels as if centuries have passed and yet I still remain in a statue like state. I’m always watching, waiting, and listening; never speaking, never moving, and never really living. Planted with roots so deep, that it almost feels like I have always been like this. The life I once knew seems like a dream now; a past distant memory that is almost forgotten. It’s in times like these that I begin to realize how truly lonely I am. I have always hoped that one day I would be discovered; that one day my own thoughts and dreams would become a reality and that this evil curse would be broken and I would be free to live again.

Looking out at the devastation before me, I am reminded of just how cruel this world really is. I was hopeful in the beginning. The world around me was absolutely beautiful. Lush green rolling hills surrounded me and felt cool against my rough exterior. Flowers of every color of the rainbow dotted the landscape for as far as I could see. Birds sang their cheerful little songs and animals frolicked and played from sunrise to sunset. The glory of the earth was immensely apparent and the splendor of it all would have taken my breath away; if I still had breath that is. Now looking around, the scene has dramatically changed. The hills are black with smoke and scattered bodies’ litter my once scenic view. The flowers that once graced this land with their fragrant beauty have all but vanished and the animals and birds have fled without a trace. I am mortified at the thought of having to spend eternity looking upon a scene such as this. All hope in my mind has been replaced with grief and sadness and deep longing for the life I once knew. What exactly was that life? I can barely remember… and yet I do see a faint distant memory, one that I must hold onto or I fear that I shall lose myself completely. I must hold on…. I must, I must, I must! I try to envision what my life would have been like if I had survived that fateful day. My only memory is a very sad one…

The day started out quite uneventful. I was keeping myself busy with mundane everyday chores. My mother and father left the cottage early that morning. It was harvest time and work started at the brink of dawn and ended just after dusk. So it was quite unusual to look through the tiny kitchen window and see my mother running toward the cottage at mid-day. I remember the look of horror on her face as she ran in desperation towards the shelter of our cozy little home. Her hair had fallen from its tightly formed bun and was flowing loosely down around her shoulders. I noticed that her face was covered in dirt stained tears. I was about to open the door and run to meet her, when suddenly a flash of light stopped me dead in my tracks. In an instant, my mother lay lifeless before me as if turned to stone. I remember thinking that I should hide or try to get out of the cottage through one of the windows in the back of the house. I knew I didn’t have long and yet I seemed to be frozen to the floor. And then, it came upon me. The bright light hit me with such force that I was knocked backward and my breath was instantly taken from my body. Suddenly, I was in complete and utter blackness, I heard not a sound, I felt nothing, and I seemed to be in oblivion. When I finally awakened, I was here in my statue like state. The earth held me in a firm tight grip and I could no longer move or breathe. I can still see, hear and feel, but nobody sees me for who I really am.

I dream of a day when I will be normal again, a day when I can laugh and play as I once used to. If that day does come, I know I will never take for granted how precious life is and I will cherish every moment as if it were my last. I think about my parents as I stand here day after day and wonder what became of them. Were they transformed like me? My heart aches to know how their story ended. But that was once upon a time, and now… because I have no other choice, I must live this new life that I have been given. It may seem a sad state to live in, but it’s the life that I have been condemned to live and fate dealt me an evil hand with which I cannot escape.

Did you figure out what I am?

Alphabet Challenge

January 25, 2016January 25, 2016 ~ ~M ~ 14 Comments

Amazingly, we survived without a scratch. Bigger problems were sure to come our way, but we knew at this very moment that we had at least survived this first strike. Chris and I had been anticipating this for a very long time. Destruction was occurring everywhere and so we were fairly sure that our time would come. Everyone was scared to death and even worse, nobody really knew the reason why all of this was happening. For a while, Chris and I thought we might be spared the horrific events which had been occurring all over the world. Grateful as we were, we eventually realized that even we could not escape the power of a force such as this. Had we realized in the beginning just how grave the situation would be, I am sure that we would have come up with a better plan. I always knew life was going to be short, but after this, I wasn’t even sure that we were going to be able to live through another day. Just before dawn, we felt the earth tremble. King strikers, (aka Stealth Bombers) were rocketing through our airspace as if they were determined to destroy everything in their path. Lightweight aircraft followed close behind, monitoring ground movement and searching for signs of life. Much to our surprise, we were not seen, and we were able to find shelter in old abandoned warehouse on the far side of town. Nobody had expected such a turn of events. Over the course of a year, the world had changed from one of beauty and hope to ugliness and chaos. People were literally running for their lives, not knowing if they would even survive another day. Questions continued to arise as to how this whole turn of events started in the first place. Remnants of cars and old battered building materials littered the streets. Sadly, there were no signs of life in the area that we had taken shelter in. Torn by the urge to run for our lives, or instead sit and hold tight in hopes that we might be rescued, we sat holding on tightly to one another in an embrace so strong that neither one of us could hardly breathe. Unlike the rest of the world, we had been lucky, the bombing strikes had never come this far until today. Violent shivers shook me to my bones and my teeth would not stop chattering. Without a word, both of us looked at each other and knew that today, could surely be our last one together. Xenia, was the name of the bomber that had destroyed most of the nearby towns. Yesterday we had heard a potential rumor that the Xenia had been spotted flying in our direction. Zapped of our hope, we knew the end was near.

Stuck Together

January 21, 2016January 21, 2016 ~ ~M ~ 8 Comments

escaping bride 3 — Photo credit: favim.com

Since I home school, I decided to participate in the Writing Fiction class in 2014 that my daughter was taking. I thought it would be fun to periodically post some of the short stories that I wrote during that time. For this particular writing exercise, I had to write a scene in which two people were stuck together and find a way to get them unstuck. Here’s what I came up with…

As soon as the words were spoken, she knew that the bond could not be broken. Just two little words had sealed her fate. Such simple words, “I do”. Anguish overwhelmed her and her body grew weak. Shock and bewilderment showed upon the faces of the people that had gathered around her lifeless body; which was now collapsed in a heap of white chiffon splayed across the soulless earth beneath her. Indeed, this was the beginning of the end. The end of a life that knew no boundaries, the end of a life who knew no despair, the end of a life that had only beautiful dreams of a future and a hope that couldn’t be contained.

The moment she awakened, she suddenly remembered what had happened and she screamed as if she had just seen a ghost. When in fact, what she was really experiencing, was the haunting fact that she was now married to one of the most ghastly men in all of London. Through no fault of her own, she had been condemned to this fate. She had been kidnapped from her home in Scotland, brought to London, and forced to marry a man who had practically raped her with his eyes at their first introduction. He was repulsive in every way possible and his vile behavior was completely unbearable. The way he looked at her, filled her with such fear, that she lost her composure whenever he was near.

She had to think of a way to break free from her tormentor, but how? She had no idea how to get back to Scotland even if she did succeed at escaping and then there was still the fact that she was legally married to this wretched man. The only solution was plain and clear. She had to find a way to kill him, before he completely destroyed and ruined her life. Another problem was that everyone around her was against her. She couldn’t trust anyone or could she? She had seen a poor maiden beaten half to death for stealing scraps of food in the kitchen just before the wedding day. Perhaps she could make friends with the girl and persuade her to help her escape. It was a long shot, but considering the circumstances, it was probably her only choice. She had seen the girl come and clean the ashes from the fireplace every so often. So, she decided to wait and see if the girl would make an appearance.

It was late afternoon by the time the girl showed up. She had been lucky that her husband had not come into check on her yet. The marriage had still not be consummated and she wanted to keep it that way. From her bed, she watched the girl carefully sweep up the ashes. Rebecca knew that the girl was oblivious to the fact that she was there watching her, so she quietly cleared her throat as to not alarm the girl too much. The girl immediately picked up her cleaning supplies and was about to hurry out the door when Rebecca called to her. The girl stopped and looked at her with large frightened eyes. To disrupt the lady of the house would not be tolerated and the girl knew it. Rebecca tried to reassure her that she only wanted to talk and told the girl not to be afraid. Then Rebecca proceeded to explain to the girl her circumstances and asked the girl for her help. The girl agreed and carefully led Rebecca through a secret passageway in the wall.

It was cold and damp once inside and almost too dark to see clearly. The girl quickly pulled Rebecca along down the steps and seemed to know the way as if she had been there many times before. At the end of the passage way, Rebecca could see a faint light coming through a small crack in the wall. She peered through and noticed that they were in a space adjacent to her husband’s study. She quickly pulled back as she noticed her husband pacing the floor of the study. His back was towards her, but she didn’t want to take any chance that he might notice her. There was a small door that led into the study and Rebecca thought of a plan. What if she could sneak up on her husband and strike him from behind with a blunt object and then hide his body in the secret passageway so that nobody would find his body until she was long gone.

Finally with her mind made up, she slipped quietly out of the small door, grabbed a candlestick that was on the mantle and struck her husband from behind with all the strength she could surmise. Immediately the man’s lifeless body collected at her feet and the servant girl came running quickly over to help. They both worked quickly to drag him into the secret passageway. Safe at last, and with the bond of her captor finally broken, Rebecca escaped into the night and never looked back.

Day 21 of our 21 day adventure

January 20, 2016December 26, 2015 ~ ~M ~ 7 Comments

We are finally back home from a wonderful vacation. It only took us about 5 hours to get home today and the girls were excited to see us, our dogs included…

Here’s a collage of our overall vacation. We had a blast! Thanks for joining us along the way and hopefully it won’t be too long before we travel again.