Senior Year

I sit in class and stare at my computer screen. I have to write a paper for english, but I can’t find it in myself to actually work so I pull out my phone and begin to text. I have my music blaring in my ears and I sit back to watch my fellow students. I see my friends sitting across from me, their faces set hard with concentration as they do the assignment I refuse to touch. I am tired, I worked all last night, got home and had to do chores before rushing to take a shower and get to bed. This morning I slept through my alarm twice and had to rush…

Escaping Fate Part 2

They come to an abandoned Wal-Mart. There are a few cars in the parking lot, rusted and their windshields cracked. Shopping carts are scattered around and the man grabs one to set the boy in along with their bag and the dog. The dog curls against the boy. The man pushes the cart towards the open doors.
The boy looks up and whispers to the man, “Daddy, I’m scared. I don’t want to go in there.” The man gives a small smile but continues to move into the store. “I know, but there could be things we need.” The conversation ends there.
The inside of the store is grimy. The freezers reek of thawed and rotten meats….

Christmas Morning

The day was finally here, and five-year-old Sarah could barely contain herself as she waited for eight o’clock to roll around. Her parents had given her strict orders not step out of her room before eight, as Santa wouldn’t be able to leave presents for her. So she waited, and waited, and finally it was time. She rushed out of her room, tripping over her own feet in the rush to see the gifts Santa had left her. When she stepped into the living room, she gasped at all the colorful presents surrounding the tree. Santa had been generous indeed!
“Mommy! Daddy! Wake up! Santa came last night!” She ran and jumped on the bed, effectively waking her…

The Edge of the World

Before the darkness there was happiness. I can barely remember the warmth of the sun as I sat on the beach with my family. I get glimmers here and there of laughter; my mother’s I think. Most of my memories have faded. The ones I can still recall are like gifts that I hope I will never lose, but I have learned that everything fades with time.
Now I simply wander, I have no home, no companions, just the abandoned world and myself. You would think that being a 17 year old girl alone would be scary; however there are things much scarier in this world than being alone. People went insane when the darkness came,…

Through the Eyes of a Victim

The midnight showing of The Dark Night Rises had just begun. The theater was dark; the room silent. Every seat was full. Next to me was my best friend and on my right was an older gentleman, around 60. He smelled of booze and sweat. I could smell popcorn in the stale air movie rooms always have. It was uncomfortably warm, but I didn’t care. The screen brightened, and my excitement increased as the title appeared. I had been waiting for months to see this. My friend whispered to me with a low shriek, “Here we go!” I squeezed her arm with excitement and stared at the screen. It was only 15 minutes in and…

Morning Ritual

I awoke to three new text messages on my phone, all from the same person. The first was sent at 2:30 AM and read “…Hello? Are you there?” The next was sent at 3:00AM and was in all caps: “Get your lazy ass up!” The final message was sent at 3:15am and said, “Fine, be that way.” I had to try and explain how I fell asleep in my regular clothes, the lights on, the movie Zombieland playing, and in the middle of a text. I really despised how Kody got so irate if I unintentionally fell asleep while talking to him. It wasn’t my fault that I worked right after school, went to dance…

A Typical Day Part II

 
Darkness. Pure black nothingness encompassed his mind, consuming him and turning him to two-and-a-half hundred pounds of wasted space and man. Then there was light. Pain as well, copious amounts of pain. Staff Sergeant Robert Andries lay in the back of a medevac chopper, barely conscious as the squad medic pumped his chest, trying to get blood flowing into his extremities. Pain means I’m alive, Robert thought distantly. Pain is good, he tried to tell himself. Depending on how you looked at it, pain was a good thing if you weren’t sure whether or not you were alive.
“He’s awake,” he heard a voice say, warbling as though underwater. My eardrums must be damaged. He heard…

A Typical Day

A Typical Day
 
There was always a lot of dust and sand in Afghanistan. It came it huge clouds and storms that obscured everything in its path, turning the country into one big blur. Visibility was always nightmarishly poor, making it a living hell for the United States soldiers stationed there. The native insurgents were fond of attacking during the storms, adding so much lead and explosives to the chaos of the sandstorms.
            Staff Sergeant Robert Andries couldn’t see a thing, nor could any of his soldiers in his APC. The armored personnel carrier whined like a hyena, engine growling like a wounded animal as the sand clogged the piping and cylinders that were like so…