3012
Alyssa Perkins
“I submitted this piece because It is the beginning of my favorite writing piece from creative writing this year. It is the story of Cassia Walsh, who wakes up from a coma not knowing anything about the world. She has amnesia and is trying to remember everything. In this first chapter she meets some of the main characters in the story.”
3012
My adrenaline is pumping; all I can see is fear in the darkness. The pounding noise in the dark abyss seems to be closing in. My first clear thought in a long time comes to mind. I open my eyes to see a dozen men and women in white trench coats slamming their hands together. Fear rapidly boils inside of me. I try to think of why I’m here, but all I remember is saying goodbye to a woman (who must be my mother) and a man, my father. There was also a boy around 18 years old…my brother.
I try to ask why I’m here and where I am but I am unable to make any movements. The people leave one by one and my fear increases. Thoughts race through my head. Are they leaving me to die!? Are they going to kill me!? Gas begins to fill the tight room, I try to escape but it isn't possible. The last thing I see as I look to the ceiling is the number 3012.
I hear my bones crack as I wake. This time there is only one scientist who looks unusually familiar. He quickly jumps to calm me down. He hands me a cup of water and unlatches me from the white cloth covered table. He tells me I’ll be okay and I'm safe. I can't be so sure.
The man seems to be in his mid-twenties. The name tag on his lab coat says Josh. Josh…that was my brother’s name.
“You must have a lot of questions,” he starts.
I don't respond, and he gives me a half smile look. “Maybe not,” he responds. He tells me the world is nothing and they have to take a few hundred people to a safe haven. “You must me starving.” He stands up and gestures for me to follow.
Oddly when I stand up my stomach belches out a roar. “I guess you're right.”
“Of course I am.” He rolls his eyes at me in a playful way. I let out a small laugh. Josh leads me to the cafeteria. The building seems to be going in circles. He mentions how he is my mentor and he will be back to get me after lunch for an evaluation.
As I step into to cafeteria I see hundreds of people wearing the same boring old gray plain clothes as me. Some look more confused than others. Some look more comfortable. Obviously some have been here longer than others.
I slowly walk over to a huge plastic tube that are all over the room and sort of resemble spider legs. I type my name into a monitor next to the tube. I can’t even blink in the time it takes for the tube to drop a tray of food. I look down at my tray, it’s some kind of soup. It steams and smells of chicken and berries.
As I walk over to a giant ice box I glance to my right and see a face that is almost too familiar. I decide to ignore it until I get this world sorted out. I type my name into a metal plate on the icebox. Cassia Walsh. A sliding glass door opens and smoke disperses. I only have three options for a drink, they all look a bit peculiar and seem to be very textured. I decide to choose the drink that looks as though they put a sunset in a bottle.
“It’s called a smoothie.” I hear a girl's voice from behind me. I turn around to see a girl who is now grabbing the same drink but in a shade of pink. “Mango, good choice!” She gestures for me to come with her, so I do.
We sit at a blue tinted table with two chairs. This is the same girl I noticed before. Her blonde hair glistens in the sun and the linen blue shirt she's wearing makes me notice her deep blue eyes. “I am a mentor.” She must've noticed me admiring the blue in her shirt. “My name is Maddy.”
She can’t be my mentor, so why is she with me? “I’m Cass. . .”
She stops me. “Cassia, I know.” She looks at me with a gleaming smile. She tells me she is my mentor along with Josh. I have too many questions for her so I decide just to continue eating. The conversation is dead.
I continue eating this soup that warms my body. The silence is broken when a gray haired women yells into a metal ball on a stick. It looks quite amusing actually, and it seems to amplify her voice. “Greetings, and welcome to the community.” I see her as old and frail, but as she speaks there is a sense of youthfulness and strength. “I hope you all are settling in well to your new home!” Everyone starts banging the hands together like the scientist did before. My pupils widen and I realize I am stiff with fear.
“Don't worry; they’re just clapping.” Clapping...clapping. I play around with the word in my head. Clapping? Maddy explains to me it is a way to show gratitude or congratulate someone. I wonder why they were clapping when I woke up. Everyone around the room joins in on the battle chant, and I can’t help but feel insecure about myself. I don’t feel as though I belong just yet.
I finally decide to break the silence between Maddy and myself. “Who is that?”
“She is the leader of all of this.” She spreads her arms around to emphasize the community.
-Brynn West
“I was inspired to write this based based on an image of a pair of feet running down a dark street after a rain, and this is my favorite part of it.”
A Way Out
It's late. I check the time. 12:57 blares back at me. Lets face it I'm lost. The sky is pitch black, but the street lights make a path. I thought taking a short cut would help me get home faster, but it turns out it made me even more late. I can't even imagine how worried my mom is right now.
I turn into a narrow alley making my way to the street. I step in little puddles that fill the gaps in the stone walkway. My shoes become soaked and I find myself shivering. I look around, examining the buildings, and I see a vent with very faint green smoke coming out of it. It intrigues me, but I think it's best to stay away. The other building has a jagged wooden staircase leading to a back door. The buildings seem old and abandoned like they could topple over any second.
I pause, the silence broken by a rock hitting the pavement. I whip my head around. Nothing. I turn back and keep walking, but I pick up the pace, late night thoughts starting to fill my head. My walk turns into a jog and then into a sprint. Something just doesn’t feel right. I look back, not watching where I'm going, and I run into something. I stumble to the ground as I hold my head. I look up at the very tall skinny man staring down at me.
“Sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going.” I say.
“You need to be more careful,” The man says with a firm look on his face. I apologize once more and stand up. The world is spinning, I take one step then black out.
***
My eyes slowly open adjusting in time to the bright lights. I look around discovering I'm in a dark room with a light shining down on me. I start to squirm. Where am I? A thick scratchy rope rubs up against my ankles and wrists. I wiggle my hands out from the ropes and untie my feet. I make my way to what seems to be the exit and try to yank the door open - it's locked.
I run over to another door and go inside; it leads me to a dark hallway with an open window at the end. “Bingo!” I whisper. I slowly walk toward the window being as quiet as I can. The old hardwood floors creak in every step but I think I can make it.
I'm almost at the window, I can feel the gentle breeze as it sends chills down my spine. Then out of the corner of my eye a door swings open someone grabs my arm, pulls me inside, and the door slams behind me. I then realize that my one chance of getting out of this place was snatched away.
I'm trapped.
Transformation
-Liberty Boston
"I chose to submit this piece because it expresses a few of my own emotions from the perspective of Blake. I think that some of what Blake feels every teenagers has experienced at some point in their life and may be able to relate to.
This is the prologue to the story of a 16-year-old girl, Blake, who is struggling with depression. This is the moment she recognizes that she has let her life slip by because she has always found the sadness in things. Blake makes the decision to discontinue these activities and try to see herself the way others see her."
TRANSFORMATION
Prologue
She is beautiful. She is intelligent. She is perfect. But she didn’t think so.
My name is Blake Van Dyke, yes I’m a girl. Despite my curveless body, low voice due to thyroid problems, and the fact that I dress like a 12-year-old boy, I am female. I am currently 16-years-old and trapped in my head.
~~~
I come home and slam my basketball bag on the floor and flop onto my bed - My body becomes limp, and I melt into the mattress, sinking deeper and deeper. Sore and tired don’t even begin to describe how I feel right now. Sore has just become a state of being, and getting an average of four hours of sleep each night doesn’t exactly make me eager to face the day ahead of me. I stand up. It’s 9:43 p.m. and I turn on the shower. As I step in, the blistering hot water catches me by surprise. I just stand there, submerged and motionless as each drop of water attempts to clean my sweat layered body.
The next morning she awakes to her alarm, having more motivation than most not to hit the snooze button.
Back to the grind, I tell myself.
It’s 5:02 a.m. and she walks downstairs. The early sunrise shrinks her pupils, and she blinks rapidly. Her beautiful eyelashes are so long and are moving up and down at rapid speeds it seems as if they could create a slight breeze. Despite the fact that she is groggy she is no less beautiful. Her eyes are a grass shade of green and her light brown hair has a mind of its own; no rhyme or reason to the inconsistent curls that bounce with every step. Her porcelain, lightly freckled skin is so soft and pleasing to the eye. She wasn’t aware, but today would be the turning point for the rest of her life.
Unexpected, the tips of my shoes grabbed a hold of a stray stick in the ground. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Before I could react, gravity overpowered my body’s weight, throwing me onto the earth under me. I squinted, attempting to see the world around me, but all I could see was reality bounding towards me, teeth clenched. Its claws reached out in front of it, shaking the earth. By its position, I could tell that it was headed straight towards me, lying defenseless on the ground.
Running From Reality
Amber Calanni
Period #2
Figurative Language
I decided to write this piece, to describe the feeling of “running” from your fears. I was intending to show how people are “running” from their fears of reality. I was inspired by figurative language to write this piece.
I heaved in deep breaths, gasping for air. I looked behind me, hair waved frantically in my face, my skin dripped with sweat. Sticks snapped under my feet, snap, snap, snap, with every step I took. My feet moved quicker than the eye can comprehend, one in front of the other. Adrenaline rushed through my body, like a broken dam. I continued to sprint, dodging tree stumps and ducking under branches, plants, and trees.
The wind’s intensity scraped my face, its claws digging into my skin. Tears began to drip out of the corners of my eyes, streaming down my face. My lungs began to give out, pruning like a raisin. My heart ran a foot race against a cheetah, and in the end, couldn't give anymore. The trees towered over me, arms outstretched, reaching up to the sky grabbing the last bit of sunlight that peeked out from the leaves.
Fifteen Reasons to Live
This short story is about an orphan girl who is on the verge of committing suicide, but later discovers the value of her life through friendship. I wrote this story to show how hard times can be overcome by the simple things such as friendship.
-Anonymous
My legs wobbled as I made my way closer to the edge of the cliff. I took in a deep breath of air, hands trembling by my sides as I inched closer and closer to the edge.
My heart pounded against my chest when I stared down at the rocky waters below me. If I jumped, I would die from the impact, immediately. But wasn’t that what I’ve always wanted, to die quickly and without any pain? This was it.
I just wanted my life to end.
I wanted to get away from this hellhole I’ve been sucked into. I wanted to go live happily with my parents up in heaven, not in some orphanage where I was ignored and too old for anyone to want to adopt me.They all wanted to adopt a cute obedient little child, not some 17 year old teen like me. I moved my foot one step closer, as I felt my breathing stop. If I moved just one step closer, I would be tumbling down that cliff.
“You can do this, Remi. It’s what you’ve been wanting for years now,”. I mumbled to myself in a whisper voice.
I moved my left foot forward, letting it dangle in thin air.
A tear escaped my eyes, sliding down my cheeks slowly.
Suddenly, I felt myself fly towards the side, as I squeezed my eyes together tightly. I prepared myself for the impact that would follow. Instead, I found myself crashing onto dirt. I opened my eyes, noticing that I was now thrown meters away from the edge of the cliff.
“Why wasn't I dead yet?” I asked myself in confusion. Hovering over me was a familiar face, one that was well known in my school.
Bryan Woods.
He was well known for being in the ‘it crowd,’ something that I was never part of.
Bryan Woods was known as the school’s most likable male, for his care for other students, and generosity. All the girls in my grade wanted to be his girlfriend, but I’ve never seen him with his arm around any girl before. People say that he doesn’t like to lead on girls, and he’s waiting for the right one.
Personally, I found him fake.
“What do you think you were doing?!” he shouted at me, as I pushed him off of me.
My vision was still blurry from my tears, as I wiped them with the back of my hand with frustration.
“Wasn’t it obvious enough?” I hissed, standing up, as I brushed the dirt off my coat.
“Everything was going fine until you interrupted me.”
“Well do you really think I would just sit there and watch you jump off a cliff?” Bryan asked me angrily.
He followed me as I walked. I got aggravated, and pushed him away from me with my palms.
“You don’t know a thing about me! If I want to kill myself, I’m going to kill myself!” I walked back to the edge of the cliff, as my hands shook by my sides.
“I’ll give you ten seconds to run. Or else, you’ll witness my bloody body at the bottom of that lake.”
Bryan bit his lower lip, not uttering a word.
“Fine. Is that how it’s going to be?” I snapped, “Congrats, Woods, you’ll be the witness of my suicide.”
I stepped forward, but before I could fall down, I felt a tug by my wrist. Bryan pulled me backward.
“What is wrong with you?!” I screamed, letting tears fall down my cheeks. “Let me go!”
Bryan clenched his jaw. “I’m not going to let you die.”
Tears streamed down my face, as I ripped my wrists out of his grip. “Why do you even care?” I sobbed. “You don’t even know me!”
“You’re Remi Williams, the girl that sits behind me in AP Calculus.” Bryan spoke.
“Is that it?” I raised an eyebrow. “Pathetic.”
Bryan pulled me forward, so that my chest was pressed against his. What the heck did he think he was doing? “Get away from-“
“Give me ten days.” Bryan started off.
“What?” I spat, trying to get his body away from mine.
“Give me 15 days, and I can give you 15 reasons not to die,” Bryan paused, “and if I can’t change your mind by then, you can go jump off that cliff.”
I pursed my lips. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do.” Bryan sternly said. “Do we have a deal?”
I bit my lower lip. “I don’t know.”
“Do we have a deal?” he repeated, ignoring me.
I gulped, as I stared up into his exotic green eyes. They looked so genuine and sincere.
Did he really want to save my life?
“Deal.”
No comments:
Post a Comment