A Short Story : A Story?

She was stupid she thought. If she had a modicum of sense she would have told someone, she thought as she went behind the motel, the moon was full and glishing, once upon a time such light meant no monsters should come to prey. The grass was flat and crystallized with ice. There motel had no noise apart from the whistling of the wind, leaves rustling as it passed through the trees.

*Slam*. The door shuts. The room was silent, you could hear a pin drop. Leah left and I heard the car start up. We’ve never gotten in a fight like this. Tears started streaming down my face. The tears started streaming down my face harder and harder by the second. AGHHHHH I screamed. I slowly got up from the table the chair squeaking making the same sound it made when Leah left. WOOSH. I think that was the fastest I’ve EVER turned around. I saw a small shadow. Nobody else was home. but there was still a shadow? I walked around the corner…nothing. I ran upstairs and WOOSH again. I checked my bedroom and Leah’s bedroom. There was nothing in there.

My brother was walking towards us and without a seat left, he hopped into the old ski-boat and sat down. He had a confused look on his face but that turned to anger when my dad said “We’re talking to Carlyn about what I told you yesterday.” With a face as red as his hair, he stood up and screamed “You guys are ruining my life.” I had never seen my brother like this. He was always happy, he even had the nickname “happy Pappy.” He was crying from sadness but still screaming with anger. This made my mom’s cry louder and mine begin. My dad stood up in attempts to calm down my brother and I ran over to my mom. I wrapped my arms around her as she gave me a big hug, and told me “everything is going to be alright, everything is going to be alright, everything is going to be alright.”

The sun was high in the sky, gleaming down on us. The air was breezy, but not cold. The day was ordinary, or so it seemed. But what was out of place? That would be my brother, the only person who could possibly get himself into such a situation, with his impossible ability to almost die, but just miss the mark. As he sat there on the ground with his back to us, legs sprawled out in front of him, we didn’t even realize that there was anything wrong. Hold on a second. Let’s rewind this just a little.

Leaving the motel on Highway 74 around 3:00 o’clock, Marlene drove faster than usual to get home ahead of Jerry and Andrew. Smiling, her thought lingered on the last few hours spent with her lover. Pulling into the garage, Marlene parked her Mercedes, brushed her hair put on fresh lipstick, before going into the house, relieved she was home when her husband and father-in-law arrived. Wanting to surprise them, she went into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, sat down at the counter and glanced through the mail.

Madeline stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that Gabriel’s things were gone from the room when she returned. Had he left her? She shook her head, trying to calm her anxious heart. Gabriel didn’t seem like the type that would just up and leave because she was uncertain about what she wanted. It seemed more likely that he had just moved to a different room.

Athena was terrified. It was almost as if the wind was screaming at her as she was walking into the Forest. She was only going to take a few steps into the Forest. At least that’s whatshe thought. Athena could feel her heart beating in her chest so fast that she thought for a moment it was going to fly out. Slowly, she turned around, prepared to go back to her best friend. As soon as Athena turned around, the only thing she saw was shadowy trees, surrounding her, almost as if they were going to kill her.

It started when she was five and it has never ended since. Her mother, a woman of plants, came to her with the dirt on her shorts from the mums she’d worked with. Her long brown hair pulled back into a bun with small streaks of blonde. The mother checked in at the daycare’s desk. Mom’s here.

"Wait. You knew him? Personally?" Liz fights the urge to smile as the radio buzzes to life in the background, the sound of a smooth voice echoing through the silent room. All eyes are on her-- but she hardly notices, or cares. She remembers the moments, those unforgiving moments that began in Washington D.C, and lead to near human extinction.

The man sat up straight, now showing interest in what he had to say. “Whatchu need that place fer? No, don’t tell me, it’s better not to know. It won’t be cheap I tell you that.”

Tears pour out as I sob uncontrollably. I walk around with grief and regret. I drag my feet along the chilly floor wandering around the house as if I was lost. I hold onto my pounding heart as tears fall from my eyes nonstop. I grasp the knob that leads to an empty room. I stare at the dull pink walls surrounding the room that used to be filled with joy and happiness, but it’s now a quiet place filled with dread. The whole house was filled with despair. I completely zone out and stumble upon a rock solid bed. Curling up I buried my tear stained face into a soft and fluffy pillow. Slowly my body starts to fall into a deep sleep. That night I did not have a breathtaking dream, but instead a memory. A memory that would forever leave a profound bruise on my soul.

His feet sunk deep into the fresh snow as he picked his way down the sidewalk, hood up, watching the crystal flakes drift past and fall onto a silent street. It was dark enough for his vision to be blocked, 5:30 at night. Malaki was out without parental permission, but he didn’t care. He was sixteen, he could make his own decisions. He was out “studying” with a few friends, if studying means partying that is. His parents should’ve been in bed when he got home but just in case Maliki would sneak in through his window. He crawled in his window, the room pitch black. He went to turn his light out but his mom had beat him there. She flicked his lights on and crossed her arms. Her husband shook his head.

“I’m sorry about your mother. Do they know what happened?” Margaret asked as Andrew sat down on the sofa.

“We have a few questions and want you to come down to the station and answer them,” he said without a hint of trouble in his voice.

“... a miracle that she was found when she was. The symptoms from the smoke inhalation should clear up within a few days.”