Gwen's Lesson: A Narrative Fiction

“Good,” was the girl’s reply. They walked out of his house and climbed his his run down car. The paint was chipped, and it needed new tires, but he adored it. They had decided to go get frozen yogurt, as a cool treat on a hot summer day. The frozen yogurt shop was packed to the brim with sweaty, smiling faces, in for their favorite flavor. As he sat down next to Paige on the curb with his slightly melted dessert, he thought about all the hard times he had just been

The air was crisp and without a sign of clouds in the sky. Orange and yellow leaves blew to and fro, and despite it being late fall, it was hot, and the girl was lightly sweating. As she was walking to her car to get to her English class at another school, she enjoyed the warm and fresh air that only happens right before the cold, freezing winter. Because of the school’s miniscule parking spaces, the girl had to park further away in order to fit her moss green truck she drove, but she did not mind the extra walk in the bright afternoon. Inside her truck, she was met with musty, hot air. Instead of turning on the air conditioning, the girl decided to open her windows, to let the fresh air ventilate the truck and cool it off. As she drove out of the parking lot and stopped at a stop sign to turn right onto a busy road, a man noticed her from across the

The second person perspective of “Until Gwen” offers in-depth detail and description of flashbacks and thoughts, as well as providing the story, thoughts, and actions which engages the reader. This causes the story to seem more personal and captivating through a connection to both the characters and their storyline, making it more personal. The use of second person allows for further character development and connections to characters that the reader can piece together, and relate with.

Connie, a stereotypical fifteen year old girl, views her life and her family with dissatisfaction. Jealous around her twenty-four year old sister, June, despite June’s outward plainness, and tense around her irksome mother, Connie escapes to the mall with her friends. She and her clique of friends

A few months later, when the restaurant unexpectedly decreased Evie’s hours to merely the afternoon shift, Mom and Oma were no longer able to commute to work together. Fortunately, Evie saved enough money to solve their dilemma, on a whim, she purchased a brand new Honda 50 motor scooter and turned the car keys over to Oma. With two modes of transportation, Oma drove the car to work in the morning, while Evie rode the scooter to work in the afternoon, it was a perfect situation, moreover, Ellen and I enjoyed hopping on the sporty white motorbike, behind our Mom as we zipped down the road!

Looking back no one truly knew when the world had begun to change. The once blue sky was now a grotesques grey, the sun no longer shined bright in the sky, nor did the cotton clouds float freely through the sky. The air was barely breathable as many of the forest trees had either died out from pollution or had been cut down to provide the ever growing population within the past century. The life of luxury meant having air filters circulating though out the house making breathing much easier for those who could afford it.

It was a very hot day in the middle of August, one that was so oppressively humid that the air felt like a blanket, which was why Lillie Everette, momentarily confused, awoke because she remembered kicking the sheets off her bed in the middle of the night. She yawned, then got dressed excitedly. She needed get ready for the Hide and Seek game that was starting soon. She had promised her friends that she wouldn’t sleep through this one like she had for the last game. She was about to run through her front door when she hears her parents talking.

An unsettling evening wind started to blow its way through the Central Park. The sun began to set, sending a cascade of colors streaming through the evening sky. The day had started with the normal chaos that a normal Friday had encompassed. John was having difficulty finishing the last piece of business for that day, his mind kept day dreaming towards his lovely wife and wonderful children. As he set in his chair completely exhausted in his tattered office listening to the clock that was ticking in the background, and it approached the wishful hour of five o’clock.

She walks to the centermost oak tree near Mason Hall, she finally has found the perfect shady spot on an 80-degree day. She passes the boy from her Psychology class and gives him a small smile. She’s taking a journey to a jungle she doesn’t normally observe, a place where many humans and animals inhabit. There isn’t a breeze and the air feels drier than usual. The Diag seems unfriendly today, as she sits down she’s nervous of her surroundings. She plants herself on a somewhat clean patch of grass and pulls out her shiny laptop. She is reading “Werner Herzog’s Conquest of the Useless” for her freshman English class. As she dives her way into the reading she starts to think about where she is, what is going on around her, and the journey that she is on. A bushy red squirrel approaches her, she’s confused why it’s coming so close and quickly gets up to escape its presence. “Why in the world is this squirrel so close to me” she thinks to herself. The girl moves from the tree but as she get up she starts to notice specific details she hasn’t before.

Lilly glanced down the row of cars all parked up under the trees. A chill moved through her. She brought her knees up to her chest, pressed her thighs against her rib cage and let her head sink down. She needed to find a place to stay. She needed somewhere to sleep and she needed to be able to get ready tomorrow to make sure Bobby saw her looking hot again. Because he would kick himself once he saw her all made-up in a nice dress and nice shoes. He’d feel pretty dumb for avoiding her this last year over a stupid pair of flip-flops. But how was she going to be that girl who turned his head if she spent tonight sleeping rough? Lilly closed her eyes and tried not to let it upset her. Puffed up eyes was the last thing she

An extremely hot summer day at CBU, with temperatures of high 90’s was just draining. This hazel eyed, brown haired young woman had yet known what she has gotten herself into. Ariah has lived in California a majority of her childhood but didn’t recall the weather being quite this hot. She moved to Louisville, Kentucky her freshman year due to her parents occupation. Big change right? Moving from where it’s hot all year round to where it’s humid and snows. Ariah didn’t like Kentucky at all and would jump to every little opportunity to go back without a single thought.

Evie hopped off the bus with a renewed sense of purpose. “I came here to succeed. Not to worry about home,” she thought to herself. She was feeling driven and ready to begin anew here, in a foreign land with foreign people, people who don’t know her or her legacy. She looked around at the lively street scene before her. The signs were vibrant and their brilliance drew her closer and closer to the center of town. The entire city seemed to be moving towards her, and an endless sea of men and women spewed out of the buildings and down the block. The congested streets keep her pace slow, but her mind was racing with new thoughts and ideas. The gridlocked traffic finally allowed for some leeway, and Evie found her way out of the fray and across

Jane parked Trent’s car and climbed out, taking a moment to look around. It wasn’t the best neighborhood in Lawndale. Not bad by any means, but not as nice as Daria’s. It certainly wasn’t where she expected a fashion princess to live. Stacy’s home was average for the neighborhood, a modest two story house painted a soft blue; it was set apart by a beautifully manicured lawn with flowering bushes lining the front of the house and a pair of small, well groomed trees in the yard. It didn’t suit a fashion princess, but it seemed to suit the girl she’d been getting to know the past week. Jane reminded herself again to try not to freak Stacy out and headed up the walk. She knocked on the door and, after a short wait, a woman who looked to

Autumn Burrow  lived with her mother and father in an old wood cabin 15 minutes outside of the nearest town. They lived a casual life where her mother and father loved her dearly and they both worked average jobs at the family owned restaurant. Autumn is a popular girl with a few close friends but she talks to everyone. With high school starting in less than a year her parents have allowed her to stay home alone during their annual trip to Maine. Bubbling with excitement, Autumn planned to have a week full of movies, loud music, plenty of pizza, and her closest friends. On the morning of her parents flight, she woke up itching to jump out of bed, her stomach turned unable to control herself she squealed as she ran down stairs.  Her father prepared

This was Gwen’s favorite place to be during wintertime, Brew or Bust, the cozy, quaint coffee shop just down the street from her apartment. Lazy snowflakes drifted past the window as she sipped her warm chai tea, the beverage’s sweet richness filling her senses. It was Sunday, a lazy day off from her work as a children’s librarian, a job she’d held for more than a year and loved.