Short Story

The radiant rays of light leapt off of the sun’s surface while a tiny flock of hummingbirds filled the azure sky with their sweet song. Meanwhile, the sky itself was clear, a blank canvas of light blue painted across the horizon. At the time, I was 5’5, athletically built, and relatively average in height compared to my seventh grade classmates. I had uneven locks of black hair that seemed to go out in every direction, similar to the quills of porcupine. Nevertheless, my body movements were sluggish due to the lack of sleep I had been receiving.

I knew you pitied me as I cautiously walked down the road. It was your gift to see the light of the sun, dispersing into a brilliant concoction of colours against the glimmering glass. As the unforgiving light unveiled the world’s pallor and blemishes, I knew you saw the specks of dust flicker above the ground.

“Where am I? What’s happening?” I thought to myself. “What’s going on?” It was late summer, and I was just coming out of my egg. After I hatched, I looked around in awe as I saw the world for the first time. I saw the bright green seaweed I was surrounded by. I saw the scintillating water as it was warmed by the sun. I saw various schools of fish swim

I felt like a fish that had been swimming, carefree, in the ocean, when suddenly, I was yanked out into the open air, where I couldn’t adjust, couldn’t breathe. After a blinding, confusing moment, however, everything shifted into focus, along with all the memories I thought I’d lost.

Hesitantly we climbed up the slick rock. It was warm and dry on top, and we could see the damp parts slowly evaporate. No one wanted to jump first and leave the warmth and the safety from on top of the rock. Skeptically, I stepped forward with fears darting through my head. What if I don’t jump out far enough, what if I gash myself on a rock, what if I break a limb, what if I hit my head, what if I die? All of my thoughts rushed away like the water in an instant. Before I knew it I was in midair. I was tensing up all my muscles, I was preparing for impact, I was regretting my decision, I was telling myself it will be ok, and then... ker-splash! I could feel my body be engulfed slowly into the raw water. A smile developed on my face and I realized that missing work was totally worth

“A paternity spell devised generations back by a Malfoy who feared his betrothed had been unfaithful. It’s been used ever since,” Lucius admitted.

This chapter contains more meditation than anecdote. In June, the narrator ponders the smallest things—red blood cells in a goldfish’s tail, blooming plankton, the horsehair worm, molecules, and atoms. In the intricacy of the universe, she finds confirmation of God’s presence and plan: ‘‘Beauty itself is the fruit of the creator’s exuberance that grew such a tangle.’’

There wasn't a thing on television. I shut off the TV and lay back on the bed with a sigh. You'd been in the bathroom for over twenty minutes, making me wonder what could be keeping you. As if in answer to my unspoken question, the bathroom door opens, and the sound of footsteps approaches. I glance to the doorway and spot you. I sit straight up in bed.

“What a pair we’d make.” Lotor’s tone had always been an octave too low, a shade too suave, affecting too much for Lance to be completely sure that all his shivers stemmed from the low temperatures.

“No, this can’t be right.” Sonya paced the breadth of the room while the thief sat at the edge of the bed. “I was told it was rogues or something, not an assassin. More importantly, why would the High Council just kill a random merchant? He wasn’t shouting blasphemy at them or a traitor to the kingdom.”

When Ryder turned his attention onto her, she did the same. Her dark hues started into his own. After all it was the right thing to do. She was taught that when someone spoke to you, you looked at them and give them your undivided attention. Especially when that person happens to be your boss. Of all the things she learned from the world before this, this had to have been the most simple of things, yet she still felt the urge to do it. Hearing him speak, her head would nod some. “Everything’s running smoothly, No problems to report, sir.” She spoke in an honest voice. There was honestly nothing going on with the power or water, which surprised her, since she got it up and running the damn things have given her problems almost every day.

It’s 3:40 PM. I’m walking down the bridge staircase. The sun is staining the sky a bright blue. It’s not quite the pale blue of cotton candy at a fair. It’s a cartoonish, suburban neighborhood blue that would be pretty if it didn’t feel so fake. As I pass the painted wall by the school, a voice calls out to me.

Honestly, I never thought it would come to this day, jumping into a body of water. Seems pretty pointless, if you ask me. Now, what am I doing? I struggled to gain consciousness. I strained to lift my head. In its pointlessness, my eyelids flew open. I didn't panic, I didn't struggle to breathe. I calmly floated, my body unable to move. Is this what it's like to be at peace? No, it was emptiness. I knew I had to get away from death. How? I tried focusing my eyesight, no light. I felt as if my chest were being ripped apart. I drew in a breath, no good. Water filled my lungs, I kicked and twisted, my body, begging for air. My eyes burned, and I made a last cry; as loud as I could muster, I cried out. Not a word, but a cry. A cry for life;

The comforting white clouds stretched and darkened swirling themselves into a silvery metallic vortex. Majestic and alive a giant eye looked down upon me, with a menacing gleam, like it wanted to toy with me then changed its mind due to the mere insignificance within its domain, and more important business for itself. My tiny body amid this vast, strange universe, staring at the gunmetal clouds, overcome with motion sickness that I had never experienced before. Otherworldly, the impossible spinning waves tunneled through my cells, and with it this time – the smell of death. It slammed me like a copper truck creating a hole to dump its load of rotten eggs, human waste, cheap perfume, and rotting meat that my cells felt they exploded from the inside out. It ignited a force of nausea in me so intense my head jerked, and I blew out blood, vomit, and a silvery black ooze into my regulator. I kept purging the exhaust valve of excess blood, vomit, and liquid metal. The distinct smell of death became a taste I couldn’t expel. An unholy taste of metallic death. The different spinning double waves pummeled through me shattering my core by its opposing directions.

I hurried to the hotel to put on my bathers and grabbed a pair of goggles. I was running as fast as I could back to the beach as if the beauty of it would disappear before I was back. I finally made it, I went deep into the freezing ocean, held my breath and went underwater. It was another world. I flew in the water like a bird in the sky. Every inch of my body had been caressed by the salty water. I felt free as if I was in a gravity-free void. Soon enough I had learned to jump over the waves before they slammed against my body. I explored deeper into the sea, fish swam past as I entered their home occasionally coming back to the surface for a breath. The colours of the reefs and fish stood out shouting for attention. It was mesmerizing. The immense waves threw me back and forth, playing catch and I was the ball. I floated around, the movement of the ocean taking over me. The white-tipped foamy waves shimmered in the light. I wished I could go deeper, but I knew I couldn’t. I swam back to shore, the crisp air hit my skin. I was ready to dive right back