The Night - Original Writing

She lifted her head up and looked me in the eyes for the first time tonight. Her large, dark eyes captured me like a fish on a hook. Her eyes cried out pain and loneliness and seemed to see through my superficial persona.

Iris sat alone in her empty apartment. Peeking down at her feet as they dangled over the edge of the pink couch, she thought back to when she and her mother had first moved here. The previous owners left their couch behind when they left. She was afraid to even stand near it for fear of what might be lurking beneath the lumpy, stained cushions. Horrifying images of sitting down and being stabbed by a syringe, or bitten by a rat, or having a giant cockroach creep up her arm flashed through Iris ' little mind whenever she layed eyes on it. But now this couch was her place now, it was where she would sit to watch movies or cuddle up when she was scared. And more and more frequently it was the place where she slept.

Gasping for air and pushing an invisible ‘something’ away from her face, Charity sat up with a start and began gulping air into her lungs. It felt as if all her breath was suddenly squished out of her lungs. It was not a scary feeling. She remembered a dark shadow hovering over her, then consuming her, momentarily, smothering her. At first, the shadow radiated love, compassion, and understanding- feelings that returned once she could breathe again.

It was Four o 'clock in the morning, and despite the warmth of the bed, Minerva couldn 't sleep. The thumping of the dryer didn 't usually bother her, but tonight it was all she could focus on as she tossed and turned. Now, she laid awake, eyes wide with indirectable annoyance while she stared at the ceiling, considering her options. She knew she wouldn 't be able to get to sleep, but the thought of getting up irked her. Sleep was a commodity, and she never got enough of it.

Alex had been sound asleep when she was suddenly awoken by a noise. At first, she figured it must be her neighbors across the hall having made the ruckus, presuming having dropped maybe a dish or a late-night cup of coffee on the ceramic tile floor she had known lined both of their kitchens. But then her mind quickly went to the thought of Angela and Liam. Are they home? Could it be them coming in this late? The kid must be zonked out cold.

he purple sunrise awoke the nature around Wanniansi Temple, illuminating the skies from darkness. Empty and hazy, Toki tried to collect her thoughts from the day before. The temple training seemed so vivid yesterday, but though just less than twelve hours ago, the memory seemed like decades old.

I woke in a dreamlike state, temporarily wondering where I was, and then remembered. I reached for but did not find Louis on either side of me. A light quilt covered me, but I was definitely alone in the bed. Disappointed and wondering where Louis had gone, I sat up in bed to look around the room. The sun shining through the open doors suggested it was early afternoon.

The huge white doors opened and man came out of the hallway. A stern silent type with a nameless suit blood leather shoes. His dead eyes scanned the thin nervous looking man in a seat closest to the door. There were visible scars signs and healing cuts on his exposed skin and he must have been trying to reorganize the hair on his head. "Me?"He man hunched un-confidently pointing to himself. Dead eyes said nothing, for they were the only two in the room. A quick embarrassing scan of the large empty room and he nodded smiling softly at his own unawareness. Dead eyes didn 't smile back but stepped out of the way holding the door open. "Right." The thin Man pushed himself up taking a deep breath that he surely needed more of. He was lead in

Splash! That was the first large water balloon Kristen dropped off the deck. When I watched the slo-mo video I took, you could not even see the balloon until right when it hit the ground. Disappointed, she and Mackenzie filled up another one and we tried the same thing again. The video was still to dark to see, so they suggested that I move to the other side of the deck for better lighting. On the third try, we got the video to work perfectly. We all huddled around my phone screen and laughed as we watched the balloon slowly fall to the ground. My other three friends ran out to see what all the laughing was about. They watched the video and began cracking up too. After, we all went back inside due to the amount of bugs outside. We spent the rest of the night talking and laughing until we all fell asleep at around two in the morning. This was the last night we all spent together before heading off to college. Even though it was in the middle of the summer, life took over and we were all busy on different days. The one way that we were able to keep in contact was through a group message, which is still what we use now that we are all in college.

“Who says so? Its our honeymoon; we are supposed to enjoy it- it is the time when us newlyweds are supposed to learn each others likes and dislikes, good habits and bad ones. We’re supposed to bond into one entity.” as he spoke, I am thinking, I do not know if I want anyone to know me that well…

It was like any other show. A mixture of nervousness and excitement filled the air which, surprisingly, smelled just like the hairspray which hung over the freshly-curled heads of hair of the group of dancers which I stood with. The lights were dim in the side stage wing, allowing me to see only the silhouette of my friend, Jade, who stood impatiently next to me.

All I could think of sitting at my desk at work was about the conversation me and my husband had the night before. I sat there staring at my computer screen wondering if it was the right thing to do, or was I just wasting my time on a hope long forgotten. The hours slowly ticked by, and everything I was working on with my customers and their loans were a blur. I couldn’t get that thought out of my head. It was eating away at me. This is something that I have wanted for a long time. I put it on hold for so long because I wanted to be the best wife and mother I could be. That’s just the thing though I thought. My wants, dreams, ambitions had all gone on hold for 10 years. Always there to support everyone else with theirs and never going

I woke to the noise of scratching, shooting straight up. There it was again, except this time it ripped my small tent. I looked over to my side in habit looking for my small caliber rifle, but for some reason It wasn’t there. I could see condensation from the beast’s breath forming on the outside of my tent in the moon glow. Then again, another rip on the other side. The creature was extremely fast, but made no noise moving around in the early fall.

The walls of the shaft violently shuddered, the ground shook, rocks tumbled and a deep rumbling sound filled my ears. The workers around me were yelling and running to safety, I ran too but I realised I had to go back and get it, I just had too. I blacked out and was awoken by Jim, he was shaking me, trying to get me back to consciousness. It felt like I was paralysed, I couldn’t move or talk. I looked around in a haze, there was no one in sight, all I could feel was the agonising pain in my leg. I looked down to my leg wrapped in a jacket, covered in blood. When I finally regained function I was bombarded by Jim questioning “why would you do that Robbie, why would you run into danger?”, I just stared blankly in response. “We are stuck in here, the rest got out, why would you go back?” he asked angrily. I replied with “I had to get this” while looking down to the small ratty teddy bear I held in the calloused palm of my hand.

I stood there silently staring at the large black box. My hands were tucked away in my pockets and I felt them begin to dampen with sweat. I felt cold shivers come over my body and I could easily hear my heart beat in my chest. The rhythm was anything but steady. Each thud seemed to tremble in fear. In sadness. In emotions that I couldn 't even begin to explain. My mind felt tired, like it had fallen asleep and I had no intention of waking it back up. The only consequence to that is just one thought was present. I couldn 't save her.