Creative Writing
The following are unpublished short stories I have written in my spare time. I hope you find them enjoyable!
Star Shower
A boy around the age of 20 looked down at a little girl. They stood at the edge of a lake harbor, metal chains ran along the edge to keep people from falling in. The sun was setting, and it casted a gentle glow of orange, purple, pink and blue across the sky.
"What's it like, living under the stars?" she asked him, her voice filled with curiosity and wonder. The boy's face was hidden under an orange hoodie, little cylinders poked up to resemble cat ears. His mouth was visible, and he smiled as he squatted down by the girl.
"It's hard to explain...but I wouldn't ask for anything different," he responded. The little girl smiled. She seemed satisfied with this answer. The boy stood up again and held out his hand to her.
"Now then, how about we get you home," he said softly, and the little girl nodded. She took his hand and he pulled her up into his arms. She held onto his hoodie with a light grip, though she felt unafraid. It was as if his arms radiated with safety.
"Are you ready?" he asked, and she nodded. With her confirmation, the boy jumped high into the sky as if the wind carried his feet. He pushed off the harbor railing and landed on one of the rooftop buildings in the quiet town. His feet made no sound against the shingles. From rooftop to rooftop, the wind soared by as they navigated the town.
That's when the little girl noticed they weren't alone. Shadowy cat-like figures leaped by their side, their eyes a pure white that glowed gently. They reminded her of the moon. She looked up to see if she could see the moon, only to be met with a dazzling star shower. She laughed faintly and pointed at the sky for the boy to see.
The boy looked up and smiled again, his voice coming out in a whisper, "Now would you look at that...". Then he kept his hidden gaze forward as he ran. Each leap he made seemed bigger than the last, and at some point the little girl felt like they were flying.
Soon he began to slow down and stopped on the top of a particular roof. There was a balcony on it, and he carefully lowered themselves onto it so he could place her on the ground. The shadowy cats joined them, and they sat by the boy's feet and on the railing. The little girl bent down to pet one of them. Her hand felt like it was touching a cloud, cool and soft but not solid, and the cat gave a whispery meow.
"Be careful from now on," the boy said, "And if you're ever in trouble, I'll make sure to be there." The girl nodded and smiled, then stood up straight to reach out and hug one of his legs.
"Thank you, sir...! Please come visit again!" she giggled and faced directly up to look the boy's face. She could now see that he had curly brunette hair and faint green eyes. He brought his hands around to carefully hug her back.
"I will," he agreed, then carefully detached her from his leg so he could step back. Then, with a final wave, he hopped back up onto the rooftop. The cats quickly followed, and the little girl watched from her balcony as he ran off to sail through the air. At some point she sworn she could see wings coming from his back from how he moved.
The girl never saw him again, but learned one day as she got older of the myth in her town. It was said that a young boy disappeared many years ago on the harbor. His body was never found, but it was rumored that he had died that night after losing his parents in the dark. The only proof they had was the day a black cat brought back a necklace the boy had worn that night to his parents' doorstep.
The girl never forgot about him. She told her tale to her own children, and they too continued passed down her story. Her story of how she was saved by the town's myth. She would never forget the soft look in his eyes, or the sparkling sky that illuminated their run.
The End
Never Apart
"I have a surprise for you!"
That's what she told him before she left. They had been sitting on the swings together in their little ghost town. He kicked a small pebble with his shoe. What was taking her so long?
The sun was down and the single light above dimly lit the boy where he swayed. His shoes shifted the gravel bits below as he rocked back and forth. She said she would be right back.
"Let me come along..!" That's what he told her when she started to walk away. After all, they went everywhere together. He sighed quietly under his breath. She did have a habit of getting lost, after all.
The stars twinkled above his head, a silent glitter that helped illuminate the swing set and the boy. He tightened his grip a little on the rope that held the swing in the air. She didn't tell him what she left to grab.
"I won't be long, just wait right there!"
That's what she told him to make him stay. He believed her, so he continued to sit on the swing set by himself. He lowered his head a little as he began to worry. What if something happened again?
The sky had clouded over, and it began to softly rain. The boy looked up at the droplets without fear of one landing in his eye. How long had he been waiting now? Was it too long?
"Okay, be careful then."
That's what he told her as he agreed to her request to stay. His concern built up in his chest as more time passed. Maybe he should have insisted on going with her, anyways.
The moon rose high above the sky and illuminated the swing set and the boy through the clouds with the help of the street light. He lowered his head as a few tears fell from his eyes. She'd never been away this long, and he couldn't help but think if she never came back.
"I'm sorry I took so long! I forgot where I- James? Are you crying?"
That's what she told him when she finally came back. The boy lifted his head with watery eyes as he felt relief softly flow through his body. She was standing a few feet away with empty hands.
The boy stood up from his seat and stepped toward her. He watched as the ran fell through her hair as if it wasn't even there. With a loud exhale, he wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. He never wanted this to happen again, not after last time.
"You took so long, I thought something happened to you, Lily."
That's what he told her with his voice muffled in her shoulder. She laughed at how much he looked like a sad puppy and hugged back. She hadn't realized how long she was gone for.
The rain stopped and let a cold breeze roll in, but neither of them noticed. He pulled back from his hug and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Neither of their breaths made clouds in the air.
"Don't be silly, nothing can hurt us now! I'm sorry I couldn't find your present, though.."
That's what she told him as she reached up to kiss his cheek in apology. He felt a little embarrassed at this truth and scratched his cheek lightly with his finger. She raised a good point.
The sun was about to rise, and the street light above the swing set went out. She took his hand in hers and began to lead them away from the swings. He took a few extra quick steps so he could walk beside her.
"I don't mind, having you back is present enough."
That's what he told her as the sun rose above the horizon. Their bodies began to fade with the increasing glow, but their hands never separated. If they did this, then they knew they would see each other again the next night.
The sun was high in the sky while the abandoned swing set sat silently. In their little ghost town full of stories untold, it waited for its two visitors to come again. The two who never separated, even after death. This was their after-life.
The End
Ocean Born
She loved the ocean and anything and everything related to it. She loved to swim through reefs and pretend to talk to the fish that swam around her. She wasn't afraid if a shark passed by, because she knew it wouldn't hurt her. She was lucky to have seen a whale when she was little, and she always kept that memory close to her heart. Her and her family would go on boat rides, and she would swim in the water as her father fished off the side for the entire day.
The day she had to move away from the water she was devastated, but she tried not to show it. They had to...life was just like that. As they drove across the bridge that connected their beach town to the mainland one last time, she couldn't take her eyes off the glimmering water. She didn't want to say goodbye.
Her family moved up north and more inland. On the day they moved in she ran to the nearby areas to explore. They had rivers, streams, rocky outcrops and shaded clearings. They even had a small lake. But none of them felt like the ocean. The smell of the salt on the wind and the sand under her feet...nothing could compare to that. But most of all, she missed being able to be amongst the creatures of the ocean. The bright little neon fish, the corals that they lived around, and the bigger more dull fish that they hid from. The sharks and the sea turtles and starfish and sand-dollars, the seagulls and the crabs and the sand fleas and how the sun always kept them warm.
She thought she had been doing well with keeping this hidden, but her family recognized it easily. They noticed how she would stare at pictures of ocean creatures and how she would cover parts of her vision to try and make the lake look like it was bigger than she could see. It made them sad...but they knew there wasn't much they could do to make it better.
She got a new job and worked more hours than she did back home per her own choice. She wanted to try and get used to her new living conditions quickly, but nothing seemed to change the unfamiliarity around her. It just never felt like home. At some point within the month she got transfers to a new building the company had opened a few minutes down the road where she never visited before. Something about needing more room for new workers, she didn't really care.
She went to work in the new building and only felt yet another layer of unfamiliarity be added to the blanket that suffocated her. She was tired, unmotivated. All of her inspiration was too far away. As she finished her work and left her office, she looked out one of the windows and took in the surroundings for the first time. Regular old buildings, nothing different....except for one. One building that was much bigger than the rest stood out to her, but not because of its side. It was because of the way the building was built with a large semi-circle sticking out the side. She could only see one part of it from here, but she could see traces of a different material on the side out of sight.
Curious as to what it was, she jogged down the stairs and picked up her pace to a run as she left her car behind. She ran down the couple of blocks while she kept her eyes on the building. Her curiosity had shifted into a pulling sensation. Something was calling her closer. As she rounded the corner that blocked her sight briefly, she stopped dead in her tracks as her heart jumped.
​
The second half of the large circle was entirely glass, and behind that glass was the biggest aquarium she had ever seen. She slowly walked forward as her eyes rounded in awe and she placed a hand on the glass. It was cool to the touch, and the glass was several feet thick. She could see on the far, far other side the faintest traces of windows; that was probably the inside of the building. But she didn't look at it for long, as she was too distracted by everything closer.
Fish of magnificent colors swam by. Some she recognized from her beach back home, and others she'd only seen in books or online. Little neon yellow and blue fish mingled with darker reddish and copper fish. A few dolphins were inside as well as they played with each other around the large naturalistic rocks that made up the reef bed. She was so stunned she had to sit down to continue admiring the sea life she thought she'd never see again. Her heart, which had felt dry and dark, gradually came back to life.
A little meow caught her attention briefly. She looked beside her to see a little black cat had joined her in watching the fish swim by. It didn't try to paw at the glass or anything, it just watched with big round yellow eyes. The girl smiled and looked back at the aquarium waters. She had the feeling that this little cat was just like her, that it was raised somewhere much farther away.
Her new routine left her coming home late into the day, because each time she got off work she would head straight back to that same spot to be with the sea life. The dolphins, which normally messed around by the windows where the people were, started to sometimes come over and say hi to her as well. Her family noticed her change in mood and didn't fully understand until she told them about it one day. The little black cat had ended up coming home with her too, and she would take it with her whenever she went back to the aquarium.
She had to admit, it didn't feel the same as being able to swim and be part of the real ocean...but it was enough. Enough to remind her of who she was, and where she came from. It was a reminder that the ocean wasn't going anywhere, and one day she'd be able to be with it in person once again.
It doesn't matter if you love the beach or hate it, or whether you have a fear of the ocean or go swimming every day. When you're raised on it, it becomes a part of you. The sand sits in the cracks of your soul and can never be fully cleaned out, just how it can never be cleaned out of a bag you never even took there in the first place. The waves will always roar in your ears when there is no other sound to replace it, and the smell will always be just a single memory away.
You can take a person away from the water, but you can never take the water away from a person.
The End