The Night Walk

I lay there under a blanket of stars, and on a bed of grass. Thoughts flood my mind as wind washes over me. I stare up into the sky, and make pictures out of the stars. Out of nowhere, a sickening crack sounds out.

My grandmother had always warned me about the creatures the woods. That’s why I had always observed it from that field near it. Close enough to see past the first few lines of trees, but far enough to stay safe.

A second crack rang out. At that moment curiosity out ruled the warning. I sat up to look into the woods, but nothing was there. I stood up and paced over to the first tree. I saw a caterpillar munching on a leaf, and an ant that was on its way home. I heard a mosquito near my hear hungry for a drop of blood. A force was pulling me into the woods. Was it curiosity? Was it destiny? Whatever it was, it was nagging me to advance farther.

As I walked, the trees grew thicker and thicker. Soon I wouldn’t even be able to see the stars through the leaves. My eyes adjusted to the darkness as the trees blocked out more and more light. I had walked a good long while, but it only felt like five minutes. I came across a tree that was as thick as I was tall, and I knew that I had reached the oldest part of the woods.

A rustle had come from a bush behind me making me jump. Quickly, I hid behind the thick tree. I hoped that whatever was out there wouldn’t smell my fear. My heart was pounding in my ears. This wasn’t good. The rustling grew more violent. Then silence. The rustling stopped and nothing made a noise. Not even the little cricket bug. Suddenly something small and furry appeared from behind the bush. It was much like a paw. Or maybe even a claw. At that moment, I couldn’t tell if anything was making noise because my heart was pound so loud in my ears. It slowly crept farther and farther out from behind the bush. Soon, I could see a young wolf cub with grey fur and amber eyes was emerging. I dropped down to my hands and knees. The cub came cautiously closer. It was starting to sniff my hand when a howl rode on the wind toward us. The cub perked up its ears and looked in the direction in which it came. Then bolted off into the forest. I climbed to my feet, and bolted the way I came for fear of the cubs’ mother.

I passed the edge of the woods, but did not stop till I was home. The experience didn’t keep me away from the woods. It attracted me to it even more. Over the next few years, I had explored almost every inch of that place. It had become my home away from home.

The Break-Up

I’m walking. Its night and the street lamps light the street. My hands are shoved into my jean pockets. Rain weighs down my dark brown hair. A thousand things are going through my mind, but all of them have something in common. They are all memories of my girlfriend, Jessica, and I. The good moments, and the bad moments play like a movie in my head. I close my eyes, and tilt my head back. The raindrops crash onto my face. I can feel them run down my cheeks. The worst memory of them all takes its turn on the theater screen in my head. This memory had just happened about an hour ago.

Jessica had met me in the park. She looked so beautiful with the light from the lamps bouncing of her long, blonde hair. She had asked me to meet her there to tell me something. I had something I wanted to tell her too. We had been dating for about four months, and I still hadn’t said that I loved her because I thought I would be rushing things. So, I was going to tell her then. When I saw her, I gave her a hug, but she didn’t hug back. She seemed tense.

“Hey, Luke”, was all she said to greet me. “Listen I’m sorry, but I don’t think this will work.” That sentence had taken my breath away. My arms were slack at my side. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She continued, “I have been thinking about this for a while, and I just don’t think it will work out for us.”

“But”, I started as I put my hands on her shoulders. “Jessica, I love you.” I thought that saying that would help, but all it did was make tears fall from her sapphire like eyes. “I don’t know what I did, but I can fix it. I promise.” At this point, she was sobbing so much that she couldn’t make a single word.

“I’m sorry”, was all she whispered, and then she turned and ran home. I just stumbled backwards onto a bench. None of it made sense. I thought we were doing so well. Sure we had a couple fights, but don’t all couples? I decided to take a walk to clear my head, and now here I am in the rain on an abandoned street at night. I went through that scene a few more times to see if she had hinted at something that I did wrong, but I didn’t remember anything. Frustration caused me to throw my hands in the air and yell, “What did I do?” I turned and punched the street lamp. Then I kicked the trash can that was sitting next to it. Candy wrapper, pop bottles, and old newspapers scattered in the street. I dropped to my knees. My hands dropped into my lap. Tears mixed with the rain on my cheeks. I needed someone to talk to, so I texted my friend Logan.

Me: Hey dude, can we talk?

Logan: Sure bud. What’s up?

Me: Jessica just ended it.

Logan: That stinks. Did she say why?

Me: No. She wouldn’t even tell me who did the wrong.

Logan: Um sorry man, but I think I’m the one who did the wrong.

Me: What do you mean?

Logan: I kissed her yesterday at the movies

The Track

I was running. My arms were pumping at my sides. Air rushed into my lungs, then right back out. My eyes stayed focused on what was in front of me. They didn’t glance back at the other runners. They didn’t search the crowd for mom. Focusing forward was all they needed to do. The hard pounding in my chest leveled out as I entered my zone.

My zone was a place I went anytime I felt nervous, pressured, and/or scared. It calmed me down. Yet, I always made sure to leave a part of me in the real world. Right now the real world was on that track, and putting one foot in front of the other. I was feeling pretty good. Nobody was in front of me, and my zone was especially wonderful on that sunny day. Maybe that’s why I didn’t see the girl in the other lane pass me.

“Come on Jada you can you can do it”, yelled coach from the side lines. Coach also happened to be my dad. Just hearing him cheer me on made me get an extra boost of energy. I still didn’t look over to see him though. I needed to keep my focus on the track. This track was the only thing between me, and being state champion. My feet pounded down on the orange lane I was running in. I could see the finish line just a few yards away. The other runner and I were neck and neck. That’s when I heard a familiar voice. It wasn’t my dad’s voice. It was a young voice.

“Go Jada, go”, the voice yelled out. It repeated that over and over. I couldn’t help it anymore. I looked over. What I saw put a huge smile on my face. I saw my little 8 year old brother. He was running along the side the fence that separated the bleachers and track yelling, “You can do it Jada.” That was when I decided that I would win this race for him.

The finish line was 3 yards away, and the girl next to me was still tied with me. I found the last bit of energy in my body, and started to sprint the rest of the way. The girl was still right behind me. Just a little bit farther, I thought. Finally my feet sailed right over the finish line. I stopped and put my hands on my knees. I panted for air. The girl that came in second was doing the same. Standing up, I put out my hand.

“Good race”, I told her. She took my hand, and said the same to me. I could hear the crowd cheering, especially my mom. She kept shouting, “There she is, that’s my daughter.” I just laughed. My dad ran up to me and gave me a big hug. The rest of the track team came up to congratulate me. Once everything calmed down a little bit, a reporter from the town newspaper came up to me and asked, “So Jada, you are this year’s track champion. Do you have anything you want to say?”

“Well, I just want to thank my team mates, and my coach for helping me out, but most of all I want to thank my little brother, Eric.” I looked over at Eric in the bleachers. “I couldn’t have won this without him. I won this for him”. Eric came onto the track, and I gave him the biggest hug of the day.

My BGF

She was walking through the halls of a now abandoned school. Knowing that at 8:00 tomorrow morning it would be flooded with people yet again, but for now it remains empty.

Her steps echo off the poster covered walls as she walks to her locker, for she had to stay after to work on a project. A few more feet away from her locker, she notices a piece of paper attached to the green painted locker. She takes it down. The front had her name on it, “Lexie”. She quickly unfolds it to find the words written on the inside. It read,

“Please meet me in the park after school

-BGF”

The note had been from her best friend, Jack. They always signed their notes with BGF. His stood for Best Guy Friend, and hers stood for Best Gal Friend since they weren’t dating, just friends.

Anyways, for the longest time Lexie had wanted to be more than just friends, and dolled herself up whenever she was going to see him, so, everyday. This was good because that meant she could go see him right away. She was already late.

Lexie walked the two blocks to the park to find Jack sitting on the bench.

“Hey”, he says.

“Hey”, she responds. The two sat in an awkward silence, at least until it had started to rain. Jack grabbed Lexie’s arm, and ran with her to the underside of a tree. They were both laughing. Suddenly Jack says something.

“I know this is kind of random, but…” he pulls out a small black box from his sweatshirt pocket. “Will you be my girlfriend, not just my gal friend?” he bit his bottom lip as he opened the box to reveal a beautiful charm bracelet. It had a crescent moon, a star, a peace sign, a smiley face, and a heart. Lexie stated at the different charms. Finally she looks up, and says with a huge smile on her face,

“Yes!” she doesn’t even try to hide the relief in her voice. Jack slips the bracelet onto Lexie’s wrist. “Thank you. I was starting to think you wouldn’t ask me.” They both laughed.

The End