➵ Writer_Cat's Short Stories and Excerpts

I'll be posting short stories and excerpts from my writing here!
Hope you enjoy!

To You Who is Forgotten
April 21, 2023

The winter was well underway when the accident happened. What officials would call “a minor incident.” It was late at night and a storm was rapidly approaching. Comms were down, no signals were getting through the rain. No one knew that the heavy rain caused a massive flood, collapsing miles and miles of ground underneath the train tracks. No one knew that a landslide would occur, coincidentally right when the train was passing through. And definitely no one knew that the train would go missing mysteriously and never be found again.

The train sped through the route, its conductors desperate to get out of the rain that blinded them. The passengers on board gripped their seats in fear and terror, wondering why the train was going so fast, hoping they would get out safely. But it was not to be. The train thumped on the tracks. Everything started to slide down as the tracks groaned, unable to carry the weight. People screamed in panic, grabbing at each other and yelling questions. The conductors wiped their brows and tried to peer ahead, but there was only slowly bending train tracks and endless darkness. Rumbles from above vibrated through the cabins. Then the landslide happened. Tons and tons of rocks and mud started to slide from above. The slope failed, collapsed and, with a resounding boom, the rain and soil and rocks crashed down on the train, knocking it onto its side and into the abyss and churning water below.

It plummeted downwards, hitting the water with a huge splash. The impact rattled the train, cracking the windows. Then it sank, descending rapidly into the flooding river. The passengers were trapped inside, desperately banging on the walls, slowly drowning. The train became their watery grave, swept away by the floods.

My parents were on that train.
_____________________________

I picked up a blue colored pencil and, as strokes of brilliant blues covered the page, an image appeared in my mind's eye. An ocean lay before me, glimmering and shining like the jewel brooch that Mother used to wear on special days. She never exactly said what she was celebrating but they must have been something good because she would be smiling. I smiled back, basking in the warmth of her glow. Waves crashed against the shore, foaming white as the crest of the wave rose high. The alluring beauty and mystery of the waters drew me closer and-

“WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING?! ” yelled my grandfather. He snatched the drawing from my hands and started ripping it up. Tears welled up in my eyes as the beautiful image in my mind was torn to shreds.

He finished ruining my work and turned on me. “You know better than to even think about the ocean! What have I told you numerous times?!”

I twisted my fingers nervously, mumbling. “It's illegal to go near the ocean? It's dangerous?”

“Then why were you drawing this?” He wildly gestured towards the scraps of paper on the floor.

I shrugged, staying quiet. He scowled and, very predictably, like he had a million times, brought up my parents. “You know your parents drowned in a river! The ocean is dangerous! Stop this at once!”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and just nodded. He turned and stomped out of my room, slamming the door behind him. With the picture of my parents, in the train during that night, my eyes strayed to newspaper clippings on my wall, of the train accident, that I had read over and over again a million times.

On January 15th, 12:30am, a landslide occurred, knocking a train and its passengers over into the water. Only 15 people were on the train, all of which have allegedly died. 10 were passengers. The train and the people inside were never found.
Passengers on board: Dr. Henry Lowman, Dr. Marie Muir, Dr. Alvar Buchanan, Dr. Ellie Wilson, Dr. John Grant, Dr. Michael Anderson, Dr. Ed Rodriguez, Dr. Alice Mueller, Dr. Arnold Levin, Dr. Riley Levin.

A photo of my parents, looking grim and serious, was next to the newspaper clipping. They stared into oblivion as if they were steadying themselves for something dark ahead. Why did they look like that? The parents I knew were usually smiling and happy. Or were they only like that around me?

I got up quietly from my bed and crept to my door, listening for my grandfather. There was no sound. The door creaked open slowly and I snuck out, making my way down the hallway to my mother and father's office. Only now had I thought to look in their office, where they spent most of their time, for answers. I wanted to know. Why did they look like that?

The office yielded no results. But answers were always well hidden. I kept looking. My grandfather moved around upstairs, causing the floorboards to creak, raining down dust. A slip of white paper, caught underneath a cabinet caught my eye. I got down and peered underneath, trying to reach it. After some trial and error, I slowly drew it out from under the cabinet, careful not to rip it. The paper had a phone number on it. Below were the words, “Diving Instructor. ” My lips curved into a smile
.
Two weeks later, I was standing on a dark rock, preparing to dive. The water crashed against the rocks, sending up white foam. Excitement rattled in my chest as I grinned happily, adjusting my equipment. My grandfather was at home, sleeping deeply. He had no idea what I was doing. Nobody did. I dove into the water, swimming downwards. Bubbles rose upwards from my regulator. The light grew dimmer and the ocean turned into a dark, murky blue. Every so often, a flash of a fin would flit around a rock or plant and vanish. Time slowed as I swam, taking in the beautiful landscape of the ocean.

Then, I saw the train, on its side and rusting in the ocean, completely devoid of life. Weighed down by huge iron chains. They seemed to glow in the pale blue light. The water was dark and full of shadows, echoing with a mysterious and quiet voice. My heart thumped and my breath hitched. Was this it? The train where my parents died? Unafraid and yet apprehensive, I made my way through one of the many broken windows.

The skeletons were unexpected. Bone white skeletons of once living people, forever bound to the watery grave by the same heavy iron chains as the one that dragged the train down.I startled at first but continued onwards. Moving on to the next cabin, I dragged my eyes away from the bones that seemed to cry out for the vengeance that I could not give them.

The cabin was as disturbing, if not more, as the last one. The walls were scrawled all over with the same panicked words. In desperation and fear, whoever wrote the words made too close together, rendering them illegible. I could only make out a few letters. The light was only a dark gleam that illuminated a single section of the wall. I came a little closer, reaching out a hand to touch the messy, straight-edged writing. A flash of metal from the other side of the cabin distracted me. A couple of skeletons, chained like the ones before, reached for help desperately with broken and dulled knives in their hands, as if they had died writing those words.

A beeping noise sounded. I was running out of air. I swam back, slipping through a shattered window and started kicking my legs, moving upwards rapidly. My head broke the surface and I swam up to the shore. It was as silent and dark as the waters below that housed the skeletons . Even the waves stilled as if it was the calm before the storm.

I had a lot to think about on the way home. The front door creaked as always, revealing a dreary house, one that used to be full of life. My feet were silent against the carpeted floor. I crept back to my room and lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. My mind flashed back to the wrecked train below the ocean. The skeletons looked like they had been there forever, since the beginning of time. But…

I shot up in shock. The train accident happened two years ago. It takes five years for bodies to decompose into skeletons in deep, cold water. How were they already skeletons? Despite knowing there was no answer for this in the office, I raced to my parent´s office, my feet banging against the floor. My grandfather was still asleep, laying on the bed in his room. He had not woken up yet.

I dove for the cabinet, feeling the bottom of the dark wood. My fingers felt paper. A file. I pulled the light brown file off and out from under the cabinet, my heart racing. On the cover was a stamp with large red lettering. Classified.

I opened it anyways. Blueprints of weapons that I had never seen before. They had aerodynamic shapes and were designed, interestingly enough, for underwater usage. But this did not explain why the people on the train were already skeletons. I moved onwards.

The lethal weapons were to fight people. But they could just use regular weapons for that. What was so special about these people, that the government would pour trillions of dollars into this? The page talked about weaknesses, strengths, strategies, battle tactics and habitats. They lived underwater. No wonder regular weapons didn't cut it. The government couldn't use nuclear weapons, they wanted to keep this silent war a secret.

I read on. There was a list of names, the scientists who developed the weapons. One of them looked familiar. Dr. Henry Lowman. An image of the newspaper clippings's obituary appeared in my mind's eye. I frowned and darted back to my room with the file, going straight to the newspaper. My heart thumped loudly, refusing to calm down. I re-read the list of names and then looked back at the list of scientists.

Dr. Alice Mueller, Dr. Alvar Buchanan, Dr. Arnold Levin, Dr. Ed Rodriguez, Dr. Ellie Wilson, Dr. Henry Lowman, Dr. John Grant, Dr. Marie Muir, Dr. Michael Anderson, Dr. Riley Levin.

My heart dropped to my stomach, thumping. I double checked each name as I finally realized. All of these scientists, everyone who worked on the project died in the train crash.

I took a deep breath to calm my jittery nerves. The reminder of those who died in the train crash brought my objective to mind. The skeletons. I flipped to the next page. It contained warnings in at least 15 languages. Every single one repeated the same thing. This is classified information. Accessing this file is punishable under pain of death.

But I didn't care. I wanted answers. Flipping the page brought a document into view. Written on a typewriter, it contained background information about the silent war.

The government launched a urban development program, to harness the ocean's power and build vast cities underwater. In doing so, they awoke the Dregs, the sea people. The Dregs fought back, protecting their territory. The government realized that they needed a different approach. They launched another project, the development of new, cutting-edge weapons. But the mass purchases of unusual materials and technology, the deployment of troops to the ocean and the collection of underwater equipment. The victories celebrated frequently. It drew people's attention. The government couldn't keep the silent war a secret forever. Especially not after people were banned from going near the ocean. Islanders were forced to leave their homes, refugees and migrants poured in and people started to wonder. The government was going to take action. At any cost, they ensured that people didn't find out. Even going as far as killing people.

The file slipped from my fingers as my face paled. My parents, the train crash, all those scientists. None of this could be a coincidence. They were killed by the government, officials who, just months before, pleaded with them to start developing the weapons. This was the truth. But I couldn't tell anybody. The government made sure of that. People with thumping footsteps crashed into the house, shouting at the top of their voices. They broke down my bedroom door, pointing guns at me. The moment before somebody shot me, I realized. Grandfather hasn't woken up yet.

2090 words | 6 pages

Journey of Alwyn

November 22, 2021

Old Prologue

I’ve walked this path many times….too many times. The feeling of shifting rocks beneath my feet is familiar. The rustling of the trees reminds me of old memories. I can hear the waves crashing against the shore down below. I shiver in the cold morning breeze, thinking back to when I last saw my brother. How much time has passed? 3 years? 4 years? I must have been 9 when I left him….and my past. My new life has only one companion. Where is she? An overwhelming feeling of panic engulfs my thoughts. What if she’s been taken by them? I break into a sprint. If they’ve taken her, they must be down at the shore. I speed along, hoping I’m not too late.

New Prologue

The path that I’m walking on, the wind in the trees and the shore far below. This is all familiar to me, a burden and a heavy weight on my shoulders that seems to vanish and reappear at random. The waves crash against the cliffside, roaring in the storm. The gusts of wind seem to sing a song of sadness and of the past. An overwhelming feeling of grief and guilt fills me and I tilt my head back to stare at the dark sky. The weight of my secrets seem to shatter my heart into a million pieces. Tears start to fall from my eyes as I wonder how I got here.

I clutch my head as unwanted memories and feelings rush and tear through my mind. I hear footsteps behind me and turn to look. My sister stands in front of me, staring with a solemn expression.

She reaches her hand out towards me as she says, “This is all your fault. You are the reason why I’m dead.”

I stumble back, shaking my head. “No, I tried- I- It’s not my fault!”

She just stares at me and repeats it over and over again. As the words echo in my head, the rest of my family appears amongst flames and rubble. “Why did you do it? Why didn’t you help us?”

“You traitor!”

“You left your family for a dragon!”

“How could you?”

I cover my ears as I try to take deep breaths. It’s not my fault. It’s not. Don’t listen. I lift my head up and stare back at my family. “Wait- You’re not my family. My family wouldn’t blame me, even if it was my fault. They’d be understanding and- you’re not them. Get away from me!”

The shadows disappeared as I screamed at them. Relief washed through me as the echoes stopped. Finally…. I turn to see two eyes, staring at me from the light. Two eyes, boring into me unblinkingly.I clap my hands over my mouth to stop myself from screaming. My gaze is fixated on them as they grew closer and closer. Those eyes looked familiar.

“You’ll never escape me… You can’t. I will catch up with you eventually…”

Chapter 1

Something nudges me, a dark shadow in my blurry vision. The terror and pain I felt echoes throughout my head. I manage to pull myself up, wiping away my tears. A dragon with a long elegant neck and sharp silver spikes and silver curls up around me and stares at me with a concerned expression. I place my hand on her nose and smile faintly. Her black and silver scales gleam in the moonlight.

I rub her scales gently as I try to shake off the whispers of my nightmare. “Oh, Nova.I’m okay. Just a bad dream.”

She nods and tilts her head, staring at me. I look away as another rush of fear distracts my train of thought. I don’t like thinking about my sister or the rest of my family. The ghosts and memories of my past still haunts me, even though I am no longer crippled by guilt. Nova looks up in alarm and bounds away.

I get up in a hurry and start to follow. Then I notice the fire and quickly snuff it out before sprinting after her. A panicked screech cuts through the thick darkness. My mind instantly clears as I focus on the roaring and screeching. Anxiety shoots through me as I try not to relive the memories of the past, focusing only on catching up with Nova.

I arrive at the edge of the forest in time to see a black and silver dragon tail disappearing into the thick foliage, ferns rustling. I plunge after it, panicked and worried. Blinded by anxiety, I burst into a clearing.I freeze when I realize that dragon trappers fill the clearing. My eyes flick around, analyzing the situation. One of the dragon trappers were in the middle of pulling a weighed net that holds a black and silver dragon. My dragon.

My expression turns pure rage as my mind darkens. I’d already lost everything to dragon trappers. It won’t happen again. I pull a thin bladed boomerang from my belt and hurl it at the net. The blade slices through the rope easily, swinging back towards me. I reach up my hand and catch it, glaring at the trappers with red tinted eyes. Nova shakes off the net, recovering from the tranquilizer that they injected her with. She shakes her head, snarling.

I pull out one of my daggers from its black and silver-marked sheath and charge forwards, the blade dripping with black venom. The trappers in front are quickly taken out with a couple slashes with my blade. They collapse on the ground, screaming and clawing their faces as the venom eats away at their eyes, hissing and burning. I quickly sheathe my dagger as Nova leaps up and lets out a terrifying growl at the Vikings. They draw and ready their weapons. A icy glow appears in her mouth as she draws her lips back in a vicious snarl.

When she glances at me and nods, I quickly dive out of the clearing. She shoots a freezing blast of ice at the trappers, instantly freezing them. The ice continues to spread farther, causing the grass to wither up and turn black. I can feel the cold even from this far away. I come back into the clearing, breathing a sigh of relief. She turns to me and a pleased noise rumbles in her throat. I rest my hand on her head. “Oh, Nova. What would I do without you?”

She closes her eyes and smiles as if she’s saying, I won’t ever leave you.I tip my head back and close my eyes, smiling through unshed tears and trying not to cry. I wipe the tears away with my arm and mutter, “Geez, I know you won’t. Now let’s get out of here.”

I turn towards the frozen dragon trappers and snap my fingers. The ice melts away and the trappers turn to thick, dark dust. We spiral into the sky, gaining speed as we swiftly shoot away from the clearing. The wind runs through my hair and fills me with an odd feeling of dread and anticipation. Nova lands on the ground near our cave, sending dust up into the air. I wave the cloud away and dismount, the packed sand crunching beneath my feet.

We start to walk back to our cave which is hidden in a small, concealed cove. Nova walks beside me, constantly glancing around with her glaring silver eyes. The long grass surrounding the trees wave and rustle in the wind. My footsteps grow slower as I take in my surroundings. The gusts of wind turn cold and the sky starts to darken. The trees cast dark shadows onto the sandy path. The shadows start to take shape before my tired eyes.

I quicken my pace, uneasy about being alone at night. Nova is sitting near the edge of the cliff, looking at the beautiful sunset. I sit down next to her, my feet dangling over the long drop into the ocean. We share a moment of silence as the sun slowly sets and the sky turns dark. The stars shine brightly overhead in the darkness.I stare at the stars, wondering if the people of my past are looking at the same night sky. I close my eyes and turn away. Nova and I head into the cave and settle down for the night.

The next day, I exit the cave and look up into the sky. The clouds are stormy and dark. The wind carries cold droplets as it blows against my face. “It’s going to rain. Should we still check out that archipelago?” I call to Nova.

She lifts her head, glances at the sky and nods. We set off in the light drizzle towards the islands we saw earlier in the week. As we fly, the storm gets worse.The rain falls heavily and without cease. Powerful wind gusts blow constantly, battering Nova and blowing us off course.

The waves of the ocean below us crash and rise high. Blinding lightning constantly strikes overhead, lighting up the horizon. Thunder booms loudly. Nova and I are flying across the ocean, trying to get back to our island. A noise of unease and anxiety rumbles in Nova’s throat.

“What’s wrong, Nova?” I ask, laying a hand on her head.

She shakes her head, snarling at some unseen danger. Unable to understand, I sigh and keep flying. The waves keep reaching higher. White foam crowns each wave. The sea is a dark stormy blue color. In the depths below, I can barely make out silhouettes of sea dragons. I try to get a closer look but the thrashing waves quickly conceal the dragons. Nova’s wings beat harder, trying to fly against the wind. Lightning keeps striking close and the thunder’s noise fills my ears.

I shake my head in despair, trying to remember why I decided to fly across the ocean in the middle of one of the worst lightning storms
I've ever seen. “This is an incredibly bad idea,” I mutter. “Why did I decide to do this, Nova? Why am I always making bad decisions?”

She flinches as the blinding lightning strikes too close to us.I strain to look ahead, desperate for any land. Our best chance is to find shelter before we’re struck by lightning. I can’t see a single thing through the wind and rain. It’s too dark to navigate clearly. The worst place to be in the middle of a lightning storm is in the ocean or out in the open, surrounded by metal. I sigh, lowering my head in my hands and trying to think of calming
thoughts. Nova suddenly makes an interested noise. My head jerks up and I look around, trying to spot what made her so interested. I lean over and tilt my head sideways to look at her in the eye. “What did you see?”

She stretches her head forwards and I look closely at the horizon. She slows down and shakes her head, closing her eyes. As we fly through the heavy rain, what she saw begins to become clearer. A huge island comes into view. I finally recognize the island.

It looks like Berk, an island inhabited by unpleasant Vikings. But I’ve heard good things about Berk now. They say that dragons and Vikings get along now, which I find hard to believe. Still, it’s somewhere to take cover. We just have to be careful, just in case the rumors turn out to be false. We swoop over Berk, observing the tall poles that the houses are built upon and the huge buildings. Sticking out on the cliff’s side is a big wooden painted platform. It has a door that’s currently shut. The thunder booming overhead reminds me that we’re still in a huge storm and I urge Nova to fly faster. We have no choice but to land here until the storm passes.

When Nova and I land on the shore, I pause and look around cautiously. Nova nudges my hand and looks at me anxiously. I glance at her and smile a little, trying to reassure her.We hurry to a sheltered area surrounded by cliffs. I make my way through the rocks and down to the lake. The tall sandstone walls loom above us. I sit down under a tree and look around. I don’t mind the rain. It soothes me and makes me feel at peace. Nova flies up and curls herself around me, sheltering me with her big black wings. I tip my head back, looking at the beautiful undersides of her wings, like bright stars. I lean all the way back and flop my arm across my eyes. A thought crosses my mind before I can stop it.

“She would’ve loved to be here. It’s so beautiful,” I mumble sadly.

Time vanishes into some inner part of my mind as I focus on my memories. I’m not aware of it when I finally fall asleep. At dawn, I slowly wake up to find the sun shining in my face through the black wings of Nova. I shield my eyes and squirm around until I’m looking right into Nova’s face. I poke her until she opens her eyes and raises her head. She glares at me and starts smacking me with her wings.

I laugh as I shield my head. I rub her throat and she makes a happy, rumbling sound. I start to wonder what Berk is like. Is it nice? Is it cold Must be cold. What are the Vikings like? I mount Nova with these thoughts bouncing around in my head. Nova shoots forwards, the trees and the wind rushing past us. I can only see a blur of color and feel the wind blowing hard on my face, distracting me from my questions. I love this feeling of flying. I always feel so free. The air smells so cold and fresh. The sky looks so beautiful and clear. I breathe deeply, relieved when I don’t feel the sharp pain that I get sometimes.

We arch into the sky, spinning towards the village. I can still see all the houses and the Vikings of Berk. As we fly, the island of Berk vanishes into the distance, a tiny dot in the horizon. After a little while, we land near our cave. I hurry up the sandy path to my cave, noticing dozens of dragon footprints on the path. Nova snarls as the spikes on her back rise up. She races up the path into the cave and I follow to find a huge mess at my cave. Everything is knocked over and there are muddy clawprints all over the cave. Thankfully, the Terrors didn’t find their way to my workshop. But my relief is soon dissolved when I realize how coordinated this stampede was. This was no accident. Was this HIS doing?! I shake my head, shaking away the anxious thoughts.

I decide to put aside the cleaning for later and go for a walk instead. As I walk, I feel a sharp pang of grief in my heart. I sigh and grit my teeth, trying not to cry as I think about my beloved sister. Before I start to ask myself questions that I cannot answer now that she’s gone, I head back to the cave and flop down on my bed. I stare up at the roof of the cave, wondering what she would say if she was here. Nova comes in and settles down beside me. I stroke her head absentmindedly and start to wonder about my old village.

It wasn't too long after my sister was born that we found out about her illness. When I met Nova, getting medicine was much faster. But one day, I left to get medicine that would help get rid of her illness for good but I was gone too long and by the time she got back, she was gone. Dead. I was devastated. You’d think that it wouldn’t get any worse but it did. The dragon trappers came and demanded that the villagers let them into the island to hunt the dragons. My village believed that dragons should be respected as fellow humans. The dragons left us alone so we left them alone. The leaders of the village told the trappers to leave. In response, the dragon trappers released their dragons on my people and my family.

I wasn’t able to help and as a result, everyone died. I still remember the burning villages and screams as everyone burned. The dragons destroyed everything and in the end, the dragon trappers got what they wanted.

“They should’ve gotten rid of the dragon trappers before-” I grit my teeth as a surge of grief and anger explodes inside me.

Nova lifts up her head and nudges me. I sigh and sit up, wanting a distraction. My gaze lands on my scrolls and I scoop them up, intrigued. I used to write stories for my sister because she loved them so much. I stare at them, curious to see what I wrote. As time ticks by, I pool over my stories, amused by my past self. Nova swoops by outside the cave, riding the strong air currents. Suddenly, a panicked and extraordinarily angry roar of a dragon cuts through the gentle peace of the evening. Deeming it too urgent to ignore, I call Nova and she shoots over to me, her eyes piercing through the darkness.

“Did you see what it was, Nova?” I ask as I hurriedly shove supplies into her pouches of her saddle.She nods and uses her tail to point at an intricate drawing of a Deadly Nadder pinned up on the wall of our cave. I quickly mount her and she sprints out of the cave and jumps off the edge, unfurling her wings and catching herself before we hit the water. The momentum of the fall ricochets us forwards and we shoot along the surface of the water, leaving a wake of water and white froth behind us. Eventually, we reach the source of the noise.

A fairly small dragon trapper ship shakes and sways heavily as a thrashing yellow and blue Deadly Nadder trapped in a net shakes up the water. Several trappers are trying to wrangle her and pull her onto the ship. Nova dives down, spinning and opening her mouth to shoot deadly cold ice spikes onto the ship. At the last moment, she spreads her wings and we soar over the ship as the spikes smash into the boat, instantly destroying it. Broken splinters of wood float to the surface as the shattered boat sinks slowly.

I hurl my dagger boomerang at the net that the Nadder is trapped in. As the net falls away and the Deadly Nadder spreads its spotted wings, I notice that the Nadder has a saddle. Before I can get a closer look, she takes off, wings beating against the wind. Interesting. This dragon has a rider. I wonder where they are? As I wonder about the Deadly Nadder, an arrow suddenly shoots towards us. My eyes widen and I barely managed to jerk Nova out of the way. A rushing tsunami of memories smash through my head. Bad memories and memories I never want to remember again.

A net suddenly hits us, sending Nova spiraling towards the ground. The angry screeches of Nova shake me back into the present. I whip out my dagger and start to cut through the rope. The ocean seems to come up towards us as the net falls away and Nova spreads her wings, catching us before we hit the water. I sigh in relief, trying to catch my breath as Nova heads towards the nearest island.As I sit on the grass with Nova, I start to hear rustling. I turn my head in time to see a male black dragon emerge from the bushes. I stare at him as my brain slowly processes this.

“Oh. Hi,” I say as I turn back and ignore him.

He comes closer and sits down next to Nova and I. We both ignore him. He keeps glancing at us as he gleefully fidgets which makes him even more suspicious than he already is. I lean back to take a closer look at the flash of metal on his tail. To my surprise, I see a saddle and an interesting contraption. Part of his tail is missing, replaced by the machinery. I sighed and look at him, asking, “Where’s your rider?”

His ears immediately go up as he smiles happily. I glare at him with an unimpressed expression. He turns his head towards the bushes, waits a little while, shrugs and turns back towards me. I sigh, mount Nova, exhausted with everything that happened today.We head back to the cave, leaving behind the black dragon.

3483 words | 9 pages

Narrative for English Class
Written September 23, 2022
The Reason Why She Waited So Long

Liana nimbly climbed up the rigging of her huge three-masted ship. She grinned broadly and laughed as a huge foaming wave rose up and came crashing down, narrowly missing her. This was her everyday life, sailing and having fun with the waves of the ocean. As the sun rose and fell, she did tasks and chores to keep herself busy. When the sky finally went dark, Liana halted in her chore of tying up cargo and glanced up at the dark blue colors above, wiping the sweat off her forehead.

She nodded approvingly and leaned over the side, feeling the spray of seawater on her face. This was her reward for the trouble she went through all those years ago. The wind raced across the surface of the water, whistling. Liana glanced around her at shadows and splintered wood, remembering the blood and death that happened aboard the ship. Was it only a couple years ago when the rebellion happened? She sighed and tilted her head to one side, sinking into the sound of the waves. The tranquility of the evening reminded her of the first time she was on a ship.

Liana had been born an orphan. It was then when she first wanted to become a sailor on a ship. She loved the ocean and the idea of sailing. With her bag of things, she excitedly stepped aboard the ship and hurried aboard the ship and ran up to a grizzled man with a black beard and a battered tricorn hat.

“Hello, Captain! Liana Callum, reporting for duty!¨ Liana announced as she saluted.

He frowned at her as if he didn't like what he was seeing. ¨You´re a girl?”

Liana blinked. It had not occurred to her that they didn't think much of girls. She nodded.“Yes.”

“Are you the new sailor that we hired?” the captain inquired.

Liana nodded again.

Captain John sighed. ”Go get settled.¨

Liana nodded and ran off to the barracks under the deck. Each door had a name scrawled on it. At the very end was her name. Her room was extremely disappointing. It was cramped, small and smelled awful. The floorboards creaked heavily and mold covered everything. She sighed and went back up to the deck to check in with the captain.

To her disappointment, the only thing she'd be doing was cleaning and cooking because, according to the captain, “that was all she was good for.” The other sailors were not particularly kind to her and ordered her around more often than was needed.

“Hey! You there! Clean this mess up!”

Liana sighed and hurried over to clean up yet another mess. The sailor grunted grumpily and muttered something rude. A wave of rage rose up in Liana. She barely managed to swallow it back before she said some choice words but the feeling of anger lingered in her. As the days flew by with sailors pushing her around and treating her poorly, she began to change her mindset. She started to think that perhaps these people deserved something worse. Liana began to hope that something would happen, something that would make them stop their arrogance. She kept promising herself that her time would come but she wasn't sure how long she could wait.

Later that day, she was cooking and two sailors clumped in, making remarks about the captain and the crew. They were complaining about the working conditions.

“Captain's been drinking again along with his buddies.”

“Him and his little group get everything and we get next to nothing. We can't let this go on. When's the rebellion going to take place?”

“Don´t know. I can't take much more of this. I'm starving. Oi, what's fer dinner?”

Liana narrowed her eyes at them. “Same as always. Weird brown gloopy stuff.”

One of the sailors came closer, scowling. “Yew haven't been hidin' the good stuff, have yew?”

The other sailor drew his knife. “Yeah, where's the good grub? I know we have some aboard.”

Liana´s temper finally snapped. She whirled around and glared at them. “You know as well as I do that the captain gets everything! Don't take it out on me!”

They backed up hastily, taken off guard by her sudden outburst. The sailors hurried off, muttering to themselves. She sighed and slid down to the floor. Liana took a deep breath. “Be patient, Liana. Wait for the right moment,” she thought to herself.

Later that night, she recalled the words that the sailors in the galley had said. They mentioned a rebellion. She smiled, wondering if this was when her patience would pay off. Then, she started to hear murmuring voices.

“…rebellion…. in a few days… attack..captain.”

She crept closer, all the way up against the wall. The voices seemed loudest there but no doors were in sight. She leaned against the wood to hear better. To her surprise and dismay, the wooden boards suddenly gave way, falling into a hidden passageway with a loud thud. The voices came closer.

“What was that? Was someone listening?!”

Liana fled back to her room quickly before the voices caught up with her. As she paced around her room, she heard loud shouting.

“Take up arms! We strike now!”

Footsteps raced up to the deck. Doors slammed open and shut. Shouts and screams ensued. She heard the sounds of metal clashing against metal. The wooden boards above shook with thuds and heavy feet. Above deck, blood spilled across the ground and bodies were strewn about. Sailors slashed and stabbed recklessly.The nauseating smell of iron filled the air. Liana shuddered and retreated to her room to wait out the storm, hoping that no one would come to kill her, too. Liana eventually fell asleep, despite the noises of battle and swords.

She eventually woke up to silence. She opened her door and ventured up to the deck, finding the blood and dead sailors. She held her breath as she heaved the bodies overboard. Was she the only one aboard who was alive? She climbed up the rigging to the crow's nest. As the ship skimmed across the waters, leaving a foaming wake behind her, Liana smiled and lifted up her head in the morning breeze. She was the captain of her own vessel now.

1054 words | 4 pages

No. Just—No.
July 25, 2023

Nyx blinked awake as somebody politely knocked on the door. She groaned miserably and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep. A few seconds later and she was drifting in dreamland. Too bad it didn’t last. Another knock at the door. She decided not to worry about why she could hear the knocking when she was on the fourth story and the door was on the first and just pulled her blanket over her head. People’s voices murmured. They knocked again. Silence. A second later, somebody started banging on the door.

Loud. Nyx burrowed deeper into her bed. The banging wouldn’t stop. Shouting started to echo through the house. She couldn’t understand what they were saying and she absolutely did not care. The knocking finally fell silent.

Nyx closed her eyes and let herself fall deeper into sleep, warm and comfortable. The banging began again. Even louder than last time.

She sprang up, angry and annoyed. She practically flew out of the bed, fueled by the desire to viciously strangle whoever was still banging on the door. She slid down the banister of the wide stairs and, unable to stop and quite frankly, lacking the brain capacity to realize that she needed to stop, kept going and rammed into the door and fell over with a very loud bang, slipping on the rug in the process.

The banging stopped. Finally. Nyx seriously considered going back to bed now that the banging stopped but the pain of ramming into the door and then falling on the hard ground had fully woken her up. Dangity nabbit.

She got up, shook her arms for some reason unknown to her and then flung open the door, making Keefe, who apparently had been leaning on said door, fall in backwards. Nyx jumped backwards and, without bothering to check to see if he was okay, glanced up to see Sophie, Fitz, Biana and Dex, all looking slightly guilty and amused at the same time.

Keefe groaned, prompting her to look back down at him, and sat up. She glared at him, wondering if she should strangle him there and then or later.

He laughed sheepishly, and a little nervously and said, “Hey! Took you long enough.”

Her eye twitched.

A second later, he was flung out of her house and she slammed the door in his face. It took a second for the others to get over the shock of being slammed in the face with a door. Biana called from outside. “Nyx, we really need your help! It’s about—“ she paused for a moment and then continued with a noticeably quieter voice. “It’s about something important.”

Nyx sighed. That’s probably a lie. But, against her more-than-a-little-petty instincts to inflict vengeance upon Keefe, opened the door. She narrowed her eyes at Keefe who was hiding behind Fitz. Sophie looked excited, Biana looked calm, Keefe pretended he had suddenly accumulated an intense fascination for the ceiling. Fitz looked guilty, probably because he’d participated in the who-can-make-Nyx-the-most-annoyed-by-banging-on-the-door contest.

Nyx looked at each person before finally settling on Keefe, because he looked like he’d spill the beans. “Well?”

He very excitedly asked, “Wanna play Base Quest?”

She slammed the door in his face.