Work Sample

Fiction Writing

The In Between (short story)

I stood there, facing the water. The crystallized water, shattering over the grains of sand. I gulped down a deep breath of lightly salted air as my eyes shifted up to the sky. It is overcast now, a blanket of gray swaddling the Earth, shielding the honey glazed Sun. I couldn’t remember how and why I was there. Flashes of vivid memories ran across my mind with such fury that I became dizzy. I felt my back slam the ground, knocking the wind from my chest and into the atmosphere. The sky began to fall, sending it’s very own tear drops to hit my face. My hands dug into the sand as I clicked through the memories. It felt as though they were projected against my eyes. I could feel the gears in my brain shifting, almost like sorting through files, each containing the most significant memories. 

I was suddenly thrown into the ocean. Sitting at the bottom of a white sanded floor that struck me as very familiar. My hair floated in the water, accompanied by my loose white dress. It was strange because the salt water didn’t sting my clear vision and my lungs were not twitching for air. I began to swim strokes up to the glittering surface, but the closer my fingertips came to breaching the top, the darker my vision became. Panic swallowed me whole. My hand could practically feel the air sitting above the water but a current grasped me in it’s travels back down to the bottom, deeper than before.

My back shot up, and the darkness faded from my eyes. I was back on the beach. I was drenched by the rain that had turned into a downpour. Maybe I was soaked from the ocean… no that was a dream, right? I stood up, breathing heavily, rain still pounding on the top of my head. I began to run as fast as I could. I don’t know what I was running from, exactly. As I ran, my surroundings began to manifest. Trees launched from the ground, carving a maze around me. A path grew beneath me. This all felt so familiar… It was the trail I used to run. Once I realized that, the shouting started. I could hear people screaming my name. They were calling for help and I knew I had to reach them. I began to pump my legs harder and harder until the shrieks sounded so close. Just before I could reach the noise, I fell. I braced myself for the rugged mulch that I would hit, but my face was smashed by a pillow of sand and the rain began to hit my back again.  

I stood up brushing the sand that was stuck to my wet dress. The sky began to crackle, releasing a beautiful roar. I closed my eyes and looked up. I tried my hardest to press my face against the sky. Everything around me slowed, the drops cascaded down my face like liquid silver. I returned my head to its natural state and I landed in a room. A room that smelled like home. The only light in the room, radiated from the fireplace that resided in a stone cave. There was a tree in the corner of the room, completely woven in Christmas lights and layered with ornaments. I don’t know how my eyes didn’t immediately focus on the tree. It was truly beautiful. My body was immediately warm and flowers began to bloom in my chest. I could still hear the rain beating on the roof.  I stepped over to the banister and glided my hand over it as I walked up the steps. My fingertips grazed every single ridge in the wooden guide. I made it to the top and entered my room and there he was. Tall and tan. His eyes were saturated pools of green glass and his hair was a messy masterpiece. He took my hand in his and we sat on my bed. We wrapped up in the cloudlike sheets and listened to the rain. This was peace. I was here.

Poetry

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