The Rain Falls Harder In August
“Please don’t go Dad.” Ell said with tears forming at the corners of her eyes, “Please don’t”. “I’ll always be here honey, never stop trying” Ell’s father said with his last breath. The room fell silent, then the heart rate monitor let out a single droning beep. Ell’s father had gone still, and now with tears rolling down her cheeks, Ell hugged her father, “I’ll make sure of it Dad”.
- 15 hours earlier -
It was a biting cold, August day, where Ell Johnson, a fourteen year old student at Myers High School. It seemed like any other day, but this was special to her. Ell was never like the other kids. She would always look outside, watching the pitter patter of rain drops create puddles outside the classroom, looking for something in the water, something that she just couldn’t underst- “Ell!” her music teacher called to her. She immediately looked back to the front of the class room and saw Mrs. Prisley glaring at her. “Sorry, I thought I saw something outside”, Ell answered, flipping through her music book. “Maybe you should have seen what page we were ...
Located in the popular Yosemite National Park, Yosemite Falls is the tallest waterfall in California. Every year, mother nature’s breathtaking beauty attracts millions of people from around the world. People hike for three long and fatiguing hours in anticipation of witnessing forceful water rushing down the steep mountain from 2,425 feet above. Last summer, my family and I backpacked through the Yosemite Falls Trail and I came to learn what a truly exhausting experience it is.
Chapter One On a typically gloomy morning in Chesapeake, Virginia, a thirteen-year-old girl was the only one awake. It was two o’clock in the morning, which was extremely early for anybody, even Sydney. However, she had things on her mind that kept her wide awake. As she paced the room, she scribbled on a clipboard, often pausing to shake her head and cross something out.
One rather beautiful day I head down to the building fields of Uruk with my only son Urnabe. He is 14 and he is turning out to be a skilled mason or at least better than his old man. When we get there I see that Binfem was already waiting for me.
I was sitting with my friend, Pistol on one of the bucking shoots watching the barrel race.
“I love you too father!” Maddie yelled, hoping for her voice to find her father in the darkness. She heard no reply. Her cell was miserable. She could hear the rats squeaking, as if announcing their presence.
The school bell pounded in her ears. The class roared a hooray for home time and the commotion of hurried students, racing to escape the classroom, sent her world into a spin. Li Ming made her way through the blurred classroom door, stumbling into the bag racks, knocked over by some kids playing 44 Home. She forced her feet to take her towards her bus. Her heart pounded in her ears, drowning out her chance of hearing anything other fumbling noises. The ground smouldered and sent up a disorientating haze. Her small brown eyes went glossy with tears, almost as to signal the darkening clouds blowing
ELODIN STRODE INTO THE lecture hall almost an hour late. His clothes were covered in grass stains, and there were dried leaves tangled in his hair. He was grinning. Today there were only six of us waiting for him.
she always used to wish for a way to escape her life. She saw memories
The Swamp As I hopped out of the car to grab my supplies, my shirt was immediately drenched in sweat and humidity. I had arrived at boot camp in Merritt Island, Florida which was to help me prepare for the missions work in the field. While at Boot Camp I learned the value of hard work, how to work better in a team, and how to get along with people that rub me the wrong way. Even though Boot Camp was miserable I still learned a lot I was able to learn the value of hard work at Boot Camp.
Darkness of the hour took over NYC and a sense of abnormality and fear became present once again. The wind spoke quiet whispers as though it frightened everyone off the streets, leaving the entire city reclusive amongst its large population. As frightening as it might sound it wasn’t the only thing that kept the people off the streets during the night. The streets of this city were manifested with a special drawing like it was a canvas.
The year is 2003. It’s the beginning of July in a small suburb town. A little girl sits in her backyard on a covered swing. The sun sat in a cloudless sky, casting shadowy patterns across the cushion on the swing. She can hear her younger sisters laughing and splashing in the pool that is just a few feet away. But she was not interested in swimming, because her attention was on the book on her lap that she had just gotten yesterday. Her feet brushing against the grass with every motion of the swing. Her eyes eagerly scanning the pages, trying to soak up as much of the story she could. Before her mom told her to put the book down and spend time with her family.
The Creature That Opened My Eyes Sympathy, anger, hate, and empathy, these are just a few of the emotions that came over me while getting to know and trying to understand the creature created by victor frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. For the first time I became completely enthralled in a novel and learned to appreciate literature not only for the great stories they tell but also for the affect it could have on someones life as cliché as that might sound, if that weren’t enough it also gave me a greater appreciation and understanding of the idiom “never judge a book by its cover.” As a pimply faced, insecure, loner, and at most times self absorbed sophomore in high school I was never one to put anytime or focus when it came time
"That is never going to work." The light, vaguely amused voice came from the treetops, immediately above where Aragorn, son of Arathorn, was kneeling over a small patch of forest floor that had been cleared of fallen leaves and other debris. Ignoring the comment, the ranger continued in his work, pausing only to wipe a tired arm across his sweat-dampened forehead. Within seconds, a pair of booted feet had thumped softly to the ground as their owner dropped from the lofty heights of the thick forest canopy to land not six feet from where the ranger was crouched.
This is it. The moment that decides my fate. Stones stretch before my feet, disappearing in the distance under the reflection of the sky. Water ripples as I take a breath and slide my foo into the lake’s edge. Perfectly polished rocks of all different sizes and colors lay before me, each a symbol of the choice I will make.
I look up at the flapping bit of cloth outside the window, watching it intensely. The wind gently brushes my face as it worms its way through the cracks in the bricks. I look back in front of me, the city lights shimmer like a party of fire flies. The sounds of the nights echoed, almost like everyone was trying to be the loudest. The skylines filled with skyscrapers, lit apartment lights scattered few between them.