The Bright Wish

Laura stared out her window.  All of a sudden, a star fell from the sky.  The bright light radiated from it as it neared the earth.

The light flickered brightly.  It was so bright that Laura had to close her eyes.  While she was doing this, she heard a loud crash.

With that, she ran outside to see what was going on.  She was in her pajamas, but she didn’t care.

As she walked to the backyard, she saw the crash site.  A bright, shiny stone was sitting there in the center of the crater.  Curious of this stone, Laura reached out and grabbed the stone.  It flashed in her hands.

After that, Laura began to flash.  “What’s happening to me?” She gasped.

It then dawned on her.  This was the star that she wished for.  The stone that she grabbed contained her wish.  Her wish was to be beautiful and bright.  To be able to fly and pave her own future.

With that, Laura flew into the sky.  She became brighter and brighter as she went higher.  Eventually, she was in space.  She became the star that she wished for.

Laura then woke up.  It was only a dream.  A rather weird dream….

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©2012  K. L. Walker

Returning Home

Amy sat down and sighed.  She felt bad, because of her disposition.  Granted, she was loved by many.  But she just wanted to be noticed.

Oh, how she longed to have someone see her as she really is!  This sent chills down her spine.

People won’t like me because I’m different…. Amy thought.

But Amy wasn’t about to give up so easily.  With that she got up.  She flew upward and through a tree.

She then flew into a house that looked familiar.  She flew right through the window and into the bathroom.

Amy looked in the mirror.  There was no reflection.  Having seen this, she quietly sighed.

Amy then flew through the wall and into a bedroom.  It was a pink room,  with stuffed animals lying all over the place.  Amy flew over to a stuffed bunny, which was lying on a bed, next to the pillow. This was her favorite stuffed animal.

Mr. Snuffles, she cried.  She tried grabbing the stuffed animal, but her pale hands went right through it.  After several failed attempts of grabbing it, she started bawling.

After a few minutes, Amy looked at the door to her room.  Perhaps mommy and daddy will make me feel better….

Amy flew downstairs.  The TV was on.  It sounded like her parents were watching TV.  Flying through the floor, she listened in on the conversation.

“I don’t know why Amy had to die!” the mother cried.   “That person….”

“It was an accident, honey!” the father argued.  “The other driver wasn’t paying attention.  Amy’s in a better place now…..”

“Is she? Amy didn’t even finish kindergarten! She can’t, now that she’s gone….”

Amy sighed.  What “better place” is mommy and daddy talking about?

Suddenly, a light flashed down on Amy.   She then heard a loud voice.  It sounded like it was calling her.  Amy listened, and she soared up into the sky….

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©2012  K. L. Walker

Butterflies

Mike shuddered.  He was standing there, totally paralyzed with fear.

“Well,” Josh sighed.  “Are you going to say anything today?”

Mike nervously grunted.  He stammered, advancing through various slides of his presentation.  Finally, he said  “Thank you everyone for listening.  With this information that you saw, I hope we can get our financing in the right direction.”

Mike quickly sat down before anyone could react.

Josh sighed.  “What we have here, ladies and gentleman is a case of stage fright.”

Josh stared carefully at Mike.  “Anyone,” Josh continued.  “How do we handle people who have a bad case of stage fright?”

Stacie raised her hand.  “We invite them to a Toastmasters meeting!”

Josh smiled.  “That’s right.  Now Mike,  we didn’t get a lot out of that presentation today.  I would like you to try Toastmasters and give this presentation in another month.  You can come to our company club tonight.  How does that sound?”

Mike smiled sheepishly.  “Sure. I’ll be there.”

“Very good,”  Josh beamed.  “We’ll see you there tonight.  Don’t worry about the presentation that you gave today.  We’re going to work on that, okay?”

Mike nodded.

Having been relieved that he didn’t get fired, Mike left the room.  After that fiasco, Mike was curious about the meeting.  What was there to learn?  Mike was about to find out….

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©2012  K. L. Walker

Storm at the Summit

Jeremy Stone dug into the steep slope with his pickaxe.  With a pair of them, he alternated, striking higher each time.

For this mountain, it was no big deal to Jeremy.  He has climbed numerous mountains before.  As a display of his confidence, he decided to do this alone.

Well, not entirely alone.  His expedition group was waiting back at the base camp.

Jeremy reached the top of the slope.  In just another 100 feet,  he would be at the summit.

“Almost done with this one,” Jeremy said to himself.  “There is no mountain I can’t climb.”

Jeremy took another rope out of his bag from his backpack and anchored it on the icy rock.  It was time to climb the summit.  He fastened his harness and set everything up.  He then used his pickaxe and began digging into the slope.

Finally, he reached the summit.   Jeremy held his hands up and raised them in victory.

“I am master of the mountains,” he proudly said.  “Who has ever reached the top alone?”

As Jeremy began to plan his descent, it happened.  A strong, icy wind blew, bringing a light snow.  The light snow intensified, and the visibility lessened by the second.

“I’ll make it. ” Jeremy said with confidence.  I’ve experienced blizzards worse than this.”

The blizzard worsened and the wind grew stronger.  It was now impossible for Jeremy to see what was in front of him.

As Jeremy began to rappel, the rope above him snapped.  Jeremy began to plummet down the mountain.  In a desperate attempt to break his fall, Jeremy searched for the nearest slope that he could cling to.  A small ledge was just below him.  He reached for the ledge, but missed.  He then swung his hands forward, trying to reach the  rock face that was near him.

As he neared the rock face, he clawed against it, but he found his hands slipping.  He could not grip it.  It was no use.  The cliff was frozen and covered in snow and ice.

Jeremy slipped downward against the cliff, his hands brushing against it.  With the rapid change in altitude, Jeremy became short of breath.  Barely conscious, Jeremy landed on a lower ledge, in a new pile of snow.

Jeremy could suddenly make out the figure of a man on a higher ledge just above him.  He looked like another mountain climber.  With the blizzard, Jeremy couldn’t see him very well.  It could be one of his friends from the base camp or someone else.  Jeremy couldn’t tell.

The man looked like he was holding something.  Jeremy guessed that it was a coil of rope.  “Do you need any help?”  The man asked.

Jeremy breathed heavily, shaking his head.  “No!  I’m fine!”

The man grabbed one end of the rope and threw the coil toward Jeremy.  The coil unraveled and the rope landed next to Jeremy.  “I’m going to help you, okay?”

Jeremy backed away from the rope.  “I….don’t need your help!”

The man began anchoring the other end of the rope.  “Just grab the rope!”

The blizzard intensified, with the winds blowing stronger.  Jeremy refused once more.  “No!  This is a solo expedition!  I’m returning to the base camp, so leave me alone!”

The man began climbing down the ledge toward Jeremy.  He backed away, and then began readying his rope to rappel down the mountain to the base camp.  As he was getting ready to anchor the rope, the very end of the ledge that he was standing on began to give away.  It began to crumble beneath his feet, dissolving into a powdery mix of snow and ice.

At this time, the man reached the ledge that Jeremy was on, and he threw the rope over the edge of the cliff.

As Jeremy began to fall, he saw the rope falling just below him.  Immediately, Jeremy firmly grabbed the rope.  He could see the man, staring over the edge of the cliff.

Jeremy tightened his grip on the rope and watched the man as he stepped slightly closer to the edge of the cliff.  “Do you need any help?” he asked again.

Clinging to the rope with all his might, Jeremy coughed.  Then he burst into tears.  “Yes!” he cried.  “Yes! Yes! Yes! Please help me now!”

The man pulled up the rope and helped Jeremy back onto the ledge.

Jeremy wiped off his tears and embraced the man.  “You saved my life.  I really appreciate that.”

The man then pointed upward.  “You fell below your base camp.  Keep heading upward and you will reach it.”

Jeremy stared at the man with a puzzled look on his face.  “I did?”

“Use that rope that I anchored to get back up.” The man told him.  “You can keep it once you get there.”

Jeremy prepared the rope and began walking toward the slope above him.  “Hey, thanks!”

Jeremy turned around.  The man was gone.

This puzzled Jeremy even more.   Where did he go?  How am I going to thank him?  I didn’t even get his name….

The blizzard began to lessen and was now a steady snow.  Jeremy began walking toward the cliff and shouted.  “Hey man!  Where did you go?  I want to thank you!”

But Jeremy never found the man.  But then it hit him.  The man didn’t sound like any of his friends at the base camp….

Jeremy climbed upward and eventually reached the base camp.  He told his friends about the man but they didn’t know anything.  The man never visited the base camp or any of his friends.

Filled with wonder, Jeremy just quietly sighed and smiled.  He didn’t know where the man was, but he knew that he helped him.  What he found to be the most mysterious was the way that he was rescued.  It was as if the man knew that the ledge was going to give away and that he was going to fall.

Whoever the man was,  Jeremy was grateful, and would never look at mountain climbing the same way again.

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©2012  K. L. Walker

Deadline

David looked at the clock.  It was 10 minutes to 5:00.

Now it’s official.  Only 10 minutes remained before David had to turn in the report.

David remembered his boss telling him how important this report was.  “Yes Dave,” he told him.  “Please get that report in today.  You have started on it, haven’t you?”

The report was only halfway finished then.  Now, it’s just about complete.

7 more minutes.  David typed like lightning on the keyboard.  The figures needed to be correct.  The data needed to be correct.  Everything needed to be spotless.

5 more minutes.  The report only needed to be spell-checked now.  David ran the spell-check.  No errors.  What a relief.

4 more minutes.  Now to print the report.  David printed the report, but to his horror, nothing happened.

The remaining minutes ran out.  David’s time was up.  Sadly, David had to break the news.

Just as he went to his office, his boss was leaving.

“So,” the boss smiled, “do you have that report?”

“No….” David sighed.  “The printers….”

The boss then gasped.  “Oh yeah.  I almost forgot.  The printers are currently having problems.  They’ll be fixed tomorrow.  Just have the report to me by the end of the day tomorrow, okay?”

David nodded.  Another relief.

Looking at his watch, the time read 5:04.  The deadline was not necessary.  But it was only prolonged for another day.  And that was all the time that David needed.

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©2012  K. L. Walker

Paradise’s Clever Disguise

Jolene looked out the window.  It was another sunny day, like always.

“Always sunny,” she sighed.  “Isn’t the weather ever different?”

Bradley smirked.  “Of course not.  We’re in the Paradise Republic, remember?”

Jolene scowled.  “I know that the weather doesn’t change.  I just would like it to, sometime.

Jolene walked around the room.  Posters of a political figure hanged everywhere in the house.

Jolene sighed.  “I wish that we didn’t have to have all these stupid posters.  That Ivan Nimsky’s a fake, you know.”

Bradley nodded.  “I know.  Outwardly, he’s a man of peace.  But inwardly, he’s a cruel dictator.  But it’s not like we can escape.  We’re on a floating continent, so good luck with that.

Jolene grinned.  “Maybe there is a way to escape.”

“You think there is?  No one can escape Terra Majesto!  No one ever has!”

“Not until now.  If the Master wants us to escape, we will.”

“He might, but don’t be so reckless.”

“I want to escape, though.  I want to see what’s in the world below.  I really want to leave this socialist’s paradise….”

Bradley gasped.  “You better hope his spies aren’t around. They’ll arrest you for saying that.”

“Let them.  I’ll escape their jail, too.”

An alarm suddenly went off.  Maybe it was something Jolene said.  Whatever the cause was, it happened to trigger the alarm.

The alarm sounded louder and louder.  It served as an indicator.   An indicator that Jolene and Bradley’s troubles were only beginning….

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©2012  K. L. Walker

Unable to Awaken

Angela pulled back the covers and got up from her bed.  This was not the bed she was sleeping in.  Looking at her pajamas, a sudden realization hit her.  Those were not the pajamas she was wearing, either.

The pajamas that Angela remembered wearing were a bright orange, with yellow dots all around.  The ones she was wearing were totally different.  The pajamas she were were pink, and resembled a dress.

Looking back at her bed, Angela remembered sleeping in a full-size bed.  It had a bright green comforter, too.  Instead, this was a queen-sized canopy bed, with with white sheets and a white comforter.

Regardless of the changes, Angela accepted them and continued on.  The world around her was not the world that she remembered.  It was a world of her own imagination.

Angela skipped through this world, carefree.  While she was in her early thirties, she maintained the innocence of a child.  She often did this in her dreams.  Outside her dreams, she acted like an adult.

After skipping through a field of flowers of every color, Angela decided to wake up.  After pinching herself a few times, a sudden reality sent chills down her spine.  She wasn’t going to wake up.  She was stuck in her world.  The only thing she could do is learn to live in it.

Upon having this thought, a nervous smile came on her face.  Perhaps it won’t be so bad, she thought.

So Angela remained in her own world.  The world of her dreams.  The world of her imagination.  And she never returned to reality, because she was unable to awaken.

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©2012  K. L. Walker

The Parched Land

Everett looked outside his house and frowned.

The fields outside were totally dry.  The  sweltering heat of the sun beat down on the rows and rows of starving crops.

The worse part about this is that it has been like this for weeks.  Even worse still is the harsh reality that Everett, having a small farm, could not afford the irrigation tools needed to keep his crops watered.
The land remained devoid of moisture.  There was not a single cloud in the sky.  It was 103 degrees, with no indication of the temperature going down in the next few days.

Everett left his house and cried out: “Oh, if my crops could have a little bit of rain!  They are about to die.  If I lose these crops, I lose everything….”

Everett walked out to the crops and threw himself down on his knees.  He folded his hands and looked to the sky.  “Lord,” he prayed, “please water these fields.  They are dying a thirst and are crying out to you.  Please answer their cry!”

A few hours later, a darkening cloud entered the sky.  Before long, the entire sky was dark.  Torrents of rain began pouring down on the land.  After having a drought for weeks, the parched land was parched no more.

And while it was a start, Everett quietly thanked God and entered his house.  The air became cool, and the torrents became a steady rain.

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©2012  K. L. Walker

Leaving the Colony

Tigerlily pouted.  She pounded her fist into the ground.  The pouting became a fit of frustration.  He raised his fist and beat the dew drenched grass.

“Why can’t I separate and leave the colony?”  He shouted.

Cobralily looked at Tigerlily sternly and brought his hand to his face.  “Geminis are not supposed to leave the colony.”

“Why can’t I?” She pouted.

“It’s a rule of the colony.” Cobralily affirmed with her soft and stern voice.  “Geminis are not supposed to separate either.”

Tigerlily frowned and then changed into his/her alternate form (a form often used by Geminis to increase their productivity).  A male and female both stood there, shaking their head in disagreement.  Upon deciding, they both agreed to finish each other’s sentences.  Being two halves of the same body, this was possible for them.

“If you don’t let us leave….” The male said.

“….we’ll leave on our own.”  The female said almost immediately.

And it was so.  Tigerlily was no more.  Upon separating,  their alternate form became permanent.  Each left the colony with half their name. Tiger and Lily each went their own way, in their own direction.  Their paths were opposite of one another.

Having banished themselves from the colony, the half-Geminis were ready to live their lives anew – separate from each other.  With each having no regrets, their union was over, but their journey has just begun….

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©2012  K. L. Walker