Creative writing exercise

[darkelf105]

So I was supposed to do a creative writing exercise called flash writing for class. Write story with beginning, middle and end in 750 word. So I did, it's a hundred words over, but it's still under three pages. And now I am sharing with you all cuz you're just that special.

            The night swarmed dark and warm with bugs and moisture. The two children standing in the middle of the tall field of grass, their house a hulking dark presence many, many yards away, were tired and mosquito bitten.

            “Cheska, I want to go inside,” said the older of the two, a boy no younger than seven with dark hair and even darker eyes. The moonlight lit up the planes of his face in odd angels, scattering shadows around his frowning mouth.

            “Can’t,” said the girl, younger but only by a year or so as she slapped away a mosquito. “We gotta keep catching ‘em. They steal the sunlight and carry it away into the night. And if we don’t catch enough, sun won’t shine so bright.” The boy rolled his eyes but continued filling the jar he was carrying with softly glowing fireflies.

            “Miko, gotta go faster. I’m getting sleepy and our jars aren’t full and the moon will go down soon.” The boy sighed and swished through the long grass so he could stand next to his sister.

            “I don’t understand. Why do you think the sun is gonna go out if we don’t catch these bugs?”

            “It will. Keep catching them. They steal the sun.” The girl’s tone was confident as she plucked glowing insects from the night air and stashed them in her jar; her face was stubborn in the eerie glow of the bugs' light. Miko sighed once more, but continued to catch fireflies. He squared his shoulders and felt a multitude of mosquito bites flare underneath the cotton of his T-shirt. He was hot and tired, but there was no way he was going to let his little sister wander around in the dark all by herself, even if she was being stupid.

            The night wore on, the stars turned overhead, wallowing away their ancient lives in the dark and muggy sky. Miko and Cheska continued to capture fireflies, stealing them from the air like thieves plucking diamonds from a jewelry box. Their jars were only half full of the insects, their glow soft but insistent, a faint echo of the sun.

            Cheska yawned, her mouth stretching to take up most of her face, then snapped it shut with a click and began gagging. Miko ran up and shook her.

            “What’s wrong Cheska?”

            “’Sa a bug inna ma mouth. Gross.” She wiped her tongue on the back of her hand and then on the damp blue of her nightgown. Miko laughed.

            “Loser.”

            “I’m tired, Miko. But we’re not done.”

            “Me, too. I have an idea. You lay down for a while and I’ll keep catching bugs and then I’ll wake you up and you can start again. Okay?”

            “Promise to wake me up?”

            “I promise. ‘Sides, look up there.” Miko pointed to the star filled sky were tiny ragged shapes tore holes in the starry pattern. “The bats eat bugs, too. So they’ll help catch your fireflies.” Cheska looked doubtful but sleep was pushing gently on her eyes so she nodded and fell to the grass.

            “Gotta catch alot, Miko. Sun won’t be bright,” she mumbled as her breathing slowed and became regular. Miko waited until he was sure she was really asleep and then he made sure both lids were screwed tightly on their jars and flopped down beside his sister.  Sleep sang gently just below his eyes.
            “Miko! It’s going to be light soon! You fell asleep and we didn’t catch enough,” sobbed Cheska. She was looking at their half full jars, terror scrawled across her face. She looked at the gray, lightening sky and moaned. Miko struggled up through the weight of sleep to sit up beside his frantic sister.

            “There’s no more to catch.  We didn’t do it.”

            “Aw, Cheska, quite being so dumb. Nothing is gonna happen ‘cause we didn’t catch enough stupid fireflies.” Cheska sniffled and glared as she held a jar of now mostly dead fireflies to her chest. The light from inside was dead, with only a streak of phosphorescence here and there.

            “We didn’t catch enough.” Tears tracked down her cheeks.

            “Cheska, stop, look, the sun’s coming up just fine.”  Miko pointed to the distant tree line at the edge of the grassy field. Sorbet colored light was spilling orange and pink through the trees' dark branches. The disk of the sun rose ever so slightly above the tree lined horizon, and Miko smiled broadly and looked down to reassure his little sister. Cheska gargled in her throat and looked at the rising sun in wordless horror. Miko’s brow furrowed and he looked back to the tree line. A hot lump of terror lodged where his heart normally was. When he looked, the rising sun appeared to have one large, black bite taken from it. It’s normal perfect circle now wobbled like a bitten cheese wheel in the sky.

            Cheska’s voice was very quiet as she said, “Told you it wasn’t enough.”

 

 

           

Comments

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

bugs!

[neokitty1.livejournal.com]

Wow, very interesting. I really like your use of adjectives, too, in all of your writing.
Oh, at the beginning, "angels" should be "angles".

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Can't believe I missed angels and angles....