Ooops—You Did It Again

I was overwhelmed by the quantity of responses to my latest writing post. I have to say, it has provided me a much-needed break from my self-pity party of the past few days, as event after event on my tour gets canceled due to silly Mother Nature!!

Seriously, it’s so thrilling to be in touch with so many brilliant and creative people. I was particularly impressed by this round of submissions. Normally, I like to write my own responses to the challenge…but I feel I’ve been completely outshined by all of you, and so am chickening out!

As usual, I can’t possibly post all of the entries, although they DO all deserve to be posted and read. I should probably set something up with Figment.com—the blog platform is just impractical when it comes to reposting so much work, but maybe I’ll look into alternate ways of featuring you guys. I get so inspired when I read your submissions!

Callie Akins:

Seven Short Days-
Seven days. She couldn't believe it. Only seven days to go. Molly reflected on how unbelievably long seven days could feel. Or how unbelievably short. Most weeks were insignificant. Made up of days that ran together with the seven days before it, and the seven days that would come after it. But not this summer, this summer had been made up only of special memories that would travel with Molly no matter where she ended up. But the memories weren’t enough.

Molly had never planed to fall love. Not with Sam not with anyone. He just sort of happened upon her she couldn’t help herself. She periodically told herself that three months, two months, and finally one month was plenty of time to get over her infatuation with this boy. But now with only seven days hovering above her head she knew she would never be able to forget him.

He was being shipped off. Far away from her to fight for his first love. His country. That kind of passion is what made Molly fall in love with him to begin with, but now it was the thing she loathed most about him. Molly had made peace with this inevitable night, but now that it was here she couldn’t, not really.

Her original plan: say goodbye and resume her life as planned. But it was to late for that, Sam was the love of her life, the only thing worth waiting for. And so she would.
She would wait.

Megan Butler: http://www.thewrittenlifeofanamericanteenager.blogspot.com/

Seven days. She couldn't believe it. Only seven days to go. Of course, the past twenty three days weren't so easily survived either, but the final days served as the end. The unmistakable, surreal conclusion that it would all be over soon.

Sarah could finally go home.

"Now Sarah, it wasn't that bad, was it?" Aunt Millie chirped from the driver's seat of her 1986 station wagon that jostled them around after rolling past every chip in the dusty lane.

Sarah inconspicuously tapped the frame of her Aviators up the bridge of her nose to hide her disgust. "Of course not, Aunt Millie. That four hour walk through the farmer's market should really do wonders for my calf muscles," she mumbled, crossing her arms and kicking her legs up on the dashboard. It sure was a mess in ninety-degree "Hickville".

Why are parents cruel enough to send their kid to the wacko relatives' house in No Man's Land? Why did Sarah have to listen to a toothless man sputter about what's really done with pumpkin seeds after they're carved out of a jack-o-lantern while her aunt hounded her about picking out the right bell peppers for whatever meal they would have to conjure up later?

Because her parents had a life.

And that life didn't involve taking their kid to the Bahamas over summer break with them. So Sarah had to endure the redneck life of the country-loving hillbillies known as her isolated family. The outcasts.


Kathryn Roberts

Seven days. She couldn't believe it. Only seven days to go.

Lily's heart stopped, her long lashes tickled the lenses of her glasses. With the end of the world predicted to be in one month, they would leave. And the president announced on televisions throughout the country, that this would take place in one week. How could they? How could she, or anyone else, have every possession ready to take in one week?

The crowd around the store window thickened, jamming her into the glass. Lily listened to the Presidents next words:

"You will be able to take one suitcase each. Nothing more. Everything will be provided for you on the craft." Someone then ushered the President off camera and the Secretary of Defense took his place. He began assuring the public that the government has been aware of this possibility for two years and has adequately planned for the evacuation of all United States' citizens. Everyone was equal. Everyone would get their share of food, medicine and other supplies. But even with his assurances, the crowd grew panicky. Most of them rushed away, probably to their homes to pack, while the remaining few collapsed in heaps around Lily, crying out their despair.

All Lily could think of was Jeremy. Would she ever see him again? At school, they began segregation of the sexes. The principle told them: ‘We can’t afford children being born onto a dying planet’. On the craft, it was sure to be worse.



Natasha M. Heck, www.natashamheck.com

Seven days. She couldn't believe it. Only seven days to go. Aeryn opened her eyes to find her scratchy sheets clinging to her sweat soaked body. She tried to gather her thoughts while looking at the white ceiling fan that spun around and around, sunlight reflecting off its blades. She rose, throwing her bare feet over the side of the bed to become face to face with the large picture window in front of her. The sun was rising over the overpopulated city, her reflection glaring her like the burning orb.

“This is how it will start,” she murmured, the dream vision coming back to her now. For months Aeryn had this recurring dream, and now, it was seven days away from coming true. The last piece of the vision was a calendar with a date that would bring her to that place, to that end. Blood would splatter on it before she would fall, the time she always managed to wake up.

February 1st could be the day she would die and she needed change it. Nothing worked so far and she only has seven days left to change her future of her life blood spraying onto that calendar, or to live out the last days of her life with the one person she loved.