So, yesterday, I started getting this feeling like I used to when I wrote poetry...but it was different. After several hours, I finally sat down with a pen and a notebook and thoughts and ideas started pouring out of me...and a plot for a story formed in my head. This led to me staying up til nearly 3 am writing 3 and a half pages of a story that just came out of nowhere. My post here is tentative because I am very hesitant when it comes to sharing my work with people...poetry is hard but longer pieces are even harder for me to share. Here, I am going to post the first bit of the story and based on people's feedback, I will decided whether or not to post the rest of it. As of right now, the whole thing is not even written yet, but I am going to maintain my resolve to post the first part. As of yet, this story has no title, but I will figure one out eventually. Here goes nothing...
Even though it was nearly the end of April, the breeze that whipped Mara’s stringy, black hair was reminiscent of a December blizzard-- harsh and unrelenting. Making her way up the familiar path, Mara clutched her schoolbooks closer to her chest so that she was nearly hugging herself. Wow. This wind is terrible! Mara thought to herself, Andy was right, I should have worn a jacket.
Her brother was always right; in school, at church, and especially when it came to the common sense things Mara had long since stopped caring about. If he weren’t so smug about always being right, Mara reasoned, maybe I wouldn’t try so hard to prove him wrong. She sighed.
Or maybe she would. How could she tell anymore? The numbness she had once gone to for peace and safety now ruled her every waking moment. It had been months since Mara had given up on the battle with her emotions. She told herself it was easier to feel nothing than to remember every terrifying, graphic detail. A remnant of who she used to be tugged at Mara’s conscious, but instead of facing it, she pushed the traitorous thought to the back of her mind and increased the volume on her ipod.
“I was broken for a long time, but it’s over now…” Knowing she was completely alone in the woods, Mara allowed herself to sing along with the next verse, losing herself in the strumming of the acoustic guitar. “…I used to think the past was dead and gone…I was wrong, so wrong.” Letting her voice carry to the skies, Mara closed her eyes and as she sang, she could feel a warmth spread throughout her body, miraculously extending to her soul.
With the last note echoing in the woods around her, Mara blinked her eyes open and realized for the first time just where her feet had taken her. She had not consciously come her. Sinking to her knees, she let her books fall to the mossy ground with a noiseless clatter. It was remarkable how much this secluded vale felt like home. Come to think of it, Mara never really could put her finger on what attracted her to this place time and time again. Breathing that moist, earthy scent always calmed her, no matter what she was dealing with.
Mara removed her headphones and fully took in her surroundings. Her first glance was reserved for the bubbly brook that led to a small waterfall several yards down; the slope of the fresh green hill was reassuring to her. No matter how right Andy was, this place would always be the one thing she never had to share with her brother. He might be her twin by blood, but there was never any closeness, no secrets shared, no inside jokes. Some things, Mara concluded bitterly, some things even your twin brother can never know.
Sighing out loud, Mara took one last deep breath before pulling her navy hooded sweatshirt over her head and rising to her feet. She was exposed to the frigid wind with nothing to shield her other than her thin cream camisole and tattered jean shorts.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Mara stepped to the edge of the smooth cliff and bravely gazed at the water, fifty feet below the precipice where she stood. Taking a deep breath, she jumped and twisted her body in a graceful pirouette. Mere seconds after her feet left solid ground, she heard a faint scream. Unable to see where the exclamation had come from, Mara hit the icy water and felt the breath leave her body.
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