by Naomi L. | February 3, 2017 | J.C. Wolfe's Writing, Poetry |
There’s magic in the air tonight
As every star is shining bright
And tables dressed with candlelight
Adorn the moonlit deck.
You gaze into her lovely eyes,
Having come to realize:
Without her in your life, surprise,
You still would be a wreck.
But ever since she came along,
Your days have all been filled with song,
And everything would just feel wrong
Were she to leave your life.
So slowly you begin to smile
As you adore her for a while,
Thinking to yourself that “I’ll
Ask her to be my wife.”
And so you take her by the hand
And gradually begin to stand
Before you drop to one knee and
Request that she’ll “be mine”.
The question “Will you marry me?”
Is followed by her shouts of glee
As you embrace her lovingly,
Your perfect Valentine!
by Naomi L. | January 20, 2017 | J.C. Wolfe's Writing, Short Stories |
As the creature reared its massive ugly head, we all trembled. We had never seen anything like it. Where had it come from? What was it capable of? And why hadn’t we seen it coming? The answers were more terrifying than we dared to imagine.
The sorcerer smiled thinly at the crowd from the platform. His beast towered behind him, held fast to the ground by a massive chain that rattled whenever it roared. We shuddered to think its master could unleash it on us at any moment.
“My friends”, the magician cried as the audience grew quiet, “I am honored to be your champion. My beloved pet and I will be proud to serve as your defenders in this new age of peace and prosperity. But trust me, we could not have succeeded in ending this terrible reign of oppression without your overwhelming support, courage, and spirit. We have all won a grand victory today. This day will be remembered for centuries as the day we ended tyranny, the day we crushed the bloodsucking rats who thought they could steal your freedom and leech off your hard labor forever.”
“He’s talking about us”, I heard one of my friends mutter next to me through the thunderous applause. It was true: every right we had worked for over the past decade, every step we had taken in the name of justice, everything we had thought was for the good of the people, was now being undone before our eyes because it was only ever good enough for us. It was a cruel reminder of how fragile our world really was; the harder you fought for change, the more afraid and resistant people became.
“This is your time, my friends”, the sorcerer continued. The cold look in his eyes as he addressed the people sent a chill down my spine. “It’s time you took back what is rightfully yours. Together, we can return this land to the thriving state it once was. Things are going to be very different from now on.”
The rows of people around the platform cheered, while those of us huddled in the back of the crowd remained more lost and confused than we had ever been in recent memory. This wasn’t supposed to happen. The queen and her army were supposed to save us, to fight the dark forces and vanquish the evil into oblivion. We were supposed to be celebrating today. Instead, she had been defeated and most of us were left cowering like frightened children in the wake of the revolution. What had gone so wrong?
Some of us blamed the town criers for carrying false news and exaggerated reports of the army’s successes. Some of us blamed the queen’s advisors for devising a military strategy that ultimately failed. Some of us blamed the queen herself for overestimating her own power and placing her trust in the wrong people. And some of us were reduced to blaming each other for taking our beloved leaders for granted and not doing our part to defend the progress they had made possible.
In the end, it didn’t matter. We were all to blame for this travesty, we knew that, and now it was too late to stop the storm. History had already been changed. So now what?
“He’s right.”
My gaze fixed on the stage, I saw the others turning to face me from the corner of my eye. It might have been the weight of my words that made them stare, or perhaps they were just surprised that I had spoken for the first time in hours.
“What are you saying?” said one of my companions, her voice small and nervous. I shook my head.
“Things are going to be different. This is just the beginning. The queen is gone, the army is scattered, even the scholars are starting to disappear. There’s nobody left to protect us… so we have to protect ourselves. No running, no hiding, no pretending that everything is normal. It’s time to organize. It’s time to fight.”
“But…” another friend stammered, “how are we supposed to fight them when they have that… thing on their side? It’ll kill us as soon as they know we’re coming!”
“And who’s going to see us coming?” I said, turning to the group at last. It was the first time I’d smiled in weeks. “We’re rats, remember?”
The monster roared again, flaming locks of fur flying as it convulsed like a raging madman. Somehow that horrible sound made the crowd cheer even louder. Stoic as I planned to be for the foreseeable future, I turned my back on the holes in the wall and jumped down to walk away into the darkening streets. I didn’t have to look back to know my friends were only a few steps behind, nor that nobody else saw us leave. They never even knew we were there.
We still remember it as our darkest day. And though none of us knew exactly what to say, to think, to feel anymore, of one thing we were absolutely certain: these were going to be the longest and hardest fought years of our lives.
by Naomi L. | January 13, 2017 | Flash Fiction, J.C. Wolfe's Writing |
(What If? Exercise: Read the description here.)
Our trip to the beach was an annual family tradition.
Every New Year’s, we’d go down to watch them.
The beach would always be crowded that night.
Everyone wanted to welcome the new year.
The final countdown to midnight began.
At one, they started flying.
All along the coast.
Exploding sky flowers.
Colorful embers.
Fireworks!
This piece is based on What If? Exercise 93: “Ten to One”. The exercise is to write a 55-word story in which the first sentence has ten words, the second has nine, etc., until the last sentence has only one word. The objective is to show that precision and thrift in writing can produce surprisingly powerful results. I hope you enjoy what I’ve written. Thanks for reading!
Back to the story
by Naomi L. | January 6, 2017 | J.C. Wolfe's Writing, Poetry |
So another new year has begun,
And we hope it’ll be a good one.
Though it still seems surreal
From the way that we feel,
We’ll at least try to make it more fun!
‘Cause the last year we suffered was rough.
For too many of us, it was tough.
From the people we lost
To the morals it cost,
Of Twenty Sixteen, we’ve had enough!
So we’re hoping this year to start clean
And to set a more promising scene.
We’ll let go of the past
And move forward at last.
Here’s to a bright Twenty Seventeen!
Happy New Year, dear readers! May you all have a blessed 2017!
by Naomi L. | December 30, 2016 | J.C. Wolfe's Writing, Poetry |
My Twenty Sixteen was chaotic,
An interesting twelvemonth at best.
There were times when I felt in control,
And times I was put to the test.
I managed my greatest achievement
Through months of a studying spree,
‘Til at last I defended my thesis
And earned me a Master’s degree!
Though in writing I’ve always been active,
I found it was hard to keep pace.
With my thesis, my blog, and my novels,
This year’s been a creative race!
November by far closed the hardest
Of modern political years,
As I spent the eighth shaking profusely
And woke the next morning in tears.
Yet I’ve braved the emotion and chaos,
And I’m ready to start fresh and clean.
Let’s just hope it gets better from now on!
Have a Happy Twenty Seventeen!
Happy New Year to all my family, friends, and readers! I hope you had a pleasant 2016, and that you all have a wonderful 2017!
by Naomi L. | December 23, 2016 | J.C. Wolfe's Writing, Poetry |
‘Tis the season that ends another year,
A time we celebrate the Lord above.
The air is filled with warm holiday cheer
As families rejoice and share their love.
Evergreen trees are dressed in colored light
As door to door, the caroling choirs roam.
Outside, the falling snow paints the world white
While presents are exchanged in every home.
Children rush to the frosty windows quick
To try to see the magic reindeer fly,
Pulling the sleigh of Jolly Old Saint Nick,
Making his yearly trip across the sky.
God bless us all with peace in every way.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas Day!
Merry Christmas to all my family, friends, and readers who are celebrating! May you all have a blessed weekend and a wonderful holiday season!
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