Pencil Scratches: A Short Story Writing Blog

  Genevieve walked as the sun sank lower and lower behind the trees swallowing the dying light. Every log was a creature waiting to devour her. Every branch was a claw trying to rake her into its grasp. She had brought a lantern hoping that it wouldn’t be needed, but she quickly realized that it had been a useless hope. The shadows and shapes dug into her mind forming all the terrors she could imagine, but she was waiting until the last second for fear of running out of oil. It was one of the quiet village children that had told her in whispered words that her brother had been dared to go to the castle in the woods. It was her parents that did not believe in the curse enclosed in the stone walls, but it was she who knew that the creature in the castle was real.  Genevieve’s breath came sharp with every sound of the wood. The bushes snagged her clothes and she stumbled many times before she finally relented and lit the flame of her lamp.  The pool of light only made ...

  I had always thought a space walk would be an adventure, but now faced with that very task it only seemed terrifying. The computer had handled all of the leg work. It’s mechanical arms extended from the wall helping me click the helmet securely into place. I stared at the clunky metal airlock both unnerved and thankful that it could be my saving grace. “Computer, are you sure this suit will hold up?” I had been urging the computer to move faster as it helped me put everything on, but now I was wondering just how old the suit actually was. There were some things on the platform that were too old for comfort and doing a space walk would be useless if I didn’t come back. “I have done all the necessary tests, Aerie. There are no leaks. Proceed to the airlock” *** “Airlock’s secure Dimmer. Do you have sight on the target?” My eyes were twitching over the screen and my keyboard clacked as I moved my character down the corridor. There was a whole wall filled with monitors that...

 I had found Edith on the tail end of the war. This was when the fires had turned to ash and the people whose lives were taken had long been buried. The kings had settled their conflict. War, however, does not have a sudden end. Peace or victory does not erase the destruction that was wrought by battle. Edith and I were proof of the lingering effects, an orphan and a soldier not sure where to call home. Edith had the haunted eyes of soldiers who had seen battle when I found her in the wreckage of her village. She must have seen something much the same as mine because she been followed me ever since, but she was no longer quiet like she was when she was young.Thoughts of war slowly wore down to something that we could live with and the world around us became one that people could be happy in, including me and Edith. The years following the war we spent traveling, never settling in one place for long. We had recently settled into a room at an inn in a new town. Once we found a pl...