Petrificus Totalus

You nervously tap your foot as the elevator rises up floor by floor.

            Hummmmm.

            The elevator buzzed my feet as I was pulled away from the earth and higher into the tall boring building.

            A million times I had watched the floors creep past.

            2…3…4…

            And heard the faint ding as each passed.

            But today was different. The ding seemed distant and the familiar elevator compartment felt cold and strange.

            5…6…7…8…

            My office was on the twentieth floor but today I was going to the fifteenth, particularly an office of a lawyer on the fifteenth floor.

            A lawyer kept busy in today’s loose and shallow society, but I never expected that I would be seeing him. You hear about it all the time happening to friends, family, co-workers, but never you. You were different.

            You were wrong.

            9…10…11…12…

            A divorce lawyer’s office was my destination.

            13…14…15…

            Ding

            The door slid open to reveal a long ordinary hallway stretching to a doorway with the most extraordinary woman standing in it.

            He blonde curly hair was pulled back into a bun and she was wearing the most exquisite pinstripe pants suit that was ever created.

            Few women could pull off this look and she was one of them.

            I felt my feet move themselves forward out of the elevator onto the ugly maroon carpet.

            Each muddled step brought back a memory as I stared vacantly at my beautiful about-to-be-ex-wife.

            Step.

            I shuffled past college kids sitting in bean bag chairs and plopped down on a couch in between a blonde curly haired girl and a guy wearing a pointed black hat and had a lighting bolt scar on his forehead.

            In front of me the first Harry Potter movie film flickered on someone’s bed sheet as everyone gathered for the annual Harry Potter marathon watched.

            Harry, Ron, and Hermione were about to leave the Gryffindor common room when Neville Longbottom suddenly stood up.

            Annoyingly enough someone in the front row did the same.

            Down in front, I thought, but he didn’t budge. I instinctively pointed at him and mumbled, “Petrificus Totalus.”

            To my surprise I had said it in unison with Hermione as well as the curly blonde next me, who was also pointing at the guy in front.

            I blushed and smiled sheepishly.

            “Harry Potter is kinda a big deal with me,” I said.

            She laughed.

            Step.

            We were on our fifth date. We sat under a willow tree, her head in my lap as I read from book four.

             Step.

            I sat across from her on a park bench in Harry Potter world. She smiled radiantly at me with her eyes closed as I reached around her neck and clasped a necklace into place.

            “Ok, you can open your eyes,” I said.

            She opened them and looked down at the time-turner on her neck. She smiled even more brightly.

            “It’s so we can never run out of time together,” I said as I knelt and pulled out a ring.

            “Marry me?”

            Step.

            Friday night in our big back yard. We ran around like five year olds, pointing our authentic wands at each other, and yelling, “Stupefy!”

            Friday nights were duel nights at out house.

            Step.

            I wrapped my arms around my wife. She was crying at the end of Movie seven part one where Dobby dies.

            “It’s alright,” I mused. “Drink.”

            I handed her a butterbeer and she set her head down on my shoulder.

            Step.

            The wands were away and nothing magical was in the air. We screamed at each other, yelling about who knows what. The spark was gone, taken by the burdens of marriage and life: Money. Jobs. Taxes.

            Step.

            I was walking into the office.

            I signed. She signed.

            No confrontation, no spells.

            I turned around and walked back down the long hallway.

            Horcruxes came to my mind. Rowling said that killing tears the soul.

            Divorce tears the soul.

            I stepped into the elevator. Where was the other half of my soul?

            In the time turner around that beautiful woman’s necklace that stared blankly at me.

            I lifted my hand and pointed as the elevator doors slid shut.

            “Petrificus Totalus.”

            But the spell was already done.

            Her body rigid and her heart cold. 

Cloudy with a chance of Insanity

It’s pouring rain. Include a ring pop

                Either I had missed my bus or it was an hour late. I had probably missed the bus, but I was far too stubborn to accept that. So here I sat on a stump, with pouring rain splashing off of my little sisters tiny Dora the Explorer umbrella. Needless to say my knees were soaked, but my bull headed head was dry as a bone and thus refused to accept defeat and walk back down the block to my dry house.

                I was going to win this battle, even if I caught pneumonia and died, I was determined to sit right here on this stump until a large yellow bus came and picked me up. The weeks stress had built up to this point and I actually think I might have lost my sanity. I mean honestly, I’m sitting out in the rain in a ridiculous rain coat with a Dora the Explorer umbrella. And know I’m talking to myself. Geez kid get it back together.

No, I yelled back. I will not make a voluntary effort to go back to that place of torture again. I knew this was only a justification for my insanity, I really didn’t mind school all that much, I just didn’t like homework and was furious that I had to involuntarily wake up so early.

I love sleep.

                I scowled at the thought of my warm bed. I started to get up but I stopped myself. Remember, your insane right now. Going to a warm dry place makes too much sense. Slowly the rain didn’t seem to bother me so much, and I lost feeling in my feet, but oh well I was sitting anyways. And I was going to stay there forever, if necessary to petition against school .

Just go, the reasoned, sane part of my mind urged. You only have two more weeks of school left anyways.

Nope, insanity said, I will not accept reason right now.

Sanity argued with insanity as I sat content staring blankly into a puddle shaped uncannily like the country of Uganda, when all of a sudden a very large squirrel holding an big pink umbrella walked up to me. And by large I mean human size.

I heard it squeak, “You realize you’re sitting out in the rain?”

“Ha,” I laughed in a silly manner. “Ha, ha, ha. Well duh, captain fuzz butt! But don’t worry,” I smiled, “I’m insane right now.”

The squirrel rushed off and might have turned into a large woman with frizzy hair, but that made too much sense. I decided to laugh some more cause it was fun.

“Ha…ha ha!...Ha ha”

This was waaaaay better than school.

Then a ginormous yellow ring pop turned the corner and floated down the street. It came to a stop right in front of me and my stump. I tilted my head as part of it slid open showing a man dressed in a tutu sitting on a crystalized seat. I could faintly hear him call out my name.

I tilted my head the other way…hmmm this was a bit too weird

Black.

I heard voices all around me. I opened my eyes to a bright light.

“Ring pop?” I mumbled. My vision came to focus. I was in a hospital room with my mom sitting right next to me and a bunch of nurses around.

“Honey,” She said soothingly, “You caught pneumonia waiting for your bus.”

“Did the bus come?”

“Yes,” she said.

Ha…haha ha!

Victory.

The Guardian of Air

One day you wake up and you have no power.

            Darkness.

            She could hear voices, but couldn’t make out words.

            Confusion.

            She tried to remember. She could see the dim faces of friends.

            Darkness.

            She remembered the whole world going dark. Her world ending.

            The garbled words slowly started to form words in Bethany’s ears.

            She gradually began to feel her limbs again. They ached as if she had been hit by a hover bike.

            Hover Bike, she thought. Images flashed through her mind of being chased through city streets.

            The voices she began more frantic.

            Racing through city streets on the back of a hover bike. A smell suddenly came back to her memory. The smell of guy, her hands tingled as they were wrapped around the guy driving the bike. He looked back at her but her vision was fuzzy. It flickered to black and her senses dimmed. His face was handsome and familiar but she couldn’t focus. She fell back into darkness.

            A real noise came to her ears. A long beeping tone resonated in her every pore. She could see his face again.

            Billy.

            Her memories came crashing back in.

            Caronia.

            Fighting for her life against darkness. Protecting the Temple of the Elements. Time slowing down as the two brilliant beams of lighting met over the temple. Bethany sitting helpless as the Temple crumbled to the ground. The ground shaking so violently that she was thrown to the ground. She reached out her hand to Billy.

            The beeping grew louder.

            Billy’s terrified face as the world imploded.

            Louder. Louder.

            Bethany opened her eyes and shot up out of the bed that contained her.

            Air.

            She needed air. Bethany struggled to fill her lungs with her glorious domain. She called it to her but it wouldn’t come. She gasped at the thought that air didn’t want her. She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder and something covered her mouth. Air poured into her lungs as she collapsed back onto the bed.

            Darkness.

            She breathed deeply, treasuring each bit of oxygen she could take in.

            Her eyes slowly opened.

            She was in a hospital room that looked like it was back from the late 1000’s.

            A woman in an odd shirt covered in hearts walked in, sat down a plate of food, and left.

            The food looked normal enough, except…What did that say? Jell-o? What’s that, she thought.

            Bethany peered out the window. Cars bustled past, but they were still on wheels. And a strange starred and stripped flag whipped in the wind on a pole.

            Where am I? Bethany thought.

            A cup of water sat a foot away from her arm. She willed the air around it to move it to her mouth. It didn’t budge.

            She tried again. The cup sat immobile.

            She lifted her right arm slightly, wincing at the pain.

            She commanded the air to swirl, but the room stayed silent and still.

            Her eyes widened. Her powers were gone.

            She was no longer the Guardian of Air.

This is a bit from a novel I'm writing.

Jasmine

A huge grin spreads across my face. Butterflies flutter in my stomach, as my best friend steps out of her car.

                “Hey, how are you doing?” I ask as I embrace her thin figure.

                “I’m great,” she says as she squeezes me.

                I smile into her pale blue eyes.

                I loved her eyes. I loved everything about her. The playful freckles that danced across her face. Her thin delicate brown hair that gleamed in the sun. The way she laughed so loud and obnoxiously, yet spoke so gently. I loved how one moment we could be talking about our love of God, and the next shooting Nerf guns at each other. How we could be content watching a movie on the couch and then suddenly laughing so hard our abs hurt. I loved the intoxicating smell of her skin and how every time her name left my lips a butterfly danced in my stomach and I just had to smile.

                I loved her.

                “What?” she asks, bringing me back from my daydream.

                “Nothing,”  I say, “It’s just…nothing.” I give her a reassuring smile and mentally punch myself in the stomach. Just say it already, I think to myself.

                We start to slowly walk through the park catching up since the last time we had talked.

                I stop abruptly.

                “What now?” she asks playfully.

                “I love you.”

                The words burst out like a freed bird. A river of emotion rushing out with no restraint. My insides turned into a frozen wasteland. I had said the forbidden words. The words that had been bottled inside of me for years. The words that could gain me the love of my life or scare off my best friend.

                She smiles at first, thinking it was a casual ‘I love you,’ but my face tells me otherwise.

                “I love you.”

                She looks down in confusion. I die on the inside, realizing I had done it. Our relationship was gone.

                Tears glisten in her beautiful eyes as she stares deep into mine.

                The butterflies freeze and crash down. I just want to run. Hot tears gush out of my eyes as I turn to walk away.

                Suddenly the butterflies flutter faintly. Her hand is on my shoulder. Her touch makes me quiver. She doesn’t say a word but, leans in until our noses touch. Her soft lips delicately brush against mine. The butterflies dance in my stomach just like when I say her name:

                Jasmine. 

Sleep

Sleep

Oh, sweet, sweet sleep,

Overwhelm me in thine embrace.

Embrace me in your comfort.

Take me into your seductive ways.

Sleep

Oh, sweet sleep.

Bring down my eyes from the sight of the earth.

Sweep me away into the expanses of my mind.

Lull me into my dreams

And soothe my slumberous journey.

Sweet sleep

Do not let go of my mind,

Do not abandon me again,

For I wish to stay in thine embrace for eternity.

Sleep.

Hippies on a Beach

The sound of waves roared in my ears. Rough sand greeted the pores on my soft hands. The sun beamed down radiantly. I open my eyes. The Sky burned brightly in my delicate retina. The sky was perfect except for a brown curl that bobbed in the wind. 

What is that?... Oh it’s my hair, I thought relaxing, taking in the glorious beach that I lay on. Hold on a minute. I don’t have brown, curly hair. I sat up as my hand shot up to my head.

I have an afro. Then I saw my hand. I’ve never been shocked by the sight of my hand before but I was pretty darned astonished when I saw it.

Shut the front door, I thought. My hands are black. I’m black! I stood up and examined my body. That’s when I noticed my clothes. My shorts were a strange plaid color and would not have been acceptable in most public schools and my shirt was really really tight, showing off my midriff. A peace symbol sat on a necklace raised on my chest.

I screamed. My voice was high. But that was the last of my problems. I looked at what the peace symbol was on. No way, I thought, those aren’t…

I slowly reached one hand up and touched my chest. No! They were. I reached the other hand up to touch.

AGH! I had Boobs!!!

 I ran down the beach, trying to leave them behind but they stayed right where they were.

“What the heck is going on?” I yelled. I grasped my mouth. My voice was really high.

“Hello,” I tried again. Yup, still as high as a soprano’s.

I’m a black woman.

“Hey, Tina.” I heard a voice say. I turned around just as a male hippie tried to kiss me. I punched him the mouth.

“Get away!” I heard myself say.

“Whoa, chill out Tina,” the hippie said, not even fazed by my right hook. He sank down into the sand taking a sip from the bottle of alcohol that he had in his right hand.

“Do I know you,” I asked in my high voice.

“Yeah, we’re like totally together right now man.”

This guy was definitely on something.

Then things got really trippy. The sky turned purple all of a sudden and a strange man that resembled Buddha floated around strumming a guitar and singing: “Lucy in the sky with diamonds…”

…

 Am I on drugs?, I thought. Buddha man winked at me.

I slapped myself really hard across the face.

I jumped up from my computer chair and my ipod dangled down from my ears. I was back in the office of my house. I spread my hands out in front on me.

White.

I clenched my chest.

Flat.

Oh praise Zeus I was a white boy again. I pulled out the earphones, which blared the sounds of ocean waves and sank back down into my computer chair. I looked down at my History book which showed a hippie march, and sure enough Tina marched in the first row.

I always knew there was a black woman inside of me.

Savior

Pain.

Agony.

His back was raw from the whip, his skin gone.

They drag him to the skull place.

Taunting.

Screaming.

A vicious mob.

He was thrown to the ground

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Pain erupts from his left hand.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

His vision blurs.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Excruciating pain pounds through his body.

He opens his eyes and make out a crowd of people. His people.

It was too much.

He heaves himself up, attempting to fill his lungs with air. Blood drips down into his eyes as he looks up to see his label:

King of the Jews.

Tears fall down his cheeks.

Tears of pain.

Tears of sadness.

Tears for the sin of his people. He looks up to the bright sky pleading silently to his father.

Suddenly, all is black and for the first time he was alone.

A weight filled his body. Sin crushing his spirit.

The Israelites turning away from their God.

The people crowded around him and their taunting jeers.

A medieval man slaying his brother.

A man stealing from his neighbor.

A woman cursing at the injustices of the world.

These visions capture his mind.

Sin.

The sin of all.

He heaves one last breath, crying out: “Father, forgive them.”

His spirit slips out with his last breath.

The earth shakes.

The veil tears.

It is finished.

Lucy

What are you waiting for?

            What am I waiting for?

            The words resonate through my head.

           

            I’m waiting for my life to start. I’m waiting for someone to discover my talents.

            I’m waiting.

           

            It’ll all start after High school I had thought.

            Then I met Lucy.

            Lucy was incredible; honestly, she was the best thing that had ever happened to    me.

            And the worst.

            My ambitious, driven mind, set on taking on the world, fell in love with her.

            Desperately and disgustingly in love.

            My dreams were snatched away, all goals pushed aside by this infectious love in    my heart.

            No more famous Author.

            No more famous singer.

            No more Globe trotter.

            Only Lucy.

            She beautifully crushed all my aspirations.

            And now I wait.

            Wait for my ambitious life to start again.

            But I know it won’t. Love will always block that life.

            For my love grows inside Lucy.

            So I continue to wait.

            Distant screams penetrate my ears from the opposite room.

            Chaos swirls around me.

            Nurses bustle past; Successful doctors going to save some ones life and make a      filthy bundle of cash.

            Then the screams were replaced with a new sound. The sound of new life gasping             for air.

            A man came out and said words that I did not hear, for my focus was on what he held.

           

            A bundle of Love.

            I peered down at the tiny face as hot tears trailed down my own.

            Her little blue eyes opened and in them I saw the same ambition, the same drive.

           

            Maybe my life was over at age 17, but this little girl I held in my arms, she was     going to take on the world.

The Winter Lily

Buds push through the warming dirt,

Blooms burst on the trees.

Daffodils revive the gray landscape.

A bird chirps.

The first to echo through the bare trees of the forest

And against the dry grass.

The spring rains trickle down,

Rejuvenating the hard ground

And giving the soft pitter patter

To your ears as you drift into sleep.

White and pink flowers awaken with the morning sun,

Challenging the warm yellow light

And the bright green onions that shoot through the damp earth.

The beauties of Spring erupt in the greys of winter.

But winter has not yet finished.

Delicate snow floats to the ground,

Replacing the pitter patter with soft thumps

Of crystal clumps meeting the ground.

Snow upon the yellow bushes and pink trees,

Dulling their bright colors with the snow’s soft white touch

The treasures of two seasons clashing in one,

Fighting for the attention from our eyes.

Two different beauties thrust together in a glorious display.

But spring will prevail.

The snow will melt, flowers with dominate the landscape

And rich green leaves will fill the blue sky again.

The snow will melt

Spring will prevail.

Salvation

Storm clouds obliterate the beautiful setting sun. Lightning lights up the dark, desolate field, revealing a solitary figure.

Someone troubled. Someone confused. Someone alone.

He turns in circles looking for some escape from the darkness. Lightning streams down from the sky like rain. He reaches out for a bolt, touching the warm light just as it fades away. Suddenly, a neighboring field is illuminated by a shower of bolts. A familiar figure stands in the middle.

Troubled. Confused. Alone.

The first figure slowly takes a step in the darkness towards the first field. Thunder vibrates in his chest. A break in the clouds reveals a glimpse of sunlight. He takes another step. And another. His steps turn into a jog, his jog into a run, his run into an all out sprint towards the other field. He uses the lightning bolts to catapult himself towards his friend. The other figure does the same as more and more brilliant strikes of lighting rain from the black sky. At last they reach each other with one last blinding flash of light and all goes dark.

They open their eyes for the first time.

A beautiful sunrise illuminates their vision. Delicate pinks and purples splash across the wispy clouds in the pale blue sky. They were surrounded by a golden meadow bursting with life and joy.

Their eyes meet and they smile.

They had braved the storm.  

Carpe Deim

Some people spring out of bed at 6 AM, ready to take on the day.

I prefer rising out of my slumber at times not ending with AM.

"Go away," I tell no one. "Leave me alone." I mumble as I swat at the air. Yet the morning still tugs at my mind to rise out of dream world. I force myself to sit up and turn off my alarm clock which screams like an obnoxious freshman.

I rub my eyes and look around my dark room. I hate mornings! I ESPECIALLY hate MONDAY mornings! Anger boils behind my lungs which quickly turns to sadness, with the thought that I could count the number of hours I had slept on one hand. Almost no light filtered in from the closed blinds. The suns not even up! This is so cruel. My eyes sink closed, my body starts to float back into the warmth of dream world, but some strange part of my mind yanks me back into the cold reality.

            I drag myself into the bathroom, shifting the faucet head all the way to warm. Cold water gushes out. I sigh and timidly splash the ice onto my face and hair. Shivers creep down my spine as I try and cement down the jungle of dirty blonde curls on top of my head. A monster growls in my stomach as I put on jeans that fit kinda funny and spend five minutes looking for a stupid shirt. School. School is making me do this. I Hate it! I lumber down the steps and something catches my eye out of the front window. Was it just a heavy frost, no. It was snow: the most wonderful thing God had ever created. My neighbor across the street pulls out of her driveway and I realize that only the grass is covered. The roads are clear.

I sadly stumble into the den and turn on the TV. The bright light burns my fragile retinas. I rub my eyes and see the most beautiful thing in the world. Even though it flashed in Spanish, I could still make the number 2 amongst the foreign words. The English translation affirmed the glory. Spotsylvania Schools will be on a 2 hour delay on blah blah…code 34.

I turn off the TV and look out at the soft blanket of snow outside. Yes! I turned on the warm, dim lights of the Christmas tree and collapse on the couch. 9 AM sure wasn’t noon, but it was a heck of a lot better than 6 AM. *sigh* I always did consider myself a morning person.

Hello, dream world.