Ants

Me and my sister. It has always been us. My sister, two grade levels behind me and yet we were best friends. That’s how it was. Was. I remember going to preschool everyday with my sister. We were separated into different classes due to our age. However, during recess we hung out together all the time. We did everything together. There were two things that stayed the same: us and ants. 

Ants everywhere. Tiny, black ants that were always crawling around going about their daily routine. One day as we were watching the tiny, black ants do their thing a giant, red ant came crawling out from out of nowhere and disturbed that peace. This was the first time I had seen an ant like this. The black ants scurried away as the giant ant chased after them. I tried to stop the ant by chasing after it myself. It was too fast. Too fast for anyone to catch it and too fast for the ants to out run it. And at that time recess had ended, and I had to move on.

Gloves

My sister had the pinkest, girliest, fuzziest gloves ever … and I wanted them. The feeling of evil overcomes me as I scheme on how to steal them. I run from door to door peeking out into the hallway while staring at the final end goal the entire time. The gloves lay on the carpeted ground surrounded by multiple dolls like the bones of humans that would surround a lost treasure. A giant beast snoozes in its nest of fur after a good lunch. I snuck into its lair, crawling and praying that I wouldn’t end up like the ones that came before me.

Alas the golden treasure lay in front of me. I slowly reached out and put on the gloves. I scurried out before the waking beast could see me. I opened the garage and got on my bike and pedaled like never before. I looked behind me and saw my sister start to get on her bike. I stop at the end of the cul de sac and wait. Suddenly I see a speeding bullet coming my way. I prepare to lift off and pedal at max power. I zoom past my sister. As I look back at the once giant terrifying beast it is now a speck in the distance. Relieved I had dodged her for now I pedaled fast back home. 

Everything was a blur. Now I’m on the street crying. I had hit a sewer lid and flipped. Slipped. That’s right I slipped off my bike all because of the pink gloves.

A Delicate Butterfly

A cold September day. Gloomy skies cover the nice Saturday afternoon. I stare out the window wishing I could go bike or do some sort of outdoor activity. I watch the clock tick and tick and tick. I stare out into the endlessness of the void and in it I see me. On this gloomy day birds don’t cheer, dogs don’t talk, and the wind doesn’t cry.

I go to the kitchen to do my chore of unloading the dishwasher. Dishes clink and clank as they’re being put back in their place. However one shatters and glass shards fly everywhere. The fragmented pieces are cleaned up and thrown away. There through a tiny window above the dishwasher I look at the backyard. Lifeless as it always was and always will be. 

Hard cold pavement.

And a mysterious yellow object.

I go outside and take a look. Could this be a miracle or a mishap? A yellow butterfly, I can’t remember the name of, lies on the cold ground. It waits for the gloomy day to end so it can fly away…but it won’t end. It’s too late for it my dad said as I tried to help the beautiful creature by letting it crawl on my finger. The wings start to crumple and wither. The backyard is lifeless again.

The Goose

Duck Duck Goose! My cousin runs fast and hard to reclaim a spot in the ring. 

I have eight cousins. Two are brothers…

Duck Duck Goose! My youngest cousin taps my sister on the head and runs, but isn’t fast enough.

The first brother is Dean and is about my age. The second brother is the youngest of the cousins and his name is Kanoa.

Duck Duck Goose! Kanoa taps Dean on the head and runs, but loses again. Dean laughs a teasing laugh and sticks out his tongue. 

They fight a lot.

Kanoa hits him back and their mom pulls them over.

Duck Duck Goose! My oldest cousin became it and taps her sister.

Melissa is my oldest cousin, but we call her Lyly. Her sister, Emmi, is the youngest of her family and her brother, Mathew, is in the middle. 

Duck Duck Goose! Dean and Kanoa are back in the game. Emmi waits for an extra long time adding to the suspense. She taps her best friend cousin.

The other family of cousins consists of three. Hannah is the oldest and is about a year older than Emmi. Ethan is the second child. Linh is the third child, but she is two years older than Dean and two years younger than Ethan so she is an awkward age.

Duck Duck Goose! Linh taps Kanoa and gets away.

The age goes Lyly, Mathew, Hannah, Emmi, Ethan, Linh, Dean, and Kanoa the youngest.Duck Duck Goose! Kanoa taps me and loses, he taps Dean and loses, he taps Mathew and loses, he taps Keilani and loses, he taps out and cries.

Arrow

I was never really good at hitting things perfectly. Even in video games I would always miss, but ever since this event at Mile Square Park my aim changed. 

There was this tour at mile square park where we got to see a snake pee on the park ranger. The tour guide even took us to the archery range to try out some shooting. I thought I would be bad and this would be boring, but I pulled back the string, took a look at the balloon on the target and missed. Missed. Missed. Missed. And Missed. 

I missed all my arrows and didn’t get close to touching the balloon.

Since that moment I haven’t been able to stop thinking about improving so I could hit that balloon.

Now, I’m having my birthday party at an archery range near Mile Square Park. My friends Sam, Goten, Richard, Dylan, and Lucas all get rent bows and arrows, but my dad gave me an early present. My own bow and arrows. I pull back on the strings and wait a second before I let go. My friends all try to do the same, but from the holes in the target I see I’m doing significantly better.

Mistakes always happen and in an archery range mistakes are only a matter of time. Richard and Lucas share the same target. Richard went to go pull the arrows from the target. One arrow happened to be really stuck, so Lucas came to help. Richard, unaware Lucas was behind him, pulled out the arrow and hit Lucas smack dab in the middle of his forehead. Lucas’s mom came early.

Root Soup

School ended and now I could do anything I wanted in the park like every Friday. Today, Goten was lucky to be able to stay at the park rather than go home right away. We played as pirates and raced across the jungle gym that was a ship. We competed in monkey bars and I won.

Soon we got tired and rested under a huge tree. The bark was rugged and the roots were starting to break the concrete. There’s a pool of water at the base of the tree in the shade. Goten, we should mix stuff together I said. We ran looking for ingredients for this mud stew. I brought a vibrant violet flower and mixed it. Goten brought a leaf and a long mixing stick. We crushed up the leaf and stripped the flower. The water is black.

We searched for more ingredients, then Goten called me. He had found the ultimate ingredient. A dead lizard. We carried it back with two sticks and put the flat creature into the soup. Then stir. The flat lizard stirred into the root soup of the tree. That’s something I’ll never forget.

Javon

Javon is my dog. He’s a maltese with an alarm dog attitude. My dog barks at everyone that comes in through the front door. My dog runs, jumps, and plays. Well, used to. 

Now my dog sleeps in my room all afternoon. He wakes up only to pee three feet from the door. My dog is very tired. He has a cough that doesn’t go away. The doctor says his heart is bad. My dog sleeps with me every night. When I wake up my dog is still asleep so I try to be as quiet as possible.

Today I woke up and Javon isn’t asleep next to me.