Amberwonder's writing thread

[amithea]

Welcome to my writing thread- feel free to drop a comment!

Short stories

Reality check

Alissa woke up with a start as sunlight streamed through her bedroom window, making the peach-coloured walls glow. She groaned and turned over, hiding her face in her pillow. I don't want to wake up, yet I do. It's just not logical! Sitting up, she looked around. The curtains were open! Again! this was the third time she'd done this now. How could she keep on forgetting to close them. Moaning, she clambered off her bed, dragging a comb through her bedraggled hair. Monday. Time for school. Once again, she would be the new girl, once again, she wasn't ready. she didn't know if she would be able to face all of the curious stares. I hate Mondays thought Alissa irritably. Throwing on her brand-new uniform, she went reluctantly downstairs.

Making herself some toast, she quickly ate her breakfast. She brushed her teeth, checked her watch and impatiently hauled her heavy school bag out of the door and swung it over her back.
"Love you Mum!" she called, "See you later!"
"Bye Sweetheart!" her mum shouted in response.
hmph! she doesn't understand how it feels to make friends and settle down only to be moved somewhere different. Different school. Different corridors. Different people. thought Alissa bitterly.

Alissa slammed the door behind her. Sighing, she set off toward the bus stop at a run. Reaching it within 5 minutes, she waited for the bus. Soon seeing someone else waiting nearby that looked roughly her age, she approached them.
"hey," she began. The other person made a non-committal grunt and stormed off. "charming!" Alissa muttered under her breath, returning to the spot she had been waiting previously.

It started to rain. Alissa pulled up her hood and the bus arrived, splashing her with dirty rainwater. "Ugh!" she muttered, shaking off some of the water. next time, I guess I won't stand so close to the road. She made a mental note to herself, pulling her hoodie off, she was glad to see that her uniform had stayed fairly dry and clean. after waiting for the others to get on, Alissa boarded the bus and was soon on her way to school.

Alissa sat alone. This was by far the noisiest bus she'd ever been on! And she'd been on many. As there was nothing else to look at or do, she stared out of the window. Apart from the rain and grey sky, it was a beautiful place. Noticing the bus had come to the last stop, Alissa shuffled up, making room beside her for anyone who came on.

One person boarded. She was a loner and looked bedraggled. Alissa fidgeted, uncomfortable. Seeing her nervousness, the loner sat by Alissa, who squirmed- this person did NOT seem to have a good aura...

fortunately for Alissa, it wasn't too far to the school now and when she got off, she unfolded her crumpled map and made her way to the head teacher's office. Her form tutor was there, along with a few other members of staff. Nervous, Alissa tried to make her gangly form smaller and failed awkwardly. The meeting was over in a flash and Alissa found herself being taken to her form room. Please don't introduce me, please let me just slip in and introduce myself she found hersellf mentally begging the tall teacher that was to sort her and her form out in the mornings. It would most likely be a difficult task today- Alissa knew she stood out. He saw her sizing him up, seeing his strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. Alissa blushed when he gave her a sharp glance- apparently sizing teachers up wasn't the best way to see what this school was like...

Snapped Thread
“You idiot!” Julia yelled, “A simple dare! Yet you still manage to mess it up royally!”
“I-I’m sorry!” I stutter nervously. Getting on Julia’s nerves was not a sensible or sane thing to do.
“SORRY?!?! YOU’RE SORRY?!?!?!? ‘SORRY’ DOESN’T CUT IT! YOU WILL FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!” She stormed off, head held high. That didn’t sound good. Face the consequences? What was that supposed to mean? I had mixed emotions; all tangled up like a matted ball of yarn. Part of me was angry, so so angry! How dare she? It’s one thing daring me to stay silent for a day, but another altogether to dare me to trash with my friends. No way! What was she thinking? But another, deep down part of me was scared. Julia was not the right girl to upset. She was ruthless! Messing with her was like fighting a fire-breathing dragon head on with nothing to protect you but a flimsy wooden stick; you just wouldn’t do it!
The bell rang for lessons. I was late! Leaping to my feet, I dashed off to my next lesson. My last lesson of the day. Feeling a wave of relief wash over me, I slowed down a little.
The lesson flew by extremely fast. As the bell for the end of school rang, I began to walk home. Hearing footsteps, I whirled round. I hadn’t forgotten Julia’s threat ‘you will face the consequences’. You can probably guess who I saw but I’ll tell you anyway. It was Julia. Ten points if you guessed right. Sorry. Not the time. Anyways… I saw Julia. She had a scowl on her face and a dangerous glint in her eyes. I walked quicker. She walked quicker too. I broke into a jog. Her gang surrounded me. And I panicked. I glanced around desperately, hoping for a way out of my punishment.
There was none.
And suddenly I saw red. Why should I be made to suffer for doing the right thing? But taking the offensive was wrong. I haughtily tilted my head towards the skies. Barely supressing my anger, I walked stiffly onwards. Angrily barging past Julia’s mindless minions, I ran home, not stopping, afraid of coming to a halt. And I was safe. Little did I know that the uncertainty of not knowing was worse than the actual punishment. Far worse. I could not sleep that night. My racing thoughts wore down the already fraying rope that was my tolerance down to a single thread. It was only just strong enough to keep my raging anger at bay.
The next day, I drew the curtains to find that the entire garden had been destroyed. There was graffiti scrawled on the garden gate: JULIA WAS HERE. The thread snapped and I knew I’d get revenge. One way or another. But the damage was done. No need to try to stop the inevitable. The agony of not knowing was finally over. I wouldn’t retaliate. That would be petty.

[amithea]

This is the part where I'll post my poetry!

[amithea]

GreenBlade
Ina was lying peacefully in the long tall grasses of the wild meadows. Sunlight was warming her face and her eyes were blissfully closed; she was asleep. All was right in the world. Feeling something land on her nose, Ina grudgingly opened one eye. Seeing that it was just a butterfly, she sighed and closed her eye again. No sooner than she had begun to drift away from reality into a world of dreams, wishes and magic, Ina’s eyes snapped open. She was wide awake now. Something wasn’t right. Sitting up and gazing around, Ina found that her whole world had been transformed. Her mouth fell open as she gasped, taking in her surroundings. “You can NOT be serious…” She whispered in hushed tones.
Her whole world had been stripped of ANY colour.
Ina sat perfectly still, for a moment, paralysed by the heart-stopping, mind-blowing, soul-numbing, chilling truth. Blinking, she pinched herself ‘it’s just a nightmare; I’ll wake up any second now!’ She didn’t wake up. This was no nightmare. This was real. “And it was such a nice day too.” She said, her voice echoing around the clearing as she voiced her thoughts. Leaping up, Ina glanced around again, eyes frantically scouring the landscape surrounding her for even the merest spark of colour. At first, all she saw were drab shades of grey, black and white. And then she saw it. A glimpse of emerald green, shining in the darkness. Feeling drawn towards it, her legs carried her, unbidden, towards the shining colour. Eyes wide with wonderment, Ina stooped down, to the source of the green. It was a single, perfect, blade of grass. Ina, still staring in bewilderment, touched the tip of the blade of grass with the tip of her finger.
A warm fizzing spark travelled up through her hand, up her arm and into her heart.
An excruciating pain exploded inside of her, for a second, overpowering her entire body. Then, as suddenly as it had come over her, it vanished. Ina backed away from the blade of grass reproachfully, but it was pulling her like a magnet now. Delicate fingers outstretched, Ina stepped forwards and gripped the now-glowing grass. Shining even brighter now, it slipped out of the ground and Ina’s fingers and it floated into the air. ‘This is NOT normal’ she thought subconsciously.
Despite her ever-increasing curiosity, Ina wanted to run. Away from the meadow and back home. Surely everything would be normal there? Surely it would be safe.
But, however hard she tried to snap out of her stunned stupor; Ina remained rooted to the spot, transfixed by the shimmering blade of grass. Ina was still gaping at the unusual spectacle when it started to grow in size. ‘This really does not make sense’ she thought. An overwhelming sense of despair filled Ina as she realised the blade was changing from a vivid green to dull silver. It fell.
Instinctively, Ina jumped up and caught the blade before it hit the ground. As it made contact with her hand for the third time, the blade of grass transformed into a shining sword of all the colours of the rainbow. Ina stared at the sword in amazement, utterly dumbfounded. Not for the first time, words had completely deserted her.
Ina, normally amazingly observant, was so shocked at this latest development that she didn’t notice the dark black creature creeping up behind her. A small, sharp claw sliced down her back and she cried out in pain, whipping round to face the fiendish creature.
She let out a small gasp at the sight of such a thing, now even more confused than before. At least her limbs didn’t feel so numb with shock anymore. She backed away from the shadowy creature, sensing that it had an evil aura, full of shady and dark thoughts that she could never even hope to comprehend. Mind blank, she now could only think one thought; she HAD to get away at all costs. But why? Her sword was sharp and powerful, she could tell that much, but unbeknownst to her, it was also surprisingly light, fitted her grip perfectly and already felt like an extension of her arm. Hearing the soft flutter of beating wings, she turned to the direction it was coming from, half expecting to see another enemy bent on harming her, half hoping that it was just a pigeon.
It wasn’t a pigeon.
But it wasn’t an enemy either…
So… What exactly was it?
If it wasn’t a pigeon, but it wasn’t an enemy… Was it an allie? Ina blinked, and the fiend struck.
Almost…
Shwoosh!
Strong, gentle arms wrapped themselves around her in the nick of time and… She was in the air, away from the sharp, rake-like claws of the monstrous thing below. They landed a few feet away from the monster and Ina looked up into the flushed and slightly embarrassed face of the stranger who had just saved her. The winged boy grinned, “My name’s Felix,” he told her by way of explanation, “Just follow my lead and you’ll be fine!” With a loud cry, he charged at the cruel creature that had assaulted Ina, his own multi-coloured sword glinting as he slashed at the monster with it. Ina doubtfully followed him and drove her blade through the monster. It dissolved into a shower of sparks that restored the area around it. The meadow was saved! Sort of… well, actually only half of it. But STILL! Felix flew skywards, so Ina began to say ‘See you’, but no sooner than the words had left her lips, Felix turned towards her, looking puzzled.
“What do you mean ‘See you’? Aren’t you coming?” he asked.
“In case you haven’t noticed, I can’t fly,” was Ina’s reply.
“I don’t get it.” “Why not?” “Your wings are bigger than mine, yet you say you can’t fly,” Felix answered, puzzled. “W-what do you mean ‘wings’?”
“Look behind you,” Felix sighed impatiently, “then you’ll see!”
Ina twisted round, to see that Felix had spoken the truth. She was astonished by the way they were so large and yet felt so natural. Her wings were feathery, and had a soft green glow.

Journey to Harmony Isles this one's kinda personal... so I won't post it.

Mythics of the Woods

Autumn flicked her tail, she was excited- she had finally finished her burrow! Nose twitching with joy, she scampered above-ground and started to gather bedding. A downy feather snagged on a branch and she darted over to fetch it. It was a stunning moonlit night and she decided to play in the moonlight after she'd made her nest.

Two young mice scampered past Autumn, squeaking their ecstatic happiness to anyone who would listen. Grinning, Autumn turned back to her burrow; she had collected enough bedding for the time being, knowing she would soon need more. Swiftly scampering down to her sleeping quarters, she deposited the bedding material - she would make herself comfortable when the time came to sleep. She made her way above-ground once more...
A resonating snarl echoed through the glade. A deep snarl. A hostile one. Autumn glanced around, apprehensive. Nothing. She crept cautiously and silently out of her garden in the sheltered bush. Slowly, so as not to attract unwanted attention, she looked round again. She had not even finished scanning the glade when she saw the source of the noise. The sacred moon-flower tree had become a war zone; Autumn was mortified no. no, no, no, no, NO. A she-wolf was baring her teeth and snarling at a scruffy looking cat. Autumn lashed her tail hunters! Realising her mistake as soon as she had made it, she froze. How could she have been so naïve?
Winter saw movement. She scented the air. Oh no! There was a mouse nearby! Her opponent glared. The nearby mouse would make easy pickings for the half-starved cat she was facing. Winter knew she had to finish the fight. Now! But she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t bring herself to harm anything unless she absolutely had to. But maybe… Just maybe… “h-hey you!” she stammered “m-mangy cat!”
The half-starved cat narrowed her eyes “who are you talking to lunatic?” she snarled, lunging forwards, narrowly missing Winter, who dodged away easily.
“You, you half-starved cat!” Winter howled, “You can’t even Hunt without scaring away all the prey in the forest!” her confidence was building now; she knew her plan would work.
“WHAT did you just call me?”
“You heard.” Winter was defiant.
“That does it!” the cat darted after Winter in blind rage.
Winter ran. She dashed through the forest, deliberately going slowly. The cat HAD to follow her or any mice left in the glade would be in trouble. Big trouble. Her legs began to ache. Her whole body was on fire. But she had to go on! She couldn’t give in now!
Summer was furious. How DARE that traitorous wolf insult her?!?!?! She had had a bad day and was not in a good mood. At all. She ran after Winter, yowling her rage to the forest and alerting any prey that hadn’t already made a dash for the Sanctuary to her presence. Her sleek pelt allowed her to slip easily through the trees. This put her at an advantage. But Winter had longer legs. In a sudden moment of realisation, Summer knew that they were evenly matched. This would be far tougher than any of the many scraps she had been in as a street-cat. A cloud covered the moon. Perfect. An advantage that gave Summer the edge. She grinned. Time for revenge! Her night-vision was better than Winters’. She ran after Winter who was stumbling through the undergrowth.
Winters whole body was heaving. She paused, trying to catch her breath. She couldn’t see properly. The whole forest had become a blur of shadows and black silhouettes. She closed her eyes, listening for a sign of her pursuer. She couldn’t hear anything that hinted at the cats presence. She scented the air. Something was wrong. She could smell the scents of many hunter-cats. She opened her eyes, turning round in a circle. A band of glowing green eyes surrounded her. They had been waiting for her; it was a trap!
Summer yowled and all of the cats advanced, ready for anything Winter could do in self-defence.
Suddenly, a shriek came from above the mob in the forest. A loud wind caused by beating wings filled the small clearing. Winter looked up, bewildered. A large guardian was slowly coming down upon her. Oh, no… there was only one thing for it; run.
And run she did, Winter dashed at one of the unsuspecting cats, faking an attack. As the terrified creature cowered waiting for the seemingly inevitable assault, Winter soared over its head. She grinned. My plan worked! Winter landed gracefully and ran for her life. She could see again! Taking in her surroundings, she realised with a happy jolt that she was in her home domain- her pack owned this territory. Slowing to a trot, Winter scented the air and was met by the comforting smells of her pack.
Sniffing the air, Autumn realised that the Hunters were gone. She emerged blinking and shaking into the wavering light of the morning sun. Stretching, she began to make her way to the sacred Moon-Flower Tree. Looks like not much harm was done. She looked up, scanning the trees’ upper branches. Her eyes widened with horror as she saw huge scratch marks gauged into the tree. No! Her mind was in turmoil as she set her eyes upon the damage it could be worse. Shaking, she gently pressed her nose to the tree.

Art of the Butterfly


Goldfeather leapt into the air, twirling her stunning green chōvendae fans. The shining golden ribbons tied around her ankles spun and danced in the air like the ever-changing patterns of wind. Outstretching her elegant long legs, she landed gracefully, her glimmering saffron-yellow dress glowing in the afternoon sun. Applause soon filled the air and she blushed, bowing deeply. Her short mouse-brown hair flopped over her sky-blue eyes as she straightened up, smoothing the creases in her skirts.
She lowered her chōvendae, the emerald-green butterfly-fans complimenting the calming pink of the sakura tree behind her perfectly. As the crowd that had gathered to watch her initiation ceremony dispersed, Dawna glided over to her, ceremonial spring robe swirling around her feet.
“Amazing!” Dawna praised her. “That’s nice of you to say, but I can only hope that I passed!” Goldfeather laughed, kicking at the ground nervously. Moonfrost approached them. “Well if it was up to me, I’d tell you that you’d passed with flying colours. Literally!” He told Goldfeather proudly. “Moonfrost, you aren’t wrong! She did indeed pass with flying colours!” Gale had popped out of nowhere, as was usual. Although you would have thought that for a tall leader like him it would be hard to conceal his presence, he found it surprisingly easy. But then again, Gale was no ordinary leader. Speaking of out-of-the-ordinary, the village that Goldfeather, Dawna, Moonfrost and Gale came from was no ordinary place. It wasn’t the actual village that wasn’t normal; it was the people that lived there. The people of the village practised a sacred and supposedly ‘long-lost’ art.
The art of the butterfly.
The art of the butterfly is said to have been lost for many thousands of generations but this, as you had probably guessed is not strictly true. There’s one village; one ninja clan who still practise this deadly yet beautiful form of combat. And they are the only ones who know and remember the art of the butterfly and its truest form. Almost all others have forgotten. It is now but a myth to outsiders. The art of the butterfly revolves around innocence of heart, mind and soul and to successfully carry out the techniques, you must first have experienced pure innocence. The butterfly is a perfect example of purity and therefore the ninja clan is called White Butterfly. No ninja who has the ability to kill without remorse can become a chō-ninja. This means that only ninjas of the clan white butterfly who cherished life and had a broad emotional spectrum were permitted to learn the sacred art of the butterfly; chōjutsu.
Goldfeather is a chō-ninja in training and she’s just completed her initiation into the advanced chōvendae training group. Chōvendae are butterfly fans, their shape imitating that of the wings of a butterfly. Goldfeather has yet to master the most difficult techniques but she’s well on her way. With only the three elite fighting truths left, will she rise to the challenge and become a full chō-ninja?
The warm sun shone down through the canopy of cherry blossoms in the sakura tree forest as Dawna, Goldfeather and Moonfrost celebrated the Goldfeather’s success in a peaceful clearing. Suddenly, they heard an alarmed cry. “DANGER, DANGER, WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!” “Oh no!” Dawna cried, alarmed. Goldfeather spoke up in an attempt to calm her friend, “Don’t worry, we’re all training to master the elite techniques- we know how to defend ourselves. We’ll be fine.” As she spoke, she knew that she was not only trying to convince her Dawna, but herself as well.
The trio opened their chōvendae and leapt up towards the tree-tops, gliding on the breeze with the greatest of silence and ease with their massive butterfly fans. Landing delicately on the top of the tallest tree, Goldfeather surveyed the surroundings. Dawna landed with almost as much grace as Goldfeather, but her ceremonial robe hindered her, snagging on a twig. So she cast it off to reveal a butterfly combat dress; a chōgowna. It was a dusky violet, matching her eyes and blending in with the evening sky. Moonfrost joined them, flapping his chōvendae wildly and landing clumsily but, some–how, in silence.
Spotting the area that was under attack, they soon realised that the mystery attackers were after white butterflies’ sacred scrolls.
“The attackers MUSTN’T get those scrolls,” Dawna whisper-shouted. She was good at that. “ Agreed.” Goldfeather replied, using an even stealthier way of communicating- hand signing.

[amithea]

reserved

[attjje]

Cool!

[amithea]

thx!

[Boxen.]

Can u just say woah! Keep it up!

[topazstar]

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