Creating Worlds Writing Camp - Project Two

Hi everyone!:)

I am here with my second project for CWWC!:)

I used all three prompts plus one from the previous round-

 

 

I went through my sister's closet as I searched for something that might have been important. Maybe she kept a diary. I didn't know, but I wanted to see what she might have had. As I peeled away a pile of dirty laundry, I spotted a cardboard box with writing on it. I dusted away more pieces of clothing and picked the box up, studying it with a shrewd gaze. On the sides and top were written the words: Bad memories. Do NOT open.

I was surprised. How were bad memories stored in a box? In letters? A diary? I carried the heavy box away into my room and was about to open it when my mom yelled at me that it was time to go to school. I sighed, crammed the box into my empty backpack, and ran to my mom. She drove me to school and when I picked my backpack up, it felt like it weighed a hundred pounds.

"What's in your backpack?" Mom questioned and I shook her question away.

"Books." 

I staggered into the school. Dragging the bag on my back throughout the whole day, I finally managed to take a break at the end of my last class. After the teacher asked me if I was okay, she left. I pulled the box out and stared at it. 

I was insatiably curious. I knew that my sister would hate me for reading her diary, but I was desperate to know more about her. She had disappeared for three years two years ago and when she got back, she just stayed in her room. I wanted to know more. Mustering my courage, I opened the box and immediately passed out.

Blackness.

Darkness.

That's all I saw, but I FELT more. I felt pain. Betrayal. I felt the knowledge of war and inward struggles. I felt death. 

Memories flooded after the feelings, but they weren't my memories. They were my sisters. I was her.

"Help! Help!" I yelled, screaming at the top of my lungs. I was piled under fallen debris, pinned to the ground. I needed a hero. So that's what I became. No one was coming. I wiggled my arm until it finally came out from under a block of concrete. My arm and fingers were bloody and I was sure my wrist was broken, but I tried using my elbow to move a piece of debris off my chest. Tears pricked at my eyes and I knew this was hopeless. My whole other arm was underneath a pillar, crushed. I couldn't move it, but I felt the pain. I called out again for help. I knew no one would come looking for me though, this was a war zone. No one had expected everything to change so suddenly and no one expected survivors.

"Caitlyn?"

I froze. "I'm here!"

The rubble was being torn away and I saw a pair of blue, smoke filled eyes peer up at me.

"Daniel!"

The memory changed and I felt the the deep pain of losing a close friend. One of my best friends. I cried as I stared out at the sea, lying on the pavement that met the sand, scattered pieces of glass from a picture frame I had broken when I had tripped. A pair of strong arms pulled me closer and I cried into Daniel's shirt. I would never see someone ever again.

Daniel appeared multiple times throughout all of the random bad memories. He was my strength and rock for when everything was hopeless. After more heartbreaking scenes disappeared, a single memory was left. It began.

Fire and smoke filled the room I was in, and I stumbled through it. I had to get out before the building collapsed, but I had to find Daniel. He was still here and he would never leave me behind. I called out his name, but I didn't get a response. I turned into a room and saw Daniel tearing through a burnt file cabinet, pulling out singed papers. I recognized this room. It was the general's room.

"Daniel! What are you doing? We need to leave, leave that there!" I yelled. He whizzed around to face me.

"Leave, Caitlyn," he replied as he stuffed papers into his arms.

"I'm not going to leave you! This place is collapsing!" I glanced at the papers. Scrawled on the white sheets was battle strategies, allies in this war, all of our secret information.

"We don't need that!" I reached for his arm, but he pulled away. "Come on!"

"Go away!" he demanded, but I refused. I continued to beg him to leave as the building crumbled around us. He wasn't leaving without the papers. That's when things began to click.

This wouldn't be important if he were on our side. He was taking the secret information because he...was on the other side. He was a spy. Things began to form and as I connected the lines, he took more information.

"You're a spy!" I shouted, searching in his eyes for the man I thought I knew. His eyes darkened and he scowled.

"I was hoping you wouldn't find out," he whispered, genuinely disappointed. "I never wanted to have to do this." he pulled his gun from his belt and pointed it at me. Tears washed over my soot covered cheeks. It had never crossed my mind that this would ever happen.

***

I bolted upright, the memories fading. I couldn't believe everything that I had seen. 

I now knew more about my sister than I had ever known.

I wished I had never opened the box.

***

I hope you liked the story.:) I loved all of the prompts this time around. I am so excited for the next round!:)

-Emma-