Into a Memory - #5 Story for AAWC

 Hi everyone!:)
I know this is double posting, but I really wanted to post this today!:)
I had so much fun making the story for AAWC this round. I literally felt so sad while writing it, but don't worry, it was a good sad!;D
I included the prompt "Fade" and I included our team mascot, the Pegasus!:D
 

I clung to the tandem bike, pushing hard against the pedals even though I knew that I wasn't doing anything. A figment of imagination couldn't do anything, but Tilly loved me even if I couldn't help. Tilly rode in front of me and pumped, pumped, pumped. My wings fluttered against the breeze and I breathed in the fresh crisp breeze, savoring this amazing memory.

"I'm gonna go back now," she said.

"Wait, go down the hill here!" I replied, pointing to the small hill that we always went down. 

"K, hold on!" Tilly swung the handles to the left and we slid down the hill, our stomachs flying to our throats.

"Now home!" I called and we pedaled to our house. We walked into our room and collapsed onto the bed, giggling to one another. I tucked my wings in and stood up, not wanting to stay too long on my wings.

"We should probably go to sleep now. It's school tomorrow!" I told her and smiled, pulling back my long black hair.

Tilly grew quiet and I frowned.

"What's wrong?" I sat on the bed and stared at my best friend.

"I don't have any friends there," Tilly whispered, staring down at the seams of the comforter.

I placed my hand on her warm one.

"You have me," I smiled. "And I'll never leave you." We embraced and I smelled her flowery scent. When we let go Tilly grinned up at me, her sparkly blue eyes shining, but I saw a deeper longing beneath them. She wanted more than just someone she had made up, she wanted more than her imaginary best friend. I tried to keep my smile steady, but I knew this was the age that kids usually fell away from their imaginary friends.

I was her best friend though, ever since the beginning! She had created me from her own imagination. She formed me to have Pegasus wings, a slim figure, and shining brown eyes. She wanted me to be beautiful, so I was. I wore a silk dress with pearly sleeves and I was everything she ever wanted. How could she ever want more than me?

I was all she had!

We crawled into bed once she changed into her pajamas and I slid in next to her. Her face was downcast again and I kept my smile on so she would know I was there for her, no matter what, but she didn't meet my gaze.

"Goodnight, Tilly," I murmured, my eyes drooping. She turned her back to me and I could sense she was falling closer to sleep. I looked down at my hands, rubbing the pearl rings on my fingers against one another when I noticed something. My usual peachy glow had vanished and I was slightly faded. I froze as I stared at myself. This was what happened when kids stopped believing in their imaginary friends.

I squeezed my eyes shut, praying it was only the lighting that made me look faded. Soon, I fell asleep.

I woke up to the sound of Tilly brushing her teeth. I bolted upright, dazed.

Why had I slept in? Usually I woke up right once Tilly remembered me, right once she woke up. I turned to face her and smiled, trying to mask my hurt and confusion. She nodded her head to me, her eyes sparking at the sight of me, but not in the usual excited way. Things went normally in preparation for school, but I noticed that my glow still hadn't recovered. I pretended nothing had happened.

The school day went normally, too, except for her theatre class. She met someone.

A small girl with curly brown hair greeted her at the door and sparked a conversation. Tilly immediately brightened her glumness. I smiled as mixed feelings washed over me. I was so excited she was feeling better, but it wasn't me that was making her feel happy, which I had never felt before, and I got to feeling jealous. I stayed at the edge of the room, watching them talk and talk. I growled to myself. Tilly noticed and glanced at me, but swiftly turned to face her new friend again. I felt tears grow in my eyes as the realization set in. 

She had made a new friend. Which meant she didn't need me anymore. I stared down at my feet. They were dull. She was already forgetting me.

When the class ended, Tilly walked out of the room, forgetting me. I gasped, betrayed and angry. I scrambled after them, my wings brushing against the door frame. I reached them, trying to get beside them, but I was stuck in the back. They were talking about a sleepover. That night. My graying face turned a shade red.

"No!" I yelled and Tilly gave me that same sideways glance. "What about me?" I whispered. She shrugged and I felt like someone had stabbed me in the heart. The rest of the school day crept by and I went between raging mad and a sobbing mess. Tilly was my girl and I had no idea that it would be this hard to let her go. She was the only thing in my life I had ever loved so much. And what would happen when she completely disowned me? Would she simply forget all of the times we've had together? Was she really that disloyal?

Tears streamed down my face and I realized that my hands were extremely faded, I wasn't that far away from invisible. 

"Tilly-" I whispered, tapping her shoulder.

"Not now," she replied through the corner of her mouth and shrugged her shoulder away from me.

My heart split again. "But-" my voice was silenced as she purposefully tuned me out. I gazed at the back of her head, stomping behind them. They never stopped talking and I was irritated. They reached our house and giddily flew upstairs in a flurry of giggles. Like how Tilly and I did. More tears spilled out of my eyes. After an hour, the new friend, Paige, left to go get her things for the sleepover. Tilly stuck to her homework, working fervently on her school so she could spend all night with Paige. 

"So, are you excited for tonight?" I asked Tilly, my voice coming back now that she was alone. I tried to keep it light and pleasant, I was happy that she was feeling better, but I was torn between so many emotions. I had to still be there for her. It was a promise.

"Yeah!" she cried, not looking at me.

"I'm really-" my voice broke. I cleared my throat and tried again. "Really happy for you." 

My heart was breaking.

Tilly nodded as she finished her math and moved onto history. I slowly slipped away and onto the bed, burying my face into my practically invisible hands.

Paige came back, grinning.

"I missed you!" they screeched at one another and I grimaced, gagging in my mind.

They rolled out sleeping bags and blankets, making a cozy nest on the floor. They talked about school and teachers and life and preferences and I scowled at both of them as they did it. I could feel myself slipping away and Tilly didn't even notice.

"Tilly, I need to talk to you!" I shouted, merging all of my emotions into a desperate plea of urgency.

Tilly looked up at me, and I was shocked to see irritation flash across her gaze.

"Sorry, Paige. I'll be right back." 

"Sure, Tilly Willy!"

She nodded at me and I walked out with her.

I couldn't keep back my overwhelming sadness as we stared at each other.

"What?" she questioned, crossing her arms.

"Tilly, I-I- want you to remember me."

"I do," she said.

"You're forgetting about me, don't you see?" I opened my arms to show her my practically invisible self.

"You're just jealous that I have a new friend," Tilly scowled.

"No! I mean, I don't care that you have a new friend, but I don't want you to get rid of me!"

"I'm not getting rid of you."

"Look at me!" I begged and grabbed her arm. "I'm fading! You're forgetting about me!"

"I can do whatever I want," Tilly shouted. "I finally have a new friend and you're be selfish!"

"We're best friends! This isn't you!"

"Have you ever thought that I'm growing up? I have a new friend now! Shouldn't you be happy for me?"

I felt myself fade even more.

"I am!"

"Then how about you show it."

"I am happy for you! But what about me?"

Tilly's face broke out in anger.

"You're not real! You're made up! You're just my imagination!"

I took a step back, but you couldn't see that. I was almost invisible, nothing but a trace of a shadow. I stared at her as she turned away from me and headed back to her room. She paused at the door and glanced at what was left of me.

As she turned the doorknob, a tear slipped down my face as I faded from existence and into a memory.

***

I hope you liked the story, sometimes I hate how terrible and sad my stories can be.XD It sort of reminds me of Bing Bong from Inside Out.;)

-Emma-

P.S. I just realized that the imaginary friend doesn't have a name...;D

The Bright Light - #4 Story for AAWC

Hi everyone!:)

I am here with my fourth entry for Misty's writing challenge! I included our team mascot, the Pegasus and the word 'bright'!:)

The sound of everything ending. The end drew closer with chaotic screams, the sound of fire crackling closer to the town, the flood waters washing through the town, taking anything and everything it wanted. I couldn't believe my eyes. How could everything have ended so quickly? I knew that She was behind it, I knew She wanted me to suffer, to take the guilt of everything She had done. I knew that's what She wanted, and I was beginning to feel it. The guilt quenched my soul and any fire in my blood was put out as the icy water ran underneath me. I was in shock at the devastation around me, the amount of hatred burning inside Her that She must have used to do such a horrible thing as to destroy Her town. The town that had made Her.

My town. Her town.

A tiny light at the edge of the town caught my attention. It was small and dim, but when I stared at it in confusion it swelled until it was a bright beacon grabbing at me. My town was ruined, I knew that. I had to help, but the light was drawing me away from the destruction and before I knew what was happening, I was walking toward it, across rushing floods, through the burning fire that swallowed the other side of the town. I came to the light unburned. It was a bright ball of a spot light and as I reached out to touch it, it began to move. I gasped. I had to follow it. I had to touch it. All of my senses were taken over as I left the ruins of my town, as the screams faded and were replaced by the light.

The light.

I traveled through the plains that surrounded the town, my eyes transfixed upon the beacon. I crossed through a tall field of grass where the town Pegasi grazed. They didn't seem to care that I passed by, but I didn't even notice them. I started to run as the light sped away faster and faster. I was sprinting by the time I began to realize where I was and felt the hold on my mind weaken. I stopped running, my boots scratching to a halt on the gray stone ground. I looked all around myself at the canyon I was in. I had never seen it before. I noticed a cave planted inside the canyon walls and that's when I saw that the light I had followed was shining from inside there. I climbed to the cave, curiosity leading me farther into the cave and farther until I heard whispering. It echoed around the cave and I heard the rustling of fabric on the stone ground. The tapping of footsteps. I suddenly knew what had happened. The light was one of Her tricks to get me here. It was an illusion, a mind trick. I turned around to face Her. She pulled herself out from behind a clump of columns growing from the ground, connecting to the ceiling of the cave.

I pressed myself to the cave wall as I took Her in again. She was so changed. Her once warm brown eyes were dark and cold and unrecognizable. The bright, hopeful girl I had known disappeared and replaced with a revengeful monster of a woman.

“Felicia,” She said, her tone a whispering echo.

I opened my mouth to reply, wanting so much to have changed the past. I strained my rusty vocal chords as I forced my mouth to acknowledge her. To say the word I most didn't want to, to fight the urge to run like I had for the past two years. But I couldn't anymore, I had to face her. There wasn't any other option. I opened my mouth again.

“Sister...”

***

I hope you liked the story, it's not one of my favorites, but not awesome writing is better than no writing!:D

-Emma-



A Broken Princess - #3 Story for AAWC

Hi everyone!:)

This week, the prompt for our stories is "Broken", I incorporated it, and I also used my team mascot as a character!:)

Amber careened to the stables, knowing it was her only way of escape, even if it didn't last. She ripped one of the stable doors open and encouraged the stallion to escape with her. He galloped out and Amber's panic subsided as she took him in.

“My, my,” she whispered, smiling. She let her gaze run over the stallion's gray-white wings, his broad chest, his indigo colored eyes that reminded her of a stormy sea. He was a Pegasus and he was hers.

She pulled herself onto the stallion's back before he pushed off into the sky. Amber's insides lightened as they climbed into the smoke smothered sky. While they made it farther above the smoke, she thought of what to tell her precious Pegasus, her mind racing with everything that had happened within such a small amount of time. But once they reached the clear sky, she didn't think anymore, the tears threatening in her eyes the whole way up forgotten. It was so beautiful, she couldn't even imagine the turmoil happening in her kingdom. She breathed in, letting the peace wash over her until she was numb. She almost felt like falling asleep, but she knew she had to face her torn kingdom. Just that morning a foreign king had waltzed in with an enormous army, wiping away her kind, small kingdom full of peaceful men and women. It made her sick when she had watched her father submit to the siege, although there was no other choice but to give in to the surprise attack. They hadn't even known that there was a threat until they heard the gun shots and screaming. Amber felt the tears creep up her throat and into her eyes again as she thought about her beautiful kingdom, broken and alone.

“Take me through the smoke, so I can look at my kingdom one last time,” she whispered into the Pegasus' ear and he nickered worriedly.

“I have to go back, even if that means-” her voice broke and he stared back at her, his blue eyes boring into her soul. “I'm a princess. I have a duty to stay for my people.”
But you could just run away. I could take you away. The Pegasus said through his eyes.

“No,” Amber said, choking on the word as her throat closed. “I have to stay.”

The Pegasus' head turned to face the kingdom below them. He angled himself to go into the thick smoke and they traveled through it, as Amber had directed him to. The terrified subjects cowered below them in the dark while soldiers stomped by. They didn't see the broken princess flying over them, her tears falling to the blackened ground.

***

Well....

*sniff*

That was pretty sad.:( Thanks for reading! I hope you liked the story, feedback is always welcome!:)

-Emma-

Family Secrets - #2 Story for AAWC

Hi everyone!:)

GO TEAM PEGASUS!XD Here's my story.:) Misty, I included the team mascot, the Pegasus.:)

 

Julia tried not to stare, but her grandmother was so not how she had pictured her. Her grandmother had pure white hair and wore a black bathrobe that went down to the floor. Her face was taut and serious, and her eyes were filled with knowledge far beyond what Julia could imagine. Her hawk-like nose pierced outwards and the way her eyes squinted as she stared at someone made everyone uncomfortable.

“So, you're my grandmother?” Julia asked.

“Obviously. Foolish questions such as that are not welcomed in my home. You don't see any other old women here.”

“Sorry,” she whispered, running her fingers down the handle of her suitcase and staring at the Pegasus pin pinned onto her denim jacket. Julia's eyes wandered across the house, taking in the minuscule details of it, down to the way the seams on the couch were frayed.

Her grandmother began to give her the run down on rules and her schedule. Really, her grandmother wasn't a mean person, but she was abrupt, giving off the feeling of crossness.

“I don't want you in this room. It's mine,” her grandmother said, pointing a long, wrinkled finger at a door with a chipped frame.

“Sure,” Julia agreed, feeling a tug of curiosity, but fanning it away after looking at the rest of the house again. Everything was so normal, except for the shock that her grandmother wasn't a cookie baking old lady with bad joints and a walker. That room was probably off-limits just so her grandmother had some privacy.

“Gotta have some privacy,” she added and her grandmother gave her a curious glare, as if saying in a sarcastic way- Sure...

“Now that you are starting at the 'prestigious' private school down the street, your life will be revolving around school. I expect A's. B's are the lowest I allow. Your parents want you to have a good education I will not be letting you slack off,” her grandmother stated and Julia grimaced.

The only reason her parents were making her go to a private school, which was conveniently near her grandmother who lived the next few cities over, was because she was failing drastically at her old school. “B” wasn't a letter she had seen since elementary school.

Once the mini tour was completed, Julia prepared her bed, pulled out her phone, and called Natalie, her best friend. Her grandmother had retired early, but surprisingly, didn't go into the off-limits room. So it wasn't her bedroom. Hm.

“Hello?”

“Hey!”

As soon as Natalie heard her voice, she burst with questions until Julia brought up the mysterious room.

“I thought it was her bedroom, but when she went to bed, she went into a completely different room!”

“That is so weird,” Natalie's voice said. “You have to check it out! I'm so curious now!”

“I don't think I should. I don't want to get her upset,” she replied.

“Gosh, Julia, you have to know!” After more convincing, Julia finally relented.

“Okay, fine. But I'll only peek inside really quickly, I won't even go in.”

“Yay!” Natalie squealed. “Text me what's inside!”

They hung up and Julia immediately felt the doubt creep in, but, having promised to tell Natalie what was inside, she sneaked out of her room and into the living room. She passed the kitchen and came to the door. She studied the split wood, splinters flaking away. It was so exciting.

Julia put her ear to the door, making sure that her grandmother wasn't in there somehow, then with a quick glance to the door across the house where her grandmother was, opened the door.

Although she had said she wouldn't go in, she slipped inside so in case her grandmother came out unexpectedly, she wouldn't be seen staring inside.

Snapping the door shut, she flipped the light switch on and an orange hued light filled the space. First of all, it was as if she had entered another living room, the room was so large. But it wasn't impressive. It was just another boring room filled with used furniture and boxes.

Julia was about to go back to her room before she got caught, when something stopped her. A dusty, leather bound book lay in the corner of the room, untouched for years. She didn't know why, but she was drawn to it. Before she knew it, she was lifting the large book onto a couch and opening it.

The Scrapbook of the Hayes Family.

She flipped the pages, seeing black and white photographs of people she had never heard of before. It was chalked full of family photos, it seemed to be a scrapbook of the family tree, stretching back to the early 1900's. Julia went to the very back of the scrapbook to more recent members until she began to recognize faces. Her father's brothers and sister. Her father's aunt, father, mother (the grandmother she was staying with), her cousins, everyone she had ever heard about. Then she flipped the page, excited to see her mother, father and herself. And an unfamiliar face in a photograph next to her own.

Sean Hayes, born December 3, 2000.

Julia's eyes widened, her brow furrowed, and her mouth went dry.

December 3, 2000. Her birthday? It couldn't be possible.

If this was true, then that meant she had...a twin brother....and he was still alive.

 

***

BWAHAHAHA! Cliff hanger that will never be answered!

*evil laugh*

...

*again*

I really liked making this story, it was so much fun!:)

Let's go Team Pegasus!!!!:)

-Emma-