Not Good-bye
Best Word, my writing group, met last night. The fourth Monday of the month is a sharing/submission night. It's show and tell for writers. There is also a month theme or prompt. Writing that its the criteria have a chance to win the "Best Word Book". June's theme was farewell or good-bye. This was my submission:
"Five more minutes," Abby moaned as she squeezed her closed eyes tighter trying to fight against the light. She turned her head away from the sunlight streaming across her face. "Just five more minutes."
Maybe if she could fall back to sleep she would return to that deliciously bizarre dream. It had been filled with elves, giant-talking pigs, and dragons. Abby has been on quest with a dragon. Her last moments had been of the two of them crashing through the forest. There had been something about dragons-bane or maybe not. It was all beginning to blur now; dreams are like that.
Abby preferred the idea of returning to the dream rather than facing reality. The dream had been filled with adventures. Crashing a dragon seemed better than completing her to do list. Already she could feel the tension of her mundane worries through out her shoulders and the familiar ache and kinks in her next from sleeping poorly. Only the pain was stronger than normal; this was going to be a rough day. She rolled to one side trying to entice sleeps return instead fireworks of pain erupted across her body. Her scream shattered the silence filling the space. She screamed till she realized that the earth had responded to her cries with violent shaking. Abby's eyes flew open as she flailed to find something to cling to. An earthquake. She was in excruciating pain and was going to die in a bone-rattling earthquake.
The tremors had stopped. The world seemed to return to stillness. Abby was very very awake now knowing sleep would not return. She just lay still staring up at the sky. As she looked up a few things became apparent to her. First, she was outdoors. Above her the sun was being filtered through the leaves and branches of trees older and larger than any redwood. Second, there were a number of broken branches that made a dragon size hole. As she studied it she just knew that the elfworld, the quest, and the trouble of dragons-bane had not been a dream and the crash landing had been very very real.
"Farwin? Farwin, are you alive?" The earth beneath her shook again. This time she had the sense to know it wasn't an earthquake. She was laying on the dragon's belly. The ground moving was just Farwin groaning. Abby waited for his reasurring voice -it didn't come.
"Farwin!"
"Farwin!" Abby was beginning to panic.
"Farwin, speak to me. Are you hurt? Can you speak?" Ignoring her pain she wiggled and moved till she could slide to the ground. The impact was jarring but she was motivated by concern for her friend. Abby had to lean against the dragon just to walk around and check for injures. He was alive, he was breathing, and there was no signs of blood but it was clear he wasn't well. He was pale and fading -fading to the point he was almost transparent and Farwin still hadn't spoken. Their last conversation had been before the crash. His last words had been "dragons-bane." She didn't actually know what that was but it didn't sound good. It sounded magical and deadly.
Abby had to do something but what? She wasn't magical and this world was still too strange to know if the forest held an antidote. She gathered the supplies scattered from the crash hoping the action would help her formulate a plan. All their items were there including the magical map. As she studied in the a help icon began flashing to the North of their location. She hoped the map was smart enough to know the type of help a dragon would need. It was her only chance to save Farwin she had to trust the map. She packed anything she could carry that would be useful. Then Abby stood. With care she lifted the pack onto her still sore shoulders and faced the North. She was resolved. She was determined. She would find help.
This would not be good-bye.
An Abby Story
"Five more minutes," Abby moaned as she squeezed her closed eyes tighter trying to fight against the light. She turned her head away from the sunlight streaming across her face. "Just five more minutes."
Maybe if she could fall back to sleep she would return to that deliciously bizarre dream. It had been filled with elves, giant-talking pigs, and dragons. Abby has been on quest with a dragon. Her last moments had been of the two of them crashing through the forest. There had been something about dragons-bane or maybe not. It was all beginning to blur now; dreams are like that.
Abby preferred the idea of returning to the dream rather than facing reality. The dream had been filled with adventures. Crashing a dragon seemed better than completing her to do list. Already she could feel the tension of her mundane worries through out her shoulders and the familiar ache and kinks in her next from sleeping poorly. Only the pain was stronger than normal; this was going to be a rough day. She rolled to one side trying to entice sleeps return instead fireworks of pain erupted across her body. Her scream shattered the silence filling the space. She screamed till she realized that the earth had responded to her cries with violent shaking. Abby's eyes flew open as she flailed to find something to cling to. An earthquake. She was in excruciating pain and was going to die in a bone-rattling earthquake.
The tremors had stopped. The world seemed to return to stillness. Abby was very very awake now knowing sleep would not return. She just lay still staring up at the sky. As she looked up a few things became apparent to her. First, she was outdoors. Above her the sun was being filtered through the leaves and branches of trees older and larger than any redwood. Second, there were a number of broken branches that made a dragon size hole. As she studied it she just knew that the elfworld, the quest, and the trouble of dragons-bane had not been a dream and the crash landing had been very very real.
"Farwin? Farwin, are you alive?" The earth beneath her shook again. This time she had the sense to know it wasn't an earthquake. She was laying on the dragon's belly. The ground moving was just Farwin groaning. Abby waited for his reasurring voice -it didn't come.
"Farwin!"
"Farwin!" Abby was beginning to panic.
"Farwin, speak to me. Are you hurt? Can you speak?" Ignoring her pain she wiggled and moved till she could slide to the ground. The impact was jarring but she was motivated by concern for her friend. Abby had to lean against the dragon just to walk around and check for injures. He was alive, he was breathing, and there was no signs of blood but it was clear he wasn't well. He was pale and fading -fading to the point he was almost transparent and Farwin still hadn't spoken. Their last conversation had been before the crash. His last words had been "dragons-bane." She didn't actually know what that was but it didn't sound good. It sounded magical and deadly.
Abby had to do something but what? She wasn't magical and this world was still too strange to know if the forest held an antidote. She gathered the supplies scattered from the crash hoping the action would help her formulate a plan. All their items were there including the magical map. As she studied in the a help icon began flashing to the North of their location. She hoped the map was smart enough to know the type of help a dragon would need. It was her only chance to save Farwin she had to trust the map. She packed anything she could carry that would be useful. Then Abby stood. With care she lifted the pack onto her still sore shoulders and faced the North. She was resolved. She was determined. She would find help.
This would not be good-bye.
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