Apostrophe, Synecdoche/Metonymy

Apostrophe
There is nothing left of me,
As I sit here on this dark and dreary night.
Wishing, hoping, dreaming for you to come back,
And bring upon your theory of what is right.
I am a blank, soulless body laying on the ground,
Only thinking of you in the dim moon light.
With faded tears streaming down my face,
I wonder if we will ever meet again,
And if our hearts will once again take flight.

Synecdoche
I see the sail boats off in the distance. I remember when we used to go out there on summer mornings. But now there is just a ghost of you that hovers around me, while I drink my morning tea. I wish I could just go back there there. When life used to be simple. When it used to be just you and me.

Short Story

“Honey look out the window, enjoy the view” my dad says while drinking out of his white cup with the Dunkin donuts logo on the side. He keeps reading every sign we pass, every restaurant, every store he says out loud for the whole car to hear. I think this is his way of memorizing and remembering where we are. He’s wearing one of his red firefighter shirts along with jean shorts and his work boots. He always wear white long socks underneath. We used to make fun of him but that seems to be the style nowadays. My mom sits beside him in the passenger seat with her bottle of diet pepsi in her hand. She takes a sip and it bubbles up in her nose. She gives a little sneeze then laughs. To my right is my sister who is now twenty one years old. Her hair has turned more into a blondish brown than when she was younger. It was a deep brown like chocolate that reached all the way down to her butt before, no one really knows what happened.  She’s beautiful, every part of her. But then again, she is my big sister. I grew up with her, know every part of her even when she annoys me to the extremes, you gotta love the girl. She;s wearing her black sunglasses that match her vans. She has on her old band t-shirt with short black shorts. Her headphones are in right now and shes staring blankly out the window. I always wonder what she thinking about. Anyways, to my left is my older brother who is also staring out the window. I don’t know why no one is talking, maybe because that will just start a fight...who knows. My brother is twenty three but still acts like he’s ten. His brown hair slides into his ocean blue oceans and he swipes it away. Being the youngest, I am forced into the middle of them. I always used to complain about sitting there but now honestly there’s no point. I guess it’s either I sit in the middle or the roof of the truck so I guess I’ll pick here. The wind is continually blowing my strawberry blonde hair into my contacts. My three dogs bark in the back of the truck, complaining that they want to get out.

“We’re almost there puppies!” my moms screams trying to make them settle down. They loved her more than anyone in the family, all of my dogs did. Sometimes I think they would die if they were ever separated from her for too long, especially one of the little ones. Looking out the window I see the ocean ahead of me. It’s a thin horizon of blue off in the distance. My dad slams on the brakes when a pedestrian decides to run out on the street from nowhere. My head slams the seat in front of me, and my mom ask if I’m okay. “Yeah, I’m good” I let out a little giggle. We drive past people walking down the sidewalk, past all the shops downtown, past all the motels. I can smell the salt water blowup my nose. I've weirdly learned to enjoy the smell.

Finally, we reach our house. I've always dreamed of this moment. I jump out of the truck and sprint inside. I can’t believe it’s ours! It’s our own beach house, something that I have always wanted. My feet are barely under me as I run inside. Looking around, all I see is the future. It was surreal to be there in that moment. My family follows behind me and my mom lets out a scream right in my ear and hugs me. I think she’s the most excited out of the group.  

A week within arriving to the house, everything seemed to be in place. It felt like home here already. It even smelt like home when walking through the door. I decided to go for a swim. My father warned me to stay inside because a storm was coming but I left anyway. I wanted to take a break and be by myself for a little while. I walk the five minutes to the beach barefoot, in my bikini and cover up. The sky was turning into a grayish black, but I continued anyway. My feet hit the sand and I curl my toes into.. There is nothing better than being on the beach alone. I look in both directions and I see no one. I make my way to the water and the waves ripple over the feet. I slowly go deeper and deeper into the water until I feel the coldness on my stomach. It gives me a little shock and I squeal. Finally I dive in and feel the water emerge around me and cover my head. I kick my legs and swish my arms to go further out. Thunder starts to crack in the distance, the sky looked like a painting. Almost as if an artist twirled his paint brush around in grays and blues to create the clouds in the sky. I don’t want to leave this spot even though I know I should. I continue to swim hoping the storm will just pass. The waves start to get very aggressive and my feet are getting pulled out from underneath me. Suddenly I’m in a undertow and the water splashes all around me. I reach the surface and scream out but there is still no one around. I’m going to die here, like this.  I think of my father and how I should have listened to him. I swallow a gulp of salt water, my eyes burn, I can’t see anything around. My body gets pulled back and forth like the ocean is playing with me. I’m helpless, useless.  Suddenly everything just goes black.

Everything seems as if it has withered away. Nothing has been the same since the accident. I feel funny, weird, as if I’m here but I'm not. I open my eyes to the bright sun coming in through the window, except it’s not my window. This isn’t my room, or my bed and these are definitely not my clothes. Where the hell am I? I see nurses scurrying around in the hallway. Mostly women, their hair up in a buns while wearing scrubs of different colors. I can still taste salt water in my mouth, my lips seem to be all cut up and dry. I need water but the nurses can't hear me. I scream out, yet nothing. Isn’t this their job? Aren’t they suppose to help? I look to the side of the bed and see a button, I click it and see a nurse look down at her waist. She has some type of pager on and runs into my room. Her red scrubs move with her hips as she’s making her way over to my bed. She smiles and all I see are pearly whites surrounded by bright red lipstick. Her black hair is pulled back showing off her perfect complexion.

“Well hello there sweetie! It’s nice to see you awake” The nurse says cheerfully, but there was something she was hiding, I could tell. She looks away from me quickly. “Do you need anything? Water?” I reply with a simple yes. Then a handsome doctor walks into the room, he has a clipboard and walks over to the desk next to me. The nurse leaves and it’s just him and I. I read his name tag, Dr. Johnson was printed in big bold letters in the center. He looks at me then and I think of my family. I wonder why they aren't here with me. The only thing I remember is going for a swim in the ocean and looking up at the sky. The rest is a blur in my memory. He tells me then that I have been in a coma for quite some time. Apparently there was someone on the beach that day during the storm. They must have been watching me, looking after me. They were the one that brought me to this hospital. However, they didn't leave a name when they brought me here. I hear the doors smash open and it’s my family. They come running over to me and hug and kiss me.

Five years later I’m saying my vows at the alter. I look across to my husband to be to see him staring at me in awe. My white dress flows down my body with buttons up all up the back. He then starts to tell me his vows, by describing the ocean. The way the waves crash upon the shore and swallows all the shells in its path. How sometimes the water can be gentle and calm then turn aggressive and full of hatred. How he saw a beautiful girl going for a swim one evening when she should have really been at home with her family. When she thought she was the only one on the beach, she wasn't. How she thought she would seize the opportunity but ended up taking it for granted. He describes the sky and how it looked like a painting of gray and blue. Watched as the water turned on into crashing waves and swallowed her whole just like she was a shell. He heard her scream out while he was on his porch drinking his coffee. He runs to her, diving when he hits the water to get to her as fast as possible. She walked right past his house that day, not even noticing him. He grabs her arms and pulls her through the water to the shore. He puts his ear to her chest but didn't hear a beating heart. Cradling her in his arms, he runs to his truck in the distance at his house. He lays her in the back and jumps into the drivers seat. He speeds to the hospital and gives her to the doctors. Later on he leaves, he’s not sure why himself he left. The only thing he knew was that faith would bring them together again. And five years later this is where they are, standing across from each other reading their vows.

It was my husband who saved me that day. He was looking out for me before I even knew him. He told me later on that night that he was waiting for the perfect moment to tell me and that was definitely the perfect moment.

Free Write

It was Christmas Eve. Fog stuck to the tarmac at Lindbergh field. The wind was blowing vigorously through her auburn hair that twisted in loose curls and fell on her back. Her hat sat on her head and kept her from the cold along with her blue pea-coat that reached her mid thighs. Her scarf wrapped around her face tightly to keep her skin from the brisk winter air. As she awaits for the plane to land any minute now her mind goes crazy. It seemed as if she was waiting for days in this airport when it had only been two hours. She couldn't stand the wait any longer, her nerves were building every second. Her mind only focused on him. Her black heels click back and forth as she paces around the airport getting increasingly anxious thinking of what is to come. Thinking back on the past months, she can't believe he left for war so long ago and now the moment has finally come for him to come home. She peers around to acknowledge the fact that she’s all alone. Everyone else has left the airport or ran inside to get away from the cold. It’s dusk and she looks up to the sky. Blinking rapidly when snowflakes start to fall freely throughout the air and land on her long black eyelashes. She always loved Christmas time, she always thought of it as a time for family and friends. Looking down on her left hand, her engagement ring sparkles. She squints to see a plane come soaring in from the distance. Her heart starts to quicken as the plane lands. The door of the plane opens and she lets out a gasp.

The author of the article "The Plot Sickens" is bewildered about how her students writing mostly all have a negative outlook. She blames the economy for the way her students writing has changed. Most stories written from them are about tragedy, death or negative aspects in life. When young adults see what is happening around the world, it can affect their writing. The economy has changed the students without them even knowing it. I wasn't sure where to go when I first started my free write. But Christmas time always makes me think of love. Some even say it's the happiest time of the year. I wanted my story to be open ended, let the reader make their own ending. If the woman's fiance was the one stepping off of the plane that's coming home from war? Is he injured? Does he even look the same? Leaving an ending with no answer is a way to let the reader want more. Even though most writing seemed to be negative I wanted a positive outlook on the situation. One never knows what can happen on Christmas Eve, whether positive or negative.

Clumsy. Graceless. Ungainly. Uncoordinated.

Clusmy? .... Clumsy was kind of an understatement when it came to dealing with me. 

The day started out like any other. I woke up, went to school then went to work a six hour shift at Dunkin Donuts. My uniform always reeks of coffee, flavor shots and donuts even when I wash it three times in a row. The smell never seems to go away or even get off my skin after I work a shift. Whenever I come home I seem to have to scrub my body just for the scent to fade...it's disgusting really. But anyway, I won't continue to ramble on about the smell even though I guarantee most of you can smell the coffee in the air and think of beautiful you believe it is. 

When I walked into work all my co-workers screamed my name (it's what we always do to make people feel at home) and they continued to say hi. I walked out back and threw up my hair with my visor and went out front. The shifts changed and I was with my favorite people to work with. We always get busy  throughout the day and this was one of the busiest times we've had in a while. Since it was close to Christmas, everyone decided to buy their gift cards on the very last day and made sure to get their hot chocolates before venturing off into the snowy cold air.

It turned into five pm and I was soon going to be relieved to go on my break. When another rush came along, the line for the drive-thru was at the street and the line for the front counter was out the door. A man got six coffees and a bucket full of food. I decided I would bring him his tray of coffees... which I now regret doing. I walked out from behind the counter and see his standing by the sandwich station. When I am about to hand him over his tray of coffees I suddenly slip and fall to the ground. I watch as the coffees fly up into the air and onto his nice suit. I look up to see the main drenched in iced coffee. I stand up apologizing over and over again while he just stares at me. Other customers look around to see what all the noise was about. Suddenly all eyes were on me and I didn't know what to do. 

After I remade all the coffees the man told me why he was wearing what he was and what the real tragedy was about the incident. The fact that his suit was worth $300 and apparently  it was for a wedding that he needed to attend in less than twenty minutes. I will never forget that day and I always get reminded when I now get called cluts instead of Jill whenever I go to work a shift.