CW: Close your eyes, take a deep breath and relax. Unless…

“Today is “National Relaxation Day.” Describe one way you like to have fun and relax.”
– a prompt for this week’s CW piece.
[Source: The Teacher’s Corner]

“It’s your character’s first day at a new school. He or she wants to get a fresh start, develop a new identity. But in his or her homeroom, your character encounters a kid he or she knows from summer camp…”
– a prompt for this week’s CW piece.
[Source: Creative Writing Now]

 

Today, we have a twofer – two prompts for the price of one.

On a sandy beach I lay,

wondering how long I’ll be able to stay.

3 days? 5? Maybe a week.

But it’s a lifetime of this that I seek.

Watching the waves crash against my feet,

an ocean sunset nothing can beat.

A drink in hand

and an island band.

A slice of heaven

where no one gets up before seven.

No worry,

no furry.

Only an open mind

and many tales to find.

On a sandy beach I lay…

 

My family home burned down last May.

I stood on the sidewalk unsure if what I saw was real. The only thing that was left of my room were four vertical wooden beams. What was once a house was now a skeleton. The fire took it all – my gaming console, my model airplanes, even my collection of stamps, which dad insisted I keep even though I did not understand the point of having random stamps in a stock book only to look at them from time to time.

Behind the yellow tape, now surrounding the property, the police were conducting their investigation. Talking to one another, occasionally kneeling down, or speaking on the phone. They all seemed insanely busy and quintessential to the whole process. As the sun rose higher in the sky, I saw something gleaming nearby. Crimson red. I walked towards it. About a foot in front of me, slightly beyond the yellow tape, laid my Monster Truck car that I got for my seventh birthday.

Without thinking twice, I got down on one knee and undid one of my shoelaces. A quick look to the left and then to the right and then to the left again assured me that everyone was too preoccupied with either their jobs or with what the cops were doing to notice my actions. I extended my arm underneath the tape as much as I could, but I was still a couple of inches short of reaching it, so I scooted over on my knees, grabbed the toy and quickly placed it in my jacket pocket.

“You can’t be here, kid. You need to stay behind the tape” – said one of the officers, who saw me kneeling on the ashes.

“I’m sorry… my shoe…“ – I stuttered as I pointed towards my untied shoelace.

“This is his house. I mean, it was“ – my aunt joined the conversation, suddenly appearing from the crowd and materializing next to me.

“Oh, sorry about your parents, buddy. But you really cannot be here” – said the cop.

“Of course. C’mon, Brady” – aunt Jodie said and gently pulled me away from the yellow tape onto the other side of the street where the crowd was already dispersing.

I turned around and looked at the place where my house stood just yesterday.

“Let’s go. We’ll have to go shopping to get you a couple of things before you leave for summer camp tonight.“

My gaming console, my model airplanes, even my collection of stamps. And my parents. All gone. Lost in the fire.

***

Aunt Jodie had little to no maternal instinct. Her career was at an all-time high and she did not feel like packing lunches every day and worrying about my homework. What I always liked about her was that she was very generous with her money. She used it to compensate for anything she was not good at. Like paying attention to you. It wasn’t a shock when she called me during camp and announced that I would be going to a boarding school a day after I was scheduled to come back from camp. Apparently, she had pulled some strings and a private, preppy middle-school decided to accept me as a student.

Arriving at my dormitory, I could not help but smile. A new town, a new school, new teachers and brand new classmates. A fresh start. My shoulders felt lighter already. New beginnings. Full of possibilities. A smirk crept onto my face. Humming some unidentifiable tune, I went on a tour of the building.

I was a whole hallway away when I heard chatter coming up from the room on the right.

“It must be the homeroom” – I thought to myself and quickened my pace.

Meeting new people was always exciting. Plus, with this being a private school, I could not stop but think of all the cool things these kids have that I haven’t even dreamed of. Things that soon would be shared with me.

Before entering the room, I paused to assess my classmates. They were wearing fancy clothes, but they were goofing off just like any other kid their age. I liked that. I looked down to inspect my new clothes and confirmed that I did indeed fit in. Aunt Jodi turned me into a prep boy. No one was going to know who I really am.

Fixing a smile on my face, I brushed my fingers through my hair and walked inside. My plan was to find the kid who was all alone. It would make it easier for me to get through to him and become friends. And mold him to my liking. Tomorrow I would try to befriend someone who was the most popular. If that didn’t work out, then I would fight him. You know what they say in prison – pick a fight with the meanest inmate if you want to be respected.

A scrawny boy reading a book was sitting in the far left corner of the room and I decided to head towards him.

“Brady?” – I heard my name and it almost stopped me in my tracks.

“There’s nobody here that knows you, silly” – I reassured myself, figuring out that there must be another student here with the same name.

“Yo, Brady, remember me?“

A boy appeared in front of me so suddenly that I almost bumped into him. He was slightly taller than me. Black hair, blue eyes. The golden boy. I was so enthralled in my own world that things didn’t click in my brain right away. But when they did, my eyes widened and my mouth opened slightly.

“There you go. Of course you remember me” – said the boy and he leaned towards me.

Alex and I met at the summer camp. We became fast friends, pushing the girls into the river, playing pranks on our counselors and hunting small animals. But a couple of days before the camp was over, Alex decided to turn on me.

“And I remember what you did” – Alex whispered into my ear and a shiver ran down my spine.

“See you around, buddy” – he said before walking away.

All of a sudden a fresh start wasn’t so fresh.

***

P.S. As always, you are more than welcome to use this prompt to inspire your post. If you decide to write something, be sure to pingback to this post, so that I can get an alert and check out your post. (A post on how to do pingbacks can be found here.) If pingbacks are not your thing, feel free to simply leave a link to your piece in the comment section below. The more, the merrier!

Stay golden,

***

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