Junior Year

This was my junior year piece that I was the most proud of.  I really liked the world that I had put that characters in.  Although the dialog and development of the characters could really do with some work I still enjoyed writing it.  It was inspired off of a prompt that I was required to write about in my junior class.  Oddly enough it was a picture of a red flower that I was supposed to write about.  It was a cartoonish picture of a small red flower.  That's it.  Through that imagery I sort of reverse engineered a story.  I had the red flower be at the end and the story would start else where and eventually they would meet up.  At the end I realized that this piece seemed like a variation from my sophomore piece.  Except that everything had been cleaned up.  The dialog was more readable and the plot was a little better.  Despite the fact that this piece is a far cry from perfect I still really enjoyed writing this piece.

Chapter 1:  Refugee

                A harsh wind blew across the plains of Aoskifo, the refugee tents flapped in the wind.  John gradually woke up, gathering his thoughts as he looked outside his tent.  Nothing new, he thought to himself, same as yesterday, same as tomorrow.  He reflected on his life and how horrible it was.  He used to live in a lap of relative luxury, now he was confined to a rather small tent in horrible living conditions.  The only good thing was that his family had gotten out of the terror alive.  As he laid down, something stabbed into his back.  Good thing I was going slowly he thought to himself.  He rubbed his back.  Glancing behind him, John saw his knife on his sleeping bag.  Picking it up, John quickly sheathed it and put the knife in his pocket.  Stretching, John slowly made his way to the opening in his small tent.  He looked outside and saw the 2 suns were staring down at him.  Suddenly the suns were blocked out.

                "Bright day ahead of us!" said Kelly cheerfully, looking down at John as he crawled out of his tent.

                "Yeah, I guess." replied John wondering how the hell Kelly could be so optimistic all the time.  Brushing himself off John remembered the first time he met Kelly. 

                John's family was in the last group of survivors from the orbital bombardment of Aeth capital city of the planet of Kaidag.  John's family had moved there from Earth before John was born.  Aeth was one of the most beautiful cities on the planet but the rest of the planet was in poverty.  Kaidag had been a human settlement but there were natives there that the humans abused.  Plots of rebellion and terrorism were hatched in the outer reaches of the planet.  Soon terrorists emerged and attacked the city committing genocide on all the inhabitants and destroyed most of the city through orbital bombardments.  John's family was lucky to get out alive.  Kelly was less fortunate, her parents had been killed in a similar attack on the city of Jos.  Refugee camps had been set up by the United Nations Space Council and eventually through months of travelling through these camps John and his family had met up with Kelly.  Kelly had been part of the welcoming committee and even showed John's family around.  She made a good impression on John's family and they considered her a part of their family.  Since then Kelly and John have been inseparable despite the difference between their personalities. 

                "Hey, where's Faith?" asked Kelly looking around for John's sister. "I thought she was staying with you until you could get your release forms?"

                "She went up ahead with my mom and dad to the next refugee camp last night,” said John "They couldn't get the release forms for me yet, but once I get approved I'll move with the next convoy.  Wait you're coming with me, right?"

                "Definitely!" said Kelly cheerfully.  When someone requested to leave camp, a release form needed to be signed signifying that you were a real refugee and not a poor traveler looking for free food and shelter.  As they walked along the path towards the outskirts of camp he noticed a cloud of dust off far into the distance. 

                "Hey when's the next relief convoy coming in?" Asked John

                "Um, I think it was in 2 days.  Why?" Kelly replied puzzled, since John never paid attention to camp news.

                "Then what is that?" he said and he pointed towards the clouds of dust far off into the distance.  Just as he pointed an alarm sounded.

                "Everyone please calmly evacuate into the main camp," said a calming robotic voice.  Families immediately packed up what little they had and rushed towards the main gates that lead to the main camp.   The main camp wasn't anything special.  It was a smaller version of the refugee camp, albeit with more fortified walls, and a bigger population. 

                Suddenly a whining noise filled the air, like cicadas in the summer.  Suddenly planes overhead appeared like an angels of death over a battle field.  Explosions were everywhere, destroying buildings and killing people.  Families were getting killed by the mass of explosions that filled the camp grounds.  The people inside the main camp were even worse off.  They had nowhere to run to except the town house which could only hold little of the population.  Artillery shells pounded any building that still stood.

                "We've got to get away!" shouted Kelly running towards the plateau, north of the refugee camp.  Looking back she noticed that John wasn't moving.  John was in utter shock of what was happening.  Running back to him she grabbed his hand. 

                "Come on, we've got to go!" Kelly said urging John to move.   When John didn’t move she grabbed his hand and forcibly lead him away from the battle.  John looked at Kelly as she tried to drag him away from the battle, but whatever she was saying was lost in the loud explosions that followed the initial bombings.  Kelly, mouthing something to John, started to sprint across an open plain towards the woods where they would have more shelter.  They ran as fast as they could across the field, bombs bursting everywhere.  Although John started behind Kelly he soon caught up and over took her.  Turning around he saw the refugee camp destroyed by bombs and artillery, he saw people with their limbs blown off and others missing vital body parts.  Kelly was right behind him, she pointed towards an alcove near the outskirts of the forest.  Kelly forced John’s head down just as a shell exploded right in front of them.  As John and Kelly stumbled inside the cave they heard a thunderous roar over their heads and the small cave rumbled as small chunks of rock and dirt showered them.  They quickly moved deeper inside the cave hoping to avoid any debris that might fly inside.  As John got deeper inside, he began to feel calmer, as the hell outside became nothing more than a buzz in his ear.  A mass of flowers appeared as Kelly and John got deeper inside the cave. 

“I’ve seen these flowers before,” John said.    As he picked the flower it almost instantly withered away.  As he stared at the shriving flower, he began to reflect on what had happened.  The genocide, the bombings and he finally wondered "Does life have any meaning?” As John began to look around, John felt an odd burning sensation coming from his leg.  As he reached down he felt a warm, thick, liquid flow down his leg.  Bringing his hand up, he realized that it was his own blood.  Slowly he felt a fluttering in his eyes.  He was feeling more and more tired.  As Kelly looked at John she knew instantly something was wrong.

                "John, are you hurt anywhere?" Kelly asked in a cautious tone.  John lifted his right hand and she saw that it was covered in blood.  As he watched Kelly panic and search his body for the wound John started to nod off but he tried his best to stay conscious knowing that if he fell asleep that he might never wake up. 

“John, please stay with me!” Kelly said on the verge of tears.  Nodding, John looked into her eyes and saw a mixture of fear and panic but more than anything he saw sadness.  He suddenly knew she had seen this happen before.  But soon the urge to sleep was too great and John’s eyes slowly began to close as he drifted off into a world far, far away.