Almost a decade ago I dated a beautiful girl. She had bright blonde curly hair and the sweetest smile. She was a few years younger then me but we fell in love immediately. I took her to meet my family. My mom showed her pictures of me as a little boy. I met her parents. Her dad loved my jokes. We would sip coffee and talk for hours. I took her to my sister’s house. We sang in the car on the way there, I almost ran the red light. I was just mesmerized by her beauty. We would stay up late and dance around the kitchen.
One day I told her it was over. She was just too young and too different from me. I moved on with another girl, also young and beautiful. Eventually I was reminded to mail back the first girl’s things. As I went through each item I was reminded of every memory. Then I found her scarf. The scarf she forgot at my sister’s house.
Things didn’t work out with my new girl so I called up my old girl. Realizing I never told her I loved her I reminded her. But every time we tried to get back together I wouldn’t commit. Soon she stopped replying. All I had left of her was the scarf. The scarf she left at my sister’s house. I remember that moment and every moment all too well.
I thought about her all the time. Through every relationship, day, month, year, everything. Then the news spread she wrote a book. A book about our short lived relationship. Now everyone would know the story, yet no one would know my regrets. I am now left to be alone and grow old slowly, with nothing left of her but the scarf.
(Inspired by Taylor Swift’s all too well)
This song is about meeting someone and getting the biggest crush on them. It starts with small talk and slight laughing. Smiles and eye contact. All leaving you with the bubbly feeling in your stomach and blush on your face. Then you go home and wonder if they felt the same when meeting you. You stay up wondering and thinking about them. Do they love someone else? What do they think of you? Will they ever think of you again? You hope they aren’t in love with anyone else. You hope you can see them again. You want to continue the story. And you’ll forever wonder if they feel the same way.
Dear younger me, If only I could tell my 13 year old self that you won’t remember those girls who made fun of you in the hallways at school for wanting to live out your dreams. If only I could tell my 16 year old self that the boy who broke up with you at 3am over a short phone call will become a distant memory. If only I could tell my 19 year old self that you don’t need to impress others to love yourself. If only I could tell my 22 year old self that you’re not gonna be perfect. If only I could tell my 25 year old self that you’re wanted. I’m 30 now and none of that matters, it’s all faded from my mind. I was successful in accomplishing my dreams, but that doesn’t matter now. Nothing is permanent. So here’s to teenage Alison. To young adult Alison. You’re gonna be ok. You shouldn’t have worried so much. Nothing on this earth is permanent.
A memory is forgotten when there’s no one to keep it alive. Suppose you have a memory of going to the beach when you were ten. You remember the hot sun hitting your skin, the sand beneath your toes, how you played in the water for two hours, how you collected a couple of dozen seashells, your whole family there with you, mom, dad, little brother, grandma, aunt, uncle, cousin. You remember watching the sunset the last night you were there and how it’s vibrant pink and orange colors lit the beach up. Not only that, but you remember trying a coconut for the first time and the sweet taste. You remember this week so vividly that you can almost relive it when thinking about it. You grow up and the memory fades or alters a little. You’re now thirty, and you only remember the whole family visiting the beach. You remember watching a sunset. You remember playing in the water a long time. You remember trying a coconut. You remember finding seashells. Then you get even older,, and now you’re sixty and have grandchildren to tell this story to. You tell them you went to the beach with your family, that’s where you tried a coconut, you still have a couple of seashells you collected, you remember you saw your favorite sunset then. Now you’re no longer here and your grandchildren have to save the memory. They tell their children about you, how you loved your trip to the beach and that they have one of the seashells you had collected. Next it’s your great-grandchildren who can tell the story. Somehow it’s brought up you always told a story about going to the beach, and somewhere they have seashells from that, probably in a box in their attic. Then years go on and the box with the last seashell gets donated to a thrift store. No one knows where that seashell came from or who owned it, how they found it or bought it. That seashell sits in a thrift shop and is bought by a crafter. They use it as a decoration, not knowing the forgotten memory behind it. Ok
This animal is a little over a year old boy. He feels soft and loves to be pet unless he is in a bad mood or hungry, then he will run away or swat you with his paw. He loves to take naps on blankets. He loves when the sun comes in through the window and he can lay in it on the floor and sun bathe. He sometimes likes to spill his water bowl and then tracks paw prints all over the house. He gets in trouble for jumping up on the kitchen counters and sometimes getting in the sink. His favorite part of the day is when we feed him. My favorite thing he does is he runs to the door when we arrive home. I would describe him as sweet, sour, calm, wild, and any other opposites you can think of, he always acts differently depending on his mood.
Our story starts in a world, similar but also unlike ours. This world allows people to have powers the regular world doesn’t. The particular power we’re discussing today is the ability to know when you’ve met your soulmate. In this world, when you have seen your soulmate, you automatically love them and choose them. The majority of the population of people in this world don’t have an issue with it and abide by it. But there are a couple who were born without this ability and that causes problems. They’re only able to know their soulmate when their souls are finds them. Sometimes they accept it but sometimes they choose to be rebels and dismiss their soulmate. Now that you know a little about this world I have a story.
Hi, I’m Charlotte Walters, Junior in high school and I’m one of the 200 people in my world to not be able to know my soulmate. It was figured out from an early age when I showed interest in boys, but not one particular, I had big crushes on all of them. That’s an abnormal thing where I live. Because of this, I’ve decided I get to decide who I’m gonna be with because I probably won’t meet my soulmate anyway.
I have a boyfriend named Jackson who is also part of the 200 people who cannot know his soulmate. His was figured out after he had multiple girlfriends. Although that can be chosen to do so when you have the power it usually isn’t. Jackson is also a Junior in high school, and we’ve decided since we cannot tell our real soulmates anyway that In a way makes us soulmates. I just hope my one with the power never finds me so I don’t have to dismiss him. That sounds like a lot of work.
Today is the start of the second semester of school. I didn’t see Jackson all Christmas break because he went on vacation. It was wonderful that he was back because I don’t really have any other friends. “Hey Charlie,” said Jackson, smirking a little. He was leaned up against his locker. “Hey Jack its great to see you again, how was vacation?” I asked eagerly. “Fantastic actually, but I need to talk about something,” he said, with his smile fading. Suddenly I felt a rush of nerves hit my body, wondering what was about to go wrong. “I met a girl while I was there and immediately she clicked and well we’re soulmates,” he said in one breath, breathing out heavily at the end. Suddenly the sadness and disappointment consumed my body and I felt my lower eyelids begin to fill with tears; I didn’t blink so they wouldn’t fall. “-I thought you were like me,” I shakily said, becoming more vulnerable as my words came out of my mouth. “I though so too... but meeting Sarah was just a whole other experience,” he said smiling. The pit in my stomach was so heavy I couldn’t bare it. I turned around and make a bee line for the bathroom, locking myself in a stall to cry.
As days went on I became lonely and began to miss every aspect of Jackson. His shaggy dark brown hair, his green eyes that could enchant you, the way he smirked when thinking. And the more I saw others meet their soulmates the more I was disgusted and detested the idea. I spent my days alone, letting silence consume me.
After a couple months I felt myself enough to go out one morning. So Wednesday morning of the first week in March I went to the café on the square. I pulled my curly blonde hair into a messy bun and wore a white cardigan paired with a black mini skirt and baby blue vans. I put my earbuds in for the walk and turned on my favorite song. Arriving, I went straight to the counter. A young boy, probably of my age was working. He had dirty blonde hair and big blue eyes. He made eye contact with me. “I’d like a chocolate latte with extra whipped cream and for my add in I’ll have strawberries,” I said grabbing my cash out of my wallet. “It’s you,” he said, not listening to a word I said. “What’s that supposed to mean,” I replied a bit ticked off. “You’re my soulmate,” he said, astonished. My whole body went numb and I ran, ignoring his yelling at me.
Our story starts in 1535 in a European kingdom called Axel. Princess Mara of Northern Axel,eighteen years old was to be married to Prince Ernest, of the Southern Axel, twenty years old. Prince Ernest was madly in love with Princess Mara, he traveled the large kingdom, the size of Russia, as much as he could to visit her. He would go as long as 6 months without seeing her before he could spend almost a month returning only to visit with her for 7 days. He looked forward to their wedding day and the tasks they’d been given, to unite the Northern and Southern sides of Axel.
But Princess Mara felt differently. She did not like the idea of being betrothed to Ernest and despised her arranged marriage. While pretending to love Ernest when he was around, and writing letters to him, she would sneak out of her palace at night and meet with a village boy her age named Henry. She was in love with Henry, not Ernest, but hadn’t quite figured out a way to break off her marriage.
After the final visit before the wedding, Henry decided he’d had enough of Prince Ernest and would kill him. Mara was ok with this idea, it meant she would get to rule the whole kingdom by herself. So the next time Ernest came, he was automatically in peril. While sleeping the night before his wedding he heard noises from the room beside him, which was Mara’s. To make sure she was ok he tip toed his way to her door and knocked. The room went silent. The door slowly creaked open to reveal a man, Henry standing there with a knife ready to murder Ernest. Behind Henry, stood Mara encouraging the violence. Ernest’s heart broke as he began running. He hopped on his carriage and headed back to his side of the kingdom.
When he arrived home he told his father what had happened and the king ordered immediately the two sides go to war and so it happened. During the war, Mara’s father was assassinated leaving Mara to become ruler. She wed with Henry and together they began ruling her side and sending people out to war. Ernest’s parents felt deeply for him and tried their best to help him. They found him a princess from a neighboring kingdom whom agreed if they wed they would fight alongside the southern part of Axel. It attempts to win, Ernest married Princess Lily.
Mara and Henry had a baby boy, Ronaldo, whom they hated and did not want. He would get locked in his room and punished for things he did not do. Ernest and Lily had a baby girl, Jasmine, and they loved her so much. They protected her from every aspect of the outside world because they couldn’t bare to lose her.
Soon the children grew older. Ronaldo became tired of never seeing the outside world and Jasmine did too. Once they turned eighteen both of them, no longer under custody of their parents, chose to leave their royal status. Ronaldo chose to fight the war, but for the southern side. He moved there and applied to be in the war. Jasmine chose to become a nurse for injured warriors.
One day, Ronaldo was fighting in the woods when an opposing man came and slashed his chest, leaving Ronaldo to die. Luckily for Ronaldo, another young man found him and immediately took him to the hospital. There he was near death. Jasmine, his nurse, quickly was able to save him. Lucky for him the wound wasn’t deep. When he awoke from his sleep he thanked Jasmine for saving his life and he thanked the young man. While recovering, Ronaldo got to know Jasmine, both keeping it a secret they’re royalty, and they began to fall in love with each other. Soon enough Ronaldo decided to retire his career and become a doctor to work alongside Jasmine. They both later decided they wanted to get married. They had to work around not having parental consent but soon enough they were married and living a very happy life together.
A few years later news broke that both of the rulers had been killed by the opposing army. Now there were no rulers so a search for their children was sent. Ronaldo and Jasmine, hearing the news, revealed themselves. The people decided to crown them king and queen of the whole kingdom of Axel. The end.
My adrenaline rushed as I waited to go on stage. The hot lights were warming the whole auditorium up. Music was blasting, filling the room. I stood off-stage waiting for my turn to perform. I can do this. I’ve trained for ten years, I know what I’m doing. I double-checked my pointe shoe to make sure it wouldn’t come untied. I made sure my tutu was fluffed, in doing so thousands a tiny violet sparkles fell from my tutu. I giggled a little.
The music stopped, and the audience roared with applause. The previous dancers walked off the stage, meaning it was my turn. I sat up straight, lifted my chin, rolled my shoulders back, placed my arms rounded behind me, and walked toe first on to the stage to take my place. I hit my first pose with my arms rounded down in front of me and my feet in fifth position, my front toes facing right, and my back toes attached to my heel facing left. The music began. It filled my ears and my body knew what to do. The lights hit my face as I glissade, Grande jeté into a big spilt across the stage. I continued to dance without a care in the world. But I was nervous for my turn part. My adrenaline rushed, building up to it as I sweat under the lights. The audience watched in amazement. I prepared for my turns. I began turning on one foot, so tensed up that I felt like someone was squeezing me. Finally, I finished my turns and struck my pose, breathing out a sign of relief. Then I stepped to the side to curtsy as the crowd cheered.
Slowly I entered the woods. The wet soil squished beneath me, covering my toes in mud. I walked carefully, making sure to not step on anything. The rain began. I could smell the fresh rain as it started hitting my face drop by drop. I could feel the breeze picking up making the air colder. I shivered. My hair blew with the breeze as I walked deeper into the woods. I heard crickets and cicadas chirping. I saw a couple birds fly amongst the trees.
My feet sank deep into the ground as I walked on it. The rain was picking up and it started to hit my face rapidly. Lightning began to flash and light the forest up. I began running. Soon, thunder started and shook the forest with its powerful rumbles. I could no longer run, the ground was too wet and as I took my final step I slipped and fell backwards into the mud. I lay there staring at the sky full of clouds slowly passing by. The dark sky was menacing and made me tremble with fright. I rolled over to my stomach and stood up. No longer thinking clearly I ran fast through the woods, being blind to to limbs or bushes in my way. I ran as fast as I could.
My whole body now soaked in rainwater and mud was weak and I felt like lying down. But if I rested now I may never make it to my destination. In attempt to finish my adventure I pushed through, barely able to keep my eyes open. My knees were weak and gave out continuously. I could no longer hear or talk. I was now useless.
I found a split in the road. Either I finish the path or I stop now and head down the path of quicksand, resulting in my demise. It looked comforting. After a long storm the end, cut off early, looked amazing. But before I could take one step into the sand I heard my name being called from the other path. Being drawn to it I ran to it. Soon the sun started to appear in the trees and the sky lightened up. The ground became grassier and filled with beautiful wildflowers. I could smell each scent of flower and hear the birds chirp. Finally, making it to the end, I lie down and admired the beautiful rainbow in the sky. I stretched my body out to soak up the warm sun. The storm was worth the rainbow.
I jolted upright quickly from my sleep. The sun was coming in through my window hitting my face, warming it, just like the days before. It was 6:00am, just like the previous mornings. I was in my pink fuzzy pajama pants and junior year t shirt, just like the mornings before. I grabbed my phone which was sitting on my night stand, just as the mornings before. The date was October 13th 2021, just like the days before. They days were repeating and I didn’t know why or how to stop it. I got out of bed and hurried to my closet. My outfit, jeans and a red tank top with black tennis shoes, was laying out ready for today, just like every morning for the past week. I grabbed them to put them on and brushed my thin blonde hair. Once I was dressed I headed out to my car. “Good morning sweetie,” said my mom drinking her coffee in the kitchen. I ignored her. I got to my car and made my way to school. When I got to my school I ran in and to my locker as fast as I could. I could make it there pretty fast because I knew where people would be. After putting my books in my locker I was headed to my class, the exact same way as every other day. The odd thing is, when I asked people about it, no one else was aware the days were repeating. I got into my classroom and sat at my desk. By this point school was easy, I’d memorized all the facts and answers. It was a breeze through the day. At the end I was getting ready to leave when a boy, who looked to be in my grade was staring at me. I tried to ignore him but his green eyes stared me down. I decided to talk to him. “Hello, do I know you?” I smiled at him. “No but I know you,” he said blankly. I shivered a bit. That was creepy. “Are you aware?” He asked. Confusion hit me. “Aware of what?” I asked. “Everything,” he said staring blankly. Well this was weird. “Is there something wrong?” I asked, I needed to know. “Are you aware, that you’ll do this again tomorrow,” he asked now stepping closer. I stepped back. I knew what he meant. “Yes...” I said now scared. “Then yes there is something wrong,” he said looking concerned. “Why? If you can answer why this is happening then that would be amazing,” I said, never more interested. “If you can do one thing,” he said smirking now. I didn’t know if I wanted to ask or not. “Do what...” I asked scared. By this point we were the only people in the hallway. He started walking closer. Something about him made me not wanna walk away, I must have an answer. He got closer and closer. He was standing no more then three inches away from me when he looked me dead in the eyes. “You sign a contract...” he said, putting his hand in his pocket. “That you’re forever betrothed to me for the rest of eternity and you give up your human life be become immortal,” he said pulling a paper out. I was terrified. “If the days are repeating why’s this the first day this has happened?” I asked, trembling. He showed slight confusion. “The days are repeating for me,” I said to clear up confusion. He stepped closer and we were eye to eye almost touching. “They are for me too...” he said.
