pyrofired2

     THE WINDOW As I stand quietly behind the podium, waiting to ascend it, I recall the day I wrote the words between my fingers. It had been a hot, sweaty day. The rays of the sun were peeking through the forest, reflecting on the water below.  Although the day before had soaked it with the rain, the heat had dried it completely today, and I sat comfortably on the bench. The paper sat on my lap with its thin blue blinds, beyond it an empty window of white. Through it, I could see them, but the frost covered the window, and the figures were blurred. I reached for my pocket and fetched my trusty toolkit. The pen came out with a flourish, li

THE SHADES OF ORANGE I sat down on the couch as my dad brought a chair over to face me. As he sat down in it heavily, it's legs screeched along the floor, my me wince. I was shaking, and although the fire burned in the chimney, the hairs on my arms stood up. For a while we sat in silence, and only the sound of the fireplace crackling could be heard. Although my head was hanging, I could still feel his eyes on me. "Why did you do it?" Dad said finally. "I dunno." I answered, keeping my head down. "Don't give me that. I want a straight answer." "I said I don't know!" I looked up at him a moment before lowering my head once more. "I

My family and I had decided to take a walk down the dike; Dad wanted to give mom some time for rest. He said that with the baby coming, she would need a lot more of it as time passed. I didn't get it, but when I asked him, he would get weird. His hand would rub his neck and he would start whispering to himself. I thought Caroline may know something, but when I asked her she only giggled and said I was too young to understand. I pulled her hair for that. We ended up rolling on the floor, kicking and biting each other. Dad pulled us apart and then tortured us with his usual lecture. We were too tired to listen to him at that point. The frost

Introductions The powerful engine hum of the airplanes could be heard even through the thick glass of the airport as they brought the passengers to an endless orange sky. In the airport, the constant flow of bodies made its own sounds, under the fluorescent white glow of the hangar lights. David sometimes wondered how they could ever have met, the people of the earth and the color of the sky. Did we even deserve to climb so high? David didn’t know, but he often wondered during the breaks in his shift. It was one of his break shifts now. David always headed for the nearest coffee booth and drank a large cup of coffee with four espresso