Pages and Pages of Words & Thoughts
Tag: Creative Writing
“There is peace in silence…”
Rushing water pours down on my head. It has the strength to bring any man down to their knees, but I have trained myself to endure and withstand its power. My body is unwavering and motionless as the waves slide down around me, continuing its journey to the stream below.
“Silence is nature’s remedy for stress…”
Emptiness fills my mental walls, allowing me to forget anything and everything that would normally plague my train of thought. With a clear mind, I only focus on my natural surroundings; the water crashing on my head, the boulder that I perched myself on top of, and the light breezes that blows through the forest brush.
“Stress only blocks the path to true calmness and tranquility…”
I take in a deep breath and hold it in, letting the cool all flow through my warm lungs and back out. I repeat this process over and over until my body feels lighter than air itself. I may not be able to see it, but I can feel a small smile of relaxation appearing on my face. It’s a rare occurrence that I am able to complete an entire session of meditation in complete solitude, so this is more pleasing than usual.
As I’m sitting on the boulder, I can feel that my posture is slightly off, so I take a moment to adjust the alignment in my back; my new posture makes it even easier for the water to pour around me. The simple sound of rushing water is the main thing I hear, accompanied by a few chirping birds every so often. If I choose to, I could even hear the sound of individual water droplets as they fall into the stream.
Finding the perfect state of calmness makes even the most insignificant of things seem like the key to winning an ever-lasting war. Nothing could possibly ruin this moment for me.
“Hey, Sensei!”
… Damn.
Perhaps reaching this state of calmness is starting to play tricks on my senses; I could have sworn I just heard a voice other than my own. However, I decide to ignore it and continue with my meditation.
“Sensei! Sensei, I know you can hear me so just give it up!”
That squeaky, girlish voice speaks again. I can even feel a disturbance in floating around in the stream below. My mind is not deceiving me; my prodigy is calling out to me. I let out a loud sigh and open my eyes so I can get a look at her swimming around.
“What is it, young one?” I ask in a light tone.
Holding a small glass of whiskey on the rocks, Richard looks down at the city nightlife from his living room. He leans on the glass a bit to get a better look at the sidewalk below him.
“What determines the worth of a man? The knowledge they ascertained through life, their morals and values that shape their views and lifestyle? The items that they surround themselves with?”
Richard takes a sip from his glass and looks back into the living room. Luxurious furnishings, all of which are covered in ivory white, expensive paintings and sculptures decorate the marble tile floors, a large flat screen television set up with full entertainment station; the living room of a wealthy man.
Richard walks over to one of his couches and sits back, placing his glass on the coffee table in front of him. He puts his feet up on it and goes back to his personal discussion.
“If a man follows a code of conduct, or some kind of code of honor to go about his life, does that make them a valuable person to others? Does that increase their actual worth, how much it would cost you to obtain their services?”
Letting everything goes to his head, Richard gets a small migraine and rubs his eyes for a moment, “Damn it, I’m starting to sound like a philosophy major student.”
“Well, some people find philosophy not only to be sophisticated, but also attractive.”
A womanly voice gently speaks from behind Richard, followed by the sound of wet footsteps. When she approaches Richard from behind, she reaches over the back of the couch and wraps her water soaked arms around his neck.
“Personally, I find it boring and tiresome at time.”
“Then why do you have all of those books about Hobbes and Machiavelli in your personal study?”
“I read them to help me fall asleep sometimes. A girl does need her beauty sleep after all and what better way to fall asleep than to read about a guy rambling on about ‘human nature this’ and ‘human nature that?’”
Richard looks up and sees a blonde haired woman looking at him with a sarcastic smile on her face. Even though he’s seen her dozens of times, he always likes to take a moment to carefully look over every small detail of her peach, blemish-free face.
With a chuckle, Richard replies, “It’s hard to tell if all of that sleep is helping. You still have some bags under your eyes.”
“You ass,” the woman snares back. Although she gave an angry reaction, all she does is lightly pluck Richard on his nose and climbs over the couch, sitting next to him. “You’re lucky I care about you, or else I would have ripped you a new one.”
“Daddy, I don’t wanna go outside.”
Shena stands right in front of the door, throwing a tantrum. She put on her winter clothes, grabbed her jacket, and was ready to leave out that door. She even sat down to put on her snow boots, and now she says she doesn’t want to go out.
I lean down on one knee so I can get down to eye level with her, “Shena, you said you wanted to go play in the snow. Now you don’t want to?”
“Nope.”
“Why don’t you want to go outside?”
“Because I don’t wanna go outside!”
But she was the one who wanted to go outside in the first place… I swear, I don’t understand this kid sometimes.
Acknowledging the situation now, I let out a sigh, drop my head forward, and gently pat my daughter on the head. I take a moment to collect my thoughts before beginning negotiations with this little girl, “We can’t have you cooped up here all day. The snow isn’t high at all and it’s fun to play it. Let’s just go out for a little while to go place, okay?”
She folds her little arms and turns her back to me, shouting out “NO!”
… Time to pull out my game changer tactic.
“I’ll give you chocolate milk when we come back into the house.”
Shena instantly turns back around and gives me the most serious face her seven year old face could possibly make, “How much?”
“One mug worth.”
“Two. And I want a vanilla creme cookie to dunk with it.”
“One mug and one cookie. And I’ll throw in a few mini marshmallows in the milk.”
She squints and I squint back at her. She points at me and I point back: our negotiations are reaching its end. I slowly extend my hand out, “So? We got a deal?”
“Don’t go back on your word, ‘Mister.’”
We shake and our agreement is sealed. All that’s left is to put everything into motion and endure the snow. I unlock the front door and slowly open it, giving way to a pure white scenery on our front lawn.
Everything from the curb of the street right up to the bottom of the small three steps that lead into the house is covered in fresh, untouched snow; it looks like somebody put a new silk blanket across the world.
Shena takes a deep breath and clenches her fists, taking the first ground-breaking step into our winter wonderland. She stops for a moment and turns back to me.
“Daddy.”
“What is it?”
“I’m done playing outside. I’m ready for cocoa milk now.”
“All you did was take a step outside!”
“Yeah, my foot had fun taking that step in the snow and I’m ready to go back inside.”
She turns right back around and walks past me into the house as if nothing happened, which nothing did happen. Taking just one step outside doesn’t count as playtime. And I know how to make sure everything goes my way.
“This doesn’t count as playtime. If you sit on that couch, you won’t get any chocolate milk and cookies.”
As soon as I finish that sentence, Shena comes sprinting out of the house and jumps face first into our snowy lawn. Next thing you know, she’s making snow angels like there’s no tomorrow all across the lawn, yelling out Christmas carols and songs during the entire thing.
“JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS! JINGLE ALL THE WAY!”
Now that’s playtime.
Laughter fills my lungs I try to catch my breath as I watch Shena rushing her body to try and have fun just for chocolate milk. But I did say that both of us would play, so I run back into the house to grab my coat before I join her in the snow angel madness.
Sam still can’t grasp the concept of Daylight Saving correctly and it’s starting to effect her. Luckily, she has Alex to help her make sure everything is set right, even though it’s a simple problem. Or at least, it should be.
“Alex, I need help!”
“What is it, Sam?”
“Can you come downstairs? I’m trying to figure something out about how to set the time on one of the clocks.”
After being woken up too early on a weekend, Alex now has the power to decide what her and Sam get to eat for breakfast, but Sam forgot something from last night. It just makes it a bit harder for Alex to truly enjoy her day.
“So, you didn’t decide to look for it when you woke up?”
“No.”
It’s just another day in Alex and Sam’s lovely home. However, it seems like Alex might be a bite late to work because somebody forgot to do something, something that could effect the very fabric of time and space.
“No time! I’m going to be late!”
“But Alex, I made a mistake! I forgot what today is!”
“So, how have you been, man?”
Erik keeps looking at the ocean on the other side of the railing. I can tell that, ever since we started doing this, that he’s been more relaxed about being able to talk to people; he doesn’t too nervous about talking about something that he enjoys. After looking out at the sea for a bit longer, he turns and looks at me.
“I’ve been alright. Just tryin’ to take it one day at a time, ya know?”
His eyes seem to have more color in them. When I first met the guy, it looked like something drained all of the life out of him. His skin cleared up a bit and his hair shines a bit more too; he looks better. I guess it’s my turn to talk.
“Yeah, I hear you. It’s really never easy taking care of a kid, especially if you’re doing it by yourself. I can tell you about all of the stories I have about when I had to babysit my niece for a few days. I could have gone crazy during those days.”
That brought a small smile to his face followed by a chuckle. I know that me taking care of my cousin is nothing compared to his situation, but I’m not trying to make it a competition or anything. I hope I don’t sound like I’m bragging to him.
Erik nudges my shoulder, “Let me guess. She’s probably some six or seven year old who can’t sit still and constantly wants to jump on the couch until she passes out?”
“You a mind reader?”
“Nah. Just have some experience with a kid like that.”
He sure does.
“How’s your daughter. Jeanne, was it?”
“Yeah. She’s a fighter; she bounced back already. She had her break down moment, but ever since then, she’s had her head up. She’s had a little dip in her grades for a brief period, but she quickly brought that back up like it was nothing. She’s trying to find a boyfriend.”
After he utters the word “boyfriend,” Erik let out a long, tired sigh and leads on the railing, putting his head down.
I let out a laugh and pat, “I can’t wait to hear about the guy she finally decides to introduce you to.”
“I just hope the guy she finds is able to put up with her princess attitude every now and then.” He brings his head back up before continuing, “She’s such a spoiled brat at times.”
“But you love the hell outta her.”
Luka's Notebooks 