No one ever seems to believe me when I tell them about how Tommy has made my life one disappointment after another. I don’t get it. Why is it so hard to accept? He’s a spoilsport who ruins everything! No, I’m not yelling at you. Maybe it’s because I see things the rest …
Continue reading “The Continuing Narrative of All the Ways My Little Brother is a Spoiled Brat”
Kara Pace thought she had heard all the jokes. After a time, she surrendered her frustration with the rest of the world if only to keep her sanity. Kara could tune out most wisecracks, but every so often, a new one would remind her how tenuous friendships could be. Calling her slow was one …
Prince Dimm kept his horse to a plodding pace. The woods’ sudden dark sliminess kept him on his guard. It was as though the trees defied any light to pass through their canopy. Their limbs twisted into shapes that created shadows like predatory beasts. Based on the stories surrounding the Castle Drear, any attempt …
My little brother ruins everything. Mr. Hammond, my fifth-grade teacher, says that’s “hi-per-bowl-ee,” but what does he know? I’m pretty sure he made up that word cuz I couldn’t find it anywhere in the dictionary. In any case, if you ever met Tommy, you’d have no choice but to agree. He’s made life miserable …
Astra held her purse over her head as she streaked toward the sliding door. The sensors detected her and granted entry. Panting, she turned around to see the torrential downpour cease all at once. “I can’t – I can’t—” she could not stop huffing as her lungs struggled to refill on oxygen. “I can’t …
Yosef stared up at the stars every night. He did not know what they were or why they shone whenever the sun’s light went out. It was one of those unanswerable questions like: where does the snow go during the summer? Although ignorant, Yosef loved that he could see the shimmering dots with such …
Fourteen girls sat in the crew leader’s living room. The scent of potpourri infested the room. Valerie brushed her hands along the soft, beige carpet as Crew Leader Zinnia called the meeting to order. Val found herself wishing she could be anywhere else. Even stuck in a broom closet. But Mom had insisted she …
A shadow. That’s all it was. A shadow moving across the mirror. Wes shivered, backing away from the bathroom. Compact as the woman who lived there, his grandma’s apartment was a cozy place full of browns and dark greens. But the bathroom was a blight on the place. The one room that unnerved Wes …
Bennett’s fingers could not tear through the tape. They were shaking too much. He reached into his pocket for a key, but the key ring’s bulk struggled against the trousers’ inner fabric. The keys jingled in victory as he freed them. At last he could open the box. The sound of metal tearing through …
I am Mark van Tol, an author. It’s at this point that most people would be naming all their accomplishments to date. After all, why read a creative writing blog from someone who hasn’t won awards or had some work published? First of all, writing isn’t all that I do. For about three-fourths of the …
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