The Writer's Nook - December 2018
Author: Ahmyra al'Ruley, December 2018
Hey y'all!!
So I was watching a friend doing Inktober things and I wondered what it would be like to have a monthly story writing prompt. I know for myself, I love to write but I don't always have good inspiration. So I floated my idea out to the TVT staff and well here we are...
So! Each month I will be giving all you lovely writers out there a short story "prompt". Some kind of theme to get your beautiful minds working. If you choose to write a short story and would like to submit if for the rest of the site to read and possibly have it featured in the next month's TVT edition, please comment below!
Without further ado, this month's prompt is "first experience with snow (animal or human)".
And to get us started, here is my (not great) attempt at a prompt story!
*Short stories should be kept to a reasonable length. I would say no more than 2500 words.*
Night fell as I contemplated my life. All I knew was the little lair I had been born in with my 3 sisters and 4 brothers. Mom said it was too dangerous for us to leave. At least up until today, that is. She says tomorrow we are going to go Outside and learn how to hunt. I’m not sure I’m ready to leave. Outside always smells so interesting when Mom comes back from hunting for us, but it almost feels cold coming down the tunnel. What is cold? What makes things cold? There are too many questions in my head for me to sleep.
One of my siblings rolls over and kicks me in the ribs. She’s still asleep and must be dreaming of hunting. It’s cute but doesn’t distract me from my thoughts. I wonder what it will be like to leave the lair for the first time. Mom used to tell us stories about what it looked like Outside. Thinking about her stories he me get my mind off going Outside tomorrow.
What feels like minutes later, Talani shoves me over on my back. I somehow fell asleep and missed Mom’s wake up call. Talani shoots me a dirty look and bounds up to Mom. Groggily, I stumble to the mouth of the lair so mom can wash my face. It’s one of her daily rituals even though we don’t need it anymore. It brings her comfort and I can’t deny her that. Mom turns and walks up the tunnel, Talani and the rest of my siblings eagerly follow her. Dragging my feet, I am last up the tunnel. I don’t know what to expect and that makes me anxious and nervous.
Blinking in the bright light of Outside, I can’t see anything to begin with. Mom tells us the light comes from this thing called the Sun and that our eyes will adjust to the extra light pretty quickly. I try to close my eyes and see if that helps but when I open them it’s still really bright and hard to see anything. Mom tells me to follow her voice and the scent from her paws until my eyes adjust. Am I the only one struggling with my eyes? Great, one more reason for everyone to make fun of me.
Slowly, the brightness eases and I can see the landscape around me. I have to blink several more times because I can’t believe what I am seeing. Instinct kicks in and keeps me walking after my siblings but my brain is in overdrive. Everything is coming at me so fast.
It’s amazing to me that things I have never seen before have names that flit through my brain at the speed of light. Those tall things waving back and forth are trees; and the force that is making them move is wind! My fur ruffles as this wind thing touches me. It feels like that time Aiohbell sneezed on me. Could the wind be the breath of some big thing that I can’t see? That thought makes me nervous and I run to catch up with my family.
My eyes wander over and catalogue all these things that I am seeing like rocks and grass, bugs and birds. That long, slender thing over there is a snake and I kind of want to play with it but Mom warns me away. She urges us to move faster. I guess where ever we are going to hunt is a long way away. I guess it’s where she goes when Grandma watches us. Reluctantly, I move into a trot. My stomach rumbles and I am thirsty, but I know mom won’t accept those excuses.
Hours later after climbing up and up and up and around and up some more, mom stops us. Dax whines that he is thirsty and mom swats him. She says there will be plenty of frozen water just over the next rise. What is frozen water? How does it freeze? Questions pile up in my brain, but I know better than to voice them. A short time later, Grandma and Dad arrive. Grandma immediately comes over runs her tongue over my head. She lays down and looks at me knowingly. She whispers, “Head full of questions?” Silently I nod. She grins and invites me to ask one question. One Question? How am I supposed to narrow down all the questions I have into one? That isn’t even fair! She patiently waits while I sift through them all and finally come up with my one.
“How am I able to call all these things by name when I have never seen them before in my life?” It wasn’t the most important but it was the biggest one by far. She grins again and settles down to explain it all to me.
“Our ancestors walked this earth and gave each thing a name. Every animal, every bird, every bug and every plant all has its own unique name. When we die, our memories join the pool of what my mother called “the all knowing”. Every one of your kin that has lived before you and mine before me has contributed their memories to the “all knowing”. When we are born, we can tap into that “all knowing”. It helps us know how to hunt, how to breathe, how to walk. It also helps us to know the names of all these new things. Trust me, there will be more things when we cross the ridge.”
This didn’t really appease my curiosity, but I lapsed into silence to contemplate all that Grandma had told me. Brain still swirling with thoughts and completely not paying attention, Grandma’s call startled me. Scrambling to my feet I ran after her, tripped, and fell face first into coldness. Not just coldness but wet. Sitting up I shook my head trying to get this stuff off me. When I could finally see, I wasn’t sure what I was seeing was correct. It was all colorless. Like completely colorless. Those memories from my ancestors kicked in telling me that it was “white”. This white, cold, wet stuff drifted from a grey, cloudy sky in feather-like patterns. If I thought about it, it was actually kind of pretty. Until Talani threw a ball of it at my face. I didn’t much like this stuff.
I must have said that out loud cause Grandma started to laugh. I also must have called it stuff. She looked at me and asked me what this stuff was called. The word popped unbidden into my head. “Snow. This stuff is snow.”
