Young Adult
Petunia Pink
It was the summer of ’21. Twenty-twenty one that is. The Pandemic was over, or at least that’s what health officials kept saying. Advertisements on the television and plastered all across every social media feed promised a return to everyday life. Life before the Pandemic. What exactly was that life? I had just turned fourteen, and I was in the prime of my life. Summer without masks, hand sanitizer and being able to sit close to friends is what we all wanted. I had no idea that the Pandemic was merely the beginning of a chain of events unlike any other. Little did I know that my parents buying the barn down on Byers Lane was no coincidence. The barn that was once the location of many of the town’s markets, dances and town hall meetings had sat vacant for many years. No one knew why the town suddenly stopped all activity out of it, but there it sat vacant, until my parents bought it. The barn also happened to be across the street from Petunia’s house.
By Kelly Maurica5 years ago in Fiction
My Hayloft
It was the summer of 1981. I’d just turned sixteen and had recently discovered Rick Springfield. Dreaming about being Jessie’s Girl with a teen heartthrob lusting after me was my salvation since I had nothing more exciting in my life. Summertime on a farm was filled with nothing but hard work. And, more than twenty miles from any real civilization meant that other than an occasional trip to the grocery store, the only people I’d likely see were members of my family.
By Liz Montano5 years ago in Fiction
The Everbright Farm
The barn looked old. Eve hung around the tree line, dodging from dead tower to dead tower as she scouted the building. The locket felt cool on her chest in the warm summer heat as she finished her observations. It was surrounded on two sides by the woods she’d been traveling through. Beyond the farm, she saw an equally abandoned looking home. There were a few chickens nearby, somehow still surviving despite no one seeming to be around to raise them.
By Bradley Freeman5 years ago in Fiction
Marigold Fields Forever
She never wanted to feel such anger and sadness simultaneously; she hadn't asked to feel such pain. Rose wasn't angry at Jacob for passing of course; that was the shared human condition and Jacob, while the perfect man, was not an ever-living god (though he was the god of love, affection, and faithfulness that Rose had always needed). She was angry at cancer for taking someone away from her like that. She was angry at the god of Jacob's understanding for allowing that to happen. The world needed more good men like Jacob Miller; it did not require one less such person. Alas, her curses and her tears didn't bring him back...
By Kent Brindley5 years ago in Fiction
Transcendent
Dressed in her best dress, Lorelei walks down the street looking for a brand-new adventure. Being a girl from an upper-class family, Lorelei appreciates a high-flying lifestyle but there is one thing that she lacks and desperately wants. That is a purpose. The problem is she doesn’t know what to do with her life. All she has ever done is go shopping and be social but otherwise doesn’t have any interests. This is why she is walking around the street, hoping to find something that will inspire her.
By Erika Ravnsborg5 years ago in Fiction
Mixed Priorities
We’ve all had shower thoughts. You know, those bright balls of epiphanic thought that burst into clarity for you while you’re otherwise preoccupied? I have a few favorites from some online gurus like ‘Aliens invaded the Moon on July 20th, 1969,’ Or ‘Somewhere in the world, there is somebody with your dream job that hates going to work every day.’ There is some real thinkers out there and in my free time I scooped up those bad boys like candy.
By Laura Buonpastore5 years ago in Fiction
The Intersection
She replays the moment over and over. She recognized her father’s truck when she glanced past her best friend and out of the school bus window. She recognized her father. She didn’t recognize the women who turned and leaned toward him. Cat’s head whipped around quickly, to double check, confirm she was mistaken but the vantage had changed and the truck was out of view.
By Adelheid West 5 years ago in Fiction
The Dragon and the Snake
Thomas looked at the ground around him and watched what happened. The only thing that he could not tell was what words passed between those that had only recently stood here. For days he had been tracking one source of information to this lonely farmstead but when he had arrived there had only been death waiting for him. His contact had run afoul of his prey and now Thomas, in the shade of an old barn, was looking over the evidence to help catch the man.
By James Guilar5 years ago in Fiction
Open Door
The day was just like any other, warm, sunny, and windy. I live in a small town out of Greenville S.C. called Liberty. The town was beautiful and small. We have all types of animals from the cow to the horse, to chickens, and geese; they all live in our old family barn, I have lived at this barn my whole life so I’ve seen all the animals grow up and have kids of their own or some reach the end of the line for the butcher’s block. No matter where they go though, the animals know they were loved in every way. But the animals weren’t the only things living on this farm.
By Gabriela Menendez5 years ago in Fiction
