Words In Frame, 6/24

“Do you see anything?” Mikey’s soft voice broke the silence.

“Nah, nothing yet, they must be waiting for us to strike first.” Ian stated as he came down from a well-placed rock.

“Hmm…well should we do it or should we wait?”

“I think we should wait a bit longer”

The two brothers were in the middle of a pivotal battle. The Lizardmen had just invaded their home and were currently taking over their field in the McShire Kingdom. They had done a good job thus far of warding off the enemy but their rations were running low and they were running out of cool ways to take out the Lizardmen.

“Mikey quick, pass me Ragnarok!”

Mikey frantically searched the ground for Ian’s trusty sword before finding it hidden in the tall grass behind them. He tossed it to Ian with before quickly rolling out of the way of enemy fire. They had shown their hand, and the next wave was approaching.

“Party time!” Ian shouted as he jumped from his rock headfirst into the fray.

“Save some for me!” Mikey rushed in after Ian, refusing to be left behind.

The two boys were fighting not just for themselves, but for their lands. They were protecting something that was bigger than them, something that was bigger than the Lizardmen too. No force could stop them. The boys wove in and out of the enemy forces delivering swift strikes and dishing out flourishes of karate moves that they had seen in a movie the night before mixed with random chants they made up with on the spot. Before they knew it they were surrounded. There was nowhere to run and almost no way to escape. In this very moment of desperation a breeze kicked in and a lone cloud cast a shadow over where they are standing. Ian lit up.

“Mikey get down, I’m gonna finish em off!” Ian warned his brother as he thrust Ragnarok into the sky.

At this moment the wind blew even harder and Ian made the grand gesture of slamming his sword into the ground, summoning lightning from the cloud above them and directing it toward their foes. There was a huge boom as the white bolt struck the earth and caused a massive explosion. When the dust settled all of the Lizardmen around them had fallen and the boys felt their victory had been secured.

“Wait…do you hear that?” Mikey uttered cautiously as he looked around.

“What do they sound like” Ian turned to cover Mikey’s blind spots.

“Like…footsteps…”

Seemingly out of nowhere another Lizardman appeared. This one was much larger than the rest and wielded two large axes. He was snarling with rage and had a bloodthirsty look in his eye. The two brothers, both exhausted from battled, turned toward each other.

“One last one?” Mikey inquired.

“Yeah, one more”

The two charged forward with as much force as they could, Mikey went for the legs as Ian aimed to damage the beast’s head. However it was much quicker than the rest. It must have been their commander. It dodged with their attacks with a violent beauty before fighting back. It went after Mikey, sensing he was the weaker foe, and, right before the blow struck, Ian rushed in to push him out of the way. It seemed to happen in slow motion, Ian taking a critical blow right before his brother’s eyes, while Mikey watched helplessly.

“Mikey, take my sword, finish the job!” Ian tossed his sword toward his companion before falling limp on the ground. In his final moment he had entrusted his sword to Mikey, there was no longer any room for fear or regret.

Mikey looked at the beast with his new sword in hand. It was funny, he had never fought with Ragnarok before but it somehow felt familiar. He took a stance to prepare for battle, some odd combination of Ian’s stance and his own. He was ready. The creature lunged at him and swung with full force. Mikey waited for the right moment before weaving in between the two axes to slice at the monsters heels. Take out the legs, just like he had practiced. As the monster feel to its knees Mikey lept into the air and came down with his sword with no more inhibition. After the strike there was nothing but silence. After the silence the beast lay lifeless on the ground with it’s head 6 feet away from its body. Mikey quickly ran over to his brother to make sure he was okay, extending a hand to help him up.

“Thanks man” Ian still seemed a bit worn down as he got back to his feet.

“McShire lives to see another day” Mikey boasted proudly. He had never gotten to finish the boss and this was his moment.

“For honor and valor?” Ian was reciting the code of McShire, which the two of them swore an oath to always uphold.

“For honor and valor”.

The sun was starting to set as the two boys made their way off the battle field. They walked in the direction of their mother calling and the smell of fresh catfish being prepared for dinner.

Words in Frame, 6/17

Suspended in air, clutching onto the metal bar of his glider, he suddenly wondered if he had taken out the chicken to thaw. Granted this was a bit of a random thought, but he had to find some way to tether himself to the world whilst flying above it. Flying felt more foreign than he remembered and he was still looking for a new anchor.

Nate had started hang gliding a few years ago at the recommendation of a past girlfriend. Heights had always made him uneasy but he was in love with her so he was willing to try anything. They had set out on this foggy morning, as most days in San Francisco turn out to be, and took their place atop one of the many hills in the area.

“Um…are you sure about this?” Nate asked her in a sincere yet worried tone.

She giggled before responding, “I am about as sure as I can be. Having second thoughts now?”

He was gripping the control bar of his rented glider so tight he could no longer feel his hands. Even if he wanted to back out there was no stopping at this point. So he just smiled at her and shook his head. One way or another he wanted to follow this girl to the ends of the Earth.

So he swallowed his fear and jumped.

Immediately it felt the worst decision he had ever made. The wind was rushing around him as it felt like he was plummeting toward the fog and into the unknown. He couldn’t focus on anything except the feeling of fear that had consumed every inch of his body. Was love really worth all this anxiety? Could this glider actually support him? Why couldn’t he find someone who was just into that stupid cat app like the rest of his friends?

Then the wind caught up with him and changed his world. No longer was he speeding toward a certain death but rather gliding across the very sky that most people never even notice anymore. In that moment, he felt a sense of liberation he thought was impossible. He took the time to look at his surroundings, his first time doing so since he left solid ground, and spotted the tip of the Golden Gate Bridge through the fog. It was so protected by fog that it looked like the highest tower in a fortress; important enough to stand taller than anything else but fragile enough to need the fog as a shroud. He a saw a side to his city he had never seen before, a quiet calm in the otherwise ever lively city. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her, illuminated by the sun like a golden phoenix. She was a natural of course, treating the airways as her playground. There were no rules up here, no chains to hold her back, and no fear to anchor her to the earth.

When they landed he told her he understood why she loved this so much, to which she replied: “No you don’t, and you can’t possibly understand. Each person flies their own way and for their own reasons, so you don’t need to understand why another person does it. You just need to do it for you.”

He looked at her quizzically, not really knowing what to say in the moment. But she leaned against him on the hill as they both sat in the silence and let the breeze wash over them. They had conquered the sky and felt like they owned the world. The Bridge was their kingdom and the fog blocked out all of life’s stresses for a brief moment. They would continue to glide thorough the sky together. When he was in his kingdom he never wanted to come down.

Even when she crashed.

Even when he held her hand on the hospital stretcher, trying to give her all the energy he hadn’t already lost worrying over her. When the doctor came with bad news all he wanted was to be back in the sky. The funeral was held outdoors out of respect for her passion, and he never took his eyes off the foggy sky. He could see the remnants of their old kingdom, now without a king and queen to rule to skies around it. Even a year after his wings had been clipped, he could think of nothing but the peace in the clouds they once shared.

So as he stood upon their hill, preparing to fly alone for the first time ever, he could not help but tear up as he came upon the same hidden view of the bridge he had so longed for. The bridge they shared together. The sky they dedicated to each other. The wind that cleansed him of his fears greeted him like an old companion.

Suddenly a frozen chicken was nowhere on his mind, as he rushed back to claim his forgotten throne

Words in Frame, 6/9

“Get a house in the hills they said, it’s super peaceful they said. God It’s like living in a cemetery”.  

Natalie sighed as she looked out the window. The green trees were a part of a club that the brown grass was apparently excluded from, further signs that the California drought was in full swing. She turned her attention to the lone road that leads to her reclusive cul-de-sac, expecting to see something other than the same 10 cars go back and forth between their own bubbles and the rest of the world.

It was technically summer but ever since she finished grad school all the days seemed to bleed together. She had plans to go out and move to the city and start interning and some big fancy law firm, but her social anxiety put a solid road block in front that dream. She had tried it for a bit, the city that is, but the constant influx of sensory information proved too much for her.

She felt like a failure.

Bored with the window she walked over to her kitchen to make tea. Scattered on the countertop were get-well cards and heartfelt notes sent to a then recovering Natalie, curled on the floor of her apartment after being torn down by the place she tried to call home. She got some water going in her electric kettle and spent too much time getting caught up in the past. New York was never home, she tried to force herself out of her comfort zone and it blew up in her face.

In the midst of her reflection, her phone rang. It was her mom.

“Hi mom, yes I’m still alive”. Natalie answered with her signature sarcasm.

“Haha, very funny Nat. I just called to see how you are doing.” Her mom had, of course, spent years building up a resistance to her daughters attitude.

“I’m doing fine I guess. Everything here just stays the same, so at the very least there isn’t much chance for me to get worse.”

“Honey, you need to take this seriously. You got a job, you have a house, and more importantly you have your life. Have you even been going to therapy?”

Natalie’s mom always had a habit of jumping straight to the point, it was the thing that Natalie admired most about her.

“Yes mom, I go every week. I take these dumb pills and eat these damn fruits and hold hands with my neighbors to pray the darkness away.” She was being a bit harsh but this was the first interaction Natalie had had with a real person all week.

“Oh come on you know I am not trying to micro-manage your life, can you please just be honest with me?”

Natalie gave her what she asked for.

“I feel like I failed mom, I talked all that talk just to end up exactly where I started. My friends are all starting their lives and it feels like I am just stuck in some timeless dome waiting for everything to pass me by. It sucks. I want to be better, I want to leave, I want…I want to be proud of myself again.”

There was a silence before her mom answered. “Nat, you chose to come back all on your own. You chose to take time and look after yourself rather than bash your head against the same wall for the rest of your life. Maybe things seem stagnant now, but it's not like your life is over. You fell down, and sooner or later you will get back up."

Natalie knew her mom was right, but it was hard to remember something so obvious when all you have around you are obscured bits and pieces of recovery.

“I know you are right mom, and I promise I am working on it…I would just appreciate if we could just act like things were normal for once”

“Nat, you're overthinking your whole life and I am just trying to help you in anyway I can. Things have never been more normal for us."

They both chuckled. It felt good to laugh, felt good to feel some sense of connection in isolated house in the barren hills. She sat at the counter for another hour, just happy to have a reason to laugh.

Later that night she heard that California should be out of its drought soon. If the whole state could find some sense of rejuvenation after such a dire crisis, maybe she could too.

 

End.