Things I Have Written

As the early morning hours ticked on, the large spherical shape of the radiant yellow sun rose into the sky. The moon was going down and the stars were beginning to diminish for the daytime light, until it was time for the sun to go down and for the moon to rise again. The sky’s midnight blue was turning light as the sun filled the sky with all sorts of colors. Crimson, scarlet, fiery orange, tangerine orange, sunshine yellow, lemon yellow, sky blue, indigo, violet, and lilac could all be seen in the sky.

Soon enough, even the clouds took on the gorgeous colors turning them into big, colorful fluffy like balls like cotton candy. Below the sky lies a large meadow that stretches for yards across the earth. The miraculous meadow was flat and had tall grass the color of emerald jewels that was swaying about as the wind was blowing by. On top of the tall grass were dark mysterious shadows that were dancing about as the radiant yellow sun’s rays gleamed happily in the sky up above. The breeze that blew felt cool but was warmer than it had been on other days as the teeth chattering season of winter was coming to an end. The breeze brought a scent of warmer air with it. Besides the howling of the wind, crickets could also be heard as they were hanging out in the vast field of grass. In the distance somewhere, the sound of cars moving could also be heard.

Glancing beyond the grazing land vast dark brown mountains with a thick, cold blanket of powdery, fluffy white snow the color of bones covering their peaks could be seen. The pointy mountain peaks were like a row of arrows used with a bow. In the mountains, the air was still bitterly cold as the snow covered the mountain peaks and a human could see his or her breath as they journey through the mountains. If one was to journey through the mountains, he or she could spot deer and possibly bears. One also might find cabins spread about through the mountains for camping grounds. At night, the snow would glisten like glitter or like a galaxy of stars in space.

A sunrise such as the one seen in this photo is a miracle created by God. The amount of colors and beauty put into the sunrise is as much as mystery as a dream. It is up to us to enjoy the sunrises, sunsets, and night skies as each day is sweeter than we may know.

Losing my best friend was the hardest thing I have ever experienced. It has been seven years since his death, and even though it happened long ago it feels as if it happened yesterday. I am sitting here writing this because today marks the exact day that he passed away. Every day that passes by since that day has felt longer than the last. I keep thinking that it is going to get easier, but I find that it has only gotten more difficult. I cannot help but think to myself that his death could have possibly been my fault.

               We met at school during recess one day. It was a clear, bright, and sunny day in September in the year of 2000. I was running around on the playground when I suddenly accidentally ran into a small boy about my age, five years old. Luckily, he got up quickly and easily but when I looked at him his knees were scratched up and bleeding from landing on the mulch below us. He had tears in his eyes, but they faded quickly when I told him I was sorry and that I would walk with him to the nurse’s office so that he could get bandages for his scratches. That was the first moment I was able to get a good look at him. His eyes were as blue as the deepest part of the ocean and with hair the color of bark on an oak tree. His skin was tan which meant that he had spent a lot of time outdoors in the summertime before the school year started. As we walked over to the teachers so that my friend could go to the nurse’s office, we started a conversation and that is when he told me that his name was Austin. After the conversation started it did not take us long to realize that we were going to be best friends.

               Since that day we met, we had spent every day at school together. We always played with each other at recess and we always sat next to each other at lunch. Eventually, we started sitting next to each other in class so that we could talk and create some laughter. There were a few times in class that we got separated from each other because we could not stop talking to each other.

               Four weeks later, it was about to be my sixth birthday ,and I decided that I wanted to invite Austin over that day. It was easy for him to come over to my house because he lived directly across the street from my house, but until he came to my birthday party we had not hung out much outside of school. My birthday party was at the bowling alley that year, but Austin came over early so that he could spend time at my house. We had a lot of fun together that day and since then, we hung out pretty much every day after school. It was the start of what we thought would be a forever lasting friendship.

               From then on until we started high school several memories were made such as birthday parties, sleepovers, and many more. We were quite daring especially during our younger days and seemed to always find something to get into. One mischievous thing that we did was that we wrote on my neighbor’s wooden fence with sidewalk chalk when we were eight years old. We both thought it would be fine since we were drawing on our side of the fence, but little did we know that we were still doing wrong. We drew on the fence for maybe ten minutes before my father came out and told us that it was not our property to draw on and made us wash our drawings off with the hose. It was not funny to us back then but looking back years later it filled the air with laughter.

               Our elementary and middle school days ended, and we were starting our first year in high school. That is when everything started to change between us. We were both excited to join high school, but we were both into different things, so we did not join any clubs together. Austin was more into football while I was more interested in joining clubs. One of the clubs I joined was Film Club. The first time I attended Film Club, I met another friend named Ashley. She had beautiful eyes the color of a chestnut and dark red hair that stretched down to her waist. She wore the most beautiful pair of glasses that I had ever seen. Her voice was so soft and gentle that it was soothing to my ears. She was a shy girl, but I was still willing to become friends with her. I invited her over to my house one day after school and she showed up happily. I guess starting my friendship with Ashley is what started my friendship with Austin to grow apart because since I started hanging out with Ashley I had not hung out with Austin.

I figured that everything was fine since Austin and I had grown so close and that our friendship would still stand, but I could not have been more wrong.  Nothing happened until my junior year of high school. That is when one day Austin showed up on the school campus with a gun. It shocked me like a lightning bolt to see Austin with such a thing. I yelled at him to stop, but before anything else could happen he shot himself. I immediately ran over to him to see if he was still alive, but I deep down I already knew that he was gone.

               The day of Austin’s funeral was the hardest day I had ever experienced. The whole time I was there and even now, I could not help but wonder if I could have saved Austin by being a better friend to him. Even though we had grown apart and seven years have passed since his death, Austin still holds a place in my heart and I will always treasure the memories I had with him before everything changed.

It is four in the morning

At a place meant for mourning

Where loved ones cry,

and where death lies.



The stones are hugged by midnight blue,

Light with silver,

Sprinkled with mist,

Blurred with low hanging clouds, and

Touched with trees that are almost bare

That set on top of tall grass.



At times the place seems abandoned,

But flowers decorate the stones

As well as engraved, meaningful words

For folks lying underneath

To remind them that they are loved,

and never forgotten.



Welcome to the quietest, most peaceful place on earth.