Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

To New Beginnings

We all sat quietly in the cold darkness of the living room. Though to call it the living room, where such dreadful silence hung and tension hovered menacingly in the room seemed wrong. I sat on the couch, next to my mother and my brother, fidgeting with my hands. I was scared. My father paced the room, thinking hard about what would be done. My eldest brother sat opposite the couch, in a simple wicker chair, his hands clasp in prayer.

No one had expected it, to be so suddenly thrown into a terrible situation such as this. No one had expected such a storm as that, along with an earthquake and a devastating flood. So many deaths was all that was on my mind. I tried to banish those thoughts and free my mind of the horrors, yet they lingered there adamantly. I wished I could be brave like dear Papa, who paced by the fireplace now, looking so dramatic and heroic.

Papa had always been the strong one, not just for the family, but for the entire town. Yet now there was hardly a town worth being strong for. From its humble beginnings the little town of Rolshire had grown rapidly every year. Every year however, great storms would sweep the land, often destroying all progress mercilessly.

This year had been the worst. Where usually we may lose a couple of houses, this year we lost half of the town, the rest soaked, cracked, and ruined. The water tower had crashed with full force to the ground and now lay completely obliterated. It was a mess.

From Papa's expressions and my eldest brother's continued pray, I knew they had no solution. Though I may have been younger than most, I did not wish to sit idly. I rose from the couch, stretched for my coat and walked out into the drizzling rain outside into the night. My family did not object, just watched me go, sensing a purpose in me that could not be held down.

As I pushed my rain into the oncoming drizzling rain, I racked my brain as what to do. Everything did indeed seem impossibly difficult; such destruction was not turned around so simply.

I could only think of a few ideas, most which were completely useless. I could pray as my eldest brother had done, achieving nothing. Or I could pace heroically as my father did, yet again achieving nothing. It seemed all was lost. One could either try to rebuild, as the town had done in previous years. The slow climb back to normality where there would once again be defeated by nature's wrath.

I continued to stand in the rain, my head tilted to one side, almost spacing out. As the rain dropped from the sky onto my face and seeped through my clothes and coat, I caught sight of a most unusual light. It was off in the distance, barely visible through the misty rain and dark, yet it seemed to shine with much vehemence and passion.

Seeing nothing else to do, I followed my curiosity and ambled along towards it. I walked along the path, green shrubs and bushes lining the pathway. Soon I realized I no longer had a choice about which way to walk, the bushes had created a path, I was completely enclosed. I could only walk on farther, or turn back the way I came.

I looked again at the light, shining brightly, and so eerily. I gazed back to the way I had come, and to my horror saw that the way back had been closed off my large, tall bushes. I should have been terrified, but something felt so right about striding towards that heavenly light.

As I came closer to the light, I saw that it hung upon a longboat's mast off in the distance. I glided farther along the path, under a archway, and stepped onto the pier. The wooden planks which made up the queer little pier creaked under my foot as I paced as though in a trance, towards the ship.

I was only ten meters from the longboat when I saw the man. He stood by the ship's wheel, his sailor's cap and white fuzzy beard proudly worn. He was an old man, though he looked as tough as nails as the light breeze blew and rain pattered down. He smiled at me, and beckoned me onwards. I stepped onto the gangway, and up onto the ship.

"Welcome aboard!" said the old sailor, with a twinkle in his eye, seemingly knowing how mysterious all this was to me.
"What is all of this?" I questioned, my curiosity overflowing.
"It is time friend, for a new beginning."
"A new beginning? But why?"
"In life there will always be beginning and ends, and one must be prepared for both" said the sailor, his ruff yet soothingly soft voice carried oddly through the night.

I was shocked, yet I knew it was true. The old man was right; it was time. I had always felt that my life in the town of Rolshire was only but the beginning, and now with this great storm, it had been the end of it. It was time to move on through the glorious levels of life, onwards and upwards. I knew wherever this man would take me, it would only last for a while, and then he would be back to move me on through to a new beginning.

I took my place next to this man, and with ease and almost a magic, the boat glided on through the water, into the mist. I only had one last question for him, though I was already sure of the answer.
"What is your name old man?" I asked.
The old man chuckled, "Old man is right, older than this universe dear child...and my name? I go by many names, but you my boy, may call me Noah."

The longboat continued its glide through the mist, barely touching the water. The mist enclosed heavier and heavier, as they rode the waves to a new beginning.

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