Another Wednesday has come – and almost gone already. Today’s writing prompt is written by someone very dear to my heart: my daughter Lily! She is very excited to share her story with you all, so please post a response if you have time. 🙂
“This morning felt different from the start. I felt it in the air as I climbed up the stairs to the attic, where, like every morning, I crawled out the window to go to school. That’s when it happened. The wind blew hard, and I heard it. Crack!”
There you go! I am looking forward to finding out what cracked… and why this child has to climb out a window to go to school.
As always, complete the prompt in as little as one sentence, or in an as many words as you want. Enjoy!
In horror, I glanced back at the silvery wings attached to my shoulders. The right one was sagging and listless, having smashed against the window sill when the wind gusted.
“Not again!” I moaned. It was official. My mother was going to kill me. Wings were a necessity of life on Mandagon, but they were still very expensive.
I sat on the sill, my feet dangling as I tried to come up with a solution that didn’t involve telling anyone what had happened. Other school children soared past the window, some dragging siblings that were too young to have their own wings yet. I could see the school hub in the distance, its familiar glowing hover-orbs bright against the early-morning dimness.
“Honestly, Fleena, I believe you do this on purpose.” Echoes of past conversations echoed through my head. “I know you don’t like flying but unless you want to travel down to the Basin and – heaven forbid – WALK toward school for three days, It’s your only option. Now take care of these!”
I’d been pleased by the new silver wings. My old pair had been an odd burnt orange color, found in the sale bin. And now they were broken again. I pulled myself back into the attic room and unattached the mangled wing from my harness. A beep behind me alerted me to the presence of our family robot, Tessa.
“I did it again, Tess.”
Her answering beep was gentle and comforting. She rolled across the floor and took the wing from my hand. Its crunched side looked even worse when contrasted against Tessa’s perfect, streamlined shape. She had been in our family for a couple of generations now, but had had all the latest tuneups. Great-grandfather built her in the Old Days, the time before The Incident had pushed Mandagons to build upward. I was a bit jealous of that time, before houses were thousands of feet above the ground and before children had to fly to school.
Tessa inspected the wing all over before taking it in her two claws and, with an audible “snap!”, returning it to glistening perfection.
“Tessa! You’re amazing!” I threw my arms around her hard surface and gave it a squeeze. She patted my head, which actually stung a bit because her claws weren’t exactly light, then reattached the wing to my harness.
Rushing to the window, I took a deep breath as I clung to the sill for one last moment. Avoiding looking down, where I knew I would see a vast dark chasm, only broken by the tiny lights of the few remaining dwellings on Mandagon’s surface, I pushed off. I hated the brief moment between launch and when my wings would sense my location and catch me. A sickening lurch and it was over! I joined the last of my classmates as we soared through the sky, which was turning pink and green and purple with the colors of our two suns. Another beautiful morning in Mandagon.
🤐
The tree limb I was hanging from snapped in the strong wind and I fell through the tree down to the dusty ground. I landed with a THUD! but, sat up immediately and hid at the side of the house. She must have heard me, I thought as I pressed my back to the wall.
Nanny opened the door slowly, making it creak loudly as she stepped out. She walked down the steps on the porch and walked across the front lawn, right next to the tree. I had started to go to finishing school, but it had been the worst part of my life, and my governess doesn’t make me go anymore. But there was another school I had been yearning to go to, so I could run away from this dastardly house. This school – the School for Musically Gifted Children – was amazing, fun, and engaging. I love playing the piano, just not when Nanny teaches me. She’s the worst teacher. And now that I had opened the mysterious piano door, finding just a smooth harmonica, I couldn’t play piano any longer. At the SMGC, there would be music everywhere!
“Marigold?” called my Nanny. I crept behind a bush and hid there. I had only been to the SMGC once before, and had had to endure a severe beating for it. Now, I would stay there forever. Unless, that is, if Nanny found me. “I know you’re out here!”
My heartbeat quickened. I had to stay as quiet as possible.
“Come out and eat your breakfast!” I crouched down lower as my Nanny walked right next to the bush, looking around. She saw the broken tree branch and shook her head with a scowl. “That girl – she’ll never learn.”
Nanny turned around with a huff and walked back inside, presumably to look for me inside. I, on the other hand, would never come back.
I stepped out from behind the bush and hefted my pack, complete with two changes of traveling clothes – all I really needed – some food, and the strange, beautiful harmonica. I waited for the right moment, then ran.
My feet pattered against the dusty street as I took off. I few minutes later, my Nanny poked her head out of the door, looking first left, then right, directly at me. I ran as fast as I could, knowing that my Nanny was slow and a bit – forgive me – plump.
As I rounded the bend on the road and headed towards the SMGC, I knew that, at last, I was free.
😜
I went up the steep stairs and walked toward the window. A big, round piece of glass was missing. I stepped closer to the window and I heard glass crunching under my foot. The wind must have blown it down after the crack that I made in it yesterday. Carefully, I opened the window and climbed through it. My mother was there and many more children, like usual. She was the teacher. Our house was underground, and no one knew that it was there, so they built the school right over our house.