Tag: boys
Day Seven: Astromicus Manicus
On a hill side, in the sun and wind like a long-shot in a romcom, slipping through the dewy terrain while smiling and sweeping down the slope. Grunting and falling, shoe, body tripping in motion and landing in a crumpled heap at the incline’s base.
Mud on shirt, bruise on face, dent in dignity, hair still fine.
Astromicus rolled over, spine clicking into place and limbs hesitantly following direction of brain and body, tried to push upright and buckled at the attempt. Getting up and brushing this embarrassing fall off would clearly take some time, this lesson in not running down freshly wet grass would not take as long to absorb.
#3 – Jundir
This looks better in my head.
Jundir is a boy who is of the Vas’alim people – a nomadic tribe that wanders an arid region of their world. They’ve wandered for generations, and good deal of their culture and their lifestyle revolves around the needs that arise when you live in a place where water is difficult to find. One of the most prestigious positions in this culture, then, are the Water Hunters.
The Water Hunters are young men who seek out sources of water near their encampment, and look for new sites for the clan to move to in the future. If they come back with a good supply of water, which they carry in waxed leather bags, there is a celebration in the camp.
There is nothing Jundir wants more than to be a Water Hunter when he comes of age. Unfortunately, he lost a leg to a bite from a Rock Snake five years ago. With only the one leg, he has no chance of doing any of the jobs that a man is supposed to do, and this has left him bitter and angry at a young age.
His grandfather is a Rainsinger, a kind of spiritual man who dances and sings to bring the infrequent rains to the camps. He sees the pain the boy is going through, but his attempts to try and help Jundir reconcile himself with his condition are futile, or very nearly so.
Read his story here: Rainsinger
#2 – Stuart MacBee
And this is why I do writing contests and not art. You're welcome.
Stuart is an eleven year-old boy who lives in the small town of Winter Falls, Maine. It’s a poor town that’s seen better days, but so far Stuart is a decent kid. He’s bright and popular and good-looking, and most of the other town kids look up to him. Of course, he is eleven, so sometimes he lets that get to him, which leads to him getting into trouble with whatever friend he can rope into his scheme. But if he can stay grounded, he has a really good chance of making it out of Winter Falls and becoming someone who can contribute meaningfully to society.
Oh, wait, no. He can’t.
He’s dead.
After convincing his best friend Dylan to go swimming in the abandoned – and very much forbidden – Oldjak Quarry, Stuart slips and falls into the freezing, black water far below. Dylan fears for his friend’s life, but then fears for a lot more when the water erupts upward in a great waterspout that carries the broken and battered body of Stuart with it. Something speaks through the boy – whose soul is still trapped in his now-possessed body – telling Dylan that, “[your] masters are coming back,” and that they should “prepare.”
When Dylan asks exactly what they should prepare for, the entity simply laughs, and then lets the water drop, along with the now-vacated corpse of Stuart. Dylan is left alone on the edge of the quarry to face his madness.
Stuart’s terrible end can be found in his story, The Quarry.
Day# 16 Thomas “Weeks” Kelsey
#16 Thomas "Weeks" Kelsey, for Aedre's Firefly by Jande Rowe
Thomas J. Kelsey, dubbed “Weeks”, short for “Wee Kelsey”, which was what most of the other kids called him from the first day he attended Maple Public School. Snarky remarks during his first recess period about his diminutive size –about two thirds the height of the shortest of his peers– soon gave way to awe when he aptly demonstrated not only his aptitude and skill at most sports, but his well honed sportsmanship as well. He could take joke and a pounding on the sports field better than most boys twice his physical stature. He was built heavy for his height, yet he was agile, too.
He did well in his academic studies, got along well with other boys, and excelled on the sportsfield. The one thing he’s have no truck with was girls, and he held strong opinions as to their place in sports, mostly negative. Where girls were concerned he was implacable. If a girl wanted to play on his team, he would stare at them without a sound until they fled. Unless of course they fled to a teacher who forced him to comply, which he did readily, but gave no quarter to the girl, so that finally she had to give up in defeat.
Aedre, of course, didn’t know this until she smashed into his prejudice head-on. She had asked the recess teacher if she could play soccer, and he had agreed she could. Fully confident of himself and his view of the world, Weeks bested her simply by being himself. No hard feelings on his part. That’s just the way the world works. She never had a chance to even see the ball. She may as well have been invisible. For Aedre, who had hopes and dreams of a different world than the lost and lonely one in which she found herself, it was just another entry carved into her psyche on the very long list of grievances that would push her to the very edge of either going mad, or giving up completely.
Weeks didn’t know anything about Aedre of course, except what the other boys told him, that she was a cootie-bag and a witch besides, but whether or not he believed them didn’t matter. She was a girl and girls had no value in Week’s world.
#30Characters Chatter…