Today we are featuring work written by one of our Associate Editors, Sophia Thomas!
Sophia wrote this short story titled Believers for one of her creative writing classes last year. Here is a snippet of her work.
Enjoy!
Believers by Sophia Thomas
The subway station was cold. I sat on a bench next to a trash can. You hear so many stories about New York City, it’s hard to tell whether it’s a good or bad place. So far I only knew one good thing about it.
“Kai.”
There she was, strolling casually towards me, the blow of the coldness making her hair wave back, the heels of her boots clicking against the hard cement, her hands in the pockets of her brown button-up fabric coat.
I stood rather quickly. “Hey, thanks for meeting me here.”
“Of course.”
I motioned to the bench. “Care to sit?”
Mickey sat down on the bench next to me, her hands still in her pockets. “So, what’s up?” Looking into her eyes, I started to wonder if this was a good idea. Everyone I’d told thought I was crazy. I didn’t want to push Mickey away, too. But I asked her to come here. I couldn’t turn back now. Maybe she wouldn’t think I’m crazy. Maybe she would be the one person who actually believed me. I didn’t know why, but I trusted her. I trusted her more than anyone else.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah, um, I’ve got something I want to tell you…”
“Alright.”
“It might sound crazy, but I really need you to at least try to believe me. Because no one else does, and you’re the last person I can hope for.”
Her smile faded a little, and she looked as if about to feel sorry for me. She inhaled. “Kai, I promise to be with you on this, no matter who believes you and who doesn’t.”
I took a deep breath. “Alright, here it goes: I think that my grandmother, the one who passed away a few weeks ago, I think she was magic.”
Mickey’s expression didn’t change. Her eyes didn’t widen. Her mouth didn’t drop. She just stared back at me, waiting for me to say more.
“I know. I know it sounds insane, but two years ago, she went on a trip to Paris. And when she came back, she gave me this.” I held up the jar of sweet Paris air. Though to Mickey, it was probably just a jar. I looked around the subway station. There was no way I could do this with all these people around. “Come with me.”
We left the subway and hid in an alley between two tall brick buildings that reached the clouds. In the darkness of the night, no one could see us.
I held my hand on the lid of the jar, but before I opened it, I looked into Mickey’s eyes, which were staring back at me with perplexity.
“Mickey.” I spoke to her rather softly. “When I open this jar, you are going to see something incredible. I promise you. I know you’ll be able to see what I see. But I need you to promise me something. I need you to promise that when you see it, you don’t freak out. Can you promise me that?”
She looked up at me, still confused and slightly concerned. Probably questioning if there was something wrong with me. But despite her look of wanting to back out, she nodded. Rather assuringly.
I was scared, but I knew I could trust her. I opened the jar.
And once again, I saw the beautiful city of Paris. With the same beeping of cars, exquisite museums, and fancy bakeries. But this time was different. This time I saw something even more beautiful.
Mickey’s wide eyed expression was the most wonderful thing I had ever seen. She was mesmerized. I could see the lights of the Eiffel Tower reflecting in her bright eyes.
She was gorgeous.
I knew I only had so many times to open this jar, so I eventually flickered the off switch to Paris.
When we were back in the alleyway, Mickey still had a look of bewilderment.
I broke the silence. “Well…”
“How… How did you know I’d be able to see that?”
I actually didn’t know. Not for sure. But I had a pretty good guess as to why she did.
“Because you’re just like me. A believer.”
And I never expected the reaction I got next.
After I said those words, Mickey grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me into a kiss.