By Alicia Ortiz Alba
Welcome back to Creative!
This week we are excited to feature a short story by Dylan Jones, a Junior Creative Writing Undergraduate at RWU. Feel free to check it out below!
Blocking the Cosmos by Dylan Jones
You can’t say a fucking thing in this town without someone eavesdropping. What does it matter what I’m saying about Alice if I don’t say it to her? A little bit of ranting never hurt anyone, except her sensitive ass. Now I’m supposed to be grounded, but the grass on my feet suggests otherwise.
My legs don’t know where they’re going. All they know is to hop over all the moss-covered rocks and keep hiking down the hill. Thoughts of their accusations course through my brain. My legs move faster as my blood burns, heating up the air of this cool summer night. Why? I pass an oak tree drowning in Kudzu. Why? My breathing becomes a vacuum. Why? My fists clench themselves tighter, like Ouroboros. Why!? I rush to the bottom of the hill, not even noticing the river, grab an eroded chunk of limestone, and then hurl the slab as far as I have strength in my body. I’m screaming as I let go of the rock and my mind. The stale air in my lungs exits, and fresh riverside air enters. My eyes look towards the night sky. Its stars flash as rose quartz; my eyes are gemstones. The ripples from the boulder touch my Nike’s; the feeling is gentle. The sky is not a void; it is a cavernous blue, a canvas. However, the leaves from the oak and kudzu blocked some sections of the sky. The green life waves in the wind from side to side, but now they are darker than ink. My rage is at the bottom of the river now. I’m looking out; I don’t deserve the beauty of this southern night. The stars hear everything, but they are not the ones that need the apology. She still shouldn’t whine to Mom and Dad about everything, but that doesn’t mean she’s in the wrong for crying. I will not block her with my leaves again.
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