Real-life Radio

Two friends, Asher and Jared, are driving around their Texas town, trying to figure out what to do. Both of them are on Winter Break from college. Asher is 19; Jared is 18. They've been best friends for 4 years.

Asher: I think I like her.

Jared: [waits a couple seconds] What?

Asher: I said I think I like her

Jared: Yeah, I heard what you said. I'm not a mind reader though. Who are you talking about?

Asher: Who do you think?

Jared: My only guess would be Rhea.

Asher: So why did you make me spell it out for you?

Jared: Well I'm not just gonna assume. You know what happens when you assume...

Both: Bad things...

Jared: So you like her?

Asher: Maybe

Jared: What do you like about her?

Asher: I dunno. We just get along so well. Like...we really click ya know?

Jared: Yeah, I've seen that. Y'all seem to get along pretty well. She's pretty too.

Asher: [smiles] Yeah. She is, isn't she? [laughs] I still can't believe how we met.

Jared: [pauses] You gonna make me ask about this too? Or will you actually fill me in, like a normal

person would?

Asher: Whatever. She facebook stalked me.

Jared: [pauses again, getting irritated] If you keep doing this, I'm just going to start ignoring you. I don't care how interesting you think it is. You're almost a grown man Asher. You can have conversations without someone guiding you through it.

Asher: [gives him the evil eye, joking] I wrote a note on facebook, and somehow she saw it from your profile page, and she read it. Then she decided to message me about it. And get this. She said she just had a bunch of free time. That's why she read it. She totally thinks I'm hot.

Jared: Oh is that so? She got it from my page? So how do you know she wasn't facebook stalking me huh? Eh? [grins]

Asher: I'm going to just act like you didn't say that. Just because you could give Lucifer, pre-fall of course, a run for his money in the looks department, doesn't mean someone can't think I'm better looking than you.

Jared: Woah now. I'm just messing with you. [looks at Asher] You really do like her, huh?

Asher: Yeah. I really do.

Jared: So what do you wanna do?

Asher: Marry her.

Jared: Alright. When?

Asher: Psh, how am I supposed to know?

Jared: [laughs] Well you are the one who said you wanted to marry her.

Asher: Only because I've been praying for my wife for like a year now.

Jared: You're not even ready to be married yet though.

Asher: Nope. But I will be, when I'm supposed to get married. At least I hope so. Maybe I'm not ready to be dating yet. Or maybe I'll never get married. I want a family so bad, but if it's not meant to be. Well...

Jared: Don't worry about not having a family. Asher, you're awesome with kids. There's just no way you're not going to be a dad some day. With a beautiful wife. I just don't know when I'm going to start dating again. I guess I just see it differently than you.

Asher: [smiles] Thanks man. That means a lot. And yeah, I know. You just don't wanna date until you know you can already support your family, right?

Jared: Yup. It kinda sucks.

Asher: You could always change the way you see it.

Jared: Maybe. It just feels right for me. I don't feel ready to date yet.

Asher: Fair enough. This is boring. There's nothing around here. Why don't we just go back to your house and play Call of Duty or something?

Jared: Alright that's cool.

Asher: You know I'm going to win right?

Jared: Whatever man, you don't even have a 360.

Asher: So what? I have faith.

Jared: I have faith in you too man.  

A Vacuum in the Night

(Since it's kind of hard to tell when it's italicized and not, I'm going to start and end italicized passages with asterisks)

A Vacuum in the Night

*Dear God what happened? Please be with them. Please. Be with them. God pleasebewiththem. I can't get it out of my head. It's just so. How did it even happen? I always see it on the news, or the aftermath from afar. But this is like it's real life or something. It's so real. So close. I can see the pain. I can feel that someone is gone. Maybe two someones. Maybe more.*

It's a full moon, not that you'd know it by looking--the clouds cover not the sky. The clouds cover the moon. Just the moon, in its full brilliance. The one light in the night is severely dimmed. It's so dark outside.

The worst part of it all, is my own impatience. I was going home, quite tired, and quite ready for my pillows. I am still ready for my pillows. *Going home, my usual route, the stupid car in front of me starts to slow down. It's going so slow. Why are you stopping? Gah, it's 3:13 AM, what could you possibly need to stop in the middle of the road for? It's probably some girl who thought she saw a turtle in the road. No...no sane girl would stop this late. Early. For a turtle. Oh yah, there's another car stopped too, with their brights effectively blinding me. Thank you for that. Why are they all stopping? This is stupid, I'm just going to go between them. And they don't even have the decency to wave me through or anything. Jerks.*

How did it happen? I couldn't even get through. Well maybe I could've. I didn't want to. So much destruction. And why couldn't I bare to get closer? Because I knew someone was gone? How do I know that? *My windows are partly down as I watch the girl--so it is a girl--get out of her car in front of me. The air is so still. Where once I felt wind cooling my face, a cold mist takes over, vacuuming off the area. It's silent. Nothing. It truly is a vacuum here. No wind blows. The full moon draws no creature out tonight. No people talk, even though there are many there to speak. I've never seen a group of people so silent.*

It looked so awful. So painful. So loud. But it was so peaceful. And scary. “Remember how fleeting is my life. For what futility you have created all men!” It could have been me. It could have been mom or dad or my....no. It couldn't have been her. She's not allowed to die before me. We're going to get married, make babies, love them, love each other, and live 50 years together. Then die simultaneously. Yup, that's how that's going. *Whoever is gone. They were someone's child. Someone's friend. Maybe someone's husband or wife or mommy or daddy. There's no way they're alive. God, I hope it was instant. The road says it wasn't, but I hope for them and their family it was. There's so much debris on the road. Shattered glass, a bumper, pieces of vehicle. Then in the ditch. The big...thing. Explorer? Expedition? Something like that. Is flipped. I don't know where it flipped, but somehow it's upside down now. And all the front end. Up to half-way back. It's crushed. Just smooshed into the ground. The cabin has space for a mouse to crawl through, if this were the middle of nowhere, where mouse frequented the roads. It's not the middle of nowhere though. This is Keller, TX. Middle-class suburban America. Aren't there supposed to be lights out here? It's so dark. How is it still so quiet? Did these cars just stop out of kindness and concern? There's no wailing or screaming. Just silence. And why can't I force myself to get a closer look? Why can't I stop to help too? I have to get home and sleep.*

I turned around, and took back roads home. On my way home, it seemed to get foggier. Or maybe it was me breathing more, fogging my windows. Either way, it got harder to see. The wind started to slow itself. The night ceased its sounds. Until I made it home. *I just want to lay in bed and forget this. I don't want to remember that. I don't know them. I hope.*

*That sound. Sirens. Police. Ambulance. There should be a fire truck as well. Mom. Dad. Rachel. I want to wake them all up and hold them close. I want to know their okay. I want to feel their heartbeat against me. I want to hear their breath in my ear. I want them to be able to feel my tears of gratitude for having just one more day with them. I don't want to lose them. Someone needs to hurry up and figure out this whole teleportation thing so driving becomes useless.*

*The sirens are getting louder. They're going towards the wreck and the people waiting. God please be with them.*

Short Story Ideas

Idea 1) Two best friends deal with a suicide. One of their (in the past) close friends commits suicide, when they haven't talked to him in many months. The friends deal with their issues of death, and their memories of the friend. They become even closer through this.
Idea 2) Middle school kids find a dead body outside the tennis courts before school. The man shot himself in the head. The kids deal with people asking them about it, and with having seen a dead body. Their tennis coach also dies in this same year. (I actually don't want to do this one, I just can't really think of other experiences I'd want to write about, more than this)
Idea 3) A bride and groom finally marry, after waiting seemingly forever. They deal with crazy family, the memories of their relationship so far, and thinking about the future. The couple thinks about how much things have changed since before they even knew each other. They celebrate their love. (Ok so I have been to a wedding, but the specific things I have in mind, haven't occurred yet)
Idea 4) A guy finds out he has a gift with children. He starts out very reluctant to be around kids, and hold them and pick them up, because it seems taboo. Eventually he realizes kids love him, and that he does very well with them. He struggles with himself, wanting to be able to spend time with children, and playing with them, but he knows how it looks, and he's afraid insinuations will be made at some point.

Will you be my muse, darling?

Beautiful girl,
Let your wings unfurl,
And fly with me
As we see
What it's like on the moon;

Don't leave so soon,
It's only noon.
Somewhere.
Up where the air is fair,
We'll forget all our troubles.

As we blow bubbles
And twirl in doubles,
In a cloud,
There won't even be a shroud
Of doubt,

For we know what it's all about,
And we'll tell the world with a shout
That we rely on what's above.
Come, rest with me, in His love,
Beautiful girl.

My Cry

I am broken beyond repair,
Lower than Sheol,
Inside the pit of despair, 
Caught in a web of lies. 

Only you can mend me. 
Only you can lift me up. 
Only you can fill the void. 
Only you can untangle the deceit. 

My God I rely on you. 
You, times three, is who I look to,
Who I listen for,
Who I reach out to. 

Save me, Abba, daddy;
I need you now more than ever,
With tears fresh on my cheeks,
And eyes red. 

My Father,
Please hold me,
For I am but an infant,
Longing for comfort. 

I know you are there. 
I know you are here. 
I know you love me. 
I know you are.

Love? Really? (Workshop poem)

This is my workshop poem. I might put others up before Monday, so I wanted to clarify.

Enjoy

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Love? Really?
by AJ Keith

Lies and slander and
Cries of hate to
Me, to you,
To all who want
What you don't.

Where is the love you cherish
So very much?
I can't see it at all.

Unconditional, unhindered,
Unfailing, unwanting--
This is not your love,
It is ours.

Take notes

Creative Writing

This is my blog for Creative Writing. I've named it what I have, because, as I understand it, I'll be putting a lot of stuff for the class on here, so it might as well start out my portfolio.