Years of winter

This expression is based of my experience of the weather from the last few weeks. Enjoy!

Winter is slowly fading, making room for spring. It has been cold, windy and snowing for months, but it feels like years. Years of winter sweep through my city and bury it in snow. Everything is snow covered and frozen. I squint, as I look at a tree, no longer able to remember what it looks like without snow on it. The sky is gray and the roads are icy, I drive carefully as I shiver and curse under my breath.

            Then one day as if by magic, a warm breeze gently floats through the city. The sun is out and the world is warm. The ice and snow are gone and everything looks bare and naked. I feel strange as I step outside. I no longer need a jacket, no more winter hat. A cool spring breeze brushes against my face and I sigh in happiness. As I drive I am relaxed yet unnerved. The weather is so nice, yet everything feels out of place. The world is in transition. It feels like spring but looks like winter, just without the snow. I put it out of my mind. Spring has sprung and I want to enjoy every minute of it.

            Everyone is out of their homes, enjoying the weather. Riding bikes and playing in the street. I start to remember what spring looks like, I even vaguely remember what fall looks like as well. With the winter cold gone, my mind finally thaws and I begin to remember things I had long since forgotten. My senses are sharper, I feel happier, life seems sweeter. Whether its sunny or it rains, the weather is cool and inviting. No more snow, no more ice.

            I wake up each day with a sigh of relief, my mind gets carried away with all the things I want to do outside. The possibilities are endless. Oh the joy of spring, oh the joy of the rain and sunshine, oh…. damn…Its snowing again….

Arix and the Gem

A loud roar, shaking ground and suddenly light. Arix ran for his life through a dark underground tunnel, the light from his torch pierced through the overwhelming darkness. Arix was a young man with light brown hair, blue eyes and tanned skin. He wore a tan shirt that was ripped in several places, black pants, sturdy brown boots, a pair of goggles to keep dirt and dust out of his eyes and brown work gloves. He came from a family of carpenters and masons but instead of following in his family trade he became a treasure hunter.

           

            Arix ran for his life as a creature roared after him. This monster had been guarding or at least living with a rare gem. This gem would be worth a small fortune. Which wouldn’t matter if Arix died before he could sell it. The roars grew louder as the beast gained on the unfortunate adventurer. Arix reached into his bag with his free hand and pulled out the gem to get a better look at it. It was a large red gem the size of his fist and seemed to emit its own light, not enough to light a cavern just a soft glow that soothed Arix when he looked at it. After a few seconds of admiring the gem, he realized he had almost stopped running. The gem entranced him and he almost forgot about the monster. Quickly he stuffed the gem back into his bag and continued his run. He could hear the creature’s footsteps, it was right on his tail. Arix ran through the dark tunnels, taking turns and running down various paths, hoping to find his way out. He reached back into his bag, this time to grab his weapon. He didn’t want to fight, but would if he had to. No matter how fierce the creature, he would fight. Fight to see his family, to see the light of day again and of course to be rich when he sold the gem.

            The creature approached and Arix turned to face it, the light of the torch dimly lit the surrounding area. The monster stepped into view and Arix’s blood ran cold. The creature had a large thin body held up by spider like legs. The front of the body could move upright like a humans torso. The whole body and legs were covered in short brown fur, like a dog. Attached to the top of the body was a head, no eyes, no visible ears only a mouth, large and full of razor sharp teeth. The creature had rows of teeth that could probably even bite through stone. If Arix had seen the beast before he saw the gem, he might have just left it alone and went home. Then he thought, maybe if he gave the gem back. He wanted to be rich, but not enough to risk his life fighting a monster like this. Arix reached into his bag as the tunnel monster approached. He pulled the gem from his bag and held it up, instantly the creature stopped. It moved its head and slowly reached out for the gem with its creepy clawed spider legs. The gem seemed to lull the creature into a trance, like it had done to Arix earlier.

            Arix held the gem out, but kept it out of reach as he slowly backed away. The creature slowly followed Arix, subdued and focusing on the gem. It didn’t have eyes, yet the gem’s magic still worked. Slowly Arix continued to walk through the tunnel, he was nervous and was sweating. Suddenly the tunnel started to shake, it felt like an earthquake and pieces of stone ceiling began to fall. The tremors and falling stone shook the beast and he seemed to snap out of the trance. It realized it was being led and the thief still had its gem. The creature let out another roar and Arix took off into a sprint. He put the gem away and pulled out his weapon, a modified single shot pistol. This gun could shoot bullets, but also could shoot fire. Arix had made special combustion shots that would light things on fire. As he ran he loaded his gun. Rocks continued to fall, the creature was getting struck with stones and Arix had almost been struck several times. Arix finally ran into a dead end, it was a cave in, blocking him from the outside world. He turned as the creature closed in. Arix fired a shot into the darkness, the bullet zipped through the air and it a wall causing a burst of light and a splash of fire. He missed and tried to load another shot. Then a sharp spike flew from the darkness, Arix tried to dodge it, but was struck in the leg. It was a barb and as the creature stepped into view, Arix could see that the legs of the tunnel monster were covered in sharp barbs than it would throw. The beasts front leg jerked forward and another barb shot out, flying at high speeds. Arix dropped the ground and the barb embedded itself into the stone, right where his head was moments ago.

            Arix clutched his bleeding leg. The barb was sticking right through his leg. Arix used all his strength and pulled the barb out, a flash of pain swept over his body and cried out. His wound burned and throbbed and he hoped the barbs weren’t poisonous. The beast ran up at Arix and prepared to bring his clawed leg down to crush the boy. Arix finished loading his gun and right as the monster stood over him, Arix fired. The shot hit the beast right in its torso. Flames splashed across its body and caught fire to its fur. The monster backed up and roared in pain. It scuttled back into the darkness, hitting its body against the walls to put out the remaining fire.

            Now that Arix was safe, he would be able to crawl out of the cave. He wrapped his leg in cloth from his bag, then slowly began to move rocks away. It took hours, but Arix was able to get through the cave in. He limped through the caverns until he eventually found light. Light shone into one of the tunnels, Arix followed the light and found the exit to the cave. He smiled and began to laugh to himself. He didn’t think he’d ever see daylight again. From the cave he began his journey home, stopping to rest often. Once he got home he planned to rest and let his body heal. Arix had risked his life to steal treasure from a monster, the tunnel could have been his grave and no one would have known what happened to him. A sane man would take this as a lesson and maybe settle down to become a carpenter or mason, but Arix, he just wondered where he would find his next adventure.

Lazy sunday

I wake up in the afternoon on a Sunday and stretch lazily. The sun is on my face, its warmth is comforting and relaxing, I fall back to sleep. I wake up again to the sound of someone in the kitchen. I get out of bed cautiously and walk through the apartment to find Steve making food. I decide to harass him until he fixes me something too. He gets annoyed, but does it anyway. I eat happily in the kitchen. During breakfast I occasionally stare at him just to freak him out, it works and he leaves. After breakfast I hop on the couch and watch the TV. Steve left it to the golf station and I’m too lazy to get up so I watch golf.

As if in a trance I watch the golf channel for hours, its so boring yet I can’t stop watching, it’s mesmerizing. Steve goes about his day but I ignore him. He vacuums and it starts to bother me, so I leave. I hate it when he vacuums. Can’t he see I was trying to watch something? I walk past the window and something catches my eye, it’s a squirrel. It’s the squirrel from the other day, the one that knocks over the trashcans. I watch him angrily, keeping tabs on him to make sure he doesn’t mess anything up. I wish I could catch him. One of these days I’m going to go outside snatch him out of his stupid tree. Probably not, he’s faster than me, but still. Damn squirrel. The pest finally disappears into the branches of a nearby tree and I continue my day. The apartment isn’t very big and theres not much to do besides take a nap. Since I’ve already slept for fourteen hours, I decide to go outside. Steve always keeps the door locked up and its not easy to open the door, so after a few minutes of asking he opens the door for me. We should just have one of those easy to open swinging doors.

The sun is warm as I strut down the street, I see a female on the other side of the road and I call out to her, she ignores me. I was just trying to be friendly, but some people are just stuck up. As I’m walking by I pass a fence and suddenly a dog launches at me, stopped suddenly by the chain link fence. It barks and growls and I check to make sure I didn’t have a heart attack. Dogs and squirrels, seriously, damned them both. My hair was almost standing on end I was so scared. I calm myself and straighten up, then casually walk away. I’m tough, I didn’t just yelp like a girl when that dog scared me, sure I didn’t.

I walk home and sneak in through an open window, I didn’t want to wait for Steve to let me in. I strut around the kitchen and then eat dinner. After eating I lay out on the floor. Relaxed and full I drift off back to sleep. It was a lovely sunny day, relaxing and carefree. I love being a cat.