Insomnia Sunrise

Sleep was a stranger to me, she was an elusive muse, a reflection out of reach. I did all I could to dance with her; exercise, diet, no screens or reading, no coffee or tea, mediation and just laying there waiting. Nothing worked.

I decided not to waste this time with trying and waiting. I turned to quiet actives; reading, writing, jigsaw puzzles and box set watching. Sometimes I would doze off and other times I would be awake to hear the breakfast time news.

The idea of seeing the sunrise came to me one morning when, watching from the curtain covered window, I saw how the first sunlight changed the colour of the room. I thought, how many people actually see the sunrise?

The next night, I looked when the sunrise was timed for and an hour or so before then, I went out to a local beauty spot which was a large lake.

There I saw a glorious sunrise. so many colours touched the calm water as the sky melted from black to blue. My breath was stuck in my throat and my eyes couldn’t behold the raw wonder before me. I felt the first brush of warmth on my skin like a lover’s arms wrapped around me in a gentle embrace.

I took photo after photo trying to capture what I saw but the imagines couldn’t compare to the real thing. I didn’t want it to end but of course it did. All the blurs of colours settled and became what everyone saw during each day. The lake’s magic vanished and the water became a normal blue again like the sky above all the colours had gone.

I stayed for a long time then left but that first warmth came with me and every time I closed my eyes I saw all those colours dancing again.

That night I slept.

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Collide #WWP

With a twist of the eyeglass, the colourful shapes inside tinkled down and formed a never ending cycle of patterns.

 

(Inspired by; https://sammiscribbles.wordpress.com/2020/06/06/weekend-writing-prompt-160-kaleidoscope/ with thanks).

 

Fall Arrives

Strong winds blew summer away, everything became colder and darker but colour bloomed in the changing leaves which danced to the ground.

Imagination #WritePhoto

They said he was an artist at an early age but if they thought he would be creative on paper and canvas they were wrong. He painted on walls; huge images of people that seemed to be from other times and places, alien flowers or trees, backgrounds of glass stained sunsets, water reflections and purple fields.

It was hard to know what to make of it all. Most people saw it as graffiti which was just rubbish to be washed off the walls, a few thought they were nice enough and a handful could see the visions behind the art.

 

(Inspired by; https://scvincent.com/2019/01/17/thursday-photo-prompt-imagination-writephoto/ with thanks).

 

 

Anomaly

Anomaly; something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected.

What was that thing in the sky? Dream paused and stared harder across the vast, empty landscape. Against the pale blue sky was a beam of multicolored light. She frowned then pulled out her telescope from her belt and had a closer look. Still though, she could make out nothing further, but the colors looked brighter now.

‘What is that?’ she spoke aloud.

‘Your big butt!’ a voice shouted at her.

Dream rolled her eyes and tutted. Putting the telescope away, she twisted her head, so she was looking back down the ladder. A glow of light showed the way and at the bottom waiting was a figure grinning up at her. Dream snatched a small rock from the surface and dropped it down.

‘Ouch! Watch it!’

Swallowing a laugh, Dream pulled herself out of the pipe and climbed down. Her feet hit the sand and rose a dust cloud around her. Making sure her mask and goggles were secure, she began walking in the direction of the strange light beam.

Minutes later, she was joined by a tall, red haired young man. He punched her in the shoulder then raced off. Dream stopped and rubbed the spot, though her leather padded jacket had taken much of the impact. Muttering revenge, Dream watched him slow down as he saw the thing in the sky too.

‘What do you think that is?’ he called over his shoulder.

‘No idea, Link,’ she replied, ‘I was on my way to check it out when you interrupted me,’ Dream answered.

‘I’m sorry your Royal Highness. Please continue!’ Link mocked and give a fancy bow.

Dream stormed passed him, trying not to hit him as she went. He came to her side moments later and in a awe silence, they walked towards the beam of colors. The landscape rose and fall around them, the yellow sand all that could be seen for miles. The only sound was their footsteps and the wind shifting the fine grains against each other.

‘We’re never going to get there!’ Link broke in after awhile.

Dream came to a stop on top of a large dune and looked across at the beam. She could see it better now, but it seemed to be fading.  The colors were arching up from the ground to the sky were they disappeared into the blue.

‘It looks like a path into the sky,’ she mused.

‘Don’t be stupid!’ Link snapped, ‘I don’t care what it is. Let’s go back. It’s getting too hot.’

‘You go back if you want. I’m going to find where it meets the ground,’ Dream responded.

‘Are you crazy?’

Dream didn’t reply, but walked off. The loose sand give way under her and she half skidded down the side of the dune. At the bottom, she found her feet and carried on walking. From behind her came the sound of Link half running half tumbling to join her.

‘Dream! Stop!’ he shouted.

She ignored him and picked up her pace. Breaking into a jog, she went around another dune and found herself in a maze of sand hills. Taking in a few deep breaths, she scrambled up the first one and looked down.

There below her was the source of the multi-colored light beam. Thanking her luck, she went down and towards it.

‘Dream! Where are you!’ Link yelled.

‘Over here!’ she shouted back, ‘I’ve found it. It’s some kind of crystal!’

Dream knelt down and looked closely at the clear cut rock that was half buried in the ground. Beams of light were shinning off it as the sunlight was touching it. Dream slowly reached out to touch it.

‘Don’t!’ Link gasped as he came to join her.

She looked at him, but couldn’t fully read his expression behind his mask.

‘It’s just a crystal. Like the ones you dig up all the time,’ she said.

‘It might be from the World Before. We shouldn’t touch it. We know what it is now, let’s go,’ Link spoke.

Dream looked at the crystal, tempted by it’s beauty. Link was right though.

‘It could be important,’ she thought aloud, ‘and if we leave it, it might not be here later.’

‘I don’t like it,’ Link muttered.

Dream shrugged and put her gloved hand onto of the crystal. The beam of light disappeared. Dream curled her fingers around the rock and picked it up. It was smaller and lighter then it had looked. She opened her hand and straight away the colors came back and danced around the surface of the crystal.

‘How weird,’ Dream uttered.

‘Can we go now?’ Link demanded.

Dream closed her fingers over the crystal again and got up,’sure. Maybe someone back home will know what this is,’ she added.

 

Story inspired by Sue’s prompt at https://scvincent.com/2016/11/03/thursday-photo-prompt-anomaly-writephoto/ – click to read the other stories.

Autumn Arrives

As Hanna walked through the woods, she noticed that autumn was settling in and the last of summer was fading away. The air was still warm, but the breezy felt cool and the sky looked more grey-blue then the bright Azure it had been. Nature was on the change for sure, what with the tree leaves all ready looking paler and a few having turned color.

The dirt path she walked on was empty still, but she guessed by the end of next week, leaves would start to blanket the ground. She stopped, spotting something moving ahead. A grey squirrel, digging in the soil of a tree trunk. The animal stopped, tail twitching as if listening to something. In a flash, the squirrel was up the tree as a large black shape hurtled over.

Hanna didn’t even bother to yell at her black Labrador, Max, but she couldn’t help the smile that came to her face. He was jumping up the base of the tree, barking and clearly enjoying himself. The squirrel appeared for a few seconds along a branch before vanishing. Max give up and after turning his head about looking for Hanna, began to sniff around the tree roots.

Quietness drifted back into the woods allowing distant bird song, the breezy and her footsteps all she could hear. Hanna took in a deep breath and where once she could smell fragrant flowers, there was now only damp earth and the woody scent of bark. Walking on, she admired the ever changing scenery and felt grateful she could truly appreciate it.

Mags

The shelves were lined with colorful glossy front covers that boosted screaming titles. Ivy stood before them, trying to pick out any that would interested her from the photos and words. Ignoring the ones aimed heavily at men, she looked at the women’s ones.

Celebrity names, Ivy knew or half knew called out to her followed by scandalous slurs. Questions about her body and mind shouted across to her, demanding she grab the mags and find the answers. Shaking her head, she picked up a magazine containing short stories that looked bland compared with the others.

With a quick glance at the front page, she dropped into the wire shopping basket. Further down, she found two aimed at writers. Ivy selected the one she normally read and noticed the free gift was a small book of inspirational poetry. Putting that in the basket, she moved on to a section which seemed to grow every time she looked.

The blank front pages of the adult coloring magazines looked out of place. Ivy browsed through them and finally selected two; one that declared it could calm her mind and other that stated she could win a valuable set of coloring pencils by filling in the front cover. She put them both in the basket then moved on.

At the end of the shelves, were the crossword, word searches, Sudoku and puzzle books. Ivy hovered in front of them. She had never been a fan of such things, but having one might be useful right now. Debating, she spent a few minutes looking at them all, then selected one that seemed a good mixture of things.

Adding that to the collection, she did the rest of the shopping she needed to do then headed to the hospital ward that was to become her home for a few weeks whilst she recovered from the major operation she needed.

 

The Photographer

Aaron stood in what had once been a corn field, but now only the broken stalks remained. The sky was a painting of color; greys, blacks, purples, yellows, oranges and pinks. He wondered if God had made the sky his canvas. It was raining in the distance, he could see it coming down on other the fields and it seemed to be making its way over to him.

Leaning against the tumbling outbuilding, he saw a fork of lightening. His breathing quickened and he began snapping photos as if his life depended on it. Which, in a way it kind of did. He turned, moved back and lined up the next angle.

He saw the lightening striking again on the screen and caught the image he had most wanted.

Colored Fox

Opening the colouring book to the first page, she studied the drawing. It was a fox appearing through a garden of flowers. Selecting her pens, she enjoyed listening to the scratch scratch sound across the paper. Her stress started melting way as colour brought the scene to life.

(Image from; http://batsford.com/blog/tag/millie-marotta/)

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