The Storymaker

“This is probably my first go at the First Person Present point of view. Don’t judge me too hard, I know it’s all over the place and awful, but at least I tried right?”

I wrote this story for the following prompt.
Sadje’s What Do You See – picture above
Your Daily Prompt – Conduit
FOWC with Fandango – Gusto
Pensitivity’s Three Things Challenge — Glut – Foot – Trace

The Storymaker

It happened on the Perseids night. Of all the shooting stars I saw; one was unique. It pulsed into being brighter than the others. For a second the air buzzed with static as it moved across the sky like an anonymous blue dot and then it vanished.

Morning came crystal-clear beneath the golden sun. I climb from my bed with gusto and stretch tall toward the ceiling. Sleep has never been my friend but I’m feeling well-rested this morning. I have a desire to write so strong, I skip my morning shower. I swallow a glut of cereal and gulp down a pint of orange juice.

Feeling like I’ve been plugged into an electrical conduit. I walk into the office and sit at my desk. Ignoring the computer, I pick up my workbook with an excited smile. The white book had sat on the desk empty since I bought it. My idea had been to plan my stories on paper first, then type them into the computer. As I opened that book for the first time, the ideas and inspirations simply stopped.

Placing the book in front of me, I open the cover. A flash of silver light erupts from the book as an invisible gust of wind fans through the pages.

The breath catches in my lungs as I stare at the double-page open before me. My skin tingles as I begin to examine the book. There’s no trace of magic or hidden mechanisms that I can see. I resign myself to the realisation that I must have imagined it.

I return the book to an empty double-page and begin to think of what to write. My mind whirrs through amazing possibilities. The strongest is of a pirate defending his treasure on a small island with a single palm tree. of a

I hover my pen over the page and gasp. Pencil sketches of that pirate, palm tree and treasure-laden chest draw themselves on the page. They rise from the paper and take on a 3D appearance. Even the palm leaves begin to blow like feathers without a trace of wind.

I glance at the second page in time to see a pirate ship rise out of the paper. Splashing down it causes ripples to roll and vanish into the spine.

In a state of shock, I reach out and touch the palm tree. My stomach lurches. I fall and land on my backside. My right foot hangs above me. I feel rough bark on my toes. My left foot is enveloped in warm sand leaving me in a state of disbelief.

A cannon blast rattles my senses.

“Away ye scurvy dogs. This treasure be mine!” yells someone nearby.

I climb to my feet and gasp. I’m on the treasure island, I imagined.

The cannon booms again.

A current of warm air swishes past me. The wrought iron cannonball, missing my nose by inches.

“Watch ye head, sunshine. Ye nearly got it blown to smithereens!” yells the pirate.

“Yeah, thanks, pal!” I yell back as I duck behind a palm tree. I focus on the ship. It’s twin masts hanging with Jolly Roger sails. I see many men running about the deck, aiming blunderbusses over the gunwales and preparing to assail the beach from their yawl boats.

“Stop hidin’ and help me fight ye coward!” the pirate holds out a rusted cutlass sword.

I make to step toward him as several cannons fire all at once. The beach and the palm tree are struck. In a hail of sand and wood, I stagger and fall over the treasure chest.

A weighty object lands on my chest. Grasping it, I see it’s a large pearl necklace but it doesn’t hold my attention. The sky above me is swirling like the contents of the coffee cup being vigorously stirred. “Take me home!” I yell.

My stomach lurches and I slam back into my swivel chair. I glance at the page and see that the living sketches are gone, replaced by a wonderful pirate story. In my hand is a sketch pearl necklace that slowly fades from existence.

I wonder what other worlds I can get into now. One thing is for sure, there will be no stopping my inspiration from here on out.

The End

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Thanks for reading my friends.

There’s more in the Poetry Corner, Poetry Nook, and the Short Story Collection

Have a great day!

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