Doubles

Here's another double post, the 2nd and 3rd. I'll get today's up soon, I promise :).


3/2/10

Prompt: "Do you know how to use one of these?" (NaNo)

"Do you know how to use one of these?" Jax asked skeptically, her brow raised. Daryn grinned cheekily.

"Of course I do!" He grinned again and punched the throttle, ratcheting the engines up higher as the ship lifted off, wobbling slightly as it threatened to stall.

"Daryn…" Jax’s voice was low, warning her friend. He just laughed and checked the altitude as he jacked the craft first one way, then the other. It rattled and hummed in an unsettling manner, and Jax finally shoved the younger boy out of the way. She plopped into the pilot’s seat, chuckling as Daryn landed on his rear on the hard deck floor.

With a slight twitch of her wrists, she sent the small craft into a sharp downward plunge, spiraling towards the planet’s surface. At the last possible second, she wrenched the controls, pulling out of the mad dive and soaring for the sky.

Laughter bubbled out of her as she glanced at Daryn’s white face.

"Now that," she said smugly, "is flying."

Total Time: 7 minutes
Word Count: 170
　

3/3/10

Prompt: "A pillar of sun filtered through the forsaken window." (NaNo)

The lot was silent. Nothing stirred except a faint breeze through the shell of the overgrown building. A pillar of sun filtered through the forsaken window, casting a mottled pattern on the dusty floorboards. No one had been to the house in many years. The glass that had once been clear and polished was broken, lying in ragged shards about the windowpane. The once-grand mahogany front door hung on rusty hinges, creaking wearily in the soft breeze. The house was old, old and alone, but not sad. Ivy creepers crawled up the clabbered siding, and morning glories bedecked the front porch. Woodland creatures had made it their home, squirrels nesting in the abandoned chimney, and a family of raccoons taking up residence in the large attic. Dormice scampered about the remains of the pantry, hoping to find scraps of food, left behind so many years ago.

It wasn’t a sad sight, despite its raggedness. It was simply an illustration of the passage of time, a picture of what happens as the years go by. Once, it had been a wondrous house, full of gaiety and laughter, and now it provided shelter to the creatures of the forest. Neither existence was better than the other, simply different, and the house would go through many more existences before its days were over.

The breeze wafted lazily in the soft summer sun, teasing the whiskers of the dormice, and ruffling the feathers of the swallows living in the gables. It was simply life, moving on and passing through, heedless of wind and weather, simply passing through.

Total Time: 7 minutes
Word Count: 263