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In The Middle



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Wed Sep 28, 2011 1:54 am
GeeLyria says...



Spoiler! :
Note: The grammar errors on the little girl's dialogs and thoughts are on purpose. xD <33


I tried to reach them, keeping my balance on the yellow line, one foot in front of the other. I could hear them giggling and whispering things, but I couldn't understand. When my legs started to feel numb, I hopped back into the sidewalk and ran to them.

"Hey, Jolene," I'd look up at her face, bouncing a bit on my feet.

There's something that I've wondered my whole life; Do big people ignore you because they don't care, or is it because they can't hear you from up there?

"Jolene!" I yelled out again. I made my way between them, and shaking hands, I tried to get her attention.

I looked on farther, and rushed to the bench that was a few feet away. I jumped on it.

"Listen to me!" I screamed as loud as I could. They stopped walking and, momentary, their recent expressions faded away. They looked at me with serious faces. I stood there, wide eyed.

"Get down, Naira," Jolene said. "Now!"

Jonathan chuckled, I hit him with my fist on the chest as he placed me down.

"Don't touch me!" I screamed. I sat down on the bench and crossed my arms.

"Now, what's all this frowning about?" My big sister complained as she sat next to me. Jonathan sat on the other side, and I moved closer to Jolene; I didn't want him to be there.

"You've been ignoring me!" I replied, still crossing my arms. I saw how Jonathan tried to keep from laughing, as if it were something to laugh about.

"Oh--" Jolene said.

"All you care about now is your boyfriend," I interrupted, upset.

"Naira, no... It's not that. It's just that--" I stopped listening to her for a minute.

Why do she like him better than me? He don't play dolls, he don't say amusing things, or teaches me a new song, or says funny jokes, I thought.

Things were changing fast because of him.

No more stories at night, she was too busy on the phone with him. No more taking me to ballet lessons, she was spending time with him. Yesterday, like every Friday, she wouldn't take me to the park for ice cream, cause she was going to the movies with him.

I was looking outside the window when he brought her back home, and dad told me to stay inside.

"Pumpkin, don't go outside tonight," he said when he saw me getting ready to go outside.

"Why not?" I stopped, and looked up at him.

"Because, there are really big..." he stopped a moment, "Eh... Racoons! --Out there."

That made me get worried, so I rushed and put my shoes on to ran to the door.

Mama was sitting on the couch, reading. "Where are you going?" She asked, looking over her glasses.

"I'm going to go tell Jolene," I said, wide eyed.

Dad laughed, and blocked my way out with his hands. "It's okay. Big people are safe from raccoons, kiddo." He grinned.

Why won't she come inside to be with me?
I thought. He had came over to take my place. To steal it.

While sitting on the bench two old ladies passed by us. "That's what happens when people start having kids at a young age, kids grow to be spoiled and rebels," she whispered to the other lady as she shook her head. Jolene rolled her eyes, and looked back at me.

"You like him better than me," I replied, "He just came over to steal you from me..." I hugged my legs, bow my head and started crying.

"No," he burst out, and I looked at him. "I would never steal your sister." He shook his head.

"--Once he steals you, I'll have no one to play with but the dog, Miss Giggles," I dither, sobbing. "It's a relief that she fears him, cause I wouldn't want him to steal her too."

Jolene kept silent, then she sighed and got a tissue from her bag to wipe my tears.

"Sweetie..." she sighed again, "You know I wouldn't change you for anything in the world, I wouldn't replace you," she said. "Never!"

"Don't cry," Jonathan said really fast. He seemed concerned, it looked like my enemy had given up, but he continued his conversation. "Sometimes, well, we might not bring you with us, but---" I saw Jolene shaking hands over my head, indicating him to stop talking. And that let me know that my suspicions were false. Now he was tricking me. And I was not going to be his fool.

But my sister just hugged me tight and said, "No, I won't forget about you." She squeezed me, "You'll always be between us."

And right at that instant, I realized I'd have to get used to it. I'd have to get used to being just there, in the middle. But you can be sure it won't be for long. I'll be like that yellow line that divides the street. I'll always be right there, in the middle, indeed.

;) <3
Last edited by GeeLyria on Wed Sep 28, 2011 4:15 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Noob is a state of being, not a length of time. ~Ego

"Serás del tamaño de tus pensamientos; no te permitas fracasar."
  





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Wed Sep 28, 2011 3:43 am
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FutureFamousWriter says...



good, only one mistake i could find:

%u201CWhy do she like him better than me?%u201D its why DOES she like in better than me. Unless you are trying to sound like a kid which is quite okay.

i like this story cause i know how the kid feels. not necessarily the same but kinda close to my situation. i really think this is a good short story. have you thought about entering it into a competition? there are hundreds on the internet. i think you should keep writing it, maybe turn it into a novel where the kid comes up with all sorts of tricks to play on the boyfriend? the one thing i didn't really like is the bit at the end how she says she has to get used to it. i personally don't like defeat in the main charater in a story. i'd like them to keep fighting rather then give up.

keep writing!
  





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Wed Sep 28, 2011 5:48 pm
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limegreenleopard says...



This is really cool. The little girl's thoughts are really cute, especially with the grammar thing :D ! Overall, I liked it alot, and can't really think of anything you should do to improve it. A great story!
Keep Writing,
~Leopard
Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia. ~Charles Schulz
  





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Wed Sep 28, 2011 6:17 pm
GeeLyria says...



Thank, girls! <33333333 :)
Noob is a state of being, not a length of time. ~Ego

"Serás del tamaño de tus pensamientos; no te permitas fracasar."
  





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Thu Sep 29, 2011 2:55 pm
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max8537 says...



I thought that this story was really good at explaining her emotions, and giving vivid imagery of the scene, and explaining how someone feels when someone takes something or someone from you.
  





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Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:16 pm
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anna91423 says...



I know this story is from a while ago but it totally reminded me of my little sister! Lol, really great and kind of nostalgic... Loved it :)
"Books are the ultimate dumpees: put them down and they'll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they will always love you back." John Green

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Wed Nov 16, 2011 12:15 am
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Mirasol says...



Really wonderful! i felt like i was reading jodi picoult when you linked the yellow line from the beginning of the story to how it is like the kid being in the middle. You brought out the character of naira really well by using the thoughts that went through her head instead of just dialogs and feelings and the events that have happened before like the big raccoons thing.
Some things to improve on are maybe develop more on the big sister's character and how naira is feeling. Emphasize on that feeling of being left out so that the reader feels sympathy for her; I didn't quite sympathize with naira. For example, she fell down and scraped her knee on the sidewalk but the sister and her boyfriend kept on walking and didn't notice. Something like that, I'm not much of a short story writer. :P
But all in all, great job! I enjoyed it very much! Keep writing! :)
  








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