Ringgren

Stand by a river, and look at the water flowing past you. Does it seem like it has a purpose? Take a stand at a fork in the road, and try to remember why you chose the paths you did. Forgive yourself for the frustrations and long nights crying in your bed worried you will never be happy. These moments matter, because they shape, form and structure the YOU that you are now. It might not make sense the moment it is happening but I promise you it will some day. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not a week from now. Maybe it won't register until you're quite a few years down the road. But...when it comes, you will see the magic.

It is the word they mostly use, when they try to explain what life is all about. Everything. What is everything? Why do I not understand this term, as everyone else around me seems to do. Why do I question everything I see, instead of letting it speak to me? Why does everything, seem like it wants me to fail instead of endure? It is all these questions that keep me awake at night. Restless and uncomfortable, I wander through my dreams with no path in front of me. I stumble across the vines that crisscross through my landscapes. Vast and wonderful fields, or narrow forest filled treks. It does not matter which road I take, I end up at the same conclusion. What is everything? Who decides what everything is? Is there an everything for, every...one? Am I just meant to find my own way, and not what others might think my path should be? I have tried very hard to follow my own hopes and dreams and they have to this day always brought me more joy than following some preconceived idea of what o...

I don't know if you notice the way I look at you. The way my eyes linger just a little longer than normal. The way you make me smile, in a way that I imagine is lighting my face up. I almost feel like bursting every time I see you, because all I want to say is how much your mere presence makes me feel at peace with the world. I've always felt out of touch before, like I was born in the wrong time, the wrong place. I used to feel so disconnected with the world - like I just didn't belong here. Until I met you... I wish I could just tell you what I feel inside, but I fear being hurt again. I fear being told I am not good enough. Not pretty enough...smart enough. I make due by pretending. Fake it till you make it, they say... I wonder if I will know when I make it? Will there be a difference? I know I am putting myself up for failure having all these thoughts, instead of just living the life I have in front of me. However, this is who I am and I have made my peace with it. I t...

He places his hands, on her slender shoulders. Squeezes them gently. Rests his head on hers, breathing in her scent. Her hair is slightly damp. Noticing faint traces, of raspberry shampoo, he smiles. It is his favorite, because it feels like home. It's a scent he can never forget. Home is not where his heart is, but where she is. Her smile lights up his day, her laugh so light and happy,  that he finds himself laughing too. He met her on a random Tuesday. She was sitting in the library, tears of laughter resting on her cheeks. He knew right then, that he loved her. Nothing could be more real, than someone embracing her tears. He asked her name, she blushed but gave in to his request. Rose. Like the beautiful flower, she opened her petals to him. Glimpsing in to her personality,  he felt overwhelmed with joy. To find the perfect piece, to his complicated puzzle. Was more than he could have wished for.

The dark cries rip across the sky, he cowers under the bridge in fear. They are close but have not found him. They take humans, use them.  He knows when the night goes dark, he needs to run for his shelter. They took Her last week. He didn't sleep for two days, his heart was broken. As he peers beyond the city's limits, he feels the helplessness fill him. Without Her, he is nothing. The purge began three years ago. Nobody knows why, but humans are endangered. A second wave, of painful screams flood his ears. He needs to move. The sky is clear and he runs for it. His shelter is close,  and it's all he has left. A half hour later he's inside. The scent of her still fills the room. He lies down on her bed. The blanket smells of lilies, and he manages a smile. Why didn't they take him? As he sits up, he grabs the gun he's been saving. He's decided. He will try and fight for her. S...

The world around me marches on, while I wait patiently in my tower. One from which I can observe, but never join in. I see the curve of children's lips, expressing that they are happy. I wish I could embrace the laughter, as easily as they seem to do. My tower is dark and cold, yet I try to bring joy to it. A fire crackles gently in my fireplace, and I take in the warm flames. Now the snow is falling in blankets, and I curl into a ball on my bed. Tomorrow is my birthday, perhaps I'll be free by then.

As the rain started pouring down outside his window so did the tears that finally escaped his eyes, salty water cascading down his cheeks, while his lungs felt heavy, making it hard to breathe. He had no idea why the tears were finally coming, but he was relieved. His heart had been heavy for months, until this very moment where he finally let go of the pain and revel in what had actually happened. His wife was sleeping in their bed peacefully, but he could just not find peace so he’d gotten up to walk around their room a bit, finally settling at the desk in front of the large window overlooking the garden. His eyes scanned the dimmed morning view, it was early in the am and he had hardly slept at all. His eyes wandered to the swing set at the far end, he felt the tears well up against him. His heart started beating faster as his breath caught in his throat. His pain turned angry, angry at the world, himself and that swing set. Rising from the desk he grabbed a sweatshirt and ...

She had lived a life where she felt everything was possible. Marrying him and having their children, was neither a scary thought nor an impossible one. She saw a loving future when looking into his eyes. She saw happiness, a little boy and girl crawling into his lap while he read them stories that he himself had heard when he was a kid. His loving embrace as he put the kids to sleep and kissed them on the forehead, telling them that they should never stop dreaming and that he loved them with every ounce of his heart. The wonderful sparkle that his eyes possessed as she would lie next to him and he told her how much he loved her. Those were the only things that raced through her mind, she had found her rock. She finally understood the silly love songs she would blast in her teenage room while dreaming of meeting Mr. Right. He had come to her… At least that is what she had thought for so long. She had felt so safe, so secure in their love, but it would prove to be just a silly fanta...

It is the weirdest of times, life moving on while you watch it flow past in waves that slowly but surely take you on a steady path. Yet other times a wave crashes into you with such a force that you lose your footing, forget where you are going and make mistakes. As I stand on the lonely pier, I look towards the sunset and wonder why the waves have left me standing, when all I wanted was to be swept up into the crashing and empty waters. I feel the sun is mocking me with its perfect rays that touch the calm water in front of me. I want to drown in its beauty.

I cannot seem to comprehend fully, how he, enthralls me so. The wondrous locks of his hair play with my mind. In his eyes I see something. A glimmer of an otherworldly love. Compassion so tangible, that I wonder how he even exists, in this world brimming of unmistakeable sadness. The caress of his hand as he looks into my eyes, sparks a chain reaction that sends shivers down my spine. My body is tuned into his every touch. His lips, where I have rested my gaze, look as soft as a summers breeze. He licks them, not in anticipation of me claiming them, but because he wonders how he can tell me of his hopes for us. Grabbing my hands and holding them close to his chest, I feel his heartbeat racing. He asks for me to look at him, feel him, understand the sincerity behind his words as they pour from him in controlled urgency. "I have to say this before my courage fails me. I love you...with all I have to give. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Between her and the world, was an invisible force field she could not break through. She worried a lot of the day away, wondering magical worlds as time passed by her. The unsightly child of a world incapable of understanding her. It was not because the world was not willing, but her peculiarity scared and was off putting. She imagined how love would feel. The soft waves of fitting together with someone else. The rose colored glasses that everyone would talk about. The smile that would certainly creep unto her face when thinking about her love. She ached as the thoughts blew through her darkened heart, making the chambers creak with sadness. As the snowflakes fell silently outside her window, she wondered how her life could have been. Had she just been born more "normal", her thoughts been less strange, her mind less adventurous and magical... Always, wondering.

Standing on the front porch of my house, I had this feeling deep down that something was wrong. I can't describe it, without you thinking I'm a complete nutcase. She was supposed to be there two hours ago, and yet, she was not. Fiddling with the keys to the front door, I unlocked it and stepped into a familiar smell that was like a slap to the face. An almost rude wake up call. I had missed that smell so terribly. Standing there in the doorway and taking it all in, I remembered suddenly that there was something I had forgotten. A knick knack if you will, but it was something that meant a great deal to both of us. Walking back outside to my car, I grabbed a piece of paper from my glove compartment. It was worn, had spots on it, but it was magical... Going back inside, I left it on the kitchen counter and then returned to the hallway, just standing there and looking at all the photos and memories it contained. My phone suddenly vibrated in my pocket, it was from her. A text mess...

I give you a short excerpt from a story I've begun writing. I give you the excerpt because I have too many ideas and not enough time to finish it for publishing here on the blog. So, read on and hopefully enjoy. Lot of autobiographical stuff in there. The name of the story is "Terrified": Samantha, or Sam for short, had a great life. That is after she escaped her horrible childhood. Sam was not an ugly girl, nor was she a beauty queen. Her appearance did not put people off or make them spontaneously comment on her ravishing looks. But she was one of the most generous people you could ever have the privilege of knowing. This is directly because of her childhood. See, Sam was sort of the odd person in school. Not the popular cheerleader with a handsome quarterback boyfriend, and yet she was not the typical forever alone either. Sam liked to keep to herself and find escape in things that did not interest her female peers, which is why she was singled out as often a...

A heads up, I'll be posting a short story tomorrow because I want to practice my skills a bit with a shorter and more impactful journey. Hope you like it when you read it! Until then, be safe all.