Creative Writing Excerpt

Excerpt from Tales of the Orange Sun a story I started for a creative writing class. In the process of submitting for publication.

Tales of the Orange Sun

The orange sun swam low on the horizon. Casting the world in a gold and red glow. White paint on old wood and acres of farmland were all anyone could see if they stood before the Lanes’ farmhouse. Katlyn didn’t see that, though. No, in the fading light she saw certain doom. One would think she was marching towards her own funeral at the rate she trudged up the wooden steps.

“Push the button, Katlyn… Just reach out and push the stupid thing.” There was a creak as wooden boards shifted underfoot. “Come on Katie it’s just a doorbell.” The round button glowed ominously as a pale hand reached for it. A slight tremble easily detected in the slender fingers. “What’s so bad about a little button?” Everything. That’s what it felt like. Slowly, the lone girl pressed down on the bell. Her attempts at staying calm were losing their uphill battle. Her dark hair was tucked behind her ear as the door was pulled open, revealing a smiling blond mother.

“Katlyn. Thank you so much,   I know it’s last minute, and I’m sorry about that.”

“Mrs. Lane, it’s fine,” the 17-year-old quickly interrupted. “So where’s Annabelle?”

“In the living room making things with pipe cleaners.” Mrs. L motioned Kate in and guided her towards the well-furnished room. Smack dab in the middle of the floor sat a young girl, no older than four. Her golden curls flowed around her face as she bent a few green pipe cleaners together. It looked like she had also gotten her hands on some plastic flowers seeing as the pink colored petals were twisted in with the chain of green. “Anna, Katlyn’s here.” It was like someone gave the child an energy drink. She was next to them before Katlyn could even bat an eye.

“Katie! Katie! Katie! Look! Look what I made!” For a second Katlyn didn’t know how to react. She just stood there dumbfounded as tiny hands held out the flower chain that looped into a necklace. “It’s for you!” Without really realizing it, Katlyn accepted the fuzzy flowers and pulled them to her chest.

“T-Thank you, Annabelle.”

“You’re welcome!” Anna’s bright blue eyes then moved to her mother as she knelt down to her level.

“Remember Anna, you have to listen to Katlyn. I’ll be home in a few hours.”

“Okay, Mommy.” Mrs. Lane hugged her daughter before moving towards the front door.

“My number’s on the fridge. Dinner’s in the clear container. You just have to heat it up.” With a smile, the older woman was walking out the door.  The lock clicking into place jarred Katlyn out of her little trance. Her green eyes slowly lowered down to Annabelle. The young girl was already looking at her. Judging her, Katlyn was sure.

“Do you wanna build some Legos?” Annabelle’s innocent question had Katlyn fidgeting slightly. Was this a test? See if she was good enough?

“S-sure.” A grin spread across Anna’s rounded cheeks as she grabbed the teen’s hand and dragged her across the room. Anna dropped to her knees and pulled a large tub of multi-colored blocks out. “What do you want to make?” Annabelle tapped a finger to her chin before her smile reappeared.

“A house! A purple house!”

“Purple?”

“Mhmm.” She started digging in the plastic sea, searching for her desired color. “Purple’s my favorite color! What’s yours, Katie?”

“Orange. My favorite is orange.” Annabelle paused in her search for a moment.

“Then we should make a purple and orange house! It’ll be the best house ever then! C’mon!” Spurred on by the child’s orders, Katlyn started the search for the correct blocks. It took quite a while, but eventually, they had a decent sized pile of foot-killers. Annabelle had found a green base to use as they assembled the structure. The entire time the four-year-old rambled on about nonsense. Things that were purple, a cool cloud that was shaped like a castle she saw, and anything she could think of. “My daddy’s in the army.” Katlyn looked up then. She knew Mr. Lane was in the military, but she didn’t know much else.

“Oh?” Was Katlyn’s intelligent response.

“Yup! He’s saving the world in I… I-rack.”

“Iraq?”

“Yeah! I got to see him last year for Christmas, but Mommy says he won’t be here for this year.”

“I bet he wants to be here, though.”

“Yeah… I talk to him on the computer sometimes. He always has funny stories about what his friends did. Like last week, they were playing around while they were eating lunch, and Robert kept stealing Chris’ French fries! Chris couldn’t figure out what happened, but when he did he threw his apple at him.”

“I would probably throw my apple at him too if he stole my fries.”

Annabelle grinned at her babysitter. “I’d throw my apple too! And then we could have a food fight!” She mocked throwing food for a moment before pausing mid-potato-toss. “Katie?”

“Yes, Anna?”

“When’s dinner?” Katlyn glanced at her watch and was surprised to see how much time it took to build three of the four walls to their house. It was just after six o’clock.

“Are you hungry?”

“Yeah.”

“How about right now?” Annabelle nodded quickly, her curls bouncing up and down.

“Yes please!” Katlyn stood up, stretching her stiff legs. Sitting in that position for the last hour and a half had been taxing on the muscles. The teen moved into the kitchen. It was a good sized room with plenty of counter space.  Several cookbooks were lined up on the far wall next to a little spice rack. To the right was the sink and oven, and the refrigerator was against the opposite wall. Katlyn pulled the door back and found pasta in the sealed container waiting for her. It didn’t take long for the microwave to warm the pre-made food. After finding the plates, she scooped out some for both of them before looking towards the living room.

“Annabelle! Dinner’s ready!” Katlyn’s call was answered by the quick pattering of footsteps as Annabelle joined her at the table. They ate in silence since the young girl was quick to stuff her rounded cheeks. Katlyn couldn’t help but glance at Annabelle, their previous conversation still playing in her head.

“Katie?” Annabelle’s quiet voice caused her to look up from her now empty plate.

“Yeah?”

“Do you get to see your daddy?” The girl must have been reading her mind.

“No, not really. My dad’s in the Marines.”

“That means our daddies are saving the world together!” Annabelle threw her arms up as she yelled this, a large smile spreading across her face. Katlyn couldn’t help the smile from spreading across her own as she cleaned the red-stained dishes.

“Yeah, I guess it does.” Katlyn glanced at the clock. 7:35 stared back in bright red numbers. Twenty-five minutes until Annabelle’s bedtime. Anna must have realized this as well because she looked up at her babysitter with large blue eyes and her hands closed together.  “It’s almost eight Anna.”

“Kaaaaattieeeeeeee! Please, can we stay up just a little longer?” The puppy dog eyes were strong in this one.  The teen shifted her weight, weighing her options.

“How about you get ready for bed, and we’ll see.” Katlyn hadn’t expected her drawn out excuse to elicit another squeal of excitement before her charge ran up the steps to her room. Perhaps she could let the young girl stay up just a little longer. What would they do, though? Katlyn dried her hands off and stretched, her eyes glancing out the window. It was a clear night, not a single cloud in the sky. “That could work.”

It was 8:30 when Katlyn ended up hoisting a sleeping Annabelle in her arms. The teen, after showing off many of the twinkling constellations and the stories that went with them, had managed to calm the little ball of energy enough for exhaustion to finally catch up with her. A small smile pulled at her pale lips as she tucked the girl under her purple covers after dodging the toys that littered the ground.

Just as she was about to turn the lights off, a figurine on Annabelle’s nightstand caught her eye. To most, it was probably just a knight, taken from some princess set. However, as Katlyn’s green eyes flickered across the proud statue, she could see black sharpie had been scribbled across the plastic. Not by Annabelle though. No, the details of the Army uniform had not been put there by a four-year-old. Katlyn backed out of the room, leaving the door cracked open slightly before she tore her eyes away from Annabelle’s guardian.

-~~*~~-

The orange sun swam low on the horizon as Katlyn walked down the dirt road. Dust kicked up with each step she took towards her own old wooden house. It had been a month since she started watching Annabelle. Her job becoming a regular one after Mrs. Lane’s bakery started taking off. Katlyn had soon found herself enjoying Anna’s company. The little girl could probably grow on anyone.

“Mom! I’m home!” A muffled response sounded from the kitchen. Katlyn kicked her shoes off and moved through the house towards her mother.

“Hey, baby girl.” Her mom said as she glanced up from her plate of warmed up take-out. “How was your day?”

“Good. Anna made me a picture.” Katlyn pulled the folded piece of paper out of her pocket and held it out for her mom.

“Aw! That’s just precious. That’s you and her right?”

Katlyn nodded as she moved towards the refrigerator. “Yeah.” She was just about to pull the door open when someone started pounding on the front door. The two women shared a look before Mrs. Pike stood and moved towards the foyer.

Katlyn listened in, trying to figure out what was going on, but the door never opened. She poked her head around the corner only to see her mother… just… standing there. “Mom?” Katlyn’s call fell on deaf ears, her mother’s face was shielded behind her dark brown hair. A pit formed in the bottom of Katlyn’s stomach. Something happened, something bad. But what could possibly cause her mother to react like…

Katlyn froze mid-step as her green eyes fell upon the two visitors on their porch. They were clad in the midnight blue of the Marine Dress Uniform. Both of them standing tall as they saluted.

She couldn’t wrap her mind around it for a minute. Katlyn knew what saluting Marines meant, but her dad was fine she could feel it. Slowly, she reached forwards, seeing as her mother wasn’t moving anytime soon, and opened the door. The captain was the first to speak, his eyes going between the mother and daughter.

“Mrs. Pike. We regret to inform you that your husband is missing in action.”

Let me know if you want to read the rest. 🙂