She was sitting on a bench by the water, her nose stuck deep in a book. There were ducks around her feet, some milling about, others looking up at her expectantly. After all, what other reason would someone sit there other than to feed the ducks. A few of them quacked at her, but she paid them no mind. Her attention was elsewhere.
He watched her from a short distance away, a small bag of bread ends in his hand. She was sitting in his usual spot and he didn’t quite know what to do. His hand gripped the bag tighter. She was really pretty, and that was only making this harder. He wanted to talk to her, but he didn’t know what to say. He knew that if he approached her, his tongue would freeze and he’d just stare at her pretty mouth or her pretty eyes and she’d think he was a creep. He really wasn’t, but it’d happened enough times before that he knew exactly how it would go. He should just leave.
But he really wanted to feed the ducks.
He always feed the ducks on this day, at this time. Today couldn’t be any different. Gathering up his courage, he took a deep breath and made his way hesitantly over toward her. She didn’t look up as he approached, so he decided to just open up his bread bag and just go ahead with his plan.
He reached into the bag and crumbled the first piece. The ducks recognized him as a familiar sight and swarmed over to him, leaving the girl and her book alone. The man smiled as the crowded around him, each wanting to be the first to snap up the food. He laughed softly to himself. It was always like this.
In his head he played out little stories with the ducks, making up crazy scenarios for why they acted like they did. This one, Roberta, had cheated on her husband Petro with another duck, Hans. That explained why the two males always fought so hard over even the smallest crumb, Roberta quacking madly for them to stop. She was a heart breaker, that Roberta.
Daisy was another, a plain sort of duck that usually kept to herself. She was shy and felt she was too boring and too dull for the other ducks. He could relate to that. He always made sure to give her lots of crumbs and shooed away the ducks that tried to steal from her. Daisy was undoubtedly his favourite.
Lost in his thoughts, he’d forgotten all about the pretty girl on the bench. It was a good thing too, because if he had noticed she was watching him, he likely wouldn’t have been able to move.
The woman watched him for a few minutes, a small smile playing across her lips. It was an unusual sight, a grown man feeding and talking to ducks, but it was rather endearing at the same time. It was sweet.
Getting to her feet, she set her book on the bench and went over to stand by him. “They really seem to like you.”
He jumped a little at the sound of her voice. She had gotten so close without him noticing. How had she done that? He glanced at her quickly, then away again just as quick. “Yeah,” he managed to mumble, nodding as he gripped the bag tighter.
She didn’t seem to notice how uncomfortable she was making him. “You must come here a lot, they really know you. I’m Hana, by the way.” She turned to face him, holding out her hand.
He turned rather slowly himself, staring at her outstretched hand. For a moment he panicked and didn’t know what to do. Finally he forced his own hand to move and took hers, shaking it. “I’m Jake,” he managed to get out, sure that he’d taken too long and she thought he was a freak.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jake,” she said smiling. She didn’t think he was a freak at all. Jake was surprised. “You too,” he mumbled, trying his best to smile back. “Um, would you like to feed the ducks too?” He had a few pieces of bread left and he took one out to hand to her.
“Sure! I’d love to.” She took the bread and tore it into little pieces, throwing it out to the ducks with a laugh.

He woke with a start, nearly falling out of his arm chair. Sitting up quickly, he glanced around the room, his heart beating far too fast for someone who had just been deep in sleep. He had the strangest feeling that someone (or something?) had an eye on him. A feeling so strong, it had roused him from his sleep.
    Still though, as strong as the feeling was, there was no one to be found in the room. He was completely alone. Even the cat was somewhere else. He frowned, then shook his head. “I must be losing my mind,” he muttered as he settled down to nap again.
    He still couldn’t shake the feeling however. It scratched at the back of his mind, bothering him and picking at him until his eyes snapped open again and finally he gave up on the idea of sleep. With a sigh, he reached for the television remote to turn it on, only to have it sputter to life of it’s own accord before he could push the button. It was just static at first, fuzzy white snow, but then a shape started to appear. Surprised, he leaned forward, staring at it and trying to make it out.
    The object was vaguely roundish at first, and as it became clearer and more into focus, it was obvious that it was an eyeball. An eyeball. There on his television screen. Looking at him, watching him. Had that been what had caused the feeling that had woken him? The remote fell from his hand, clattering across the floor and disappearing under the couch. The eye blinked at the noise then seemed to move away from the screen, getting smaller and smaller. Before long, it wasn’t just an eye anymore, it was part of a face and the face was staring right at him. It studied him for a moment of two, then opened it’s mouth and spoke and it called him by his name.
    “Thomas Bennett, this is your last warning before you die.” With that message and one last stare, it was gone and the screen returned to just showing static.
    Thomas stared at the television long after the face had gone. The static roared in his ears but he ignored it. Who did that face belong to? He hadn’t recognized it. It was no one he knew. More importantly though, what the hell did it mean: this was his last warning before he died? He was going to die?!
    Leaping to his feet, he ran out of the room and away from the foreboding demon TV. It was only in the room furthest away from the living room that he sat down, leaning heavily against the wall. He must be losing his mind. There was no way a television could have spoken to him. That was just ridiculous.
    Still though, he couldn’t shake that feeling of dread and terror. He could feel it festering in him, right down to his bones, taking residence in them and chilling him. No matter how many times he told himself he was being rather stupid, it wouldn’t go away. It got worse instead.
    He was going to die. He didn’t know how, he didn’t know when. He just knew he was going to, and probably soon.

Let me take a moment to tell you about the most wonderful person in the world. Just indulge me, I swear this won’t take long.

That person is my sister. Well, was my sister. She died about a year ago. You can save your condolences and sympathies, it’s okay. Please don’t take that the wrong way. I’m not trying to be rude, it’s just I’ve heard enough of them, you know?

Anyway, where was I. My sister’s name was Denika. Denika Lynn Adams. That’s pronounced duh-nee-ka. Not Danica. She was born on February 8th, 1992. I was 2 years and two months old at the time. Though I can’t remember it, my mom says that I was excited to have a little sister. She said I couldn’t wait.

I don’t remember much about the early years, other than what I’ve been told. I wasn’t all that old myself. I’ve seen pictures too, like the one where she first learned how to walk, and looks intoxicated. There’s also the one of my first day of Kindergarten where she cried so hard that I was leaving. She only stopped when Mom let her wear my glasses and gave her a pack of cookies. She’s so teary eyed, its enough to break your heart.

Then there’s the times I do remember. Like when we both got in trouble for taking apart Mom’s Alan Jackson tape because she wouldn’t admit to doing it, even though I had no idea it had happened. Or the time we snuck up to the playground with our cousin and got busted on the way home. I remember when she fell off her bike and split her head open—twice. The first time required stitches, the second did not. I remember when I told her that she was a “really big accident” and she cried to break her heart. I remember cuddling and falling asleep with her every single Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember.

She gave the best hugs. She had the best laugh. Her smile was huge, and so was her love. She was there for me, always. And I was there for her. We were total opposites, in appearance and personality, but we always, always had each other’s backs. She was my sister. I’m not going to lie and say we were inseparable. I’m not going to say we were best friends, and that we always got along. We didn’t. We fought more than we got along. But doesn’t mean we didn’t love each other. Fighting is what sisters do.

Her favourite colour was pink. She loved Winnie the Pooh. She liked the kind of music that I couldn’t stand (which she also liked to play too loud), and she didn’t like to read. She didn’t like it when I played with her hair, which really sucked because she had really pretty, soft hair. She was always cracking jokes and playing pranks. She was young and beautiful, and finally, at last, happy. She didn’t deserve to die. She had her entire future in her hands. She could have been anything. She could’ve been everything. But instead she’s gone, and we’ll never know.

There are too many things that’ll never happen. These are the ones that are the most important to me though, the ones that grip my heart like a vice. I’ll never see her graduate. She would have two weeks after she died. I’ll never see her get married and I’ll never meet her children. She won’t be at my wedding, and she’ll never met my children. My children will never know their aunt. I’ll never be an aunt. I’ll never hear her laugh again, and I’ll never hug her again. I’ll never snuggle with her on Christmas Eve again. I’ll never get another birthday card from her. And most importantly of all, I’ll never hear her voice again, and she’ll never tell me she loves me again. It’s not fair. It’ll never be fair.

I miss her every day. I miss her with every part of my heart and soul, every single part of me. They say that time heals, and it’ll hurt less. I’m still waiting for that to happen.

She shrieked as he scooped her up, and threw her over his shoulder. It wasn’t a shriek of fear, it was actually quite the opposite. She was laughing just as hard as he was as he ran around the park, threatening to throw her into the lake. They both knew he really wouldn’t, but that was all part of the fun.

I couldn’t help but smile as I watched the scene unfold. This was a perfect moment, and this would be exactly how I wanted to remember them. Mark with his bright eyes, and his dimples, and that laugh. Oh, that laugh! His laugh was never fake, never forced. It was so genuine and it was the best laugh I had ever heard. Gen with her brilliant smile, flowing hair, and her sweet voice. She was beautiful, inside and out.

They were happy. They were young. And they were in love. It was magical. For all of us.

I settled down on the warm grass to watch, weaving my fingers through the bright green blades. The sun was warm and inviting, so I tipped my face up to meet it, closing my eyes. This was the first real day of summer. The temperature was up, the sky was blue, the sun was shining. It couldn’t get better than this.

I opened my eyes to see Gen racing toward me, a big grin on her face. Mark must’ve put her down when I wasn’t looking. “Chris! Chris, get up! We’re going to put our feet in the water. It’ll be like christening our summer.” She held her hand out to me and I took it so she could help me up. She slipped her arm around my shoulders and we made our way over to Mark. He stood at the edge of the lake, grinning wide, dimples in full effect.

“Alright buddy, take your shoes off. We’re going in!” he said enthusiastically. He already had his own shoes taken off. Gen quickly slipped her own off, then let me lean against her so I could take off my own. She reached out to take my hand one one side and Mark’s on the other.

“Ready? I’ll count it.” We nodded and she did a quick count down. On three, we all stepped in. The water was cold, but not unpleasantly so. It was really nice, actually. We all turned to look at each other, matching smiles on our faces. I wiggled my toes in the sand and let out a small laugh. Things were coming to an end, we all knew it. There wasn’t much we could do about it. But we still had each other for now and we still had the whole summer ahead of us. It was going to be a summer to remember.

—-

460 words.

“How was your day?”

The question was so simple, but I couldn’t answer it. I glanced at her, a thin smile on my lips. I could just say fine, and move on, ask her how her day was instead of giving a real reply. She’d take the bait for sure, and she’d go on and on about the minuscule, mostly unimportant details of her day and forget she had even asked me in the first place. It’d be so easy to do, and it wasn’t like I hadn’t done it before.

She looked up at me with an expectant smile on her face. God, she was so beautiful. Gorgeous. She didn’t deserve to have to put up with me.

Looking at her just made me feel more guilty, so I turned my head away from her, still trying to smile so she wouldn’t think something was wrong. I couldn’t tell her what had really happened today. I couldn’t tell her about the melt down I had in the office. I just couldn’t.

So I laughed, and flopped back on the bed. “Oh, you know. The same old stuff. Nothing exciting. I’m a boring person.”

She rolled her eyes and flopped down next to me, throwing an arm around my chest. “That’s a lie! You’re the most interesting person I know.”

“Well, you must know some awfully boring people!” I grinned as I drew her close, tucking her head under my chin. She wouldn’t be able to look at my face that way, thankfully. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep it up. Today had been terrible. I was lucky I’d managed to keep my job. Next time I probably wouldn’t be so lucky.

“No way,” she said, though she was laughing.

“Yes way,” I murmured and kissed her temple.

                               ____________________________________________________

301 words.
Well, this STARTED out decent. Then it all went down hill.