Creative writing fiction
Arts and Culture| March 2026
Embedded Files
From the moment I understood right from wrong, I knew that nothing lasts forever. I am an adult now, and I am considered to have a wide range of knowledge. I was supposed to know right from wrong, and I was expected to grow up, have a family and live through the motions. One of the questions that I always ask myself is: What is the difference between living and being alive?
One might say that there is no differ-ence between the two, or that it’s the same thing. I think the old me would have agreed. However, today, I would have to disagree. Being alive means going through the motions, going through life day by day with no ex-pectation or thrill in your life. Being alive is like living through a loop with no suspense or thrill; nothing is un-expected because it is the same thing over and over.
Living, on the other hand, is like being on a roller coaster with no idea of when it’s going to stop. There are constant changes and turns, and twists. Nothing is expected when you are truly living a life worth living. I have spent a fourth of my life being alive and not living. I had a set routine, and everything—and I mean every-thing—in my life was predictable.
Nothing was unexpected in my life, and there were no colors. It was all black and white, and I liked it that way. At least, I thought I did.
She was a work of pure art. There was not a single flaw in that girl. Nothing was uneven, and even after years of being together, I still stand by that. She was the color in my life. She was everything I lacked. She epitomized beauty, grace and angelic, and she was ever so mesmerizing. I could write a book about her, and it would not begin to scratch the surface. She was exactly what my boring life needed.
She was wild and unpredictable, brave and so empowering. I could have spent the rest of my life loving her and would have never felt any different. I had no memory of how or when she came into my life. I had no idea how she had slipped through the cracks of my life. All I knew was that I would never be able to not love her. There were hundreds and thousands of women out there, and she was the one for me. She was the one who made my heart leap. She was the one who made me feel like a little child in love. Girls like her never looked my way, and yet, for whatever reason, this one did.
Being with her was like nothing I had ever experienced before. She made me brave. She made me want to live, and when I say live, I mean live. That one girl had managed to do what no one had ever done before. That girl brought life to me; she brought to life in me something that even I didn't know existed. She was a breath of fresh air, and best of all, she was mine and only mine. She was happy, and I got carried away. I let myself get swept up on that roller coaster they call life, and I failed to remember that nothing lasts forever. She slipped out of my life the same way she had slipped in; there was no prior warning. One minute she was there, and the next, she had gone. I was somehow expected to keep on going on this dreaded ride without her. Happiness was only for a season.
Stephanie Crawford is a junior, and this is her second year writing for the Century Star. Crawford's main goal this year is to write opinion. Crawford hopes to become more diverse in her writing and to explore every section of the Star. Crawford also wants to be able to touch people and open them up to more possibilities with her writing. “I hope my writing can reach the right audience and help people open themselves up to different perspectives,” Crawford said.
When Crawford is not in school, she spends her time either reading, cooking or working at her aunt's daycare. Crawford spent the majority of her summer reading books at the Bismarck Public Library. Crawford tried to read Harry Potter this summer, only to give up five pages in. ”That book was the most confusing and uninteresting thing I have ever read,” Crawford said.
Page updated
Report abuse