Week of 1/12
On this page, you can read work created in our writing workshop! To submit something of your own from the workshop, click here .
"The Village in the Mountains" by Anya Geist:
Towering mountains surrounded the little village that perched on the side of the lake. They stretched into the sky, their sides coated with green trees of an earthy, neutral hue. You could see the mountains from anywhere in the village. Outside of every shining windowpane, from the top of the solid slate-colored bell tower, the mountains were there.
They cocooned the shimmering blue lake that dazzled by day and reflected the mysterious unearthly light of the stars by night. This lake was a favorite destination in the village, albeit one of the only ones, seeing as those tall, stolid mountains did surround it from every side. At any rate, in the summer, the children would run from their cheerfully colored houses, giggling as they crossed the worn cobblestone streets, and then the older ones would throw themselves into water, the splashes erupting around them like a sort of volcano, while the little ones played in the shallows, spinning their arms around to create a whirlpool that they imagined could suck up the entire town.
And then in the evenings, no matter what time of year, the sun would set across the lake, splendid rays of pink and red and orange and yellow melting like candy on the mountains, seeping into the water so that the soft waves were hypnotizing, and looked almost like solid gold. The sky would get darker and darker, and indigo was smeared across the heavens, and then night fell. The mountains, silhouetted black and bold, were then guardian angels, protecting the village from whatever demons walked the earth in the middle of the night. And the stars and the moon reflected on the water, little pinpricks of warmth, swaying delicately—like tiny bits of glass—in the waves, and to this sight, the village fell asleep.
"The Ascent to the Stars" by Carisa Hochkeppel:
It was an ordinary day. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, flowers were blooming, and above my small town was a mountain screaming my name. I looked up at it with amazement as it was filled with the most beautiful trees. This was a mountain I could go hiking on so as any smart person would do I grabbed my hiking backpack and was on my way. It was noon so as I walked up the mountain through the beautiful trees I could see birds soaring back to their nests and squirrels running back to their tree trunks. As I got further up the mountain I looked behind me and saw the most vibrant shades of orange, yellow, and pink that just stuck the sky with beauty. I continued up the mountain encouraging myself to keep going but the more I continued the more my legs felt like noodles but as I got to the top I turned around to the most amazing sight. Shimmering stars filled the sky as beautiful shades of blue and purple swirls made me feel like I was in another galaxy. I laid down in the soft grass around me and feel into a deep sleep.
