Have you ever

read by candlelight

the flame dancing in the night

reflected on the pages

bringing the story closer

Have you ever

seen the snow

gently falling down

creating silence

with a white magic

Have you ever

walked through the snow

with the stars above

in a quiet forest

and seen beauty

Have you ever

had a toddler run to you

calling your name

the joy on their face

mirrored in yours

Have you ever

seen the leaves turn

the full color on display

the crunch and smell

of the gorgeous leaves

Have you ever

had a campfire with family

speaking into the quiet night

where the flowing fire

isn't the only warm thing

Have you ever

had family dinner

where everyone is laughing

and you talk of nothing important

and you just be

Have you ever

been underwater

and looked up

see the blue

water and sky

Have you ever

felt so loved

by just a little thing

a little gift or word

from someone who cares

Have you ever

just lived in the moment

Taking the time to look

and see the world?

Rapunzel looked down from her tower, should she do it? Should she jump? Would mother approve? She already knew the answer to that. Mother never wanted her to leave the tower. But she would never know, would she? As long as she didn't tell, mother would have no way of knowing she had a little adventure. Rapunzel smiled deviously. She had read in a storybook that a princess once escaped a tower that held her captive by using a bunch of sheets tied together. Rapunzel looked over the edge, leaning out further, considering. She held there for a moment, like a picture trapped in time, and then she slipped. She grabbed her hair desperately, hoping for some sort of purchase, sliding down, down, down, and landed on her back. She was unable to breathe. She didn't know what was happening to her. was this dying? she wondered. How awful would it be for Mother to come back and find her dead? No, she wasn't dying, she was slowly able to breathe again. She sat up and scurried up the tower, pulling herself up on her hair. She was not going to try that anytime soon.

___________________________________________________________________

Ryan was crying, while the children around him laughed. He was covered in mud, and in a lot of pain. A boy had jabbed him with a stick, in the gut, and he landed in the mud. All he had wanted was to play with the other kids, but this is what they did to him.

"How dare you?" Raisa called from across the field where they were.

"Look, it's his girlfriend coming to protect him. Look at him, he can't even take a joke." One of the boys said. The other boy chuckled, then the second boy jabbed the first boy in the stomach.

"Dude!" He said. "That's the princess."

"No way." said the first boy.

"Yeah, should we get out of here?" he asked.

"No, I have an idea."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, besides she's alone."

"I'm getting out of here." He said, slinking away. Raisa reached them by then, and the boy fell silent. He bowed for a moment in a mocking way.

"Look, princess, this doesn't concern you." The boy said.

"I think that it does." She said defiantly.

"We are just teaching this boy here a valuable lesson."

"And what lesson is that?" she replied as she crossed her arms.

"How to toughen up and be a man."

"By pushing him into a mud pit?" She said with a little bit of sarcasm.

"Yeah." Said the boy strongly.

"Sounds like bullying to me," Raisa said. The boy had no immediate response, so Raisa kept going, playing her trump card. "And is that how you treat your future king?"

"That's the prince?" The boy said. "Well, then I am doing him a favor, no one likes a weak king." But his voice had lost its edge, then grew again. "Besides, he can't even defend his own sister."

"Defend his..." she began to repeat, but she never had the chance. The boy grabbed her arm and yanked her away into an ally.

"Catch me if you can, my king!" He shouted mockingly, as he dragged her further and further away.

"Raisa!" He shouted plunging after his sister. He ran down an alleyway, then stopped. He had a better idea. He went up to some children playing, they glanced up from their game when he approached.

"Come quick, someone has just kidnapped the princess." That got their attention. "Come on, if we all look for them we can catch them quick. It's just one boy and he took off that way." At first, no one accepted. Then a boy a little older than Ryan stepped forward. He had raggy clothes on, just a plain brown shirt and some trousers. He had been sitting a little off from the group, watching. He had brown hair, that was parted to the side.

"I'll help you." He declared.

"Thank you, he went this way." Ryan said. They ran together for a little, then paused when they heard a sound. They heard Raisa's voice, calling carefully. At first it was hard ot make out, but finally they heard the words, following the sound of her voice.

"I'm over here!" She shouted. "Down an alleyway!" A pause. "Behind the baker..." Her voice was cut off. But they knew where to look. Sure enough, they found them, in an alleyway, surrounded by some older boys. The young boy with Ryan gestured to a tree, and they climbed it silently. Once they were out of earshot they began to discuss, and they hatched a plan.

Ryan stepped out into the clearing, facing the alley, alone.

"Well, well, well, look who decided to finally show up? The king." The boys laughed for a minute.

"Give me back my sister. As your future king, I command it." Ryan said with confidence.

"Or what?" One of the boys challenged.

"Or, I will beat each of you to the ground!" He said.

"You? Beat us? Hardly. You are too much of a runt to do that." The first boy said, and crossed his arms. Then he began to advance, motioning to the other boys to follow. Ryan bgant to slowly back up, then began to run. He dashed in and out of streets, until he found what he was looking for, some guards on patrol. He stopped short, and he recognized one.

"Mr. Allen!" He shouted. Allen had two sons whom Ryan liked to play with sometimes. Mr. Allen started at the sound of the young prince.

"Prince Ryan?" He asked. Ryan nodded. "What are you doing?" He stared at the prince covered in sweat and mud. Then the boys rounded the corner. Ryan stood just in front of the guards, his arms crossed. "Is there a problem here?" Mr Allen asked the boys. They began to back away.

"No, no problem, we-were just..." The boys didn't finish, they turned and ran.

"Thanks." Ryan said to the guards after they had left. "Now I just need to find Raisa."

The guards insisted on coming with him to find Raisa.

"Don't worry." Ryan assured. "We have a meeting place, they should be there by now."

"We?" The second gaurd asked.

"Yeah, another kid helped me. I was the distraction while he pulled Raisa out of there." Ryan explained casually.

"Out of where?" the same guard asked. Ryan launched into the story of his rescue of his sister.

"And then I figured that if I found some guards, or just some adults, who would stop them, and it worked." He concluded, they were almost at the rondevous.

"But, why didn't you just get a gaurd in the first place?" Mr. Allen asked.

"becuase, sometimes you have to do things yourself, and not depend on others." The guards had nothing to say to that.

"Raisa!" Ryan called. "Raisa we're here." her head popped out from behind a cart. She smiled and hugged her brother, getting mud all over herself.

"Wait, where did that boy go?" Ryan asked.

"Oh, he said he had to leave, and to wait here for you. But he was very clever. He waited until you drew out the kids and then he helped me climb up a tree. From there we just had to get to this meeting place, and wait. It was so cool." Raisa said excitedly.

"What was his name?" Ryan asked curiously.

"Flynn."

This was the hard part,

the waiting.

The sitting down

only to stand back up

The constant fidgeting

the never able to sit still

The opening of the mailbox

for the 20th time

The pulling of the hair

only to pull it away

The mindless eating

for something to do

The turning on the TV

Only to turn it back off

The opening of a book

only for it to close

The waiting.

Writing a story is sometimes simple and sometimes not. Sometimes the story seems to flow from your fingers, and you can't get it down fast enough, but other times, you struggle with writer's block. Regardless of if a story comes easy or not, you need a few simple things. First, you need inspiration. Inspiration can be found anywhere, you just have to look. Sometimes inspiration is found in nature, just around you, sometimes it comes from the people around you, it can even come from a feeling. All it takes is a little inspiration and a lot of imagination. Imagination is the next step. Once you have your inspiration, you need a story for it. You must create characters, plot lines, and places. Once you have your concepts you next need words. Use words to bring your story to life, and create it for others. Use a wide range of words to, add descriptions. Make others see what you see in your head. Then, editing. You must go through and find all your mistakes, change anything you want to change, and check for plot holes. Finally, read through the story one last time and make sure you are satisfied with it. All that is left is to share it!

It had started as the worst day ever for Eugene. He woke up and went to put on his pants, only to realize someone had stolen his! Thievery was discouraged in the orphanage of course, but, to kids who had nothing some of them wanted something, and the only way to get it was to steal. He had to go and find the idiot who stole his pants! It was for sure one of the boys because none of the girls were allowed back here, and no one but another boy would want to steal pants. He walked over to where the older boys were. As he expected, Coal sat, with Eugene's pants in his lap. Coal was tall for a 14-year-old. He didn't have a lot of muscle, but he could run, fast, which he took advantage of. If not for the fact that he was protected by the orphanage, he would be in jail. He smiled as Eugene approached.

"Looking for these?"He held up the pants.

"Give them back, Coal." Eugene crossed his arms and met the older boy's glare.

"Tell yous what, I wants these here pants. But you also wants these here pants. So how about you come and gets them from me?" Eugene considered his options. He had to be fully clothed when he came downstairs, it was the rule. It was read-aloud day, and he didn't want to miss it. But he wasn't as fast as Coal, nor as strong. He could climb hide though. All he had to do was get the pants and find a cave or alleyway to hide. Or...

"Tell you what." Eugene echoed his words. "How about I trade my pants for..." He paused and seemed to look around. Then he held up Coal's wallet. "This?" This only angered Coal more. He was about ready to pummel Eugene but was ready for him. I will throw this out the window, into the well, if you don't give me my pants back. "

"Hand-to-Hand trade?" He asked. Eugene nodded, he expected nothing less. Coal put his hand out, and Eugene copied.

"One." Coal said.

"Two," Eugene replied.

"Three!" They both said. Their hands closed on their property, and they turned away. Eugene left to put his pants on.

Eugene listened intently to the princess as she read the book aloud. He loved this story. He knew how to read, but only a little. But they always made him read boring things. If only he had a book like that. Perhaps he could. He could probably steal it, but that would be stealing from a princess, and THAT would end up with him in jail. Maybe he could ask for it. There was only one way to find out.

___________________________________________________________________

Rapunzel threw her hair down the tower, not quite there yet. She wanted to see if it would reach the ground, but it didn't. Soon it would, and soon she would be able to leave. Not forever, of course, she just wanted to see the outside. Nothing bad happened just outside of the tower, just the base. It was safe, and she really wanted to know. She wanted to see what her books spoke to her about. But for now, she must be patient.

She threw her hair onto a beam, and watched as it wrapped itself around. Then she began to climb. She was now doing this several times a day, to practice. At first it was hard, but gradualy she was able to make the ascent with ease. This practice went on for months, and whenever Gothel was gone, Rapunzel would test to see if her hair was long enough. One day, it finally was.

Louise screamed. There was flame licking up her bedroom around her. She could barely see through the smoke. She dropped to the ground and began crawling on her hands and knees. She reached up and felt the door, but it was hot. She didn't know if it was hot because of the flames in there, or if there were more out there. But that was the way out of the house. Before she could make a decision the door opened, and her mother accidentally kicked her in the head. Her mother looked down at her, then dragged her to her feet, and pushed her outside. Louise didn't need any more encouragement. She rushed out the door, covering her face until she felt the cool air of outside. She moved her arms away and turned to see her father rushing out with something in his hands. Boxes. Then her mother runs with Marina in her hands. She then collapsed to the ground, burn marks all around her, and her dress on fire. Louise worked quickly to put it out, but it was hard to see past the tears. She wasn't sure if they were caused by the fire or not. She seemed to be able to put it out. She rolled her mother over, Marina had been tucked into the outer garment, so she didn't have to breathe in the smoke. Her father had come over by then and moved the mother and daughter apart. For some reason, her father rushed over to the boxes.

"Dad, what are you doing!?" Louise was in hysterics. Her father breathed for a moment.

He didn't respond but pulled a stick out of the box and tapped Etta with it. She coughed.

"Liam." She said weakly.

"Yes, Etta?"

"Take the girls, get them to Sanctuary They found us, Liam, they found us."

"I need to heal you, Etta. I can…" Liam found it hard to speak. He pulled his stick out and tapped her again. Etta only coughed more violently.

"I don't understand this should work," Liam said frustrated.

"It w-won't work, you know what this is. Liam, girls. I love you." Again she was seized with coughing. By now other people from the village had come to their aid. As the men tried to put the fire out and doused other houses to keep them from catching fire, Louise just watched as her home went up in flames, taking a part of her heart with it.

The wind blew

the grass danced

and the trees waved.

The brook laughed

the birds sang

it was a perfect day

through and through.

Rapunzel sighed as she closed the book, and looked out the window at the blue sky. As many things as she could find to do up here in the tower, she wanted to be out there. She wanted to feel the grass through her feet and smell the rich dirt. She didn't want to just read about it. And so she told her mother. She often asked to go outside, but the response was always the same.

"It is not safe, my flower when you're older. You know I love you and want you to be safe." Gothel would say.

"Okay, I know... I love you more." Rapunzel would respond.

"I love you most." Gothel would say back, and that ended it. On one particular occasion, Gothel stepped out of her routine.

"Why must you keep on asking?" Gothel said, slightly irritated.

"My poem books all say the outside is really nice, and I want to go there!"

"Your poems are wrong, they find beauty in everything, even the dark things. They make up beauty to fill their own desires and sadness. Outside is still not safe."

"But," Rapunzel said.

"When you are older, child!" Gothel practically shouted, and put a hand to her face.

"I'm sorry mother." Rapunzel said tentatively. She put her hair on her mother's hand and began to sing. Singing their special song always made mother happy. She now understood why. Her hair was magic and helped her mother feel better.

"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse bring back what once was mine, what once was mine." Gothel visibly relaxed.

"Now, my flower, how about we tidy up the kitchen?" Gothel said. Rapunzel knew that when she said we, what Gothel meant was, that Rapunzel does all the work. She thought about bringing it up, but Gothel had just calmed down. She didn't want an upset Mother twice in one day. If she caused too much trouble she would be put in the dungeon, and left there for a few days, with little to no food, and no fun. It had been a while since she had been in the dungeon. She had been careful not to upset her mother. Rapunzel had read about different parents in her books, and there was only one parent who locked their daughter in a dungeon, and that was an evil king. But Mother said that the books were often wrong. Mother knew best, and wouldn't do anything to really hurt her. The dungeon was a punishment if she did something wrong. Mother knows best.

__________________________________________________________________

Raisa loved these days outside with her family. Her parents always made time for her and Ryan, but these days were set aside just for them. A whole day together. They were going on a picnic. They would ride out on horses, and find a good spot for lunch. These days were even more special now because she had schooling when she wanted to be outside. Mom said that school was important and sometimes she liked what she was learning, like dancing, arithmetic, and even politics. She didn't really like the dinner etiquette though, she didn't even get to eat food! All she got to do was pick up whatever utensil was called out. But mom said it was necessary, and mom knows everything.

Raisa had also begun to help her mother in her queenly duties. She learned that it was a lot more than just signing papers. She would go out and watch her mother give speeches, read at the orphanage, and open up a new library.

An odd thing happened at the library once. There was a boy there, about a year younger than her. He listened intensely to the adventure stories and loved the stories of Flynn Rider, an explorer. One day the boy up to the queen, very boldly.

"Your highness?" he began. "I love that book so much, may I have it?" The queen smiled at him.

"what's your name child?"

"Eugene."

"Well, Eugene, I will let you have it if you promise to take good care of it." The boy rocked back and forth on his heels.

"Of course, I will!" She handed the book to him and he ran off, a big smile on his face. He had never owned anything before!

The straps around my arms were so tight that they began to cut off the circulation. I rushed to the door, careful not to drop any of my cargo. I rushed to the door, but it was closed! I tried to use my hands, but I couldn't use them. My hands were turning bright red by now. I tried to use my elbow, and it worked! But there was a secondary door, with a handle that my elbow couldn't open. Using my chin and pushing with my legs was working! I got inside the door and quickly entered the room. I dropped the groceries on the counter and smiled at my mother.

"You know, you don't have to take it all in one trip." She suggested.

"Never."

As I went through her writing I noticed some interesting things. She is one of several siblings, and they have all sorts of shenanigans together. She is Christian and isn't afraid to show it. ThatGirlAJ writes a variety of pieces, most notably the poems of God. ThatGirlAJ has a style which she writes something which you think is going one way, but then it turns around to be something unexpected. It is always interesting to see where the stories and poems go. One of my favorite examples of this style is https://theprose.com/post/468162/attack-a-tale-of-the-kingdom-of-culicidae

Keep writing @ThatGirlAJ I can't wait to see what comes next!