Once upon a time there was a valley. This valley had lush green grass and many streams that flowed from the mountains. The streams watered the many, many plants that called this valley home. These plants were all different shapes, colors, and types. Some shot for the sky while others hugged the ground. A few were prickly some were soft, others brittle and some hard as a rock. No two of the thousands of plants were the same.

The strangest thing about this valley was the weather; it was always perfect. No rain, snow, or anything like that fell from the sky. A gentle breeze always blew throughout the plants. The sun always shone but never too brightly. Fluffy white clouds were always seen in the sky, but they were never heavy with the burden of rain. The valley continued like this everything perfect for many years.

All the plants that lived there grew quite beautiful, flowering and producing fruit and becoming more colorful. There was one plant that stood out amongst all the rest, not because it was the most beautifully colored or because it produced the most mouth watering fruit. The plainness of the plant is the reason. Unlike all the other plants with their bright colors, mouth watering fruit, and strange textures this one was plain. It was barely three inches tall. The few leaves that belonged to the plant drooped as if they wanted to crawl back into the ground they came from. The whole plant was a deep sickly green. It was not prickly or smooth, brittle or hard. This unremarkable little plant grew in a very unremarkable place. It was neither far nor close to the streams. It was in the shade of another plant for most of the day. As the other plants grew brighter, bigger, and more beautiful the little plant stayed the same, small and unremarkable.

One day something happened, a cloud appeared above the valley. Unlike all the others that passed by this one was full of rain. Before long more clouds joined the first. After a time they released their burden onto the valley. For many days it rained. The sun was unable to shine and the soft breeze turned vicious battering the waterlogged plants. It became worst when all the streams burst their banks.

A week passed before the rain stopped and the sun shone down on the valley again. Petals, leaves, fruit, and limbs, these were all that were left of the plants. Only one plant came out of the storm unscathed the small, plain, unremarkable, sickly green one. It had survived the storm that had destroyed all the others. While the other had grown tall, colorful, and beautiful this plant expanded its roots deep into the earth until it was strong enough to handle any storm.

2: From Turtle to Whale

Ever since he was born Jackson was different. All the other turtles loved their simple lives as sea turtles, Jackson found it boring. Every day the same old thing. IT WAS SOOOO BORING! All the other creatures of the sea looked to be having more fun than the silly boring turtles. One day Jackson couldn’t take it anymore, he was going to learn how to be one of the other sea creatures.

He began first with a school of fish. It was fun at first, swimming around with the crowd, but they were easily frightened and wouldn’t stand their ground. They followed each other in everything but none of them knew where they were going. The school of fish looked cool on the outside in reality they were a frighten lost mess.

After leaving the school he met a shark. Once he caught sight of the beautiful awe inspiring beast he begged it to teach him how to be a shark. With a loud laugh the amazing shark agreed. Jackson enjoyed his time learning until he found out sharks were not as amazing as he first thought, they were bullies. Yes they were powerful and scary and all round awesome but they used it to take advantage of others. After he learned that Jackson didn’t want to be a shark anymore.

Every time he learned about another creature he found their lives were not as cool and exciting as he always thought them to be. It happened with the octopus, the squid, a mantaray, seahorse, and the shrimp, the crab, lobster, the eel, and the dolphins. He grew more disappointed and depressed with each creature he tried. Finally he gave up he was never going to find a creature he could be, that was when he meet Willie the whale.

The huge whale was magnificent!

When asked to teach the turtle to be a whale, Willie gave him an odd look before he agreed.

All the other creatures of the sea didn’t compare to the majestic whale. While they all had pretty cool looking lives they were really boring. A whale’s life, wow that looked cool and was exciting. When Willie started to teach him, Jackson thought the whale wasn’t teaching him the right animal. But that couldn’t be right, right? What other creature could a whale teach him to be other than a whale?

The classes soon came to an end, the result Jackson knew how to be a whale. He learned how to find the right current to get where he wanted, where the best beaches were, what waters to go to during different seasons, he was also taught how to find sea grasses and algae. As Jackson was about to part with Willie he thanked him.

The whale laughed and said, “There is no need to thank me all I did was reteach you how to be a turtle.”

With all his searching and learning never once did Jackson try to be a turtle. He took one look at the turtle’s simple life and thought it boring and that other creatures had better lives. In reality it was the opposite. All the other sea creatures had the boring lives while life as a turtle was very exciting. Willie didn’t teach him to be a whale he taught he something better. With a deep thank you, Jackson swam away happy, happy that he was already the most exciting creature in the sea.

3: As the Train Progresses

The sounds of a whistle echoed around the smoky station. A small train came to a stop next to the barren platform. Once the wheels stopped the young conductor stepped off the train. “All aboard. Train leaves for the Golden city in six minutes.” By the time the train was moving again eight people had boarded.

    After everyone had settled down the conductor spoke cheerfully, “Good morning everyone. It is great to see you all will be joining us for our seventeen and a half hour trip to the Golden city.”

“Seventeen and a half hours?” shouted one of the passengers. “The last time I took this journey it didn’t take nearly that long.”

“Well,” started the conductor cheerfully, “this is an old train and it can not go very fast. Also we are taking the scenic route which adds a few hours.” The man who asked grumbled but they kept silent after that.

As the trip started one of the passengers dung through their bag and pulled out a notebook. Seven people, eight if you counted the conductor, I wonder if there is a story here, they thought. They flipped to a new page and picked up a pencil ready to write anything they saw.

The first few hours passed by quietly, a little too quietly for Add. Abraham Semuel Smith was only eight years old and he was heading to the Golden city by himself. Being the youngest of thirteen kids didn’t leave him with many options. Since his parents couldn’t afford for much schooling and Add sucked up knowledge like a sponge they thought the Golden city would be a better place for him. Once they came to that decision they backed him up and put him on the first train to the city to live with his aunt and uncle.  

The math book he had been reading for the first few hours was finished and he was bored. Watching the other passengers Add decided it was too quiet. A mischievous smile lit up his face. Taking in a deep breath he yelled, “Good morning!” Their reactions were priceless.

One passenger who had fallen asleep jerked awake. Two of them bolted out of their seats. The conductor dropped the book he was reading on his foot. Someone screamed while an old lady put her hand over her heart. The last person glanced up from their laptop then back down. When the conductor realized what happened he laughed and shouted good morning back. The other passengers then went back to what they were doing before the scare.

Add watched as the man with the computer concentrated on the screen and nothing else. The smile appeared again as the young boy stood up. He walked over and took the seat across from the man. “Hello.” He didn’t even look up. “I’m Add what about you?”

“Busy.”

“That’s an odd name you have there mister.”

“No I meant I am busy so go bother someone else.” Add pouted, this guy was no fun. A new idea brought the smile back to his face. Quickly he rushed back to his seat and went digging through his bag.

Tracy let out a sigh of relief when. Now that the little kid was gone he could get some work done. Tracy Smith was a twenty nine year old businessman. In the past few years he had quickly climbed the ladder of authority at his work. His performance had impressed his bosses so much that they wanted him at the main office in the Golden city.

A groan almost escaped his lips when the kid sat across from him again. For the next ten minutes the two sat in silence. Tracy finally broke the silence with the question, “What are you doing?”

The young boy looked up from the book he was reading with a smile. “I’m reading a thesaurus, sir.”

“Why is a kid your age reading that?”

“Well senor since you seem to be so engrossed I thought I would find words that meant monsieur swamped or overloaded gentleman.”

This kid is odd, he thought, who carries a thesaurus on them? “Go bother someone else.”

“But signor you can’t be that occupied. Business is just a figment of your imagination, Esquire.”

What was wrong with this kid? “I am extremely busy or engaged as you keep saying. Go aggravate everyone other than me.” Add, the young boy left after that. Good, thought Tracy, now I can get some work done. Strangely he couldn’t help but feel a little off as he went back to his work.

In a the row across from Tracy sat Leonardo. Leonardo Adams, age thirty-seven, had too many things on his mind to pay attention to the conversation going on just across from him. Leonardo was a painter, and a very good one at that. But he was more of a struggling painter than anything else. He had recently given up on his dream of becoming a famous painter and was now moving to the Golden city for a job.

He let out an exasperated sigh. This trip was going to take too long. Seventeen and a half hours, what kind of trip took seventeen and a half hours? An old train and the possibility of going through the scenic route were not excuses for a trip taking that long. If he was giving up on his childhood dream he would love to just get it over with instead of prolonging his disappointment when he started his new job in the beautiful historic Golden city.

And what do they mean scenic route. Those rolling green hills, crystal blue lakes, and streams would not make the perfect painting especially in the light of dawn. Nope not at all.

Leonardo rested his face on the window. He just wanted to make it too the city as quickly as possible without distractions. Those dumb picturistic views were not helping.

When lunch time arrived the young conductor, Bridger Dryer, passed out food to everyone. He saved Angel Keys for last. As he handed her the food he took the seat across from her and asked, “So what do you think of the trip so far?”

The young woman looked at him with surprised. In the twenty one years of Angel’s life never had anyone payed much attention to her. Her three elder sisters got all the love of their parents and Angel was left to take care of herself. She was not the most social person so she never could make friends. When the chance arrived for a ticket out of there she took it.

“Is there something wrong?” asked the young good looking conductor that sat across from her.

Quickly she shook her head. “NO! It’s just people don’t really pay me much attention.”

He cocked an eyebrow as he took a bite of his sandwich. “Really? I can’t understand why, you are a very beautiful young lady.” Angel instantly went bright red. No one had ever said that to her. “Wooh, are you alright?” he asked concerned.

She gave him a sweet smile. “Yeah I’m fine, thank you.”

“For what?” he asked confused.

“For being kind. My name is Angel, what is yours?”

“Bridger.” After that a delightful conversation started between the two which lasted the whole way to the city. Well almost the whole way they had to stop and pick it back up a few times. With each sentence Angel fell deeper into his charms, and the young conductor became more enchanted with every word she spoke.

Someone watched as the young couple talked and flirted with each other. Tamson Scarlet age sixty five newly widowed looked away with contempt. Those idiot kids had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Love was just a passing thing. One mistake and everything could fall apart.

What was love anyway? Just a bunch or hormones, nothing else. She never used to believe that but with age comes knowledge. Knowledge, that love faded and people died; and there was nothing you could do about it.

When she was seventeen she meet her husband the two fell in love the moment their eyes met. The two soon married after that. Many of their friends thought it a little too quick but they paid them no mind. After ten years of marriage the fights started. It started off as little things but they grew and grew. Finally the two split, no they did not get a divorce they just moved away from each other. He went to the Golden city while she stayed in their home town. The two had barely seen each other over the past few years. What was once love turned into tolerance.

A few days ago she had received a call that he had passed away. For some strange reason it made her sad. Out of respect for him and the love they once shared she decided to go to his funeral. There was no other reason. Yup none at all.

She had hoped the trip wouldn’t take too long. Seventeen and a half hours was too long. It gave her way too much time to think. At the moment she really didn’t want to think of the past and all the what ifs. Trying to keep unwanted thoughts from her mind she looked out the window and watched as the senery passed by.

Tamson, along with the rest of the passengers, was taken by surprised when the train came to a stop. What is going on? she thought.

Jessica was deep in thought when the train stop. It took her a few minutes to process something was wrong. She watched as the conductor left the car. He probably went to talk to the driver, she thought. The young man soon came back. “What happened?” asked the man with the laptop.

“Well we might be arriving in the city later than we thought. Apparently we are not the only ones taking this route. We had to pull over because of the train that is coming. Give it a half an hour and we should be on the move again. I am sorry if this inconveniences some people.”

Everyone looked like they had something to say but only one spoke up. “Yahoo,” shouted the little boy. “A whole another half an hour on this train. It’s going to be great, don’t you think mister?” The last part was directed to the man with the laptop.

“I think I am busy at the moment what do I care if I have to spend another half an hour in your annoying company,” he complained not even looking up from his work. What a rude man, thought Jessica.

“Sir, I just knew you liked me,” the boy called cheerfully back. The man just shook his head and continued working.

The half an hour passed by surprisingly fast. Soon the train was moving along as if it never stopped. Jessica Stonecrest was relieved as she watched the scenery began to pass by again. Jess was sixteen years old and she has just ran away from home.

All her life her parents had been ordering her around, giving her a bunch of dumb rules to follow. Everything they told her to do and not to do restricted her freedom. The last straw was the fight they had yesterday. After that she got the first ticket out of there.

    Dumb parents why did they even want to control her life. A voice cut through her thoughts. “Hello.”

    Looking up Jess saw a woman only a few years older than her seating across from her. She was very beautiful and Jess was instantly a little jealous but the sweet smile she had drove the small spark of jealousy away. “My name is Abigail, who are you?”

    “I’m Jessica, but you can just call me Jess.”

    Abigail sat and listened as the teenaged girl talked about her problems. Was she ever this dramatic as a teen? She didn’t think so at least she hoped not. Those poor people she was staying with if she ever acted this way. Abigail Graft, age twenty, was on her way to becoming a mother.

Just in the past year she had fallen in love, gotten married, found out she was pregnant, and lost her husband. All round it had been a messed up year, and it just kept getting crazier. When she was younger her parents had died in a car crash after that she was passed from relative to relative never staying in one place long enough for it to feel like home. After her husband passed away and her relatives learned she was pregnant they wouldn’t let her into their homes.

Since none of her family was willing to let her stay she called up a few close friends she had in the Golden city. They quickly agreed to help her. Now she was on her way to a new city with a child on the way without any support from any of her family. To say she was overwhelmed would be an understatement.

    One she had no idea what she was going to do. She didn’t want to impose on her friend for too long so she had to find a job, to support her and her child. Two she knew nothing about raising a child. She was going to be a mother in less than nine months and she had no idea what she was doing. It scared her, more then she would like to admit. She felt unprepared, and she feared that she wouldn’t be able to raise her child right.

    This young to be mother listened patiently as the girl complained about her family. Finally Jess finished her rant with, “And that is the reason I am on this train. To get as far away as I could from my parents.”

    Running away is going to be something this girl is going to regret one day, thought Abigail. How do I convince her she is making a mistake? “You must have had some good times with your parent.”

    “Well…” The girl started off again. This time instead of a frown and negative things she was smiling and saying positive things about her parents.

    Once the girl stopped speaking again Abigail said with a soft smile, “Aren’t those reasons enough to stay.” Jess looked at her confused. “Life is made up of the good and the bad. Why do you dwell on the bad when there is so much good? I think your parents love and care about you. They only tell you those kinds of things because they want you to be safe and to have the best life you can have. They are probably extremely worried about you. Don’t you miss them too? Don’t you want to go home?” A few seconds later the teenage girl was bawling her eyes out and Abigail was comforting her.

Maybe she would make a good mother. Raising a kid on her own would not be easy but she could do it, she has dealt with harder things before, and plus she has her friends to help her. A small smile appeared on Abigail’s face, everything was going to be fine.

    When the train pulled into the station at one the next morning most of the passengers were fast asleep. Add was laying across two seats hugging his thesaurus like it was a teddy bear. Leonardo had his head resting on the window as he dreamed of paintings. Angel had her head resting in Briger’s lap who was watching the scenery pass by. A loud snoring came from Tamson and the tap tap of a keyboard came from Tracy. Jessica and Abigail were sleeping side by side their heads leaning against each other.

    As the train slowly came to a stop Angel was shaken awake so Briger could do his job. He got up and then blew the whistle that hung around his neck. Everyone was jerked awake by the sound. “We are just arriving at the Golden city. Please collect all your belongings. If it is left on the train there is no promise you will get it back.”  Around the same time everyone began to move getting all their things ready.

    Add jumped up and down with excitement. You wouldn’t have guessed he was asleep just moments ago. His aunt and uncle were at the station waiting for him. To a child his age the city was new and exciting. A chance for a young genius, like himself, to become great.

    Tracy slowly packed up his bag. He didn’t seem too excited to be heading into the city. Well he was a workaholic with no sense of friends or family. He had been too busy working to talk to a young boy who was vying for his attention. If he had talked to him the idiot would have realized that Add was his younger brother. But he was too busy.

    Leonardo let out a sigh as he took his bags off the rack. Letting go of a childhood dream was never easy especially if you could’ve made it if you had believed just a little longer. The middle aged man was too busy thinking of giving up on his dream that he didn’t notice the chance he had to live it. If he had paid more attention to the landscape and did what his instincts told him he could have lived his dream and become a famous painter. But he was out of hope and dreaming was just for children.

    Bridger helped Angel with her luggage. Who would have guessed that two people would fall in love on a train ride? The two smiled as they talked with each other. A simple thing of seating next to a girl that caught his eye changed both of their lives. For the better or for the worst, only time could tell. But they looked extremely happy with each other as they exchanged contact information.

    Tamson grumbled as she got off the train. The bitter old woman looked as if she wanted to yell at the cute couple for being too in love. She had loved and lost and lost again, so she didn’t look kindly on those in love. Seeing the couple on the train could have brought back the happy memories for her instead she thought of the bad ones and made a hard trip worst. If she took the time to think out her feelings she wouldn’t be as angry or bitter. She would see she feels guilty and sad. But because of pride and fear she made herself miserable.

    Jessica happily informed Abigail she would be on the first train back home. She had a lot to make up to her parents but she knew she could do it. Because someone decided to listen and talk with her she realized the mistake she was making. The kindness of another brought clarity to her thoughts.

    Abigail hummed happily as she called for a taxi to take her too her friend’s house. In all her hardships she took the time to talk to someone who looked like they needed help. Because she did her own fear was washed away. Yes her life wasn’t going to be easy or fun all the time but at least she wasn’t too scared of what the future held anymore. She could take what was coming.

    The young journalist was the last to exit the train. Eightteen hours was a long trip but at least they had learned something, actually they had learned many things. And thanks to the list of names they swiped from the conductor they knew who to look up to make the story great. This was going to be the greatest story ever to grace the pages of the Golden city newspaper. And to think it all happened on a train ride.

4: The Sapling's Dream

Once upon a time there was a little sapling. This little plant was extremely small and insignificant compared to the giants that surrounded it. But the sapling didn’t mind, someday it was going to become even greater than the others. That was it’s dream to become the biggest and greatest tree of them all.

Everyday the sapling worked hard, as hard as it could, to grow. While working hard it thought “tomorrow for sure, tomorrow I will become great.” When a new day started it became disappointed it wasn’t greater than the others. But it quickly cheered up thinking “maybe it just takes another day.”

This pattern went on for days, weeks, months, years until one day it gave up. “I’ll never be like those other trees,” it thought, “I will never be a grand tree. I will never become great.”

Wanting to see what it never could be the sapling looked up. The bright blue sky stared back at them. The sapling was confused. All their life they had been surrounded by other trees, all were much grander than the little sapling so it never got to see the sky. So why could the sapling see it now?

The question was answered by looking down. All the other trees were still in their places. Nothing had changed except that the sapling had grown. It had become a tree greater than those around it.

“But why,” questioned the sapling, “How did I become so great without noticing it?” That was when it realized what it had be doing everyday.

For as long as the sapling could remember it had been working hard to grow. It had always thought that the change would happen in a flash. With one quick growth it would become the best. That wasn’t what happened at all. The change was slow and unnoticeable to the sapling. Everyday it had worked hard it grew some. It was always little and never very noticeable. But having days, years even of small growth led the sapling to it’s dream. It was now a tree greater than those around it. All it took was time.

5: The Highest Balloon

The Highest Balloon

An experiment was once done with a hundred helium balloons. Their colors ranged from red to purple. Some white, black and pink ones were also in the mix. The goal of this experiment was to see which balloons would fly the highest.

All the balloons were given the same amount of helium, all were set free at the same time, and all were in the same area. The results at the end were that the green, purple, and blue balloons made it higher then all the rest.

How did that happen?

Looking back on all the tapes this was found:

All the yellow and orange balloons didn’t do anything. They just flew up into the air with the helium they had. They were the third highest.

The white balloons didn’t even make it off the ground. Reason: they gave all their helium to their friends the black balloons who made it into the second highest slot.

The pinks were also stuck close to the ground but not by any choice of theirs. The red balloons stole all their helium. Interestingly the read balloons didn’t make it onto the list at all. Reason: they popped from too much helium.

Unlike all the other balloons the greens, blues, and purples didn’t steal, give, or go for it themselves. The reason they got so high: they worked together. The three colors of balloons tied their strings together and flew up into the sky as a team.

 

6: Open Up

Bang, bang, bang. The strange knocking echoed through the air. As the echo just started to fade it started back up again, louder this time. So loud in fact that it could wake up the world’s deepest sleeper, which is not a challenge to be taken up by the faint of heart. It is hard to believe, even consider, that this insanely loud banging was coming from a petite young woman. Even stranger still was the fact that she was putting all her energy, all of it, into opening a door that went nowhere.

Thats right you heard me, there was a door just out in the middle of somewhere that was impossible to open and went absolutely nowhere. So why would this young woman try with all her might to open it? This question can be answered with a legend that has been passed around for centuries. It is said that if you search you will find an impossible to open door in a place you would least expect it. If an angel tried to open it then their wish would be granted. Anyone besides an angel who tried would fail and nothing would happen. This young woman was either a wingless angel or just some random person who found the door. I like the wingless angel thing so we’re sticking with that.

This wingless angel tried, tried, and tried some more but the strangely magical and solid door refused to budge. “WHY… WON’T… YOU… OPEN…” shouted our extremely frustrated wingless angel.

To prove how much this door aggravated her she kicked it, with all her might. If she was a normal person the kick might have broken a few toes but because she is an angel, at least I think she is, not a single bone bent or broke but man that must of hurt. As you might have guessed her next action was to fall to her knees with tears in her eyes. Tears of frustration, anger, sadness, hopelessness, and pain. Understandable if you kick a very solid door with all your might.

The tears began to fall leaving behind trails outlining their routes of escape. At this moment I think we can guess what is going on in her mind. Since she’s a wingless angel her wish is probably that she wants to fly, to be like all the others. After spending all that time trying to open the impossible door she has lost all hope. Tears continued to fall as she closed her eyes. Eyes closing is the universal sign of hopelessness.

If that doesn’t convince you her words spoken in a heart wrenching voice will. “Please, please I want to fly.” This statement not only clues us in to her anguish but also tells us that my guess of her being a wingless angel is correct. The emotionally drained, and physically drained, young angel fell asleep leaning against the magical door.

Sometime later an older angel was passing by when he caught sight of our little sleeping wingless angel. Like most people he was probably curious as to why an angel was sleeping on the ground. That curiosity must have filled him. So he did the only that would satisfy his curiosity, he woke her up.

But he is an angel so he woke her kindly; with a light shake and softly spoken words. “Little angel. Little angel. I believe it is time to awake. Please wake up. Little angel.” They won’t just softly spoken words they were kind, extremely kind and polite. I am never that way waking someone up. I usually yell and jump on them.

Surprisingly our young angel awoke. No one I know would wake up with that little of effort, I think that’s why I jump on them. She blinked sleepily as she sat up and took in her surroundings. At least I think that’s what she was doing. What else would explain why she looked around confused. The scenery was quite nice. Green, green grass, beautiful trees, chirping birds, no door, lovely flowers. Wait a second… THE DOOR WAS GONE. Which explains why our angel looked even more confused, manifested by rapid blinking and the question “What happened to the door?”

Like anyone else caught with a question they knew nothing about the other angel was greatly perplexed. “Door?” and that was his brilliant response.

Our young angel acted like anyone else in that situation, she stood and said, “Yes the door. THE DOOR that grants wishes. I found it hoping to be able to get wings.” If I was saying this I would have yelled she said it extremely calmly and kindly. I think thats what makes her an angel and me just a human.

The curious older angel then said, “Why would you want new wings when you already have such a lovely pair?” Oh, I guess I hadn’t noticed that. Our used to be wingless angel had wings! I think I would make a terrible detective.

Our angel then turned her head to see if the statement was true. And we know it is at least I know that it is. Pure joy lit up her eyes and she looked at the other angel with a small smile on her face. I felt great pride as she said, “I have wings, I can fly.” And she did just that, flying as high as an angel could.

7: Elephants & Lions

Elephants & Lions

The happy trumpets of elephants filled the air. Little ones ran around playing, while the older ones talked one to another. A loud trumpet broke through the happy sounds. Right away the elephants began to move. The little ones, old, and sick were put in the middle of the circle the others were forming. Each elephant stood shoulder to shoulder facing out into the grassy plains waiting.

That loud trumpet was a warning, danger was near.

The lion is a stealthy hunter. Their soft paws make their movements almost silent and their coats easily blend into the grassy plains. The weak are their prefered prey. They are patient, willing to wait until the perfect moment arrives to strike.

Almost silently the lion approaches the herd. With the elephants standing shoulder to shoulder there is no way to reach the easy targets. If just one elephant broke ranks the lion would have it’s meal. The elephants have to stay strong to protect their family.

It turns into a game, one with highest of stakes. Whoever backs down first looses. Will the elephants stand their ground? Or will the lion be able to break their will?

8: The Warning Sign

The call came in around two thirty that afternoon. Firefighters and an ambulance were quickly on the scene. The police arrived once the fire died. The assessment of no survivors came shortly after. For the next few hours everyone there tried to figure out how this could have happened. It made no sense, there was no plausible reason as to why this happened.

From what they could see the car had been going the speed limit. They were driving away from the sun. It was a clear day and there were no other cars on the road. So how could have this one drive off a cliff?

The person driving wasn’t depressed and no one was out to get him. The car showed no signs of sabotage. Actually the car was in perfect condition. SO why? Why did this car go off the cliff ending the driver’s life?

There were many warning signs along the drive warning all of the unblocked cliff ahead. No one could drive past those without seeing them, right?

After several hours of discussion the officers wrote up the accident as driver neglectfulness. And they were right. The driver had passed right by all, all the warning signs and drove right off the cliff. He didn’t realize he was in danger until it was already too late to pull back onto safer ground.

9: You are Royal

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.

An almost vicious yank on her hair pulled her out of her mantra. The frighten maid quickly apologize, “I am so sorry princess!”

The young princess shrugged it off with a breathtaking smile. “Tis alright, I know you did not do so on purpose.” With stars in her eyes the maid continued her work.

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.

“There,” the maid explained happily. Looking up the princess got a quick glance of the finished work before she turned to the maid who thought it prudent to add, “You will be the jewel of the party.”

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.

The princess gave her another breathtaking smile. “Thank you for all of your help. You may leave now.” Still with stars in her eyes she left with a quick bow. Once alone the princess stood and began the journey to the door.

Breathe in, breathe out. Her mantra matched her pace. Breathe in, breathe out. Every single step. Breathe in, breathe out. Her legs gave way. The carpeted stone welcomed the princess as tears began to fall.

“I am unable to do this. Tis an impossible thing.”

Tears ran down her face their trails easy to discern. Why did she think she could do this? Why did the others expect so much of her? Why did there have to be a party? Why did she agree to such a thing? Why was there so many people attending? Why was she the whole reason this was happening? Why? Why? Why?

Hysterical now tears fell and fell as her breathing turned ragged. “Why?” she whispered in between breaths.

“Princess?” Raising her tear stained face looked up into the face of her old nurse. The old woman took one look at her before she was on her knees pulling the princess into a hug. Subs racked the princess’ body as her old nurse held her.

When the princess began to calm down the woman asked, “What is wrong my dear?”

“Why… Why… I never wanted this… so why?”

The old nurse, once she realized what the princess meant, pulled away. “Stop crying,” she said firmly. The princess stared blankly at the old woman. “Tis not becoming of a princess to cry thus.”

“But…”

“NO! No excuses! You are royal! It was who you were born to be, who you are, and who you will become!” Shocked the princess stared wide eyed as the woman stood. “Now stand up wipe your face and go enjoy your ball.”

“But…”

“No! No buts…” The woman reached out a hand and pulled the princess to her feet. “You are a beautiful and amazing young lady! You are a princess! You are royal!”

“Nanny…”

Again the old nurse cut it. “No! you listen. Everything I said is true. All you lake is the confidence is accept it. Now stand up straight, shoulders back, eyes looking forward with a smile on your face, and go to your ball!” She gave the young woman a smile then a kiss on the check. “I believe in you,” she whispered. There was one more smile before the old nurse left the room leaving the princess alone once again.

After a time of silence she made her way over to the full length mirror. Closing her eyes she slowly lifted her head.

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breath out.

Once she had calmed down she opened her eyes. She stared into the mirror taking in her appearance. After one more repeat of her mantra she said, “I am royal! I am beautiful! Nothing anyone says can change that!”

Now with a smile on her face and confidence burning in her heart she walked towards the door.