Quiver Staight

• Emily Norton, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2016

The sun was shining brightly as the full moon revealed itself, the clear blue skies lifting my spirits as the rain lashed down against the window. The dead trees outside were flourishing in the boiling winter weather and the ancient house was newly built, standing low and proud in the middle of the beautiful haunted forest.

Time passed quickly, every second feeling like an hour as the old woman upstairs died of such a young age. This was my home, somewhere I could never belong.

I was an intelligent girl, I failed every test I took. My perfect vision was hidden behind large prescription glasses and my tall slim frame was nothing but short and curvy.
This place was dream, straight from my nightmares, where only savoury sweets and small giants could be found, among other things as well.

My name is Quiver Straight and I’m 13 years young, my life is an oxymoron and I’ve been dead for a while.

So here in this world that could only contradict itself twice, I can only cry a smile and laugh through a hidden wince, shown clearly on my face.
The night was old and the day was never almost over, leaving me confused but clear on the rules of this unrestricted world. I always abided the laws, I was the most rebellious person I knew after all.

My life is normally strange which is strangely normal and I have only many open secrets, if I could I’d tell the truth, but lies are never an option through the deafening silence.

My only choice through this vibrant death was to become the larger half of History’s future, choosing to keep my unbiased opinion not only to myself but out in the open, behind closed doors.
I am alone in a crowd but could turn a blind eye to my extensive peers, ones that never saw me.

So where the drought brings rain pelting down on soft pavement and children cry of laughter, you’ll never not find me. I’ll help you fail and start at the end by saying, reality doesn’t exist and so does the living dead.

When you’re in a world full but empty and the light shines dark, you know not nothing and undoubtedly something. In fact, the truth is a lie and the rumours are true, making my fact false and this sentence a fib.

In my world you say goodbye before you meet and people are full before they eat.

So once again, for the very first time; My name is Quiver Straight and I’m 13 years young, my life is an oxymoron and I’ve been dead for a while.