Morning Climb(Maggie)

[Dryad]

The air was still cool, there was no one stirring in the house, but the pink on the dark side of his eyelids hinted at the sun’s swift arrival over the mountains, thankfully he did not have school today, there was some work in the lumberyard to be done, but that wouldn’t take all day, just his father’s daily regimen of woodcutting. The wind in Dryads lungs was knocked out of him as someone jumped directly on his stomach, it was no surprise that it was Selby, she seldom minded the bounds of personal space, "Kapok get up…”she said she began to shake hi shoulders, Kapok was already awake but he wanted to see just how annoying his sister could get, the result even surprised him, "Kapok get up you promised!!!” When he agreed to walk her to school he had no idea that it meant waking up so early in the morning. Kapok shot up glaring at his sister, he pointed to the door, "Nope! You promised to walk me to school, and you’re going to keep that promise, or ill just tell mom that I missed school because I was waiting for you…and I was just too scared.” That last par was said with a bit of sorrow in her voice, she had become quite the actress even at her age. “Promise...” Kapok said almost at a whisper. She smiled and rolled out of the bed jumping like she was moving to the capitol.

Once he had splashed his face and got his clothes on he walked outside to the porch, his was sister waiting with her bag around her shoulder, “Well look who finally decided to wake up, Am I late enough for you?” Kapok rolled his eyes and made quick work of the four steps in front of him, he took her bag and put it around his shoulder and then knelt down so she could jump on his back, she acted upset but this was her plan all along, she wasn’t worried about bullies or enjoying his company, she just wanted to ride on his back like he was a praised stallion, his only fun in the whole matter was hearing her choke on his hair when he began to speed up.

Once Selby was dropped off Kapok made his way into the tree line, he would collect the rest of his sleep in his favorite spot. About 3 hundred meters off the main path was a patch of trees that were considered historical land marks, they all were very tall, not as tall as the father tree but tall enough that no one could see you by passing glance, The climb was a good challenge, you couldn’t simply just go up, about half way up you would come to a dead end, at which point you would have to jump to your left to one of the bigger branches, and then back to the main trunk. By the time you got to the top you would be thoroughly out of breathe, but it was really good exercise, and an even better view. Kapok dosed off as his led swayed back and forth of the hulking branch, dreaming of a day when he would not have to wake up early, sadly he was once again roused from his much needed sleep by the cracks of twigs below, he look down but he could not make anyone out through all the leaves, so he began his decent to see who else frequented this remote area.

[Sarella]

Maggie Oakson

"Maggie..." Someone whispers quietly in my ear, and I pop up, my head hitting whoever said that in the face. "Owch! Don't do that!" Says a female voice. Oh - just Philly, who happened to spend the night last night. She spent the night too often. "Go away," I say grumpily, laying back down, but she just starts shaking me again. Can't I have a moments rest without her pestering me? Ah no, I forgot that was an impossibility. Philly shakes me harder, but I don't move. I put my hand up and wave it around lazily. She puts her hands on my back and rolls me off the bed, and I land with a thump on the hard floor of our room. I moan groggily and grab onto the bed, pulling myself up.

"You missed breakfast and everyone's gone now so it's just you and me!" Philly says. I can hear a trace of her mood, and I don't like it. I move to the wall, and rushing against it, find the doorknob. "I-I gotta g-go," I stutter. Philly hangs onto my hair, and a sharp sting hits me in a little dot. Please don't make this hard today, I'm truly not in the mood. "Where?" She questions. To answer her, I wrestle free of her grib and slip into the hallway. Now all I had to do was get to the stairs, left, go down the stairs, another left, not fall, get to the door, a right then a left, open the door without slamming the tree right next to it, and then I'm free as long as I don't run into anything unfamiliar. That's the hard part.

"You aren't allowed outside!" She tells me, as if I hadn't heard a million times. Like I ever payed attention to that rule. "Fine, get yourself drowned, I don't care," She says. I know she doesn't care. For goodness sakes, if I drowned, she'd have a party. I walk the five steps to the stairs, and turn. Here's the hard part. One, two, three. Four, five six, and so on. I safely reach the last step without falling, but trip, as I'd probably lost count somewhere and added an extra number. I'm lucky not to fall.

The second I'm at the door, I feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. Some might think it was sad to be blind, but I don't know what I'm missing. I can imagine the shapes and figures, what the feel means they look like, but I don't know what color is. What, exactly, is 'pretty'? I don't think I'll ever know. I carefully making my way forward, my arms stretched oddly in front of me to avoid hitting anything. There won't be any wall to hand onto for another few meters, I know. You know what I need? A stick. Those shouldn't be hard to find, but, surprisingly, I have a hard time finding them. Thus, I have to drag my feet and feel around. I must look strange doing this.

I reach the wall, and as I slide across it, I attempt to comb out the tangles in my hair with my hand. My hair doesn't really tangle in my sleep, it just creases and folds into little groups. I go into a wandering mode without realizing it, but eventually notice I'm probably lost again. Rather frusterating, really. I hear the thump of someone hitting the ground, and turn in the direction. "Who was that?" I ask meekly.