The box turtle banged against the side of its clear tank. Her long neck stretched all the way out, her face pressed into the glass. If she could talk, she’d be yelling at her owner to take her out and allow her to stretch her legs around the room. She pressed her front claws against the glass as though she was trying to climb up it. She slipped on the glass causing her to fall down. That didn’t stop her though. She lifted her front claws once more and tried to climb up the glass again.

When the top of the tank was opened, it made a loud scratching sound. The turtle recoiled back into her shell for a brief moment before peeking out to see what was going on. She had heard that sound before. It usually meant her water was being changed, she was going to be fed, or her owner was going to pick her up and lift her out of the tank.

She stood frozen and ready for lift off. Her owner’s hand wrapped around her round shell and belly and she was suddenly lifted up and out.

The turtle was placed on the ground in the room. She looked all around. The room was big. There was a lot of walking to be done, a lot of things to climb, and cool places to hide.

But what to do first?

First, she’d go under a big black box, a thing her owner usually her feet on when watching a bright, glowing box, while sitting on a bigger blue thing – except the blue thing was squishy and more comfortable. She knew because sometimes her owner would bring her up there to watch the glowing box with her. Sometimes she would hide under the blue squishy thing making her owner go nuts trying to find her. Then she’d have to move the blue squishy thing just to get the turtle out.

She liked to hide in the way back corner in between that and the two wooden blocks that carried her tank.

The turtle, making it back out from under the black box, strolled around the middle of the floor. She headed toward a bunch of warm blocks, some lit up and some didn’t. They all sat underneath the glowing box there were a lot of strings in the back that were attached to the wall and also warm. It was a great place to sit and relax in the warmth, especially when she was out for a stroll around the room in the middle of winter.

Normally she’d just sleep, but her owner never slept during the winter, so it was difficult. Plus, she wanted to be outside of her tank as much as possible. There was so much to do and a lot to see.

This was only half of the room after all.

When she tried to make it to the other side of the room, she noticed the door was open. Excitedly, the turtle turned around and headed for the door. She liked wandering around the landing outside the room. She often looked down the steep slope that led to a different floor. When feeling ambitious, she’d even try to walk down that slope… except she was too small and would usually just fall down the steps. Still, her shell was strong and she’d make it. After a quick recovery, she’d have another whole floor to explore.

But not today. Today she’d go into the other room where her owner slept. She liked to go under the bed which her owner didn’t like because then she’d have to move the entire bed to get the turtle out. Except the door was closed.

Her owner was catching on.

Well, she’d just go into the bathroom then. Sometimes her owner would bring her in there. Her owner would hide behind a curtain and, for some reason, the whole room would fill with steam and be super warm. The turtle loved it.

But her owner wasn’t in that room so there was no steam and it certainly wasn’t warm. So, she decided to go back into the other room. Her owner was sitting at a table with a smaller glowing box though she was doing something to it, making tapping sounds.

The turtle continued to walk in the middle of room when she stopped. The cat had come into the room. When did the cat come in? The turtle slowly began to turn around. She didn’t mind the cat, but sometimes the cat thought she was a toy and would try to bat her around. One time, the cat batted at her on the hardwood floor and the turtle went spinning around the floor. It was a fun ride, but she didn’t want that happening again.

Upon seeing the turtle, the cat got up from his resting place and headed towards her. The turtle was still walking, though she was a lot smaller than the cat. She didn’t have long legs like he did and was therefore a lot slower. Her speed had nothing to do with the fact that she’s a turtle.

The cat raised a gentle paw, his claws hiding. See? He wasn’t doing it to be mean, he just had no idea what the turtle was and didn’t understand why it was moving.

“Chase,”

The turtle heard a warning tone from her owner. The cat put his paw down. He gently tapped the turtle on the back thinking his owner wouldn’t be able to see that one, but she did.

The turtle continued to walk away while the cat was distracted with their owner. She didn’t get very far until the cat came back. He sat down directly in front of her blocking her way. Why? Couldn’t he see she was trying to walk here? Rude.

The cat then lied down and rolled over onto his back. He looked at her playfully but she didn’t feel like playing. She wanted to go under the bed but the door was closed. She wanted the steam from the other room but her owner wasn’t hiding behind the curtain. No, she was going to have to go under the blue squishy thing and just hang out in the peace and quiet.

She walked around the cat almost stepping on his tail. It spooked him enough that he kept his distance for a little while. She didn’t mean to step on it. In fact, she only just grazed it, but the cat brought the phrase “scaredy-cat” to a new level.

As the turtle continued her walk, the door opened a little. Oh, great. The dog was here. The dog was smaller than the cat though she was just as chubby. The turtle continued her walk knowing well that the dog wasn’t going to go near her.

As soon as the dog saw the turtle, she froze in the doorway. She whined looking up at their owner, who encouraged the dog to come into the room. She wouldn’t. Not with the turtle right there.

The turtle stopped walking. She knew the dog was afraid of her, though she didn’t understand why. Still, she liked to have a little fun and tease the dog. She couldn’t tease the cat at all so the dog was going to have to do. She stopped walking and stared at the dog. After a minute or two, the dog backed away and ran back down the slope.

When that was over, the turtle made her way under the blue squishy thing. She walked all the way to the back, dark corner. She curled up into her shell and fell asleep. Finally, peace and quiet.

Words: 1,281

I hope you enjoyed the story! Let me know in the comments below. If you liked this post, please share it around. Also, check out the other Short Story Sundays I’ve done!

Patreon | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | GoodReads | Double Jump

            Clark found a dusty box hiding in the corner of the attic. He looked over his shoulder to see if any of his cousins had noticed, but they were all looking at old paintings, jewelry, and other goods their grandmother had kept rotting up there over the years.

Their grandmother was still alive but their parents were helping her move to a smaller space, one closer to her children in the case anything should happen they’d be able to get to her right away. So, naturally, when the parents were helping her move, it meant the grandkids needed to be up in the dirty, creaky attic scouring through boxes.

When Clark made it to the box in the corner, he wiped the dust off the stop with the palm of his hand before wiping his hand on his pants, a straight line of gray going down the front of his dark blue jeans. He bent down to open the box but it was sealed with packing tape. This was the only box he had come across that was sealed and he’d been up in the attic for a couple hours now.

Nothing else in the attic was protected. If they were left in a box, the box was almost wide open. There weren’t many things his grandmother would be able to take with her to her new home. Most of her belongings were ruined.

This was exactly why he needed to open that box and see what was inside. It must have been so important that she wanted to keep it protected.

Clark looked this way and that but couldn’t really find anything sharp to open the box with. He bent down to pick it up. He braced himself for liftoff as he wrapped his arms around the awkward shape. But when he lifted it off the ground with a heave he nearly fell over. Confused, he stood where he was slightly lifting the box up and down. It didn’t weigh anything at all. Was the box empty?

Taking a risk to be a little rougher with it, Clark shook the box from side to side. Something moved. He didn’t know what it could possibly be, but there was a single item in that sealed box and it weighed almost nothing. Now he knew it was important.

“Hey, Clark found another one.”

Clark froze squeezing the box tighter. His cousins were being greedy, pocketing small items here and there, and if this particular item was as precious as it seemed to be, Clark didn’t want his cousins to even know what it was.

“What do you have there, Clark?” another asked. The four of his cousins were walking over to him now. He had no choice.

“Oh,” he turned around. “This box was hiding in the corner. It’s sealed though.”

“No biggie.” Roger, the oldest of the five of them, whipped out a pocket knife from his back pocket. He motioned with his free hand for Clark to set the box down.

“Be careful, it’s really light.” Clark said as he put the box down onto an antique dining set chair.

Roger stabbed the middle of the box with all his might making Clark wince. It wasn’t a big knife so surely Roger didn’t pierce anything. Still, didn’t he just hear what Clark said?

Roger moved the knife downward and then back up slicing through the thick tape. He then put his knife away and used his hands to pry the rest of the box open. Everyone watched him in silence, all wondering what could possibly be in the only sealed box.

“Ready?” Roger asked with a grin. Everyone nodded except Clark who remained frozen, his eyes fixated on the opening that Roger had his fingers in between ready to reveal its contents.

Then he opened the box.

All five of them ducked their heads to peer into the box at the same time. The element of surprise had gone and their hopefulness disappeared from their faces as confusion set in instead. They all straightened up as Clark reached into the box to pull out the item.

“What is that?” Amy asked.

It was a piece of cloth. Clark let it rest in the palms of both of his hands. It was soft to the touch and smooth. He thought it might be a blanket, a baby’s blanket even, but it was even too small for that. He unfolded it and held it up for all his cousins to see.

They scoffed and made disgusted faces. One by one they each walked away muttering about how that wasn’t worth the big reveal. Clark, on the other hand, was fascinated.

The cloth carried vivid colors, neon almost, with pinks, blues, yellows, and just about any other color you could imagine. It was quite ugly really; the colors looked as though they had thrown up on the cloth. Each color was its own geometric shape – triangles, circles, rectangles, and squares filled every spot leaving barely any white patches.

The piece of cloth was in great condition, still soft and the colors still blindingly bright. Clark folded it back up in the palm of his hand careful to fold on the creases already made. He looked up and all his cousins were back to rummaging through other boxes. He held onto the cloth tightly and made his way out of the attic.

When he made it to the ground floor he breathed in deeply through his nose. A smoked shoulder was cooking and he suddenly realized how hungry he was. He walked past the kitchen though only peering into the room to see if his grandmother was there. Two of his aunts were cooking though, no sign of his grandmother.

He walked into the dining room after hearing a clatter of silverware. There was his grandmother and his mother setting the table for dinner.

“Hi Clark, need a break?” his mother greeted with a smile.

Clark shook his head. “I was wondering about something.”

His grandmother paused in what she was doing and looked up at her youngest grandson. “Oh?”

Clark unfolded the cloth and revealed it to her. His grandmother gasped and his mother put a hand on her hip looking concerned.

“Clark, honey, if you come across any sealed boxes you should wait for Grandma to open them. It’s not politely to go through her things like that.” She said calmly.

Well, he knew that. She should have been telling that to his cousins. They were all going to need to be patted down before going home.

“Oh, it’s alright, Rita.” Grandma walked over to Clark and took the cloth into her own hands. “In fact, I had forgotten about this.”

“How could you forget that?” Rita commented with a smirk.

“Well, I forgot I had it up there. I thought it was under my bed or something.”

“It might be better off hidden up in the attic.” Rita chuckled.

“Oh, shush.” Grandma waved a hand at her but she too was smiling.

“Uh, excuse me?” Clark interrupted raising his hand slightly. His mother and grandmother turned to face him. “What is it?”

“It’s a sail.” Grandma replied.

“A… Sail.” Clark said in disbelief. “Is that a little too…”

“Small?” she said smiling. “Yes. Very small. But Clark took it with him anyway.” Grandma held up the cloth and admired it.

Clark raised an eyebrow.

“You were named after your grandfather, Clark. You knew that.” His mother added. “He had always wanted to be a sailor.”

“But I had wanted children.” Grandma added. “You see? None of you would have existed if I didn’t stop your kooky father from going out to sea.”

“Yes, I know. Thanks, Ma.” Rita replied with a smirk. She rolled her eyes as though she had heard that a thousand times.

Clark remained confused. He didn’t know what kind of question to ask next and his mother and grandmother seemed to be having a nice conversation on their own. He felt bad for interrupting. But his grandmother turned her attention back to him.

“You see, Clark always wanted to be a sailor but then he met me. I wooed him—“

“Ma!”

“Alright, alright… We married, had children, you know how that works.”

Clark nodded with a disgusted face. He didn’t need to picture his grandparents… you know.

“After all you grandkids were born and he had retired, he so badly wanted to go out to see. Me, being the good wife I am, I found him at the docks one day. I had handed him this sail and gave him my blessing to go out to sea.” Grandma explained.

“And he left?” Clark asked surprised.

Grandma nodded. She looked down at the cloth and stroked it with her frail hands. “He laughed at me when I gave him this sail. I had sewed it myself. I was proud of it. Maybe a little color blind, but it was my best work at the time. He told me he couldn’t possibly use it as a sail due to its size. Still, he tied it to the top of his sail and let what little wind it could carry blow through it.”

Clark smiled. “That’s great!” then he frowned. “But… how did you get it back? I thought Grandpa died at sea?”

“Well, that’s the depressing part.” Grandma nodded with a sigh. She looked away from the cloth and at Clark. “They had found a shipwreck off the coast somewhere. I saw it on the news and lo and behold, there was this sail among the wreckage. That’s when I knew it was him. I tracked those news people down and demanded I get this sail back. He took a lot of things with him when he left, all of it lost at sea, except for this. I’ve held onto it ever since.”

Clark felt his eyes tearing up. He quickly rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands. He didn’t want to cry in front of his mother and grandmother. How embarrassing would that be?

“I’m sorry to hear that… Accidents do happen, I guess.” Clark said. He wasn’t too sure what to say actually.

Grandma nodded. She smiled and Rita and held out her hand, her daughter taking it and giving it a squeeze. “I knew he wouldn’t do well out there. That’s why I tried to get pregnant as soon as I could. I wanted him to have a life first.” She laughed.

“And a good thing you did.” Rita said quietly.

Clark narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t trust Grandpa to go out to sea alone?”

His grandmother laughed. She looked back at him with amusement filling her gaze. “Oh, my dear, he didn’t know the first thing about sailing.”

Words: 1,797

I hope you enjoyed the story! Let me know in the comments below. If you liked this post, please share it around. Also, check out the other Short Story Sundays I’ve done!

Patreon | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | GoodReads | Double Jump

            Tanner ran down the stairs, past the kitchen, through the living room, and dashed out the front door. He didn’t even bother to call goodbye to his mother or father. They both had a day off from work so they were most likely still sleeping anyway. If anything, they woke up to the front door slamming behind Tanner. Not that he had meant to slam it shut so loudly, but he was in such a rush that he wasn’t thinking.

He ran down the street trying to keep his breathing steady as he sprinted. He knew well enough to keep a good pace and to remember to breathe while running, but he needed to go fast. He had slept in way too late and now his legs and lungs were going to have to pay for it.

As he ran, Tanner thought back to his parents encouraging him to join the track team at school. He was a fast kid. He needed to be since he was late everywhere he went. However, he didn’t feel the need to join the team since he practically ran every day anyway.

His parents had wanted him to learn how to run properly though. He sprinted everywhere he went taking occasional breaks to catch his breath. They knew, and so did he, that he probably pushed his body too much when trying to get where he needed to go. If he was going to run and run fast, they preferred it be on a track with a coach to monitor him and make sure he didn’t make himself pass out.

Then again, none of this would be needed if his parents had just bought him a car. He had gotten his license right at the age of 16 and was excited to drive himself to school. He was excited to take his friends out after school to hang out. Of course, both his parents worked and actually had lives themselves so they always had their cars. Tanner wasn’t able to drive their cars except on the weekends and even then his parents were a little iffy because there were always errands that needed to be done.

Tanner still had to take the bus to school every morning because both of his parents had to be at work before school started. The thing was, Tanner always overslept so he usually missed the bus. How did he get to school? He ran.

He was getting tired of it. He knew it was his own fault that he kept hitting the snooze button on his alarm clock, but he was a teenager. People didn’t really expect him to be punctual, did they?

Now it was Saturday morning, the universal day for all teenagers to sleep in until noon. It was his only day to sleep in – well, he slept in every day, but it was his only day that he could actually sleep in without having to worry about being late anywhere. His parents made him go to church on Sundays so didn’t have the entire weekend to sleep.

Here he was, up fairly early on a Saturday morning having to run because he’s parents wouldn’t buy him a car. No, he needed to get a job. He had to run to his job because he didn’t have a car. It was a vicious cycle.

Tanner, still running down the street, took his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. At this speed, he’d make it in five minutes and he needed to be at the store in ten minutes. Hopefully, he’d be fine.

The upside to all this was he was in great shape.

He made it to the store and walked through the front door breathing heavily. He smiled at a woman behind the counter who stared at him with raised eyebrows.

“You’re not the new hire, are you?” she asked.

Tanner frowned and looked down at himself.

The downside to this was he was sweating through his uniform.

Words: 666

I hope you enjoyed the story! Let me know in the comments below. If you liked this post, please share it around. Also, check out the other Short Story Sundays I’ve done!

Patreon | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | GoodReads | Double Jump

            “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful. Eric Thomas.”

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. Walt Disney.”

“The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible. Arthur C. Clarke.”

Brooke peered through the archway as she walked by the entrance to the living room. She paused after she passed and took a couple steps backward gazing into the room again. Her little sister was lying on her stomach on the plush carpet. Markers were displayed all over the floor, a large poster board lying in front of her. She was humming to herself as she colored.

Brooke entered the room tossing the clean towels she had just washed onto the couch. She stood over her sister and tilted her head to read the writing on the poster. Her sister’s handwriting was atrocious and she was using so many colors – all the colors, really – that it was hard to read.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m writing quotes.” Amber replied. She didn’t look up from her work. She continued coloring the black outline of words with a neon pink marker.

“Quotes for what?”

“Just because.”

Brooke squatted beside her lying sister and squinted her eyes to try to read the writing. “These aren’t too bad. Why are you writing motivational quotes though?”

“It’s for a present.” Amber replied.

Brooke nodded not knowing what else to say. She patted her sister on the top of her head. “Well, good job. Have fun.” She stood up her knees popping as she straightened out. Brooke groaned. She was in her mid-twenties, her body shouldn’t have been making weird noises.

She picked up the towels from the couch and left the room to put them away and finish the laundry.

Brooke was in between jobs. She used to work for a graphic design company. Her boss wasn’t very good and she had always worked the majority on a project because her co-workers always seemed to slack off. She had quit unexpectedly after getting so annoyed. She didn’t know what had come over her and were afraid her parents would be angry but they were actually proud.

In fact, they encouraged her to take this time to build a portfolio of her work and try to go into graphic design for herself as a freelancer. Once she could make a steady income from it she’d go back to school for business and build her own team of graphic designers.

It worked out well for her parents and for Amber as well. Their parents both worked full-time jobs, their father working a part-time job as well. Amber was old enough to stay home alone for a little while but their parents felt better knowing Brooke was home to pick Amber up from school and stay with her at home to make sure she completed her homework and such.

Brooke worked hard during the day while her parents and sister were at work and school, but after picking Amber up from school; Brooke spent the rest of the day doing chores. Her parents worked hard and were allowing her to take a big risk. She figured the least she could do was have the house clean and dinner started for them when they got home.

Later that night, Brooke had just finished helping her mother clean up from dinner. It was still early enough that she figured she could finish up one of her projects before relaxing for the night and heading to bed.

When she entered her bedroom, also her office, Brooke paused in the doorway.

“Amber! What are you doing in my room?” she demanded.

Amber turned around. She smiled sheepishly. “I was hoping you’d take a little longer downstairs.” She stepped to the side showing off her posterboard.

Brooke looked down at her sister’s feet seeing the tape dispenser and pieces of used tapes scattered at her feet. She sighed at the mess.

“What are you doing?” she asked more calm this time.

Amber shrugged. “I wanted it to be a surprise but you caught me earlier working on it.”

Brooke cracked a smile. “You were working on it in the middle of the living room. It wasn’t very subtle.”

“I was trying to hang it on the wall for you, but I think the poster is too heavy for the tape so it wouldn’t stay.” Amber turned around and looked at the board. She folded her arms as though she was trying to think of a new way to get it to stay.

Brooke stepped into the room and stood beside her sister. “Well, it’s a tri-fold posterboard. It’s meant to stand up on its own.”

“I know that.” Amber scoffed.

“Then you can’t hang it up.” Brooke shrugged.

Amber thought for a moment. She picked up the posterboard and moved it to the other side of the room. Brooke bent down and began picking up the little bits of tape.

“Perfect!”

Brooke stood up crumpling the tape into a ball in her hands. She stared at her sister who had stood the poster up beside her desk.

“Wait, I thought you said that was a present? You meant for me?” she asked.

Amber nodded. She stood beside the poster tall smiling proud as though it was her prized work showing it off for a science fair.

Brooke smiled. “Thank you, Amber. It’s lovely.”

“I thought you might need this to help you with your work.”

Brooke dropped the ball of tape back onto the floor and bent down to hug her sister. “This is the best gift I’ve ever gotten.”

Words: 952

I hope you enjoyed the story! Let me know in the comments below. If you liked this post, please share it around. Also, check out the other Short Story Sundays I’ve done!

Patreon | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | GoodReads | Double Jump