Grapes' Writing Exercises

"write about three random things"

Lilac was coming back from the lake the day the invaders returned. She had a net of salmon filled to the brim with a hard day's work of fishing. She was starting to grow old now- wrinkles beginning to set into her face and her blonde hair started to turn white with age. Her peers continued to gawk at her with awe as she hauled her display of devotion to her village to camp. Look at her, mothers would say to their children as Lilac walked by. You should be just like her when you grow up. So hardworking and strong. 

Lilac frowned when she heard the whispers. She didn't like the idea of other people aspiring to push themselves as hard as she did. She wouldn't wish that upon any young child's body. Why she was okay with doing it to her own, she did not know. Or maybe she did, and just didn't want to admit it to herself.

The screams alerted her like nothing else, taking her back to the day when she lost half her world. She dropped her net like a hot rock and ran toward the sound of metal weapons clashing against each other.

Her heart stopped as she turned a corner and saw those eyes.

Warm, chocolatey eyes turned black with charcoal and bitterness, but a sort of targeted bitterness that Lilac knew was directed only to her, not to the loved ones of whoever was left behind from the person Lilac fell in love with.

She was dressed in- to Lilac's horror- the regal white and gold armor of a commander loyal to their army. She carried herself with a new confidence that she hadn't possessed before, the confidence of someone who knew what they were fighting for. Who they were fighting for.

Those charcoal brown eyes narrowed, and the enemy charged.

August pinned Lilac to the ground, one knee pressed into the ground at Lilac's side. August hooked Lilac's chin with her smooth iron sword and tilted Lilac's head upward to face her.

Suddenly Lilac was five years old again, when August and she would play fight in the daisy field and Lilac would beat August every single time, only letting her win when August was at the edge of letting her frustration take over and giving up. Once August won, she would gain a new burst of energy and the cycle would continue.

As if she was reading Lilac's mind, August managed a breathless smirk. "My little Lilac," she panted with victorious glints in her eyes. "Times have changed. I am stronger now." The point of her sword dug a little deeper into Lilac's skin.

"Ha," Lilac said drily. "I doubt that."

"Oh?"

Quick as lightning, Lilac shoved the point of August's sword out of her way and skillfully disarming August by pulling it back. Lilac stood up, the iron sword in her grip, and smiled with satisfaction.

"You really think you could beat me that easily, August? You may have grown, but we both know I'll always be the stronger one. I hope you see that now."

Lilac was hoping for August's smirk to fall with disappointment or loss. But her eyes simply narrowed with mischief.

"True. But I'm smarter. I will always be."

Lilac barked a loud laugh. "Now I think you must be delirious. You haven't-"

Lilac looked around, and her own grin shattered like glass.

Like the day August was taken away, fires burned through the village. Except this time, it was all around her. Not a shred of a unbaked building was in sight. Just piles of black ash and raging flames.

Time seemed to halt for a while. Just the hypnotic sound of crackling flames. Then a slow, menacing clap echoed across the scorched clearing. August appeared from the smoke, with an arrogant, cruel smirk that made Lilac want to punch her in the jaw. But she couldn't. A sickening feeling settled in Lilac's gut as she remembered that was the same sensation she felt when the August she loved got taken away from her. Now all that was left was a bitter, cold-blooded husk of the girl she fell in love with.

 "See all that? That's all the effort that your sacrifices have granted you. Gone." August laughed like a deranged lunatic.

August's smirk dwindled to a sly, content smile. "You know, I don't think you deserve the release of death just yet. I think I'll leave you here to die, to know you couldn't save the people you loved. How about that?"

Lilac had to laugh at that. August's smile finally disappeared.

"Yeah, sure. I'm sure you'd love to see me suffer," Lilac snorted. The smoke from the fires started to fill her lungs, her laugh feeling like a dagger lodged down her throat.

August's eyes looked like the sides of two polished blades. "What's that supposed to me?"

"Oh, please. You would never kill me. You don't have the guts, no matter how changed you think you are. You still love me, don't you?"

August's breath caught in her throat. Lilac sneered. Bingo.

"See? Try to kill me, August. I'd like to see you try."

August drew a knife from her belt and advanced with hesitation. Lilac didn't stop her as she held the knife to Lilac's throat. A laugh bubbled up in Lilac's throat as she felt the smoke closing in on her throat.

"See? You can't."

August gave Lilac a glare that if directed to anyone else, would've sent them running. Too bad Lilac knew August well enough to see through her facade, to the part of her that had its heart crumble to pieces when August realized the one she loved chose her future over her present. The one that spent years and years training to the point of malnourishment, only being kept going by the image of Lilac's face when she knew that August was back for revenge.

Now revenge didn't seem to taste so sweet.

August gave Lilac one last withering glare, then disappeared into the smoke with her allies.

Once August and the fighters with her were truly gone, the reality set in to Lilac's reeling head. She was on the edge of death, watching the last drop of her existence slowly fall into a puddle, where return was hopeless. She might as well have been dead.

Lilac looked at her grimy palms, black from the ash on the ground. With her remaining strength, she crawled out of camp to the meadow. The dark red grass that was stained with blood before was now covered with a new coat of charcoal, making it look like someone flipped the world upside down and Lilac's barely living body was supported by the night sky itself.

Looking upon the black-as-night grass, Lilac felt a sense of loss wash over her as she remembered the simpler times when she would play adorable little hunting games with August and laugh for hours on end. Now that seemed to be in another lifetime.

Lilac basked in the memories though, pretending she wasn't dying, pretending August was still with her, pretending she still remembered what it was like to feel happy.

Lilac always suspected her last thought would be August's name. And as Lilac closed her eyes for the last time and thought of August's chocolatey brown eyes, her prediction came true after all.