Creative exercises

Staying Awake

Restriction: Write a new way to stay awake in a long car journey

      Elli watched as houses and tress passed by. It had been only one, long, boring, hour. She sat in the back, face pressed to the glass, as her dad drove up front. No music, no talking, no fun allowed that would distract him. She almost felt like screaming, or sleeping.

      She tried to read, but that made her sick. She tried to play Ispy by herself, but that was no fun. She tried looking at the clouds to see different shapes, but that only lasted so long. Seven more hours to go.

        There was a small movement in the corner of her eye. She looked over and saw something small moving around her feet. When she looked down, she saw what looked to be a spirit cat about two inches tall, playing with a mushroom spirit.

        "Dad-"

        "You know the rules. Is it an emergency Elli?" She huffed and crossed her arms.

        "No." They went back to silence, and after a moment she looked back to the spirits at play. They continued on for a minute more before looking up at her curiously. The mushroom spirit held out two hands to offer her some square. When she took it, the spirit vanished leaving only the small cat there with her.

       "Wait!" She whispered urgently. She looked at the square and back at the cat. "What is it? Do I eat this?" The cat nodded before it too disappeared. She looked to her dad and back at the floor before she squeezed her eyes closed and plopped it into her mouth.

        It was sweet and salty and made her mouth water more. When she was done chewing it, something happened. Her arms tingled and her feet fell asleep. Her eyes popped open and she gasped as everything grew big! The mushroom appeared just two feet from her on the now-giant chair and motioned for her to follow. She looked at herself and saw she shrunk to their size.

        As she stood and followed, more spirits popped out and greeted her. They played and played for hours in the giant car- her dad non-the-wiser. When it was dark and she was tired from all that play, the spirits gave her a sip of something warm and sweet and she grew back to her normal size just as she fell asleep in the back.

       When the car finally stopped and her dad looked back, he saw his five year old girl curled and sleeping soundly. It was the first time she lasted this long being so quiet. He smiled and got ready to go into their new home with her.