Creative Writing Project

This wasn't assigned to me by Dr. Preston, but I thought I would try to do a little creative writing. If i can get 20 people to comment on this telling me they want more, I'll include the next chapter. Tell your friends.

Nathan was spending his evening in deep thought. How could a normal man like him, with no hunting experience, manage to gather enough food to put his family through the quickly approaching winter? His family couldn't help him, and there was nobody else that lived around his family, he’d made sure of that. The most he could do was hope for a miracle to save him and his family from their impending doom brought by the cold grasp of Mother Nature.

On the other side of the room, closer to the warmth of the fire, a worried woman was nursing her newborn. Daniella saw the worried and pessimistic look on her husband’s face and knew they were thinking the same thing. She also knew that worrying about problems doesn’t make them any easier to deal with. She wanted to strike up a conversation with the man on the other side of the room, but she never was good at small talk. A few times she opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't think of anything interesting to say about something that wouldn’t bring Nathan back to his problems. She decided to stop trying and focused more on rocking her baby to sleep. A task that doesn't require a whole lot of focus, but was something to keep her busy nonetheless.

Daniella had been feeling very lonely lately, spending all her time with baby Charlotte. She wondered what it would be like to have company in their tiny house. She looked around the room at the small table with two uncomfortable logs that she and her husband used as chairs. Nathan was sitting in the opposite corner of the room on the splintery wooden floor. There were no windows, the only lighting being the fireplace across from the bed. Hanging above the mantle is Nathan’s most important possession, a family heirloom. A green horn from which his family is named. It had been used to call a local militia to arms, to defend a homeland, to save lives. Now, it’s just a symbol of what his family used to mean, sitting in a shack in the middle of nowhere. The bed she was sitting on was not much more than grasses stuffed under a sheet. She had brought Charlotte into this world almost two weeks ago on that bed. After thinking about it for a while, Daniella was impressed with the general quality of the home that was now hers, considering the hastiness of its construction. Still, this place was garbage compared to where she and her husband used to live. She decided that she wasn't too upset that she would never have to have her old friends look at her and her home now.

The small newborn was breathing softly in her arms. She found it hard to believe that she had created that breathing thing she was holding. It had a heartbeat of its very own. When she thought about it, the circle of life was absolutely astonishing.

Just then a knock on the door made her heart jumped. She looked at Nathan, who motioned to her to hide behind the bed. She quickly set Charlotte down in her tiny bedside cradle which Daniella noticed she was quickly outgrowing. She got down on the ground curled up into a ball and closed her eyes. Nathan was walking toward the door slowly, each small step he made caused the floor to creak. With each second, his heart beat faster and faster. He unsheathed his sword that hadn't tasted blood in a month. Nathan reached for the knob with his free hand, and was prepared to defend his family at all costs. Daniella heard Nathan open the door ever so slightly, and prayed that this wouldn't be the end for her and her baby. She couldn't imagine a situation in which her baby’s life could be so immediately ended. She was ready to defend Charlotte with her life.