I shoved the last of my clothes into the large, wooden wardrobe. Grans house wasn't that old really, so it didn't have some spooky sense to it. My room was so much bigger here. I hung my guitar up on the wall, by my window. I was downstairs, so any temptations of jumping out a window were invalid. Then again, it was a bungalow.
"Sebby, care for some brown bread and tea?" Gran said and she walked into my new room. "Oh my, you're finished!" She cheered.
I stretched my back out and nodded. "I'd love some, thanks granny, and yeah, I just put the last of the clothes into the wardrobe. I have a few more posters to put up, but besides them, I'm pretty much finished."
Gran smiled and walked up to me. She wasn't that small, and definitely wasn't your typical frail grandmother. She was a sturdy, well built woman, she even had grandads old farm, which she still took care of.
"I'm very proud of you Sebastian," she said and smiled at me. I hugged her in response. She hugged me back and patted my back. "Good lad, come on, that tea won't make itself."
I followed Gran into the small enough kitchen, where she made us tea and had fresh brown bread cut out for me. I buttered it and sat back, crossing my legs at my ankles, looking out the window.
The doorbell rang several times, and I stood, smiling. "That would be your little fairy," Gran said, and laughed.
"She's not mine, Nan," I murmured. She continued to chuckle, sipping on her tea.
I opened the door to find Iris reaching up to press the doorbell again. She blushed and dropped her hand in shame. Caught in the act.
"Hehe, sorry," Iris giggled, jumping up to hug me. I caught her in surprise and hugged her back, loving how small she seemed in comparison to me. She leapt back after a couple of seconds and brushed back a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Should we...?" She said, knocking me out of yet another trance of staring at her. I jumped slightly and nodded.
"Oh, yeah - GRAN IM GOING NOW!" I yelled, knowing she could be watching TV, not being able to hear me.
"Okay, STAY SAFE!" Gran yelled back. I shook my head and smiled.
"Crazy old woman," I mumbled as I closed the door.
"I MAY BE DEAF, BUT I HEARD THAT YOUNG BOY," Gran yelled. I almost laughed and closed the door, avoiding saying anything.
Iris laughed and grabbed the sleeve of my shirt, running with me. I ran after her, and I'm not sure how far we went, but it was down the lane, over a stream, through a forest and eventually... We reached a meadow. Yes. A meadow.
"Ugh..." I muttered. Iris looked back at me. "Meadows are so... cliché."
She smiled. "But they're so pretty!" She mused.
Like you...
Wait, what?
I banished that thought, and followed her to the middle of the open meadow. She sat down amongst the long grass, on a patch that seemed to have been sat on already.
"You come here often?" I asked as I plopped down beside her, propping myself up on using the palms of my hands.
Iris nodded. "I try to get inspiration, but lately I've been drawing blanks." She reached to the brown satchel that was sitting on her waist. It was worn out and covered in badges, like, so many badges. She took out a wooden pencil and an empty looking note pad, which had a leather covering that was inscribed, "Beginnings". When I peeked into her bag, I saw 4 other note pads that looked the same.
"You plan for this to be long, don't you," I said and laughed. She smiled and nodded.
"Of course, only the best books can contain the most amount of words."
"But doesn't the term go, "Quality, not Quantity'?" I revoked.
"Well then mister smart pants, the Quality of this book is so good, that it will need a large quantity of pages to hold such a good quality book."
I chuckled and she glanced at me, smiling. When I opened my eyes to look at her, she was still smirking. "Why are you so happy?" I said, as she began to write into the book.
"I've never heard you laugh before, it's nice," she said, never looking up from her writing, but still smiling.
"Oh... what are you writing?" I asked, as she continued to scribble down nonsense.
Iris looked up at me and smiled. "I've decided that the book won't have a plot, or a story."
I creased my brows. "But... that's what stories are for?" I asked.
She shook her head. "We can call it... 'How to be Human'!" I stared at her in confusion... but nodded anyways.
"Okay... show me what you have so far?"
She held up the book to my face.
HOW TO BE HUMAN
BY IRIS AND SEBBY
Laughing. Laughing is like the humans way of releasing the intense joy that's contained inside of us. It shows other people that they're enjoying their presence, that everything's okay. It's perfect for when everyone's not sure what to do, not sure how to react or how to be or act. It can be happy and heartfelt, or it can be fake and lies. It's the best feeling when you're sad. But it depends on why you're laughing, because ther
She hadn't written anymore. "Are you sure you don't want to use a plot?" I asked nervously. She nodded.
"Description is key. We're going to poison this bitch with description!" She laughed, and shook her head. "I'm insane," she muttured, smirking to herself.
I smiled. "I know you are," I replied. "But I think in order to do this you gotta be a little crazy. Come on, let's get this started, keep describing laughter to me, say it out loud then write it down."
A novel was born.
YOU ARE READING
Struggling to Breathe
Short Story"A Tale of an Untold Story" As Sebastian battles with himself, he can't seem to find a way out of this dark hole he's been thrown in. The only thing that's stopping him from ending his misery the easy was is his sister Fern... that is, until Iris st...
