I was invited to try this crazy thing by a friend. It’s called National Novel Writing Month. Here is a link. You are suppose to write 50,000 words or 1,667 words per day, in one month and you win. What do you win? As far as I can tell, a novel that needs to be revised. I decided to take my friend up on the challenge.

I have been trying to write my story for years now. Things keep changing, but I can not keep using that as an excuse. I have even tried to write my story on this blog, but when I get to the emotional parts or the details, it gets really hard.

Since once I accept a challenge, I have to do it and not just do it, but win or do it the best, I thought this would be a great opportunity to get my story written with depth and detail. So yet again, I have been neglecting my blog.

However, since I am also in school, I thought I would publish a piece of flash fiction I had to write as an assignment. Here is:

The Lilac Tree

The young woman stood with her hands punched down into the pockets of her fleece-lined jacket. Her Ugg boots put to the test for the first time. The Lilac bush was still there – her namesake. It had lived through the giant fan, which had swept through her town and changed her life. She looked to the sky anxiously even though it was winter. Scenes flashed through her mind like streaming data.

Whomp, whomp, whomp – what was that? She sat up realizing her fan wasn’t on and the streetlight was not shining in her window. “Mommy!”

She heard her brother run down the stairs. She waited for someone to come get her. She wasn’t allowed out of her room at night. The womping noise got louder. “Mommy!” The giant fan sounded closer. Her bedroom door flew open.

“Julie! Julie!” A hand grabbed her in the pitch darkness. She grabbed her mother’s arm and they ran out of the room together. The giant fan was drowning out any other noise. Her father was making windmill motions with his arm as he directed them towards the bathroom. They didn’t have a basement.

The house was groaning and protesting. Her ears popped. The windows shattered all over her and she felt stinging on her head and shoulder.

“Jesus help us!” her mom screamed.

Her father was pushing them toward the bathroom as the giant fan was trying to suck them out of the open windows. He kept pushing them forward and the fan kept sucking them backwards. She couldn’t breath. Her father gave one more giant push. Her mom fell into the bathroom with her.

“Daddy!” He was nowhere. Thirty seconds later it was over. Her mom ran out of the bathroom yelling for her husband. She came back and sat in a glass-covered chair. She had found Julie’s daddy.

Julie never saw him again. The giant fan had taken him to heaven, never to return, at least that’s what her mom said. She slowly walked up to the Lilac bush, looked around knowing it probably wouldn’t be there. She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was the property owner. What was left of Julie’s family had moved far from this house to a place with no tornados or lilacs.

“I put a new one down there because the old one had disintegrated. I hope you don’t mind.” He said.

Julie looked under the lowest branch. She noticed the beginnings of Lilac buds were starting to take shape. She saw it. A drum stick, a lock of her hair, a Lego creation and her mother’s perfume were sitting in a new wood box with clear plastic in the front.

Her mom had found her dad that night. He had a branch from a huge tree stuck through his heart. Her mom found him holding onto the Lilac bush, taking one last smell.

Julie had been looking for her father most of her life. He was there and then he flew away – didn’t even give her a hug goodbye. She stared at the box for a while longer, got on the ground and wrapped her body around the tree.

“Goodbye Daddy.”