Belle Vie: Beautiful Life

I pasted on my smile and changed my voice to happy and enthused.  Just a normal day, trying to keep it together.  The worst was, I didn’t even know why I felt like I was falling apart.  I had an amazing family who loved me no matter what and friends who I knew would always be there for me; my true friends, the fake ones had been rooted out a long time ago.  I had a fantastic support system and a very good life.  So why did I feel the need to fake smile?  Why couldn’t my happy “hello” be genuinely happy?  It felt almost selfish and ungrateful to be feeling this way when there were so many amazing people pouring themselves into me. Work was never the same two days in a row.  Being a barista wasn’t ever consistent, but that’s how I liked it.  I loved my customers, both the old and the new.  I loved making different drinks and smiling to myself as I put together how each customer's drink showed me a part of their personality.  The ever changing customers and the growing business ex

What are you most afraid of?  Well, whatever it is, I’ve learned that your fear will never outweigh your strength.  I was always afraid of what others thought of me.  By letting my fears conquer me, I tied down my own wings.  I prevented myself from being who I was truly meant to be because I wanted the approval of others and was too scared to try new things for fear of looking stupid. My name is Kaelyn and this is how I flew. I had turned down an invitation to go dancing with some friends….again.  You’d think that by now, my friends would have just given up asking me to do things since I always said no.  I honestly don’t know how I even had friends. I rounded a corner and ran straight into an older gentleman.  “Oh I am so sorry!” I said frantically.  Don’t text and walk people, it’s really not a good idea. “Don’t worry about it.” The older man replied kindly, offering a polite smile.  There was something different about this smile though.  It wasn’t forced, it was ge

 This is a section of a novel that I've been working on for a while. Hope you enjoy it! Past My parents had always been a bit ‘over the top’ as compared to normal adults.  While most kids would go on a field trip to the zoo, my field trip would be getting to work with the lion tamer.  Oh, did I not mention that my parents were trapeze artists with a traveling circus?  Yeah, I was raised in a circus; literally, not metaphorically. My dad was destined to be a trapeze artist from the time he was born.  I never met my grandmother to confirm my father’s claim, but whenever I saw him perform, I knew it to be true.  He was Alexander Damien Grey, one of the worlds most famous trapeze artists.  So when he met Maria Garcia Romero, the Spanish acrobat, it just made sense. My mom hadn’t always been with the circus the way my dad had.  As a matter of fact, when she was younger she wanted to be a chef.  It’s funny how fate turned the little Spanish cook into the Spanish acrobat. 

10 minutes…. Time is a strange thing.  It can change and twist and destroy. 9 minutes…. It ticks away slowly and once it is gone, it can never come back. 8 minutes…. Many people don’t see time as precious. 7 minutes…. But what they don’t realize is that once their time has run out, there is no getting it back. 6 minutes…. Time cannot be reversed.  Time cannot be regained. 5 minutes…. Time is a bottomless pit.  You will continue falling for eternity, never able to go back, and never ending. 4 minutes…. Time continues to tick. 3 minutes…. Tick….tock….tick….tock. 2 minutes…. Life is short.  Tick….tock. 1 minute…. Times up

Beauty is something that all people view differently, and me?  Well, I’m staring right at the thing that I consider most beautiful.  You’re either reading this through a screen on a kindle or on the pages of a real book.  Yes, I can see you.  You beautiful human.  You beautiful, intelligent human. What do I look like, you might ask?  Well, that all depends on your imagination.  Your version of beauty could be different from someone else's.  That’s what makes you special.  I can be whatever you want me to be.  Tall, short, skinny, fat.  Totally shredded or even a skinny thing.  Though I personally prefer tall and shredded. How can I see you through the pages of a book?  When you read, your mind becomes one with the words on the page.  I see your mind and the beauty of it.  And through your mind, I see your physical appearance.  Ah, you beautiful creature.  But I know, that once you close the book, and your mind is taken out of the words, I won’t see you until you open it ag

The three words on the paper haunted me.  Who was I?  My mind worked hard to think about every detail since the moment I had come into existence.  I thought about things I had thought were unimportant.  Did I have fingers and toes?  What did my face feel like?  How long was my hair?  I probably looked like an idiot as I felt around my face trying to identify features.  I felt two eyes, a nose, and a mouth.  My hair, I felt, was, as people called it, shaggy.  I couldn’t identify the color with touch, so I left that detail alone.  I had five toes on each foot, and five fingers on each hand.  I looked long and hard at my skin.  Yes, I did have skin and it wasn’t transparent, it was tanned.  I was human. I walked down the street in confidence for the next week, pleased that I had identified my species.  But I was still confused.  I hadn’t been able to identify myself as male or female.  And I still had no name.  I thought about naming myself, but then decided against it.  Everyon

Taking a deep breath I laid my head on the pillow and closed my eyes.  Just as I had expected, the nightmares came. I’d only recently arrived here, to this small rural town on the Eastern side of the United States of America.  At least I thought it was the Eastern side.  Where I had lived before I didn’t know.  I just kind of appeared one day, wandering the streets.  People always asked where I came from and I was never able to give them an answer.  Some of the residents tried to be polite and asked me about my past in an attempt to befriend me.  Who were my parents?  As far as I knew I didn’t have any.  I simply was.  Did I have any siblings or a significant other?  If I didn’t remember any parents, I definitely had no clue about the answer to that question.  Was I planning on staying?  I didn’t know anyone in the whole world as far as I knew.  There wasn’t really anywhere else for me to go. This time in my nightmare there was a creature of fire, fighting a creature

Depression has always been a part of my life.  Ever since I was a child, it was something I struggled with.  I thought that I would never be able to be happy.  To feel normal and emotionally balanced.  Then I met him.  Well, I literally ran into him. My doctor had suggested running as an activity to both keep me active and to help clear my head before the day kicked into full gear.  Running in the morning had become routine for me.  I found that I enjoyed the fresh crisp air and the blood rushing through my body as it worked hard.  I was running my usual route, when I looked over to see the ducks on the pond as I passed.  In that small second I ran into a man who was looking down at his phone.  We both tumbled to the ground in a mess of colors and scrapes. “I am so sorry!” I said, standing up. “Don’t worry about it.  I should have probably been watching where I was going.” I gave a little smile, it was the best I could do under the circumstances.  I’d never really thought

“I never stood a chance, did I?” “That’s the sad part—you did once.” The feeling of emotion was evident as the two spoke.  Even though they couldn’t see each other, they felt what the other felt.  They were very good at expressing emotion. “Then why did you make me say that stupid stuff that ruined everything?” “Me?  That was all you.  I even suggested better things, but no.  You just had to go with what you thought was right.  If only you’d listen to me.” “I do listen to you, but sometimes I have much better ideas.” “Sometimes?  You mean you think you have better ideas all the time.  If I had eyes, I’d roll them.” “Look, you're the wise one, I’m the feeling one.  That means that you do what’s right, and I do what feels good at the time no matter the consequences.” The other felt pity for its counterpart, even though the situation was entirely its own fault “Ah!  I hurt so much!” Mind sighed.  “That’s what happens when you get broken, Heart.  You hurt.