October Sky

Introduction Prologue I looked beyond the clear dome that sheltered and protected our people for almost two decades. My eight-year-old face pressed against the glass in astonishment. I was thankful that our unit happened to be at the edge of the West Division. I could observe space forever. It boggled my young mind that our dome could levitate. I would examine the planet, Earth. It was the size of a standard grapefruit from the distance. Earth looked depressing. I was glad I didn’t live there.…

New Mexico A cold torrent of wind hit me with such force that it seemed to go right through my bones. It was already freezing outside, but the goose bumps that covered every inch of my body after seeing such a breathtaking view made it seem much colder. Cloudcroft is a small mountain town in New Mexico and the kind of place that you would see on a post card. It continues to look and feel perfect year round. There are large looming trees that seem as tall as skyscrapers and mountains with snow…

The river constantly circulates, causing fury in the water that only He can calm. Water, a loving and all-knowing presence that is not shaken by the storms of life. Gray skies circle the sandy beach. The gray color is angry, infuriated, anxious for what is to come. But the blazing orange and red horizon captures the gray skies and turns them into something truly beautiful. A breathtaking sunset frames the ocean, praising Him with it's spectacular colors and swirls. The bright sun comes up…

The weather was fair and the last rays from the sun where casting across the sky. Billy was walking in the park at night when he heard branches snapping in the bushes. Suddenly a massive creature lunged out at him slashing its claws… Billy awoke with a yelp. ‘‘just a dream,’’ he said to himself. It was a nice saturday morning in his cozy little home located in newton kansas. He ate breakfast (which consisted of pancakes and scrambled eggs), got dressed, brushed his teeth and then turned on the…

It was cold outside. Stars were falling, ice and snow, swirling little pearls that were ripping holes into the darkness of the vast, vast sky. His naked feet felt cold against the frozen ground. Swift like a storm he danced through the night, like the shadow, that he was once taught to be. (Forced to be.) The streets were empty, everyone seemed to be sleeping in their beds, far from cold, far from worry. He was the only person left; The only one that was still willing to walk. Perhaps, he…

The sun shined bright above as I roared down the dirt path past fields filled with crops. The wind tore through my hair, whipping it back and forth. I had never experienced such a rush. My dad decided that it was time I road a four-wheeler by myself down the dirt road past his house. It was such a nice day out and a day that I would never forget. Thankfully, that feeling has never left me. Ever since then, I’ve realized that riding by myself opened up a new side to me. The rush pushed me…

The meaning of the golden dust is sickness, like the golden dust, sickness spreads and slowly kills you. Sickness will never go away and will just keep coming back. Sickness may seem harmless at first just like the flu but when you become deathly ill you will have no idea why. This shows how that sickness is just like the golden dust. First of all, the meaning of the golden dust is sickness, it symbolizes it just like sickness can spread from person to person or animal to animal. It spreads…

Communicating with each other in their native tongue, it leaves for a rather loud afternoon. Now, the sights. You open your eyes, immediately captivated and awestruck. Mostly all you see is various greens, tangled in the spider web of epiphytes. Above you, the sky is checkered with canopy trees, in front of you, the forest is dense with shrubs and vines, fighting to survive with so little sunlight. Fortunately, you are not alone in this experience. The black howler monkeys throw their bodies on…

It was a frosty day as a young man treked outside into the dull, bleak streets of Dun Laoghaire, Ireland. He had a sort of a somber resolve about him, as if he was bearing a cumbersome avoirdupois. The intrepid tap of his footfalls could be heard moving down the streets. His destination soon came into sight, a two story brick building. You could see that the building had been there for an extensive period, since it kind of perched like a person who didn’t quite apperceive how to poise right. You…

From the distance I saw lights spinning in the dusk, I heard a tune as if someone was waiting anxiously for a jack in the box to pop out, and the smell of fresh popcorn found its way to my nose. At age nine these sights and sounds were part of movies and television, but now almost ten years later I was heading to my first American fair. Jitters that seemed to be stuck in my lower stomach while I restlessly waited in a long line to enter the fairgrounds resembled the feelings I had the first…