Friday, May 15, 2009

JADE'S FEAR

One-Minute Writer Friday Fiction: Water

Write a brief bit of fiction that involves water in some way.




JADE'S FEAR

Jade looked at the babbling brook before her and a shiver went down her lithe body. Unable to override the fear growing inside her, she had left all pretense of glamour slide away with her concentration. "I cannot do this," she whispered under her breath.

Of course, from her studies about Earth, she know the planet was made up of mostly water, but the elders had told her it would be possible to stay away from water. Her home planet, Jadocan, was a dry, desert-like planet with very little natural water. It rarely rained on Jadocan, so water was pumped up through the planet's core and store in cavernous pond-like structures for later use.

When Jade was a small child, she had accidentally fallen into one of the storage ponds on an expedition with her guardians. Thrashing about in the cold liquid prison, Jade almost lost her life, only being rescued in just the nick of time. Since that experience, Jade had come to fear water, even the tiny trickles from waterspouts during a rare rain shower.

Years of talking with the elders and trying to fight her fears, Jade really thought she had at least overcome what she called "a flaw" in her character. Actually, she had pushed her fear of water deep down inside of herself and she refused to think about it.

But now, standing before the modest creek, her fears came slamming back into place and Jade was frozen to the spot. She closed her eyes and tried to calm the phobia before it devoured her whole.

After many minutes of slow deep breathing, Jade opened her eyes and looked beyond the rushing water. Making her decision, she straightened her spine and with determination started walking north along the creek bank.

"There's more than one way to deal with this fear," she thought to herself. "I'll just follow the water until I find a logical place to cross over. Who knows? Maybe I'll come to the town without ever having to cross the water."

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