Today I found something I wrote for a school assignment from when I was in 3rd grade (that would be about 7 years ago; I was 8 or 9). I have no recollection of writing it, but it reflects my current style to some degree and as such was probably written right when I decided I really liked writing. Here it is:

It was a perfect liftoff.

 

The Water family had never been normal. When they were last heard from they said they were going back where they came from. They said it on October 13, 1960. They left that night. The shape of a house fell from the sky 5 days later, landing where it left the Earth 5 nights ago.

 

There was not one person who would go in. The house was previously for sale. Friends of the Waters' (the Thomases) moved in. Every real estate agent was too scared to go in the house so they moved in themselves.

 

Morgan (2 years old) crawled up the stairs to a lit attic. This light never seemed to turn off. Looking out at the stars Morgan cooed, "Ooo... Pretty lights..." while unknowingly pulling a light switch. There was a rumble. Screams came from downstairs and everything started to float. This caused more screams. Justin, who was not scared easily, had never been more freaked out in his short 9 year life. Jonathan Thomas (Mr. Thomas) dropped the pizza he had as a midnight snack. It never reached the ground.

 

After a little getting used to, living in space was normal life...just without neighbors! Exactly 5 days later the Thomases woke up to a cold much worse than a draft. They were on a planet far away from the sun. It was quite small. Mary Thomas yawned, "Who opened the window?", feeling cold as she awoke. They all realized they were on a planet far from Earth.

 

Justin checked out his new planet. He couldn't breathe anywhere in space, but here he could. He found a small house a few minutes away from his. Justin knocked on the door. It opened to reveal Troy Water. Behind him stood the rest of the Water family. Behind Justin was Morgan. Seeing Troy who she had looked up to as a hero made her cry in happiness. "Toy! Toy! Yay! Toy!" Until Justin opened his eyes.

 

He was in his bed. It was cold outside but it felt like home. He was very confused. "Was...it...a dream?" he whispered with his dry throat. He peered out of his bedroom window to see something that made him laugh and scream. Here he was, at his home...or at least that's what it meant to him...

It's quite short and has a few corny parts, and in general really has nothing on my current writing, but I was younger and not yet serious about writing, so I at least found it quite impressive for me to have written at that age. The concept, while probably not completely original, was new to me at the time, and the ending twist, while clumsily executed, would practically be worthy of the Twilight Zone if there had been more of a build-up.

If you didn't get it, the "at least that's what it meant to him" line was meant to suggest that Justin is on the little planet but has already come to see it as his home. It's intentionally ambiguous, unlike anything else I wrote in that period of my life. Speaking of which, I have a few more stories I wrote way back when that I might post in here sometime, if anyone's interested.

In any case, I'm considering taking this idea and fleshing it out into a longer story that I could perhaps enter in a writing contest. I have a few other ideas too (mostly "wouldn't it be cool if...?" ideas, like my latest "wouldn't it be cool if a psychologically damaged man fell in love with someone he had made up and had to come to terms with the fact that she wasn't real while going through therapy?") which I also plan to use as short stories at some point.

Anyway, I suppose I've been up long enough, I should get a few sleep cycles in before I have to get up for my college classes tomorrow. I'll have some kind of new entry up...eventually...