It was evening when I walked out of my apartment and headed to the nearby trail which went through a humble patch of woods. The evening air was damp and chillier than usual as I trodded down the familiar dirt path and under the trees which were finally beginning to show signs of life again with the return of spring.
Maybe I hadn't noticed it before, but fog had seemingly come out of nowhere and now filled the whole forest. Had this ever happened before? I pulled my jacket tighter around me to fight off the chill of fog and resisted the urge to look behind to see if someone or something was following me.
Foggy Woods by adeimantus on DeviantArt
Suddenly I found myself in a clearing without the spooky mist that permeated the forest. Where had this clearing come from? I couldn’t remember ever coming across it before.
A light to my left caught my eye and I turned to see a small fire and a person with bloodshot eyes feeding papers to the dying flames. His clothes were disheveled and he looked as if he hadn’t bathed in a week. I figured he was homeless and, shrugging it off, continued down the path.
I came to a stream of black running water and grimaced. Was there a pollution spill from upstream? I searched for some sizable rocks and threw them in the stream to form a path to get to the other side. After some haphazard balancing I made it across and turned to look at both the stream and the homeless man with his papers. What was going on?
“I’ve been working on that paper for too long…” I murmured, rubbing my eyes as I continued walking. I’d turn back around soon before it got too dark.
I opened my eyes and saw for a fleeting glimpse a shrouded figure with a cap gliding away from me down the path. Okay, now that was really creepy. Shuddering, I turned around and made my way back across the stream, away from the crazy person, and back to my apartment.
Once safely inside I turned on the light and yelped. The head of my department was relaxing on my sofa!
“Um…. can I offer you some tea?” I stammered, unsure of what to do. I had definitely been working too hard. These hallucinations were getting ridiculous, but I might as well run with them since I had obviously gone insane.
“Certainly.” He smiled pleasantly, standing to extend his hand to me. I took it, shaking his hand with nervous enthusiasm.
I put on the kettle and brought out a variety of different teabags on a tray and brought it out to the coffee table.
“So, er, Dr. Mickey…. what brings you here today?” I asked uncertainly.
“Well, I wanted to see how you were doing with your Capstone paper and project. I like to check on all my students this close to graduation to make sure they’re still doing alright,” he replied cheerfully, selecting a bag of Earl Grey tea.
“Uh-huh…” I said, retreating to the kitchen to pour two cups of boiling water. I brought the cups back and gave him the one I reserved for guests - a plain green ceramic mug. I kept the Nightmare Before Christmas mug for myself.
“I’m particularly concerned about my students’ mental health.” Dr. Mickey stated bluntly, steeping his tea. I gulped. Did my craziness shine like a beacon for the whole world to see?
“Is that so? Is there anything concerning about me?” I asked, opening a packet of Jasmine Green tea.
“Well, after the sights you came across in those woods, I was hoping you could tell me,” he replied cheerfully, a congenial grin on his face.
All cordiality dropped from my demeanor. “How do you know about that?” I asked, startled.
He chuckled good-heartedly, blowing the steam off from his mug before carefully sipping the tea. “Be honest with me, now. Hasn’t this semester taken quite the toll on you?”
I bit my lip and remained silent. Then I sighed and held my head in my hands. “Yes sir, it has. I’ve been trying my hardest, but sometimes it seems like I’m never going to get all this work done and that I’m never going to graduate.”
I heard another slurp from the mug. “I’m glad you’re finally being honest with yourself. For those visions you saw while out on your walk were none other than your repressed feelings about this semester. The dishevelled figure feeding papers to a dying fire was your own passion slowly dwindling with each paper you’ve churned out. That black stream was none other than the gallons of coffee you’ve consumed this semester in order to get through your assignments. And the shrouded figure was what you fear is running away from you - your graduated self.”
I stared at him in disbelief, stunned. “Well, Dr. Mickey, does this mean I’m not going to graduate at all? Are those visions four years of accumulating failure?”
“Quite the contrary,” he grinned. “You’ve admitted the truth to me, as scary as it was. For your honesty and determination, I will give you this. Use it wisely.”
I held out my hand and felt the smooth paper of my diploma slip into my palm….
… and then I awoke in my chair, the dim rays of dawn filtering in through the blinds.
I looked at my computer screen and sighed, rubbing my fingers to try and remember the silky feel of that diploma.
Oh well. Guess it's time for another pot of coffee.
Author's Note:
This is a much more modern (and college-ized) version of 'How Cormac Mac Art Went to Faery.' In the original story, King Cormac trades his family for a magic bough that brings happiness to all when it is shaken. After a while he misses his family so dearly that he goes off into the mists to find them. The mists transport him to Faery, where he beholds many curious sites of strange things and people doing stranger things. Eventually he comes to the dwelling of the King and Queen of Faery and, after telling him why he has come, they praise his honesty and give him his family back, along with a few other goodies such as a cow that produces lots of milk and a pig that regenerates its meat if its bones are kept after eating.
Graduation for me is fast approaching and I feel that after so much toil, so much hard work and tears, that I have earned my diploma more than anything. Of course, I didn't use the real name of the head of my department, but I felt the interaction I portrayed of the story with him was much like Cormac's interaction with the King - and hopefully my honesty will be met with due reward, too.
Bibliography:
Title: How Cormac Mac Art Went to Faery
Book: More Celtic Faery Tales
Author: Joseph Jacobs
Year: 1895
Great job Danni. I enjoyed reading this story. I think a lot of seniors could relate to this story. I know I can, and I am not even graduating yet. I have taken capstone though, and I know how crazy that class can get with the workload and writing that last paper is the worst. In the end, it is all worth it. Now for the story, I love how decriptive you were with the things the main character was seeing. I got a good sense or picture of what was going on. The picture you placed in the story was great as well. I could picture him walking and seeing the weird river and a figures walking past him. I like that you added the element that all his hallucinations were just repressed feelings. As a Psychology major I got a real kick out of that. I liked the ending because it all ended up being a dream. I found it quite funny how you ended with him going to drink another pot of coffee. Can totally relate to this. Overall, good job. I hope to read more.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, awesome job on this story. I really loved reading it, especially because I feel like I (like many other seniors) can totally relate to that feeling. It seems like as this semester has dwindled down, it becomes so much harder to stay motivated and finish the race, so to speak. I really liked that you were able to attribute each of her hallucinations to the different struggles that so college students seem to deal with. Overall, I think you did a great job! Looking forward to reading some of your other portfolio stories!
ReplyDeleteWhat can I say about your story? I loved it! I loved how you put the story into a modern day students perspective. I'm sure every student can relate to this fear to differing degrees. I'm a Psychology major just like Brandy and I also enjoyed the little additions about repressed feeling and hallucinations, but that is something we've studied about in Abnormal Psychology classes.
ReplyDeleteAt first when I was reading your story, I thought you were going in the direction of the story about Little Red Riding Hood or possibly Alice in Wonderland theme, but toward the end I figured out that this was going to end up as a dream scenario. I was sitting on the edge of my seat for the whole story.
I really didn't see any grammatical or spelling errors. I liked the picture of the misty woods too. I thought it fit perfectly within your story. Good job to you and I look forward to reading more of your stories in the future.
Hey,
ReplyDeleteYour storytelling is great. You have created great imagery. The writing keeps your readers involved from beginning to end. I like you paragraph spacing and consistency. I pray that I have a capstone professor like yours. I am really nervous about taking my capstone. I enjoyed your story. Overall, you did a really great job. I look forward to reading something again.
Of course I had to read this story! With a title so relevant to the end of the semester, how could I not?! I think writing about this topic was a brilliant choice!
ReplyDeleteI was unsure how you were going to tie this story into one of the readings, but you did a fantastic job!
You're so great at putting in details into your story. I know I have problems not putting in enough detail into my stories, but you kill it! It's kind of awesome how little details really bring a story alive.
This story is so relatable, I love it! I think we've all been in this position before, and it looks likeI'm about to be in the same boat with finals coming up! When things get stressful I'll remember this story for reassurance!
You did such a great job with this story!
I want to start by saying this was such a great idea to write about. You put a great spin on the original story to make it more relatable to your readers. You did an amazing job of creating all of the scenes in this story. Your attention to detail made it very easy to envision everything that was happening throughout the entire story. The internal dialogue with Dr. Mickey was outstanding. It was such a clever way of having the protagonist really reflect and analyze what was actually happening since it is so easy to be consumed by the stress and work that comes with the final months of being in college. You did such a great job of accurately expressing all of the feelings that come with that stress. I really enjoyed the ending of this as well. Having it all just end up being that you fell asleep writing a paper really brought it full circle.
ReplyDeleteHi Danni. I think you wrote this story extremely well. Finals really do take a toll on people and a lot of times it does make you feel like you are starting to go crazy, and those study breaks are a must. You did a great job with the description of the forest, the homeless man burning his papers, the black smoke, and the stream. It really made your story easy to visualize. The dialogue is also really good- it draws the reader in and makes the story flow really well. I didn’t see some of those twists coming, though. Having the department chair sitting in the apartment was something I didn’t see coming, but it really added to the plot. The image of the forest that you chose to include also fits your story perfectly. It has an eerie feel and goes great with the events that happened in the forest.
ReplyDeleteOh man, this story was fantastic! From the beginning, I was wondering what was going to happen! The beginning made it instantly relatable; we've all been in that situation where we just seemingly can't write/type anymore. Especially around this time of year! The details were perfect throughout the story, from the black stream and rocks to the Earl Gray tea. Everything fit together so well, I just wanted to keep reading! This was one of the first stories I've read this semester that actually had me on the edge of my seat. I didn't know what was going to happen with the forest, and especially the dark figure running away. But the way you tied everything together with your head of the department and how he explained what each vision meant was so fitting. In the end, I think we can all relate to how the main character felt. All we want to do is get that diploma in the end! Great work!
ReplyDelete