Teens > Summer 2008 Teen Writing Contest
Summer 2008 Teen Writing Contest
Grades 9-12 Prose Runner-Up: "Between Two Worlds" by Gwendolyn Hopman
The moon flashed through the trees above us, casting a silver light over our pathway. We stumbled through the damp forest and sodden leaves, fear spurring us on. A humid mist swept across our pathway, reflecting the despair we felt so ardently inside. My legs stung with the effort to keep moving, trying desperately to fight my overwhelming feeling of despair. But in my weakened state I could feel its grip clenching and slowly destroying my hope. Dogs barking could be heard, echoing through the air, as well as voices shouting my name.
“Sylvia.” They called. Lewis cast me an inquiring look and I knew he too was wondering if our love was really worth this. I smiled reassuringly and grasp his hand tighter, remembering what he had told me just the day before. “Our love binds us together, we must embrace and acknowledge that.”
My father had never intended for me to fall in love. My heart was not mine to give. I was to be bought, like some Arabian lamp or Portuguese rug, to whom ever bids the highest amount. As the daughter of the King of Savare, a small province off the coast of Spain, I had the position in society that was desirable to a man, but not the money. This made me a very valuable item to my father, an object that could gain him great wealth. I was not a child to my father, I was an object that belonged to him and was his to treasure or to trade.
When I first met Lewis, I did not intend to fall in love with him. I was infatuated with his good looks and muscular body but no desire beyond that. We met at the grand masquerade, a wonderful opportunity for me to hide from being a princess and be just another masked face for one night. I was both startled and flattered when he asked me to dance. We weaved our way through the couples, smiling at each other's masked faces. He struck up a conversation and I found him to be both intelligent and kind. He invited me out to the balcony and I agreed.
As we stood out on the balcony, the moon showering us with light, he asked me to remove my mask and I reluctantly agreed. I removed my cherry blossom mask to reveal my beautiful face and he removed his to reveal his young face. Both of us gasped. I recognized him as the stable boy who cared for our horses and he recognized me as the King's daughter. We both looked away shyly, shocked and disappointed. Both of us left the balcony silently, knowing that what we wished was impossible to have.
My bare foot caught on a root and I tumbled to the muddy ground, bringing Lewis with me. Dirt clung to my white gown and my hand slashed on a branch. Blood appeared on my pale skin and dripped down my arm. I turned to Lewis tearfully.
“I can't go on. This is too difficult.” Lewis pulled me to my feet.
“Let the passion that we feel toward each other drive you onward. Cling to our love. Its all we have in this world.” I stumbled, clutching his shoulder for support. I could hear howling and snarling coming closer, and the shouts growing louder. Lewis looked at me. “Please, this is our only chance of happiness.” I nodded and taking his hand continued to run.
Although we had done all in our power to stay apart, fate forced us together. We first spoke again one late summer day, after dinner. I was wandering through the garden when I came upon Lewis sitting on a bench, reading. He stood respectfully when I walked up to him and blushed. I grinned and sat beside him on the bench. There was a slight pause. Finally he asked, “Can I show you something?” I nodded.
Taking my hand he pulled me through the garden to a small door, which led to a tool shed. Pushing through the cluttered, dark shed he led me to another doorway. We ran up the staircase it led to and out to a balcony. The balcony was suspended above fields of wheat, which stretched on for miles and blended together into one incredible golden mass of dazzling color. The balcony was decorated with flowers of oranges, yellows and reds. They grew in pots on the floor, and stretched up the columns, coating the walls and dangling from the ceiling. I gasped, taking in the marvelous splendor. Lewis seemed pleased with my pleasure. Taking a seat in two chairs, Lewis and I talked until the sun had sunk far beneath the horizon and darkness had fallen in a blanket of glittering stars. Conversation flowed easily and both of us seemed content to stay there forever.
Somehow my father hadn't found out about Lewis and my friendship and as time past it grew stronger. But the passing of time led me to realize how much more Lewis meant to me then just a friend.
Then, one day, we went for a ride together. We took off at a gallop across the fields surrounding my father's house. Soon it began to rain. The rain drenched my white dress in a matter of seconds and soon my hair was dripping. Lewis looked up at the sky and opened his mouth, receiving the drops.
“I've always loved the rain!” He shouted over the thunder. When we reached the stables I watched as Lewis unsaddled our horses and put them in their stalls. Then he ducked into the rain and began to run up to the house. I stood still for a second, and then followed him out, yelling;
“This will not do! I can't take this day after day of seeing you and not being able to tell you. Our position in society has forced us apart, but I'm prepared to defy society, defy my father, defy humanity if it means that we can be together. That night on the balcony, and that day in the garden and all the days that I have ever been near you has made me feel so…inconceivably alive. You are the one I desire.” Lewis turned to face me.
“Me?” He asked. I nodded. “I don't know what it is about you that makes you so different from other pompous rich girls, but you have bewitched me and I cannot possibly imagine a life with anyone else except you.” We raced into each other's arms, and I felt myself lifted from the ground. My white dress clung to my body, his arms wrapped tightly around me. Our lips touched and we began to kiss.
Lewis and I reached a stream, in our frantic dash through the woods and splashed into the chilling waters. Lewis' hand clung to mine as the water covered our heads and stung our skin like a thousand icy raindrops. My breath froze in my lungs and I would probably have drowned if Lewis weren't there to hoist me on the opposite bank.
As we crawled feebly up the bank, I reached forward and grabbed on a tree root to heave myself onward, where I lay breathless on the bank, my eyes closed. Suddenly I heard cries of frustration and anguish and opened my eyes to see men grabbing Lewis and tying his hands. I began to scramble to my feet, when two massive arms took hold of my body and pulled me away from Lewis.
“Sylvia.” A voice said, as it trembled with anger. I turned to see my father approaching us. He was livid! “How could you? My only daughter, run away with this filthy piece of scum!” I frantically kicked the man holding me, in a struggle to run to Lewis. My father approached Lewis and punched him in the face. Blood appeared in Lewis' mouth and foamed down his neck. Tears ran down my face as I tried to break free. “I hope you realize the fate you have given this man, Sylvia. You have been the main component to his ruin. For the offense caused to my family, he shall be killed.” I struggled against my capture, crying for his mercy. Lewis looked up and spoke through the blood.
“There is nothing you can do to divide Sylvia and me. Our love goes deeper to the immortal soul and shall remain with us forever.”
And then it happened in a matter of three horrible, inconceivable, shocking seconds. I broke free from my capture and ran at Lewis, my father leapt forward and drew his blade, and with a sickening sound my father slashed Lewis' neck. Blood appeared and his eyes grew wide. And then he was on the ground, dead. Screams and curses issued from my mouth as I flung myself at Lewis, crying into his bloody chest. Screams and curses that echoed through the air and eventually fell in absolute, icy, dead silence.
