Leah the Cheetah

 

It was hard for Maria to watch Leah as she ran. From the moment the gun went bang she was a blur, racing as fast as she could, which was pretty fast, around the track. Sometimes, it seemed like she was on fire, literally. She was a rocket. She was the fastest of the girls in her year, her age group and the school. She won gold during every cross country race and went all the way to State, and often Nationals to compete in the sport she loved.

 

But while running was Leah's passion, because of how great she was at it, the other students would call her a cheater. It hurt her to be called a cheater, when it was all hard work, effort and natural talent. Her mother, Maria knew how much it hurt Leah to be called that. She worked hard to be good at her running, to be the best. So when people said, constantly at times, that she was a cheater, it hurt her.

 

One night, after another running race, Maria and Lah sat on the lounge together. Again, the other participants and some of the onlookers had accused her of being a cheater. "Ok, Leah." Her mother looked her daughter meaning fully in the eye, her voice rich with a strong Spanish accent. "What is it Mama?" Leah looked at her mother, the promise of waiting tears in her eyes. "They say you are a cheater, yes?" Leah nodded. "But you are." Leah pulled back, her eyes wide as she stared at her mother in shock. "Not you too Mama!" "No." Maria continued calmly. "Take the word cheater. Rearrange the letters a little bit and replace the 'r' with an 'h'." Leah looked confused, but to Maria's relief, no longer hurt. "Cheetah." Maria clarified, smiling at her own cleverness. "You, my pet are a cheetah." Leah smiled, understanding now.

 

"They may call you a cheater." Maria said. "So let them. Because you know, in your own heart that you are a cheetah. The fastest of them all." Leah smiled at her mother. "And no one, " She added, stroking Leah's short black hair. "Can tell you differently."

The Vision

Reece and I had been living in the desert in the middle of nowhere for roughly three years, Recce for longer. We sat in our makeshift living room as we often did of an afternoon when Reece had another vision. He closed his eyes, deep in concentration. That was how I could tell what was happening. "What do you see Reece?" I asked calmly, my hand on his knee. "I see somewhere else, a different environment. We're there. I think we're looking for something." He explained. They went to bed early that night and set out early the next morning on the first real adventure they'd had in years.

 

It was quite a trek before we finally reach the place Reece had seen in his vision. A lush, green bush much different from the desert scenery we'd had for the last three years. "What is it that we're supposed to find Reece?" I asked as we walked along the leaf strewn bush track. "I'm not sure. I didn't see that part." He said, sounding apologetic. "Maybe if we keep going along this track, it'll lead us to where we're supposed to go." I suggested. Reece nodded his agreement and we continued on.

 

It was a while before Reece recognised anything from his vision. But for once, I didn't mind the walk. This bush had an awful lot of trees which meant a great deal of shade and it was cool. A welcome, refreshing change from the stinking heat of the middle of the desert. All of a sidden though, Reece stopped dead in his tracks. I had to back up a few paces to reach him again. "What is it Reece?" I asked, looking at him, my intrigue growing with every passing moment. "This." He gestured to our surroundings. "I recognise this. All of this. It was the first thing I saw in my vision." To my right was a huge tree that provided lots of shade. The dirt track continued, still leaf strewn and not to far ahead was a fence and light. We would soon be escaping from the shade. There was tufts of boldly coloured, vibrant green grass near the gate. Perhaps the brightest plant I'd seen in a long time.

 

We kept on going, pausing at the gate. It turned out to e a short, downhill stretch without shade. The shady path on the other side of the sun exposed hill was quite windy compared to the path would been following earlier. As we went on, further into the bush, the air grew denser, damper. It turned out that had been a clue as to what we'd find at the end of the bush track.

 

At the end of the bush track was a beautiful, picturesque oasis of sorts. A great pool of water with a waterfall constantly replenishing it from the far wal off where they were standing. Seeing as the bush walk had been unexpectedly long, we decided to take a rest there and so we sat down, watching the waterfall for a while. The loud crashing sound of the water rushing down and hitting the oasis.

 

We must have fallen asleep there. Given it was a peaceful, refreshing, cool place it wouldn't have been hard. But all of a sudden, Bot Reece and I woke with a start at what appeared to be a gasp. Rather strangely, a person had emerged from the water. They spotted us and, startled I suppose, disappeared beneath the water again. Moments later, they appeared again, this time at the waters edge. They rested their arms on the ground. supporting themselves.

 

"Hi." They began. The voice was that of a woman. She couldn't have been much older than her twenties I guessed. "Hi." Reece said, making the first move toward the stranger. I followed cautiously behind him, careful not to stray too far behind. Reece smiled at the stranger, friendly. It seemed he wasn't scared at all. "I'm Reece and this is Regina." The straner extended her hand to Reece. "Georgia." She smiled and they shook.

 

Reece made room as she got out of the oasis. "Have you two been here long?" "A while." I spoke up now, suddenly assured she wasn't a threat or something to be wary of. "Around three years I think. Either way, we've been ot here so long we kind of lost track of times." Georgia smiled, nervous. "This is going to sound like a really crazy question. but do you two have any powers?" "No." Reece answered, his tone friendly, soothing. "It's not crazy, and yes, we do both of us. I can tell the future, and Regina here can fly." Georgia breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. "Oh good." She laughed. "Whats yours?" I asked, curiosity taking over. "Me?" Georgia smiled. "I can breathe underwater."

 

To Be Continued...

 

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NOTE: This story is a continuation of 'A New Life'.

Transition

Pearl stood at the top of the stairs, looking down. She was unsure and nervous. "Come on." Her brother beckoned to her from a few steps away, holding his hand out toward her. Those stairs looked awfully steep and the ground uneven. She didn't want to fall. She and her brother, Jackson were taking a leisurely bush walk and they were nearly at the end.

While Jackson was now 24, Pearl was only 18 and had graduated from high school only months ago. She was still finding her feet, figuring out who she was and what was next. Where she fit into the world and what she'd do with the rest of her life. It was scary, daunting. All she'd known for the past thirteen years was school, the routine, the pressure, the requirements and responsibilities. Now, she'd been kicked out so to speak into a scary world that she didn't know anything about. Suddenly she was an adult and had far more responsibilities then she had before. She was her own person, not the child of her parents. She was accountable for herself now. She couldn't hide anymore. This was it. There was no denying it anymore. This was Pearl's time. Her time to shine.

This step, Pearl realised, was kind of like a metaphor. A metaphor for stepping out of one part of her life and into the next. Jackson, as he held his hand toward her was symbolic of the support she had. It was a transition. A transition between two different phases of her life. She might be nervous, but everyone was when they were faced with something new. That was completely normal. It was ok to be nervous. It just wasn't ok to give in to the nerves, the fear. You had to rise above it and keep on going. Because the world wouldn't pause for you to get back up and get your breath back.

Pearl to a breath before she reached for Jackson's hand. 'This was it.' She thought. He leaned toward her and took her hand in his own, clutching it tight. She took another breath before she stepped down onto the first step. The first step of a new phase in her life. It would probably get easier from here, she realised. Because it was that first step that was always the hardest. Sure, she'd have her ups and down, some bad times and some good. But that was just like everyone else. The difference was that she knew now to embrace every moment instead of fearing bad things may come of it. Because by embracing, you were living. And now, Pearl realised, it was time to live.

True Aussie

Austin had been born and had grown up in Australia. He'd been to Sydney countless times on Australia Day, battled the crowds and enjoyed the festivals all around the big city, with a huge explosion of fireworks come night.

Austin was in his 20's now and back in Sydney for another Australia Day. As he looked out over Sydney Harbor from his spot on the balcony of a bar on one of the top stories of a tall building, Austin began to wonder what made someone a true Australian. It was an age old debate that had been going on for a long time. But it really spiked up around this time, around Australia Day. Some said that you weren't a true Aussie of you didn't get completely plastered with alcohol in celebration of the country, others claimed if you didn't know Australia's history, you were un-Australian. But Austin wondered, was there really any way you couldn't be Australian, or a true Australian as some people said.

Austin didn't think that any of those factors even contributed to whether you were a true Australian or not. Everyone had a different view of what, to them, made you a true Australian. Every single person's opinion differed. Therefore was there any real, exact model of what made a True Aussie? Given the evidence, Austin thought not, but everyone's view differs. So what do you think?

Paradise

Bridget was a girl who had to have lots of mefdical treatment. Medical treatment as any other 15 year old girl would, that she hated. Her mother had tried countless strategies to help Bridget cope, but up until now, none had worked. The day that Bridget got an iPod and discovered music was the same day that all of that changed.

That day's appointment was dental. When it was her turn, Bridget kindly asked the doctors to give her a moment, telling them she'd give the thumbs up when she was ready. Bridget's mother watched on anxiously from a chair along the floor as did the doctors, but they were filled with curiosity and amusement. The whole room watched in silence as Bridget prepared herself.

First, she took the new iPod from her bag and went to the dentist's chair in the middle of the room. Then once she was comfortable laying down, she stuck each of the ear pieces gently into her ears and after scanning her iPod for a short moment, hit play. Then Bridget layed her arms at her sides, the iPod resting weightlessly in her left palm and closed her eyes. Next, she took three deep breaths. There was a few moment's silence before Bridget slowly opened her mouth and raised an arm not too far from the chair, giving a thumbs up to the doctors. The signal that she was ready to start.

At first, all Bridget could see was black. Then slowly, an image began to appear. She was alone on a boat. Behind her, not too far away, was land and ahead was the wide, open ocean. The boat began to drive forward. As it sailed away, Bridget imagined the land she was slowly leabving behind to be her problems and her fears. Problems and fears she was going far away from. Once the land disappeared, Bridget looked ahead, at what was to come. After a long while of travelling on the naked waters, Bridget spotted an island. The island, she realised was paradise. An escape. Her escape paradise.
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Hope you all had a great christmas and New Year. Welcome to 2013 and all the best for whatever lies ahead this year.