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.

Our Island

Mason was the single father of a young, eight year old daughter, Kia. One day, when the weather outside was sunny and warm with a nice cool breeze and the air was fresh from the rain not long gone, Mason decided that today, they would climb a mountain.

When he'd been Kia's age, Mason's father had done the same with him. He'd climbed with him all the way to the mountain's top where you could see the whole city, right out to the ocean. And so he set out to do the same with Kia.


"No Dad!" She complained when Mason told Kia his plan. "I don't want to climb a mountain. Not now, not today, not ever!" Being quite tall, Mason had to kneel before he was at Kia's eye level. "Sweetie." He said, stroking her cheek. "Just give it a go. It will be worth it." He promised. "I suppose." Kia said reluctantly. "Well," Mason said, rising once again to his full height. Kia peered up at him as he continued to speak. "You don't know untill you try, do you?" "I guess not." She admitted.

So Kia and Mason climbed the mountain. When they reached the top, Mason knelt beside his daughter once again. This time, so that he'd be around her height. Mason pointed to an island far in the distance, over a vast patch of sea. "See that island there?" He asked. Kia squinted hard before answering. "Kind of." "That's our island." He told his daughter. Because that island had been in his family for years, and now it was he who owned it. "Really?" Kia gasped, looking skeptically at her father. "Yes." Mason grinned at his daughter who had the beginnings of a smile on her lips. "We can go there any time you like." He promised. "Even now?" Kia asked, excited suddenly. "Well maybe not today." Mason admitted. "But soon."

As Kia and Mason were coming back down the mountain, Mason looked at Kia, a big grin still on her face. "See?" He asked, grinning back at her. "You don't know until you try."

Pure Imagination

"What do you see Lucy?" Asked Rosalie. She and Charlotte leaned forward eagerly in anticipation of Lucy's answer. Lucy squeezed her eyes and concentrated. Hard. "I see a lake. Its shaded. There are lots of trees surrounding it and its lined with rocks. Kind of like a protective little fence. Its a little twisty, but at the end theres a pretty little bridge." Charlotte and Rosale looked at each other, smiling. She was doing it. Using her best abilities to her advantage.

The only thing was, Charlotte and Rosalie weren't there. Not really. No, Charlotte and Rosalie didn't exist. Only to Lucy. They were figments of her imagination. Though she was only 9, she was lonely and so she'd conjured Charlotte and Rosalie from her wondeful imagination and it was they who had become her friends. Despite being only figments of Lucy's imagination, Charlotte and Rosalie were very much their own people. They were unique in their own way.

Charlotte was a very serious, sophistaced girl who was determined, strong minded and was known to have a fiery temper on occassion. Her hair was a rich, deep milk chocolate brown and her eyes a piercing but demanding emerald green.

Rosalie on the other hand was very much a dreamy girly girl who loved pink. She was bubbly, loyal, encouraging and supportive. Her hair was an angelic, rich, yet natural blonde colour and her eyes a soft, shimmering sky blue.

Throughout their time together, both Charlotte and Rosalie had been encouraging Lucy to use the brilliant gift she had in her wonderful imagination. Charlotte practical as always saw it is a convinient, peaceful way to centre oneself and remain calm in difficult situations while Rosalie saw it as a reliable, luxurious means of escape from reality.

As time wore on however, Lucy grew up and matured and so Charlotte and Rosalie faded from existence, though the memories always remained. She remembered them and though they were mere figments of her imagination, Lucy often used the wise advice Charlotte had given her or looked back on the kind words Rosalie had said in times of need.

Later in life, Lucy became an author and, Charlotte and Rosalie served as inspiration for Lucy's most sucessful work. A series written on what their lives could have been like had they been real, living people and on the friendship they'd provided her with and the kinds of people Rosalie and Charlotte had been.

'This may seem a little strange,' Lucy wrote in the acknowledgments section of the first book in the Rosalie Charlotte Chronicles, 'but there are two people without whom this series would not have been possible. Charlotte and Rosalie were my imaginary friends during my childhood and they served as the principal inspiration for these chronicles.' "Because sometimes," Lucy said the words as she typed them on the page, "It is pure imagination which helps us through life's most difficult situations."