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Creative Writing Portfolio By Garrick Johnson 2020 fall semester

Table of contents Introduction Short Stories: • The Train • The Ancient Glade • The Darkness Sets In • A Ghoul with Asthma • Just a Good Old Fashion Spaceship Race • The Scientist Poems: • The Scientist • There is a lake • Haiku #1 • Haiku #2 • Haiku #3

Introduction This is my collection of some of the short stories and poems that I have written. A few of them probably need some explanation. Firstly, there’s the short story “The Train,” which is inspired by the sci-fi genre. This story was a lot of fun to write and hopefully it will be fun to read. The next short story is called “The Ancient Glade,” which is an attempt at making a medieval fantasy world. I love world building and this story has a lot of that. This one as well was fun to write and is a lot different than “The Train”. The one after “The Ancient Glade” is a writing I called “The Darkness Sets In,” it’s kind of on the poetic side, but I included it in the short story section because it doesn’t rhyme or follow the standard poem layout. It has a repeating phrase that goes throughout the story and the meaning of the phrase shifts by the end of the of it. It’s an interesting method of story-telling, but I thought it was cool so I did it. The next one is more of a comedy. “A Ghoul with Asthma” was inspired by a random writing prompt, as in I randomly selected

two slips of paper and one said “ghoul” and the other said “asthma” so I wrote a story based on that. I decided to write another sci-fi story, and it is called “Just a Good Old Fashion Spaceship Race,” it’s more of a futuristic space story. The last one on the short story list is actually a short comic. The title is “The Scientist” and it has some deeper meanings to it. There is a poem in this portfolio that bears the same name and it is about the same scientist. That’s all there is to say about my short stories. I also have three haikus and two poems. I hope you enjoy them.

Short stories: By Garrick Johnson I woke up with a gasp of air. My head was spinning and I couldn’t remember where I was or how I got there, I could feel some rattling and the sound of machines, I then heard a loud whistle like from a train. “That’s where I must be, on a train!” I said, I could see that this train had a very elegant and expensive looking interior, like dark stained wood with gold lining, and warm lights that glowed a soft yellow color. At that point a panicked feeling came over me. “I don’t have a ticket, where’s my ticket!” I thought to myself as I started looking around franticly. Someone else on the train noticed that I was looking for a ticket and walked over to me and said, “don’t worry about a ticket, it’s not very important to this story but if it really makes you feel better you can have mine.” He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a shiny piece of

paper and handed it to me. On the ticket were these words, “Product of the C.o.R.” underneath that it said, “TRAIN TICKET.” that’s all that was on it. I assumed that the C.o.R. was the company that made the train. I walked over to the window and looked out but I could only see stars, I assumed it was night time. There wasn’t much to see out there so I started to go back to my seat. That’s when I noticed that the train was going in a constant turn, it was just going in a large circle. “That’s odd, how are we going to get anywhere if we’re going in a circle? I need to find the engineer of this train and figure out what’s going on here!” I started to make my way to the front of the train, I came to the first door and when I opened it, I saw seven armed guards in a sort of meeting room. This room was dull and boring looking, no dark stained wood, no gold, and no warm lights. This room had gray walls and harsh white lights. The guards turned around after the door opened, sprung out of their chairs and started yelling, “Hey, you’re not supposed to be in here. This room is off limits!” I started to back up, “Calm down, I’m just looking for the engineer.” I said to them. “Get out of here, the engineer is off limits too.” One of the guards replied, I shut the door and started looking for another way through. At this point I knew something was definitely wrong with this train. Now I had to figure out what was going on. I then noticed a vent near the ceiling on the wall that separated this room from the one that I was

trying to get past. I carefully climbed up some boxes when no one was looking and took the cover off the vent. Slowly I crawled in and quietly made my way to the other side of the room and got out after I had passed the meeting room with the guards in it. Then I was at the front of the train and could see the engineer standing in front of a high-tech control board. This wasn’t like anything I have seen in a train before. “Are you the engineer?” I asked, he turned around and looked confused, “Who are you?” He said, I replied, “I’ll tell you who I am when you tell me what’s going on here!” He shrugged his shoulders and said, “Well, I don’t really care who you are, but since you’re not the main character here I’ll show you what’s going on so you’ll leave… I’ve got better things to do.” He told me to look out the window, still the only thing I could see was something like the night sky. Then he pushed a button that was labeled disable space hologram. All the sudden the stars and dark sky outside faded away and I could see that we were on a living room floor on a plastic track, there were to giant people sitting on the floor looking down at the train, one was an elderly man and the other was a much younger kid, possibly his grandson. They both started laughing, as if they knew what was happening inside the train. What, did they think that it was funny to see me come to the realization that I was stuck on a model train this whole time? THE END

By Garrick Johnson There was a place called the Ancient Glade. A place of much forgotten history. It was a great forest deep-set in the ground with tall cliffs all around. These dark woods had been abandoned for centuries, the only people that have never left or moved from this land are the ones who dwell in the great fire tree. This massive tree is in the center of the glade. Its wood glows with an orange hue from the cracks in the bark, the leaves are large and green; they never fall in the winter, the tree’s inner fire keeps them warm. The people that lived in the fire tree were called the fire-elves. They made tunnels through the tree, a mystical labyrinth that only they could navigate. They have walked though those passages for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Mostly in the Southern and Western parts of the glade, where there are many pine trees, Other people have recently started to repopulate the glade. Within the last eighty years, five small villages have sprouted up, each one their own little kingdom, working independent of the other. At one point two villages, West Pine and Crooked Ridge, banded together and built a watch tower which they said was of mutual benefit. The villages were somewhat close and the tower was in between them; when invaders came the tower guards would blow their horns and alert both villages of the attack and one could aid the other. As a young boy I lived in the village of West Pine. I would run through the woods to a clearing, from there I could see the fire tree far off in the distance and wave to it hoping that one of the fire-elves would see me and wave back, of course even if one did I would never be able to see them from that far away, besides, the fire-elves were not too keen of us outsiders settling in their land; they mostly kept to themselves. The clearing was as far into the woods as I was allowed to go. There were darker parts of the forest, places where strange and dangerous beasts roamed; it was easy for one to get lost in the deep, untamed woods of the ancient glade. When I was older, about twenty-two, I had taken up the position of hunter, I was very good with a bow and arrow and I

was a master of stealth. In the month of November reports started coming in that a great castle stronghold that had been abandoned for hundreds of years was being repaired and reinforced by an unknown army led by an unknown leader. This made Lord Fredrick, the lord of our village very uneasy. So, he sent his own spies to see the scope of the operation. They never returned. He started looking for a better spy, a more skilled spy. That was apparently me. When I was walking into town with a deer slung over my shoulders after my morning hunt, I saw Lord Fredrick walking out onto the road coming towards me. He held up a large bundle of money and shook it. “I have a job for you, hunter.” He said as he got closer, then he continued. “You are said to be the best there is at stealth and camouflage, I have a task that, if completed, I will reward you handsomely.” I set down my deer and replied, “The best there is, aye? How handsome of a reward are we talking?” He came over and dropped the bundle in my hand and said as he crossed his arms, “Two thousand now, and three thousand when you get back.” I took a step back, this large sum of money was surprising, I looked at him and said. “This must be pretty serious, what do you want me to do?” After I said that he explained the situation with the castle and the suspicious activity going on there. He told me that his spies never got back and he believes that they have either been killed or

captured. Then he said this, “The assassin from Crooked Ridge will be going with you, her experience with throwing knives could come in handy.” As Fredrick said that she walked up and said, “So, you’re the third wheel then? It’s been a while old friend, what have you been up to?” I nodded and said, “Oh, you know, same old thing, I’m in this for the money as always… wait a minute you said I would be the third wheel, who else is coming?” She started to chuckle then she said, “You’ll never guess… a fire-elf!” Then Lord Fredrick added, “Yes, he came to me last night and explained that even they were concerned about this mysterious force gathering at the stronghold. I’ll go and fetch him!” Soon enough Fredrick came back with him. Before then I had never seen a fire-elf, he was tall and thin, he had a sharp unforgiving face, he had orange hair and pointed ears, his eyes where a cold light blue, he had brown and orange ornately designed leather armor. Fredrick introduced him to us, then the elf started to talk. “Greetings dwellers of the ground. We have watched with great concern the gathering army at the old castle. We feel that some evil has taken up its haunt in that place. We wish to learn more before we attack and would respect the ground dwellers a great deal if they would help us. I have come as the ambassador to you, together we can solve this.” I was still quite amazed that a fire-elf had come to a “ground dwellers”

village but I held out my hand as if to give him a hand shake and said, “Well, sounds good to me.” He just looked at my hand with a confused expression, I quickly put my hand down, apparently elves don’t do that. The assassin broke the silence and said, “It will take two weeks to get there on foot assuming there are no setbacks along the way. So, what are we waiting for? Let’s do this!” The end

The Darkness Sets In. By Garrick Johnson The darkness set in; half past seven, the wind comes down from the north and slithers through the trees and the branches stir restlessly as the nocturnal fog awakens, rising up from the dark ground. Things are not as they should be… but no one can quite put their finger on what it is. The darkness sets in; the streets are all silent, everyone has gone to their houses and locked their doors for the night has fallen. The moon makes the shadows on the cobble stone road darker as the street lights seem to flicker. The darkness sets in as the wind sends a malicious hiss through the baren road. Something is coming, something ancient, something mysterious, something… evil. The darkness set in as his sickened hand touches the earth; a hand stained with greed, stained with hate, stained with sorrow, stained with loss. Chaos is his cause; regret is his only friend. Why is he this way? No one knows, no one cared to find out. A lifeless and disfigured smile creeps across his sickly colored face; he has been freed from an ancient prison and let loose upon the earth; Now he wants revenge. Things are not as they should be, he should have never escaped; now he is free… and the darkness sets in. THE END

A Ghoul with Asthma By Garrick Johnson A ghoul with asthma, what an unfortunate combination. He lives in an old mausoleum, (like most ghouls do) it can get quite dusty there, and for someone with asthma this would not be the best place to live, but this ghoul lives there anyway because he has nowhere else to go. Three days before Halloween the care taker of the cemetery heard some coughing coming from the mausoleum. When the ghoul saw the care taker open the door he ran and hid in an empty coffin but he was unable to stop coughing. The care taker heard the coughing coming from the coffin. this scared the care taker so much that he ran out of the mausoleum and drove away. Now that the ghoul knew that no one was there he went outside to finally get some fresh air. of course, the care taker told everyone he knew his tale of the coughing coffin and eventually the story became an urban legend. Now the people of the town celebrate a sort of pre-Halloween where everyone retells the story of the fabled coughing coffin! The End

Just a Good Old Fashion Spaceship Race By Garrick Johnson “I’ve been trying to get into this race for years now and I finally have enough to buy a decent ship and pay the entry fee. I know I could win if I got the chance. Just imagine, ninety-fifth annual epsilon galaxy spaceship race champion, Timothy Carter!” He said, almost too excited to speak. His friend had a questioning look in his eyes. “I don’t know Tim, are ghosts allowed to enter a spaceship race?” Timothy replied. “Well, technically I’m not a ghost, besides I’ve seen much stranger aliens get into this race.” It is true that Timothy is not technically a ghost, he can still interact with the real world, but he is a being that lacks a physical form. His appearance is that of a gray mist or fog in the shape of a person, his face looks like a simple smiley face drawn on with a crayon. He was a human at one point, but that was a long time ago. They both started to head to a place where he could buy a racing ship. “All I need to do is pick out a good ship!” Timothy said looking around as they entered a spaceship lot. Soon they were greeted by the owner of the lot, A purple alien with a head

that looked something like a lobster’s head. (This is the epsilon galaxy, a bustling world of thousands of inhabited plants and millions of intelligent alien species co-existing in peace… mostly.) The lot owner asked them which ship they wanted to buy. Timothy and his friend (his friend’s name is Victor,) looked around until Timothy found the perfect ship. (At least, according to him.) It was a small, maneuverable chrome ship with two green stipes down the middle. “This ship requires a co-pilot; besides, you’ll need one if you plan on using this for that race coming up.” The lot owner told them as they looked at the ship. Victor looked over at Timothy and said. “wait a minute, if you’re driving, who’s going to be the co-pilot?” Timothy chuckled and stated “That’s where you come in!”. “What?!” Victor was not convinced, “I don’t think so, I’m not getting in that thing!” Timothy looked to the lot owner and said, “I’ll take it!” It took some convincing but Victor finally decided to be the co-pilot. Soon they started to train for the race. About a month later is when the race would happen so they had to hurry. By the middle of the month Timothy was feeling pretty confident about the race. Victor on the other hand, wasn’t very convinced, but he went on with it anyway. When the race day came Timothy actually started to get a little nervous. The race itself was

quite dangerous, although not much can harm a ghost like being, the vacuum of space is one of the few things that can. They parked the ship alongside the other larger and fancier ships at the starting platform. Timothy started talking to himself. “Our ship is more maneuverable; we can slide though the ranks without being noticed… hopefully. Or we’ll be crushed by the other ships, no don’t think about that!” his over thinking was interrupted by Victor who heard everything. “You’re rambling again.” Timothy quickly looked over. “I was saying that out loud?” Victor started to laugh. “Yep…” The announcer came up to a podium and adjusted the mic, then his booming voice could be heard in every corner of the launch zone saying. “Welcome to the ninety-fifth annual epsilon galaxy spaceship race! Thanks to Rex our founder, we have continued this tradition for ninety-five years in a row! Alright, without further delay, let’s shoot for the stars! Everyone, prepare for launch, strap in, right hand on the thruster, and five… four…” Victor looked over at Timothy and said. “are you ready for this!” timothy smiled and replied. “no.” The announcer was almost done counting. “two… one… Go!” there was a deafening sound of about a dozen ships thrusting up into the air. Timothy and Victor’s ship as well flew up to the stars. They were pushed back into their seats. Timothy was

focused on the controls and was looking out the front window. “well, ready or not, here we go!” The End

The Scientist By Garrick Johnson

Poems: The scientist By Garrick Johnson There was a scientist whose experiments where strange and dark He worked alone and long hours he would lurk He said to himself, “I shall learn the truth and make my mark.” To make a mark on the world that forever would smirk To tell of his triumph, of his discovery Was he trying to make the world a better place? Or was his work just a form of recovery O what sorrow hides behind his face Does the pain of loss drive him to commit such dark acts? Or is it simply the pursuit of truth as he said Does the end justify the means? Look at the facts. All in the name of “science and knowledge” but at what cost? Was there a purpose for his experiments or was his cause truly lost? The End

There is a Lake By Garrick Johnson There is a lake Near a mountain it sits And to it a humble path I take There all my worry quits Simple and unimportant path I wander There to that beautiful lake But then I hear the sound of thunder And like all dreams, I awake. I look around a lightless room A storm brews in the clouds that loom But I am not taken by the gloom For when the darkness is at my door I close my eyes and hear thunder no more Because in dreams I wander to that beautiful lake and stand by the shore. The end

Haiku #1 I see a mountain, A mountain so cold and dark. So, the journey starts. Haiku #2 I see many leaves, All over the ground they fall. Summer is no more.

Haiku #3 I sit at my desk, And think of what I should write. So many options! The End