Flight

Riley Edwards

Dr. Birkenstock

Creative Writing

2 May 2014

Jet Wash

“Russell,” the flight attendant said, “do you remember if anyone has a peanut allergy on this flight?” “Not sure Mary,” I said, “ask over the intercom.” I was a pilot for a 737 that usually flew round trips from New York to Miami, or at least I used to be. The U.S had just gone into war and we were running low on the amount of fighter pilots. America was beginning to draft pilots for the war against North Korea, and not-so-luckily for me, I saved an entire plane of people by landing my aircraft in a canal down in Santa Barbara, where I used to fly, after my aircraft had an engine malfunction. This event put me on the top of the list for “Guys who fly but don’t kill.”

December 13th, 2029, that’s when I arrived for my first day of training at the air force base. They began teaching us all the physics involved in flight, but most of us already knew all of this stuff. There were about fifteen guys in my “class”. About three weeks into classes they partnered us with a fellow pilot and we took to the skies. My partner, Tate Wheeler, was assigned to be my co-pilot and ultimately manage our weapons. The Squad leader, Captain Sachs, gave everyone a paintbrush and a few basic colors and said, “Pick a name for your jet and pick one for yourself.” Tate and I tossed ideas back and forth and finally agreed on “Freedom” since we agreed it was ironic given that we were forced into the war. Tate chose “Wildcat” to be his flight name, I decided on “Solo” because of Han Solo the pilot from star wars.

A couple of weeks went by and people had gotten used to referring to each other by their call-signs. Nobody wanted to use real names because we were all really just hoping this was some sort of bad dream. We were being deployed the next day on a mission to drop missiles on a small island where the North Korean military had set up an air base. It was around 1,800 miles west of Hawaii which was where our squad was stationed. I went back to the base’s bunk room and went to sleep early. I figured they would only keep us for one or two more missions after tomorrow and then I could go back to living my quiet life as an airline pilot, minus the crash landing in a canal.

Wildcat and I were ready had just taken off. We were flying approximately 50,00ft in the air and wouldn’t be at the target for around an hour. The flight of this plane was much harder to maneuver than my 737. However there was an amazing feeling of freedom being able to zip around in any direction including upside down, rather than just flying straight to a destination. After fiddling with the controls for a little bit, we were roughly a half hour away from our target. Right after impressing wildcat with a barrel roll, I saw a burst of light out of the corner of my eye. I though it was the sun at first, then the Panther, another jet, Came hurdling towards ours spinning uncontrollably. The Panther had lost a wing after getting hit with a North Korean anti air missile. The tumbling fighter whipped past the Freedom and caused us to go into a tailspin. The jet wash current brought on by the other plane caused us to spin equally out of control and we were stuck. We hurdled toward the water at an alarming rate. The communications were damaged and I try to get Wildcats attention. I felt like I was in limbo; we were trapped in the Freedom and nothing was in my control. This easy mission any group of beginners could do went south in a split second. The blank stare of the ocean was rapidly approaching and I motioned for Wildcat to eject as I was going to. He couldn’t understand me, I couldn’t understand anything either because the pressure was dropping so fast the blood was rushing to my brain like a rocket into space. I slammed the eject button and flew out of the Freedom’s cabin.

            At a pace that felt like forever compared to free falling from the sky, I floated down in the bright green parachute that spread across the sky. I landed into the water and it was freezing cold, I felt my lungs shrink almost instantly. I swam over to the portion of my seat that was to be used as a flotation device. It looked twice my size until I got closer and saw that it was merely half my size. I hugged it as I gasped for breath and shivered. After a moment of I realized that I could find Wildcat by his enormous green parachute floating in the water. I balance on my floating chair only to look around and see nothing. Wildcat was dead, he went down with the ship. I don’t know if it his eject wasn’t working or if he didn’t know how to but it didn’t matter he was dead, and I was alone.

            I clung to the small seat and floated, I couldn’t see a single thing in the distance. It was nightfall and despite everything that just happened I could still admire the stars. The ocean was calm; there was slight current that continued to push the seat west according to my compass, however that may have been damaged. After about a day of hopelessly floating I fell asleep for the first time. The fact that falling asleep was so hard made it all the more real that this was not a dream, it wasn’t just something I could wake up from and be home so why did I even want to sleep so bad.

            I woke up and the sun was just creeping over the horizon, it was still dark but the ocean light up from the sun like it was on fire. I began fidgeting with the seat until I realized it wasn’t bobbing up and down anymore, it was still. I put my hand out and felt the warm sand just like back home. I stood up in a blaze of excitement and ran toward along the shore. I saw a flag in the distance and as I stepped closer one by one I began seeing familiar colors, some red and white, the sun was starting to get higher and at this point it was right in my eyes. I covered it using my hand and as I moved closer I saw just the blue of the flag. Red, White, and Blue were all I needed to see. I full on sprinted, I didn’t even care what it was, the city, the base, the airport it didn’t matter. I made it to the flag and looked up at it, as a sign of hope, until I really looked at it. There weren’t fifty little stars there was just one big one. I dropped to my knees; everything was taken from me. I lost my hope, my freedom, and any chance of getting back home. I looked up at the North Korean flag and realized that it became a sign for something new, failure. I looked into the forest and I looked back at the water, I was Solo.

            

Journal Entry Story

The essay prompt was to write a journal entry in the first person point of view. I though it would be cool to write multiple entries that tell a story over a few days about a Police detective in outer space that tracks down a galactic bank robber

8/11/2245 12:15 pm

Officer Trip

        This morning I put on my uniform, got in my car and flew to work on mars, just like any other day. I got to work and said “Good Morning” to the stations receptionist Sheila, and headed into my meeting with Chief Henley.  “How’s it going , Trip,” He said as I walked in the door “Have a seat.” I sat down and he began talking about one of the detectives we had just lost. His name was John Bailey, but everyone just used last names around the department so we just called him Bailey. “He was one of the best investigators this station… no, this planet, had ever seen!” Chief Henley exclaimed. “It’s time for someone else to step up,” he said as he turned to me “Will you be the next Detective Bailey?” I stared at him, thought for a second and then replied. “No,” I tilted my head back slightly and stared harder “Last chance kid” the Chief said. “I’m not the next Bailey chief,” I answered, “I’m the first Detective Trip”

8/14/2245 10:45 am

Detective Trip

        I’ve been working on my first case for about three days now, There have been multiple bank robberies around town, along with suspected murder of MYPD’s very own Detective Bailey. Chief Henley has made it clear that this case should be my top priority since there is a cop killer and bank robber at large. I have compiled a list of 3 suspects with prior offenses and that were recognized at the scene of the crime, right now I am heading over to IAB (International Alliance Bank) with my new partner Detective Welch to investigate further. Welch is a short, muscular detective who had been working with the department for around 30 years. He is the oldest detective on the force and is passionate about his work. I am excited to see how he investigates and hopefully learn more.

8/14/2245 7:00 pm

Detective Trip

I have been at my desk in the station for two hours past five o’clock. I went to IAB with my partner in hopes that they could tell me something I didn’t know already. After about an hour of looking around and asking questions, I got nothing, except for the name of an employee. He quit one day after the robbery took place. Welch and I took a look at the belongings our suspect had left. The only things were a name tag with “Chuck Beethoven” inscribed on it, and a magazine with the cover ripped off. I made it back to the station to search the database for this name tag just in case it was a real name, it wasn’t. Tomorrow I plan to visit the other bank that was ripped off.

8/15/2245 2:00 pm

Detective Trip

Finally got my first big break in the case. I did some investigating at the Bank that our criminal had ripped off before getting a job at IAB. The bank manager told us that there was an employee that had only worked at the bank for about a week before quitting, he went by the name “Chuck Mozart”. As it turns out “Mozart” quit right after the robbery took place. I called Welch and told him to start looking for anyone who was recently been employed at a bank in Mars York under the name of a famous composer. As I walked out of the bank I saw a magazine stand right outside the bank, I walked over and noticed the man working at the was reading the same issue that “Chuck Beethoven” had in his locker. “Hey let me see that for a second” I asked the man, “That’ll be five dollars” the man responded. I pulled out my badge and took the magazine. “The Pink Panther Diamond will be on display at the Mars York’s National Museum on August 16th, come by and check out the three billion dollar stone.” Read the cover of the magazine. I immediately told Detective Welch to call the museum to let them know their precious diamond is in danger. After about 5 minutes Welch called me back and told me that the museum didn’t have the diamond, it was being held in the safe of MGB (Mars Galactic Bank)… the same place “Chuck Bach” was working.

The Pentagon

Riley Edwards

Dr. Birkenstock

Creative Writing

21 January 2014

The Pentagon

It was in the winter of my first grade year, and soccer season was underway. My coach was also the father of one of my fellow players, Earl. Earl and I had known each other since we were in pre-k. He was the goalie for our team, and probably one of the best in the league. The game was about to start and his father was kicking some balls into the goal to get him warmed up. The game was now starting and we all got on the field and into our positions. Since we had just enough guys to play, everyone got to be a starter. I was the teams left midfielder, it was a posititon that required a lot of running but it was ok because I was small and scrawny.

“Wrong side,” said Carter, one of my fellow teammates, he was the right midfielder and I was in his spot. I went back over to my corner and before I even had time to pause, the game started. The first half of the match was pretty uneventful, Earl blocked two shots and Carter took a shot on the opposing goal but didn’t score. The second half however, was one of the best games I had ever played. In the beginning I scored my first goal, not only in that game, but in the entire season. It was one of the best feelings I had ever had. When we took a small break for water, our coach came up to me, patted me on the back and jokingly said, “Hey, that’s why you’re a starter.” After that we got back on the field and continued the game. I was playing great defense when we returned. Then suddenly I had the ball all the way on my teams side of the field. I started to run with it and look for someone who was open, but nobody was. So I continued running down field until someone tried slide tackling me. I split to the right and dodge his slide tackle. I was beginning to get more and more nervous as nobody became open. “Im open,” carter yelled, which was mistake because now everyone ran over to cover him. However this left me wide open, just me one man, and the goal. I ran down and cut to the left, my heart was pounding against my ribs, my eyes were stinging from all the sweat, but at that very moment, I wasn’t nervous. I swung my foot towards the left side of the goal, but missed on purpose. The goalie jumped over to block the shot that he thought I was taking. Then I shot right in the wide open space left for me by the goalie. That was it, the match was over. The whole team huddled around to cheer since we won 2-0.

At the end of each game the person who did the best in that days game would receive the ball. It was 

the fourth match in which I received my first ball. It was the start of the fall season and the trees had just 

began to change colors. So everything around the field had that yellow hue. The sun was shining 

through the branches and all over the field were gold specks reflecting off of the dew from the grass. 

The game had just ended and my coach had us huddle around him. I wasn’t paying attention because I 

was making funny faces at my friend, Charles, who was our goalie. Then everyone started clapping 

and the coach said, “Come on up here kid-o,” while looking directly at me. I walked into the middle of 

the huddle. I could feel everyone’s eyes staring at me. The only thing I wanted was to know why, was I 

in trouble, I wondered. “How about a round of applause for our MVP, everyone,” Coach said. I let out 

a sigh of relief as he handed me the game ball. “Giggles Sandbox” was written on the big, flat portion 

of the ball. It wasn’t pretty, there were scuffs all over from being kicked around by my teammates, and 

the black pentagons were so dingy they looked almost white, but I wasn’t worried about that, it meant 

much more to me than met the eye, because I earned it.

New Year, New Blog... again

I have decided to change my blog topic once again, this time i will focus on short stories. Both my own stories i create in my creative writing class, and stories i find on the web. Faithful viewers of the ®iley E blog I hope that you will remain faithful and continue to view my blogs. My current stock has been decreasing with each year as of 2009 where i had an all time monthly page views of 185. I hope that i can bring my views back up and eventually become famous.

Blog Post Number 4

This is a story I wrote for creative writing class, it doesn't have anything to do with TV, however this is probably one of my favorite pieces of work, so I figured I would share it on my blog...

“Trust Me” Lieutenant Phillips said, “Fighting for your country is the best feelin’ in the world, look, all your friends are signing up”. “Those aren’t my friends,” I told the lieutenant “just my classmates”. It was the first round of career day at my school, and since the Vietnam War was in full throttle, the army was trying to recruit a bunch of kids that just didn’t know any better. Lt. Phillips was visiting us from “Camp Holloway”, a place that sounds nice, but is quite the opposite. Camp Holloway was a U.S army Helicopter base in the central highlands of Vietnam. It made me chuckle when I thought about how all the kids Phillips was signing up weren’t smart enough to drive cars, much less fly helicopters. I watched on as he continued to recruit people who fell for the same line I got, “Fighting for your country is the best feelin’ in the world”.

        I went back home and dwelled on thoughts of being a soldier, rappelling down from a helicopter and taking out a bunch of bad guys, being in the middle of a dog fight with badass planes, or receiving a medal for some awesome act of valor. It’s not that I didn’t think the army was cool, it’s just that I knew it wasn’t as romantic as I imagined. I convinced myself that “Being 6ft and skinny isn’t exactly cookie cutter army material anyways”. But I was just hiding from the real fact that I was scared, not only scared of all the danger, but scared of living up to expectations. My dad was in the army back during the Korean War, he was in the same position I was, just a young kid with thoughts of being a hero. The only thing was that my dad actually was a hero, he earned a purple heart that sits on the kitchen counter and mocks me everyday, reminding me that im not brave or courageous.

        The Purple Heart is awarded to someone that is wounded or killed in battle, luckily for me my dad is still alive. He was shot in the shoulder during the Korean War at the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge. This is what I’m told happened. One of his fellow soldiers and best friend, “Connors”, is out in the open wounded with a shot to the leg. My dad sees that the enemy is advancing on the other side of the hill so he runs out into the open to pick up Connors and take him to cover. Just before my dad gets there, Connors is killed by the men shooting from the other side of the hill. With their sights now set on my dad, he takes action. He bolts over to Connors body and grabs his dog tags, the adrenaline pumping through his veins, his heart beating a million miles per hour, he charges back into cover and lays down on his back. In what felt like only seconds, he awoke in a hospital. There was a bloodstained patch on his right shoulder, he realized he had been shot in his attempt to save Connors. He looks over and see’s Connors dog tags on the night stand as the harsh reality crashes down on him. He discovers that his best friend is dead, he has been shot, and none of this is a dream.

        The Purple Heart reminds me of my flaws everyday, but I still like it because it gives me an overwhelming amount of respect for my father. I held the case in my hands and stared at the heart, thinking about all the kids that were brave enough to sign up for the army at school today, and how many would be brave enough to sign up tomorrow. As I continued to watch the heart, my dad came over, put it face down on the counter, looked at me and said, “I never liked that thing”. “Why” I asked him. “Because it reminds me of what I’m not”, “What’s that?” I said. “A Hero” he replied.

The next day I went into school and looked around at all the career options. Everything I looked at seemed boring, not enough action. Then as I walked around I heard a familiar voice, “Fighting for your country is the best feelin’ in the world”. I turned around and watched from a distance as Lieutenant Phillips attempted to convince the valedictorian to sign up for the army. Here I was thinking everyone who fell for Lt. Phillips little speech was stupid, and then the smartest kid in class signs up to be in the Army. I marched over to the table and grabbed a pen. “Fighting for your…” the Lieutenant began to say before I cut him off. “Save it”, I said, as I scribbled my name and handed him the sign up sheet.

The Pineapple

Psych is a show about two best friends who through a series of events in the pilot, end up opening a psychic detective agency, despite the fact that neither one of them is a psychic. To keep up the act shawn, the protagonist, helps the Santa Barbara police department by pretending to receive psychic messages and such. In psych, the show features a pineapple in every episode. Sometimes they did this thing where they would ask viewers to locate the hidden pineapple in each episode. For example, the main character would be talking and in the background you would see the pineapple on a counter or something. Some were difficult and others were easy. I looked up a few on the internet and when I saw the pictures I realized how bad I missed some of them. My personal favorite was in an episode where Shawn and Gus, the two main characters, become treasure hunters. In the middle of the forest, they look inside a cave that they think has treasure, and on the walls there are some drawings, things like caveman doodles and in these doodles is a pineapple drawing. The wall is only shown for a few seconds but there are people who had the sharp eye to see it. This is one of the many things the show does to keep viewers coming back for more and i believe as shows evolve they will continue to interact more with the fans.

Breaking Bad Season 2

Recently I started watching a show that I heard alot of great things about, Breaking Bad. It features a Chemistry teacher whom ,after being diagnosed with lung cancer, decides to start "cooking" methamphetamine a.k.a meth. The first season, all though boring, is necessary to understand the rest of the seasons. However one particular season really stood out to me, that was the second one. In the first episode of season 2 named "Seven-Thirty-Seven", there was a short opening scene of a pink teddy bear floating in a pool. Then a few clips of men in hazmat suits began to walk around collecting things in evidence bags. The one thing that was odd though, was the fact that there was no color, with the exception of the extremely bright neon pink teddy bear. Then after that short clip, there was no explanation, no reason, the show just went right back to normal. Then that same event started the 4th episode called "Down", with no explanation. Another 5 episodes went by, still not even a single reference to these scenes. "Over" Season 2 episode 10,once again a different version of the teddy bear scene is shown, and again everything goes back to normal. The 13th episode, named "ABQ" shows the teddy bear again, but this time it zooms out. It shows the setting of the ripped up teddy bear is non-other than our protagonist's home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His cars front windshield is shattered and there is smoke in the background, which lead to the unconfirmed conclusion that there was a possible meth lab explosion at his own home. Then the show goes right back into its main storyline, making you feel like its the same thing they did in the last episode's with this deranged scene. Until the very end, when you find out that it wasn't a meth lab explosion but in fact a plane crash. At first this seems anticlimactic since it appears to have nothing to do with the two protagonists Walt and Jesse. However the third season makes you realize how expertly it ties into the shows central story. Thats not even the best part, after watching the season 2 finale I went to school and spoke about it with one of my friends only to discover that there was a reason for why that teddy bear scene was only in a few episodes.

"Seven Thirty Seven" "Down" "Over" "ABQ"