The Dangerous Territory

The Dangerous Territory

By: Jensen Bodholdt

Everyone seems to want to talk about falling in love. Whether it’s how much they love someone, how they feel inside, or how much the other person feels the same way too. Love is a feeling, an action, a bond, a connection. It’s a deep gut-wrenching, chemical-almost, instinct. You can’t help but fall out of love. 

I’ve realized that most people want to talk about falling in love, but not most people want to talk about falling out of love. Falling out of love is also an instinct. You can’t help it. 

At first, you’re all bubbly and joyous. You’re always on your toes, ready to share everything with your partner. After a while, once the love-birds feeling has worn off, you start to realize the adorable little things, or as I like to call them, quirks. You start to notice how your partner ties their shoes, or pops their gum. When you first realized that you were in love, you were full of endorphins and these blinded you. For some people that’s okay. Other’s not so much. 

The dangerous territory, otherwise known as falling out of love, is realizing that those little quirks make you on edge. Things like if your partner tips their chair back when they eat, or if they leave dirty dishes in the sink. The things that just make your teeth grind. This doesn’t always happen, but it still happens. Unmasking, or as I like to call it, removing the blindfold of love, can make you realize how happy you really are being with this person. If that feeling in your gut goes away after your endorphins have settled, then you might not be in love. If you still don’t see your partner as a work of art sent from the heavens, then you probably aren’t in love. 

Love is tricky thing, and everybody goes through it. This is why the term first-love came up. Your first love, may not be your last. If you feel like you are in the dangerous territory of falling out of love, just listen to your gut. Listen to your heart, you may be surprised at what you find. 

Change

Change

By: Jensen Bodholdt

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” -Alan Watts

I am the type of person who is constantly changing something about myself. That’s not called changing my personality, it’s called my personality. My personality is that I’m addicted to change. 

The person that I am makes me realize that I cannot be happy unless I’m constantly changing. Sometimes I think that if I style my hair a different way or rearrange my room, that it will change my entire personality, but what I’ve come to realize is that it doesn’t change who I am, but rather adds to my personality. Changing something simple about yourself isn’t going to change who you are, you have to work hard and strive for what you want. Self-renovation isn’t something that can happen over night. 

The definition of change is to become different. There are many things that are constantly becoming different, the world changes every waking second. What I have learned from this, is that I don’t want to waste my time being the same every single day. I love to mix it up and show off every single part of me. Being different from not only other people, but other parts of myself is what makes me feel so alive.

 Maybe I’m being childish, but I know in my heart that at the end of the day, every single part of me, is just a piece of my personality. Being into different things, is what makes me, me, and that’s something I would never want to change. 

Elle

Listen up. 

I’m going to tell you all a story. 

It all started with the train. 

Ended in the rain. 

No Once Upon A Time

This story will never end. 

I met her on the eight o’clock train. 

She asked me for a light. 

I handed her a match. 

As she struck it, the train stopped. 

She fell into my arms. 

I held on tight. 

Staring into her eyes. 

People piled out, others came in. 

The train was going south,

But we, we were going up. 

Her deep brown eyes were saying help, 

She was falling. 

Like Alice in her hole. 

Her lips parted a smile, I smiled back. 

We got off together at the next stop. 

It was raining. 

Pouring more like it. 

She asked me to dance. 

I held her hand. 

We danced to the music of the rain. 

Hours on end. 

It felt like Heaven. 

Or maybe love. 

The rain stopped, a piece of hair fell into her eyes. 

I brushed it back, and kissed her lips. 

We only spoke a few words, but I was in love. 

She was so beautiful. 

Then I started to cry. 

I had to leave her. 

I was sick. 

I was dying. 

I walked her home, hand in hand. 

I kissed her goodbye and walked back to the train. 

I closed my heavy eyes. 

All I could see was her smile. 

All I could hear was her laugh. 

I took my last dying breath 

and spoke her name. 

Elle. 

J.B.

Painting The Stars

“You really shouldn’t be doing this,” Ramona said as her best friend Andrew pulled two spray cans out of his back pack. 

“Someone has to, why not me?” he asked pulling two more out of the bag, “are you going to help me or not?” He looked up at her with pleading eyes. She stood there for a beat and then squatted down to hold open the bag. 

“You’re lucky that you’re my best friend, or I would already have called the cops right now,” she said looking up at him. He smiled and poked her nose. She recoiled and smiled a little. Andrew looked at her a moment more then pulled the last can of spray paint out of his bag. 

“Ready?” he asked helping her up. She looked at him and then at the brick building in front of them. They were beside a dark alley, the brick building used to be an old grocery store back when their parents were their age. Ramona stared for a second and then looked at Andrew. 

“Ready,” she said. They both looked at each other and smiled. Andrew bent down and got two spray cans, he handed one to Ramona. Andrew shook the can, removed the cap and started to make a big circle on the building. Ramona watched him finish his large circle. She climbed the ladder and shook her can of green paint. 

“Andy, I can’t get the lid off,” she said handing her friend the can. He pulled the lid off in two seconds and handed it back to her. She smiled at him and turned back to the wall. She began spraying short green strokes, but as soon as her inner artist came alive, she was a pro. 

After about an hour Andy stepped back and admired their work. It was amazing. The earth sat in the middle of the wall surrounded by bright red and orange lettering. 

“One home, one life, one chance,” Andy read the writing from the building, “make a change. We did good Mona”

“I love it,” Mona said stepping down from the ladder. She must have been a little dizzy from the paint fumes because she almost fell over. Andy’s arms were right there to catch her. 

“Your first time makes you sort of dizzy, you should sit down,” Andy said lowering her to the ground. She sat there and watched him pack up the paints. First red, then blue, then black, then orange, then green. 

“We should get going, I don’t want to get you caught being in the middle of an alley with fresh graffiti,” Andy said helping her up. They walked back to his truck. 

“You get in, I’ll put the ladder and the paints in the back,” he said helping her get into the passenger seat. When she got comfortable, he leaned over and kissed her nose. 

“I’ll be back,” he whispered, then he went back and loaded up the ladder. Mona was just about to turn on some music when Andy came running back to the truck. 

“What’s going on?” Mona asked him when he climbed into the truck.

“We’ve been caught, where’s the keys at?” Andy asked her looking around in the front seat. Mona had forgotten that she still had them in her hands. 

“Here,” she said handing them to him. He pulled them out of her grasp and pushed them into the ignition. The truck roared up and the lights came on. Andy switched it into drive and speed off towards the edge of town. 

“Where are we going?” Mona asked looking at Andy who kept his eyes on the road. They started going 50 out of town, then 60. They reached a dirt road and speed down it at 70 mph. 

“We can’t go back just yet, they’ll know it was my truck, we’re going to have to stay out here for a couple of hours,” he said as he pulled into an old state park drive way. He got out, went to the other side and helped Mona out. 

“It’s cold out here,” she stuttered, shivering. Andy pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around her arms. 

“Better?” he said pulling her closer. 

“Better,” she said huddled up against him to stay warm. 

“Tonights one of those nights when I wished I had heating in my truck,” he whispered in her ear. They walked over to a park bench and sat down. Andy helped her sit down first and then sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. 

“Why do I get the feeling that you were planning on coming out here anyways?” Mona asked looking into his eyes. 

“Because I was. I wanted to show you the way the lake looks with the stars shining on it,” he said looking at her. 

“How did you know that I would come?” she asked leaning closer. He smiled a little. 

“Because you’re my best friend,” he said as he leaned in and kissed her lips then he pulled away, “you’d do anything for me.”

“Andy, you just kissed me,” she said smiling. He looked away and smiled then looked back at her. 

“You’re pretty observant,” he said. He kissed her again, but this time she kissed him back. Andy could feel her shivering so he pulled her closer on the bench and held her close as she snuggled up against his chest. She laid her head on his shoulder and they sat there for about an hour. 

“I thought you wanted to show me the stars on the lake,” she said pulling back and looking at him. 

“This is much better than some silly stars,” he said kissing her nose, “I could sit here like this forever and nothing would compare to how beautiful the stars are in your eyes.”

This was a story I wrote for my Creative Writing class. We had to write a story with a lot of dialogue.. I really like this one.