Short Story - Language Arts >.<

[Tempest Moonshimmer]

Okay so my Teacher made us write Short-Stories in class, and most people liked it, so i thought you may want to read.
Dont be discouraged by the title xD

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Skimpy
An Original Story

The days seemed to fly by for every animal in the forest. The once green and wavy grasses were becoming littered with red, orange, yellow, brown, and calico leaves. Only the pine trees kept their vibrant green color. They would begin to dull in color as the air became cooler, though. Small animals began to scurry back into their winter homes. No animal would want to be out past snowfall.
Skimpy knew she shouldn’t be out at dark. She’s heard of dogs, cats, foxes, and other big animals. They all liked to eat her kind. They hunted day and night, but day is less dangerous. This is because Skimpy and the rest of her species can see them coming, so they can get a head-start at running. Of course, not everyone can get away. Skimpy was confident, though. She was the fastest of her family.
The moonlight gleamed off her bright, clean, white coat. The clouds wrapped around the twinkling points of light, the frigid air bit at her young undeveloped skin. She was used to the warm comfort of a den. It stood right below her, burrowed deep in the ground, protected from the harsh winds of winter. Every inch she crept, she began to feel fear dominate her. Confidently she thought ‘no way am I going to be a coward! Not like the common squirrel that runs away from everything!’ She hopped through the tall pine forest. She continued hopping, until she smelled something. Something different.
Even in the dark, she could make out the red beady eyes staring back at her. Skimpy rolled her eyes. “You aren’t scaring anyone, rat.” The small plump rodent stomped out of the bushes, “Oh come on!” he narrowed his little eyes, “Skimpy, don’t start calling me rat. You know very well my name is Tyler.” Skimpy rolled her eyes once more. “Whatever… Hey, what are you doing so close to our dens?” She narrowed her eyes at the little white rat in front of her. “You mean the rabbit dens,” he exclaimed with a squeaky voice, “We are no where near there!” Skimpy’s eyes widened. How far had she come? And what did Tyler mean be we? “You don’t mean to say that… I am near the rat dens, do you?” However, that rodent had gone the little cowardly thing. Her large ears twitched, catching the sound of scratching nails and squeaks, she was defiantly not home.

Skimp had gotten her name from her small build. Even though she wasn’t an adult yet, she should’ve had more fur and fat to keep her warm. You see, she was a rabbit, a white one too. She was supposed to be in the den until she reached adult hood, but her adventurous spirit tugged on her feet, and at her heart. So now, deep in the frosty night, she headed toward the dens. Sniffing the ground in hope of smelling her family. But, misfortune be-falls her for her was crushed at every passing moment. Moments became minutes, minutes became hours. The light of a coming sunrise pierced the sky. Stars began to fade away, and the moon was ready to drop behind trees. Her eyes scanned the now lit surroundings. She did not recognize a single part of the forest. The smell. It was familiar yet so distant from her mind. She strained her senses, trying to identify the strange, musky, scent.
When she saw the big, blue sparkling waters expanding before her, she didn’t need to wonder anymore. Her eyes stared in amazement at the lake, sunlight reflecting of the surface. Fish leaped out. This was something only existing in the stories of her ancestors! The edges were frozen; so Skimpy, taking advantage of her sad excuse for a body, hopped on the ice. CRACK! It broke from away from the clutches of the sandy beach. The ice bobbed on the water, floating slowly away from land. Skimpy, having for too much fun to notice, ignored the fact that she was yards away from safety. Maybe if she had seen the little veins of cracks, forming from under her… The deafening crack echoed in her ears. SPLASH! She was thrashing in the cold water, which sent searing cold pains through her body, ’So this is where my insignificant life end..’ She could no longer move, numbed by the impossibly cold water. Her eyelids felt heavy, and her body was only sinking farther down. The light above her was retreating…

“What the!” she fell off the table and landed on the floor with a thump. Her eyes flickered open. She examined the room, her mouth hanging open. There was a watery blue tint to ever object, and even to her own fur. Even her tiny eyes could see that she was underwater. ’Well that’s quite uncreative. Hell really isn’t as much as it is made out to be,’ she grimaces, “really if this is supposed to be painful, then you have failed miserably. Where are the flames, my eternal punishment?” Legends of the devil were always passed down to every rabbit. A tail with an arrow at the tip, pitchfork, horns, red skin, black hair. Evil. However, the thing that came in didn’t fit the stereotype at all. “Wow! I never believed myths, but I never would’ve expected the devil would be…you!” The thing had a fin the color of a pine needle. A skinny and perfectly shaped body, with two seashells worn on her torso. It had a delicate face with eyes the color of its tail. The thing had long, wavy, blonde fur. Only coming from its head. The thing looked mildly shocked, yet amused. “I am no devil” She spoke with a voice that sounded like chiming bells. Skimpy was utterly unconvinced, There was no way heaven was a lake. The thing, noticing Skimpy’s disbelief, smile, “you are not dead, little creature. You are in the city of Atlantis. I am a mer-person” Skimpy was now angered by these silly words, “Tell me, mer-person, how am I breathing underwater!?” The mermaid smiled maliciously, “Magic.”

Skimpy narrowed her eyes, “You have got to be kidding me” The mermaid grinned, “Nope.” “Prove it” Skimpy said, challengingly. The mermaid’s face lit up, as if delighted at the opportunity. She closed her eye, and pulled out a bow and arrow. She pointed at a near-by wall. She seemed to be concentrating very hard. “Brisingr” She spoke in a low, beautiful sing-song voice. She shot the arrow, and it became a ball of fire, hurling towards the wall. The wall crumbled to pieces. Panting, the mermaid churned to her. “Convinced?” She chirped through short breathes. Even if she could return a snippy comment, she wouldn’t have been able to. Skimpy’s eyes were wide, and she stared, gaping at the place where the arrow had vanished. She only nodded. The mermaid’s delicate face twisted into a relatively serious expression, “we have had many animals fall down here. You are the first to live. King Omni believes you possess powers far too great to posses with out training. You must stay down here until you have learned to control whatever powers you to have.” she said the words, as if memorized. She rolled her eyes, and floated over to the rubble. She bent over to retrieve her arrow. “Personally I believe it is a bunch of rubbish.” She turned over to the rabbit and stated, “My name is Beati, it means blessed in Latin.” She smiled, “and your name is?” Skimpy grunted, “Skimpy. Just call me Sky.” Why couldn’t her name meaning something like blessed? Or beautiful. Beati smiled, “Sky… I will call you Celest, which is Latin for heaven, or sky.” Skimpy couldn’t help but smile back this time. Beati’s face became haunted. “You are not safe here. Searching for magical powers in an animal is a long, painful process. The training is only worse. I must get you out of here, because I know the pain will not be worth it.” Before Skimpy could respond, she was swept off her feet, and was being cradled in the mermaid’s arms. The glided through a window, and began to swim upward. The surface was much farther up than Skimpy would have guessed. Her eyes became droopy, and beat of Beati’s fin made her fall into a deep sleep…

Her head hit air. At first, Skimpy thought it had been a dream. Her heart fell at the thought of Beati not being real. Yet her spirits were raised again, when she saw Beati’s wavy blonde hair floating on the surface. She lied the rabbit on the sand. She smiled weakly, “You are safe now.” Skimpy’s heart fell. She would have to go home. However, the smells of the forest and the warm breeze ruffling her fur made her slightly happier to be out of the damp habitat of the lake floor. It seemed that Beati shared her feelings of sadness. “Will you come and visit me?” She said softly. Skimpy nodded vigorously. “You know what,” Beati said with a slight grin, “I don’t think I like the name Skimpy. From now on, in the name of our ancestors, I grant you the name Celest.” Celest was thrilled at the name. She nodded. “I must be on my way.” she said. Beati said in a seemingly sing-song voice, “As do I” With that she dived back into the water. Celest stared at the water, unable to pull her gaze away. Sighing, she turned away. The sun had almost set, leaving a red glow against the darkening sky. She sped through the forest, heading home. She wondered if her siblings would believe her tails of magic…

“SKIMPY!! THANK GOD YOUR ALIVE!” a big brown blob crashed into her. “Mom it’s alright,” Celest squeezed out the words, “And I am not Skimpy anymore, it is Celest.” As her mom eased off, she was only left with a few seconds relief because 5 other rabbits jumped on her, “Where were you?” “Was it scary?” “Did you get hurt?” “Oi! Why is your fur so wet!?” Celest was suffocated by excited balls of fur. She hopped out of the mess. She brushed off her fur. “Tell me, Celest, where did you get this name?” Celest grinned at the opportunity of telling the story. “Well, I got it from a mermaid.” the rabbits gasped, “It is latin for Sky or the Heavens.” the rabbits stared, their eyes wide. Happily, Celest repeated the story. At the end her mother said slowly, “So… Do you have magical powers?” She hadn’t even bothered to lecture Celest about adventuring out at night and walking on ice… However the question she couldn’t answer. She only mumbled, “I don’t know.”

Over the next years, Celest would visit Beati every day. Sometimes they would go swimming, and Beati even taught Celest some magic. In Celest’s 5th yea, she unfortunately passed on. The story of Skimpy was told to rabbits and mermaids alike. Mermaids live eternally, if not murdered. So Beati taught Celest’s offspring, and her own kin. For centuries we will remember Celest, a rabbit full of an adventurous spirit.







There are some Typos in the story, and such... I am too lazy to go through and fix em' all, but..yeah


Thoughts?