Stargazing

Last night, was perfect. It wasn't all that cold outside, it was really dark out, and the skies were crystal clear. The moon was huuugggee and just beneath it, was a small point of light.


I was a little surprised when my dad got home from work and he suggested we go outside and use the telescope that I got for my birthday a few years ago. We don't use it a lot, and I was kind of in the middle of writing a super intense scene. But how could I possibly pass up looking at the moon and stars through a telescope?


So my dad, my brother (Ryan) and I all went outside. The lenses of the telescope were pretty dusty, but the sky was so clear that it hardly mattered. Through the scope, you could see the shadows of the craters on the edge of the moon, and it was amazing. We could have just stared at the moon all night, but I started to become curious about what the tiny point of light was under it.


We shifted the telescope and I got it into view. It definitely wasn't a star. It was much too close to be a star. But it was so bright that at first we thought it was Venus. This is about what it looked like: 

After a few seconds of looking at it though, I knew it couldn't be Venus. Venus doesn't have any moons. The tiny points of light around the planet are. I ended up narrowing it down to either Jupiter or Saturn because they both have a ridiculous amount of moons. And then Saturn has rings (at least, rings that we can see), so I decided that it had to be Jupiter.

When it turned out that it actually was Jupiter, I was pretty impressed with my astronomical object identification skills! As far as planets go anyway...

Then we got busy with the iPad, pointing it up at the sky and identifying the stars. (Seriously, there's this really awesome app. that allows you to point the camera at the sky and it will tell you what the object is! How cool is that?!!) We got to see Vega, the Ring Nebula, Altair (seeing that star was awesome because not only is it a very bright star in the night sky, it's also the name of one of my characters :) ), and even our lovely neighboring galaxy, M31 aka the Andromeda!

(Jupiter)

(Ring Nebula)

(Altair :D )

(Andromeda Galaxy... how inspiring is that!?)

All in all, it was a wonderful, inspirational night!

--Jess

Campaign First Challenge: Shadows

Hey everybody! Today I'm posting my entry for the First Campaign Challenge! (I know I'm a little late, but hopefully that's okay).

Here are the rules:

Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words "The door swung open" These four words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), use the same beginning words and end with the words "the door swung shut". (Also included in the word count.)

For those of you who want an even greater challenge, make your story 200 words EXACTLY!

So here I go, EXACTLY 200 words!

Shadows

The door swung open. Fear began to crawl through her, turning her blood cold. The light of the moon shattered the darkness around her. Shadows spilled slowly into the room like suffocating tar. They had found her.

"Dara," they whispered. An electric chill shot through her. They would show her no mercy. "Dara," they called again.

Her stomach twisted inside her, as if trying to escape. She breathed deeply, hardly making a sound. Her hands were shaking. He betrayed me. She closed her eyes remembering him. He told me it would be alright. A pang of regret hit her. And he lied. She tried hard to keep her fear under control. When she was sure the shadows were gone, she stood. Moonlight was still shining through the open door. Taking a step forward, the old floor creaked beneath her. She cursed under her breath. Something shot across her vision.

With a horrific screech, the shadows returned. Her heart stopped dead at the blood chilling sound. She could feel the breath of darkness on her skin. With sickening realization, she knew she couldn't escape. She tried to scream as terror swept through her. Darkness enclosed the room, and the door swung shut.


--Jess


P.S.
If you really really like my post, go here and click 'like' under my name to vote for me! (I'm #235!) And I was inspired by David Powers King's post yesterday to write it in a POV that I'm not used to... I usually write in first person, present tense, so this was quite a change for me!

Eyes In The Night

He watches the sun,

As it sets to bring night,

He watches the moon,

As it rises in sight.

He scans the horizon,

With hungry eyes,

He's perched on a cactus,

In search of his prize.

Then he sees it,

It's there then it's gone,

But he is too wise,

To lose it for long.

He flies to a tree,

With prey in his sight,

He attacks his target,

Then disappears into the night.

--Jess