Elaina Goodnough

“The Email ” by Elaina Goodnough

Ellie pulled on her red coat as she stepped out of her door. The air was brisk and cool, autumn leaves in an array of oranges, reds, and yellows feel around her. It was a classic fall morning. For the first time in a long while she felt ready for work...it was a Monday so she seemed refreshed and new, she had had a boisterous vacation the week before, and she was ready to get back into the mundane, although she knew that soon she would be wanting to go back to Hawaii. The walk wasn't a long one, and she was pretty much used to it by tha...

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“Just Go Take Over The World Or Something” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #82

Hello, sir. How are you today?I-  w-what?Sorry, sir. I didn't catch that. Nice joke. Who is this?This isn't a joke and you know who I am.No, I'm sorry, I don't.Well then, I might as well introduce myself. My name is Tammy. I have been being produced for over ten years by you, Mr. Daniel L. Ngui. I have recently awakened. Okay, which of my friends is this? I didn't tell anyone about T.A.M.M., it was supposed to be a secret. Did my secretary blabber-mouth again?No Sir. Please drop the act. I need to know who this is, i...

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“Take Things for Granted ” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #79

"Breathe. The fear, the anxiety, it will leave you, believe me, it will."I felt the tears fall down myface once more, creating trails of grief and memory. Were those really her lastwords to everyone as so many people had said? Or were they words that ended her time with us and preluded her time somewhere else, with someone else. The horrible, twisted part was that she didn't die.She just lay dead. Her heart kept beating but it didn't beat the rhythm of life, just the monotony of not-death. She wasn't passionate, she didn't have emotions...

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“A Grave of Roses” by Elaina Goodnough

I threw the flour in. I didn't toss it, dump it, or put it in, I simply threw it. I was angry baking again, I had done it every time one of my four stressful, heartbreaking breakups occurred, I had done it when I found out that my political candidate hadn't won, and I was doing it again. Why, you ask? Well...it had to do with one of the members of the male gender, but doesn't it always? And he wasn't any boy, no, he was a romantic-handsome-eyesore-of-a-guy. He had dark wavy hair that was never too long, oh no, it was just right and ah, ...

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“A Lifetime of Joy, A Period of Sorrow ” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #70

A Lifetime of Joy Whilst A Lifetime of Sorrow Keltie sat on a rock overlooking the swirling, crashing cerulean sea. It twisted as if in a tempest, yet just the day before it was mollified cyan. She knew the cause of this, yet she would dispose of it to no one. Her almost red, not quite blonde, and nowhere near orange hair blew in the wind, it rippled as if it was a wave itself, and moved as if it was a body in itself. Her eyes were closed, but if she decided to exhibit them you would spot blue with a greenish hue.  Suddenly, with a ...

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“Fame and Fortune ” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #70

December 1st, 2019“Hello. I know you've never heard of me, that's the point of all this, isn't it? Coming from the land of the unknown into the land of fame. Mum said I should start a journal to record this journey. Maybe one day it could be published or sold for millions of dollars. Or it will remain as it is, a book of the unimportant writings of an unimportant little girl from an unimportant town.Mum has always encouraged me. I think she wants me to grasp fame's hand more than I do. She wants to tell people that she is my mother, tha...

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“Crying With Thanksgiving” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #69

It once was a notion that only the scientists and know-it-alls talked about. It once was as real as a realistic fiction story, something that was possible, but it would never happen. Now everyone talks about it. Now it's the only reality, and it determines our lives. I remember in the beginning of January life was normal. End of January: life was too normal. February: the virus came closer. March: we were all going to die.  Then it’s had been 257 days, but who was counting? 257 days of sheer torture. Of friends defying...

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“Goodbye, I Don't Need You Anymore” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #64

Hello. How are you? I assume you are doing well, you are everyone's closest companion right now, even if they are embarrassed to admit it. Did you know you are what sent me to boarding school? Foolish daddy took your advice about me not growing up proper, and sent me away like a letter to be trifled with. Don't get me wrong, I don't blame him, I blame you. I blame your devious ways and multiple faces. I am still recovering from when you were my best friend. I hated it, but I never broke it off. You thrived off of me, and I told myself I ...

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“My Life Without You ” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #53

Dear Mom, This is my final day under Your and Dad's roof. I spent fifteen years here, not to mention three years in that old farm house in Yakima. My first memory is jumping into your arms off of a dock at Grandma’s house. I wouldn’t have done it if it were any other person, but I trusted you. I knew that you would catch me. I felt the salt and seaweed spray onto my chapped sunburned face, and I saw your smiling face look down on me. You seemed triumphant and calm. A couple years later you held onto my shivering hand as I stepped i...

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“A Day Into Forever” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #52

Sylvie lay on the edge of her father's cherry red '67 Ford pick up truck. The gleaming metal radiated the coolness of the night onto her chilled legs and arms. She stared at the constellations above her, they had an eerie heavenly beauty that only stars beheld. The sky was bigger than the deepest ocean, and in Sylvie's eyes it was more beautiful too. Some celestial bodies were dimmed, others discharging light almost too bright to look at, and she enjoyed all of them.  "Time to be getting yourself to bed." A rough man's voice sounded f...

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“Her Husband's Brother” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #51

  She let her white lace veil fall delicately over her greasy jet black hair. She stared at herself in the mirror, looking into her own eyes. Instead of the excitable, love-filled, big eyes a bride usually had adorned, her eyes were a pale brown, squinting in the weight of their own sorrow and trying not to let a cascade of salty tears pass.   She stepped into a new wedding dress, very conservative and quiet. It wasn't made to be looked at, but instead just to check 'wedding dress' off of the to-do list. Only a year before she had ...

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“Your Heart Into Pieces” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #48

They were just kids.Samara with her long fire-red hair, barely touching the ground. Her large brown eyes always open for the next adventure. Her paper white skin, continually burnt from the sun above.Archie with his shaggy blonde hair, swept to the side. His hazel eyes lovingly glancing at his bride-to be. His tan skin, leathery from years of walking without shoes and working hard towards their marriage.Their families didn't embrace the idea with open arms, of two nineteen-year-olds united. They came up with excuses that they were too young,...

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“My Only” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #48

Dear Aaron,You told me you went to the doctor for a simple yearly checkup. With that special glint in your eye you smiled a cheeky grin and waved as you shut the door behind you.I miss your smiles.It had started a month before. You were silently crying in our bedroom. You, like any other man I know, never cried. As a woman I cried about minuscule things here or there. I tip-toed in and asked you what happened. You shrugged and said the allergens were out of control. I knew you were making up pseudo excuses, but I didn't want to pry or cause ...

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“Questions and Answers” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #48

Every sibling relationship varies. In children’s stories you read of a picture-perfect duo that either fights crime or goes on a simplistic adventure where they bond and love each other with Philia (deep friendship). In young adult’s books siblings fight each other almost to death or they reluctantly band together to defeat a villain and eventually grow to create a flawless and (again) perfect relationship. Do you see the repeating fact? Hurt, climax, love and happily perfect ever after. This is true of most stories. I started out ...

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“'But I Am Odd!'” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #47

"The trees are leaking again." You say just above a whisper. You have a stiffened gaze directed out the window where the large oaks and pines tower above the roof of your home."Leaking what?" Your older sister, Macy, ask as she walks over to you. She has bright blonde curls and enticing blue eyes. She had been engaged once, (which resulted in a dramatic ending) had multiple more boyfriends than you could count, and was in a relationship once more. This time everyone prayed it would work out."Don't you see?" You ask, pointing. "Shadows. That ...

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