Elaina Goodnough

“Loving and Longing” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #47

Dear Josh,I remember the day you left, it was bitter sweet. My boy was a baby no longer, and my bird's egg had cracked and my chick had flown away. I was alone with my husband, alone, yet with a world of possibilities. The odd thing is, I didn't feel like exploring this new and intriguing world. I could vacation, yet I didn't feel like traveling, I could escape, yet I felt like being trapped.I remember waiting for the day I would meet you. Preparing a room and spending hours rubbing my swelling stomach. You came in a whirl of tears and smile...

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“Don't be Drawn In” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #47

Your name is Lilith Jane Andrews. Having just reached the age of forty-three, you are still an uninformed introvert that dislikes going outside of your home, let alone meeting with a friend on a late Saturday night. Why did he invite you then? Why would he bother himself on such a broken cause? Should you go or should you creep deeper into your hovel and officially cut off all ties?"What about the last time I left the house?" You whisper to yourself as you wash a single dirty plate.The last time had ended in one disappointment after the othe...

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“Out of Hostility into Trust” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #46

My name is Jenny Saxe, I am thirty-three years old, and I didn't trust anyone. After three years of military training, numerous assignments ending in open fire and explosives, and watching my best friends die at the hands of traitors and enemies, I had no choice but to ignore seemingly acts of friendship or a simple comment. In my mind, any form of communication was hostile.When I came back to the States I was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. I was afraid that the person next to me in line at Costco was a third world te...

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“To Feel Again” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #46

It had been a large walk in closet. Clothes were taken away, shelving was removed, and it was painted a deep sea blue color. The carpet was taken out and a small rug was bought and placed in the center of the room. A vintage wooden desk was placed in the far side of the room, with a small book shelf filling the other side.The last step was buying a computer to occupy the rolling top desk. Soon that was accomplished, it was a relatively undemanding task, but one that drained the buyers pocket immediately.I had my writing room. For if you didn...

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“Set Me Straight” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #46

Melanie Cuurk had a bad case of writers block. It seemed as if all outward or inward flow of thought had been stopped, and she just stared at the beginning of a sentence on a computer screen. She tried to think what she would do if she was a heroine in a novel, but all seemingly interesting or good ideas only lead to dead ends or something that the reader would never understand.She sighed and pushed her chair back as she glared at the ceiling above her. What would Aamina Doyle, the main-character in Melanie's best selling series, 'Trapped an...

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“A Battle Against Cancer” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #45

The day before the horrid news came I was spending the day with my Grandma Jo. I was nine at the time. I had gone to a small second-hand store and bought a used toy to play with and plague my mom's clean side. (Occasionally you got a stuffed animal and fleas for the price of one!) My grandma has this wonderful trait, she always visits the elderly, so I would accompany her on such outings when I was with her. We decided to visit my great grandparents, Albin and Elle. They certainly were elderly, especially at the age of nine I always assumed ...

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“When Silence is Deafening ” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #45

I met my husband on May 13th, 2000. I was visiting my grandparents in England, and he happened to come and help them fix their computer that day. He was handsome, dashing, kind, and quite a gentleman. I fell in love with him. He asked me out on a date for the next evening in a small restaurant in Kensington, London, it was about a half an hour away from where I was staying. He told me his name was Joshua Adams, he was two years older than me or twenty-two years old, and that he had one sister named Ashley. After a week of phone calls and a f...

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“A Purpose Filled” by Elaina Goodnough

Mrs. Woodson had hoped and prayed for a baby girl. After giving birth to four boys she thought she knew all hope was lost, until the morning of January 12th, 1945. She realized she was expecting and on September 30th, 1945 she gained her only wish, to hold her own baby girl in her arms. Gwyneth Odette Woodson was born. As she grew her defining features were her bright blonde straight hair, her shiny green eyes, and her sweet and kind nature. As a toddler she was bright and bubbly, as a child she was responsible and calm, and as a teenager sh...

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“Help.” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #45

Humanity is cruel and prideful. An unkind scattering of dust in the air. For that is what we are in reality, dirt. Dirt that only deserves to be trodden on. I know this from experience and I should not be hurting anyones feelings, because I say this as a human as well. I just didn't think that people, all the same yet so different, would come to the level of hurting their own kind. It seems as if we are bored with hurting all others, and decided to stoop to this level. I am ashamed.In the world's eyes my two friends and I are in need of bein...

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“The Lad With the High Quality Cap ” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #44

I have memories, just like any other normal person. Memories of love and loss, hope and peace, hate and destruction. My mother died of cancer when I was three. I remember the day she died. I laid my head on hers, I handled her face sweetly as I asked my father why she didn't wake up. I remember the time my father remarried, I was seven. I stood stiff in a little white dress as my father stared teary-eyed at my new mother. Memories are a relative thing, sometimes I remember the minute something happened, and other times I only remember small...

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“A Nation of Hate ” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #44

Jill looked at the television. She placed her head in her hands and tears fell onto her clothing. How could the world get to this? How could people stoop to this level? Just yesterday everything was calm, possibly even still, but in twenty-four hours life seemed to turn upside down-for the worse. Her first thought was to jump in the car and race to her husband-Ben-at his job, the local police station-or what was left of it. But sense got ahold of her and she knew she had to calm herself down. He wouldn't want her to get in the middle of...

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“It's Ok to Forget Sometimes” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #44

I might be crazy. In fact, I most likely am. Who else works with the dying? Who else creates relationships with families in the hardest time of their lives? I met my husband on the day I came to care for him before his death, six months later we were married, and six months after that he died. My best friend also is currently dying, and I have to watch it. All in the hospice line of work. I guess it isn't recommended that we create intimate relationships with the ones passing, but I think they are ones who need it most, and boy, do I have an...

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“Thank you. ” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #43

The power of two words still surprises me. How a thing that someone utters can change your life in an instant. I learned this the hardest way, and it broke my life. Later on it fixed it, but that's for a different story.It had been a day in late September. It was dreary and my mind was as cloudy and depressed as the weather looked. I had just sat on my sofa, an old antique that my Aunt had passed on to me. Almost my entire house was put together by gifts and the cause was usually pity. Pity I lived by myself, pity that I was poor, pity that ...

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“Darcie's Story” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #43

Darcie Murphy had been told her story more than once. She had hung on to her mother's every last word when the tale was declared. In the recent past, however, she chose to quiet her mother's emotional banter about her daughter's past.What made her different from every other child in the neighborhood, possibly even her entire school, was her background. Darcie was Irish through and through. She even had red hair, and green eyes, so it wasn't that hard to believe. But that wasn't the different part. Darcie's parents were 100% African American....

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“The Writing Shed ” by Elaina Goodnough

Submitted to Contest #42

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 start, the sky portrayed its evening gown. Blue turned ...

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