Tag: nighttime

A Place I used to know: A short story by Mike Cole

The drive was long. He had driven down this road once before, when he had moved. It had been day then as he eyeballed the setting sun. How strange it felt to be going back to where it all began. The funeral was to be held on Sunday and he wanted to get there a day early. He never got the chance to say goodbye and it haunted him like a ghost.

His headlights flickered and he saw a shadow on the road. As night came, the darkness engulfed the once peaceful country road. It was a lot of backroads on this drive and the area was littered with abandoned homes. Mostly farmland, but a gas station did pop up here and there. The closest city was 50 miles away, or in other words, his destination. He heard distant thunder, then came the rain.

Low visibility made it nigh impossible to drive and the wind made the rain pelt the car even harder. Hours passed and the rain didn’t let up. He saw a flash of lightning and decided to pull over for the night. And that’s when he heard it. A pop of the tire and the car slowly coming to a stop in the dead of night. His headlights flickered and he saw a shadow.

A bolt of lightning and the shadow was gone. He was trying to remember what he had in the back of his car, all packed away for emergency use. A tire he knew, but he couldn’t remember if he had brought the tools. He opened the trunk as the rain pelted him. A few adjustments and he’d be on his way. And that’s when he saw it, peering out from the forest. It was him, pale but unmistakable. A ghostly figure, torn apart. He rubbed his eyes just to make sure and then the figure was gone. Chills went up his spine and the wind began howling, indistinguishable from screams.

Fireworks, Cityscapes, and Nighttime: Adventures in photography

In my pursuit of hobbies that challenge the mind, my newest addition to what will eventually be the death of me is photography. Going out, taking photos and stretching my comfort zone until it pops and oozes discomfort; if I survive, great. If not, at least I’ll have some amazing photos.  Life is too short not to play and play I have.

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Personally, I am disgusted with my photos and I am not saying that for humble brag points. What you see is pretty lights while what I see is camera shake akin to making a double exposure.

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As a first attempt, these are not bad but they could be so much more. Had I been strong enough to lift a tripod, the night might have ended differently. And Thank God I’m too broke to afford a lens with proper zoom because then you might see what I see.

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I almost didn’t go out but decided “why not?” as I do with the best decisions in my life. Steps are steps and even crawling gets you somewhere. I never want to get in the habit of telling myself “I can’t.”

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We are our greatest critics and most give up before something can truly flourish. Success is not a straight line and success is relative. If we believe we can’t, we can’t. If we believe we can, we can.

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And the greatest achievements in life are not easy and when achieved, offer the greatest sense of accomplishment. Take pride in knowing you’ll get there and instead of focusing on what’s wrong, always see mistakes as learning opportunities.

Thanks for reading! If you like my content, feel free to share! From Poetry to Short Stories, I have a little bit for everybody. I post about 3 times a month nowadays and my blog is constantly evolving; if I’m preaching to the quire, thanks for singing!

Funds to send Mike to Mars

I love producing content. As I grow as an individual, so does my content. What was once acceptable now isn’t. As such, more time is spent working on each post. I do all edits, research, and content creation. Whether it’s taking photos for a post one day to writing poetry the next, my blog is keeping me busy. Donations are appreciated and are used to invest in creative pursuits whether that be writing classes, art lessons, and anything in-between.

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