Lately, my writing projects consist of poetry, short stories, and a fiction novel based on true events.
With poetry there isn’t much to explain.
The short story I’m working on is called Gnip and the Master of Shefsberry. It’s a fantasy/world travel story where Gnip is an Invisilite a creature that is invisible unless he is lonely and/or sad. Then he is visible to humans such as Bryan the overseer of the Shefsberry lighthouse. I only just started this story so I don’t have much more than that.
Searching for Faith, is a fiction story I am writing using a couple of big life experiences from my life but putting a fictional spin on them. Sage is 17, the youngest in the family and she takes care of her mother who is battling cancer. Everyone else is in school or at work. She’s the sole caretaker and she is under a lot of stress to keep her emotions in check as she watches her mother deteriorate in front of her each day.
Before her mother gets really sick, her mother asks Sage to promise that she won’t leave God when she passes away. Sage promises, but knows it was what her mother wanted to hear and that Sage was still searching out her faith and how much she really believed about this Jesus character.
Donna, Sages, mother, sees through Sage’s “promise” and throws in conversations about Jesus and to help her daughter see the importance of knowing Christ. These conversations continue until Donna is so weak she can barely talk. She passes away later in the day.
Sage goes through the motions of the calling hours, memorial service, and funeral, but she starts to notice she doesn’t feel right. The longer the days pour on the more she feels the symptoms of both grief and oncoming depression.
In the months following, she sees a handful of doctors and they all say the same thing: she’s depressed from the loss of her mother.
Months roll on, and she doesn’t feel any better. Her father takes her to the emergency room after she harms herself. At the hospital she is fixed up but a social worker is called in and says she needs to admit herself to the mental health ward, or they will admit her. So Sage admits herself.
Basically, Sage goes through months of battling her loss and grief and starts a trial of medications. She gets little relief, when her doctor recommends she try ketamine infusions. She goes in for ketamine infusions but is told she has to try ECT first. If ECT doesn’t work, then they will go to ketamine infusions. She tries ECT a few times but starts to lose her memory, so the doctor stops the ECT treatments. Ketamine is next and Sage notices some much needed improvement. The doctor who runs the ECT/Ketamine department suggests her med manager see if they could get a psych evaluation done.
Once Sage goes through a psych evaluation she learns she has bipolar disorder and is started on lithium. After the medication kicks in, she notices her mood improve greatly and she is better able to function normally. Between the ketamines and lithium she is back on her feet.
But through everything, she was surprised to learn she was pulling on her mother’s faith, which had now become hers. She had realized she was following Jesus no matter where she went and had a longing to leanr more about Him. She picks up her Bible, opens it up to Matthew chapter one, and starts reading the gospels.
She feels her mother’s spirit with her and looks around the room. “Alright, Mom. I know you’re here. Even if only briefly. I’m doing okay now. You don’t have to worry.”
“I admit I was worried about you,” her mother’s spirit appeared.
Sage gasps, not really expecting her mother’s spirit to appear. “Mom! I thought you were in Heaven.”
“I was, but I was allowed to visit you one last time.”
“Oh. I was hoping you could stay.”
“You know I can’t.”
Sage drops her head, “I know.”
“I just wanted to reassure you that you’re headed down the right path. And to keep going that way.”
“What path?”
Donna points to Sage’s Bible.
“Oh, the Bible.”
“Yes. The more you read, the more you’ll learn about the stories and truths I’ve told you. Are you willing to keep reading?”
“Yes, Of course, Mom. I have a thirst for this now.”
Donna smiled. “That’s great. I only wish I could be here to guide and teach you.”
“I know. I wish there was someone I could talk to about this stuff.”
“You have your father. He loves talking about the Bible. He just thinks none of his children are interested.”
“But that’s not true. I have always had a curiosity and love for Jesus. I just wasn’t as active about it because the Bible was hard to understand.”
“What translation are you reading?”
“What?”
“Translation?”
“Oh, it’s the New King James version.”
“That’s why. You have always had a hard time understanding that version. Your grandmother on your dad’s side had an NIV version. That should be easier. Ask your father for it. See if you can understand it. If you can, ask him to buy you your own Bible. That way you can highlight verses, or underline them, and take notes in your Bible.”
“You can do that in a Bible?”
Donna laughed. “Yes, you can.”
“Donna, it’s time to go,” said a deep, calm, disembodied voice.
“What was that?” Sage stood up and looked around the room. “Am I going crazy? First I see you and then I’m talking to you and then I hear another voice.”
“You’re not going crazy. I’m really here and the voice you heard was God’s. I need to go now.”
“God’s voice?”
“Yes. Be good for your father be there for your family.”
“I will. I love you.”
“I love you too, dear.”
Donna disappeared and Sage fell into a puddle of tears.
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Okay so that is all I have about that story for now. I wasn’t planning on going so long with the dialogue part. lol. I’m not sure where I want to go with the story from there. I have more brainstorming to do. If you have any thought’s, questions, or suggestions, feel free to leave me a comment or send me an email at soucieji@gmail.com
From The Mists of the Northwoods 