Creative Writing

Well I just had to produce a piece of creative writing recently. The theme was called "Chapter 1", that means we had to write a chapter one of a book. You could choose your story to be of any genre, sci-fi,western,crime,romance,fantasy,etc...Well I think mine is the most random of the lot.lol. I just wrote while I thought and this is what came out.

The Keys were always known to be impulsive, crazy, adventurous and sometimes even weird. The family consisted of a middle-aged dad who used to be a hippie, a mum who was in a rock band, two boys, a little girl, their grandmother who was always on the rocking chair sleeping and their long floppy eared dog who had a thing for ties.

You should have seen their house, it looked like a wreck. Some say lightning struck it more than once. No doubt they were poor but neither did they care, their famous line, “What’s not broken can’t be fixed.” Sometimes it would seem that Mrs. Keys was reliving her teenage days with the amount of noise coming out of the house and sometimes it would seem that Mr. Keys was giving his kids meditation classes from his hippie days. You could never tell what would happen next in that household.

Mr. Keys worked as a real estate agent and didn’t earn as much as the average Joe. He was six feet tall, had long blonde hair, a little chubbier than what he used to be and a piercing on his left ear. Sometimes he sounded like a beauty pageant, the way he talked about world peace and how he wanted to help the world. Mrs. Keys was almost the opposite, she had short black hair, both ears pierced including the nose, maintained her slim figure and loved metal. She has mellowed down a little since she met Mr. Keys and became a mother, but she was still a rocker at heart.

Their oldest son Falcon, named after Mrs. Keys’ band, was a bit like both of his parents. He was wild, but not too wild to put it simply. He was 13 years old, well built from the tennis he played, pierced ears and a long blonde fringe that almost covered his left eye. He loved to read, write, play his electric guitar and his hobby was collecting guitar picks. Daryl was the second oldest, named after Mr. Keys favourite baseball player and probably the wildest of the lot. He was 10 years old, had spiky black hair, a piercing on his right ear and the rebel of the house. He played the drums and had a great interest in tattoos. If you were to ask him what he wanted to be when he grows up, he would answer, “I want to be like the guy at the tattoo parlour!” He got his first tattoo on his 9th birthday and it wrote “KEYS”. Sometimes he was a bit of a zoosadist, he would take bugs and pull of their antennas and wings just for the fun of it. His dad would have gone ballistic if he ever found out.

Last but not least was little Viv, short for Vivian. She was like her dad, usually quiet, a nature lover and loved bright coloured dresses. Her family nicknamed her “Miss Sunshine” as there was hardly a frown on her face. At just 7 years old, she was as matured as a 15 year old girl. Sometimes she would tell people how to live their life and not know what she was saying. Daryl just thinks she reads too much. All three of them were homeschooled, as Mr. and Mrs. Keys believed that it was their responsibility for their children’s education. Since they were poor, they could not afford to send grandma to an Old Folks Home, so she had to stay with them. Mr. Dibs, their dog, came to be in their household when he was hit by a car and they cared for him.

A normal day at the Keys’ house started of with Mr. Dibs barking his head off, waking the entire household like a rooster in the morning. Well it wasn’t early in the morning, more like early afternoon. Mr. Keys would be rushing down the stair, sometimes even roll down, trying to get his tie from playful Mr. Dibs. He was always late for work; it’s a wonder why he isn’t fired. Mrs. Keys would be frantically making breakfast and screaming for the kids to wake up. Falcon as usual would be taking his time to wake up, dragging his feet with his eyelids half closed and then dunking his head into the basin. Ignoring his mum’s screaming and Mr. Dibs barking, Daryl would continue sleeping, dreaming of drums and tattoos. Little Viv would be already awake since Mr. Dibs’ alarm call. She would go to the bathroom, freshen up and change into one of her bright coloured frocks.

After they were done with breakfast, Mrs. Keys would assign them school work to do, even though half the time it never gets done. During any break time, the kids would be running around the house or doing something really crazy. Sometimes they were quietly plotting an evil scheme or sometimes they would dress up like red Indians and make heaps of noise in the garden. When do they make the most noise you wonder? Band practice. Mrs. Keys would gather her kids, turn on the amps and they would have a jamming session. You could imagine the scene, Falcon on his electric, Daryl on the drums, Mrs. Keys on either the keyboard or another electric and little Viv on the vocals. You could see the house vibrate and music resonating out from the house. It was probably the highlight of the day, with the neighbours not approving of it too much.

By the time Mr. Keys came home, the house would be twice the mess as when he left. Mrs. Keys would be cooking dinner while the kids would do whatever they wanted. They would sometimes go to the playground and take Mr. Dibs for a walk or play in the fields with their friends. Yes, they did have friends. When it came dinner time, Mr. Keys would gather them, say a short prayer and they would eat as one big happy family. Jokes, laughter, exchange of news and definitely noise were brought to the dinner table. At nightfall, the kids would be in their room doing work or gathered around the family TV watching their favourite sitcom. By 10 o’clock Mrs. Keys would ask the kids to go to bed, but of course with a bit of fuss from them. When they were in bed finally, Mr. and Mrs. Keys would snuggle together and enjoy each others company.

It looked like everything was going fine. Though the family had quirks, they loved each other and had a strong family bond. But everything was about to change and it started with Mr. Keys becoming very ill.