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It's Okay



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Sat Sep 17, 2011 1:58 am
NaRachel says...



Ok so yeah, this is a true story, so it's probably not written the best anyway... :) I meant for some parts to be a little funny, but I'm not the most comedic person so let me know how it is :)


Awkward half run. Two steps. Gulp of breath.
“CanItalktoyou!?”
I’m not sure if you actually said yes, or even if you’d understood what I’d said. I’d whacked you on the arm at the same time to get your atttention, probably a little too hardly. Then I’d said a rushed “sorry” both for hitting you and making you talk to me, then a slight nervous giggle, another big breath and a shaky:
“Ummm”
I straightened out my face and looked at the floor, taking a second to myself. I’m not sure if you looked at me or not.
“Um, I just wanted to apologise for what I did.” Breath. “Um coz it was really crazy and stupid and”… trails off into a mumbled sorry.
“It’s Okay”, you said. I look up to your blue eyes while your talking. You don’t look back, but that was okay, you’re just like that. Even though our eyes weren’t locked I still felt like we were both willingly trapped in this little bubble. Barely aware where I was, nothing around me seemed to exist. However at these words my intake of breath was a little sharper, I made some kind of “ehhh” sound that showed all my emotions at once- confusion, nerves, relief, surprise and awkwardity. Yes awkwardity, it’s my new word. Anyway….
There are many ways that someone can say “It’s Okay”. It can be in the insincere, rushed “It’s okay” (just stop talking to me and go away) kind of way. Or it can be in the tearful “It’s okay” (but it’s really not I’m just saying that because I don’t want you to feel bad). Or it can be in the genuine, it really is okay way. The way that shows you the person wants you to stop stressing. The way that doesn’t seem real because you don’t even remember what okay is. It’s in the way that almost made me believe it was okay.
I kept going, undeterred. I had more to say.
I must have said something else; damn you stressed brain and temporarily dysfunctional memory. All I know is that you once again repeated “It’s Okay”. The lovely part is that even after repetition it wasn’t losing it’s meaning. This time it was as genuine as the last and perhaps more eager to truly convince me that it was all right. Something about the tone you used, the emphasis you put on the syllables. Your voice emphasised the “It’s” and I didn’t realise until after that you were in fact saying, “it’s”, not “That’s Okay” but “It’s okay”, there is such a huge difference, it comforted me.
I kept going, I had rehearsed this way too many times in my head to stop now.
“I never meant to cause you so much trouble. I never wanted any of it.” My voice had lost the nervous edge this time. The edge that had made my voice all constricted and strangely excited sounding. This sounded more like pleading.
“It’s okay,” you said reassuringly. But I remembered the sadness.
“No it’s not”, I said in a small voice. It was a pitiful, sooky kind of sound but I wasn’t upset, I was still sort of smiling. But I looked away, a little embarrassed. You gave a half sort of laugh, not because it was funny. It can’t really be called a laugh but it was.
I’m not sure if you’d taken it in the wrong way. If by saying that it wasn’t okay, you thought it wasn’t okay with me. My intention in my own head however was clear. What I’d done to you was wrong. Maybe, just maybe, you’d always wanted to say this to me:
“I’m sorry if what I did upset you” , you’d said it kind of rushed. As if it was hard to get out of the way. But that’s okay, unlike me; you’re not the kind of person that explodes apologies onto everyone they meet. This sorry really meant something.
“No!” I’d said it rushed, I hadn’t planned this situation, I probably should of said something different. A small gap as we dodged some people who walked between us.
“I mean, to be honest I think I brought it all upon myself.” Probably not the best wording but I think I got my point across. Why hadn’t I also said that it was okay? I think because there was a part of me that didn’t want to go down that track in fear of somehow lying and saying that it hadn’t upset me because it had done so much more than just upset me… why had I said “No!” then?
Another gap as more people, who seemed nothing more than dark blobs, blocked the way. You kept walking as if you were dead set on the destination of your locker.
“Well thanks for being so understanding and stuff” I said, this time happily.
“That’s okay”, I heard but didn’t see. I was walking away quickly. Stretching my arms out oddly as if trying to pull my hands off. I was clenching my lips as if that was my only hope in keeping in the overwhelming amount of emotion. I was happy and sad. I wanted to cry, but I was so shaky from the encounter. But so, so glad I'd done it- almost proud. I finally felt like it’s Okay.
"You grow, you grow like tornado
You grow from the inside
Destroy everything through
Destroy from the inside
Erupt like volcano
You flow from the inside
You kill everything through
You kill from the inside"
  





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Sat Sep 17, 2011 3:38 am
justcallmefade says...



This was great! The begining, I thought, was a bit unprofessional, but the more I read, the better it got.
I really liked it and the fact that you wrote from experience! Things that have happened are definitly the best things to wirte about.

Great job, and I'd loved to see more work from you in the future :D
I Like your Face. Like, a lot.
  





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Sat Sep 17, 2011 12:28 pm
Mars says...



Hello!

This is a lovely piece - you clearly have a knack for description and I liked the repetition of 'it's okay' at first although by the end it seemed a little tired. I also loooove that you use second-person point of view, it really should be used more often! I only have two big suggestions:

:arrow: Grammar, grammar, grammar. Sorry if you've heard this before but good grammar is really important in writing because otherwise it could look sloppy or make people not want to read your work. I noticed quite a few grammar mistakes in this piece, which I don't have time to point out right now, but some proofreading and revising is definitely in order here. ;) Grammar can be very tricky and annoying though so there are quite a few articles in the Knowledge Base on grammar. I think this one would be especially helpful!

:arrow: This, as I said, is a lovely scene, but I feel like you could do more with it! For example I want to know what incident caused the apology. I think you might have not included that on purpose? Which is cool - mysterious and that - but when I didn't learn what it was at the end I felt a little disappointed. Maybe just give a couple more clues? Otherwise it feels too vague and...empty. I also really want to know more about the characters!

All in all this is quite good, but I do think it needs editing, grammar improvement, and a little more development so that the reader doesn't feel cheated (so to speak) out of a story!

Carrie
'life tastes sweeter when it's wrapped in poetry'
-the wombats


critiques // nano
  








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