Mariah

It was just another long day enduring Mr. Marshall’s everlasting English class. Seventeen year old Mariah thought about how much she really loved English, except for Mr. Marshall’s monotone voice. While day-dreaming, Mariah envisioned her future-self standing in front of a room full of 3rd graders, listening to her explain how the “i before e except after c” rule doesn’t always apply in the English language. Meanwhile, the students watched Ms. Mariah write words that the rule applied to and didn’t apply to on the chalk board. That’s when Mariah realized her ideal future would be teaching English abroad in Uganda. The boy next to Mariah, Max Mitchell, nudged her and she reentered the real world. Max was a fair haired boy towering about six feet two inches staring back at her with his icy blue eyes. Mariah’s heart began to race, she turned as red as a tomato, and rambled on to Max about her plans for her future.

After some research, Mariah realized attending a dual credit college would accelerate her plan by allowing her to get to Uganda in half the time it would otherwise take with a more traditional route. Max, her high school English cohort concluded that Mariah’s choice of dual crediting was truly genius. Mariah had an accompaniment for her two year college journey to learn to speak Bantu, a native Ugandan language, and second to teach English. Max and Mariah studied together quite often, and grew an unbreakable, loving friendship. After two quick years of college --full of hard work and several good times-- the two finally made it to graduation. That night, Max told Mariah how much she meant to him and proposed to her.

Max and Mariah flew out to Uganda after they said their good byes to all who attended their majestic fairytale wedding. About fourteen hours later, the two arrived at their new dream home they had built right next to the school they had previously bought with hopes to run it. They got right to work at the school, ensuring a free education to three hundred fifty students, ages 5 to 15, provided school uniforms and supplies. Max and Mariah both taught English at the school they were rapidly growing. They had the help of several friends and fellow teachers that taught other courses like P.E., science, health, and math at the well-respected Mitchell Academy. Known for running a tight ship led by rules and order, Mariah had a whole different approach to teaching than Max who was more a go with the flow teacher. While assisting his best friend and co-worker, Erik, with a hands on science experiment, a fire sparked in the wood house built for the happily married couple. Max and Erik hectically tossed child after child out of the kitchen window into the breathable air. While trying to make their way through the smoke and away from the terrorizing flames, the house collapsed, and the flames engulfed all that was left of the house along with Max and Erik.

After falling into sorrow’s arms, Mariah spent much of her time mourning the death of her husband, best friend, co-worker, and love of her life. She spent the long, dark tear-filled nights weeping on the school floor with a quilt and pillow. During the day, she taught as well as she could without letting her emotions get the best of her. Her students and their parents supported Mariah emotionally, but what Mariah needed was a warm house to sleep in at night, a stove to cook on, and clothes on her back. Mariah understood that no one had the money to support her, but she needed help because she was nearing the end of herself.

One of the students Max rescued from the fire named Bonke was just 10, but he had a brilliant idea. Since none of the families could financially support Mariah, but they had many hands, they built a house for Mariah. It was the night of February 19th and Bonke had arranged for all his classmates and everyone they knew to meet up at the scene at which Max and Erik’s lives were lost. The men, women, and Mitchell Academy students unburied the ashes throughout the humid, grievous night. They worked until sunrise piling brick after brick to build up a shelter and house that Mariah could call home. When Mariah awoke on Saturday morning, she planned to go to town to try to find some nutritional scraps to last her the week. She walked past what once was her dream house that burned to a pile of ashes where there now stood a cozy brick home with a life sustaining side garden. There was an aroma of fresh baked bread and homemade soup piping out of the opened kitchen window.

Mariah thought she had to have been imagining this site, but she soon grasped reality when Bonke led the group of 150 volunteers out from behind the house. Falling to her knees, Mariah gratefully cried harder than she had ever before. She thought everyday would be another fight for happiness and life, until Bonke brought the community together to give back to a teacher who gave her all to her kids and their educations. Despite her orderly life style, Mariah let loose and enjoyed herself for the first time in weeks. Starting with a love filled group hug, the rest of the day was spent celebrating an amazing teacher, her love of kids and her selfless dedication towards the less fortunate. Mariah had truly inspired Bonke to follow his dream of becoming an English teacher in order to touch the lives of all who he came in contact with, just as Mariah had. Ultimately, life had come full circle for those affected by these lives. Lives that touched other lives, lives that inspired other lives and lives that gave life to other lives.

Reflection:

Looking inward on this piece, I found myself proud of the work I had done. This piece was just for fun, not a school assignment. I feel like I had taught myself the fun in writing with this piece, and that I could take it as far as my imagination would go. I particularly like that I wrote it with some of my goals in life imbedded.

If I were to go back and change one thing, I believe I would focus on expanding on the setting. Not only where this took place, but when it happened too. Another interesting turn I could take on it would be to go even deeper into what was happening there during this time. I could tie together the actual history with the lessons in the story.

My standards for this piece of work was simply to push myself creatively. I wanted to let my imagination take me away. I believe I met this goal. I allowed the ideas to flow on the paper with ease.

#realisticfiction #creativewriting