ASHLEY DUNCAN

Fiction

Space Needed

Ashley Duncan

A loud pounding thundered throughout the room, startling the king awake. He sat up and grumbled as he squinted toward the giant doors.

“What in the hell…” lighting up his disheveled face and making him cover his eyes.

“Sorry to wake you sir, but it is urgent.”

Four guards stood outside his door, two holding torches.

“What do you want?”

“It’s Amethyst. We lost her, again.”

“Again?” The king’s eyes opened, fully awake now, knowing that his daughter was probably not within the walls of the castle.

“This is the third time this goddamn week!” The king hurried back to his bed, grabbing his robe and slipping on his slippers. The king turned back towards the doors and headed out, making the soldiers part a path for him.

“Gather the rest of the guards and maids and send out a search party,” the king glanced behind him, “and you

Amethyst slung her bag over her shoulder as she scrambled up a tree, her nightgown getting caught on branches, ripping here and there. At one point, it snagged on a larger branch and she yanked it so hard a piece of her nightgown

She stared at it and shrugged.

“I wasn’t a fan of this nightgown anyways.” Amethyst carefully pulled her telescope from the bag and extended it to its full length. She peered into the bright sky and smiled at the large object smiling back. The moon was everything to her and she wanted to know everything about it.

She put the telescope back up to her eye and sighed at the sight of the moon. The mix of the surface’s colors brought joy to her; the way the light greys and dark greys blended. dimmer, or sometimes not even there. The clouds tended to cover the moon some nights, leaving her to see the stars only. Amethyst wondered where the moon went.

For a few hours, she sat there, carefully studying every aspect of the moon and sky. The next day, she would take what she drew and go to the local scientist and librarian, to see if they knew anything about the moon. She always bombarded those two with questions and they always gave her the same answers, but yet she would return.

After studying the moon for so long, Amethyst put her things away and just lay against the tree, staring up at the sky.

GALAXY GIRL Gracie Eli digital illustration

“This digital illustration was designed in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. It was an attempt at composing a larger project. However, I was surprised with how it turned out and made the decision to have it stand alone.”

While she relaxed, watching the moon, her eyes began to grow heavy and her head wilted. Before she knew it, didn’t sleep long before shouts and the clanging of metal woke her. would be in big trouble. She grabbed her bag and began climbing down the tree, scraping her arms and legs in the process. The light that had led her up the tree had disappeared. thud, the branches and leaves cracking and crunching underneath her, along with the items in her bag.

“Did you hear that?” the middle voice shouted to the other voices.

“Sounded like something fell!”

“Could be her!”

The metal clanging got louder and Amethyst knew they were running. She had a chance to get up and run away, but her body hurt from the short fall and she was too sad to move, knowing she had broken her telescope. So, she

The empty sky. The sky is empty? Wasn’t the moon just there?

Amethyst tilted her head from the ground and stared; the moon couldn’t just disappear like that. The stars still littered the sky, but where the moon once was, there was nothing. Slowly she sat up.

I didn’t sleep that long. It’s still dark out. Where did it go?

Before she could process her thoughts, the clanging metal was upon her, and three men stood above her,

breathing heavily.

“Why are you out here, princess?” The one in the middle slipped his arms under hers and stood her up, still trying to through her hair, picking out leaves.

“Not funny. Your father is pissed.”

“Of course, he is. You had to go and tell him.” Amethyst turned to face the three and dramatically quoted, “‘I went missing’, idiot.”

“Well, what if something happened to you? You could have been kidnapped.” The one to the right tried to take her

Amethyst gripped her bag.

She readjusted her bag and shouldered between the three, heading back towards the castle. When she didn’t hear the metal of their armor moving, she shouted over her shoulder.

“Are you going to escort me back or just stand there?” Metal clinked and clanged as the three jogged to catch up with her.

The walk back to the castle seemed like it took forever, as if it were almost never-ending. The guards would try to talk to Amethyst, but she wasn’t in the mood. Her telescope was broken, her father was going to yell at her, and the moon was missing.

On the other side of the doors was her father, pacing the room. When he heard the door open, his head perked up, glaring at Amethyst.

“Where have you been! I had the whole castle out looking for you!”

“I don’t see why. These idiots always know where I am,” Amethyst mumbled as she walked past her father, heading to her room.

The king glanced at the three soldiers, who shifted awkwardly, avoiding eye contact.

“And you, miss, you stop moving right now!” But Amethyst kept going, climbing the stairs up to her room.

“No, I’m good. You’re just going to yell at me.”

“I’m not going to yell at you. I just want to know where you were!”

“You’re yelling at me right now!”

“No, I’m just trying to talk to you, but you keep walking away.” The king stopped and stared at Amethyst as she pushed open the door to her room.

“You’re so stubborn, just like your mother. She would always do what she wanted and it got her killed.” soldiers.” Amethyst turned and saw her father’s face turn red. “A jester that can’t even come looking for his daughter.

“Your mother caused us issues. Her going alone to do things is what got her killed.”

“Well at least she tried to protect our city! Something you won’t do, but you’ll protect me by keeping me locked in my room. I’d rather be like mom any day over you!”

Tears welled up in Amethyst’s eyes as she slammed her bedroom door shut and leaned against it, letting tears slide down her cheeks. First her mother and now the moon; the two things she loved the most left her and she was all alone again.

LAKE QUINAULT LODGE Abby Hauser photography

“This photo of the Lake Quinault Lodge was taken on a Photo Club trip. The lodge was built in the 1920s and captures the beauty I wanted to remember.”

ONE WHEEL Sterling Stecker photography

“Pictures are used to help us remember, but what will I think of this photo later in life? I hope I can look at this photo and remember all of the good times that I had with my friends, hanging out and trying di erent tricks.”

SANITATION Iandra Estupinian photography

“This photo is based on a series about the impact COVID-19 had on children, taking them out of schools and having them follow strict guidelines, which goes against their ‘wild nature.’”