Ok this is my first story on this site, all I ask for is a fair criticism on what you guys think both of the story itself and my writing. Any tips or advice would be appreciated.
Regards, NiceGuyA11ways
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Running in sand sucks, seriously, not only does sand not support your weight all that well, but it sucks your feet in and slows you down and makes it twice as hard to take the next step. Plus, chasing something that you can only see for a second or two makes it suck that much more, damn fireflies, and my kid cousins that dragged me out here to chase them. A year or two ago my grandparents had the great idea to buy a house out in the sand dunes on the southern tip of Lake Michigan, which given that the lake is about a fifteen minute drive down the nearest highway from the town where they used to live with the rest of the family, it didn't really make much sense to me. But when my grandparents want something they usually get it, no matter how ridiculous. This led me to my current situation, a mason jar in one hand, shoes filling up with sand running along a semi-dark path in the dunes after my two seemingly inexhaustible little cousins.
"Come on Nate we gotta catch the fireflies!" said Sam, the eleven year old was obsessed with the military and was always wearing something camo themed. His nine year old sister Christy stood next to him looking like she was about to fall asleep standing up, she was a girls girl, always wearing something pink and taking dancing lessons.
"Hold on a sec Sam." I said, on a dare from him I had taken the steep side of the dune up to the top and I was paying for it, I could barely breathe, I'm not out of shape, I run in the dunes all the time, but that's in shorts and sneakers, not work boots, blue-jeans, and a hoodie.
I glanced at Christy, she was nodding slightly, "Hey Sam buddy I think your sister is falling asleep on us. Maybe we should start heading back."
"But...you haven't caught a firefly yet Nate." said Christy, as she yawned.
I glanced at the empty jar in my hand, she was right, but I came more to look after them than to catch bugs. But I knew that if I didn't catch one they would bug me for a week.
"Alright you two," I said as a crouched down putting myself at their eye level, "I will catch one and then we head back...no arguing."
Christy smiled her adorable smile that adults everywhere melted at, Sam nodded clearly unhappy with having to head back but he tried to smile anyway.
I stood up and started looking for a bug that would be an easy catch, out of the corner of my eye I saw a faint pulse of light in a patch of dune grass. It had probably just landed on one of the blades to rest. I slowly began creeping toward the tall brown grass blades, jar in my right hand, my left ready to scoop the bug into the jar, as I got close I heard the faint hum of wings and saw another pulse of light, I bolted toward it and scooped the bug into the jar in one move as I did so I could of sworn I heard a tiny voice yell "Hey!" but I wrote it off as my imagination mixed with sleepiness.
I turned and held the now faintly glowing jar up for my cousins inspection, gave it a slight shake, and then tucked it into my hoodie pocket after I put the lid on.
"Yay Nate!" said Christy hopping in place as she cheered, then she stopped and gave a huge yawn.
"Looks like Short Stack is done for the night." I said smiling slightly as I walked over to Christy. Short Stack was her family nick name, and she hated it.
"Don't call me that!" she tried to sound angry but was too busy yawning again.
"Will carrying you back make up for it?" I asked.
She paused and thought about it then said, "Maybe." with a cheeky little smile.
"Maybe really that's all I get?" I asked hiding my grin behind a hand, as I inched closer.
"Yeah." She said, after pretending to think about it for a few seconds.
"How about...now!?" I asked as I reached out and began tickling her.
Christy squealed with laughter and tried to push me away.
"Grab her arms Sam!" I said Sam rushed over laughing along with his sister as he held her arms to her sides. After several moments of flailing fun I scooped Christy up and threw her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Quickly Private we need to get to the house before the Jerries catch us!" I said faking a British accent.
"Yes sir!" said Sam and we took off toward the lights of the beach house.
As we got closer Christy's flailing and laughter slowly faded to giggles and squirming, until it died down to nothing at all shortly before we reached the door. As Sam opened the screen door on the porch I gently lowered Christy so I was carrying her against my hip with her head on my shoulder, her steady breathing showing that she had fallen asleep. We walked into the 'living room' area of the beach house, half the building was a massive open space with nothing between the kitchen, living room, and dining room, while on the other half of the house there was a staircase that leads to the loft and underneath the loft were a pair of bedrooms and a bathroom.