Short Story

Here's little something I wrote last night for a writing exercise.

The Necklace

The necklace wasn’t expensive, but it was beautiful.  Sapphires ran the length of the necklace with the biggest being in the center.  Diamonds wrapped around each of the sapphires with rare delicacy.  How did I know it wasn’t expensive?  A trained eye could see that the stones were manufactured.  Still, anything was more than I could afford.  Because it belonged to her I knew that it was okay to borrow.  Right now she just didn’t know that I didn’t plan on returning it.

I heard something to my right and flipped around to see who it was.  I ducked a little just in case it was her.  Someone was definitely in the dark room with me.  Slinking around the dresser I tried to see who it was.  I tried to slow my breath and make it inaudible.  The moonlight cast a small white light across the wood floor and a large boot stepped into it.

“Clara?” A voice whispered through the silence.  I exhaled finally.   It was only Brian.

“Could you consider being a little more quiet?” I whispered back as I came out of my hiding spot.

“Sorry, it’s really dark in here.”  I could see the silhouette of his shrug and rolled my eyes.

Instead of arguing with him I crept back to the jewelry case and lifted the necklace.  I stared at it for a second watching it as it caught the moonlight.  It was cold as I slid it down the front of my shirt.  I could feel Brian looking around nervously.  Why couldn’t he just calm down.  Nerves don’t help in situations like these.  Emotion only leaves room for error.

“Alright, let’s get out of here,” I whispered as I turned and focused my gaze directly at the window.  I looked out and saw the road below was clear.  The window flew open without a sound.  Sitting on the sill I laced the claw around the lip, held the rope and jumped.  When I reached the bottom I stayed in my crouch and saw that no one was there to see.  I unlatched the claw and motioned for Brian to come down.

We reached the restaurant in good time.   The hostess eyed us suspiciously in our black attire.  “Grayson?” she asked.

I eyed her coldly before she decided to lead us up the stairs.  The room was dim and the walls were covered in expensive rugs.  The air was thick with smoke.  I cut into it after the hostess motioned to the man in the tailored gray suit.  Without fear of this powerful man before me, I sat down and crossed my legs slinging my arm over the back of the chair.

“This is a new look for you,” he said in his raspy baritone.  He motioned to my ensemble with his cigar.

“Hi, Daddy.”  I said it with a smirk.

“What’s he doing here?”  He waved his cigar and frowned at Brian who was now sitting in a chair behind me trying to avoid the conversation.

“I thought I might need some help,” I said looking down at my fingers tapping the table.

Daddy laughed before his stare fixed back on me.  “Did you get it?”

A confident smile crept across my face.  I pulled it out of my shirt and placed it on the table to display it for him.  He stared at it before reaching out to touch it.  I turned back to Brian when Daddy’s approval didn’t come right away.  Brian sat there, arms folded, slouching and gaze fixed on one of the rugs.

With his eyes still focused on the necklace he said, “Does your mother know?”  His cold gray eyes were all that moved when he looked at me.  I had the feeling his question meant more than I wanted it to.

I stared back for a second before answering.  “N --,”

“Yes.”  Brian cut me off.

My body went rigid.

“Mom found out yesterday and planted a fake, but Clara can tell you all about that.  Can’t you Sis?”  Brian was standing next to me now with the same cold gaze as my father.

“Clara,” Daddy’s said calmly, “you knowingly brought me a fake?”

There was nothing I could say that would fix this so I sat there, rigid and silent.

My father sat back in his chair and tapped his cigar letting the ash fall on the floor.  “Miranda, baby, can you come out here?” 

“No!”  I flew up out of my chair.  Just as quickly Brian seized my arms and pulled them behind my back.  I struggled but knew it was pointless.

Mama was shoved from behind a curtain on the opposite side of the room wearing the real necklace.  A metallic sound scraped across the table.  I didn’t have to look to know that it was a gun.  Brian let go of my arms.  I couldn’t move anyway.

Daddy blew out a puff of gray smoke.  “Get the necklace Sweetheart.”

A Novel of Letters

Today I finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  It took me a while to finish it because for some reason I wanted to move on to other things rather than keep reading.  This thinking doesn't really make sense to me because it was a rather enjoyable book.  It takes place just after WWII and the entire story is told through letters.  Now, I know what some of you may be thinking.  Oh great, a book written through letters.  Why do I want to read this?  Well, I guess you would want to read it because it surprisingly reads very much like a regular novel.  This is one that was quite enjoyable and I found myself grinning when it was finished.

Sadness

Since school started I haven't written anything.  It's not like I don't have any time to write it's just that I don't!  I really don't understand this.  I have the ideas for my novel and they keep germinating in my head but they just aren't coming out on paper.  Yesterday I couldn't resist the urge to write.  I was so in the mood to get this next scene down, confident in the new direction that I was taking.  Know what happened?  I only wrote a measly two paragraphs.  Just now I tried picking it up again and guess what.  One sentence.  I'm very confident in what's going to happen in this next scene and many of the scenes to follow and they just aren't coming out.  Right now my head is foggy, I have a dry cough and I want nothing more than a nap.  Maybe this is my problem.  I feel like crap so I write crap.  Who knows?  So, in hopes that more writing is soon to follow, I am posting a tiny little piece of my novel.  Un-edited, un-cut.

Everyone came rushing down the stairs, clearly hungry and more than ready to eat.  There were only six of us now.  There used to be more, but they’ve all graduated and been placed in their careers.  No more had come in for about three years.  Rylan and I were lucky to be placed in the same orphanage together.

Garrett being the loudest out of all of us bragged about how well he did on his exam today.  “So, guess who was the fastest one today.”  He said it with a smirk and looked around at all of us.  When his eyes reached Melissa, sitting next to me he pointed and said, “Melissa didn’t even know what hit her.”  She lifted her eyes just enough to glare at him.

They were in a class together.  “What exam did you guys have today?” I asked.  Every class had different exams on different days.

“Swimming,” he said leaning forward to taunt Melissa a little more.  She just continued to glare at him.  “Yeah, you were alright in the pool, but you didn’t stand a chance when it came to the lake.  Water to cold for ya Missy?”

Melissa just rolled her eyes and went back to nibbling on her roll.  She was a pretty good swimmer and I’d seen her beat Garret several times before. 

“Guess so,” he said smugly and leaned back on his chair chewing on a piece of chicken.

“Shut up, Garrett.”  Melissa had enough.  “You weren’t looking this confident when I found you sinking in the marsh.”

“Oh!”  Rylan finally chimed in.

Melissa now had a sneer on her face and taunted Garrett with it.  His smile was fading.  “I didn’t know you were such a cry-baby.”

The whole table erupted with laughter.  “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”  His face was starting to turn red.

Rylan was still laughing, “Did you have to pull him out?”

“Yep,” she said, “but only because I couldn’t concentrate to swim with him begging me like that to pull him out.”
            “I never begged you!”  His face was even redder now.

“Missy, Missy help me!  I can’t get out.  My legs are sinking.  Ah!  Missy hurry, I think there’s a snake trying to swim up my shorts,” she mocked and began to mimic his sobs.  “Missy!  Please!  Please get me out of here, this snake looks poisonous and hungry.”  She finally broke her mocking character and let out a simple little laugh before glaring at him again.

“That’s not what happened,” Garrett spit at her.

“Yes it is, why don’t you tell everyone how you got stuck in the marsh?”  She spit the words back at him.  “Or are you just going to let the results describe how you cheated?”

“I didn’t cheat!”

Another One Over

This weekend was dedicated to my reading of Mockingjay.  It really was fantastic and a great end to a great series.  I'm still a little (nay, quite) sad about a couple of characters.  I would love, love, love to talk about specifics, but I know there are those of you out there who wouldn't care to read any spoilers about it. So, I will talk about my love for  the series in general.  I don't know what else I can say other than, holy crap I LOVE the Hunger Games series!  Truly a very unique idea and one that has stuck with me over the course of two years.  I read the first book a few months after it came out two years ago.  Suzanne is a master of cliffhangers and I simply couldn't get enough.  My love for dystopian novels grew even more after reading this series.  I highly recommend it and hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.  Now I have to go read something else to get over my slump after finishing something that has been a part of my life for so long.  If any of you have the urge to discuss this series I would be more than happy to chat!  Happy reading!