Another short post

MERRY (Belated) CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

And I swear I am going to post something new soon. I start editing my novel tomorrow. Woot-de-doo. Anywho, hope you all had a fantastic Christmas, and

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Anna

Anna:

Congratulations on having a TREMENDOUS novella and a FANTASTIC set of characters. I was almost crying, I loved it so much! I felt extremely honored to be a part of it! :D

As I said, when you become famous and do book signing in Oklahoma, I'll be there with the pickle chips!!

-L

Cousins. :)

I love little cousins. Seriously.
My Cambodian cousin, who's ten, found me huddled in the corner with the laptop, and decided that she, too, was going to be a writer. She left her notebook at my grandparents house (I'm on VACATION! W00.) and this is what her story was, spelling and all:

Long ago there was a girl named Gabrealla, and she loved to do gymnastics. one day she was working and all of no wher came a voice, and evry budy saw that it was a judge she came to talk about a huge meat that was comming up. So the hole team was rushing to see wat was all a hurry. So then she was talking about were it is going to be and wat country it is in. She said it was going to be in Hawaii. Evrybuddy was surprized ever her coach, Gabrealla den't now if she could come because if my mom tells me no then we would loose because I am so good on barse/beam. so she told her mom and she said maybe. So that night she was thinking about wat would happen if evry buddy was their except me, so then in the morning she was begging her mother if she could go but her mother said I will think about it if you keep bugging me then you will not go. So then she whent to gym class and evry person was going. her friends asked if she is going, she didn't know what to say so she just told them mayby.

Yep! I think we have another author on our hands! :)

-Lauren.

Trouble

I'm haveing trouble with blogger. Who votes we should move to livejournal?

Story Game

Sooooo, no ones posted on here for awhile, and I refuse to let it die!!!
We can try a game, if you like. Lets start a story, everyone has to post one sentence. I'll start it in the comments so we can do it that way. Ready?? Go!

Wow Embarressing

Okay so I'm sitting here and i realized man I'm the only one who seems not to have done you know an embarressing story so I went back and found one of my books from 2003(man this is embarressing lol hence the name "wow embarressing") I'm looking at it wondering what the heck was going through my mind then. So here it is:

A Secret Untold
by
Katherine LaGassie
Dec. 11, 03


The Elmreo family has had weird things happen to them in the passed.
The weirdest thing is that each of them is born with a magical power and learns more as they get older. When Sachiko Marie Elmreo was born. She had no sigh of any powers. When she was a year old, she got a bird named Ckeacoco. Her mom, Amber, noticed that Sachiko seemed to talk to and calm the bird by making a sound like a chickadee.
"Oh, my! Come here Maria. I have seen Sachiko's nickname and power!" said her mom

12 Years Later

"Sachiko, Wake up! You have to feed all the animals including Saphire." Sachiko's younger brother Jack yelled from down the stairs.
"I know! Hold your shouting, I'm coming" She yelled softly sown the stairs.
"The feed is by the door!" her brother yelled again.
This time she paid no attention to her brother. She ran down the stairs, past Jack, grabbing the feed, running out the door and just able to grab her jacket and a piece of toast. She ran straight to the backyard spurting into leaping run towards the barn. Finally, she reached the barn where all the animals, including Saphire, were. She let the animals out so they would not break down the barn that Maria and Corsha built and try to eat all the wood after. She laid down the food and filled the buckets outside the barn with the right food. She opened the gate. Like a stampede, they ran to the food; but Saphire stayed behind waiting for Sachiko to feed her. Only Sachiko could get Saphire to do anything because of something that happened when Chicko(Sachiko) was 10. She never talks about it though. As Chicko feeds Saphire, her chickadees fluttered around her.
"Stop it Totty, Cleep, Harris all of you! Hahahahaha! Okay, here's some birdseed-now are you happy?" Chicko laughed.
After she feed the animals, she let Saphire out and jumped on Saphire's back. They took off over Hayo. The wind made Chicko's hair fly back like a graceful butterfly.
Saphire neighed back as if saying, "let's go on an adventure!"
Chicko made a chickadee sound to say "yes". They swooped down into the Galosis Magical Forest(the might magical forest). When they landed, they saw a very bright light shining in the distance. Sachicko and Saphire went toward the light. Before they got there, they were interrupted by; yes you guessed it, Totty, Cleep and Harris.
"What's wrong?" Chicko asked as she pushed them aside. They kept on chirping.
"Shh! quiet." She whispered.
When they were a couple yards away, they saw the most terrible sight ever! They saw Galosis O'might and Haron the Sorcerer. They Froze. The terror of when she was 10 and 11 all came back again. The chickadees just perched on her shoulder as if nothing was wrong. Cleep and Saphire both nudged her gently. Galosis and Haron were planing something-but what?
Chicko gulp then got her courage and shouted, "Hey you guys, what are you doing?"
"Making a plan to steel saphi...hey, wait your her owner. Galosis let's ge tout of here!" haron yelled.
Chicko jumped on Saphire. "Follow those villians." she whispered in her horses ear.
Saphire flew as hard as she could but Galosis was faster. They flew out of site.
"Jelly beans!" Chicko yelled, "They got away!"
They flew back down to Sachicko's house. She burst into the house and grabbed Kenney, who is 13 and the olderest of the kids. She pulled him out to the barn.
"What are you doing?" Kenney asked.
"I need your help to catch some villains." she said with a smile
"Oh no!" Kenney said, "You've gotten me into enough trouble already!" he waved his hands in protest.
"Oh come on, it'll be fun! Please help-come on please!" She pleaded, "please!"
"Oh....okay-where's the villians?" he asked hesitantly.
"Up there." She said pointing upward to the sky.
"Okay-let's ride Saphire." He mumbled quietly though he knew she could hear.
They jumped on Saphire and flew away. Finally in the air, they spotted the villians.
"Fly faster!" she ordered Saphire.
Saphire went so fast it was like riding the fastest roller coaster in the world!
"I think I'm getting sick!" Kenney said.
Chicko laughed, "Are you kidding?! This is great! We are almost touching Galosis O'Mighty's tail."
Sachicko climbed over Saphires head and onto Galosis's tail. With a nedt in her hand, she threw it over the villians and tied it to a string around Saphire's belly. They brought them to the Crocodile Cave. No Crocodiles live there; it is just shaped like one. She put her dogs in charge of keeping an eye on the villian's.
She went home keeping hope that the dogs will do their share.
Two weeks later Haron and Galosis were both gone. Thought's cluttered Chicko's head. Most of them were; Where will I look for them now? Will I ever catch them? Will I ever? Will I....


The end

Haha!

I read some of the 'embarrassing stories', and they're HILARIOUS. :)
Sadly, I couldn't access any of my really old ones, but I have one, my first sotry that really got me into writing, called Horror for Tow, a mystery I wrote for English in seventh grade. :]
Looking at it now, I think I forgot to save the very beginning... Ouch.
...And yes. I was still a sap for romance.

--

"What?!?" Sixteen-year-old Tara Breeman stood at her friend, Debbi Portman’s, door. She nodded.
"As I said before, my Mom’s missing." With a worried look on her face, she nervously looked around then back at Debbi.
"When did she leave?"
"Yeah, well, that’s another problem. She left while no one was at the house. No one saw her, Deb." She paused.
"And her key to the house was inside instead of on her key ring." Debbi was aghast. Why would their Mom just leave them without even warning or telling Tara and her six-year-old brother, Sameth, before she left? Did she leave forever?
"I, um, was wondering if, uh, we could stay with you for a few days."
Debbi snapped out of her thoughts.
"Huh?" Sameth, not quite as scared as he had been, answered for her.
"She asked if we could stay here with you." Tara shot a sideways warning glare at her brother, but looked at Debbi expectantly. Debbi threw her hands up in defeat.
"Lemme go get my Mom." She hurried into her house.
"Mom," Mrs. Portman appeared at the top of the stairs wrapped in a bathrobe.
"Yes honey?" She hesitated. How was she going to tell her Mom about this without her Mom freaking out first? Before she could think about it anymore, Sameth showed up.
"Can we stay here with you ‘cause our Mom’s not at our house and we’re really, really scared?" Debbi smacked her head. Tara gave her an ‘I’m-so-sorry’ look.
"Laura’s been missing; for how long?" Debbi sighed, clearly aware of the look on her mother’s face that she’d been trying to prevent.
"Well do come in! Tell me what happened!" So they told her the story. She asked them questions, too; Most of them that they couldn’t answer.
"It’s really easy." Sameth remarked when they were discussing the possibilities.
"I know what happened." All three of them turned to Sameth, surprised that a six-year-old had an explanation for all this.
"God took Mommy up to Heaven with Daddy." At the mention of her father, who’d many years ago died in a drive by shooting, Tara wanted even more to find her mother. In fact…
"Excuse me, Mrs. Portman, but where could I find John?" Debbi snorted and rolled her eyes.
"You’ve already forgotten about your Mom and now you want to hang out with your boyfriend?" Tara couldn’t think of a response that would hide her intensions, so she remained quiet. Mrs. Portman, confused, answered her question.
"He’s in his room. Should I-" Tara was already halfway up the stairs. She heard Debbi laughing at Sameth’s kissing noises. ‘So immature,’ she thought. She reached the seventeen-year-old’s bedroom door and paused, listening to him playing his guitar. She nodded along for a few seconds then, remembering what she was there for, knocked on his door.
"Yeah? Come on in." he yelled. She opened the door and he stopped playing.
"Hey, Tara! What brings you up here?" He hugged her than they both sat back down on his bed.
"I know you love mysteries," she started. "So I brought you one." A mischievous light shone in his eyes.
"Bring it on!" She sighed and his smile slipped off his face. "What happened?"
"We’d just come home from picking up Sameth from daycare and Mom’s car wasn’t in the driveway. We found her key inside on the table and everything of hers is gone. That was yesterday. I don’t know whether it was her choice or if she was forced to do it, but I want to find her, John!" She wiped her tears away and looked up at him.
"You also want to find her because you’re afraid she might be, well, you know, like your Dad." She nodded.
"How’d you know?" He smiled softly.
"You don’t have to be good at mysteries to figure out that one Tara. I’ve just been around you so much and have seen how much it’s affected you." He paused. "And yes, milady, I’ll accept your quest." She smiled, too, at his attempt to imitate a knight.
"Well then, Sir Knight, we shall head to my castle at the break of dawn tomorrow to look for, um… Ah. I give up; Clues"
A few hours later, the girls sharing one room, the boys another, Debbi wouldn’t stop talking about her boyfriend. Tara was to busy thinking about her Mom, though, to hear about ‘Mr. Perfect’.
"…You think?" Tara blinked a few times.
"Huh?" Debbi rolled her eyes and started painting her fingernails.
"Never mind,"
‘Funny,’ thought Tara. ‘Just a couple of hours ago, she was telling me to keep my mind on Mom; now I can’t get her out of it.’ She laughed to herself and lazily drifted off to sleep.
"Hey, ready to go?" Tara rubbed her eyes and yawned.
"Yeah," She was so ready to solve this that she’d slept in her clothes. "Let’s get outta here."
They both jumped into John’s Jeep and sped to her house. She silently took out her key and unlocked the door. Tara shivered in the stillness suffocating the house.
"Freaky, huh?" John asked. Tara could see the goose bumps running up and down his arms.
"Yeah, let’s solve this case ASAP." John checked her Mom’s room, while Tara checked the Den. They moved on from room to room, examining everything. John was the only one who found anything.
"Her diary," He held up the pink book then opened it. "With no pages." Tara looked at it, too.
"They were ripped out. Mom is too neat and tidy to rip anything, let alone the pages in her diary." John nodded. This house was way cleaner than his house would ever be. Of course, Laura Breeman also spent a lot of her time making it that way.
"Wait," Tara remembered something; something that would determine whether or not her mother had gone by will. She stomped around on their wooden flooring until she found a loose board. She pulled it up to reveal some family photos and a large amount of cash. Tara swallowed, trying to force back tears.
"Someone’s got my Mom." She whispered. John stood, speechless. Who would break in and kidnap Mrs. Breeman? It was just so unthinkable.
After a while, John got back the nerve to speak.
"Um, does your Mom have anyone who hates her?" Tara shook her head and again, silence and sadness engulfed them. John decided not to risk interrupting his girlfriend’s thoughts anymore.
Tara, meanwhile, wasn’t actually grieving. She was trying to think of people who could’ve done this. She turned to John.
"Any ideas," John jumped.
"Uh, no." Tara looked at him, her eyes apologizing for her.
"John, are you sure you can help?" She didn’t sound to sure, and truthfully, John wasn’t so sure himself.
"Of course, Tara; I’ll always be on hand- Especially when weird stuff like this is going on." Tara nodded, too upset to smile.
"So where do we go now?" She asked. John turned towards the neighbor’s house.
"They might’ve seen her leave." They walked across the lawn and up the drive. Tara knocked on the door.
"Hello. Mr. and Mrs. Gordon, this is John Portman. John; the Gordon’s." John nodded and shook their hands.
"And how can we help yall?" Tara swallowed and spoke again with a slight waver in her voice.
"Did you see my Mom leave with someone yesterday?" The Gordon’s looked pleased.
"Yep, we sure did. It was a younger fella’ with brown hair."
"Our age?" Tara asked.
"Nah, older. Maybe one of your parent’s age." Tara was already processing this, so John closed the conversation for her.
"Thanks for your time. That’s about all we needed to know." They both ran back to the Jeep and got paper out.
"Okay, brown haired guys- even if they don’t seem likely, right?"
"Right," Tara agreed. "Mr. Bodi down the street,"
"Um… Katilina, that one eighteen year old that has a guy’s haircut."
"Your Dad,"
"Mr.- What? My Dad’s on a business trip in Atlanta."
"Yeah, but remember the whole unlikely thing?"
"Oh, yeah. Fine, fine, fine. Add him on." They wrote down several more names on the list and then left. At the end of the day, they only had three people left on it. None of the people which they had visited had a clue; a total dead end. They both went home tired and disappointed. They went up to John’s room to discuss their progress.
"This sucks. We’ve narrowed it down to the three impossibilities: Katilina, Freddy, and my Dad." Tara wouldn’t give up that easily, though.
"Nothing’s impossible in this situation. Plus, if we did try to talk to Katilina, she’d beat the you-know-what outta us." John laughed.
"True; Very true." Tara sighed.
"John, I want to find her so bad. The cops said I had three days until someone takes us away and I wouldn’t be able to live through that. With Mom and Sameth gone…" She trailed off. John hugged her.
"Hey, she’s out there. And probably thinking about you right now." He had no idea how close that was to being true.

-SOMEWHERE DARK, SOMETIME-

"Don’t worry. I’m sure your children are okay now. DHS takes good care of their kids." Laura screamed. Or at least tried to. There isn’t really much you can do when a guy has you tied to a chair and gagged. He smiled.
"Tara, John: Meet stage two."

-BACK AT JOHN’S HOUSE-

"Mornin’ sunshine," Tara opened her eyes to see John sitting right beside her.
"Mmm…"
"Yes, breakfast is ready, Tara, but no; it’s not served in bed." Tara yawned, looked at John, sat up, and smiled.
"One of these days, I’m going to be the first one up." He laughed.
"Well, just let me know when so I don’t die of shock." They were in a much better mood than they had been in yesterday. They chatted happily through breakfast, but then when they were done, it was back to business.
"Three more," John reminded her.
"Yeah, we should probably go to your Dad’s last, since we’ll have to go up to Atlanta."
John groaned. "Again, I don’t see why we even need to check."
She ignored his comment and they jumped into the Jeep. "Okay, so I guess we better get going if we want to get this done before my Mom disappears forev…"
She felt something pressed up against her back. John stopped the car.
"What is it?" She shook her head and unfolded the sticky note that had been closed with a large clip. She took it out and her eyes grew wide. John peered over at it, then seeing what the words said, leaned his head back up against the seat and sighed heavily.
It read:

John and Tara-

Tara- Your mother is safe. If you’d like her to stay that way, than you must leave five thousand dollars- Cash- On the yacht named "Fishi" at the lake closest to your house. I must have the money by midnight tomorrow; Or else.
John- I would stay away from this family if I were you. Though Tara’s Mother is in trouble, you need not be a hero, lest you too be in a worse fate, as is Tara.

Signed- Viadd Tmanorp

"Who in the heck?" Tara shook her head, tears winding that familiar path down her face.
"I don’t care who this maniac is. I need to get five grand; now."
John looked at her, shocked. "Tara, do the words ‘worse fate’ not kinda’ freak you out?"
She looked down at the Jeep floor. "I don’t care. I want my Mom back."

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"He said he was here," John was telling the lady at the check-in counter in the hotel. They’d just finished talking to the other suspects two without success. "David Portman?" The lady shook her head. "I’m sorry, sir, but he checked out three days ago. He left a contact card…" "Yes! May we have it?"
The lady passed them the card, relieved to get rid of them. The examined the card outside.
"2447 S. Testewart? That doesn’t exist!" "No," Tara moaned. "Again?" They pulled over at the nearest gas station, and Larry, the gas pump guy, was examining the unknown name and street.
He pulled out another piece of paper, along with the card and sticky note, and glanced back and forth, from one to the other, writing things down.
"Can’t get the name," He scowled. "But I did fig’re out the address. It was in a smartish-type of code."
He happily handed the two shocked teens the decoded address. "Good luck!"
Tara and John raced out the door and back into the Jeep. John gunned the engine and they sped all the way to 724 W. 4th Street.
"He had us completely fooled!" Tara remarked in disgust. "And who is he?"
They pulled up to an old farmhouse, not more than a shed.
"You’re sure this is it?" John asked. Tara shrugged and got out with John following suit. When they got to the door, John opened it, half expecting to see a robber or something, but alas, nothing except a lot of hay scattered over the wooden boards of the barn.
Tara sighed when she saw the empty room. "Let’s go back home."
John stayed put. "Hold on." He mimicked her steps like when she’d been looking for that loose board on the floor at her house until he heard a hollow noise from under him. He bent down and moved the hay and sure enough, a trap door was found.
Smiling he opened it. "So, Tara-" BOOM! BOOM!
The smile slipped off his face. Tara looked horrified.
"That could’ve been my Mom!" She whispered as she began hurriedly climbing down the steel ladder.
John almost stopped her. ‘…you too be in for a worse fate as is Tara.’ He recalled. He opened his mouth to warn her, but instead came, "You can do it. Tara!" In fact, he crawled down the ladder right behind her.
They hid behind two bales of hay and sure enough, there was a man pointing a gun at a screaming Laura Breeman, the bullets just missing her head. "Viadd Tmanorp is actually…"
John couldn’t help what he did next. Something inside him had known it all along.
"DAD, STOP!" He yelled. David Portman turned around, pale. "John… Tara…"
John came out from behind his shelter. "WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?!?" He screamed. David put the gun down to his side and begged to his son. "We really needed the money. This was the only-" "No it wasn’t!" John cried.
Tara, using this extra time as a distraction, went to her mother and started working on the knots that bound her.
John was now face to face with his father. "You could’ve done so many things, Dad. So many good things." He shook his head. "You were just too much of a show-off jerk to even try to get something that you need by legally asking one of your friends." His words were muffled with sobs.
"I hate you."
David, looking distressed and horrified, pointed and cocked the gun. "NO!" Both Tara and John yelled together. But it was too late.
David Portman fell to the floor, a bullet hole in his forehead. John knelt over his body and wept. Tara, crying too, unbound her Mother.
John wiped his eyes hastily when he saw Tara standing next to her Mom. He took Mrs. Breeman’s other hand and led her to the ladder…


-AFTERWARD-

(One Year Later)

Tara and John sat down on the Breeman’s front porch with their latest case in front of them.
"So, Kourtney’s dog was stolen," John nodded. "And her window was broken; supposedly how the dog thief entered the house."
Tara pulled out a list of the suspects names. "Hmm… Most likely suspects." She scanned through it for a moment, and then let the wind take it away from her. John didn’t question her; she’d done it in every case since her own.
"Okay, so let’s start with Alynn Redman, that one friend across the street." John smiled slyly. "You sure you don’t want to interview her friend’s parents first?" She smiled. "It’s a dog, John. Not a murder or better yet, a missing person case. I have a feeling that the parents aren’t involved in this one."
For a while after that, they examined more information on their case, currently titled The Case of the Missing Dog. Creative, no? Anyways, they sat there for a while, looking at all of this stuff; how the dog looks, it’s name, the house floor plans, and everything else that had to do with this girls dog.
Tara looked up as John put the papers in a folder neatly, and then kicked it down the front steps.
"Ice Cream?" He asked. Tara rolled her eyes. "Alright, but if you spill it all over me again, I swear I’ll show you the many other uses ice cream has." John put on his best ‘oh-I’m-so-innocent’ look. She gave him a friendly glare and he broke.
"Fine, Okay, Whatever."
"Ohh," she exclaimed. "Maybe we’ll run into Alynn!"
John looked at her quizzically. "But hopefully not. Anyways, what are you on?" They laughed and jumped into his old Jeep.
"Wait…" said Tara, scared. John took his hand off the wheel. "What?"
She pulled a sticky note off the seat, folded up like the last one she’d encountered. "Ohmy- JOHN!" He laughed at his joke and kissed her. She smiled and stuck the note to her shirt.

"I love you too."

Resurrected!

I'm very excited because I was able to write a whole bunch on my story today even though I had basically given it up as lost. Well, obviously I was wrong. I know this is super long, but I want to see what you think of the whole Will+Sarah thing. Am I going to fast?

“You were dreaming,” the boy said, a little awkwardly. Sarah nodded, it wasn't news to her. She took several big shaky breaths, trying to stop crying. She wondered who this strange boy was, with the dirty blonde hair and the green eyes. Slowly the events of the night came back, but she had no memory of getting off Maddie. She lifted her head a little to look for her horse, and saw her resting nearby. Sighing, she lay back down and closed her eyes. She felt utterly drained, and the hopelessness of her situation overwhelmed her for the moment.
The boy broke the silence, answering some of Sarah's unspoken questions. “You rode into my camp a few hours ago, nearly falling off you’re horse. You’re horse must have seen the light from my fire and brought you to me.”
Sarah felt a little embarrassed. She didn’t know this boy, and he had watched her sleep, heard her scream, seen her cry. She opened her eyes and sat up, rubbing the tears of her face. “Thank you,” she finally spoke, her voice raw. She swallowed painfully. The boy noticed, and quickly pulled out a tin mug, which he filled with water and then handed to her. “Thank you,” she said again, before eagerly drinking. The water was refreshing, and she felt a little better.
“My names Will,” said the boy. He rummaged in a knapsack nearby, finally coming out with a hunk of bread and some cheese.
“Sarah,” said Sarah. She watched hungrily as Will tore the bread in half and handed one portion to her. Sarah took it, but hesitated before biting. She felt bad eating his food, when she had nothing to return.
“You shouldn’t be traveling alone,” said the boy suddenly. He knew it really wasn’t any of his business, but he felt a strange concern for this girl.
Sarah was surprised, but pleased by his evident concern. He wasn’t very good at hiding his feelings. “Probably not,” she said, smiling, “but I don’t really have a choice about it.”
Will nodded, he knew what that felt like. “Where are you going?” he asked.
Sarah took another bite and chewed slowly. She was trying to decide how much of her story she should tell this boy. She needed to find out how to get to King Stefan, and she needed to find out soon. She desperately hoped this boy would know, for she didnÂ’t know if she would be brave enough to ask in a town. For that matter, she didnÂ’t even know if there were any towns nearby. Surly not, if Will was camping out here.
She swallowed and answered finally, saying slowly, “Is there a King Stefan anywhere nearby?”
Will started, looking surprised. “Yes,” he said guardedly. “He lives not two days ride from here, in a castle in Gardenshire. Why?”
Sarah shrugged, trying to look casual. “I’m looking for...someone who works for him.”
“Really,” said Will, and he obviously didn’t believe her. “Who?”
“Ummm,” said Sarah, thinking fast. “The gardner?”She crossed her fingers, desperately hoping there was a garden and a gardner.
“Mr. Appleton?” Will questioned, doubt still in his voice.
“Um,” Sarah said, afraid that this was a trick. “I don’t actually know his name, I just know I’m supposed to look for the gardner at King Stefan's palace. Do you know of him?”
Will sat back, looking slightly less doubtful. “Yes. My grandmother used to work at the castle, she was the princess’s governess, before the princess disappeared.”
“I heard about that,” said Sarah slowly. She wanted information, but she didn’t want Will to know what she was doing. “What happened to her? Does anybody know?”
Will shook his head, swallowing his food before saying, “She just disappeared one day. The king sent out search parties, but no one found her. It was really strange though, several months after she disappeared rumors went around that the princess was still alive and being held for ransom somewhere, that someone had contacted the king. I guess it was just a rumor though, because nothing came of it.”
“When the king was searching for her,” said Sarah, staring a little to intensely at the boy, “Did he say that she would be wearing anything special. Maybe like a silver cross?” Unconsciously, her hand slipped under her shirt to finger the cross that lay against her chest.
Will frowned, his suspicions all coming back. “No.” he said firmly, “and why do you want to know all this? What has it got to do with the gardner you’re looking for?”
“Nothing,” said Sarah, quickly drawing her hand away from her necklace, and then cursing herself as she saw Will following her movement. “Just curious.”
Will nodded, but didn’t look convinced. “I’ll draw you a map so you can get to King Stefan's,” he said, pulling out a sheet of weathered paper and a charcoal pencil.
“Thanks,” said Sarah, feeling a little disappointed. She knew there was no reason for Will to take her there himself, he had already done a lot for her. Examining him as he drew, she saw that he was not an unattractive boy, and that he was probably only a few years older then her. She wondered what he was doing traveling alone himself.
“Where are you going?” she said abruptly. He looked up, startled.
“No where,” he said.
Sarah blushed, quickly adding, “I meant where are you traveling to? It may be extra unusual for me to be traveling alone, but it’s not exactly usual in your case either.”
Will looked down, avoiding her bright blue gaze. He felt a strong inkling that what he ought to do was take her to Gardenshire himself, but that was the last place he wanted to go right now. He knew the more he looked at her, the more guilty he would feel.
The silence stretched on, as Will tried to think of some place he could be going. Sarah was surprised when he didn’t answer, and looking closer at his face, she thought she saw anger and shame there. “Oh,” she said, “You’re running away too.”
“I am not!” Will immediately objected. Sarah raised her eyebrows in a look of disbelief, and Will sighed. “all right,” he said, “If you want to call it that, yes, I’m running away.”
“Well,” said Sarah, “Seems like we’ve both got plenty of problems.” Her smile turned into a grimace of pain, as she thought of Zari. Would she ever see her again?
Will finished his map, and leaned over to show her the route she should go. “See this road?” he said, pointing. “Follow it until you get to here...” he traced his fingers over the path as he told her where to go. Sarah listened very carefully, and then thanked him, folding the map and setting it next to her. Suddenly she thought of Mr. Slimier, and shuddered involuntarily. Were they following her? She realized she must leave at once, if only so she wouldn’t put Will in danger. It had been very stupid of her to tarry this long, by now they could have caught up with her. They could be hiding in the tree’s right now, waiting for the perfect time to ambush. Standing abruptly, she looked around nervously but didn’t see anything.
“I have to go,” she said, her voice shaky. Will looked at her with puzzlement.
“You aren't nearly rested enough!” he objected. Secretly, he felt a little disappointed. He would have liked to get to know this strange girl better.
“That doesn’t matter!” said Sarah. “I really have to go. Thank you so much for everything!” Running to her horse, she quickly began saddling her, glancing every few seconds towards the road. Will slowly went to help her. He didn’t know why she suddenly desperately had to go, but he got a bag and put a blanket and some food and water in it. In but a few seconds, she was ready, and she quickly swung herself up and onto Maddie.
“Thank...” she started, but suddenly stopped and swung around to see two riders on horseback racing down the road towards them. Without a word, she kicked Maddie hard, crying “Go!”
“Wait!” called Will, but she was already gone, riding as hard as she could away from him. Swearing, he ran to his horse and saddled in one swift motion. He galloped into the forest, steering his horse around the trees. “Come on, Shadow,” he whispered, “We’ve got to catch her before they do.” He suddenly swore again, and ducked as a branch nearly knocked him off his horse. Stay on, he told himself. I’ve got to stay on. Getting closer to the road, he was now almost across from Sarah, with only a layer of trees between them. Urging his horse to go just a little faster, he suddenly broke out of the trees and ran neck and neck with Sarah. She gave a startled shriek when she saw the horse and rider break out of the trees, sure she was caught for good, but suddenly the rider on the horse turned to her with a furious expression, and she saw it was Will. Relief washed over her, and she grinned back at him. He growled with annoyance, before shouting “Follow me!” and taking the lead. Sarah had no choice but to obey. She risked a quick glance over her shoulder and saw that the people she was now sure were Mr. Slimier and Mistress Rattie, were closing in on them. She wasn’t smiling anymore. She turned around with new determination, and urged her horse to go a little faster.
Will glanced over his shoulder and saw their pursuers closing in on them. There was only one way they could possibly get away, and he prayed that a bend in the road would be coming up. If there wasnÂ’t one, they were certainly lost. His prayers were answered, as he saw a sharp turn up ahead. Thundering around the corner, he turned and looked quickly over his shoulder. Sure enough, the riders were momentarily out of view. Veering sharply of the road, he entered the forest and ducked low over his horse so none of the branches over head would hit him. Sarah followed, hoping he had a plan because she certainly didnÂ’t. When they were out of sight from the road, Will stopped and quickly got off his horse. Sarah more fell off hers. Her knees were wobbly, and when she tried to get up she simply fell over again. She watched helplessly, as Will slapped the horses and told them to go. They took off, and Sarah was sure that was the last sheÂ’d be seeing of Maddie.
“Come on!” Will said, grabbing her arm roughly. Sarah had to run to keep up with him, as he walked deeper into the forest.
“Where are we going?” Sarah asked desperately. Will suddenly stopped, and then started climbing a large tree close by.
“Come on,” he said again. “The leaves will hide us.” Sarah followed, scraping her elbows and knees as she climbed up. High up in the tree, Will sat on a large branch, and Sarah sat carefully next to him. She wondered how much weight the branch could take. From the forest floor, neither of them could be seen.
They sat in silence, listening for any sounds of pursuit. Suddenly, they heard someone approaching.
“Where have they got to?”they heard a woman ask.
“Silence!” a mans voice commanded. Sarah immediately recognized both voices. It was Mistress Rattie and Mr. Slimier, just as she’d expected. She stiffened, not daring to even breath. She wanted to look down to see if she could see them, but she knew she couldn’t risk the movement. There were soft footsteps, and then strange rustling sounds that Sarah couldn’t identify. Suddenly, their tree began to shake. Mr. Slimier was pulling on a tree branch, trying to shake them out. Will’s hand lashed out to stifle the small shriek that Sarah had been about to make. Sarah tasted blood, and realized she must have bit her tongue. There was a deep silence, Sarah listening for Mr. Slimier and Mr. Slimier listening for Sarah. Finally, satisfied there was no one in this tree or the ones nearby, Mr. Slimier and Mistress Rattie moved off.
Sarah remained motionless for what seemed like an hour, straining to her any small sounds. Finally, Will began to move around a little, and Sarah blew out a sigh of relief. She realized that she had been holding her breath. She looked down, and suddenly realized they were very high up. Feeling a little sick, she forced herself to look back up. Will climbed higher in the tree to look down, and said quietly,
“They won’t be coming back I don’t think.”
“Are you sure?” Sarah said, still fearful.
Will turned to look at her sharply, all his previous annoyance coming back. “Who were they?” he hissed. “And why on earth didn’t you tell me you were being followed?”
“I,” Sarah struggled for words, “I didn’t know if I could trust you.”
“You didn’t know if you could trust me,” Will repeated, his eyes narrowing. “You didn’t know if you could trust me, after all I did for you! Obviously you didn’t even think about how I would feel about it. Those people would have done anything to get you, including probably killing me, and you didn’t tell me because you didn’t think you could trust me. Well guess what! I don’t trust you either, and if you think that I’m going to help you get to Gardenshire I’ve got a little surprise for you. I’m not. You can go to hell for all I care!”
Sarah flinched at Wills harsh words. She didn’t know what to say, because truthfully she still wasn’t sure if she should tell him her real story. She wasn’t sure about anything anymore. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.” She didn’t notice her hands pulling a leaf apart, she was concentrating to hard on not crying. She risked a brief glance at Will, and looked away quickly. He was furious. She could see his jaws muscles clenching, and his hands were balled up into tight fists. Sarah knew he had a reason to be angry at her, but not this angry! She suddenly felt less like crying and more like punching something.
“But why should I have told you anything?” she suddenly demanded, the anger growing inside her spilling out. “You didn’t tell me anything about yourself, and you obviously didn’t believe anything I was telling you. I was hoping I could just out run them and you’d never know. How do you know I’ve been lying to you? You don’t! All I did was not tell you I was being followed and you tell me to go to hell. I mean, do you have anger problems or what? You have no right to act like I’ve tried to hurt you, or something bizarre like that. Because the truth is, we were just two travelers who happened to cross paths. We don’t know anything about each other, and we don’t care anything about each other. And I can find my way to Gardenshire myself, thank you very much!” A small part of her listened to herself yelling, and new nothing she was saying was true. But the angry part won out, and the words spilled out faster and faster.
By the time sheÂ’d stopped talking, she was so mad she really, really wanted to strangle something. But instead, she drew in a shuddering breath, and then burst into tears. The stupidity of it all overwhelmed her, and she buried her head in her arms. Will looked at her a moment, nothing but sadness in his eyes now. After a moments hesitation, he scooted closer on the tree branch, and put his arm around her. Sarah was so messed up by this point, that this didnÂ’t even surprise her. It simply made her cry harder, until she lifted her head and buried her face in his chest. He gently stroked her hair until she quieted, and then finally pulled away.
“You smell bad,” she said cracking a smile, although her voice was still shaky.
“I’m not really surprised,” said Will. “And I’m sure your tears have greatly improved the state of my shirt .” Sarah laughed quietly, but then clenched her jaw fighting tears once again. Will picked up her hand and traced the lines on it. He looked up and met her eyes squarely, saying, “Everything's going to be all right. I’ll make sure. Okay?” He smiled questioningly, and she smiled back, squeezing his hand.
“Thanks,” she said, filled with gratitude. She didn’t know much about this striking boy, but she thanked God for sending him to her when she needed him so. She stared into his eyes for a moment, trying to see more of who he was, before he turned away.
‘What am I doing?’ he thought desperately. He had been meaning to run far, far away from Gardenshire, but she was bringing him right back there. But he knew now for a fact that he couldn’t just let her go by herself. He had to make sure she was safe at least, and even then, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to leave her.
“What I said...” Sarah started apologetically, “I didn’t mean any of it.”
Will shook his head, “It’s already forgotten.” Sarah laughed, but it was different this time. It was full of life, instead of dispear. Full of hope, instead of hopelessness.
“Are you a saint?” she asked lightly.
“No,” said Will in surprise. “Don’t you remember what I said? How angry I was?”
Sarah shook her head, but her eyes clouded ever so slightly. “Forgotten also,” she said. And then hesitantly, the cloud hovering in her blue eyes, “You'll be leaving soon then? I should probably go too...”
“No,” said Will firmly, his mind made up. “I’m going with you. It won’t be safe for you to travel alone. I have the feeling those two don’t give up easily.”
Sarah’s smile was brilliant, but she quickly reminded herself that Will shouldn’t have to do this. He had his own life, and she had hers. “No,” she protested, “I’ll be fine on my own.” It sounded weak even in her own ears.

Sorry I didn't have a good place to stop, but most of this I just wrote today and there just wasn't a good place!

Drama_Queen

First chapter of a story

This is a story I wrote a while ago.

Chapter One
The countryside raced by, bucking and rolling with every twist and turn. With the wind as the only adornment in Princess Cassandra’s hair, this was the only time in the day when she was not thinking about her appearance. One of the few smiles of the week lingered on her face during the ride, but it flew away with the wind when they stopped.
“You were going too fast again, Snoozy woozy,” she scolded. The horse remained calm, but his ears stiffened at the undignified name.
“I dropped my Mouse Fillet,” Princess Cream Puff whined.
“Oh you poor thing, I’ll have another one cooked as soon as we get home.” Cassandra took the cat out of its litter, and began stroking it between the ears, even taking out a small brush to fix its lustrous long white hair.
“Your royal highness,” a guard began tentatively.
“What?” she snapped sharply, her intense blue eyes fixing him with a hawks glare.
“We should be getting back,” said an older guard, filling in for his petrified comrade. Cassandra sniffed daintily, and turned the horse around.
“Are you going to put me back?” Princess Cream Puff said while yawning.
“Of course, dear,” Cassandra said. The cat’s fat body was extremely hard to lift, and she was only half way to the litter when a flash of silver came charging past her.
“Aaaaaaaah,” Princess Cream Puff squealed as she fell two inches through the air.
“How dare you!” Cassandra screamed to the guard, once she had the cat safely in her arms again. “If I hadn’t been so quick my darling Princess Cream Puff would have fallen! And maybe broken something! What right have you to come charging past me anyways--”
Her rant was interrupted by a bellow of surprise and rage. Looking up from her traumatized cat, Princess Cassandra froze. Not five yards away lay a huge dragon, smoke pouring from its nostrils. The older guard stood triumphantly a few feet away from its stomach, looking proudly at the fatal wound. As the dragons eyes slid closed for the last time, it roared once again. Cassandra shuddered as the earth shook, pebbles sliding down the hill and trees waving violently.
Her voice trembled as she said weakly, “You should have warned me first.”

Heads lifted when the first roar came, and everyone quaked with fear at the last. It was heard far and wide, but only the people working in fields near the scene of action saw the dragon.
“Huge, as big as a mountain!” rumors spread through the village like fire on hay. “A knight in shining armor defeated it after a long and bloody battle!” The only reason to place the guard in the category of ‘knight in shining armor’ was because between the dragon’s roars, the sun glinted on the guards shield, and silver beam of light reflected from the spot.
Dragons were an old race even then, and they did not venture down from their mountains and city much, and when they did they rarely had peaceful missions. So it was when the Princess Cassandra reached her castle home, the whole courtyard was abuzz with the exciting news.
The guard would have immediately set everybody right in the truth of the tale, but Cassandra sent him to the kitchens straightway to fetch a mouse fillet for Princess Cream Puff.
She took special care of her cat all afternoon, brushing it while it napped and letting it eat all afternoon. She herself was rather shaken, and so retired early after dinner.
“Goodnight dear,” her father the king said, his long beard wagging as he smiled at her.
Cassandra sniffed disdainfully as she turned away. She hadn’t been speaking to her father since the incident where he gave her a dress that fit her awfully! She had looked like a fool before the whole court when she wore it on her birthday.
“Don’t forget to put on face cream,” her mother said rather snappishly. The Haddock hadn’t agreed with her, and she was rather put out because she did not like indigestion. She had it every night, and she ate the Haddock every night too.
“Good night mother. I don’t need any beauty sleep.” and with an uplifted turn of her nose, as if to dare anyone to suggest that she did, Cassandra left.

The whole next morning the king sat on his throne, and thought. Very deep thinking it was, and he couldn’t be interrupted for anything. So after lunch he thought some more. He still looked rather puzzled during tea, and after that he shut himself in his study. A great deal of scratching on his head was said to follow.
But during dinner he looked very pleased, and went into his study. A few minutes later he came out chuckling, and holding some papers which he proceeded to blow on, to dry the ink.
“I call a council meeting,” he announced, standing on his throne so as to be heard above the murmurs of his courtiers. More murmuring followed that, and at 8:oo exact he went into his council room, after all his councilors, still grinning.
“If you haven’t heard yet, I shall tell you.” He said, suddenly very serious. He had to think very hard how to say his propositions, and nearly always got them muddled up, but the councilors were used to this and nearly always got them decoded sooner or later.
“There has been a recent attack of a dragon. I myself saw the smoke. A knight was said to have exterminated him. This is a brave thing to do, you might have guessed. Any ways, we haven’t had a dragon killer knight in a long time. I thought it would be nice if he could be introduced to the court, so if we ever get any dragon problems we can just ask him to pop by. All clear?”
The councilors murmured a general yes. He really had thought this one out!
“So, I am planning to lock my daughter up.”
“What?” came from all directions. His brow furrowed in concentration, the king said,
“I want him to marry my daughter. So I would hire a dragon, and lock my daughter up, and say whoever killed the dragon before, has to fight this one. And when they kill it, they could marry my daughter. Jolly good plan, eh?”
“How would you hire a dragon? Don’t you think their rather hard to reach? Why would one come here just to be killed?” Questions rained in from the confused counselors. Already beaming, the king laid his freshly written papers down.
“I’ve already written a letter!” he said proudly. “I’m asking them to have a dragon come down here, and have a contest between a human and him. I’ll say I’m awfully sorry when the dragon gets killed. What do you say, eh?”
“This might actually work!” The words made the king quite blush.

Though it was supposed to be a secret, the word got around the castle in a few days. As soon as Cassandra heard it, she marched straight to the guards head quarters. They ran bump bang! Into each other, as the guard was coming to talk to her too. As soon as Cassandra saw who it was, she burst out,
“This is all your fault! Why did you kill that stupid dragon anyway?” The guard cowered against the wall, but managed to put a word in, bravely saying,
“Your royal highness! Forgive me if I did something that did not please you. But I feared the dragon would attack!”
“You cant fight this next dragon. I would have to marry you! You! A commoner! I order you to be out of the castle the day it arrives!” She stood her very tallest, and looking her very sternest, adjusted her crown so it could not escape his notice that she was royal, and her word was to be followed.
“I would if I could,” The guard said, standing straighter, “But your father the king has also given an order. That whoever killed the last dragon has to at least fight this one. I plan to follow his word above any one else’s. Because he rules my kingdom. He is my king.” And with that, the guard walked very stiffly and proudly back to his headquarters.
“I’ll tell him you are the one who killed the dragon! He’ll take back his word. He wouldn’t let me marry you!” Cassandra yelled after the guard. And feeling triumphant even though the guard had disobeyed her, she went back to her room.
She was petting Princess Cream Puff when the terrible fact hit her. She still wasn’t speaking to her father!
Groaning, she hit the floor in frustration. She was awfully proud she knew, but she would not speak to her father, which implied that she had forgiven him! Deep down she knew she had, but she wished he had at least said sorry. By now he had probably forgotten why she wasn’t speaking to him.
So now she had no way out of her dilemma. She could either SPEAK TO HER FATHER! Or marry a commoner! She knew which one she would choose, but she wished she could get out of both.
Then a light bulb went off in her head. Aha! She knew how she would do it! She would simply go to the dragon the night before the fight, and tell him to fly away. It would work, and she wouldn’t have to speak to her father, or marry a commoner.
At least that’s what she planned.

KrazyKelia

More?!

Eek! I'm extremely excited about writing this now!

---Leaving off from the last post---

Inserted Chapter: Meeting Rose. (This is not the chapter that I get into Rose's story.)
Sam paced around the waiting room in the institution. Rose had woken up over an hour ago, but they had failed to tell him that tests were needed to not only check to see if she was okay, but also if Sam was really a relation. If not, she was to go back to the freeze that she came from and Sam was to forget about it immediately. "Or else," Dr. Graeden had said, raising an eyebrow menacingly.
He hated to think what that cryogenic freezer must have been like, and how it must have felt, waking up 150 years after you went to sleep. Or did you sleep? Sam didn't know, but the thought of it made him pray that his blood was right.
When Dr. Brinkman, Dr. Graeden's former student and co-founder of several research companies came out of the examination room, he smiled at Sam.
"She's all yours, and in perfect condition. We think she may be a little dazed from the time between being injected with the sleeping aid to waking up, but she should be fine after a few days."
"Thanks," Sam said gratefully. "Can... Can I go in?"
He laughed and nodded, watching the anxious boy race to the door then stop.
"What's wrong?"
Sam hesitated. "I don't... What if she doesn't like me, and is scared or something?"
"Then you send her back to us."
"Oh." He said, appalled that they'd actually do that to another human being just because someone else didn't like them. "Okay."
Trying to act confident, he stepped through the door, into an empty office except for a small girl, lying flat on her back, as still as death.
For a moment, he thought she was dead.
"Rose?" He whispered.
At the sound of his voice her eyes flew open and she sat up and stared at him.
"Oh, uh, hi, Rose. I'm Samuel, but you can call me Sam. I'm your great-great... Well, I guess I'm your brother now."
She sighed and closed her eyes again.
"What's wrong?"
"My name isn't Rose."
Her voice, rough and high pitched from having kept quiet scared him. Apparently, she had made the conscious choice not to talk, unless he was imagining it.
"How is your name not Rose?"
"Sam called me Rachel." she explained, her blue eyes reaching up to meet Sam's green one's, staring at her in shock.
"I... I called you Rachel?"
At that, she smiled like the little girl she was. "No, silly. Samantha. She was on The Island with me." Her face turned quickly grave. "Please don't tell them that." She whispered. "They'd hurt Sam."
Sam sat down on the metal examination table next to her and hugged her. "Hey, it's okay. I won't tell anyone, I promise."
She breathed in, and looked up at him in horror.
"You're one of them."
He couldn't deny the accusation, but it felt almost unfair for her to be scared of him just because he worked for The Dashdale Research Institution. So what, his colleagues were nasty, rude, and hateful? It didn't mean he was.
But to Rachel, it did. The antiseptic smell hung from these people like a cologne sprayed too strongly, and to her, it meant danger and mistrust.
"Rachel... I'm not one of the bad guys here."
"You," She said, a four year olds accusation stinging her voice. "You put me in that thing and kept me away from my mommy and daddy, and now you want me to let you take me home."
"Rach, listen, please." Rachel was silenced by the use of her nickname. "I promise you with all of me that nothing will happen to you. I'm the one that got you out of that place, and I swear to you that I didn't put you in it. That was one hundred and fifty years ago."
Rachel, unlike a normal four year old, was much smarter than she let on. She understood things way above her age level, but hadn't let on until now.
"I'm not stupid. I know you're a lab person."
"Yes, but I'm not here to test you or anything. Please believe me."
Rachel groaned and nodded. "Okay, but you have to promise me one thing."
"Anything."
"Work as hard as you can to get Sam out, okay?"
The statement startled Sam, as he'd thought that when Dr. Graeden said there wasn't anymore. Now, looking back, he realized she had been tricky enough not to admit or deny it.
Without thinking of the consequences, he nodded. "I'll do it."
She grinned widely, and jumped off of the table.
"Lead the way, brother."
After escorting Rachel home, he drove back to work and resolved to talk to Dr. Graeden. She wouldn't be the easiest person to try and persuade to let him see, but if he proved that he was interested sincerely in the program, there wouldn't be a way that she could keep him out. She was a very proud woman, and liked to show things off.
Now, Sam was going to use that mannerism to his advantage.
When Sam walked into the lab, Dr. Graeden was standing over a body of a little boy.
"Doctor?"
She jumped and turned around quickly, her face enraged. "Why are you in here? I told you that I didn't want you to ever interrupt me in any type of research I was doing, especially if you have no business doing it."
"Is this one of the kids?"
Too late, Sam realized he wasn't supposed to know. Luckily, Dr. Graeden didn't seem to notice, but kept fixing him with a glare. "Yes, in fact, this child has been frozen for the same time period as your Rose."
"And he's...?"
"His name is Colton. His closest blood relative died a year after he did, leaving no children to pass him on to. We've got to unfreeze him, test him, and most likely euthanize him."
Horrified by the idea, he interrupted quickly. "Could I take him?"
Dr. Graeden laughed. "No, no. Only blood relatives can. But it will be a good idea to do an autopsy on him to see what kinds of effects the freezing has on him."
Sam tried to hide his terror as the doctor looked at the boy lovingly.
"He could save us, you know. It's not all bad." She sighed and nodded. "Well, since you already know, would you like to see the other subjects before you go home for the night?"

Chapter Three: Fight for the Lose.
Without opening my eyes, I could tell that I'd been moved in the middle of the night. The sun was now beating down on me, and I could feel that my thumb, where I'd cut myself, was wrapped up in a thick, tropical leaf, slick with aloe.
Opening my eyes, I could see that my feet, also, were covered in aloe, and that I was laying on a mattress of leaves. There was a bowl of radishes and water next to me.
I sighed and rolled over to eat, but stopped, shocked. Evan was asleep a few feet away, his hair messed up, his eyes puffy. Apparently, he'd been up half of the night, waiting for me to wake up, and nursing me so I didn't die. The way my thumb hurt, I'm pretty sure infection would’ve been dangerous had it gone untreated. It made me sick to think of what my attempted slow-suicide would've been for Evan and the others.
I lay back down. Goddess, that was horrible of me to do. I couldn't believe that I had almost killed myself because of the grief over Rachel, causing the others to feel even more grief. Who knew what kind of chaos I'd already caused?
A pang of sorrow washed over me, and I walked down to the beach and sat on the fine-grained coast. The sound of the waves was soothing, and I found myself thinking back to when I was with my real family. Those eyes... They had to mean something, but what if it was something I didn't want to know about? What if I was dead, and death was just a dream that I was supposed to live in eternally?
I quickly removed that thought from my head. It was impossible that was the case, otherwise none of these people on this island with me would care this much for me.
I ran my toes through the cold water rushing up to meet me and sneezed. I'd picked up a cold from the stupid cave and the freezing cold temperature, which, obviously, was my own stupid fault.
“You’ll just get more sick if you do that. But if that’s what you’re going for…”
I pulled my feet in and curled up into a ball. “Sorry.”
Evan stood behind me, and wasn’t looking at me. “Yeah, well, it happens.”
I looked up at him. “No it doesn’t and you know it. You know I was upset and that I wasn’t exactly feeling like living at that point. You know that I went to that cave to do that. You knew everything, so don’t play stupid. Yell at me, scream, scold, whatever, but please, by the goddess, I’ve already had enough stupidity to last a freaking lifetime.”
He glanced at me and sat down. “Sam,”
“I know, okay. I know that I was completely insane, and I know if I killed my-“
“No,” he interrupted my rant. “That’s not what I was going to say.” He examined his hands thoroughly for the next few moments, then looked back up at me.
“Bradley’s gone, too. He… He vanished last night.”
As apprehension of this latest revelation dawned on me, I turned and stared at him.
"You have the necklace?"
Before he responded, I knew the answer. It was the only way he hadn't woken me up in that cove and demanded for me to help him that second. It was the only thing stopping him from chaining himself to Alice and I.
He nodded, resigned. I was mentally cursing myself for being so careless and stupid about the whole thing, but there was absolutley nothing I could do now. I pounded the sand angrily and stood up.
"Well, this is going to stop. Tonight, we all sleep close to one another."
"No," Evan countered, shaking his head. "If we do that, we scare the others."
"What if the others need to be scared? They need to know that they could be next!"
"No, Sam, they don't. They already know, sure, but they don't need to be afraid."
"Yes they do. Otherwise, they'll think that Rachel and Bradley are perfectly safe."
"Sam! Are you their mother? You don't know what they're thinking or feeling, and you've said it yourself! Don't tell me that you, of all people, are now thinking of safety."
"I'm all they have. I am the one that has watched over them, and if I need to think of safety to keep them on this island, then I will."
He shot me a look, then glanced from my finger to my face. "You couldn't be safe if you wished it, so don't go playing these stupid, fickle games with me, Samantha. I know what you want, and even if it kills you, you're still going to try and get it."
I snorted. "Oh, yeah? What then, Mr. psychic? I don't long for anything but-"
"But to get off of this island first."
I gawked at him. He couldn't be serious, and yet he was looking at me dead on, a hurt look on his face.
"I know it, Sam. I heard you talk about it in your sleep, and the way you were acting made it pretty obvious. You would rather leave all of us behind just to find out what your new life, new family, and maybe Rachel are like." He shook his head angrily, rage crossing his face. "Fine. Want to go! I don't care anymore. Just remember that when you go wherever you go, you're going to be waking up like you did on this beach; Lost and clueless and wishing you were back where you came from."
The blonde boy smirked weakly. "And hopefully, I won't be there to help you."
I could feel my insides convulsing as I watched him walk away.
"I do not," I told myself aloud, my voice carrying after the retreating figure pitifully. "want to be the first one off of the island."
Sighing, I sat back down on the beach and watched the waves roll off the coast. It had even sounded like a lie to me.
After what seemed like hours, my eyes red and tired, the sun had sunk below the horizon. My feet were cracked and chapped where they weren't bandaged and my thumb had long ago been rewrapped with a new leaf I'd foind on a nearby tree and some aloe I carried in a little pouch on my twine belt. I was alone, sorry, and feeling pretty pathetic.
Of course, that was when I finally went insane, and heard someone talking, the sound coming from the waves. It was weak and surprisingly gentle and in some ways, I guess it was almost to be expected.
"Hello, Samantha."

----

Whoa. I've almost posted everything I have... Only one chapter left!
Must... Write... More...

Still Writing...

I'm still working on my frozen child story, so I figured that since I just passed 5000 (took long enough...) I'd post another excerpt thing. It's verrry disconjoined, but it makes sense somewhat.
You guys are so sweet. :)

(continuing the last two sentences from the last chapter thing.)
...I sat Rachel down on a large rock nearby while I tore the tops off of radishes and placed them in the bowl Evan had carved out of stone, full of the water.
That’s when I lost her.


Chapter: Different Point of View:
“Very nice. She’s in great condition.”
Dr. Georgia Graeden stood next to her new intern, a senior in High School named Samuel Collins. He was looking intently at the little girl, subject A436 by the name of Rose. According to the records, he was related to her, making him her guardian. There was no record of how they were related, but he was amazed and appalled, not knowing about this little girl, frozen for 150 years.
“Doctor, can I see the other subjects?” he asked hopefully. Maybe someone in there would be familiar to him, and maybe they knew Rose.
Dr. Graeden looked up at him sharply. “What makes you think we have other subjects? This was a very risky experiment preformed in 2007, and I am even surprised A436 came out this well. Don’t push your luck, Collins.”
He nodded. Dr. Graeden was strict, and he knew it was rare for her even to appoint interns, especially when they had relatives involved in experimenting or research departments. So far, these last three days after she’d told him about Rose had been exciting, exhausting, and very hard. He’d worked for her for a year-and-a-half before she told him, but it had all been worth it. He’d seen people helped, cells mutated, and seemingly impossible things done in matters of seconds.
Now, as of thirty minutes ago, there was a relative of his, older than him by almost 137 years.
Rose was four, almost five, and couldn’t talk. It was one of the few things researchers still didn’t know about, but concluded she’d made the choice not to do. Sam, himself, didn’t believe it, but instead of getting grief over how fickle an argument between a soon-to-be senior and a Chief Research Scientist for a national organization, he dropped it.
Rose currently was in a state of induced sleep. She’d be like this for another estimated two and a half hours before she woke up, and time was seeming to slow down for Sam.
As Dr. Graeden looked at the boy, she felt sympathy, something very rare for a woman of her demeanor. He didn’t have a clue about the others, the chemicals, or even more so, the reasons Rose was frozen in the first place.
“Well, come on, Samuel. We’ve got to finish loading the dry ice into the cryogenic freezer. That and the antimn.”
Antimn was discovered only a year earlier to help the cryogenically frozen children keep performing bodily functions, feel fed, and anything else, including creating dreams of which the children all shared in order to keep of social ability. Now, all Dr. Graeden wanted was for this girl to come out perfectly fine and sensible, proving her great grandfathers theory on freezing human beings was correct.
Sam looked regretfully at Rose before walking out the steel door that would separate them until the end of the day, as Dr. Graeden led him out the door, rambling on about single-celled organisms.

Chapter Two:
Rachel had always loved to explore with one of us, but had never gone alone, so when I looked over at the rock and saw she wasn’t there, I panicked.
The radishes were no longer important, and as I ran to the beach, where Alice and the boys were gathered around a fire, cooking the fish, I didn’t notice that the part of the beach I was walking on was full of cracked shells that were piercing my feet.
“Evan!” I yelled, scared. He looked up in alarm, then said something to Alice before running up to meet me.
“Bloody hell, Sam. What did you do to your feet?”
I looked down. Blood was gushing through my toes and around my feet, but I didn’t bother explaining.
“Rachel’s gone. I set her down on the rock by the fire and wasn’t watching and when I looked over, she was gone, and now I feel really, really bad because I don’t know where she is and there’s coyotes on the island or something else that could eat her, and I-“
“Shh, Sam, it’s alright. She’ll be fine. She couldn’t have gotten far.”
I collapsed on the ground in tears. “We have to find her, Evan… I can’t believe I lost her.”
“We will.” He assured me, motioning to the kids who’d been watching the whole spectacle.
“Okay. Brendan and Haden, into the woods, around the edges. No going too deep. Alice, just walk the beaches.”
The nodded and headed off. I was still in the sand, my hands over my face, blood sticky on my feet.
“Sam,” Evan said gently. “I promise, it will be okay.”
“No…” I choked. “It won’t. She comes to the island alone, and I swear I’d take care of her like a mom, and now I don’t have a clue where she is… It’s not okay.”
Evan sat down on the sand next to me and hugged me. I was shocked at how much it reminded me of the first time I’d woken on the island. I’d cried, scared and afraid, not knowing anything about who I was or what I was doing here, and he’d held me like this, rocking me back and forth.
“I’ve got to find her.” I finally sighed, and he helped me stand up. “She’s my responsibility, and I’m not going to wait idly while she’s lost.”
Evan nodded in agreement. “I’ll go look in the deep woods. You need to get your feet bandaged first before you do anything.”
I told him I would, then as he headed off, started climbing the hill I’d just climbed down. This stupid, freaking island, I thought, has too many stupid, freaking hills.
My feet hurt horribly, especially since I’d just butchered them again, but I had to find Rachel. If she’d been hurt, it was going to take a lot more than cut up feet for me to feel better about losing her.
It didn’t take long for me to find the only thing I needed to find to know that she was gone: It was a tiny necklace, laying on the rock that she had been sitting on, with a stone carved into a heart tied onto a string of braided grass. Why I didn’t see it before, I didn’t know.
I didn’t say anything, but only picked it up and stared at it in shock. The realization of what had happened hit me suddenly.
Rachel, my Rachel, had disappeared from the island.
When I had first come to this place, I found myself wearing islander clothes and a necklace, exactly like the one I was holding in my hand, except with a stone carved into a swirling pattern, kind of like a cinnamon roll. Evan had a hand on his, Bradley had a star on his, Alice had a fish on hers (oh, the irony), and Haden’s had waves engraved on it. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t get them off, even taking flame to them a few times. All we’d gotten out of it was several burn marks on our necks to show off.
Now, holding Rachel’s necklace in my hand, I knew no one, no matter how hard we looked, could find her. She was gone.
Evan chose that time to come up behind me, leading the other three members of the search party with him.
“No one could find her, but she’s got to be around here somewhere. Maybe she’s playing around, and following us while we’re… Sam?”
I sighed, tears once again threatening to wind that familiar trail down my face. When I talked, my voice came out tired with a trace of finality. “She’s gone.”
I turned around and threw the necklace on the sand in front of Evan, then turned and ran for the only alone place I knew: A small cave down under the shore.
It took me ten minutes to get there, running, my feet sorer than ever. No, I hadn’t let any form of harm come to my Rachel, I’d let her go to somewhere beyond an island. Somewhere I couldn’t get to, reach, or protect her.
I’d failed.
Knowing that, the tears were flowing, but it was dark and instead of focusing on crying and trying not to, I was concentrating on running as fast as I could and avoiding running into trees, though I didn’t quite manage as well as I thought. I noticed as soon as I was out of the forest, into a clearing. My arms were scratched to the point of bleeding, threatening to invoke infection if I took the small swim it required to go under the beach into my rocky cave. Who knew what was in this water and how it would affect open cuts?
Deciding I didn't care anymore, I dived into the water from the beach cliff and swam up into my cave.
When I got there, everything was as it had been before. The one good thing about a cave like this was that there was no wind to blow things over, just water to get it wet. Sadly, the temperature dropped quickly and deeply at night, and all I needed right now was a warm place, a soft bed, and non-radish food.
In other words, I needed to be off of this island and back with my family. I knew, though, that these people on this island with me were my family, and I couldn't leave them if I wanted to. It was like Rachel had been taken away by a goddess that loves her and we were left to die, wishing we could be where she...
No. I shook my head furiously to clear the thought. I don't want to be with her, I want her to be here, with the people she loves.
But then again, what if the people she loved were the people she was with now? Maybe her parents were holding her, loving her, and she was talking to them in a house with air, heat, and real food, not the stuff we had on the island.
With that crippling thought, I found a sharp rock, waiting patiently for me to grab it, and cut my thumb open vertically. I needed the pain, I missed her so much. I wanted out of this horror movie and into life again, back where we, I, came from.
I watched the blood for a while, then stuck it down in the cold, salty water. I was shivering with the cold and wetness, but fell asleep quickly from the exhaustion of it all.

---

A suicidal MC... That's something new for me. Hope you enjoyed it! I have much more, but I didn't want to make it too long. :P

Lauren.

---//Edit//---
I'll post some more in a few days. :D

Another story for y'all!

Well, I've decided to post since I was feeling guilty for having Katie do all the work. Lol. So this is the first chapter from a story I started that turned out very bad. This is the only part I even slightly like in it, and even so it's kind of disturbing and dark for me. But also kind of funny, in a morbid way. I'm no longer working on my Gypsy Princess story, unfortunatly, but I will post more of it if you want me to. Anyway, tell me what you think. And it's alright if all you can think is "Whoa...weird." :-)

Chapter One
In which the Ants are killed and so are the humans

“John,” said Mrs. Ingleton, waddling into the kitchen, “We really must do something about that ant problem!”
“Whatever you say dear,” said John, who’s head was buried in the newspaper, which evidently he enjoyed looking at far more than his wife. Mrs. Ingleton sighed and bent over to scratch one of the red ant bites on her large legs.
“I mean, look at this John! Just look!” she said, thrusting her leg into the newspaper to point out the several oozing ant bites.
John didn’t bother looking. All he said was “I’m very sorry dear, you’re the one who wanted this house. Why, I have no idea. It’s way to big for just the two of us, I’ve told you all along.”
Mrs. Ingleton sighed with exasperation. “But that's not the point John, the point is, we really must do something about those ants!” When her husband didn’t move, she stomped away saying, “fine! I’ll take care of it! But if I end up killing us both it’s you’re fault!” John looked up to see her go with a look of profound relief. He heard the car engine start up, and then drive away. He sighed and looked at his watch. It was 10;30 on a Saturday morning. Really, John wasn’t one to mind ants. In a way, they were the only company he enjoyed, him being such a quiet man and all. He thought it would be a shame to have them all sprayed dead, but he supposed that was just the way it would have to be. Mrs. Ingleton ruled the roost, so to speak. He almost enjoyed seeing her suffer from the ants. Almost, but not quite, for John was a good man, in most things. He scratched his head and wondered what was for lunch. Didn’t really matter, as he wasn’t one to love food. In fact, he didn’t love much at all these days.
About an hour later, he heard the car drive back in. He sighed and sat back down with his newspaper, waiting for his peace and quiet to be shattered once again. But Mrs. Ingleton didn’t come inside. She went strait around the house and took the bottle of ant killer she had bought at the hardware store. With a vicious smile, the large woman began spraying all over the large ant holes on the hill. When she had finished, she went inside with a satisfied smile, sure the ants wouldn’t be bothering her again. And she was right, they didn’t, but something much worse did.
John watched her out of their glass door. It bothered him that she would kill such innocent bugs so ruthlessly, but he supposed it was better than killing innocent humans, if by only a little. He saw her heading back towards the house and quickly turned back to his newspaper, but just as he was turning his head, he thought he saw something green moving outside. He turned back to look and gaped with astonishment, for all over the yard, and especially in places where Mrs. Ingleton had sprayed, the grass was growing at a phenomenal rate. By the time Mrs. Ingleton had gotten into the house the grass was a good twelve inches. It had grown ten inches is one minute. “Astonishing,” said John, rubbing the back of his head. He wondered what had been in the ant killer.
Mrs. Ingleton entered the house panting a little with the effort of the walk. She was surprised to see John standing openmouthed at the glass doors. He appeared to be looking at something with astonishment. Mrs. Ingleton felt peeved. He could at least say thank you to her for going out and getting the ant killer couldn’t he? What was he looking at? He ought to be looking at her! She had noticed that he didn’t look at her much these days.
“I’m home!” she said in a loud voice, “and that's the end of our little friend the ants!” John gave no answer. “John what are you looking at?” she said irritably.
“I’ve never seen the like!” said John. “come look at this dear. I’m afraid there was something wrong with that ant killer.”
“What do you mean there was something wrong? It’s ant killer, it kills ants!” With annoyance she thumped over to stand beside him. And gasped. Clutching his arm, she stared in growing trepidation as the now going on 20 inch grass continued to grow, and at the same time seemed to be groping toward the house in a sort of blind way. It was all leaning towards the house, as if there was something inside it wanted. Which of course there was. Mrs. Ingleton.
Several hours later, Mrs. Ingleton and John sat blockaded in their bedroom. Mrs. Ingleton sat on the bed, rocking with fear. The bed springs sounded like they were having a heart attack. John calmly watched as the first huge, long thread of grass squeezed through the floor boards and past the piled boxes by the door. It stood for a moment, getting it’s bearings. It was far taller then John, and seemed to be almost human, although it had no face. It began to rap around John. Another piece of grass popped through the floor by the bed, and Mrs. Ingleton screamed. The house rumbled ominously as the grass twinned around it, both inside and out. John thought how it had never occurred to him he could be killed by grass. He thought it would be an interesting experience. The grass had nearly reached his neck, and he couldn’t move. Mrs. Ingleton screamed one more time, and then all was silence.

Drama_Queen

Flash Foreword

Okay so I'm sitting here and I was thinking of what I did in Book club
this week(Ann knows what I mean or should when she reads this) and I couldn't
help think man this would be nice in my story so I weaved it into the beginning
of my 2nd book(you guys are in luck you're getting a sneak peak :) )This was just
off the top of my head so editing hasn't been done and all but tell me what you
think!(those of you completely confused of the characters some of them were in a story farther down might be able to figure something out there)

preview of 2nd part of first chapter "My cousin"
By: Katie L.

As Garrett walked past Alleanna's locker where she stood looking inward dazed and almost upset he purposely started whispering harsh things to his friends to edge her on. Alleanna closed her eyes controlling her temper-she was a mix-a jumble of emotions-hate, anger, sadness,lonliness, scared, nervous, and most of all frustration which had become quite common over the past few months. After all, feeling alone for 15 years except for that one instance where you fall into the hands of evil of all things and then finding out that the universe rests on your shoulder would give anyone frustration but after her dream last night she was even more confused-she knew now more than ever she needed to talk to Harron, Alan, Ericoa, Earzo and Aliton for the past 5 days that same dream had been reoccurring getting more intense every time. It was bad enough having Gage away on a rade(not a training mission mind you but a full blown rade) and Mark's mom taking a serious downfall into a coma pulling him, his brother and Aliton from the Base and back to Arcimada for god knows how long but now having these night mares were just worsening everything. Not to mention training was getting intense and Lord Raynold either always had a bad day or had it out for Alleanna she was sure either way it wasn't going well.
Garrett walked over to Mark's locker which was in the column next to Alleanna's and just one locker height higher. "So, human disgrace…planning on failing the exams?" He said as he leaned on Mark's locker his light grass green cold eyes scanning her leaving no sense of sweetness. Garrett had grown significantly from the last year he was tall about 5'10 or 5'11 close to Derek and Gage's height-and sadly Garrett had grown better looking not that Alleanna could care much she knew that underneath his handsome snow/silver blonde hair and cold light grass green eyes that every girl fell for so easily was some one who was ugly-tempered anyway.
Alleanna glared out of the corner of her eye at him getting a book from her locker and putting it in her book bag she had slung over her shoulder. "No I'm not-in fact I'm planning on passing-with flying colors."
"Who are you killing to do so?" He said raising his eyebrows to challenge her.
"What do you have against me Garrett-you don't bother me anymore you're a selfish jerk that could care less about other's feelings." Alleanna spat out glaring down at the gold ring on her finger white engrave writing on it.
"Oh really, well half breed some people aren't found of your stuck up attitude, we all know you can't handle this place that's why you keep running to your little friends for help-but you know what if you can't handle it here why don't you just leave we don't need you here anyway." He said harshly and walked off slamming her locker door.
If it hadn't been for Alleanna's quick reflexes of grabbing the locker door she probably would of lost all 10 fingers at once. She grabbed the rest of her books shoving them in her bag and slammed her locker door(moving her fingers out of the way first). Alleanna kept a glare in place as she walked down the hall towards Lord Nantai's class room for her first class of the day-English.
As she passed Garrett locker she glared at him and his friends, '
You think you know me don't you, you think I'm snobbish and that I think I'm supior, you are wrong. You think I come from a huge rich family filled with 10s of thousands of Aunts and Uncles who spoil me every chance they get! Ha-wrong! You think that I'm perfect-that i don't know how it feels to feel fear, anger, sadness or the loss of a loved one. Once again wrong. What do you think I am a girl who sits around all day with servants waiting on her every whim. No, oh no you don't know me at all, Garrett.
Do you know I have no parents? No. No I don't have thousands of Aunts and Uncles and my real uncles are evil and that's an understatement. I work my butt off at this school harder than you because everyone wants me to fail especially my Lord. I'm a princess of a planet that dies at least twice a week. You don't know that there's a stupid old piece of paper with million upon millions of signatures on it reminding me I have no control over my own life. You think that I'm a goody too shoes with people who shield me from all the wrong, now that's a joke. I guess you don't know that I know both sides-both good and pad. Or that I do feel pain, hurt, sadness, and fear-I'm just stubborn and thick headed and don't like to wear my emotions on my sleeve. Just because I'm like tht doesn' mean i don't need a should to cry on everynow and then I can't always be that strong. You think I'm weak,Garret, don't you? Well guess what I am strong-you just don't know it yet but when I show you, oh you will knoow and you will no longer be treating me like a piece of trash. You also don't know my biggest secret of all...that my true hand laid out destiny is I'm going to die so others live in peace-including you. No, I don't think you know me at all, or at least now the real me
Alleanna thought as she walked kind of wishing she could say it outloud but she knew how Garrett's reaction would be and at the moment the last thing she wanted was confruntation. Alleanna snapped out of her own mind to her realistic one and realized she was late for class and quickly ran down the long winding halls wishing she was Eragon who could make himself into a whisp of air and arrive at class as quick as the wind(litterly). Alleanna got to her class room and opened the door slowly turning the handle, she had never been late for class and she really hadn't wanted to start it now...
Alleanna entered the class and the students just glanced, most of them looked annoyed, Garrett and his friends mean and angry as usually, but Alleanna's friends were normal almost like they were hiding a smirk under their serious faces.
Lord Nantai turned too looked at Alleanna but he didn't speak, a sparkle in his eye as if smiling. Alleanna stood confused she should be in trouble-not welcomed warmly though she knew Lord Nantai had "favored" her if that's the right word. Lord Nantai was a blue creature that was very tall he was almost like a human but blue with a tail like a lizard and eight fingers on each hand and ten toes on each foot his skin was like the scales of a lizard or alligator and his eyes yellow and big and round like an owl mixed with a humans and an octopus, though his strange appearance, he had a regal powerful presence around him. Though Alleanna knew from prior experiances with Lord Nantai that he can change his appearance too be an older man
with citrine eyes, fit figure and a white beard but his height never changed and he always had a powerful presence that probably came from being one of the head Lord's.
"Take a seat, Squire Organa, we were on page 450 in our english books." Lord Nantai said his eyes seemed to twinkle more at the name Organa.
"Yes, sir." Alleanna said and sat down at her desk which was center front row right next to Eragon’s, Mark’s desk was behind Eragon’s and Ronald’s behind his, right behind Alleanna’s desk was Gage’s and behind his Nathaniel, Roald’s was on the side of Mark’s-all the friends sat within close proximity of each other. Though there was two empty spaces around her, Mark and Gage's desks were empty which made Alleanna she was so used to their company and she missed them tremendously. Alleanna took out her English book, flipped to page 450, and looked down surprisd find an envople marking the page. She opened it and looked inside quietly to find a year of leave time, a smile spread onto Alleanna's face as she noticed a note folded and pinned to it and opened it. " Dear Alana, thought you might enjoy going to see Mark i know you've been worried sick about him and his family whether you admit it or not-now you can go and see them,
enjoy,
Take Care,
Gage
"God bless you, Gage." she muttered thankfully placed the leave slip and note in her book bag and focused on class.

Creative Writing.

Since I was asked so sweetly, I'll post one of my creative writing excerpts. Just a note, it's not fantastic. It was written in about an hour and a half or so, so it's not anything award-winning. :)

Title: Playing by the Rules
By: Lauren R.

The day Rachel disappeared, truth be told, I thought she was hiding from us. She was the youngest out of us six, and I couldn't see why there wouldn't be a great possibility that she'd gone to play hide and seek, and was waiting for one of us to find her.
Yep. I was that naive.
It's been a full month and a half, if I remember right, since that happened. But I'll never forget, even though she's standing beside me constantly, about the night I woke up to find out I was living a lie, and not the good kind, either. I was living a dream of prevarications and woke up to a nightmare of reality.
The island I lived on will forever be my home, even if existance is an issue. It's where I met my family, where I learned vital life skills, and even people who love you can lie to you.
I will never forget the night I woke up in New York.

---

Chapter One: Playing the Game
I woke up to sun, sand, saltwater, and an English boy who looked quite unhappy glaring down at me, arms crossed.
"Samantha," he said irritably, his accent shockingly strong. "Get up and help fish. You may not want to eat it, but I'm not sending a five-year-old out there to do it. You're wasting time."
I groaned. Every morning for the past year, I'd gotten up, gotten yelled at, and fished. It was a tradition that I couldn't break, apparently, because on this island, even if I was the eldest, Evan had to make sure that I couldn't sleep in.
"Look, can't you catch enough fish with Haden and Bradley?" I moaned.
"They can't catch enough for all of us. Come help."
"I don't see why you won't throw Rachel in and make her do it, too, then."
His frown became more pronounced. "Because she's eight."
"So is Haden." I retorted.
He sighed, exasperated. "Get up, Sam."
I rolled over and frowned at him. "Sexist."
He sighed and rolled his eyes, content I was finally getting up. I yawned dramatically.
Five months ago, I'd showed up on this island alone and scared. I had no clue how or why I was here, or even what my name was, but Evan, there by himself, had showed me his home and how to do things, dragging me into a new lifestyle that included fishing and sleeping on the sand. It was sparse and uncomfortable, but it was the only one avalible and I took it as a dehydrated man would take water.
Sometimes, Evan and I didn't talk at all, and others, we talked about all that we knew. The only things we could remember were waking up on this forsaken beach, and several other things that equaled up to no importance at all, like the way he remembered a blue and green umbrella that his parents, or parent, or whoever watched over him had, or the way I could recall exactly what color eyes someone, I couldn't ever remember who, posessed. They were always somewhere in my mind, staring coldly at me, unmoving, but their color was a soft blue gray, and brought back warm feelings that I didn't recognize. My mother? My father? We didn't even know our real names or ages, but had guessed at what we were called and how old we were, and it stuck.
Ah, yes. The poor, desolate children of The Island.
"Sam!" Evan, who had just walked down to check on Haden and Bradley, was back, coming to make sure I was obeying commands.
I snapped out of my trance and scowled. "Okay, sorry!"
He shook his head and waited for me as I got up and brushed myself off.
"You know you can lay leaves down to sleep on, right? It would keep you from wasting your time cleaning yourself off like this."
I grinned. "I know, but the way you keep me working is exhausting. I have no energy left at night to make a bed."
He rolled his eyes and cuffed me on the ear. "Come on. Bradley's trying to talk Rachel and Alice into holding a fish, and you know they'll go to you to cry if that thing touches them."
I grimaced and picked up the pace. "Hurry, then!"
He broke into a smile and matched my stride.
About a week after I had first come to The Island, Alice showed up. She, like us, couldn't remember much but a few non-important details about her life, so we named her and estimated she was about thirteen, making her the third oldest on the island. She was delicate and frail with crystal green eyes and long, dark hair, and hated anything to do with slimey, slippery things that could move. Fish, of course, qualified.
The first time we had tried to teach her to fish, she threw up, fainted, and almost drowned. We learned then and there that Alice just wasn't a fisher, and that we could do it ourselves if it saved us from reliving that spectacle.
"BraaaDLEY!" I yelled. He glanced over at me, then dropped the fish in the sand, close to the tide. Too late to say anything about it, the fish disappeared with the next wave. I heard Evan sigh as we picked our way down the hill to the beach and the five foot dock that he had made.
Alice looked up in relief as we got closer, and ran up to me, paler than usual.
"That... Thing," She spat. "was too close to me. If it would've been a few inches closer... Well, I think I might've drowned myself. It was TOO disgusting. UGH!"
Alice had this thing for drama. She liked thinking of what could've, should've, or could have possibly happened to her, and making a deal out of it. By now, all of us were used to it. Rachel, holding onto her skirt, had a frozen look of horror on her face, scared of the fish.
After Alice had showed up on the island, Bradley and Haden had come in just two weeks later. Rachel had been the very last child, getting to the island a month after the boys, and hadn't spoken a single word in her three months being here. We didn't know if she was born mute or if she remembered things horrible and chilling to keep her from talking, but she seemed content just the way she was. She was always following someone around, holding on to an article of clothing or just trailing behind.
"Oh, Rach, sweetheart. Come here." I held out my arms and she climbed eagerly into them. At five years old, or so we guessed, she was the smallest, weakest child on the island, and we all treated her like a baby sister with delicacy and care.
...At least when the boys weren't fishing.
The boys were very much alike in age, but since Haden had showed up a day later than Bradley, he was a year younger. They, like most boys, were rambunxious and playful, but would usually listen to Evan or I.
In a way, we all were family. All six of us, caught up in a web of selective amnesia, stuck on a beautiful island with slimey fish. It was our home, and we had all made somewhat of a silent, mutual agreement that we'd do our best to make it feel like it.
I was still holding Rachel when dinner came around that night, the smell of saltwater and fish on a spit soaking into my clothes. I was in charge of boiling water for the radishes to cook in.
It was strange, really, being on this island. But it had gottne to the point where no one questioned it. I mean, hello? Radishes on an island? You're kidding! But no. We didn't say a thing about it, even when we were first on the island. There's too much shock and memory loss for that.

---Fin.---

That's all I have for now, but more to come. Maybe. Hopefully.
Hah.

Lauren

Prequal Clippit

OKay this is a clip from a prequal to my book that
the chapter "Snow Queen" is from.

Clippit Chapter One "The Orders"
By: katherine L.

A handsome teenage boy about 17 years of age with medium length brownish blond hair and blue eyes with brown flecks in them walks into the meeting room following another man much older, he was the boys trainer, Qing-Yuan.
The boy looked around at the men sitting in the chairs on either side of them, they were known as Lords, they were the highest rank in the army you could get, the boy couldn’t wait to be one, but he knew he had to wait till they made him take the tasks, it seemed it would take forever but he was patient he knew his time would come, so his trainer had told him, the boy knew he was lucky anyway, he was a knight and he was 17 most 17 year olds were still in squire years, he was proud, but yet bothered he and Qing-Yuan never got called to the meeting room, what was wrong?
“Lord Qing-Yuan Suashi, Knight Breneck, we welcome you.” Said one of the Lords
“Hello my Lords.” Both men said and bowed slightly and stood up strait.
“My Lords, why are we here, have we done something, wrong?” The boy named Breneck said.
One of the Lords smiles at Breneck, “Very to the point to you are, hmm, young Breneck, there is a mission we have for you, its very important indeed.” The Lord said Breneck looked at him this Lord was a blue creature that was about Qing-Yuan’s height maybe taller he was almost like a human but with a tail like a lizard and eight fingers on each hand and ten toes on each foot his skin was like the scales of a lizard or alligator and his eyes yellow and big and round like an owl mixed with a humans and an octopus, though his strange appearance, Breneck knew that this Lord was smart, he was the top of the Lords, the Leader…Breneck respected him more than ever.
“What’s this mission, Lord Nantai?” Qing-Yuan said looking at the Same Lord Breneck had just been looking at
“We have a message from the planet of Arcimada.” Lord Nantai said
“Where?” Breneck asked confusion covered his voice, he was good in geography-he knew every planet but not once had he heard on this one..
“Arcimada, it’s a planet quite a bit away, here let me show you the transmission we got.” Another Lord said
Breneck glances at his Trainer Qing-Yuan who looks over towards the Lord that just spoke directing his Knight learner to do the same. Breneck looks at the Lord.
The Lord takes out this thick silver disk and sets it down and presses a button on it and a holographic picture of a tall handsome boy about 17 with black hair around the same length as Breneck’s hair and hazel brown eyes Breneck recognized him immediately as one of his old friend that had gone to the base a few years ago but had to leave suddenly.
“Hello My Lords, my name is Aliton Malton, I am a protector of the Crown in Arcimada,” the Hologram of the boy named Aliton said as it started to break up, “Our communication systems are malfunctioning, some one’s tampering with them even this call could be being tracked,” It started to break up again the wind blows Aliton’s hair and his brown cloak like cape that he’s wearing he crosses his arms over his chest. “My personal friend, princess. and my protectee, Anttolia Elirose Pardomia, is in grave danger, yes I know I’m supposed to protect her but I am also in between two army schools right now transitioning because of my father’s job and can’t always be there, our country is being attacked almost everyday and our princess is almost killed every time and I’m fearing for the time they’ll succeed, please, I know you don’t know her, but Anttolia is the greatest thing to the planet I live in, I beg of you, please is there some way you can get some sort of protection here, even if it’s only here when I’m not, just please…help us…help me…help her….we will all be eternally grateful…thank you, end transmission.” The transmission stops, the man disappears and one of the Lords picks up the silver disk.
“We want you to go to Arcimada, we have located it and programmed it into you skeet, we want you to go there, meet this girl and protect her, full time if you must go somewhere she goes with you unless it’s too dangerous then you must leave her and instruct someone to protect her, now go now, everything is taking care of; your things are packed go now, meeting adjured.” Lord Nantai said.
Qing-Yuan and Breneck walk out followed by the lords who disperse immediately in different directions.
“Master?” Breneck said as the walked down the hall.
“Yes, my Learner?” Qing-Yuan asked.
“I thought we don’t take our business outside of army combat protection.” Breneck said.
“We don’t my learner, but the Lords are liking this and want to help and have instructed us to help, and so we shall.” Qing-Yuan said
“What if she doesn’t want us there?” Breneck asked.
“She’ll have to learn to have us around.” Qing-Yuan stated.
“So we’re picking up a pathetic life form that follows us around everywhere?” Breneck asked though it was more like a statement.
“I guess you could say that, my Learner.” Qing-Yuan said and gave a slight shrug.
They reach the skeeter mobile (skeet) and jump in, “Master…look at this, it’s at least 18 planets away…it’ll take us at least 18 to 20 days to get there.” Breneck said.
“Not with our super light speed,” Qing-Yuan said and looked at the look on Breneck’s face and laughed, “besides, we’re only riding with this till we get to the hanger, then we’ll take a ship.”
Breneck sighed relieved, “Good…I was hoping we weren’t going to fall into a black hole in this thing…”
Qing-Yuan laughed and flew them to the Bases hanger. Breneck Un-buckles and jumps out almost immediately, Qing-Yuan sighed shook his head and parked the ship before getting out.