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My novel, first draft
01.24.08, 12:51:04
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Post #1 (permalink) |
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First draft of about half of the first chapter of my novel "Black Royal" that's just the working title.
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Chapter One: Ashes to Ashes
There comes a time in everyones' life where you have to make decisions based on your emotions and nothing else. Sometimes you have nothing else to go off of. Christmas Day was that day for me.
Growing up blind wasn't always easy. It was never easy, come to think of it. School was a trainwreck after the first grade, so my mom homeschooled me up until That Day. I missed out on a lot of the joys of childhood, a lot of rites of passage that those with sight got to experience. Rainbows. Picture books. Going to the movies with friends. Getting a driver's liscense.
Sitting on the front porch of my great-grandfather's house in late December, I didn't think about these things. I didn't often. Not anymore. I just sat there, taking as much in as possible. I could feel my second youngest brother, Isaiah next to me. Many times I had held his hands in mine, and I can tell you that he has long, beautiful fingers. He is an artist, and a musician. Strawberry blond hair and light blue eyes I was told he had. And he was 16 years old.
My first youngest brother at age 17, was Ezra. We didn't get along very well back then. He was a sports hero, and a daredevil. With his wazy blond hair and big blue eyes, he was the star of his school and all the girls loved him. I could imagine him standing in the yard then, ****y, holding a football over my youngest brother, Jeremiah's, head. Jeremiah was seven, and a crybaby. Even now I can recall the sound of his whining. But he was kind.
Elisha and Elijah were 15. They were twins. Elisha was an "emo kid", with spiky strangely colored hair and dark clothes. Elijah was stylish in his polo shirt and nice jeans. Before Elisha had dyed his hair black and blue and blond, they had both had light brown hair and pale green eyes.
Everything about my brothers appearance, and my own, I had only been told before That Day. I had been told of my long, light brown hair. It had never once been cut in my eighteen years, and it hung, wavy, down to my knees. My eyes were sightless, and a cloudy blue. Nothing interesting there. Each one of us Nash children had the same upturned nose and plump, pouty lips. We were all tall for our age, and slender. There was no mistaking us for siblings.
Isaiah poked me in the arm with his pencil and said "Leah, Ezra and Jeremiah are at it again. Make them stop, they're scaring my subjects." "Subjects?" I asked him. Isaiah huffed. "The birds. On the birdbath." "Oh," I said. I stuck my fingers in my mouth and whistled shrilly.
All sound in the yard stopped as all the boys turned towards me. I could feel their gazes. "Setlle down," I told them. "Stop teasing Jeremiah or I'll come out there and beat you, you hear?"
There were a few affirmatives and one grunt. The grunt was from Ezra, I could tell because it was the deepest voice. I sat back down on the bench. The boys went back to their game. I could hear Isaiah's pencil scratching against the sketch pad in his lap. I shivered. "I'm going back in," I told Isaiah.
He didn't say anything, just kept drawing. He was really into it, so I left quietly, feeling my way against the rough brick of the porch to the door. My hands lighted on the screen door's handle and I pulled. I slipped in between the crack in the door and instantly everything changed. The silence and solitude of outside, even with the boys' football game, dissapeared. It was replaced with the chaotic, loud mess that was Christmas morning with my family.
All of my cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles, and grandparents showed up from everywhere across the country. One of my cousins even lived in Hawaii and flew up just for this morning. We were what you called a close knit family. This day was one of two that my family (me and my brothers, mom and dad) came to this house. The other day was Easter.
Inside the house, it was chaos. There were babies screaming, and little kids playing with their new, noisy toys. People talked, laughed loudly. My uncles had brought out the guitars and banjo and were sitting on the hearth playing them. In the kitchen, ladies bustled around making lunch. The kitchen was filled with the smell of freshly baked stuffing and bread, simmering beans, and freshly cooked ham. My mouth watered all the way in the living room. The kitchen was also loud, alive with the sound of food cooking, ladies talking over pots, and the clanging of spoons against bowls.
I managed to find a place to sit on the crowded couch, squeezing in between two cousins. Ahh, there was always a vast supply of cousins to go around. The two I was in between were Michael and Georgie. Michael was twenty one and anti-social, to say the least. Georgie was seven and named after a character in a soap-opera.
Georgie was playing with a new toy, I wasn't sure what kind. Something that beeped. "What are you playing with?" I asked her. She replied "Tamagatchi." I blinked. "What's that?" I asked her, trying to make some sort of small talk. "It's a little computer pet. Do you want to play?"
She offered it to me, but with a small smile, I declined. "I'm not sure I'd have fun with that," I told her. Michael snickered softly next to me. Georgie shrugged, I could feel the motion of her shoulders. She hopped up then, to go find someone else to play with, and Michael got up to go find something else to do.
I was alone on the couch. I sat there and put my hands in my lap. Then, I decided I was bored, and went to go find something to do. I'd brought two of my christmas gifts with me. One was a book, written in Braille. The other was an MP3 player. The MP3 player didn't have many songs on it yet, I hadn't gotten the chance to put any one there. Elisha said he would help me put music on it when we got home. So I dug the book out of my purse. My parents had searched and searched for a good book for me. Braille books weren't readily available in the nearest book store. I'd specifically asked for a book by my favorite author, Dean Koontz, in Braille.I already owned several audio book adaptions of his novels. |
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leaving for the summer. Will try and pop in everyonce in a while. It will only get worse once school starts, so go ahead and wrap your head around me not being here. Please don't PM while I'm gone. I hope I can clean the slate with you all before I leave. Um... I guess that's it. Have a happy and safe summer and God loves you!
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| -tears- -not really- whats it about |
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| Well, it sounds kind of cliched so I'm not sure I want to tell you. |
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| Its a pretty good start and it seems to flow together nicely, I will be intresting to see how the rest comes out. Well done and keep it coming!! |
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| xD maybe I'll post more, or maybe you guys can just read it whenI publish it. |
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| When will you get it published??? |
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| In a long, long, long time. |
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Lol kk well in that case post just a bit more here !
(My 600th post  ) |
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