writing
Fantasy Novel: Part II
Hello There,
Even though there are a million things I should be doing other than writing and editing science fiction and meticulously tweaking my blog, I decided to do it anyway. Total shocker!
One of my first blog posts was the introduction to a Young Adult Sci Fi novel I've been working on, loosely based on the lost city of Atlantis. If you didn't get a chance to read the introduction, you can take a look at it here.
This is the following chapter where Crystal, the heroine, confronts her parents about what she learned in Genetics class that day:
You could say up until that Genetics class my life had been fairly perfect. Not that I’m saying I was happy all the time or anything, I am in Junior High for goodness sakes, but I could get anything I wanted without trying. I was the prettiest (modeling contract to prove it!) girl in my school. Raven hair, golden skin and piercing hazel eyes are enough to make you popular in junior high but I had everything else handed to me as well. I was the richest and smartest girl in my rich suburb and probably in all of Iowa
I floated through school in a trance until I came home and slammed the door. My mom was in the living room gulping diet coke and browsing People, one of the many magazines that she subscribed to under my name, which usually had chocolate stains on them by the time she left them in a heap outside of my bedroom door.
Blonde roots were starting to show through her mane of ebony hair that she claimed made her look like Elizabeth Taylor. When she saw my face, she set down the magazine guiltily.
“Chrissy poo bear, what’s the matter? You look all riled up.” If she thought it was about the magazines, she had another thing coming.
“You know what mom? I get it. Dad-- he’s not that attractive. Personally I’m not sure how you ever fell for the whole paunch and balding thing, but I never in a million years thought that I wasn’t his child!” I was just building up steam and ready to get started on moral decency but her eyes were as wide as Oreos and she cut in before I could continue.
“It’s that old man. He visited you at school didn’t he? I hoped this day would never come. Oh gawd, I’m calling your father right this second.”
“Old man? Ew, mom gross. Wait a second, dad knows?” I was starting to feel queasy; I had secretly hoped she would have some awesome explanation for everything and make it go away. I bet Ernie Jefferson had it easy compared to me.
Her hands were shaking and I saw her tap tapping on her iPhone but she always had trouble with the touch screen, so she grabbed the house phone and cursed nervously. “Sweetheart, you need to come home immediately. Crystal
I stared at my mom mouth agape, waiting for her to look at me, but she looked like I was the farthest thing from her mind. She was twitching as she raced around the house locking windows and doors. Our house was 4000 square feet so it wasn’t too surprising that she hadn’t finished by the time my dad got home.
My dad, Jamie Perkins, heir to the Perkins restaurant chain was a simple guy. He had pale eyes and hair usually had a confused but jovial grin on his face. He was a quarter time logistics accountant or something, but basically when my grandfather realized that he had no talent in business, he invested millions of bucks and we just lived off of that while dad went to the country club in our backyard everyday. The man loved golf probably more than anyone on earth, but he never yelled and bought me a ton of stuff, so I couldn’t complain much.
When my dad walked in, I knew something was very wrong. He had his usual confused look but his grin was missing and had been replaced by a firm frown. He stared at me for a split second, and then shouted “Marrryyy Annn!” at the top of his lungs and walked past me like I didn’t even exist. They started shout whispering at each other as if there was a wall between us.
“This is your fault. I knew we should have changed our name or moved farther away, like India
“You’ve got to be joking, the golf in India
“The note said 17 whale pods dummy! I can’t believe this, I’m going to jail and I haven’t even found out if I made the cut for “Real Housewives of Des Moines” yet. I feel sick.”
“What the heck is going on!” I shouted, furious that I was being ignored. “This is my life we’re talking about. I demand an answer!” No one ever ignored me. They turned to me slowly, with a look in their eyes I couldn’t quite place. The lump in my throat was shifting to my stomach.
“Crisy poo bear,” my father started, “we will always love you like your real parents, even though we aren’t.” My mother slapped my father’s arm but it was too late to take back what he had said.
“You mean… you mean,” I stuttered, “I’m adopted!?” Another guilty look passed between them.
“Technically the term is babynapped,” my father said. This time I heard my mom whack him hard, but by that time everything was going black. I passed out for the first time in my life.
I hope you liked it! If not, kindly refrain from commenting. I would probably cry if my comment box is filled with gritty NYT style literary reviews.
Have a great day and thanks for taking a look!
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