Snippet!

The Notorious ‘B’

“Come on, Lizzie! You can’t be serious about going. Charlies parties always end up with the cops pounding down the doors!” Clarissa said, watching Lizzie weigh some clothes in her hands.

Lizzie rolled her hazel eyes and threw a sequined shirt at Clarissa’s face, “Look, I know. Stop worrying. This is just a one-time thing, I promise!”

Clarissa threw her hands up in the air and marched over to the window. The late August sun beat hot against her face as she stared out at the house next door, the house in which the party would be held. She could imagine it, the pounding of music everyone pretends to love, the foul aroma of beer breath, half the people with their tongues down someones throat. She cringed at the thought.

“Trey’s presence is obviously the only reason you want to go, so why don’t you just wait, oh I don’t know, a whole week? That way you’d be seeing him all day at school.”

“Because this year I’m going into school the same way I did last year: Trey being mine. He just needs a little reminder of how things were.”

“Lizzie, you know I love you, but the fact he dropped you flat after an entire year for the sole reason that you wanted to do drama over cheerleading says something.”

Lizzie stuck her freckled nose in the air, “Things are different now. We’re both more mature.”

It was Clarissa’s turn to roll her eyes. Not only did she not want to go to this party, she also didn’t want to break their tradition. Every time Charlie threw one of his parties – which happened at least once a month – she and Lizzie would make a game of watching the occurring party. The two would always watch through a little pair of binoculars and take shots of chocolate every time some unfortunate soul stumbled out the front door, a drunken mess, and end up swimming in their own barf.

One night, both girls had to take 61 chocolate shots. There was a bit of a sugar rush afterwards.

But they had been doing this for the past two years and had always broke down into a ridiculous fit of giggles at how idiotic all of those people were… Now they were the ones who had taken a dose of the Water of Stupidity. And all for and arrogant football captain.

Knock

Knock

Knock

“That would be Marcus!” Lizzie said, slipping a grey sweatshirt over her short, spiky brown ponytail. She always resorted to that sweatshirt in the end.

Another knock, and Lizzie was zipping out her bright blue room and into the dull, beige stairwell.

“Tuck in your tag!” Clarissa called after Lizzie, and Lizzie tucked in the tag of her bright green shorts.

Lizzie took the stairs three at a time, and on the last step she slipped, sending her flailing to the floor. She heard a laugh, and looked up through her bangs and out through the glass door. Standing there was Marcus’s skinning little frame shaking with laughter. Lizzie grimaced, and heaved herself up from the floor. Scowling at Marcus, she unlocked the door.

“That was not funny.” Lizzie said as seriously as a Lizzie can, before her laugh broke through the facade, “Clarissa, get down here!”

The three walked down the sidewalk while Lizzie explained the plan. Clarissa was to start a conversation with Trey and get him to look over in Lizzie and Marcus’s direction. The two of them would be pretending to be a couple and this, Lizzie was certain, would trigger the flow of jealousy. There was no doubt to her they would be back together by sunset!

At least, that’s what she hoped for as she fiddled around with her lucky coin.

Approximately thirty-nine normal seconds, but seven-hundred ninety-six hours in Lizzies mind later, the three walked into the party. Clarissa felt the wave of nausea she always gets when she smells alcohol, but she ignored it. No point in arguing with Lizzie.

Of course, Lizzie completely ignored her plan the moment she stepped through the door. She broke away from the group in search of Trey. In between the punch bowl, and a covered up TV, she finally found him. Although, he wasn’t with his usual gang of football buddies.

Instead, he was in the corner making out with no other than the notorious ‘B’.

B used to be the forth member in Lizzies group of friends… of course, that was back when she was known as Beatrice. At the beginning of the ninth grade, she left the other three to join the bottle-blonde cheerleaders. Which was part of the reason Lizzie refused to even try out for the squad.

Lizzie turned as red as B’s shirt, and started tearing through the crowd towards them. She stopped halfway across the room, because they stopped making out, probably to catch their breath. But they were now hugging, and B was facing Lizzie. Lizzie stared at B, hoping to burn off her hair that was just a little too blonde. B was generally just a little too much. From her makeup, which was just a little too heavy, to her skirt, which was just a little too short.

B caught Lizzies eye in the middle of the hug. She flashed her a sickly sweet smile, crinkled her nose, and moved her mouth back to Treys.

Lizzie faltered. She ran back to Marcus and Clarissa, who were looking for Lizzie.

“I cannot believe it!” Lizzie exclaimed, collapsing on her bed, “I knew she ditched us and dragged us through the mud, but THIS IS CROSSING THE LINE!” She screamed into her pillow.

The three had retreated back to Lizzie’s house. Clarissa was sitting by the window, and Marcus across the room from her.

“I’m sorry, Liz’, but maybe it’s for the best. I never liked the guy anyways.” Marcus said, unintentionally ruining Lizzie’s Rubix Cube.

Lizzie rolled over to Marcus, “But she knew I liked him since middle school. I saw it in her eyes. She didn’t forget. I just wish there was something I could do about it-”

Lizzie stopped, something blue caught her eye in the corner of her room. A spark light her eyes, and she rubbed her lucky coin.

“What’s your idea?” Marcus said with a weary smile. Clarissa leaned in to hear.

“I’m going to need both of you, binoculars, and a good luck charm.”

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Thank you for reading! This is merely a little snippet of a story that I may possibly turn into a book… Eventually. Keep in mind this is a first draft, unedited. So what do you think? Should I keep going? Novel? Short story series? Hmmmm?

And sorry (not sorry) for the late upload, I had a lot on my plate today! Anyways, I’ll see you tomorrow!

Sincerely, Via

Blink: A Short Story

Blink

People never wanted me to wander beyond the gate of my own backyard. They always said that the old, black iron gate would keep me protected from whatever evil might be lurking past the safety of my own backyard. I didn’t understand how anything evil could be out there though. Sometimes, I could hear faint whispers coming from over the gate, but I could never piece together exactly what they were saying. Part of me always hoped that these whispers were trying to tell me to escape my dull and confined life. I never fully believed I could though, until one of these strange voices finally confronted me.

“Who are you?” A small, elfish creature asked me in a high, squeaky voice. I jumped up off the bench I had been reading on and went to the gate to look at what it was. It was very short, no higher than my knee, and was wearing what looked like a large leaf as a dress. It was also very pale and had small features, but its hair was long and black as the night sky.

Even though people always told me to never speak to anyone on the other side of the gate, I didn’t think there could possibly be anything dangerous about this little creature. “I’m Amelia Freehart… who are you?” I asked curiously.

“My name is Blink. I’ve been watching you for years, and I’ve called for you to come. Why do you always sit alone?” Blink asked happily.

“I’m not allowed to have any friends. Have you really been calling for me?” I answered hopefully.

“Yes I have, and it makes me feel like we’ve been friends since you were little. Why don’t you come with me?” Blink suggested. “I could show you around the forest. Haven’t you ever wanted to know what’s out there?”

“Umm… I’m not allowed to go past the gate.” I said nervously.

“Come on, nothing out there is dangerous.” Blink said sincerely. Something about Blink seemed so safe and secure. Yet at the same time a nagging voice in the back of my head was yelling warning signals urgently.

“Alright… but I will be able to come home later?” I asked cautiously, somehow managing to shove the voice out of my head.

“Of course you will! I just want you to have some fun for once.” Blink chimed happily. I smiled and struggled to lift the heavy latch of the confining gate. After a few tries and almost getting my fingers chopped clean off twice, I managed to open the gate.

I stepped very carefully one bare toe at a time out of the gate and peered around nervously. Everything was so different from outside the bars that had held me prisoner for the past fifteen years of my life. It was much colder here, it made the thin hairs on my arms stick up. I finished stepping out of the gate and turned my head to look at a giant tree that had almost no leaves on it. Only two leaves were still home on this oak tree, one was a vibrant red and the other was a warm and welcoming yellow. I paused to look at these leaves in wonder. They looked flawless as the sun shone through them, making it so you could see every last detail of the leaves from the dark speckles that danced across both of them, to the elegant patterns that seemed to keep the leaves stitched together. A cool and crisp breeze then blew and knocked both of the leaves off the branches that served as their home.

“This is amazing!” I exclaimed, not able to hold in my excitement any longer.

“Yes I know… there is someone who would like to see you.” Blink said as she grabbed my hand and led me to a sparkling blue pond. Once we reached the edge of the pond, Blink spoke again, “If you walk a little ways out into the pond, then you can see who wants to see you.”

I inched into the pond, careful so I wouldn’t slip, and stopped once the water was barely touching the hem of my knee-length blue dress. Something was wrong I could tell. Things suddenly seemed too still and perfect. The silence was piercing, and I whipped around to tell Blink I shouldn’t go any further. But when I looked back she was gone.

“Blink?!” I shouted out panicky. Where could she have gone? She promised I would be able to go home! I waited for a moment but she never responded. Silence seemed to attack me from all angles and I had no means to escape it. I tried to leave the pond, but something wrapped around my ankles, crept up my legs and started to drag me under the water.

Do you know that feeling when you are about to fall asleep? When it feels like you are falling off of something and then you jerk awake? That’s how I felt as I was being drug under the water. Once I was entirely in the water and started being drug further out into the pond, I realized how foolish I was to go with Blink. Suddenly the dragging stopped and ended up coughing and gasping for breath in some underground tunnel.

“Hello, Amelia Freehart. I’ve waited a long time to see you.” A painfully malicious yet familiar voice said to me.  “I’m Sadie. Remember me?”

“Sadie? Is that really you?” I choked out as I looked up and saw a short blonde haired girl with blue eyes standing above me.

“Of course it’s me. Who else did you expect?” Sadie asked bitterly. “I don’t know if you remember this, but when we were ten you dared me to open the gate. I did and I never came back. Blink trapped me here.”

How could this be the Sadie I spent most of my childhood with?  “No! This isn’t what the family told me happened to you!” I sobbed.

“Secrets have been kept then, because this is what happened. I sent Blink to get you. I was so lonely. You understand that don’t you?” Sadie spat out. Even then I saw a small hint of a tear trail down her face.

I nodded my head and looked at the floor. I wished I had never let curiosity get the best of me. With a Blink my life had changed.

Copyright © 2014 Olivia Mohler. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!

Sincerely, Via