Part One - Study Date with a Studly Douche
My face winces as his hand rises above his head. “Now will you shut up?” He bellows as he smashes his fist into the table in front of me. I nod my head rapidly with my mouth glued shut. My foster Dad walks over to the kitchen to break open another beer, making me flinch again at the sound.
Even through all the anxiety, a part of my head spun with all the ways I would incorporate this into his character in my story. My emotions always gave me the best motive for creation, and he inspired more emotion than anything. Even the hooded man had treated me better than this.
In reply to the doorbell, my stepfather barked at me and I jumped up, hurrying to answer it.
“Let’s make this quick Stan; I have other things that I actually wanna do.” Evan grunts as he pushes through the door and up the stairs. My heart quickens as he brushes past me and I take a deep breath before following him into my room. “I don’t stutter that much anymore.” I defend against the nickname Stan as I move towards my desk and flick my slick violet hair over my shoulder.
“Just because Mr Harris stuck us together on this project, doesn’t mean you can talk to me like we’re friends. “
“I-I just- I“ I shut my mouth as his obnoxious guffaw cuts me off.
“Don’t stutter anymore, huh? Look dork, just pick up the book and start doing your nerd thing.”
My fingernails dig into my thigh as I try and keep my face neutral. I grab the first book on my desk and start flicking through it with a focused stare. I could cope with anyone else treating me this way, but Evan was the person I wanted approval from the most. Once my hurt subsided, I looked up to see him fixated on my drawings tapped to the wall. The second he notices my eyes on him, he shakes his head and lies back on the bed. “You gonna stare at me all night, or get it done?”
My eyes switch back to the book as my head wanders to the day we first met.
***
“You gonna eat that?” Evan queried after travelling across the playground at the sight of my 7 inch smarty cookie.
“We can half it.” I chirped in reply as my hand shot out at him. He took it from me with a goofy grin and twisted his foot over the gravel. “I didn’t really want the cookie…” He mumbled as he looked down at his still shuffling foot. “Billy told me that’s how you talk to girls.”
“Billy sounds like an idiot to me.” I chuckled.
He plopped onto the swing next to me and giggled in response. “Your nose goes red like Rudolph when you laugh”
***
“Hey Rudolph, why are you laughing?” Evan’s curiosity rips me from my memories and I freeze with my mouth slightly open. “Stan?”
“Why don’t you just go home? I’ll put your name on it.” I suggest to him, returning the book to the side. His eyebrows furrow as a moment of concern takes over his face, before being abruptly replaced with a blank stare.
“Great. One more minute in your weird room and I was gonna lose my shit.” He remarks, pulling himself from my bed. Without a reply he exits my room and a second later I hear the front door slam shut.
Before my heart can sink from his absence, I jump into bed and pull my laptop onto my lap. Maybe Evan and I can’t have a nice night together, but Yannie and Elon sure can. All I have to do is write their next adventure. My fingers dart over the keyboard as a whirlwind of ideas erupts in my head. In this moment, I am no longer Ella the doormat; I am phoenix the survivor. And no one can take that away from me.
Part two: Horror to be a hassle.
The top of the tower is so high my eyes can’t reach it, and its sides are so wide it’s as if it’s surrounding me. I try backing up but the image doesn’t get any smaller. Even when I turn around and sprint as fast as my legs can go, I can’t escape it. All I can see is walls of cracked stone clinging on to each other and a tornado of greys and blacks hanging over head. A maniacal laugh echoes from the sky as my legs strain to run even faster. The greys and blacks descend towards me, until my surroundings are hidden behind a thick fog. I shudder and snap my head in all directions but I don’t know which way the sound is coming from. A deep whisper intertwines with the mist and threats surround me, breaking me down to the floor. With my hair in my fists, my knees sink into the mud and I stare down at the empty ground with tears in my eyes. I start to notice the fog separating and my breath quickens, not knowing if I will be freed or become even more trapped. Cautiously, I look upward, instantly freezing as I see the mouldy green hood. The shadowed face underneath erupted another shudder from within me. It was the hooded man. He stood tall, with fists clenched at his sides and eyes I couldn’t see that bore into me with a dominating rage. The mist began to enclose around me, restricting my freedom more and more; until it wrapped around me and sealed me inside a coffin of my worst nightmares.
“Ella, what is wrong with you?! You’ve been shouting about all sorts. Me and Bill have work tomorrow you know, we don’t have time to be dealing with your little pleas for attention at 3 in the morning.” I awake to my foster mother’s scowling face hovering above me. I pinch my eyes shut, deterring any tears from appearing.
“Fine. Don’t apologise. Just keeping looking at me like I’m the one that disturbed your sleep.” She scoffs, marching towards the doorway. “If I have to get up again, you won’t be leaving this room for a week.”
The door slams shut and my head falls onto my shoulder as the tears silently flow from my eyes. They know about my nightmares… They even know about the hooded man. But nobody cares about that anymore; the media sensation died down and now it’s just old news. No one cares that I’m a wreck and they don’t care that he’s still out there; that he got away. He gets to live his life like nothing happened while I’m ruined forever. I dig my nails deeply into my knuckles until they turn purple and let every tear held inside fall onto my pillow. After a while my eyes run dry and are too sore to hold open any longer. I start to drift back into my nightmares with a dry sniffling pant.
“Ella babe, you’re gonna be late for school.” Esther gently nudges my shoulder and I fling my head around to face her.
“How’d you get in my room?”
“The foster parasites left for work and I broke in through the window.” She shrugs nonchalantly and flicks her think caramel hair out of her face to get a clearer look at me. “You’re kidding me? You’re still getting those nightmares?” She falters, dropping to the floor with sympathy filling her eyes. I nod whilst chewing on my sleeve and she sighs sympathetically. “Come on, get in the shower and get dressed. At least school’s a distraction.” She commands me as I roll my eyes and drag myself from my bed.
Part three: Being Plum Ain’t Fun
I roll down the window of Esther’s Ford and stick my head out to let the strong breeze knock away my senses, but Esther grabs a hold of my arm and pulls me back in. “I know what you’re doing. You can’t ignore the world you know. It’s here for you to live in.” She focuses on the road as she lectures with an omniscient tone.
“I thought it was here to die in.” I roll my eyes over to her with a sarcastic smirk.
“Since when are you such a downer?” She mirrors my expression switching her eyes from the road for a brief moment.
“Well, my foster parents are demons in disguise, the guy I’m in love with hates me and my only real friend is a 25 year old know it all that works with drunks for a living.”
“Hey I don’t work with drunks. Their like my pigs and I’ the farmer feeding them their slop.” She defends, swerving around the bend. “HEY BUTTWIPE MOVE YOUR ASS WILL YOU?” She shrieks out the window as I jolt in my seat. “ I swear to Lucifer, if I miss my shift at the bar because of that tramp, I’m tracking her down and slashing her tyres.”
“She was like 60 years old Ess.” I chuckle. “Maybe instead of work, you should check out an anger management group.”
“Oh shut up baby Ellie.”
“You shut up oldie Essie” I retort, stepping out of the car, pulling my lavender pencil skirt over my trim yet well-fleshed thighs. Esther threw me a huge smile and drove away, leaving me to my own survival.
As the sound of her tyres running over the gravel fades, Brian Myer slides over to me and flirtatiously hip bumps me from the side. “What’s cookin’, plum puddin’?”
“Please stop calling me that.” I roll my eyes, walking away from him. He runs his fingers through his styled gelled hair and bites his lip before jogging to catch up to me. “Wake up on the wrong bed this morning Plumy?”
“Wrong bed?” I question, trying not to pay too much attention to him.
“Well yeah, I mean it wasn’t mine…” He laughs like a baboon in response to his own joke and I sigh with annoyance as I try to turn the other way to get to my class. But before I can Brian grabs a hold of my arm and spins me back around to face him. “You can’t ignore me forever plumb” He purrs leaning closer. Looking down at me with seduction in his eyes, he slowly bites his bottom lip; still holding onto my arm. “After all, our parents seem to want what I want.” He leans further in, giving me a cocky grin. “Wear something pretty tonight doll.”
I snatch my arm from his grip and snarl “They are not my parents.” I stare him down for a second then storm away from him with fury and confusion playing tug of war in my head.
I plop down on the first available seat I see and cross my arms over my chest, clenching my jaw with frustration. “Why does everyone treat me like a damn house pet?”
“Because you’re pathetic and you let them.”
I jerk my head towards the person next to me and instantly jerk it back towards my lap, pursing my lips with embarrassment.
“I could call you a friendless weirdo with the attractiveness of a rat dropping and you would just sit there with your puppy dog eyes and take it.” Evan mocks, leaning back in his chair with arrogance. I take a silent breath and tense my shoulders lifting my head back towards him.
“I’d take my way over your way any day.” I declare, turning my nose up at him. In response he chuckles, most likely thinking me to be naïve. As I start to analyse his features, I notice a hint of something I’m not sure I recognise. His dirty blonde hair has the same careless flip and the dimples on his cheeks display the same arrogance that I’m used to, but the glint in his eyes shows no intent to hurt. Without a sign of malice, I’m left to ponder why it is that he said what he said.
“So, gossip me. What happened with Evan?” Esther chants with enthusiasm, pulling out of the school car park.
“That’s not what I’m thinking about right now.”
“Since when is your every thought not dominated by the hell-bred hunk?” Snorts Esther, as I roll my eyes.
“Since Brian Myers told me our parents want what he wants. Like what the hell does that even mean?” I huff, flailing my arms.
“Lord that’s annoying.”
“I know right. It’s gonna bug me all night not knowing what he meant.”
“No, I meant being referred to as the spawn of the Satan twins.” She cringed, encouraging an amused smile to form on my face.
I pause, the smile still smeared across my face as I stare over at her. “God I love you.”
*****First three parts of a novella (Didn't have time to finish before the contest deadline)*******
ns 15.158.61.54da2
