Snippets of my WIP

I thought that I would share just a few little pieces of the story that I am currently writing. I will start out with the Preface.

"Our world is at war." Joey thought as he walked his dog. He was walking over rubble that was thrown all over the, once beautiful, park.
"What started this? Why did this happen?" he kept asking himself.
He was no closer to finding out the answers then he was three days ago. His parents had stuffed him and his dog in a bomb shelter, what felt like years ago, promising to come back. Tired of waiting, he crawled out of his hole into absolute hell. The surrounding homes were destroyed and reduced to nothing but broken glass and splinters. Blood was everywhere but there was only an occasional body that went with it.
At night, he heard strange things and he could see bright lights extend from the sky to the ground. They almost looked like roadways from the heavens to earth. He kept himself in buildings at night, in hopes that he would stay safe. He has done this for two nights. Today, the third day, Joey has started to lose hope. All that he could find, even in a big city, was emptiness.
"Where did everybody go?" he asked himself again.
Joey looked towards the sun and noticed it's descent. He looked around for a place to hide and spotted a tall building that amazingly still had it's windows. He climbed four flights of stairs before he found a room with a bed still intact. Before he sat down to rest, he scavenged through hotel room, hoping to find some food. He wasn't lucky this time and went to bed thinking about the same questions over and over again. Once again, he fell asleep without an answer.
Who are we at war with?


Now meet Ryan, a country boy that's life gets turned upside down.

It is not every day that I, Ryan Christopher Thompson, get to spend a day doing absolutely nothing. It is such a beautiful day and Erica looks as lovely as ever. She doesn’t realize that I don’t understand what she is saying. My hands are shaking and my mind is racing. The little black velvet box is burning a hole in my pocket and I am afraid that she will figure it out before I get a chance to say something. I stop for a moment to really look at her. She is wearing a pair of black jeans and an orange short sleeve v neck t shirt. Her long brown hair is worn loose around her shoulders. She peers at me with her soft brown eyes and I realize that I had been staring for too long.
“I’m sorry. What did you say?” I asked. I gave her a slight apologetic smile.
“I said...why are you just standing there?” She rolled her eyes as she asked. When I didn’t answer, she sighed and said, “Let’s go! We’re going to be late. You don’t want to miss the game, do you?”
I shook myself into action. “Of course not, I was only thinking about how lucky I am.” I smiled at the slight blush and grabbed her hand.
The game went by pretty quick. I barely even noticed that we won. I laughed, smiled, cheered, and even flirted with Erica but all that I could think of was the little black box in my pocket. The whole town knows what I plan to ask. Maybe even Erica knows, but I hope that she doesn’t know that it is tonight. We finally made it to her porch and I slowly pulled her to a stop. She spun around and gave me a questioning look. I look behind her and notice her parents looking out the window. My breathing speeds up as I look into her eyes and drop down on one knee. As I drop, I pull the black box out and open the lid.“Erica, we have been dating since we were sophomores. We spent all summer looking for a college to attend together. We leave next fall to go to State together and I would love to go with you as your husband. Will you marry me?”
There I said it and my confidence is back so I offer her a full smile. But it disappears quickly when she doesn’t look as happy as I hoped that she would.
“Oh, god, Ryan, I’m so sorry. I heard rumors that you were going to ask me but I had hoped that they were wrong.”
I withdrew my hand and looked up at her with confusion and realized that she was still talking.
“I can’t. I mean, I don’t want to. I like you and I wanted to love you. When the rumors started, I thought about it. I’m sorry but I don’t love you anymore, not like that. I’m going to New York after Christmas. I was going to tell you later this week. I’m so sorry!”
I just stood there as she ran back into the house. I was too stunned to move. I wonder if the whole town knew about this.

Meet Destiny:

I bolted up from my slumber and looked around. When I didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, I relaxed and slumped back against the wall. I was due home a week ago. Henry had sent me out on a scouting mission in Nevada. But I got held up in this small town in the middle of America. Three weeks ago is when I had arrived here.
I was hungry but there wasn’t much food here. I came upon a farm where a young man was putting up animals. I stopped for a minute and, though he couldn’t see me when he looked up, my eyes locked onto his. His amazingly beautiful eyes did something to me that has never been done before. I just sat and watched him until he went back inside. I crept closer towards the house and tried to locate him again. I could hear a conversation that a young man and a woman were having. I assumed that it was him and possibly his mother.
“Well, what do you think?” he asked.
“I think that it’s wonderful. I’m excited for you. This has been a long time coming.” the woman replied.
“Do you think that she will like it?” he asked.
“Oh, honey, if she doesn’t like it then she doesn’t deserve it.”
I heard the woman leave but, just as I was about to look in the window, I heard tiny little patters of feet.
“Can I see, Ry?” I heard a little girl ask excitedly.
“Sure, Sarah, come here and I’ll show it to you.” Ry answered. I wanted to peek in but I didn’t dare.
After a few short minutes, I heard, “Wow! It’s so pretty! Can I put it on?”
I heard him laugh and the sound made me smile. Then I couldn’t stop myself from looking in. He was putting something in his pocket as a little girl was trying to wrestle it away from him. He grabbed ahold of her hand and started tickling her. The girl’s squeal made my, over sensitive, hearing cause my head to rattle. I dropped down and covered my ears. They had left the room by the time that I had recovered.
The next night, I called Henry and told him that I was okay but held up in a small town. My hunger was back and in full force allowing Henry to hear it in my voice.
“Why have you not eaten, Kitten?” Henry asked in his loving tone.
“I didn’t find any food, Henry. I’ll be fine. As a matter of fact, I am on my way to find food right now.” I said.
“You need to take care, Kitten. Your father will be most displeased if you end up hurt.”
“I’m fine, Henry!” I stated again sounding exasperated.
“Destiny, don’t take that tone with me! You are our princess. It is imperative that you take responsibility like one.” he shot back.
“I am taking on my responsibility, Henry! What do you think that I am doing? Do you actually believe that scouting a new territory by myself is what I want to do?”
“Destiny..” he began.
“No, Henry, I know what I must do and I’m fine!! But I won’t be if you don’t let me get back to finding food!” I yelled.
“Of course, Kitten, be safe.” Henry ended the call sounding very sad.
I instantly felt sorry that I had yelled at him. Henry and I have been together for over fifty years. I love him and he loves me. I know that he did not want me to have to be the one that had to scout. But, as our princess, it is my job. Father’s was to hold the territory and mine was to find us secure territory. Father chose me because, when he saw me, I was strong and independent for my time.
Being born in 1901, women were not allowed much independence. I was born Lillian Grace Murray. When Father found me in 1920, I had just lost my husband and was taking care of my crops. The first time that I saw Father was at the market. But, later that night, he was lying on the side of the road and looking like he was hit by a car. I rushed over to him and managed to somehow hobble him into the house. I laid him down on the couch and left to grab some clean rags, water, and a set of my late husband’s clothes.
He was gone when I made it back into the living room. He wasn’t lying on the couch so I looked around the room but didn’t find him. Before I could move, someone grabbed me from behind and all I felt was intense pain. The next time that I opened my eyes, I was in a strange dark place lying on a bed with the most beautiful velvet sheets that I had ever seen. I tried to move but every inch of my body ached. I groaned but the sound was very weak.
“Welcome, Daughter.” I heard a male voice say.
“What? Where am I?” I asked in confusion.
“You are in my home now, child.” he answered.
“But who are you?” I asked choosing to ignore the fact that he called me his daughter.
“My name is Jameson Richards. I know who you are, Lillian, but you are no longer who you once were.”
I looked around but still I couldn’t see him. I was shaking with fear when I asked, “What are you talking about?”
I heard him chuckled and I heard a faint “You shall see.” Then I could no longer feel his presence.
Just that little conversation made me exhausted so, having no strength to fight it, I laid down and was fast asleep.
My hunger snapped me out of my memory and I left to find food. I didn’t want to chance running into Ryan so I went towards another small town. It took me only three hours to find the perfect tasting food. I couldn’t get Ryan out of my head, even while I was eating, so I went back to his farm.


And here is one final little snippet. I wrote this and more today while I was watching my children swim:

Ryan

“No, problem, Mama but why didn’t you tell me about the electric?” I asked.
Mama dropped the spatula that she had in her hand. I saw that she was visibly shaking. “How did you know about that?”
I pulled out the bill and showed it to her. I saw the resignation as she looked at me. “I didn’t want to make you any more upset than you already were. I know that you have been really working to get your money up for college along with looking around for a perfect place for you and Erica. Then you have been busy trying not to be too nervous about your proposal to her.” She explained.
“Mama, I am a grown man, remember? I am staying to help you and I need to know these things.”
“Honey, you may be a grown but you are still my baby.” She replied while ruffling my hair.
I smiled at Mama and told her that I was going into town for a while. With a small hug from Mama, she shoved me towards the back door. The trip to get into town was a brief trip. I bought the supplies that I needed to climb the mountain. Since I am going to be solo climbing, I only need to grab descenders, holds, a head lamp for the cave, a static rope, crampons, carabineers, sunglasses, chalk, hydration packs, and a swiss army knife. Then I headed home.
I loaded all the stuff into my trunk and grabbed the rest of the stuff that I had gotten already. I grabbed my back pack that Father always used while we rock climbed and I loaded all that would fit into it. I rolled the sleeping bag and clipped it to the top of the back pack and secured it all in the trunk of my Corsica. I don’t know why but I started to feel a pull to hurry and make it to the cave. In a way, it was frightening. Almost like my mind is over excited at the possibility. No, it’s something more than that. I haven’t quite figured it out yet but it is almost like the cave itself is calling to me.
My preparation for my trip was done and now all I needed was to get Mama’s permission. Hopefully, she is in a better mood now. She seemed like it before I left. I suddenly remembered that I forgot to sell my ring so I jumped back into my Corsica and headed towards town again. Rheanna already knew why I was there and immediately rushed over to give me a hug.
“I’m so sorry, Ryan! I already heard.” She said as she leaned back.
“It’s alright, Rheanna, can I resell this to you?”
“Sure, honey, but you’ll lose about 20% of it.”
“I don’t mind. Here, I even cleaned it for you.”
Rheanna smiled and took the ring from me. As I watched her put it back in the case, I could have sworn that I saw a symbol flash across the wall. It looked like a circle with a line slashed through it.
“That was pretty cool, Rheanna.” I stated.
“What was?” She asked confused.
“Lift the ring up a little bit and then look at the wall.”
Rheanna did as I asked and, when I saw the symbol again, I told her to look. “I don’t see anything but a light; nothing cool about it, Ryan. It’s normal.”
“What are you talking about? You don’t think that it looks like a circle with a line through it?”
“No.” She answered.
Rheanna was looking at me with pity and I decided to shake it off and wait for my money. I said my goodbyes and left a little freaked out. I would see that shape every time a light would flash or there was a glint off of a car. I was in a panic before I made it in the door but stopped abruptly when I saw another design on our wooden table. This time it seemed to be etched into the wood naturally.


Destiny:

I didn’t stop until I knew for sure that I was safe. It wasn’t that I was worried about them hurting me but, rather that, I was not ready to reveal myself. I slowed down and looked at my phone. It was only eight o’clock so I had plenty of time to eat before calling Henry. I haven’t talked to him in a week and I have avoided his texts. I knew that he was going to be hurt and upset but I wasn’t ready to hear his disappointment; nor my Father’s.
It took only thirty minutes for me to eat and I found myself a quiet location to call Henry. I climbed up a tree and admired the view as I pulled out my phone. I took a deep breath and dialed the number. It was answered on the fourth ring and I was preparing to leave a message.
“Where have you been?”
“Father?” I asked shocked. I had not expected him to answer the phone.
“Where have you been?” He asked again in a harsher tone.
“Arkansas, Father.” I replied quietly.
“Why? You have disobeyed my order to return home, Destiny. We are depending on you.”
“I know, Father, it’s just that...”
“Henry has told me about your young man...” he started.
“He’s not my young man, Father. But there is something about him and his family. I don’t understand yet, Father, but I feel that it is important somehow.” I explained.
“You were supposed to be looking for a place for us to move. It is getting too dangerous for us here, Destiny.”
“I know, Father. The place that I am in isn’t too bad. There are a couple of bigger cities twenty to thirty minutes away from here.” I held my breath as I waited for his response.
He appeared to be talking to someone and I fidgeted. But, when he answered, his voice was kinder. “Alright, Destiny, check out those bigger cities and look to make sure that we will be safe.”
I exhaled a sigh and settled back in the tree. “Thank you, Father.”
I heard the phone rustle and then Henry spoke in a very sad and unusually shy voice, “Destiny?”



What do you think so far? Let me know in the comments.