Shannon > Recent Status Updates

"We talked about this ..."
"No, you talked about this. I want to support you, Garan, but these schemes of yours are going to cost us everything. We have our own girls to think about. I can't even afford new shoes for Pearl and now there's this creature in the house who's going to need ... what? A new foot every six months?"

Is it bad I can see where the step-mother is coming from ... ?

"Four months, Garan," Adri said. "We’re behind by four months and Suki-jiĕ has already threatened to start auctioning off our things if we don't pay her soon."

These names and honorifics are really throwing me off.

"Come along, Peony," said Adri, stepping back into the hall. "I could use some help in the kitchen."
"But Mom, Cinder and I were going to—"
"Now, Peony."
Scowling, Peony thrust the android arm into Cinder's hand and followed after her mother.
Cinder held up the limb and shook it at their backs, making the lifeless fingers wave goodbye.

Aww ...

"Do you like Nightmare Island? It's my favorite drama."
"Nightmare Island?" No sooner had Cinder said it than her brain started streaming data across her vision. A popular drama aimed at teenage girls that includes a cast of thirty-six young celebrities who are caught up in lies, betrayal, romance, and the scheme of a crazed scientist who—

Lol, I have the urge to find out if that's a real drama ...

Reading this before I start Cinder! Apparently it should have been the prologue instead of an online story separate from the book. We shall see ...

I blurt out, and she whirls around. I am in it now. The glare returns. Those eyes could make a eunuch out of Errol Flynn. You have to squint and look away; it's like trying to look into the sun.
"Are you going to continue to backchat me, or are you going to do what you're bloody told?"

This is like A Christmas Story. Without Christmas. And set in Australia. With more death.

I must have slept solidly, because I wake in the same position, curled on my side. I feel old and sluggish, like I could sleep the night through again.

I hate when that happens!

And so I roll onto my side and I think about Eliza. And I recall her scent and my dread spreads and bursts into butterflies. And I think about how soft her cheeks look, and how it might be to press my lips against them. How it might be to say things in her ear that might make her smile slightly ... How it might be to encircle her waist with my arms. Tight. How warm she might feel. And I shudder.

This dread is lousy. It's that same feeling, that same sad panic you confront when you can't sleep, when your mind wanders and you remind yourself, for no reason at all, that you're going to die one day. That you will end, you will be buried and forgotten. And everything and everyone you know and remember and love will be void.

All of this cricket terminology is lost on me, and I'm finding it difficult to care.

"I mean, I know people have always bin afraid of me. Kids specially, but old people too. Wary. They reckon I'm just half an animal with half a vote. That I'm no good. And I always used to think, why? They don't even know me. Nobody does. It never made sense. But then I realized, that's exactly why. That's all it is. It's so stupid, Charlie. But it means I don't hate them anymore."

"Me, I had to get brave in a hurry. Since I can remember. I had to do it all real quick, Charlie. Some days I feel so old, you know?"
"Yeah, I know it," I say.
"See, everyone here's afraid of something and nuthin. This town, that's how they live, and they don't even know it. They stick to what they know, what they bin told. They don't unnerstand that it's just a choice you make."

"It's a big thing for me to trust you, Charlie. It's dangerous. And I'm askin you to do the same. I can't force you to do nuthin. But I hoped you might see things from my end. That's what you do, right? When you're readin. You're seeing what it's like for other people."

It's so difficult to breathe in this little clearing. Something has shifted. A bubble has burst. I want out. I feel faint. I've got to be away from this. I want to be back at home, but that seems very far away. And I'm so threatened by the fact that even if I broke out of here, I couldn't get back there if I tried.
No, it's too late. Like Jasper Jones, I have seen what I have seen. I am involved.

Starting this tonight as part of a massive read-along with some crazy Aussies and a handful of others.

"You know I'm right," you said. "Your parents are assholes. Their main concern is making money, making their house look like something out of a magazine, and getting mentioned in the society pages. They were molding you all the way, training you to be a little version of them. I saved you from that."
"No!"
"What? I've heard you say it to their face enough times."
"I'm their daughter."
"So?"
"I can."

"I know what it was like," you whispered, "... the nights you were in your parents' big house all alone, your parents working so late ... your friends getting smashed off their asses in the park, and you not knowing whether or not to join them. Josh Holmes tapping on your bedroom window at one in the morning ..." You let my arm fall to my side. "Were you really happy in the city?"

"Want a swim?" you asked. "I need to check the spring."
I shook my head quickly, forcing my eyes away from your chest. Every inch was firm and brown. I'd never seen anyone so toned, so perfect, before, but I knew this wasn't a good thing, your strength, and it made my heart falter as I thought about what you could do with it. I looked down at the ground instead.

I caught a glimpse of your stomach, smooth and muscled, like ridges of sand. You moved to a metal pole attached to the side of the veranda. You fastened your hands around it, then pulled your chin up and lowered it slowly. Your biceps swelled with each life, stretching your skin tight enough to snap. You were the strongest man I'd ever seen. If you decided to, you could kill me easily.

It sounded weird to hear you talk so much; normally you only said a few words at a time. I'd never imagined that you'd have a story, too. Until that moment, you were just the kidnapper. You didn't have reasons for anything. You were stupid and evil and mentally ill. That was all. When you started talking, you started changing.

"It didn't happen," I said. My voice was shaky and soft, hardly there. "It isn't true."
You reached across to me and grabbed my shoulder. I felt your fingers dig into my skin, forcing me to look at you.
"It happened," You said. Your face was set, your eyes unblinking. "It's true. You just haven't remembered yet." You stared hard at me, at my left eye and then my right. "But you will," you whispered.

I wobbled on the wooden crate, shielding my eyes and looking out. It was so big, that view. I'll never remember it perfectly. How can anyone remember something so big? I don't think people's brains are designed for memories like that. They're designed for things like phone numbers, or the color of someone's hair. Not hugeness.

"What do you want?" I asked, my voice cracking.
"That's easy." You smiled, and the cigarette in your mouth hung down, stuck to your lips. "Company."
You inhaled deeply, then looked back at the collection of boulders.
I followed your gaze and spotted a small gap through the middle of them. It looked like a pathway.
"How long will you keep me?" I asked.
You shrugged. "Forever, of course."

Anyone want to read this one with me?

And ... we end with a shitty cliffhanger. Fantastic.

"It is incredible, Riley. You will not believe how beautiful the other side is or all the love. I cannot put it into words."
"I wish I could see it."
"You will...one day, when it is your time."
"I wish it was my time now." I seriously meant it. I'd go with him in a heartbeat.

So. Girl wants to be dead so she can hang out on the other side with ghost boy.

: |

I didn't get out of bed for four days.
I think Miss A had guessed the truth. She had asked a few times about Ian, but I cried at the mention of his name. And she would in turn bring me cookies and tell me everything would be okay.
But it wasn't okay and wouldn't be okay, because I had lost the man I loved and I would never see him again.

Oh em gee. Just slit your wrists already.

I wish we had made love...but I know if we had, it would have made leaving even harder than it already would be.
I went to get up, but he grabbed both my arms. "I love you, Riley."
My heart jumped at the declaration. I thought of these past weeks and how special he had made me feel, at how alive I felt because of him. "I love you, too, Ian."

: |

My heart squeezed with the love I felt for him. He was beautiful inside and out, and I feared I would never meet another man like him. My throat grew tight as I stared at him, memorizing every detail for later when he was gone.

Puke.