A peak into…

Hey friends! *Licks lips* (I just finished eating homemade cookies. 😉 ) I was supposed to do another post about our trip today but lazy me hasn’t written it yet. *Sigh* I’ve been busy trying to catch up on all the work I got behind in when I was uninspired. So today I’m going to give you “sneak peaks” into my new story. (Ahem, it doesn’t have a name yet….any suggestions would be great! *hint hint*) A little background info, this story is “written” by three different people (they take turns “writing” the chapters). The first person is a fifteen-year-old girl named Courage. The second person is a fifteen-year-old boy named Storm. And the third person is his eleven-year-old brother, Wolf.

*Sigh* *Bigger sigh* My writing life hasn’t been that….uh….great recently. *Cries* As you’ve seen (or read), my blogging has been less than great. And my story writing progress has been terrible. I TRY, I really TRY to get my characters to have depth and character but they just seem flat and bland to me. Lemme know what you guys think from this bit you read below. 🙂

———

Written by Courage

“Courage!” The voice sounded angry this time. And it was coming closer to me. It was time to give up stalling.

I sighed again and took a small step in the direction of the tiny house I shared with my two older sisters and three younger brothers.

—-

I turned pale and my water jar slipped out of my hands and landed in front of me with a dull thud. Water splashed onto my bare feet but I hardly noticed. “They’re coming here?!” I asked, my heart racing with fear.

—-

I numbly walked along the dusty road towards my home. Of course I had heard of the Destroyers. They had been around for years and they had done terrible things. But they had always been far away. They seemed more like a myth than a reality. Now that they could be coming to our quiet village, fear gripped me. It was the same fear that I felt the night before my parents disappeared.

—-

Written by Storm

“You must do it!” The tall, muscular man glared down at the frightened teen. “Boy, if you don’t do this, your brother will die. And don’t even think of letting the authorities know. Any clue, any hint of a clue, and your little brother will be found dead on your doorstep.”

—-

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bag of coins. “Here is your pay.”

The boy took it and threw it as far into the trees and away from himself as he could. “That is blood money. Keep it for yourself, dog.”

—-

“Storm!” A voice shattered my remembrance of the previous morning. I was startled and jumped suddenly, hitting my head on the low, slanting ceiling of the room I shared with my little brother, Wolf.

I sat down again on my bed and took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. It was just Wolf. He entered the room and sat down on his bed, which was across the room from mine.

—

I didn’t reply. I couldn’t reply. Any sound that I uttered would betray the tears that were racing down my cheeks. How had I gotten myself into this terrible situation?

—-

I stood up and took two or three steps, before someone roughly grabbed my hair and pulled me along for a minute. I struggled slightly, but had no heart left for resistance.

“Is everything in place?” The scars on the man’s cheeks were lit by the gentle moon.

I nodded, feeling sick inside.

—-

Written by Wolf

Suddenly, I heard a scream and someone smashed down the door of my house! Jumping out of bed, I glanced at Storm’s half of the room. He wasn’t there. What was going on? Before I could fully assess my situation, a creepy, bald guy raced into my room and grabbed my arm.

“Come with me, kid!” He said, pulling out his very large knife which he put dangerously close to my delicate head.

I screamed and tried to free myself from his extremely tight grip. Eleven-year-old me didn’t have much strength compared to the nasty man who was at least forty.

—-

“Stop struggling!” The man pulled me along the rough floor, towards the door. I managed to grab a very important package, that I had seen Storm set on the dresser earlier that night, and shove it under my shirt when the man looked away. There was no sense in letting him get that.

More men rushed into the room and started to overturn beds and rummage through the room – as though they were looking for something.

—–

I reluctantly closed my mouth and let him drag me away from my house and towards the woods. When I saw where he was taking me, I began to panic in earnest. Let me say, I am a very brave boy. But even the bravest of us have fears. The woods are very thick and very dark and very scary. No one wants to be alone there.

—-

“What’s going on?!” I demanded.

Storm sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“But I do.” I said defiantly. I had to be tough to get what I wanted. Storm said that was one of my faults. I prefer to think about it as a gift.

“Fine.” Storm snapped. “Our village was attacked and we are the only two that lived. End of story.”

—-

My eyes widened. “Wait, are you saying we have to leave our country?!”

“Yes. And the sooner the better.” Storm reached for my arm again and attempted to drag me through the woods.

I grabbed a tree and hung on. “Storm, I am not leaving my country! I don’t care what you say, I’m not going! What will our parents think when they get back from their trip and see our village destroyed? They’ll think that we died!”

 “Maybe that would have been better.” Storm muttered.

“What did you say?” I demanded.

“Nothing.” Storm said, annoyance filling his voice.

—-

“I don’t know, okay?” Storm’s voice was filled with an indescribable agony. “I don’t know. But it is our only option. We have to try. If we don’t, we might as well go back to our village and let them kill us.”

—-

I had a bad feeling about this. I really hated to leave the place that I had lived my whole life….even if it was all burned up. We really had no other option, however. I shook my head and stepped after my brother. I hoped he knew the way. I wasn’t very confident in that, though.

—–

Written by Courage

I was panicking in earnest. I dropped my jar and grabbed Dancer’s hands, forcing her to drop her jar as well. “Dancer, any night now we could be invaded! What if we don’t live? What if they kill us all? What are we going to do?!”

—-

I shot up, feeling a cold sweat run down my face. In the distance I could see an orange glow. No, no! This couldn’t be happening! Not now! Please, no!

—-

We could see dark forms of men making their way quickly towards our house.

“Go, now!” Adahlet yelled.

—-

I continued running, stumbling over fallen logs and underbrush. I fought for each breath that found its way into my aching lungs.

—-

Then all of the memories flooded back, hitting me like a terrible wave. I dropped my head to my knees and sat still. I was too tired to cry, too tired to do anything but sit silently and bewail the events of the past twenty-four hours.

—

I gasped when I saw the face. It was my best friend, Journey! I rushed towards her and threw myself in her arms.

“Journey, I never thought I’d see you again!” I sobbed, crushing her in a tight embrace.

“I never thought I would see you, either!” Journey said faintly.

—-

She fell asleep almost instantly, her head resting in my arms. My tears made their way down my face and splashed onto her dirty, matted brown hair. What would become of us?

—

Written by Wolf

“Storm, stop!” I panted. It seemed like the very breath – what kept me alive – was being pulled out of me.

Storm sighed and reluctantly stopped walking. “What now?” He demanded in a very grumpy voice. “You’ve been whining incessantly for way too long!”

“I’m tired and I deserve a break.” I quickly declared. “I have been hiking through these terrible woods for hours! And in the dark, too! I’m hot and tired and sore– well, what’s left of me is, anyway. The mosquitoes have practically eaten me alive.”

—–

“Will you please be quiet?!” Storm kind of looked like he was lost but didn’t want to admit that tiny fact. He probably was lost. I mean, we were walking through the woods. In the dark. With no trail. It’s not easy for an experienced person to know where they’re going in conditions like that. And Storm was certainly not experienced at all.

“I won’t be quiet!” I said. “I want a break and I want it now!” I promptly sat down on a log and smirked.

“Well, sorry, little man, you can’t have it.” Storm snapped back. “Stand up right now. We have to keep going!”

—-

He paused and then added. “For someone who just lived through something as terrible as what just happened, you sure aren’t very grateful.”

“You aren’t, either.” I commented.

He mumbled something that sounded like, “Well, if I hadn’t been trying to save your life, we would have been in the village when it was attacked, which would have been much better.”

“Did you say something about saving my life?” I inquired. He hadn’t even been there when the men had invaded our house. He certainly hadn’t protected me in any way.

—-

“Life is so unfair.” I wailed, as I stood up and wiped the spots of blood away from my face. “How come you haven’t fallen as much as I have?”

—-

Written by Storm

I dropped my head into my arms and closed my eyes. The flames, the Destroyers. I opened my eyes quickly and tried to wash away the images that continued to surface.

—-

Wolf will never – must never – know who it was that did it. He must never know why he and I are the only two that are alive. I will be tortured by this secret for the rest of my life. But I don’t care. That is my own fault. I deserve to be miserable. I deserve to die.

—-

Closing my eyes, I whispered the first prayer that I had prayed in four years. “God, if you care, if you are here at all, get Wolf out of this place. I don’t care about myself, only my brother. Please. Let him live.” I slipped into an exhausted sleep.

—-

Written by Courage

Looking down again at my pale friend, something inside of me told me that she needed help – soon.

—-

I looked around in all directions. Trees. Very tall, very green trees in all directions. I didn’t even know where I was. I moaned and felt tears of frustration spring to my eyes. I blinked them away quickly and straightened my shoulders.

—-

I glanced at Journey one last time, before determining to go alone to the stream.

—–

Written by Storm

When Wolf didn’t wake up, I leaned closer and shook him harder. As I did so, I saw a small bulge under his coarse shirt. Perplexed, I lifted his shirt and pulled out a small package. A wave of terror flashed over me as I did so.

Oh no, oh no, oh no! Please, don’t let this be what I think this is! Please!

—–

My heart sank. We were in worse trouble than I believed before I had seen this. Now not only were we trying to get through the endless woods and to another country but we would now have to avoid our enemies on the way. Any hope that I had left, disappeared in that moment.

—-

“Am I glad?!” I yelled. “No, I’m not glad at all!”

He looked confused. “Why not?”

“Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for us to have this?!” I tried to keep the panic out of my voice.

—

“Oh.” Wolf blinked nervously. “Hey, wait a second, why would the Destroyers think that you lied. You didn’t talk to them, right?”

“Never mind.” I said quickly, hoping that Wolf wouldn’t ask any more questions on the subject. “We’re going to have to be on the lookout for the Destroyers. We’ll also have to travel faster than we did last night.”

—-

Written by me 😉

The two men took a step closer to their leader, secretly wishing, however, not to get closer than was absolutely necessary.

“Do you have it?” Coae leaned forward eagerly.

The second man cleared his throat. “Well, sir, there were….uh…complications.”

Coae’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean complications?”

—

“Gather fifteen of the best men.” The first man said. “We’ll leave in three hours. Those scrawny kids couldn’t have gotten very far yet. We’ll find them if it is the last thing we do!”

—-

Written by Wolf

“I’m sorry, Wolf, I’m sorry!” He said over and over again.

I shrugged, not exactly sure why he was apologizing. “I suppose that since this is our last few moments, I’ll forgive you.”

Storm pulled me to his side and held me tightly in a strong embrace. He was squeezing me awfully hard. I could barely breathe. I decided that, since I would be dead in a few moments, I might as well not say anything.

—–

In sheer relief that it wasn’t one of those creepy people who had invaded our house, I stood up and laughed loudly. “We’re not going to die after all!”

—-

“Ooooo, she’s brave.” I smirked at Storm. “Maybe she’d be a good friend for you???”

“Be quiet, Wolf.” Storm didn’t look amused by my suggestion. He reluctantly stood up. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”

—

“Who are you?” Storm said, sticking his head out from behind a tree that he was conveniently standing (hiding, in reality) behind.

—–

Written by Courage

I stared at the teenager in front of me. He looked to be about my age. His shoulder-length, jet-black hair was matted and had debris strewn throughout it. His dirty brown shirt was torn and blood had dried over several cuts on his skinny arms and legs. He had a strange necklace that dangled loosely from his neck. I noticed that he didn’t look me in the eye, but kept his black eyes glued to the ground. Sorrow and exhaustion were written clearly across his face.

—-

The teenage boy avoided my second question. “I suppose we’ll follow you – but only to the water.” I saw that desperation forced him to say the words. If he hadn’t been so thirsty, he probably would have said no.

—-

I wrinkled my brow in confusion. “You mean they actually let you and your brother live? They didn’t just charge into your house and kill you?”

Wolf shook my head. “Nope, they just threw me into the woods. I don’t know why my brother was already there. Something weird happened with him, but he won’t tell me about it.”

—-

“That’s strange.” I mused aloud. “Why would the Destroyers take pains to purposely spare your life?”

Wolf gave me a look of mock anger. “Why wouldn’t they spare my life?

“We don’t know why but we shouldn’t question it when they do something good for us.” I turned around. It was Unnamed Boy who had spoken. I thought I caught a look of fear and shame in his downcast eyes.

—-

*Ahem* So that’s about as far as I have gotten so far. *Hides head in hands* Terrible, right? Tell me the truth, I won’t be crushed. Anyway, this ended up being longer than I thought it would be. I gotta go do more writing on a *ahem* secret project. *Glances around* See you soon, blogger friends! (And all of you friends who don’t blog, too. 😉 )