Snap

My AJ chapter is 12. Pages. Long.

Something is wrong with that picture.

Argh...

AJ: By the way, I totally hate you right now.

What at least you got to-wait. I'm not blowing my plot. They can read it when I post it, but still! I mean, look at Salem!

Salem: *waves*

AJ: YEAH, BUT THAT WASN'T VOLUNTARY! AND THAT WAS MY FIRST-

Sssssssh!!! I know! Don't worry, it'll get...well, not exactly better but...you know, bearable...^^

AJ: I still totally hate you right now.

Eh...*shrugs* Ai, ai, ai. That's fourth of the story!!! IT'S ONLY ONE CHAPTER!!!

What is wrong with me?

AJ: *holds up a finger*

Don't answer that, Dr. Sarcastic. I don't need your input.

...

I really don't want to edit that...

I edited stuff!

Ha, no. Not the stuff I was SUPPOSED to be editing...
Heh, right.

No, I was editing the first three chapters of AJ because there were certain things that were driving me completely bonkers. How will anyone get to chapter 7 or 8 or whatever it is if they can't get through chapter one? Exactly.

They can't.

So, there we go! If anyone ever wants me to post something like that here or on my other blog that's supposedly for writing but still needs some design help because they can't get on Fictionpress for some reason, just ask. Honestly, it won't be that much trouble.

Right...well...that's...pretty much it...ISSMA weekend is over without complete disaster. The clothes be hung up. The shower be taken. I need to think up a name...hmmm...Olive? Lainey? I like that name. Maybe something vintage. Maybe something cliche...eh, I don't know.

I can't name things. I have a series called the Nameless series. Seriously? What do you expect? I hope it's not for a grade...um...I'll go find something now. *grins* Bye! *runs

-Alice

What I'm Doing

Ugh...I have SO much to do...but I'm not really doing any of it...*sigh*

Let's see...list:

-Continuing to write my NaNoNovel:
Problem: After my new plot twist was introduced, I'm having trouble writing in Cinni's POV. I really want to switch to Salem's...sadly, Salem, as much as I love him, he is not the one who is supposed to be talking the most...well, you know what I mean. I must jump said hurdle. I'm just stuck on a chapter...I should just push through it and maybe it will go faster...maybe....

-Writing #4
Problem: I don't know...I just can't bring myself to do it for one reason or another....I mean, now that I have a plot, you'd think it be easy...but....no....*sigh*

-Contemplating rewriting #1
Problem: I don't have time right now...but it just...sucks so bad...seriously, I would advise starting that series on #2....it's so much better, even if it still sucks with new non-plot...it has terrible grammar, no story line, and various other problems....it's giving my writing a worse rep than it already has for being pointless crap.

-Writing a chapter of AJ
Problem: Okay, so I'm not really having a problem...well, not really. Kind of. I have outline of a plot, but really I should be fixing up my backstory, and working out when I want what to happen. It'll probably end up getting kind of complicated so I need to plan ahead, but I'm not really in the mood. I think I can get away with the chapter I'm writing and then some of the next without planning, but after that, I'm really going to need to look ahead...eh...that and I told myself to just ignore this....of course, that would make it the only thing I want to write....so....I'm writing it.

Ah jyes. The life of a writer. That and I really need to work on my social studies collage...

Busy like a procrastinating bee,
-Alice

There A Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered, Honey, You Just Haven't Thought Of It Yet

This song is amazing. I must share it with the world. It doesn't make much sense, and yes, that's it's pointlesss title, but I still love it.
Dwight also sang it. In a fedora.
That means something.
EMBRACE THE AWESOME. EMBRACE IT.
Panicked,
-Alice

Time to mess around with stuff!

So, I'm on a name website, looking for a character name, and I decided I'd look up what some of the names of my characters meant! So, here it goes...

Terrence: Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic Toirdhealbhach, meaning "instigator" or a variant spelling of English "Terence," possibly meaning "rub, turn, twist" (You can take that however you want to.... Now think about what I just said....now slap me over the internet...^^)

 

Tori: (Hebrew) English short form of Latin "Victoria," meaning "conqueror" or "victory" (I knew that...not the Hebrew part...)

 

Virgil: English name derived from Latin "Virgilius," possibly meaning "flourishing" (...I have no comment to that...)

 

Sam: Unisex short form of English Samantha and Samuel, both meaning "heard of God," "his name is El" or "name of God." (....that's dreadfully ironic and kind of frightens me....)

 

Genevieve: English form of French Genevieve, probably meaning "race of women." (That one kind of makes sense...)

 

Scarlet/Scarlett: English colour name meaning "scarlet red" or variant spelling of English Scarlett meaning "dyer" or "seller of fabrics" (Scarlet: *glares* Scarlett: Ooh! Yay!)

 

Louis/Lewis: Middle French form of Old French Loois, meaning "famous warrior" (...I am learning so much today. Both Lou/ewises: *jump out holding fake swords)

 

Todd: English surname transferred to forename use, from a byname for a cunning person or someone with red hair from the Middle Enlish todde, meaning "fox." (*dying from laughter* Oh my gosh. Some one HAS to show this to Ace....)

 

Since I'm sure neither of YOUR names are in here, I'll just look up Will and Trevor...

Twins: Aaaaw...no don't!

Why not?

Till: Those aren't our names!

So...? They're close and-

Wrevor: Just go do AJ's name!

*sigh* Whatever...

 

Alexander: (AJ: I hate you. Me: What? It won't take AJ!) (Hebrew) Anglicized form of Latin Alexandrus (Greek: Alexandros), meaning "defender of mankind (Oh. My. Gosh. I could not have pick a more perfect name inadvertantly. First triumph! *fist pump*)

 

Um...who else? Who else...er....um....I'll look up Pedro just to see what happens...okay, the internet doesn't want me to look up anymore names so I'll be done now.

Wasn't that interesting though? xD

 

-Alice :D

Editing woes

I've been rereading some of my NaNoNovel and am finding that...uh...well, it's gonna need a lot of help. A LOT of help....
*sigh*
I...don't know why I'm here.
I just...am...
So...
Uh...
Yeah.
*shrugs* *walks off*

Todd: Why must you annoy people?

Scarlet: She just walked off. She can't HEAR you.

I can hear him!

Todd: Then why didn't you respond?

Uh...why...not?

Terry: That doesn't work.

That's the point.

Todd: Meh.

Somebody should really get us some help.

So Cami asked me to explain stuff...

Which can't end well...but still. ^^
Till: We can explain stuff!
Wrevor: Ooh! I'll get the slides!
Everyone: NO! NOT THE SLIDES!
Yeah, let's...not go there, okay?
Twins: Aaaaw....
Okay, well, uh, basically, I get depressed every once in a while because people don't spend all their time on their email, like me, which is fine, but I also get depressed when people don't respond. For weeks. It drives me insane. It makes me feel stupid and kind of alone...especially when I post chapters...
So, I came on here ranted and guess what happened?
People started emailing me again.
Because the universe hates me.
AJ: *shrugs* Who doesn't it hate?
Most human beings??
But anyways, yeah. I died. I kind of came back to life. And now I am done...sooo...uh...yeah....talk people. You haven't been on here in a while.
Scarlet: Has anyone seen my ns????
Louis: I thought they were by the lamp!
Todd: Has anyone seen my other shoe?
Terry: Wait...ns? You mean the ones that got...knocked..into...the...uh....nope! Haven't seen them. *shrugs*
Sam: But you-
Terry: *grabs him by the shirt and pulls him away*
Scarlett: I give up. I'll never find my alter ego.
Scarlett2: I'm right HERE.
Till: Oh my gosh.
What?
Wrevor: We lost the bloody spoon again.
AGAIN???
AJ: STAY OUT OF MY UNDERWEAR DRAWER THIS TIME. I SWEAR IT'S NOT THERE.
Darren: What...is going on?
Salem: *shrugs*
Drew: So...can I...leave now?
No! I'll need you soon!
Nameless Chick: Are you EVER going to name me?
...no.
AJ: *facepalm*
So...uh...
I'll just...leave you....with this....

Wow. And I was doing so well being serious...eh....well....

-Alice

I wish Salem could say this to Cinni

I really do...this is so sweet. Sadly, they be a little...um...well, you know...not...together...at all...right... now...as much as I wish they were. ^^

Girl: Do I ever cross your mind?
Boy: No
Girl: Do you like me?
Boy: Not really
Girl: Do you want me?
Boy: No
Girl: Would you cry if I left?
Boy: No
Girl: Would you live for me?
Boy: No
Girl: Would you do anything for me?
Boy: No
Girl: Choose me, or your life
Boy: My life

*the girl runs away in shock and pain, and the boy runs after her and says:*

The reason you never cross my mind is because you're always on my mind.
The reason I don't like you is because I love you.
The reason I don't want you is because I need you.
The reason I wouldn't cry if you left is because I would die if you left.
The reason I wouldn't live for you is because I would die for you.
The reason why I'm not willing to do anything for you is because I'll do everything for you.
The reason I chose my life is because you ARE my life.

We never know a good thing until it's gone.
We take what we have for granted.
Take the time today.
Three simple words.
Make so much of a difference.
Even the Brian Kinneys of the world need them.
And the Charlie Sheens.
I love you.
Say it while you still can.

Live a little, laugh a lot, love the most,
-Alice <3

All I had to do was say something

...and POOF! The universe can't have me being right, now can it?
Well, at least, it worked. Email somewhat function. *huggles Ms. McCartney* Thank you for your sympathy.

Maybe I'll go make myself useful now...
...
Maybe...
-Alice :)

Another chapter posted...another chapter unread...

*sigh* By anyone. Actually, two.

I hope to heck that Lauren looks at her dang email because, if she doesn't, she's going to miss the portion of her story that I edited...and that would make not only me feel awful about it, but also kind of pointless. I did spend time on that...eh, maybe she's just busy...editing...still, a quick "thanks" or "I got it" would be nice, just know she actually did...

I just don't see the point of email if people only check them once a week. Or, in certain cases, more like once a month. If there was something really important that I needed to tell them, or needed in general, most people would find it about seven days too late...

"What? You needed to know what that paper was about that counted for 80% of our grade and you missed because you were absent and the person who tends to reply immediately to texts doesn't have that class with you? Oh. Sorry! I'm sure you can bring that grade up in time for the grading period to end in three days."

It's not like I expect people to sit there all day on their email, but, you know, once a day. Once every two days. Heck, even once a week might be nice.

*sigh* Just makes me feel like they don't care at all...I get it if you're busy and I respect that, but...all week? Two weeks? Not three seconds to shoot me a quick "hey, what's up?"

Also doesn't help my confidence in my writing at all. The point of having email connected to Fictionpress is that you can easily see when someone has updated, but, how can you if your email is never checked?

Ugh...I sound cynical. Which I am, to a point, but I'm venting...I should stop being annoying and do something useful...that isn't writing, since nobody cares.

*facepalm* I deeply apologize for my ranting and venting and I should shut up now, right?

Digressfully,
-Alice

Argh!!!

Lauren. I can officially no longer use the phrase, "precautionary measures" without thinking of that. So thank you so much for ruining my ability to ever say that again.
Thanks a lot.
A slightly ticked off and disgusted,
-Alice

Friday the 13th

DUN DUN DUN.

Are you afraid of this little guy?

AJ is...he's not even talking...

AJ: Do you WANT to die? Bad auras are EVERYwhere today! What's wrong with being a little careful?

Well...he wasn't talking ever since Lauren made that comment...*shivers*

Twins: *grin*

Hopefully everyone's days were lucky and not in a bad kind of way.

Or, at least, average.

Since I can't seem to be able to respond to any comments (stupid Blogger) I'll just say here: THANK YOU SO MUCH. You don't know how much all that means to me, and I hug you over the computer for that! *comp hug*

Have a cookie. What's that? We haven't figured out a way to send cookies over the Internet yet?

Oh darn. *takes a bite out of cookie*

Anyways, thank you for the response. Hopefully I'm not just playing up the only good scenes. I've written. That would be sad.

But probably true.

Ladders and mirrors,

<3 Alice

From Salem's POV

A shorter one today...from Salem's POV...and, of course, I left out the whole point of this thing, but that would totally and utterly ruin the whole thing, so I shan't put it in. You could probably guess anyway, but it does take a while for him to say. *sigh* Anyways, onward!

My eyes snapped open, though I didn’t dare move. I continued to try and keep my breathing slow and steady, as if I hadn’t just woke up. I glanced over at my watch, which said about two in the morning. I tilted my head back down and took a deep breath.

I had woken up because I had felt a sudden weight on my stomach, so I cautiously peered down my body, only to find an arm. Not just any arm, of course, but Cinni’s arm. I sighed in relief. She had probably just rolled over and her arm had fallen on top of me. I turned over a little, hoping to gently move it off of me while still not waking her up.

And it would have worked too, except that she whimpered slightly as I was half rolled over and whispered something unintelligible, so I froze instantly. Before I knew what happening, she had scooched closer to me, slid her other arm under my side, and curled her arms around me, in a hug fashion, her arms crossing right above my hipbones. I didn’t dare move at all now.

She snuggled even closer to me, and buried her face in my back, tangling her legs with mine. She whispered something else and then sighed contentedly, relaxing her position, her breathing slowing back down to a sleeping pace.

I relaxed slightly too, my muscles hurting from holding my tense position as long as it took for her to sleepily make herself comfortable pressed up against me. My breath hitched at her proximity and I shivered as her warmth began to spread through my cold body.

I realized then, that I was stuck. I didn’t want to move because I might wake her up and freak her out even more than I usually did, and also because, well, I did not want to move. But, I wanted to move because this wasn’t right. I felt like I was taking advantage of her in some way, as she wasn’t aware of her sleep-induced actions and therefore had no idea what she was doing. That and I was beginning to think those thoughts that I wasn’t supposed to be thinking again.

I struggled a little, but carefully, trying to see if there was any way that I could slip away without her waking up and knowing that this had ever happened. Sadly, (or not, I wasn’t quite sure,) there was absolutely no way I could escape her tight hold on my waist without disturbing her slumber.

I glanced up at the sky through the tent. At least it wasn’t one of those nights, or she would be waking up one way or another. It could be worse, I decided. Actually, it couldn’t be better, if I allowed myself to say so. She was bound to roll back over, and away from me eventually, I thought to myself, relaxing now as I comforted myself with the bright side of things. Why was I so worried about it? She would never know or care.

Still, I felt guilty. I felt guilty because it felt so much different for me than it ever would for her. Her warm embrace had a bittersweet aftertaste for me. For her, it was just another hug between friends. Her light, soft hair tickled my neck slightly and I fought to keep from jerking away, cursing my tickle-ish-ness. There wasn’t anything I could do about it though.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t escape. (Heck, I didn’t want to escape.) I couldn’t stop myself from thinking of this the way I did. It was too late for me, as I had already fallen.

She’ll roll over, I thought, as my eyes slipped closed, feeling suddenly sleepy from the sudden heat source that was Cinni’s body. Then, you’ll just forget the whole thing…

I woke up three hours later. She had rolled over, and was back on her own side of the tent, snoring slightly with her hand across her forehead. She wouldn’t remember a thing. Of course, that was before she had started to thrash and scream in her sleep.

And yet, I could still feel where her arms were wrapped around me, could still feel where she had buried her face between her my shoulder blades and where her hands had rested. And, I might not have known what exactly was wrong with me when I was younger, but I knew all too well now.

Another excerpt

I think maybe I'll do one more...then, you know, keep attempting to finish it...thanks for the compliments Anne, I really appreciate it. :) As Terry would say, here we go again:


I woke up sputtering. Something had been dumped on my face, as if I had inhaled a sponge full of water. I coughed and shook my head, sitting up to quickly and feeling it in my pounding headache, which became worse as everything came flooding back to me.

I groaned and rubbed my eyes before opening them. I hadn’t been dreaming. My face was soaked, as was most of my upper body. I blinked away the water that had crept in through the corner of my eyes, and saw a figure that slowly swam into view. First a person, then a boy, then I recognized the boy from before, holding a water bottle and looking guilty again.

I coughed again. Well, it had woken me up. “I don’t know whether to thank you, or seriously injure you,” I sputtered, saying the first thing that came to my mind. That was a little more violent than I usually was, but, after the day I had had, I was tired. It was taking most of my strength not to think about it and that little part of your brain that usually filters out the bad stuff to keep you from being seen as a jerk to all the people around you, just wasn’t working at the moment.

The boy jerked back, and, from what his face said, it was half from surprise and half from fear that I would actually lay a finger on him. Sure, I was strong between and dancing and tennis, but the most damage I had ever done with either of those was accidently whack the substitute gym teacher in the nose with a rogue tennis ball.

“I’m sorry,” he ducked his head, hiding behind his hair. “I just wanted to make sure that you were…you know, okay.”

I knitted my eyebrows together. Seriously. I had to be a few inches shorter than him…well, probably. Did he really think that I was going to hurt him for helping me? “I was just kidding, you know,” I assured him.

His head stayed down except for a very fleeting second where he flicked his eyes up at me, saw me still there, still looking at him and quickly glanced back down. “Oh…yeah, right. I knew that,” he said, though I didn’t believe him at all.

“You can look at me,” I told him, feeling like a school teacher giving permission for a kid to go to the bathroom. “If you want.”

Faster than I was running earlier, his head snapped up, knocking his glasses askew in the process. He turned red, fixed his glasses and then stared at the space right above my head. He just nodded. Then was silent.

I looked at the boy, not exactly sure what to make of him. Where had he come from? And hadn’t my grandma said not to trust anyone? I looked at him harder. His face was still pink and I could see him trying to think something up to say. He looked pretty trustworthy to me.

“I can leave if you want,” he suddenly blurted, looking me in the eye for about three seconds and then staring back at his shoes. His face was changing colour faster than I had ever seen anyone’s do before.

“How do you do that with your face?” I asked. Okay, so, maybe not the best question to ask a stranger, but it fascinated me at the time. Besides, he was the only live company besides the squirrel I’d had in what felt like eons.

“What? What’s wrong with my face?” he asked, putting his hands on his cheeks quickly. He looked up at me and actually managed to hold my gaze which I had never known could be so frightening to a person before today.

“Nothing! You’re just…” I giggled a little, in spite of the situation. “You keep turning red, and then pink and then normal and then red again so fast.”

At this, the boy turned even redder than I had ever seen before. I smiled and laughed. It felt good to laugh. Everything had gone so serious all of a sudden…it’s true what they say, about laughter being the best medicine. It helped ease the pain of loss, and of discovery. I couldn’t tell which one was worse.
“So,” I prompted, sitting back off my knees and crossing my legs. “What’s your name?”

He was quiet. He looked at me curiously for a little while. “My name?” he asked, as if he had never heard the words before in his life.
“Um…yeah,” I replied, rubbing the back of my neck a little awkwardly. “You know. My name’s Cincinnati, but all my friends call me Cinni.” He just looked at me.

“Cinni…” he finally whispered.

“Uh, yeah. That’s my name. What is your name?” I said it really slowly, so that maybe he’d finally respond. Okay, so maybe I wasn’t the best person the in the world at reading people because right now, he wasn’t exactly acting like a normal human being.

“My name?” he asked, yet again. “Oh. My name.”

“Yes,” I nodded and pointed at him. “Your name. What is it?” I felt like a caveman. If he was going to act like this all the time, I was going to have to dump him off at a gas station somewhere along the way to Nowhereville which was where I was basically going at the time.

“Salem,” Salem said, putting out his hand. “Salem O’Connell.”

I took his in mine. “Cincinnati Kliene, but you can call me Cinni,” I repeated for his sake.

When he pulled his hand away from mine, he looked at it in wonder. I raised an eyebrow at him. Finally, he moved again, pushing up his glasses. “Like Calvin Klein?”

I looked at him for a few seconds and then chuckled, then totally burst out laughing. I didn’t know exactly what was so funny about his comment, but it totally set me off. He obviously didn’t get why I was laughing so hard either because he just looked at me strange and kind of smiled. “You have a nice laugh,” he told me when I finally managed to stop and catch my breath. “What was so funny, though?”

I decided to ignore his comment about my laugh (which I was inclined to dislike considering it tended to involve quite a bit of unintentional snorting,) and shrugged. “I guess it’s just that most boys have no clue who Calvin Klein is.”

“Oh,” he muttered, sounding kind of dejected. His hair fell in his face, and he looked a little like a kicked puppy or a sullen anime character. “Sorry. My Mom asks for Calvin Klein stuff for Christmas all the time.”

“No! No, don’t think-It’s not bad, it’s just…”I struggled to find word. “Different.”

“Good different or bad different?” he asked, pushing his bangs off his forehead and back into order, swept across to his ear.

I squinted at him. “Good different.”

So...

This is an excerpt from my NaNoNovel...it's not really...erm...edited? So..uh...I just wanted to make sure it isn't complete crap...I might do a couple of these and then, well, I guess we'll see, won't we? Here goes nothing... (Ps, Cincinnati=Cinni. Salem=not present at the moment...)

“Hello, Cincinnati,” a voice came from above me as the doors I had come through shut seemingly of their own accord. “Welcome to the testing room.”

I looked around to see who was talking but saw nothing except for a large mirror in front of me. I moved more towards the middle of the room and set my hands on my hips, still looking around. “What exactly am I doing in here?” I asked, squinting at how white the room was.

“Welcome to your first training session,” a different voice said, calm in its tone and calming as a result. “Today we’ll just be assessing your abilities and so on, so we can set the appropriate level of your beginning regime.”

“Do you mean exercise?” I asked unsurely. It was probably true, all the self-loathing and sitting around reading history books all day had led to me gaining more weight than I probably wanted to admit. “Because you should probably just start me on level 0, if that’s the case.”

A higher, tinkily voice laughed and I could hear the tone of disdain in her voice, as she said, “No, silly. Your powers.”

My eyes opened wide and my heart stopped for a few seconds. “W-what?” I stuttered. “I thought-I mean, I just-“ I recognized the voice, and my shock at the sudden request pulled me out of my sleep-lacking, moody state.

“You didn’t think we were just going to let you sit there and do nothing while you aged did you?” the voice that I now definitely knew was that of Ms. A. I glared at nothing. I knew there was a reason I didn’t like her.

“Well, I’m not stupid,” I grumbled under my breath. I might be selfish and mean and overly-emotional and snarky at times but I’m not stupid, I thought. But this was sudden. Maybe I was over reacting or maybe I just wanted a little warning, especially considering I hadn’t quite had the time to break it to them that I couldn’t-or wouldn’t-really use my powers.

“Then don’t act so surprised,” she replied, her voice ringing out from the ceiling and echoing strangely off the squishy, stark-white walls. “It won’t be anything incredibly difficult today.” I could hear her lick her lips and almost covered my ears in disgust, unable to stop imagine a lioness licking her chops right before attacking a poor, helpless gazelle.

“Well,” I summoned my strength and girded my loins. “Sorry to tell you but, I can’t.”

“Can’t?” Ms. A. laughed again in a sarcastic, mocking way that made my cheeks flame. “And why not? Do you have an appointment you just can’t miss?”

I stuck my nose up, though I didn’t know if she could see me or not. I didn’t like the way she was treating me, like I was dirt or something she found on the bottom of her shoe. “No, but that doesn’t mean you can talk to me like that,” I pointed out, indignantly. Suddenly, the mirror switched from a reflective surface to a see-through one.

It made me jump back. I hadn’t exactly been sure why they would put a mirror there in the first place, but now I understood. It was one of those one-sided things they use in jails and stuff where one side is see-through but the other side just looks like a mirror. Hence me thinking it was so. On the other side there was a dark room. Shapes were barely visible, but I could make out the ones close to the glass, such as computers.

A long row of monitors was set up a few inches away from the thick-looking glass. A person or two sat behind each one, clickity-clacking away on the keyboards, talking and looking up at me every once in a while before quickly looking down when they saw me looking back. All the people wore goggles and lab coats, looking very scientist-y. There was also a variety of switches and levers on one long control panel that stretched across the table. Behind all the hubbub in the front, looming, barely visible, in the periphery was Ms. A., raising a thinly plucked eyebrow at me, clipboard in hand, also wearing goggles and lab coat. I didn’t understand the point of the goggles as the glass looked pretty bullet proof but hey, if that was their thing, then fine.

Still, the woman looked like she was up to no good, glaring at me smarmily. It made me want to hide my face and punch her nose all at the same time. I internally rolled my eyes at my ever-conflicting emotions. I had gone from headstrong to bi-polar overnight. Ms. A. lifted pressed her hand to the earpiece that she was wearing and spoke into it, her words ringing out from above. That’s one mystery solved, I thought, switching hands and hips, and shifting my weight.

“We’ve been too easy on you for too long Cincinnati, and now you’ve forgotten that we are the ones in control, not you. You are in our facility, under our rules, and you will do as I say,” she snarled.

I frowned. She was seriously going to be ticked at me after what was coming next, but I had no choice. “Actually,” I scuffed the floor with my foot. “I…um…can’t.”

“Why not?” she demanded. “What is so difficult for you to understand? I was informed that you were intelligent, but I must have heard wrong.”

“Hey!” I shouted, both hands on my hips now. “I’m serious! And I’m not stupid. I can’t use my powers okay! Not anymore.”

That shut her up for a few seconds before she started laughing obnoxiously, sounding like she was purposely articulating the has instead of just laughing like a normal person. “I see. You want to play games with me do you?” I could see her snap her fingers through the window, though I couldn’t hear it through the speakers. “Let’s see how you feel after you meet my friend.”

A previously invisible door slid open and two scientists came out, holding something. I craned my neck to see what it was, but couldn’t. All of me, however, was urging run. Where? I thought. I was trapped in the spongy white room. The men came closer, until they were right next to me. I just looked at them, and they looked back, probably trying to look reassuring, but it wasn’t working. I now saw that they held some kind of a collar. I observed it curiously, and opened my mouth to say something when, in one quick movement, they lunged at me and snapped the thing around my neck. Then, they ran as fast as they possibly could away from me and out of the room, the door slamming shut behind them.

“Hey!” I yelled, shaking my fist at them. “Hey! What is this?” I tried to pull at the cold, metal contraption that clung too tight around my neck and constricted my breath slightly. “What-?” I was totally angry now. I continued to try and yank the collar off when I felt a sharp piercing in my neck, like taking 5 shots at once. I cried out and fell to my knees, still trying desperately to pull it off.

“Don’t bother,” Ms. A. said, examining her nails. “It’s just a little...help. To give you a push when you feel the need to…well, to help with your insubordination.”

“You’re crazy!” The facts came crashing down on me when I realized that my Grandma was right. I felt like crying. Could I do nothing right? Why was I so stupid? Why did I have to trust without limit? See the best in people? First Salem and now this. Stupid blond, said a nasty voice in the back of my head, but it was right. “You-you’re…” I trailed off as a single tear streaked down my cheek.

Why could I never listen? Why did I just have to trust myself so much that I screwed myself over in the process? She was right. I should have known it would never last. I had built myself a castle of glass and trusted the wind to not knock it over. Picked the wrong side again, the voice said. My Grandma had been through this. Suddenly, I remembered some marks I had seen on her neck. I pulled weakly at the collar. Had they done this to her to?

Probably. All I was to them was a monster. A stupid thing that could be treated however they wanted because it couldn’t fight back. Or, no, that wasn’t right. A tricky thing that they feared and had to keep captive to assert their authority over it. Monster. The word came back from my memories in the way of Salem’s lips forming it. I closed my eyes tightly and pushed away my sadness.

I couldn’t let them see me weak. Suddenly, my need to escape overwhelmed me. I had gotten myself in here and I could get myself out. I would just…stop trusting anyone. I could only rely on myself and even that was a cheap bet. Even with that fragment of another crazy thought, I still had that collar around my neck and I was still stuck in that room. My complete and total hatred for myself flared and it didn’t matter that I had sworn off my powers.

I stood quickly. “Hit me with your best shot!” I shouted, wanting to hurt myself, but figuring that blowing something up was the next best thing.

What else would you do in my place? Please let me know. Drop me a fax or possibly send me a letter by owl because I could use all the advice I could get. The white of the room was making my vision go all fuzzy and I felt like falling asleep. I also still felt like blowing something up. Or possibly bursting into tears. The sleeping and tears canceled each other out or at least, that’s what I was trying to convince myself of.

I just couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t take myself anymore. And maybe, that was why it felt kind of good when a large electric shock burned my veins and lit my skin on fire. It woke me up, turned up the volume on my brain and down on my emotions, and kicked in my survival instinct. I gasped for air, heart and brain racing. I blinked as my brain put pieces together.

Whatever I had been going through in the last couple of weeks suddenly scared me, like those videos of girls with eating disorders.

I had gotten out of myself so bad after I had that dream…I couldn’t let dreams control my life, I realized, no matter how real they seemed. I had become numb and slipped into a state of… I struggled to find my world while my body worked its way out of the shock of being electrocuted. It felt like…hypothermia. I nodded to myself, realizing how right that comparison was. It was like I knew something was wrong but just couldn’t be bothered to fix it.

It scared me. I had seriously been pondering suicide just a few seconds ago and I just couldn’t see why. Sure, I was an idiot, stupid blond who had made bad decisions, but I was only 14. I had time to fix it. And I was going to start by doing exactly what that terrible woman standing to the front of me so I could earn her trust so I could rip it out from under her just like she had done to me.

“I’m sorry,” I said, attempting to smile. Sadly though, I was being forced to look at her face. That made me smile. I had missed my old self, if that doesn’t sound too conceited, but hey. You have to admit, this me was better than angry, crybaby, hypothermia me, right? And she did look kind of nightmarish, completely devoid of laugh lines where they should have been at her age. “But, can I ask-“

“No,” she said forcefully. “You can’t. And don’t tell us what to do. I give the orders around her, Kliene, got it?” She readjusted her navy blue vest that was barely visible under her lab coat.

I forced myself to bite my lip so I wouldn’t do something more stupid than I already had. “Well, then, what now?” I asked, still attempting to be polite, but I was pretty sure it sounded a little forced. I still wasn’t happy about the collar around my neck or the painful needles sticking into it, but I was still filled with the extreme urge to just get this over with.

“Well,” she tapped her lips with a pen. “Give me a second.” It was odd hearing her voice come from the ceiling when I could only see her through the glass about seven feet away. She turned away, blocking the mic and said something to one of the scientist dudes. He nodded quickly, and ran off hitting a button. There was a loud mechanical noise from above and a compartment opened. A large crane lowered a thick piece of wood down and set it in front of me.

I looked at it. It was a piece of wood. Great. “So…what exactly am I supposed to do with this?” I asked, attempting to jump up above the 11ftx7ft piece of wood. It had to be at least 3 feet thick. I couldn’t see past it.

She obviously heard me, however because she responded, “Surprise me,” and then was silent. I looked around for a sign of a hint or something. I wasn’t a beaver so I hoped she didn’t expect me to eat it or something ridiculous like that.

I shivered and jumped as a shock came from the choker, not barely as large as the last one but enough to make my skin tingle uncomfortably. “Now,” she suggested, voice booming.

I stuck my tongue out at her from behind the wood and wondered if I could make terriers appear and devour the wood and the glass but decided against it. It probably wouldn’t work for one, and I was supposed to be being a good girl. So, I summoned my strength from a vault that was supposed to stay locked forever and focused it into one big stream. I felt like I was doing yoga, opening my chakras, as I moved my hands over my head and then out in front of me, willing the energy through my arms and out my fingertips. It made my whole body feel like flying as I hit that energy high.

After holding it just long enough to aggravate Ms. A., I let go and sent a wave of (blue!) energy shooting at the wood, obliterating it into a billion little pieces and hiding my face as the splintered wood flew everywhere. The colour had been awesome, I decided, suddenly feeling exhausted. I didn’t know if I could to that again. Making such a focused, perfect, polished stream had seemed like a good idea at first, impress the boss and all, but now it seemed like quite a bit of wasted energy.

Ms. A. however looked thrilled. Her eyes light up with the light of my energy blast, and with power. I could see how happy she looked in a very bad kind of way. “Yes,” she nodded. “Very good.” Then she whipped her head up to look at me again, eyes still holding their crazy look. “Again!”

And down lowered a larger, thicker piece of metal. My mouth fell open a little in dismay. “Just like last time,” she announced. “Bigger, harder!”

“I-“ I shook my head, I couldn’t do that again without collapsing from exhaustion, especially since I hadn’t used my powers in so long. “I can’t-“ Another shock ran through my body and I cringed in pain.

“Now,” she smiled cruelly, finger still on the button that controlled the source of my agony. I shivered as the electricity sent aftershocks through my nervous system.

My face fell. It was going to be a long day.

Synopsis

This is the synopsis for my NaNoNovel. It's better than it was but it's still not that great. Eh, well...here vwe go!

A girl running from herself. A boy with nowhere left to run. Cinni and Salem meet under odd circumstances in the outskirts of Yellowstone National Park one September, completely unaware of how life changing their meeting will be. Cinni, a head-strong girl running from a secret agency working under the noses of the US government, after recently discovering and being confronted about powers she never knew she had. Salem, a quiet, soft-spoken boy visiting with his photographer parents and generally hiding away from the world, never quite excepted. He tends to use his written words to capture the moment instead of capturing it in a frame.

Tragedy strikes, however, and Salem's parents and sister are killed. As the two bond over their seemingly hopeless futures, they decide to team up, changing their fates forever. Together, they set off on a journey across the USA, not sure what they will find, but certain that they will never look back.

But nothing can ever stay the same, it seems. Feelings change as they make their way across the Northwestern US, and everything begins to get closer and harder, and little by little the life they have learned to live begins to collapse beneath their feet. Just as it seems that they were learning to lean on each other, everything is torn apart by something that only started out as a small piece of paper yet now seems to be a full on battle of power, feelings, wit, and even magic.

With the odds against her, especially after a traumatizing accident causes her loss in more ways than one, Cinni has to try and pull it together before everything, including never being able to see her family again, whatever Salem and she are, her incredibly strong powers that like to make themselves seen whenever she isn't thinking about them, and her crazy new idea which might just get a lot of people hurt for nothing, falls apart and she loses everything she's come to know and love enough to fight for. Maybe even enough to come to terms with who she really is, and what exactly she's going to do about it.

Oops! Forgot!

Happy New Year! We're still alive! (As is Justin Beiber...*sigh*)
Look! I changed the design! It's that picture I showed you earlier! I know, right? What picture? Hahahaha, the one a few posts ago. What's that? You didn't read a few posts ago? And you're not reading now? So as a process of elimination, I'm just talking to my self?
Ppppsh, crazy person! What you talkin' 'bout?
I like it better now. Most of it is MUCH easier to read...
Sooo...
...
Yeah.
...
...
RED VINES.
*runs*
-Alice :D

Story...a SPY story...

It's a spin-off. If any of you invisible people have been on my Fictionpress, you'd know these two. Well, probably, anyway. They don't come in until the fourth story so...maybe not. Blame Cami. I figure, I should just post this here for the heck of it. It doesn't have a title. It doesn't have a plot. It has a total of two chapters. (So far.) This is one of them. It's just for the heck of it, so READ IF YOU WANT TO AND DON'T IF YOU DON'T! DON'T FLAME, INVISIBLE PEOPLE READING THIS! Seriously. Here goes NOTHING!

“…I know we’re all very distraught about Gregory and Hannah’s deaths…” the man at the font continued to drone on in a very deep and slow voice that was bound to make anyone drowsy.

Till rolled his eyes as he sat in the second row next to his brother. “Distraught enough to actually come to their funeral.”

Wrevor laughed quietly under his breath. “Remind me why we’re here again?”

“Because dear old Mum and Sir apparently left us something,” Till whispered, sighing as the man turned yet another page of his typed out speech.

“Oh, how generous of them,” Wrevor muttered. “20 years after the birth of their only two children and therefore, only heirs, and it takes their death for them to realize they were going to have to do something with us.”

“I bet they would’ve put us up for adoption and gave the company and everything else to Grandad if they could have,” Till grumbled. “Even if he is 97.”

“…their untimely death in the airplane crash on which they were riding was very sudden, but I think we can all get through it together…” droned the man in front.

Wrevor pretended to snore, then wake up suddenly. “Oh, dear I seem to have fallen asleep.” He looked around and listened for a minute. “Nope that guy is still up there, saying death about a million times. Wake me up for the champagne at the after party.” Then he went back to snoring.

Till grinned. “I don’t remember anyone planning for an after party after this,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, remember the one we’re having? It starts around 10,” Wrevor mumbled.

“…I know they’ll be very missed in the hearts of many. Gregory and Hannah, rest in peace,” the man finally finished. The people around them applauded politely.

Till whacked Wrevor’s shoulder. His eyes flew open and he looked up hopefully, “Is it really over?”

“Yeah,” Till said. “It is.”

Wrevor pumped his fist.

“…in here. Could I see …Will and Trevor outside?” asked another man who had come up to read the will. The two hadn’t heard the first part of his sentence, but they definitely heard the misreading of their names.

They both groaned but stood up, feeling everyone in the room’s eyes on them but choosing to ignore it, (they were both used to it). They followed the man out of the room and into the hallway outside.

“Every time,” Wrevor muttered. “Every bloody time.”

“Well, I think they just decide it’s a typo and try and fix it,” Till pointed out.

“Not everything is a typo.”

“He’s a typo,” Till gestured to the man in front of them and they both start snickering.

Suddenly the man spun around, and pulled off the dark cloak he had been wearing to reveal a brand new suit, slicked back black hair and glinting blue eyes. “Hello boys,” he greeted them.

Till and Wrevor both raised an eyebrow, their eyes turning purple in suspicion.

“Oh,” said the man in surprise at their changing eye colour. “That’ll be good…”

“Who are you?” Till demanded.

The man chuckled. “Of course you don’t recognize me. Old George was never the social type. I’m actually his younger brother.”

“More like the ‘Step on everyone to get to the top type,’” Wrevor muttered.

To their surprise their supposed uncle also started to laugh. “You two have a sense of humour,” he rubbed his chin. “That’s good.”

“Good for what?” Till asked.

Their uncle grinned. “Let me explain. My name is Chet. Dr. Chet, actually. I’m here to tell you what you really inherited.”

There was a silence before Wrevor said, “I’ll bite. What did we really inherit?”

“Along with your parents’ fortune and company, with your death you also inherited their…second profession so to speak,” Chet also had a British accent, though he hid it quite well.

“You mean firing people?” Till asked.

The doctor laughed again. “Not quite,” then he handed them a folded piece of paper enclosed within an envelope with a stamp on the front. It was addressed to them in spirally handwriting. “Keep it safe. Don’t open it until you’re at home and alone.”

Wrevor grinned. “Does that mean we should be opening it with a hot girl instead?”

The doctor’s brow furrowed. “This is serious.”

Till shrugged. “Sorry to tell you, doc, but we don’t do serious very well. Maybe you should find someone else to give your fancy little envelope to.”

The doctor was being to look frustrated. “No, no. It has to be you two,” he glanced around quickly. “Look. This is really important. Don’t mess this up. A lot of people are counting on you.”

“Well,” Wrevor said. “Sorry to disappoint you, but we’re not numbers.”

The doctor continued to eye them, though, looking deadly serious.

They looked at each other for a moment before the twins sighed simultaneously and agreed, “Alright.”

The doctor grinned and his watch started to beep. He glanced down at it and his eyes widened. He cast his gaze back at the boys, saying hurriedly, “I’ve got to bounce, but we’ll meet again.”

“Wow, James Bond much?” Till asked.

Chet’s eyebrows raised in amusement. “You’ve no idea.” He threw his cloak back on. “Honestly, though. Do not open that letter until you’re at home.”

“Why?” Wrevor asked slyly, as their eyes turned lime green.

“Why not?” the doctor grinned and was gone in a swish of his cloak.

“Not why,” they both whispered.

They glanced at each other, then at the envelope, then at each other again, then shrugged and walked back inside.

Well, maybe I do the second chappy later...hmmm...

Toodles,
-Alice ;)