Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Chapter 1

Here's the first chapter of the book I'm working on now. Feel free to leave comments and critiques!

Brief Plot Summary: An as of now unnamed main character is hired to ghostwrite the biography of Theia and Selene, two immortal women who have lived through centuries of scandal and mystery. She is shocked to learn exactly how much of history never makes it into the textbooks.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1


            It was a fine, sunny day, other than the ash raining down from the sky. One of the houses in my neighborhood had caught fire in the middle of the night and burned to the ground. It was a miracle that it hadn’t spread. Despite the recent tragedy people almost seemed to be in a good mood. Maybe it was the natural sense of community that always magically sprung up after something bad happened. It would probably be gone by the end of the day. I at least was appreciating the change of mood. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, people were almost smiling, and I was about to quit my job for the second time. You see, last time I had quit I didn’t have another job I was quitting for. I had just quit. It hadn’t been a smart thing to do, but there came a time in every woman’s life where she needs to stand firm, and proudly utter the words “I quit! In two weeks”
And those words had been long overdo.
            Luckily, the gamble had paid off. I had a new job and every thing was going to be alright.
            I lifted my chin confidently as I walked into the building, immediately locking eyes with my old boss. He frowned. I smiled. Well, it was actually more of a grimace. It was hard to smile while looking at him.
            “What do you want?” he asked not bothering to stand up from his chair. “If you are coming to ask for your old job back I will have to say no. Well, maybe if you beg.”
            I made a disgusted face at the thought then quickly changed my expression to a smile. “No I actually just happened to be in the neighborhood so I decided to stop by.”
            He stood up. “Alright you’re wasting more of my time than you did when you actually worked for me and I didn’t think that was even possible.”
            I tried not to let myself rise to his bate. I had come here for a reason. I was not going to let myself be conned into a fight. “Then I won’t take up too much of your time.” I said calmly. “I quit.”
            He blinked. “Um I think you may have fallen and hit your head.” He said sarcastically. “You already quit once. Remember? Two weeks ago. Your last day of work was just three days ago.”
            “I know that.” I said, my voice matching his in sarcasm. “But I wanted to let you know. I have a new job. I didn’t want you to worry.”
            “You couldn’t have found a new job in that amount off time.” He snarled. “Where are you working? What joke of a printing company would hire you?”
            “No.” I said casually. I wanted this next part to hit home. “I am writing a biography. And I am going to assume that my clients are famous enough that I will get plenty of clients afterwards.”
            “Whom could you possibly be writing for?” he said trying to sound disgusted, but genuinely curious, not to mention a little worried.
            I smiled. “Oh two people you may have heard their names. Theia and Selene.”
            His smile melted off his face. “What?”
            I smiled and started to leave. “So you do not have to worry about me. I am doing quite well in the world. So I will not be coming back to waste any more of your time.”
            And with that, I left. He didn’t even try to follow me or stop me. I waved goodbye to a couple of the people I’d actually enjoyed working with and left.
            As I exited the building no one noticed me. No one ever noticed me. And why should they? Being unnoticeable is part of my job description. Telling other people’s stories but making it seem like they did it themselves. I’m the phantom holding the pen. The voice from behind the curtains as the performer lip sinks on stage. I was invisible in my writing and that kind of thing seemed to translate to real life as well. 
            I’d meant to go straight home after quitting, but I passed by the library on the way there, and I knew resisting its inexplicable draw was a lost cause. I gave up and went in. After all, now that I actually had work to do, I’d be spending a lot more of my time there. I went into the library and found my customary spot. It was hidden away deep inside the library, so regular people rarely stumbled across me while I was working. Then I opened my new notebook I’d bought and stared at a blank page.
The problem about Theia and Selene was that their story wasn’t as straightforward as you’d think. Conflicting stories and their various disguises and personas over the ages muddied the waters. Even more concerning was the large chunks of history they had dropped out of entirely.         
I dropped my head into my hands. There was so much. So much to discover, to learn. Suddenly I was confronted with just how difficult it would be to tell the story of two immortal people who’d already been alive for centuries.
            “Surprise seeing you here.”
            I jerk up my headway to fast and my glasses almost fell off my face. Standing in front of me was a pretty woman. She had a stack of books in her arms and a knowing smirk on her face.
            I blinked “Oh, hi.”
            “Oh hi?” she parroted my words back at me. “I don’t hear from you in months and that’s all I get? Oh hi?”
            “It’s only been two weeks!” I protested, but I still bent my head guiltily. Gina was the only person who could make me feel guilty about anything. I hadn’t seen my parents in several years and I didn’t have a single qualm about that.
            “Well it felt like months!” she shot back as she leaned onto the table. “Do you have any idea how dull it is here with only me and the oldies?” she jerked her finger over her shoulder to draw my attention to a group of old men talking in hushed voices over a thick tome. My attention quickly snapped back to her as she started speaking again. “And now you waltz back in here like nothing happened?”
            I blinked again. It was amazing how good she was at transmitting the idea of yelling without ever raising her voice above a whisper.
            “I’m sorry.” I said a little resentfully. “I’ve been busy.”
            “With what?” Gina laughed. “You quit your job two weeks ago.”
            Apparently news spread fast, even in libraries. I hadn’t wanted her to know that. I ducked my head. “I just couldn’t take it anymore,” I began.
            “I know.” She said smirking. “I’m surprised you put up with that idiotic pig for as long as you did.” She leaned in toward me with a conspiratorial grin on her face. “What did he say when you said you were working for Theia and Selene now?”
            I stared at her. Me quitting was knowledge I had expected to spread, but I had literally only gotten confirmation of this yesterday. How did she already know? “How did you know that?” I asked.
            She waved her hand airily. “I have my ways.” She said. “I knew you’d have to come here at some point. That’s why I was looking here. You’re going to need a researcher. And while you have every right to choose someone else, I would be very displeased if you did.”
            I grinned at her precociousness. “Well, it’d be a bit stupid of me to pick anyone but the best wouldn’t it?” I said.
            She returned my smile. “Yes it would, especially since I’m the only reason you finished your last book. And since I predicted that you wouldn’t be that stupid I took the liberty of writing up this for you.” She slapped a few pages onto the table between us. I looked them over to see a list of every major move Theia and Selene had taken over the last ten centuries. I stared at it.
            “You did all this in a day?” I said shocked.
            “No, I did all this in just under two hours.” She said quickly. “It would have been done sooner except I had to help some old lady find a book. I swear she practically lives in this library but she still can’t find anything on her own.”
            “Perhaps she enjoys your company.” I commented.
            She flashed me a devilish smile. “Who wouldn’t? Lucky for you, you’re going to get to enjoy it quite a lot now.”
            And with a swish of her hair and a flurry of pages she was gone. I was left alone with my books staring at the shelf she’d disappeared behind. I stared like an idiot until I firmly told myself to get back to work.


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