Hello everyone! This week, I present to you the first chapter of the novel I'm working on currently, which is untitled so far. Please leave me some comments as to what you think of the first chapter and let me know if you want to see more!
P.S. We'll be back with more of Melanie's story next week :)
Chapter 1
The beeping was driving her crazy.
“What…no…” Ayden mumbled as she felt blindly for her alarm clock.
She knew she shouldn’t hit the sleep button, but she hadn’t slept much. Dreams had kept her awake. Dreams she couldn’t quite remember. Had there been an ice palace? A column of fire? And a man falling…
Half an hour later, she rolled over to see her alarm clock. Once she managed to focus her tired eyes, she shot out of bed in alarm. It was 8:50 - class started at 9:00.
She hastily threw on whatever clothes were closest to her and grabbed her bag. She’d have to brush her hair later. It was probably an unattractive tangle but she didn’t have time to care.
She rushed out into the kitchen to grab a bagel or something and saw her parents sitting at the table. She paused; she had thought they must already be at work, or they would have woken her up. They looked like they’d slept about as much as she had. Both of her fathers sat with mugs of coffee and grim expressions on their faces.
“Dad? Papa? What’s wrong?” she asked.
Both looked up at her. Her dad, Rick, gave her a small smile. “Nothing, Addie. We just - we didn’t sleep well and we’re taking the day off of work to - recuperate.”
She looked closely at him. She believed that he hadn’t slept well, that’s for sure. But he looked very worried about something.
“Is something wrong? You look worried, Dad,” she ventured.
“No baby, everything will be okay,” said her papa, Alex. “You go along to school. We - we’ll see you later.”
Ayden couldn’t help but notice that he seemed on the verge of tears, but he smiled bravely as though trying to hide his true feelings. She was hesitant to leave them in this state, but she really did need to get to school.
“Okay…uhm, Dad, could you give me a ride please? I’m going to be late for Physics.”
Rick jumped out of his seat. “Oh, gosh Addie, I didn’t realize the time. Yeah, let me grab my keys.” He rushed out of the room.
“Are you going to come, Papa?” Ayden asked tentatively. Usually if both of her dads were home, they’d take her to school together.
Alex looked even closer to tears as he looked at her. “No, baby, I - I think I have to stay here,” he said, choking back a sob. “Just - come give me a hug, okay?”
Concerned, she walked forward into his embrace, feeling him shaking with the effort to hold back his tears. “Papa, are you sick or something? Tell me, please, I want to help,” she begged, looking into his bright eyes.
He smiled slightly. “No, Addie, it’s nothing like that. You’ll find out in a bit. We can’t talk about it right now. Just know that I love you so, so much, baby. Be safe.”
He hurriedly left the kitchen. Ayden stared after him. That was a weird way to say good-bye. She was still staring after her papa when her dad came rushing into the room, pulling on a winter coat. “Addie, you need to put a jacket on. It’s freezing out there.”
He was right, of course. It was Edmonton in February. She grabbed her coat from the hook near the door, stuffed an apple into her mouth, and followed him out the door.
The drive to the school was silent. Her dad didn’t even turn on the radio. Ayden found the silence oppressive. She tried to think about something else - anything else. Maybe the new painting project she had begun, a scene from a hike they had gone on last summer. That distracted her for a little while.
They rolled up to the front doors of the school. Ayden looked at her dad and leaned over to hug him goodbye. “Bye Dad, thanks for the ride,” she said quickly. As concerned as she was about her dads’ strange behaviour, she wanted to get out of this car and its air of apprehension and gloom.
Her dad hugged her back. “Be safe, Addie. Your papa and I love you so much.”
Be safe. There it was again. It’s something they didn’t say to her very often. Usually “Have a great day” or “learn something cool.” Never “be safe.” She wondered for the hundredth time what on earth was going on.
She hesitated, but shook her head and got out of the car, dashing towards the doors of the school. She burst through and bolted up the stairs to her first period Physics class. She was only 20 minutes late, but Mr. Dodds would still glare at her and make a big deal out of it. She paused before the door and took a deep breath before knocking.
The door was open by Jared, the completely insufferable captain of the basketball team. He was, as usual, dressed as though he’d just come from a game. He smirked at her and whispered “You’re in trouble now, Brand. This is the third time this week you’ve been late.”
Ayden slouched into the room, heading for her desk near the back of the room. “Thank you for gracing us with your presence, Ms. Brand,” Mr. Dodds drawled. Giggles were muffled from around the room. “With your permission, I will continue teaching.”
“Sorry, sir,” Ayden mumbled as she pulled her books out of her backpack. Mr. Dodds returned to his lecture on calculating acceleration, which was utterly boring as usual. Ayden tried to pay attention, she really did, but his voice was so monotone and boring, and she didn’t understand the material. Math had never come easy to her. Her papa had convinced her to take physics “in case you want to be an engineer like me, baby,” but she was pretty sure it was hopeless.
After five excruciatingly long minutes of trying to understand the complicated diagrams her teacher was drawing on the board at the front of the class, Ayden gave up and started doodling in her notebook. She doodled on everything; her notebooks, her test papers, her desk, her clothes, her shoes, her bag…anything that would hold ink, really. The process of drawing calmed her and helped her think more clearly.
As she sketched a summer scene in her book, she thought more about her dads’ strange behaviour this morning. It was clear that something was very wrong, something they didn’t want to tell her about. It was something that involved her. Be safe, they said. What could be wrong? Could there be someone targeting her because of her dads’ relationship? It wouldn’t be the first time that someone took action against her dads - there had been plenty of graffiti and vandalism on their house by right-wing idiots who thought homosexuality was some kind of sin akin to burning children alive - but no one had ever targeted her specifically. She pondered this as Mr. Dodds droned on, his voice blending with the hum of the florescent lights above her.
Suddenly, everything went black. She slumped over in her chair and nearly fell out of her seat before the girl sitting next to her caught her by the shoulder. “What are you doing, Brand?” she hissed through her teeth. “You’re already in trouble, falling asleep in class isn’t going to help your situation!”
Ayden shook her head, her vision slowly returning. “Yeah, sorry. Thanks,” she muttered to the girl beside her, whose name she did not know. She massaged her cheeks and temples in an effort to wake up more fully, but she didn’t feel sleepy. She felt - well, she couldn’t think of a way to describe it. She felt like every atom in her body was tingling, drawn toward something like iron to a magnet. The strong pull was what had caused her to black out, she was sure. What was pulling her? And why?
Her vision flashed bright white for a second, almost blinding her before she managed to close her eyes. When she opened them again, she was not in physics class. She was in an elevator.
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