Dumpling World and Character Building

This is a blog where I dump information about my character/world building for my longer novels. Includes: character bios, written histories, drawings, character prompts, ect.

[dumplingcreates]

Folk Tales

“Do you believe in stories told to children in the dark...?”

--

“Until they appear in front of your eyes, I’m sure you wont.” The old woman cackles and leans into her chair. Her eyes are colorless and teeth rotten and broken. Still, she smiles, closing the book in front of her. Flames in her fire place crackle beneath her words. “The darkness holds powers, beyond your imagination. It feats on your fear, remember that, darling.”

--

New Series to be started after Flesh and Bone is done (3 rewrites scheduled and 4 more chapters to do)

[dumplingcreates]

Prompt: “Women always were your weakness.”

Aidan tapped his fingers against the gun in his hand. He titled his head slightly to the right, his skin scrunching up against his neck in an odd angle that irritated him, but he kept the position. His eyes narrowed down at the hunched over body in front of him.

“She’s just a whore,” Aidan said. He shook his head. “No one’s going to miss her. Hell, no one’s going to notice even if she were gone. She really wasn’t worth you taking that bullet for.”

Cairo groaned as he tried to push himself off the shivering woman under him. The bullet had gone straight through his shoulder and out the other end. His shirt was already bleeding, and as he moved to try to stand up, splotches of blood spit out of his wound towards the woman. Part of her robes were already stained red with his blood. Another groan came out of Cairo as he pushed to stand up more.

“It doesn’t matter what...” Cairo took in a large breath. “...what she is or isn’t Aidan. There was no fucking reason you needed to shoot.”

A curse flew out of Cairo’s mouth and he fell back down on the woman. She wiggled under his weight, making muffled noises of fear mixed with sobs. 

“Doesn’t matter?” Aidan raised his eyebrows. “You act like all life is equal when the fact is nobody gives a shit. Who cares if I didn’t have to fire? Fact is I did and she should be dead by now.”

“You’re a fucking bastard, Aidan,” Cairo hissed out. The woman wrapped her arms around him, as his shoulder spasmed. “You don’t have to drag every fucking person into your god damn mess.”

“Don’t I, though?” Aidan tilted his head. “I mean, we’re in this mess because these trash can’t get their act together. They appeal to someone to get what they want, and then when someone finally does it for them because they were too incompetent all along to do it, they find something else to whine about. If you can never make them happy, why even try? They’re all just utterly useless trash.”

“Bull. Shit.”

Aidan shrugged. He put the gun back in it’s holder at his side and turned around. “Suit yourself. Though, if I were you, I’d work on getting your act together. What are you trying to be exactly? The good guy who appeals to the people or the guy so wrapped up in revenge he can’t see what’s in front of him?”

“Unlike you--” Cairo groaned again as another wave of pain hit him. The woman was tying a torn piece of her robe around his wound in hopes to stop the bleeding, and Cairo bit his lip. His body shook for a moment. “--unlike you, I don’t need an act. I’m just--” Another groan. “--me. As hard as that is to believe.”

The response was left with a blink. Aidan seemed to examine Cairo from over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing after a moment of watching the woman fix his wound. He ground his teeth together, pulled out his gun, and shot at the woman. The bullet went straight through her head. Cairo yelled, trying to jump up, but the pain from his wound paralyzed him.

“Well, what can I expect? Really? Women always were your weakness.”

Aidan put the gun back, and without a word paid to the hysteric shouting behind him, shoved his hands into his pockets and walked off with a slight hop in his step.

[dumplingcreates]

Has your character ever knocked a shelf over? (feat. Leo and Lacey)

The duster wiggled back and forth as Lacey brushed it through the racks of books. Though she dusted each and every bookshelf each day, today the process seemed to bore her. Her eyes started to close, and her nose wrinkled at the slightly curled strand of hair from her bangs. Still, her hand kept moving in that familiar pattern.

Just as her eyes were about to close and her mouth was about to part open, a hand placed itself on her shoulder. A rough plop and a firm grip. Lacey screamed, jumping. She didn’t pay attention as her body slammed backwards into Leo’s chest how her hand smacked the bookshelf in front of her. 

Leo wrapped his arms around Lacey, pulling her back into him. He studied his feet, her impact lighter than he thought it would be. Her head had just barely hit his chin too. He glanced behind him. Didn’t hit the bookshelf either. A sigh of relief flew out of his mouth, his muscles relaxing until he heard the sound.

A loud bang and clatter that sent both Leo and Lacey jumping into the air.

Lacey’s hand was outstretched with the duster held firmly in it. Right in the space where the old bookshelf had been. In front of them. Two large shelves by three rows back had fallen. There was a few cracks when the last boom of the final shelf had fallen.

The teenagers gulped. Lacey held onto Leo’s arms that were still around her waist for dear life. Leo let out a forced laugh.

“If the old man were to come home now...”

“We’re gonna be so dead...”

The bell to the front door chimed, and the room was silenced. There was no hope left anymore. 

[dumplingwrites]

“So, Tommy-boy, you staying for breakfast?” Tim says. Before Tommy can even mention Roland’s plate, Tim catches him looking and laughs. “Roland’s really the only one who’s eaten. Has to take his early medicine with food. The rest of us are staaaarving.”

Tim overemphasizes the word, a few weird sounds coming out of his mouth that make his children laugh. He winks at Tommy as Kate yells at him to shut up. In the kitchen, Kate is behind a cupboard. Tommy can’t see her expression, but Tommy can picture her making a face at her husband. An awful face. It makes him smile just a bit.

“I already ate,” Tommy says as he remembers the question. His stomach feels rather empty even though he knows it shouldn’t. He doesn’t even remember the taste of the food. Actually, he doesn’t remember what it was he ate in the first place, so he changes his mind. “But I could probably go for seconds.”

A large and rough grin stretches across Tim’s face. It looks natural on him, the large flabs of his cheeks folding around the sides of his lips, making his stubble stick out just a bit more. Tim smacks his hand down on the table and laughs.

“Great choice. I applaud it. Truly the best.” He nods as Kate groans from the kitchen and Tommy laughs. Without missing a beat, Tim finger guns Tommy with a suddenly serious look on his face. “I’d say sit down, but since you’re already doing that, pull your chair on in and enjoy my wonderful wife’s cooking. Which,” he leans forward and whispers, “depending on the day may not be just as wonderful as she is.”

A quick preview of the rewrite for Burbin Street chapter 1!

It’s almost done. After spending hours today working on the last scene, I have one more scene in the beginning to finish I skipped, and then huzzah, hurrah! My children will live again.

For those of you that don’t know. Burbin Street is a series I’ve been working on since 2011. It’s a childhood romance book about first love friendship and family. It follows the lives of new neighbors Tommy Bohem and Lyla Goodwynn and the story of them and their families. A heartwarming tale of friendship, first love, and the struggle of what comes with the word “family.”

[dumplingcreates]

The gore writer is coming out in me [Cairo chapter 14 preview]

This time Fifi moved her body to match the man’s step instead of charging forward on her own momentum to break his. She held the weapon in her hand steady, moving it forward slightly. The work was done on its own as the man was unable to stop and walked straight into the dagger. Fifi pulled it back out, blood spilling like a popped balloon when cork was taken out. Pushing the man back slightly with her hand on his shoulder in a death grip, Fifi plunged the metal right where she knew his heart would be. Without even looking, because she knew she didn’t have to; she had stabbed enough hearts to work out of pure instinct, to feel the heat and listen to sound, and to listen to it all come together like a sweet melody directing her hand exactly where it needed to go. Her other hand moved off of the man’s shoulder the second the blade pierced through his flesh, moving to wrap around his neck.

A measly second after the man got stabbed and quiet had just settled through the halls once more, the sound of a snap vibrated through them.

I actually really love Fifi. Even though Houri is the only pure and chill person in the rebels and everyone else is like 99.9% evil probably, I really love my rebel children. They grew on me while writing the first draft, and I’m super excited that they’re finally back. Cannot wait for their arc.

[dumplingcreates]

It’s been a long time, but I’ve actually started working on chapter 6 of Bete Noir. I forgot how nice it feels to write for Finn and Narcissa. There’s this calm imperfection to them that I like making. 

Anyway, spoilers ahead for a future scene I’m planning in the story! I liked how it turned out, so I thought I’d share.

.

.

“No, I actually liked you.”

The sudden confession had Finn gasping for air. His eyes felt like they were about to explode out of his eyes. He hit the side of his head a few times, wondering if he’d misheard of if his ears were broken all together.

Tipping her head to the side, Narcissa’s eyes were lost in the past. “You were the only one who yelled at me. All of the others wouldn’t dare--even the adults pissed themselves at the thought. They were all scared of my father like I was some little girl who couldn’t accept a scolding. I wanted to get yelled at, to have someone scream at me and tell me I was wrong for a change, but no one dared. It was only you.”

Finn understood exactly what she was saying, Narcissa wasn’t speaking in some foreign language to him, but he still had to ask regardless. It just didn’t connect in his mind. “Why?”

Narcissa shrugged, casually looking away as if she hadn’t just said something big. That would probably redefine their entire relationship. “I had no one that would scold me.”

For the first time, with just that one sentence, Finn understood why Narcissa was loud, why she said whatever she felt like and didn’t care about the consequences or who they hurt. Why she acted up at the slightest grievance or morned her own pities. Why she looked at him with envy and jealousy burning deep inside of her. There was no family in Narcissa’s life, and Finn’s family had been something flaunted at her since birth.

She wanted family.

She wanted companionship.

“I’m sorry.” The words floated out of Finn’s mouth before he understood what he was saying. He flushed as Narcissa snapped her eyes over to him. “I didn’t… I didn’t understand.”

“I didn’t expect you to,” she mused, chipping fingernail polish off of one of her fingers. “I just needed the simplicity of having you yell at me. I didn’t care if it meant I had to get you to hate me or that you’d probably never understand. I just needed a resistance. I thought I needed the resistance until I realized what your ‘hate’ entailed. I was just a little girl, and I bit off more than I could chew.”

“What do you mean?”

Narcissa laughed. It was rotten to the very core. “You’re the alpha’s son, Finnley. Despite your flaws and your lack of qualities when it comes to fighting, the pack holds great respect for you and will continue to do so even if through a series of unfortunate events you don’t get the title. You’re too blind to see it through your anxieties, but they love you dearly. And when someone that loved hates someone, they get their world crushed for it. It scared me, and I retaliated the only way I knew--by taking it out on you.”

“That wouldn’t be the best way.”

“I already said it. I didn’t know any better. I was young, and I panicked.” Narcissa moved to lean against the table, her elbows propped up as she rested her chin and bottom lip on one of her stretched out palms. Her eyes looked to Finn, but they looked completely passed him. “It’s not your fault our relationship is like this; it’s mine.”

[dumplingcreates]

Tommy has always had trouble with changes. He’s always been happy with how things play out to be, which is why as he looks at Lyla coming out of her house for school, he hesitates. His stomach flips, and he sucks in one long breath as she catches his full and undivided attention.

She’s older now. Mascara holds up her eyelashes as she stares at him from the distance. Her lips shine just a bit, and Tommy wonders how soft they’d be if he touched them. Even though he already knows. As Lyla walks up to him, Tommy notices for the first time in a while that he’s taller than her now. Not by much, but just enough to make him cast his eyes down.

All of this is a first. 

Between pride, a fear that feels like acid in his stomach, and an insatiable urge for breath even though Tommy knows he’s been breathing, he musters up a smile and even a good morning. 

Lyla smiles at him, and he bites his lip. His eyebrows twitch. She looks different from usual. There’s no dirt on her face and her clothes aren’t a mess from running around all day, her hair is neat and in place and the time taken on it shows despite it’s imperfections she missed. 

Mature is the word that comes to mind, but Tommy knows as soon as she opens her mouth, she’ll break whatever image Tommy has. He laughs at that. It catches Lyla’s attention and she turns to him with a question in her eyes. She doesn’t have to say anything as Tommy smiles at her. His perfect, charming smile. 

“I just thought I knew you pretty well,” Tommy says. 

He doesn’t think about what he says, but as Tommy looks to Lyla’s face, his stomach punches him again, and he gulps. Her cheeks are flushed red, like a carnation in blossom, and Tommy thinks he looks about the same.

“You’re stupid.” 

Tommy only nods in return. That same awkward shyness is taking over him as last time, and he can’t even look in her general direction. He needs to cool his head before school.

But school isn’t the thing on his mind. As his heart slams against his chest, and he clenches his backpack straps, Tommy thinks that maybe he doesn’t know her as well as he thinks sometimes.

[dumplingcreates]

Silence should have surrounded them, Tommy thinks as he stares at Lyla in their secret base. Bugs and birds in mid summer are all around them, and in the humid heat just after a rain shower, they have come out and gathered in full force. It’s not quiet by the least bit.

Somehow Tommy shuts all the noise out by pure force of will. His only concern is Lyla at the moment. Even if he tires, he thinks he would be incapable of looking away. Staring is rude, his beaten-in conscious tells him, but he can’t help himself. In the little sunlight that came through the small craved window, Lyla looks like she is shinning. She’s beautiful. And he says so.

Lyla looks at him. Barely, as she half turns to face him, her head grinding as if she decides halfway she doesn’t actually want to. She looks phased for a moment, her cheeks fanning a light pink color. Tommy is distracted, though, and misses it. He sees nothing but her amber eyes that draw him deeper in his trance.

He thinks he doesn’t want to look away, but in a matter of a few seconds his eyes shift to her lips. Something stirs inside of him, and he moves closer to her. Lyla doesn’t move away, and his heartbeat starts hammering in his chest. Certainly he’s said his fair share of embarrassing things before, but somehow he’s conscious of every move both Lyla and him make.

Hesitation and doubt start building up. A ‘what if’ stirs in the back of Tommy’s mind. But before it can even finish, Tommy leans in. He’s past thinking. His lips brush Lyla’s cheeks and linger on her soft skin for just an extra second before he pulls back. Only slightly, just so their breaths overlap as she turns to him. 

Tommy’s eyes are half closed. They look dazed, but they’re starring straight at Lyla. He feels a bit weird--a mixture of embarrassment, adrenaline, and something else he can’t figure out. It’s eating him from the inside out. 

“Can I kiss you?” Tommy asks. 

He doesn’t know why he asks, because he knows he’s going to. And when Lyla parts her mouth open trying to say something, but failing to do so, he knows he’s going to.

And he does.

A little bit rough and awkward. It’s slow and gentle. Longer than it should have been as his breath falters, and he pulls back with a large gasp for air. His cheeks are a bit flushed, and he feels the same kind of daze he gets when he catches a cold, except his body feels the same adrenaline as when he runs. On edge and aware.

Contrary to his belief, it makes the odd mixture of feelings in his body worse. The blazen confidence is gone this time around, though. Tommy is quite aware of what he’s done, and he can feel the heat rising to his cheeks. 

What’s the deal? he thinks as his eyes snap to the ground. His parents do it all the time. Why isn’t it as easy and as casual as it is for them?

[dumplingsoup292]

"A bustling city of life moments ago had turned into a canvas of flames, and had it been an artwork, people would have called it beautiful."

The rewritten version of Cairo is only available on wattpad. Uploads on the first of every month.

Rewritten from the ground up, join Cairo, Cane, and Aerie again on their adventures. More characters, more kleptos, better writing.

[dumplingcreates]

The bar wasn’t loud, but it wasn’t quiet either. Bits of conversations floated about, and occasionally the loud shouts and cheers would erupt from a group of drunks. But for the most part, it was at an adequate noise level. Much better than most of the other just as popular bars Cairo had been to around the country.

As many times as he came back, though, he always like this. And that’s what he thought as he grabbed his drink from the bar tender. 

A whisper of a conversation between two overly dressed women crossed Cairo’s ears, and he honed in on them as he sipped, casually pretending he wasn’t in any way listening to their rather loud voices despite their drunken efforts to whisper. Cairo laughed at the fact they must have thought they were quiet as a mouse.

“Do you know that boy in the government?” one of the them asked.

The other set her drink down and slapped her hand on the bar. “You mean that boy genius--the young protege?”

“Yeah! I heard he hardly comes out anymore.”

“Do you think he’s handsome? Single?”

“Isn’t he just a kid?”

“So what? GO’s make a lot more money than any chump out there.”

She laughed, slapping her friend, and slurred, “You’re sooo bad.”

Wiggling the toothpick in his mouth, Cairo bit down on it. The pressure broke it and he spit it out. Cane gave him a sideways glance from his bag of chips.

“Man,” Cairo sighed out. “I’m already an adult. Those rumors are from so long ago. I am not a child; I am rugged and handsome.”

Cane snorted. “That’s why you haven’t been able to get a date in the last three months.”

Cairo hit him and chugged the last of his drink. He called to the bartender for another.

With a roll of his eyes, Cane shook his head. “This is going to be a long night.”

[dumplingcreates]

The forest grew over and around each other. A short dirt path was laid out, but from the growing grass and weeds popping up, it was clear it hadn’t been used much before. Vine wrapped around the branches that hung down close to the ground, intertwining with many different bushes and taller plants.

Lacey let her mouth hang open as she looked up at the sight she’d never seen before. Growing up in a city with only a few trees to decorate the sidewalks, a forest was something Lacey could have only imagined in her dreams.

Truth chuckled from beside her, tapping her bottom chin with a pleasant smile attached to his face. He looked at her fondly, inquisitively. “Keep your mouth open that wide and bugs will fly in it.”

The thought had never crossed her mind before and her face went pale, her eyes wide in terror as she pressed her lips together. Leo laughed, and Lacey hit him on the shoulder. Truth watched the two teenagers playfully fight for only a few passing moments before he placed a hand on Lacey’s shoulder and pulled her a step back from Leo. 

“We should continue,” he said.

Leo stepped forward next to Lacey. He pulled at her shirt and she stepped next to him until their bodies were touching. A hint of a glare was on his face. “Haven’t you ever heard of the expression make haste slowly?”

Truth rolled his eyes. “It’s not the time for petty jealously.”

Leo flinched at his words, and Lacey glanced upward to study his face.

“You can only move slowly if you’re moving. We’ve been here too long. It’s time to move on.”

Lacey looked over her shoulder. She could see the mountains that stretched into the clouds. The sight had already become familiar and she nodded her head. “If we become familiar with something, we’ve stayed too long.”

“Exactly,” Truth said. He extended out his hand to the forest. “Shall we proceed?”

“Aren’t you leading?”

“I don’t know where to go. Only you two can make it out of this forest. My role is to simply follow.”

.

Taking Leo’s hand, Lacey pulled at him as she took hesitant steps forward. He pulled back some of the foliage for her and she stuck right next to him, holding his hand like her life depended on it. Though she was scared, a sense of curiosity washed over her and she moved her head back and forth as she took in the sight of the forest around her.

She looked to the side where she saw a colorful bird and pointed, tugging at Leo’s hand until he looked to where she was pointing. Something cracked behind her, but so immersed in what she was looking at, she didn’t hear anything.

Truth walked right behind her. He placed both his hands on her shoulders and pushed her two steps forward. Not expecting the sudden contact, she gasped and stumbled forward. Leo pulled at her arm, and Truth held her up.

He smiled gently at her, and pushed a branch away with his hand. On the branch was a red ooze. It bubbled as the branched moved.

“Be careful,” Truth said. “These things are slime. The red kind are acidic. They’ll burn your flesh right off, so don’t touch them.”

Lacey nodded, gulping. “Noted.”

[dumplingcreates]

“You look good with proper clothes on,” Carter said.

She placed her hand on her cheek and tilted her head to look at the young man walking out of the room. She smirked as he closed the door and turned to her with a frown. The animosity in his eyes was obvious. He wasn’t even trying to hide it, and Carter found that more than amusing. She liked people who stood their ground against her.

But those looks were boring, and she sighed as she leaned back into her chair, throwing one arm behind her. “Don’t look at me like I’m the bad guy here.”

“Well, aren’t you?”

Carter blinked, her face stretched out in surprise from the sudden question. She creased her eyes, diverting her gaze to the side. The words were struggling in her mouth, but, like usual, no one seemed to mind and continued to stare intently at her.

“I don’t know,” she said, somewhat snapping the words out, tired of having to explain something so black and white to people when it wasn’t anything of the sort. “I’ve always just done what other people have told me to do.” 

“But you have a demon.” 

Her eyes snapped to him. The statement confused her. What did having a demon have to do with whether she was good or bad?

“What do you mean?”

He gave a strange look, like she should have known what he was talking about, and by the fact she didn’t know, it became peculiar. “To form a contract with a demon, you have to be a corrupted existence. The fact you know the language of Chaos was enough to prove my point, let alone seeing you have a demon; it’s just icing on the cake.”

“A corrupted existence?” Carter pulled her legs on the seat and leaned her head against her knees. “Well, its certainly true that my heart and mind are corrupted, but my soul is completely fine.”

A small shocked registered on his face, and he took a step forward. “How is that possible?”

“I told you before: I’m a tool that has always listened to what other people have told me. I never once wanted to do any of those things I was made to do, which is why my soul isn’t corrupted.”

The room was silent as Carter turned to Boram. She stood leaning against the wall with her fan in front of her face as usual. Her eyes glowed as they looked at Carter. Darkness around her sizzled and floated animatedly.

“If that’s true, how is that possible?” Carter asked. “I made a contract with you here without meeting all the requirements to do so.”

“Because we already had an established contract,” Boram answered quickly. “When you went to make a contract with me, the contract simply reinstated itself and bypassed the rules here. Because you aren’t from this time, it took the requirements from the previous contract.”

“Why is it not the same for magic then?”

“Magic lies across both planes of time, which means it’s a polyary existence. Hence it can exist with separated principles and still be one single entity. The contract is a singular existence, however, and the origins of the creating it cannot be changed.”

“Hmm. I guess that make sense.” Carter jumped up from her seat, throwing her hands back behind her for a moment to stretch. She walked forward towards the door. “Come on. Don’t just stand there. I’ll show you around and tell you what you need to do.”

“What I need to to do?” the young man asked as he took a few steps towards Carter.

Carter stopped in the door way. One had was on the door frame. She talked without looking back. “It’s easy. For the most part all you need to do is protect me.” Carter snapped her head behind her shoulder, her eyes cast down in a shadowed glare. “But remember I’m fully capable of protecting myself. Don’t get in my way.”

[dumplingcreates]

When you high-key ship your characters, but you’re really not allowed to, but by the second draft you give no fucks anymore.

----

“Perhaps,” Cairo said dreamily, all of himself not quite into his words as he looked into the sky that shined with twinkling stars and no moon, “in another world, I could have dreamed of it to happen.”

“Have what?”

Cairo slid his eyes over to Aerie A solemn smile rested on his lips, and his tired eyes mirrored the million broken pieces his heart felt like. “A dream you and I were in. But as it is, it’s impossible like this. I can’t have you to myself.”

Aerie got on her knees and crawled closer to Cairo. The dirt under her left prints on her skin and pebbles on her palms. No mind was paid. She stuck her face next to his. Their breaths overlapped.

At Aerie’s sudden proximity, Cairo made no movements. Didn’t even flinch.He was merely content to watch her lift his hand up and place it on her heart. Her eyes starred him down.

“You are my pyrroh. You hold my life and very existence. Everything that I am is devoted to you.”

Moving his free hand, Cairo stroked a piece of Aerie’s hair behind her ears. He leaned in, his soft breath against her ears made her shudder softly in the night air. 

“I don’t want your core; I want your heart.”

[dumplingcreates]

Preview of some stuff I’m working on

Human Hearts [short story]

“Once he was a loving father. The best all around. Someone his son and wife could brag about. Now look at him—a simple slave to the corruption of fragile human hearts. He forgot what mattered most, caught up in his fancy dinners and long work hours, and without realizing it, lost it a long time ago. At one point that man wanted to make his son the happiest boy in the world… and now he can barely remember what he looks like. If you think about it, I wonder who you feel sorry for—the man who stopped being a father or a the boy who couldn’t say what he wanted?”

“Demons don’t change, but humans… humans change all the time. If you think about it like that, who’s really the scary one—demons or humans?”

Dark Yule [short story]

“Rejoice in Yule… the Yule will be with you.”

--

“What was that!”

“The spirits of Yule are here to greet us. To punish those who have forgotten their way. The moment when what’s beyond is freed into the night, and in the long hours of the dark when the sun is still, the hunt begins. From door to door and house to house… they come baring gifts.”

“What-what kind of gifts?”

“They’ll take you! Into the forest, beyond where the fog is thick. They’ll bring you to her—to the Mother.”

Fallen Hero [short story]

A body lay asleep near a large rock in the middle of one of the room. Steadily breathing in and out despite the dried blood and open wounds tattered across the stick figure of a body. The bones even stuck out. He was one strike away from being a complete skeleton.

Laughter came from the shadow as a clawed hand extended out to the body. Pointy, clawed fingers carefully lifted his chin. “What do we have here now?” the shadow mused in delight. “A fallen hero...”

Cracking ripped through the silent air and a cloud of white smoke blew directly into the body’s face. Still asleep, only a slight distortion of the face was made. Part of the shadow lifted like fibers being pulled apart and slender, sharp teeth began to form in their place. Again, the shadow laughed as it looked over the body.

Flesh & Bone - Chapter 1 rewrite

Alicia placed her forehead on the table. She was crying and her makeup was running. It felt like the stares she was receiving were boring holes into her body like lasers. Maybe she was just overreacting, letting Sam’s little joke get to her too much.

But when she lifted her head, her stomach dropped, and Alicia felt like she was about to puke. All the tables around her on that floor were empty. It was a dinner for two.

“Private reservation,” Alicia whispered as she remembered what David had said when they came in together.

There was definitely someone staring at her, though. But if the floor was empty, then who was it?

[dumplingcreates]

Her footsteps are light. They make no sound as she traverses through the rundown motel corridors. She knows he can afford better than a twenty dollar stay per night at this dump.

She sees him sitting in the moonlight, leaning against the railing with his body bent over, and she smiles as the smoke curls around him.

“Are you Sammuel Walsh?” 

He looks up at her. His eyes show no emotion besides the heavy eyebags; his face looks tired and older than a it should with a four day stubble. “Depends who’s asking,” he answers with a rough voice, bringing his cigarette up to his mouth.

The girl with the light brown hair with perfect curls bends down in front of him. Her hair bounces as it falls of her shoulder. She smiles perfectly, placing a hand on her heart. “My name is Corallina.” She reaches in her pocket and pulls out a folded paper, handing it to Sam. “I believe this is yours.” 

Sam takes the small paper in his hand and opens it. He doesn’t look surprised, and instead a grin stretches across his face. His eyes slant closer together and his bangs cast a shadow over his face as his eyes snap to her.

He pushes the book into the moonlight on the floor with his foot. Neither lose eye contact.

“This book... comes with a story.”

“Made of Flesh and Bone, correct.”

“Only if you know what kind.”

“Of course. That’s simple. It’s human.”

[dumplingcreates]

Through the thick fog the dying will was the first thing she saw, contorted to bend near the moist earth as if reaching its boney fingers deep into the ground. Then came the U-shaped building as she moved closer down the graveled path. 

In the front, standing tall, neatly in front of the large, wooden french doors was a man in a black suit--something that looked more like what a butler would wear with a deep read pocket tissue. Silver sparkled in the moonlight from his perfectly gelled hair, the sides lightly swept to the side to cradle the ends of his eyes that were a deep green. 

He smiled when she came closer and extended out his hand. “Welcome to White Willow. My name is Oliver, and I’m the manager of this hotel. We’ve been expecting you, miss.” 

Oliver walked over to her and bent down, reaching for her suitcase sitting still next her her legs. Her sudden voice, however, caught his attention and he looked up to her, his body momentarily frozen.

“Excuse me,” she said wistfully. “Did I... did I really make a reservation here?”

He blinked only once. “Well, yes, you did call us three days ago. Did something seem amiss that’d make you think that?”

The woman blushed, diverting her squinted eyes. “Well, I... no, not really. I even had vacation time scheduled at my work. It’s just--” She placed her fingers against her lips. “--I don’t remember it at all.”

Again, Oliver smiled. He gripped the suitcase tightly in his left hand and let his other tenderly set itself on the small of her back, giving her a slight nudge forward as he guided her to the door.

“To give yourself a break is exactly what this vacation is for, I’m sure.” He held open the door. “Shall I show you to the room?”

She blushed.and smiled as a nervous laughter spilled out of her mouth. “If you’d please.”

As the figures disappeared behind closed doors, in one of the windows in the side wing, a shadow moved. The curtain was puled back and a women with messy, bed head brown hair stared out the glass, lowering her eyes as the figures completely disappeared. She yawned and stretched, shaking her head. 

What a fool, she thought, snapping her curtains closed.

And silence danced around the thickening fog.

[dumplingcreates]

“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re a bastard?” Carter asked.

“All time. I just never listen to them. Sticks and stones, you know.”