Now that I have 1500 words (aka 5% of my goal), I’m putting up the first scene that’s written and moderately edited already.
In. Out. In. Out. Her metronomic breath slowly steamed up her glasses as she sat watching the lights of the city move below her, the silence punctuated by the faint sirens of police cars as they patrolled the night. It was not unusual for Carla to sit alone under the stars with the world passing by her with nothing but the condensation of her breath to block her view, like a tide moving in and out from the edge of her glasses, a heartbeat’s delay after her breath. Some nights it seemed as though the lights came to life and danced for Carla; intense, intricate displays that only she could see, sometimes she would’ve sworn she could hold the lights as they danced whilst others she felt captivated by them, unable to do anything but watch as they played. Tonight their performance was accompanied by the buzzing of Carla’s phone as it sat ringing on the passenger seat of her car: noticable, but insubstantial and ethereal, it seemed to break the dance into small acts between buzzes.
Carla couldn’t clear her thoughts, even with the eclectic performance of the lights to distract her from them; some of them were painful pangs of self-doubt, some were her worries about Leah, and others were just a word - Freak. The word she had been tormented with that day, that had sunk its claws into her subconscious, determined to hold on until the bitter end - “What kind of freak doesn’t like sex?” - even its context attacked at her being, not allowing her to express herself without being outcast and dehumanised. Somehow sex was what made people human, it was this overarching and defining thing that she simply was never concerned with. She stopped and thought about Leah, who by now would have surely heard the news about her that had spread like a plague, she thought about how the two of them were so happy together without that, and scared herself with thoughts of how Leah might have just been waiting for her, expecting something, anything, more.
Unable to clear her head, Carla moved to pick up the phone as it rang for the eighth time, hesitating for a moment when she saw that it was Leah calling as if to prepare herself for the worst. With a swipe she picked up, nervous but ready.
“Carla! Thank god you picked up, I had no idea if you were alright!”
“Leah, I’m fine. I was just having some time to myself, it’s been a bit of a day today”
“I’ve heard, and bef-”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know how to explain to you how I felt. I didn’t want to risk the dynamic duo being broken apart by something I don’t even understand about myself.”
“Carla it’s okay, we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but it’s late and I know you aren’t home. Come by mine if you want to talk, or just sit, I’ll make the hot chocolate.”
Carla was at a loss, Leah had never directly offered to make the hot chocolate for the
two of them; she usually set up whatever it was the pair were currently binge-watching. Leah wasn’t wrong though, it was getting late and the cold of night had begun to set in through Carla’s jacket whilst she lay on her car. A short journey would have her at Leah’s apartment, where the two of them could just enjoy some quiet company, something both of them found comfort in.
“I’ll be round in 10, but I might need more than a mug of hot chocolate to heat up and settle down”
“Slice of toast, slightly burnt, as usual?”
“With butter this time though, not in the mood for something too dry”
“It’ll be ready when you get here, which is…”
“Ten minutes, if I take the scenic route.”
“Alright, let me know when you’re parked and I’ll meet you down at the door. Drive safe!”
This is the last part of the Clipped Wing chapter that I’m going to post here (the rest of it is both unedited and full of holes), enjoy!
The kitchen was the largest space in the apartment, and it was where Leah spent much of her time when she wasn’t busily writing short stories at her desk. She kept it up to date and modern, in many ways working with food was what kept her sane when she couldn’t think of anything to write - writing simply happened to help pay the bills - and needed to take a break to refresh herself. It had a clean and tiled floor, a contrast to the soft and fluffy carpeted floors of the rest of the apartment, the solid white of the tiles offset by the kaleidoscope of colour introduced to the apartment through Leah’s ever-growing collection of rugs. Many would have found such a rug collection to be oppressive, especially in such a confined space of the apartment, yet both Leah and Carla loved the variety and colour that the mass of fluff had to it. The scent of the day in Leah’s apartment was a sweet vanilla, produced by multiple scented candles, a favourite of the pair - the stash of vanilla candles was predominantly in gifts from Carla, who was a huge fan of the smell - alongside mint and raspberry.
Today though, the vanilla was also joined by the drifting smell of the two mugs of hot chocolate that Leah had prepared for Carla’s arrival which had permeated nearly everything in the apartment in the time it took the two of them to make their way back up. When Carla and Leah had got back in, both of them felt instantly at home in the warmth of the smells that greeted them; the enticing sweetness of both scents drawing them deeper into a comfortable lull as if they were sirens calling to sailors at sea. Carla, who was starting to warm up, nearly dove into her mug once she had processed the smell of the hot chocolate in need of the internal warmth to match her external warmth. Leah, on the other hand, was more restrained, sipping from her mug as she sorted out chair and a slice of toast for Carla.
“You staying tonight, Carla?”
“Only if you’ve not got plans for tomorrow? I’d rather not head home tonight if I’m honest.”
“I’ve got class at 11 but you’re welcome to stay around, I won’t be out for more than a couple hours. Fridge is stocked, and half your work is still here from last time if you wanted to knuckle down and get on with it?”
“That’s perfect, I’ve got some new work in my bag too if I run out of what’s already here. Any writing you need checking, whilst I’m around?”
“Yeah I’ll leave copies of the chapters on my desk when I head out in the morning, don’t let me forget!”
“Of course! I’ll put a note on the fridge for you, then you won’t miss it” with that Carla wrote on a sticky note for the morning **Leave chapters for me. Love, Carla xx** and stuck it up on the fridge where Leah couldn’t miss it. “All done, if you forget tomorrow, that’s on you!”
“We both know I would forget to breathe if it wasn’t absolutely necessary to life.”
“Very true! This is great hot chocolate, why don’t you make it more often?”
“Because, Carla, if I did make it, I’d be doing everything around here!”
“Hey! I sit around looking cute and warming up the sofa! That’s important!”
“You’re adorable and I appreciate that, but you make the hot chocolate normally because you make it well and that saves some effort for me, which in turn means we binge-watch more shows.”
“And you’re right, as always!” Carla laughed as she flopped onto the sofa, her light frame being enveloped by the numerous cushions that were sat there “What are we watching tonight then? ‘Conspiracy Theorists Uncovered’?”
“That sounds like a plan, always love hearing what they have to say. I think tonight’s one is about magic or some such nonsense?”
“You’d be right, Season Two, Episode Five, ‘The Magic Among Us’. Exciting!”
“I’ll be right over, don’t drown inside the cushions before I get there.” Leah was just organising herself, as she was prone to do, before relaxing down on the sofa next to Carla, reaching out to grab the remote before sinking even deeper into the mountain of cushions so that neither of them would have to move for as long as they wanted to sit there.
Writing progress is going ok, I’ll make a post with the first “scene” of it in a short while. Still playing catch-up big time but hopefully I can get a lot done today that I can build on.
“In. Out. In. Out. Her metronomic breath slowly steamed up her glasses as she sat watching the lights of the city move below her, the silence punctuated by the faint sirens of police cars as they patrolled the night.“
Opening to my work for NaNoWriMo, was too long to tweet out (Need 280 character tweets tbh), hopefully can keep it up for a project related directly to the writing
