Well, I did it! I made up for yesterday’s slump with 2,243 words!! But, unfortunately, tomorrow is going to be slow because I have to write a story for creative writing. Can those words count toward NaNo?? Anyway, here’s a bit of what I wrote today! Most of it was the first real interaction between Marco and Elle:
“What you did was really brave,” she says. “I can tell that there’s something… different about you.”
“Different? There’s nothing different about me.” I almost laugh. “I’m just a Laborer who was trying to get a shift, the key word here is ‘trying.’”
She shakes her head and folds her hands behind her back. “No, 3819, you’re wrong.” She smiles, sweet and light, like the suns rays. “I don’t know many people who would risk a shift to save someone else.”
“I don’t see how giving a shit about other people makes me special.”
“I never said special. Just different.”
“Different from who, exactly?”
She giggles, the sound like sparkles floating on the air. “From everyone in the Wasteland, silly.” She looks at the ceiling as if deep in thought. “Well, most people in the Wasteland. There are others, like us.”
“Like us? No,” I shake my head and take a step back. “No, I’m nothing like you. I’m normal.”
“See, that’s our problem.” There she is again, speaking as though we are the same.
“The Wasteland tries to tell us what is normal.” Her far-off gaze hardens, her eyes covered in shadow. “People exchange polite pleasantries and talk with one another as if they’re all old friends. But no one really cares about anyone else.” She shakes her head. “No, everyone only cares about themselves.”
She takes a step forward, and then another, until she stands right in front of me. “The Wasteland teaches it’s citizens to value themselves above everything else, above everyone else. No one is willing to do anything nice, not if it means putting themselves at risk.” She places her hands on my shoulders and looks me straight in the eye. “Except for you, 3819.”
