Wow! A big shoutout to the folks at @writeblrconnections for hosting a wonderful word crawl! I spent my day writing and completing all those challenges to finish on my adventure. What a great way to boost my word count!
Word Count: 17,450
Words Written Today: 5,319
How I’m feeling: Like I might actually make the 50k goal this month. I still don’t completely expect to, but knowing that I have a chance is a pretty good feeling.
Excerpt below the cut:
“You left me alone. How could you?”
“I thought it was a test, I needed him to like me!”
“Right, so your dad is worth more than me. I was nice to you when no one else was! I didn’t have to be, but I thought you deserved it.”
“I never said I wanted you to do any of that. Don’t blame me for your stupid decision.”
“He doesn’t even like you for who you are.”
“You don’t understand. He’s my father. He’s the man I’ve dreamt of meeting since I was a baby. Since I knew that my dad wasn’t there. Since the day I realized no one wanted me, I’ve imagined a father who did just that. You can’t change me now. I’ve made up my mind. I thought you would understand. I guess I was wrong. Find Lorna yourself, and go back to your own dad. I don’t need you.” I turned my back to him.
“Jackson...” he sighed, “I didn’t mean for you to...fine. Fine, you know what? I’ll go. I hope you’re happy with a father who doesn’t care about you at all.”
“He likes me! He cares about me!” I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince more: myself or him.
And a bonus second excerpt because I am happy and have written so much today:
“I know you want to get out of here, but we have to think reasonably. If we get careless, we could get killed out here.”
“Being killed would be better than living with it at this point.”
“Dammit, Jackson, snap out of it!” he screamed. I sat up, staring at him. “We are not going to die just because you’re upset your father didn’t want you, because I want you! And I’m not losing you! So you’re going to sit here and you’re going to eat the rest of this beef jerky, and then I am leading us until you’re feeling better and you can actually think clearly!” He snapped.
I lowered my head, but reached out my hand for the package. He handed it over, and I nibbled on a small piece. “What if I’m not hungry?”
“That’s a lie. That’s a lie and you know it. Eat.”
With an eyeroll, I shoved my hand in the bag and bit into a bigger piece. He was right, I was hungry, but I wasn’t in the mood to eat. I did, however, eat, if only to shut him up.
