Teaser Tuesday

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve done one of these (I’ve never actually done one of these). However, I’ve been getting antsy waiting for NaNoWriMo to start, and I finally decided to do an excerpt from Monstrous just to start getting a feel for the characters. Anyway, the teaser is actually part of a dream that Tana, the main character from Monstrous, is having while she’s trying to choose between her two soul mates.

Be warned, it’s a tad abstract and mushy and nothing like the general chaos/ vengeance theme that permeates the rest of the story, but for some unknown reason this was the scene I ended up writing out so here it is.

P.S. Please don't judge the whole story based on the oddness of this scene (the rest of the story is so much stranger)

It was a mass exodus. There were people in trucks and cars streaming across the U.S. to the tune of “I’ve been everywhere” all heading in the same direction, anywhere but there. They started out in the right lane, but as the numbers grew they spread out taking up the entire road, with some spilling over onto the shoulder. It was like a hoard of locus sweeping down the deserted road.

Then my dream cut to their destination. It was the parking lot of the library where I used to work. It was full of cars and trucks with people scattered

I was standing with my parents and two people I didn’t recognize, but I knew who they were. They were David’s parents and they were waiting for him to come home to them. I was waiting too. Maybe everyone was or maybe they were waiting for the people they loved.

There was a commotion as a wave of new people flooded into the yard of the Library. I turned my eyes searching for him, and I found him almost instantly. There he was, dressed in his fatigues, carrying his huge camouflage backpack making his way slowly along the boarder between the parking lot and the yard.

He saw me too and our eyes met. He didn’t speed up and he didn’t slow down. He just changed course ever so slightly so that he was headed for our little group. Reaching us, he set down his backpack and hugged his parents. He turned looking at me, started to move to hug me, but stopped. We stood there just looking at each other.

I looked at his family and mine watching us, and then I looked up at him.

I looked back over his shoulder and I could see my mother standing there next to my father watching me. Her lips moved, and even though she was two far away for me to hear it I knew what she was saying. Be sure.

And as we walked into the library I was. David was the one. I would tell him I loved him and he would kiss me and tell me he loved me too. Finally we would get our happily ever after.

Inside we stopped beside a big circular table and I turned to him. Can I get my hug now?

He smiled a slow sad smile and reached down engulfing me in his embrace. Even though his fatigues were old and warn they still felt crisp and rough as my body pressed against him. He bent a little and I put my head on his shoulder

He was skinny and I should have been able to wrap my arms around him easily. I couldn’t. My hands could barely reach each other and his sides felt full and sturdy under my hands. Hugging David was like hugging a skeleton. This was like hugging a tree… No, this was like hugging Joshua.

I was hesitating, and he was changing. David was slowly disappearing being replaced by Joshua. A wave of panic washed over me. I loved David, and I wanted David not Joshua. I pulled back from his embrace a little, straightening. I felt a cheek against mine. It was rough with stubble and grit and it smelled like dust. It was David’s. It was still David. I still had time. Turning, I moved to kiss his cheek. It wouldn’t be much but it would be something, but as I turned so did he and the corners of our mouths met. It felt so good to kiss him. His mouth was soft and warm and he tasted good and I wanted to kiss him everyday for the rest of my life.

It was only a little kiss but I wanted it to go on forever, but then he let go of me and it was gone.

It was now or never, and I stepped back so I could see him clearly. I knew the words wouldn’t come out right, but as long as they came out it didn’t matter. I think I have feelings for you.

He just stood there staring at me. I thought this might happen.

And that was it. He didn’t say anything else, just went back to looking at me with cold hard eyes, and it hit me then. My mind staggered. I was sure, but he wasn’t. I might want this, but he didn’t. I was in shock, but I knew that if I hesitated now everything would fall apart and I’d loose him completely. But they don’t matter.

For a second we just stood there continuing to watch each other trying to figure out what to do next.

Then someone poked their head through the doorway. Come on.

That was it. The whole thing was over like it had never happened. We turned to rejoin the crowd streaming through the entry way and into the library. David reaching out putting a hand lightly on my back guiding me, making sure he didn’t loose me again. He really did care about me, I knew that, and maybe in some ways he even cared about me like that. But getting to a point where we could both admit it wasn’t something that was going to happen anytime soon, if at all.

-Aaron