Below are two sneak peeks of the stories, and I also have a trailer for each on my YouTube account. After reading/viewing, please either leave a comment saying which one you would read next (here or on YouTube), or vote in my poll. Thanks, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: Neither excerpt will appear in the published text of either story. The following pieces were simply drafted to set the setting for each story, as well as to give very subtle hints at the plot (a few key details are embedded in both). In the case of the sneak peek for "Phantom", the entire viewpoint has changed, so please take note of that. :D
You ever see those guys who don’t even dodge the ball in dodgeball? The guys that are too scared to stand anywhere except off in the corner where they think they’re safe? And even then they get hit cause there’s something about them that just makes them ball magnets? Yeah, I could name a few, all in my PE class. Seems these days they’re just popping up everywhere you look, you know? Some days I think there’s more weenies in the locker room than I can pound. But then I shake off that feeling. A guy can’t get too down, you know?
But if I can tell you something, it’s not the weenies that really get under my skin. It’s the down-and-out freaks. You know them; all dressed in black, clanking and jingling down the hallway. Disturbing the peace. I always stick a few guys in trashcans, let them clank for real.
My girl, she deals with the girl freaks. Those girls, they get off real easy. All they get are a few words thrown their way, not even a pounding! Guess cause girls are fragile. That’s what my mom always says, “Girls are fragile, you’ve got to treat them nice, if you want to keep them.” She always says that, ‘specially after my dad does something to make her mad. Anyway, speaking of fragile, there’s one of those freaks that’s got a real fragile mind, for sure. She’s like a bomb, ticking away, and one day she’s just gonna explode.
This girl, she’s a loner. Not even stuck in with the freak group, just hanging around with this other kid. He’s not a freak like her though, he’s just a nerd. The kind that has a love affair going on with a piece of metal. Don’t see what those see in their tech…techna…tech stuff. Give me a real girl any day, you know?
But back to this girl, she’s the weirdest girl I’ve ever see. Fragile. Did I say that already? Nothing going on up there, you know what I mean? She’s got no mind, I think, just maybe some bats, all flying around and getting caught in spider webs, yeah. Yeah, she’d probably be happy to tell people that too. Make ‘em think she’s special, an “individual” or somehthing. And in case you’re not getting what I’m saying, in case you can’t see how much of a freak she is, with a capital F, I’ll give you an example.
The other day, we had this earthquake drill, right? I don’t know why, it’s not even like they’re all that common over here. My parents say there’s never been an earthquake round here, and they should know. They’re smart, and besides, they’re old enough so that if there hasn’t been an earthquake in their time, heck, probably never will be. But the school says we gotta have one, just for safety issues. Says it’s a “legal matter”, which is all our school cares about. So we’re sitting in third period and the drill bell starts ringing like nobody’s business, and we’re all just talking cause we never hafta pay attention in that class anyway, and the teacher’s screaming, “Tale of Two Cities! Everyone under your desks! Under your desks!”
He’s carrying on and on and making this huge deal, as if it’s real, and we’re all gonna die. And everyone ignores him, of course. And that’s when we notice it. Even before the teacher started screaming, that girl, that freak, she gets under her desk. And the weird thing is, she’s having some kinda breakdown. Told you she’s fragile. She’s all crying and breathing really fast at the same time. Thought she was gonna pass out. And now the teacher sees, and gets her friend to take her up to the nurse. She got to go home, miss the rest of school. All cause she’s fragile, a fragile freak.
Cursed
My mother's favorite flower was a rose. She loved it for its beauty, although she wasn't superficial. Despite her first two daughters' shallowness, my mother valued what lay beneath the appearance.
"Look beneath the petals," my mother would instruct, peeling back the petals of the rose. Again and again, petals would disappear, dropping to the ground and leaving behind another prefect rose petal, blushing ruby red.
Finally, she would peel off the last pair of petals and laugh. "See," she would croon, displaying the slender green staff. "Such composure, such majesty."
And every time, as the last thing she would do, she would perform a true miracle. With a delicate "snap", the stem would fall into two pieces in her hands.
Each time, in the special way she had, the hollows of each stem would hold a perfect heart. I never knew her secret, she was the only one who could do this; as a child I chalked it up to magic, and I've never found any other possible explanation. And now, I hardly have basis for experimentation. When she left, she took the magic with her.
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