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Work I started for the 2011 NaNo |
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She ran through the woods, her heart pounding in her ears so loudly she could barely hear the creature crashing along behind in her wake. She dared a quick glace back and groaned, it was so close, she looked forward and skidded to a stop at the top of a cliff with nothing but air ahead and rocks and trees below. Not even a river she could risk tossing herself into. She turned at bay, wondering how she was going to get out of this alive. ---------- Carly’s started awake as her alarm clock suddenly started blaring rock music at an obscenely loud frequency. “Josie!” she yelled as she swatted at her alarm clock trying to stop the barrage “Josie, have you been messing with my alarm again?” A young girl of about 8 appeared in the doorway, already dressed with her red, curly hair up in pig tails. “Of course I did, you’d never get up in time otherwise, consider it my contribution to a smooth running day.” She always talked that way, as if she were a 45 year old micro manager of a successful hedge fund or something. Carly would have thought it just came with being a genius as most adults and other kids who met Josie thought, but for the fact that Carly herself was a genius and she talked nothing like that. She swore Josie did it simply to irritate her sort of her life’s goal. “I had my alarm set Carly grumped and at a reasonabel time and volume setting you little imp!” “I hardly call 8:30 a.m. a reasonable time to get us out the door by our 9:00 a.m. departure time and you barely move for anything under the setting of 9 on your radio.” Josie frowned as she glanced around Carly’s room. “Are you even packed yet?” Carly sat up and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. What she saw was a pale girl of about 15, average height, and weight but with startlingly bright and large green eyes and a lovely auburn red hair which was now doing an impersonation of two wombats in mid-fight. Woah! Boy she knew she had tossed and turned all night last night in vague horror of today’s trip, but wow, how was she going to comb that out? “For your information Miss I’ve Been Packed for a Week I still have not decided what I might need, so no, I am not fully packed yet. What time is it anyway?” She glanced at the clock and gasped. She shot out of bed and stalked toward her little sister who stood her ground but started to look a bit wild-eyed and not so sure of herself. “5:30 a.m.?? You set my alarm for 5:30 a.m.? “ Carly’s voice went up an octive or two as she went on “We are not leaving for this horrid camp until 9:00 a.m. I don’t even wanna go, but no the little one must not attend on her own (she imitated their Grandmother’s rather patrician and snooty tone) no, no Carly, Carly must go with her to make sure she is ok... 5:30 a.m.!?! I can’t believe that not only are you ruining my whole summer, but you then add insult to injury by sneaking into MY room and setting MY alarm for a time that should not even exist! “ She was now nose to nose with her little sister, Josie’s hair puffed up and down with each inhilation and exhalation that Carly made. “Now, now” Josie gulped a bit nervously “just calm down, now that your up you might as well stay up. And this camp is supposed to be quite wonderful, very few get invited to go. It will be great, you just wait and see.” She carefully took two steps back and offered an olive branch. “I’ll even comb the snarls out of your hair for you.” Carly stood glaring still, huffing like a bull, then as that offer sunk in her breathing started to even out. “You will? Carefully?” Josie heaved a quiet sigh of relief “Yes, of course carefully. We all know you do not have the patience for it and only end up hurting yourself and leaving copious amounts of hair everywhere.” Carly suddenly relaxed and sighed. “Fine, but you can help me pack then too twerp. “ She knew, but would never admit, that Josie was much more organized that she and also much quicker about it. Josie grinned “Sure, I had planned on that anyway. I mean to leave on time. No matter what.” Carly knew she meant it too, Josie may have been only 8, but she was no one to be trifled with. She could out argue a group of the best lawyers and politicians in the world and make them think that her point was theirs in the end. Carly hopped into the shower to sounds of Josie whirling around her room singing and packing. It seemed that Josie always was singing while she did things. The only time she was totally quiet was when she read. Even in her sleep she hummed and sang snatches of words. She had had to learn to sleep with her door closed at quite a young age as it drove the rest of the family batty. Nine o’clock a.m. on the dot the families SUV was backing out of the driveway with her Mom at the wheel. Carly had to admit to herself that it was a good thing she got up so early. It took Josie a long time to carefully de-knot Carly’s hair and then of course Carly had to play with and say goodbye to all the pets at least twice. How they would survive without her for two months she had no idea. She disregarded the thought of how would she survive for those two months without them. Her thoughts turned to what was ahead. Camp. Someplace she had never thought she would be going ever. She was an introvert, all this team participation talk made her skin crawl. Just the thought of having to work together with people she didn’t know to achieve something, anything, made her palms sweat and her breathing grow short. Josie now, Carly glanced over at her, she practically glowed with anticipation. Team sports, clubs, working together for achievement was something she adored. Especially if she were team, club or group captain, which was usually the case. She ordered her minions about like a little amiable general. No hesitation, no fear, no sweaty palms. Camp was her fault. She had found a brochure laying on the lawn one day near the end of school. Camp Challenge is said in big, bold letters across the top. Looking forward to a summer of nothing to do? Boring, long days filled with nothing to do? Let Camp Challenge take you away from it all! Spend two months this summer facing challenges, honing your skills, team work and training! The brochure was Carly’s worst nightmare and Josie’s dream come true! Carly had been planning on a nice, quiet summer. Reading, spending time with her menagerie of pets and just being alone. Josie had promptly marched into the house, cornered their Mother who was in her study working on her latest novel and demanded to be allowed to attend. Carly came in behind Josie and demanded not to go. Their Mother, who hated being interrupted while writing, snatched the paper from Josie and read it through quickly. Carly could see the wheels turning and a light coming into her eyes... two whole months without either of her darling children underfoot while she finally met the deadline she had been failing to meet? Don’t misunderstand, their Mother loved them very much, but she did not have Josie’s organization skills, just the talent to write incredibly good stories. Deadlines therefore were still a mystery to her and her editor had been hounding her for the final draft of her latest book. The matter had been settled. Josie wanted to go, Carly must go to be there for her little sister. Carly tried to appeal to their Father, but he also had a work deadline, his latest project at work had turned into a monster he said and the free time would come in handy. Besides, camp would be good for them, he and their Mother had both gone when they were young, and look how they turned out? Carly did not find that a convincing argument. Other than knowing that their Father did some sort of “research” work he called it, they knew nothing else about what he did all day when he was at work and sometimes at night when he got called out. He did however, quite often, come home with singed clothes and hair and looking rather like he had been in a war zone, not a lab. Their Mother too, while off doing “research” for a book returned that way or was not in communication for days on end. They were not like other people’s parents as far as Josie or Carly could tell. They often talked about it and tried to figure out why. |
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