After reading about NaNoWrimo, I decided that next year I want to set November aside to write. I would have done it this year, but didn’t think far enough ahead to clear my schedule. I’m a little Sanguine like that. While I am writing this year, I do not anticipate hitting anywhere near 50K words for the month. I will do well do hit 8000 at the rate I’m going. Anyway, I thought I would share an excerpt from my writing with you…
Alivia smiled as poured coffee into a thick mug from the carafe that Melissa always kept waiting for her. A light rap sounded on the door as it swung open and footsteps fell silent in the thick pile carpet. “Ms. Randolph, an Officer Ryland is here to see you…” Melissa sputtered. The smile escaped her lips. She wanted him to go away. She wanted to forget that he existed. But she couldn’t. The little foot pressing against her rib cage was reminder enough. Protectively, she rubbed the underside of her abdomen and turned to face the officer.
“Ms. Randolph, we’ve had a new development in your case, if I could speak with…” he trailed off. Officer Ryland stood on the other side of her desk, staring down at her expanded abdomen with a baffled expression.
“Of course, Officer Ryland. Just give me a few minutes, while I wrap up this file. I’ll meet you in the conference room. It is the third door on the left.”
After closing the file on her desk, Alivia walked toward the conference room, carrying her coffee mug in front of her like a protective shield. She dreaded what awaited her on the other side of the door. As she entered the room, she glanced down at Officer Ryland’s hands. Subconsciously, she made a mental note that his left hand was bare, and bore no evidence that a ring had been ever there. Absently, she picked at a speck of raw sugar on the rim of her mug before lifting it to her lips, and leaned against the credenza.
He cleared his throat and began, “As I was saying, Ms. Randolph, we have new information… are you sure you should be drinking that?”
“What?” she queried.
“Never mind.” he said quickly, and began a short monologue to explain the purpose of his visit.
Distracted, she thought about the engravable tungsten rings she had seen earlier that week, while shopping with Melissa. Melissa, her cheerful office assistant, had just gotten engaged. She begged Alivia to help her shop for her fiance’s wedding ring, so they went to several jewelry stores, in search of tungsten wedding rings for men. Melissa found a classic wedding band, with a raised center, that she had deemed perfectly stylish and placed on hold with her appreciation bonus. Alivia had been drawn to a black tungsten wedding ring in the display case. It had a unique grooved black ceramic inlay, that was as elegant as it was industrial. The sales clerk had desperately tried to sell the ring to Alivia, never realizing that his incessant “for the baby’s daddy” chatter made her want to vomit. She would rather slice her finger and stick it in a bath of rubbing alcohol than think about this baby’s “daddy.” Which is why Officer Ryland’s presence was so disconcerting.
A sudden kick brought her sharply back to the present, and Alivia rubbed her brow. “I’m sorry, Officer Ryland, you were saying?”
He looked at her quizzically and repeated, “We have reason to believe that your attacker may have been one of your students.”
Reaching for a chair to steady herself, Alivia felt the blood rising in her neck as the sound of her own pulse echoed in her ears, just before she passed out.
And now I’m stuck. I’m not sure if I want her to wake up in the office, or in the hospital.
What do you think?
The office.
that is brilliant! love it.
You can’t just write something like that and stop!!! What happens next???? I say the Hospital…
I’m working on the hospital room scenario, but not sure I like it yet. This is why I am not a good NaNoWrimo’er. I want to edit as I go, instead of just write, write, write.
Wow you are good!!! I say hospital too.
I want her to wake up in the hospital …. but if she does she had to have been affected by the coffee or what was in it. I like your writing!
I am with Brandy – You can’t stop…ugh the suspense is going to kill me!
Hospital!