The Forest

OK, so the titles a little if-ie, I'm not very good at coming up with titles for books, so that's it.  While I was sitting here trying to put off doing most of my homework I thought to my self, "Self! No one else has read any part of your novel yet, maybe someone wants to read it"
So, here it is. I was willing to put up the first chapter of my story for everyone to read.  Now if you don't mind I would like constructive criticism, so please leave something about it. 
And here it is . . .

Chapter 1

Abigail

Full Moon – Midnight

It’s time, thought Abigail. They will be running by soon. Abigail thought excitedly. She pulled her sweatshirt on and walked slowly down the stairs, as to not wake up her mother. Her back door opened silently and closed behind her with the faintest of clicks.  Abigail’s back yard was pitch dark with the only light coming from the moon, leaving her with the eerie feeling of being watched.  But Abigail shook it off. It is only because it’s midnight, she told herself.  The forest surrounded her, encircling her against her house, had shadows from the full moon’s light. They were shadows of things that weren’t really there.  Abigail shivered; the feeling of being watched was back with more intensity. She turned, an owl sat perched on the lowest branch of an old oak tree.  He was staring at her; his eyes were big and glossy in the moonlight.  He was snow white with a few black spots on his back and belly. He looked nothing like the barn owls Abigail remembers seeing at her friend Becky’s barn.  The owl was beautiful in the moonlight.  Yea, beautiful but also extremely creepy, she thought as she moved to sit under a neighboring oak.  Abigail could not see very far into the forest, for the moon shone ghastly shadows inside, disturbing her vision.  But still Abigail sat there, waiting for them. 

Moments passed, the snow owl still stared, unmoving, and it seemed as if the moon only shone brighter.  Her breathing increased as she heard feet pounding on the forest floor, coming towards her.  The owl turned towards the coming noise and hooted, he looked back at Abigail and spread his wings.  The owl hooted one last time and flew low over Abigail’s head and into the moon, the shape only silhouetted in its bright shadow.  The footsteps grew louder, vibrating the earth beneath her. Abigail was awe struck, like she was every month since last spring, as they ran by.  She watched, straining her eyes as one by one they ran past her.  Finally, she knew he was there, he was always last; her stark white wolf ran past her.  The full moon shone down on him, blinding Abigail for a moment, as the contrast between his fur and the forest was too bright.  Then, as if he knew she was watching, he stopped and turned towards her, staring at her.  His eyes were large and icy blue and shined in the moonlight. Abigail gasped, the pack kept running but he stopped and stared.  His eyes bore into Abigail’s, almost as if he tried to see through her.  Abigail sat up on her knees and outstretched her hand, to do what, she didn’t know.  He moved closer, almost as if her was going to touch her hand, but then thought better of it and ran off.  He ran faster than Abigail has ever seen him run, and he left her there in the darkness.

Abigail’s alarm went off early the next morning. She groaned.  The sun shone brightly through her window, creating vertical shadows on her floor.  Abigail stood up, groaning as her muscles stretched and popped. Wednesday, she thought, what the hell is going on, on a Wednesday. Abigail groaned, realizing she still had two more days till it was Saturday and that her wolf wouldn’t be running by again till tonight. Abigail sat on the edge of her bed and brought the heels of her palms to her eyes, trying to rub the sleep out of them.  Four hours of sleep, that’s all Abigail got. Between staying outside till one with her wolf until she was left alone in the dark with another snowy owl. When she finally felt that she would fall asleep outside she trekked back inside so her mother wouldn’t freak. Then when she got back upstairs, even lying down she still couldn’t sleep.  The wolves were howling and it sounded like they were fighting, almost as if they were trying to hurt one another.  However over all of that noise she could hear the hooting of two owls that flew past her window, as if they left and found each other after she left. 

                 Abigail sighed as she made her way down the stairs after getting ready for school.  Her mother wasn’t downstairs; she called out to her however she didn’t answered.  Walking into the kitchen she saw a note hanging under a magnet of their family picture. 

                 Abigail was written neatly across the top in her mother’s elegant script. We are sorry that we have to leave you alone this morning but I got called into work earlier than usual; however I will see you tonight around the same time as always.  Your lunch money is on the table. Love you.

                 Her note was short but it got across what she had to say, she will probably be going in at this time every day from now on. Abigail knew that last time her boss asked her to stay late her mother ended up staying till that time every day, now not getting home till close to eight.  So she placed the note back under the magnet and grabbed the money from the table. Deciding to forgo breakfast this morning she grabbed her bag and hopped into her small ’95 Saturn and left.

                 Abigail sat in the car and fumed over her mother’s new schedule, Abigail knew that at some point her mother would have to leave for work earlier. She knew that her mother was getting more engrossed in her work after her father left last year.  But Abigail never knew it would go this far.  She barely saw her mother as it was, now she was leaving before Abigail even woke up and not coming home till after she had eaten dinner. Abigail sighed, she had enough of thinking about her mother, and the bell was about to ring anyway.

Classes dragged on, not even her best friend, Becky, could keep her entertained throughout the day. Nor the stories she told about a new kid in town.  She only had one thing on her mind, her wolf.  They would be running by again tonight, and that was the only thing she could think of at the time.   Half way through chemistry something did catch her attention.  A boy, about her age maybe older, walked into the room.  Normally she wouldn’t have noticed such a minor detail about her day however; she was caught up in his stark white hair.  Abigail looked between the boy and the drawing of her favorite wolf.  Even though the wolf was colorless on her notebook paper, Abigail swore that the color of both the boy’s hair and the color of the wolf were identical.

                 Abigail was even more shocked when the boy with the stark hair came and sat next to her, obviously she hadn’t heard the teacher say that he was her lab partner.  Abigail still gawked at him when he took a seat next to her and turned to introduce himself.

                 “Hello, name’s Dean Douglas” The boy with stark white hair turned and told her with a small smile, and a hint of recognition in his eyes. “What’s yours?”

                 “Abigail, Abigail Adams” She said nervously.  Abigail wasn’t great at making new friends, hell she wasn’t even good at meeting new people. She tucked loose strand of hair behind her ear and nibbled on her bottom lip, a clear sign of unease.  It seemed as though Dean had known that she felt nervous because he gave her a small smile and turned back to the front of the room.

        Now that he was not staring at her Abigail could concentrate some more on what was going on around her.  She noticed that not only did Dean have the same stark white hair as the wolf but he also had the same icy blue eyes as her wolf.  His cheeks, nose and chin were angular, and a look down his body showed Abigail that he was toned but not over muscular. Just the way I like ‘em. Abigail thought, then blushed profusely. How did that thought come up? Abigail wasn’t one to think of boys she just met like that.  But then again it seems as if she knows him from somewhere.  It’s only the freaky coincidence that Dean and the wolf and the same color hair and eyes, she thought and realized that that was as close to rational as it was going to get.  Abigail had no idea why he was so familiar with her, so she turned around and went back to the doodles that now were forming as Dean and the wolf.  Abigail shook her head and sighed, this is going to be a long day, and she thought as the bell rang and Dean slowly got up from his seat and left the room.  He did so but not without a backwards glance and a small smile in Abigail’s direction.     

I have no idea why the font changed like that, but it did. *shrugs* I hope you like it, cause I have to go and re-write and English paper, and do two projects.  So, I hope my little detour from homework was worth it!
Maggie ♥

Snow Day!!

Setting the scene:
It's Wednesday night, the last week and a half have been full of hard tests and boring classes, when finally you hear that it's supposed to snow tonight.  Not just a light dusting that swiftly falls off the car, no a good hard storm that's bound to bring a foot of snow.  The nerds, (like me) have already finished their homework for the next day, are sitting at the window trying to predict the severity of the storm.  The slackers were putting off their homework, they were wishing for a storm all day waiting to have a day off.  But, the sun has gone down and school still hasn't been called off.  Students are praying for the snow to come down hard tonight and early into the next morning.  They go to bed dejected because the snow still hasn't started yet.  The slackers are still up trying to get some of the homework they never did done in case of school tomorrow.
However, it's now early in the morning, the sun is barely peeking through the thick clouds in the sky.  Snow is falling in thick flakes, the windows are covered along with the streets and side walks.  The air is still, there is no sound.  Not even the birds are moving about.  But soon there is a piercing sound that is echoing through out the neighborhood, a phone is ringing.  Then another phone is ringing, and soon the whole street is alive.  The only news that comes this early is the things that everyone is wishing for. 
There is no school today. 
Some parents wake their kids to tell them the great news, others let their children sleep cause lord knows they need it. 
As the day went on, some kids shoveled, others went out and some stayed inside.  But the day was not wasted. 

This is how I felt on Thursday when I was woken up by the loud ringing of the phone and my mother telling my their was no school.  I got paid to shovel then decided to rearrange my room, I felt I needed a change of scenery.  Not the my room was big enough to actually change any scenery, but whatever.  So as I'm sitting here, in my newly arranged room, typing this, I wonder if anyone really wants to know about my snow day.  But for the few that may read this, the day was awesome.  Well other then shoveling for two hours...
But even though I had most of the day to my self and all the time in the world, I don't think I wrote once.  How sad is that? My story just sitting on my laptop waiting to have something written down in it, only to stay there and be neglected.  But it will not be neglected for long, after this I will be turning back to start writing some more.  I can't promise that it will be good, but I can promise it will be something.
I will write soon,
Maggie ♥

Crying, Crying Softly

Today I went out and saw my high schools Dinner Theater performance (Everyone goes to a restaurant and my classmates sing and dance) and it was AMAZING!! Each year there's a theme and this year was "Just Dance," so all of the songs had to do with dancing or moving to the beat. There were sixteen songs in total and they kept getting better and better.  One of my favorites had to be Tiny Dancer, by Elton John, which was sung by a freshmen and his voice was amazing.  If he wasn't so awkward I would totally date him even though his older brother is in my class.  Another song I am in LOVE with that they sang (rapped) was Bust a Move, by Young MC.  I know all the words and couldn't help but sing along.  However, the one song that really hit close to home was the senior song, which is a song that all the seniors sing together with no one else.  I couldn't even tell you the song because all I am so close to all of the seniors that I was crying through out the whole thing.  I tired to hold it together for them but as soon as they bowed for their last time during Dinner Theater I lost it.  When we met after the show we hugged and cried and cried some more.  (I'm tearing up right now) Some told me that they were going to bring me to college with them, that I couldn't be left alone.  They wont miss me half as much as I'll miss them.  But other then the tears and the crying that show was amazing. But it could've been better, if I auditioned for it. 

Because I was crying, crying softly
While you sang for one last time
You stood in front of us
And shared your feelings with the world. 
So now we were crying, crying softly
When you said you had to leave,
When you said good-bye for one last time.
We all were crying, crying softly
While you loaded up the car
And started walking out the door
But when you drove away, and waved good-bye
You left me crying, crying softly
Wishing you had stayed.
But in the car you let go one single tear
'Cause you saw me crying, crying softly
Because I was left behind.

I really am going to miss them :'(
Maggie </3

Writer's Block

Again sorry for the delay in the posting, I really have to get better at this....
Well it probably wasn't that I forget to post on here its just that I really had nothing to say. Other than the fact that my novel is coming only, slowly but still coming along. But, other than that my life (real and fictional) have been quite boring. My imagination isn't what it used to be, seriously I could come up with a story in a matter of seconds, but now I'm struggling to keep up a story.  That sucks. 

But now I have to admit to myself the one thing that every writer hates, WRITER'S BLOCK.  The two words that loom over each writers head as they try to write as much as they can before writer's block takes over.  For me it took 68 pages for writer's block to set it. 68 pages! But I had my whole story line written out, why was I plagued with writer's block? I knew everything that was going to happen, why did it all stop? Why did my imagination just stop?

Maybe that's why we get writer's block.  We feel that if we write out everything that is going to happen before it happens, than nothing can get in the way.  But we know that it does, we know that our characters sometimes need a break.  Yet we still push them, push them so we can write more, so we can write longer, so we can write better.  We push their boundaries because of deadlines, ours or someone elses, or just to know the out come of what's going on.  Writers stay up all night debating possibilities of different endings,  it's our own form of insomnia. 

However, no matter how hard we try to figure out the ending on our own it will never come out right.  It will never be the same if the characters wrote it themselves.  If the characters controlled the story then most of our novels would be different.  Some of the characters would act differently, dress differently maybe even walk differently.  But we try to conform them to our image of that character, and for the time being they act that way.  Until they get pissed off at us, thus causing writer's block.  What if we just allowed our thoughts to roam free, to write whatever came into our mind, to use stream of consciousness? Would we still have writer's block? Would we still try to make our characters who they want to be and not who we want them to be? Is it just our characters actions that cause writer's block, or is it something else also?

Maggie ♥