Tag: writing

Life, writing

2017: A Year of Almosts, So Far

R. Hamilton

I’ve been meaning to sit down and post for a while, but adult things got in the way and I couldn’t find the time. And before you go accusing me of watching movies and eating pizza, know that you are right. I have been spending more time just to myself because I think I’ve left part of me somewhere and instead of spending a lot of time going out of my way to find it, I’m just gonna grow a new part. Which sounds super gross if you’ve just watched a certain youtuber play through The Evil Within (Markiplier, it’s Markiplier). Any way, I’ve got a few new projects coming up in the next few months that I am very excited about. I’m not sure how much I can talk about one of them, but the other is pretty cool. We’re putting together a podcast. I think that’s all I’m going to say on that one, specifically because I know I’ll spoil something because I suck like that and I don’t want to do that.

You don’t realize how many people hate you until you update your blog at the library.

One thing that has been really bothering me is people who take creative writing courses because they assume it’ll be easy. That the class will be an easy A and there isn’t a lot of work that go into it. Now I’m not comparing a CRWR (creative writing) course to a 400 level engineering course. But I feel that there are quite a few people that are in my current writing course that are there because they thought it would be easy. That irks me so much. I mean, I don’t care what classes you take, you could take them all, but at least put forth an effort. Especially at university, where you’re paying to be here. If you’re not going to write anything, don’t take the course. I’m in a workshop class right now, and there are a ton of people who never say anything. I’m a little guilty of that, but that’s because there are some people in the class that choose to dominate and refuse to let other opinions stand without argument. Others just try to re-write the story without any actual feedback. Our instructor isn’t the greatest, but he’s not actually a professor. He’s our writer is residence at the college, so he has different ways of looking at the class and our work. I figured it wouldn’t be like the class we took last semester, mostly because of our instructor. But I was okay with that. He tries to lead the class to the best of his abilities, but I feel like there is a dominating force that deserves a punch in the face. Others aren’t going to share what they think as the ass sits smugly at the front of the room interrupting and arguing every point. If the shit he said was helpful then maybe, but it’s mostly just what he wants to hear himself say and I get angry every time he talks. He’s like the guy who joins your DnD session and then tries to be the DM because he’s read all the books and knows exactly how it’s played and obviously you don’t understand what you’re doing. Except I can’t kick him out of the group…

Speaking of DnD, there may be a person I can get a game started with here at school. There is a chance that I’ll get a job here during the summer, which means that I’ll have a place to live and everything, which is super nice. There are a couple of people who seem interested and it would be nice to get into gaming again. It’s a lot of fun and it’s a great way for me to release stress.

I’m working on a new short story. This is a lot different than the last one, there aren’t any creepy monsters or white cats. It’s a story about a guy named Draper that gets a job at an amusement park that is run by an omnipotent god that has no idea what he is really doing. Draper is a sad guy with a pretty complex back story that doesn’t get explored all that well yet. I had the SO read it and he said it works, but he inspired the story so he already understands the backstory. I’ve got to find a way to fit that into it without being blatant. There is a writing competition that takes place on campus that I’m thinking about going for. An former professor sent our old class an email about it with the tag line “What have you got to lose?”. I miss her so much, I wish she taught 340. There honestly needs to be more people like her teaching at the university level.

I like how I can’t seem to write when I need to but then I’ll hammer out a post with over 800 words in a matter of minutes. That has never made sense to me.

Anyway, keep an eye out on twitter/facebook for announcements of my upcoming projects, because I”ll probably share there first and I’m always open to feedback.

♥

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First Drafts, Short Story

Knock Three Times (Part Three)

R. Hamilton

 

She woke up on the floor of her apartment, but she almost didn’t believe it. She was warm, the sun was shining into her apartment. Yonkers meowed from in front of his bowl. Everything seemed normal. Not at all how the world had been last night. Matilda sat up quickly, smacking her head on the knob.

“Ah.” She cried, holding her head in her hands. She cursed softly under her breath and stood, shakily. She felt like she had been hit by a truck; sick to her stomach, head pounding, and every joint in her body ached. She continued to look for anything out of place, anything at all. The house was silent and still; it was rather off putting. Yonkers cried again, this time from her ankle, pawing at her leg. The noise he made echoed strangely in her head, like someone yelling down an empty can.

As she poured food into his bowl, she swore she could each each granule hit the porcelain bottom. It was like a hangover, although the source had been the nightmare scourge that has chased her into her apartment. The brief and fuzzy image of the beast surfaced in her memory again and her head throbbed in protest.

She slowly sat on the floor, her back against the fridge. She rested her head on her knees. Yonkers swished his tail over her toes as he happily ate, his soft fur felt harsh on her skin. She moaned into her lap and tried to remember what had chased her. Before she could even summon it in her mind, her brain throbbed again.

She moaned again, her breath hot against her thighs. The pressure was intense and unforgiving. Steadying herself again, she leaned up against the fridge and used the opposite wall for balance. She decided that she didn’t know and she didn’t want to know what had chased her down the hallway, at least for right now. She made it to her couch before collapsing, each fiber of the couch stabbing into her. There was no comfort to be had, but her eyes closed and her mind drifted into a dark void of nothing.

Matilda woke up to the song playing. It wasn’t a quiet start, as it had been the passed two days. It was loud and near, no longer sourced through the vent; it played fully through her apartment now.

If you look out your window tonight.

Matilda shot up on the couch, her muscles and joints screaming in pain. Frost had began to form on the windows and she could see her breath. A loud thumping came from the upstairs apartment, interrupting the music. She looked around for the source of the sound. She stood, her body trembling, and stared up at the ceiling. Bits of plaster fell with every thud that made the house shake.

Read how many times I saw and how in my silence I adore you.

Matilda leaned up against the fridge, unable to locate the source. She glanced at the clock, it read seven. She touched the wall across from her to steady herself and quickly pulled her hand away. The wall buzzed with the vibration on the bass of the song. The blue paint moved in time and felt alive under her fingers.

Matilda belted out a outrageous laugh. The overwhelming tumult of the last few days escaping her in a crazed and maniacal cackling. She slid down the appliance, and bashed her fists into the floor. She hit the wall in front of her, her laughter turning into tears. She picked up Yonkers’ bowl and threw it against the door. The thumping above her stopped for a moment. The music skipped, and began repeating the same phrase.

…you want me…you want me…you want me…you want me…

The pounding gained direction and she heard it move towards the door of Mrs. Flintman’s apartment. Bits of plaster continued to fall as the mass moved faster. She heard it hit the door above and clamored to her feet. Clenching her fists, she opened her door and stared out into the dark hallway. The record began to skip again.

meet me in the hallway….meet me in the hallway…

She heard the wood of the door start to break and took her chance on the front door of the building. She rushed to it, the doorknob was slick and the glass was covered in frost. The knob wouldn’t turn and when she pounded on the door it barely made a sound. The door was frozen in place.

Matilda felt a chill up her spine, the cold was setting in faster. She held her breath as she heard the door upstairs give way and the creature begin to move through the trash. Staring at the upstairs landing, a mound began to push its way forward. The music jumped again.

Only in my dreams the wall between us was apart.

The slapping wet sound started to emanate from the landing and Matilda felt the familiar fear set into her mind. The world began to bend at the edges and her vision started to blur. Her heart rattled against her ribs, her breathing was sharp and shallow in her chest. The music began to echo around her and a growling started to grow from the landing.

I love you, I love you, I love you…

The mound of trash began to cascade down the stairs, the beast descending behind it. The light from her apartment only illuminated so much, but it was enough to renew the terror. Matilda scrambled toward her door, slipping on the ice growing on the floor. She could see the head of the beast, the light glinting off it’s greyish green flesh. A white viscous slime dripped from it’s jowls, and it’s large white fangs glimmers. She noticed that it walked on two legs, and had multiple tendrils. Matilda flew through her door and a large tendril wrapped itself around her ankle. She fell, adrenaline shooting through her. She cried out as she hit the floor, her head smacking into the hardwood. The beast began to pull her out of the doorway.

Oh my darlin’…

Matilda screamed and thrashed, her opposing foot made contact with the beast’s head and it shrieked in pain. The tendril ripped from her ankle, small punctures dotted her skin. For a moment she was freed and she pulled herself along the floor, tears running down her face. She grabbed the door and tried to close it, but the tendril shot back around the door. The head of it flexed open and exposed rows of sharp teeth. Matilda flung the door closed on the tendril, the entity shrieked again and seized. It tried to latch onto her again, this time it found her wrist. Matilda screamed again as it dug its teeth in, ripping at her flesh. She slammed the door again, piercing the skin of the beast. It left go of her and returned to the beast itself. Matilda finally had the door closed. She started to weep as the beast threw itself again the door. It shrieked again and Matilda heard walk away from her door. She stood up and limped to her bathroom. The light of the bathroom was dim, but she could see that the damage to her wrist and ankle were vast. She did her best to wrap them tight, hoping the pressure would stop the bleeding. The light in the bathroom flickered, and the bulb went out. The creature’s crying returned in full volume. She grabbed a blanket to keep out the cold and collapsed against her front door. The door was her last line of defense.

The room was dark. The windows were covered in a solid sheet of frost and snow covered the floor. Matilda shivered and wrapped herself tighter in her blanket. She held her back to her door, as the creature pushed against it.

Hey girl, whatcha doin’ down there?

The song had started over again. There was nothing to block it out anymore, it was if the song itself had consumed her thoughts. The clock on the wall still read seven, it hadn’t moved since she had taken cover in her apartment.

One floor below me, you don’t even know me, I love you.

The wood was cracking behind her, the creature was gaining purchase. She was exhausted. The gauze on her wrist and ankle had soaked through before they froze. All the light bulbs in her apartment were dead, popped one by one as she listened to the beast pace the house.

She had faded in and out of consciousness as time had gone on. Her original plan had been to wait for morning, but at this point, it seemed morning no longer existed for her.

A rather hard swing to the door splintered the wood over her right shoulder. She cried out again.

“Stop. Please stop.” She croaked, crying into the door. When the blow didn’t come again, she opened her eyes.

“No.” A gargled growl came from the other side. “, You knocked.”

The final blow broke through the door and a thick arm ripped through the wood. The smell of the grey flesh riddled Matilda’s nostrils with the smell of death, the mucus of the beast covered her. Matilda struggled meagerly against the arm. Failing, she disappeared into the darkness of the hallway. The music cut out. The house fell silent.

~

A car pulled up outside of the freshly painted building. A well dressed man stood outside the door, waving at the passenger of the vehicle. The driver got out of the car.

“Hey, sorry we’re late. Traffic is terrible this time of day. I’m Derrick, this is Melanie.”

“That is alright, I’m Jason. I think you will love this apartment. Small, but cozy.” The man shook hands with them and waved them ahead. Derrick and Jason continued to talk about the traffic, but Melanie had stopped and stared into the window of an empty apartment. A white cat stared back, licking its jowls.

 

Picture Courtesy of google images
First Drafts, Short Story, writing

Knock Three Times (Part Two)

R. Hamilton

Matilda woke up a few hours later, her apartment quiet and cold. Stuffing her feet into her slippers, she shuffled to the thermostat. It was still set at the seventy mark from earlier, but the room temperature read about thirty-eight degrees. Matilda tapped on the thermostat and selected the outside temperate. It read sixty degrees.

She exhaled sharply, her breath steaming. She walked to the window and tried opening it, but the window was stuck. She pulled up on it with more force which only made the wood groan.

“Fuck.” She smacked the window sill with an open palm and winced; grumbling in pain. Her breath fogged up the window. It was dark outside, the clock in the kitchen read seven. It was strange for it to be dark this early in the summer. A frozen gust traveled passed her ankles and she stepped back from the window. Kneeling down, she held a hand next to the vent on the floor. Cold air blew up from the vent; glancing back at the thermostat, she noted that the blue light for the air conditioner wasn’t on.

Matilda grimaced. With Mrs. Flintman gone she wasn’t sure who she should call to fix the air system. What about her son, a tiny voice in the back of her mind spoke. She dug through her desk, looking for any scrap of paper. Under a notebook she found a scrap of paper with the words ‘Flintman, son’ written on it. She grabbed her phone and dialed the number.

She got a busy signal. Frustrated, she hung up the phone and tossed it to the floor. She plugged in the kettle and while it warmed up, she dug out a hat and scarf from a wicker basket by the door. The kettle whistled and she switched it off. She began to pour the water into a mug when something stopped her in mid movement. Something that was almost familiar.

The beat was almost not there at all. For a moment she suspected that it was in her head, until it grew louder and she could hear the lyrics.

Knock three times, one the ceiling if you want me. Twice on the pipe, if the answer is no. Oh my sweetness. Means you’ll meet me in the hallway, twice on the pipe mean you ain’t gonna show.

She turned and looked into the rest of her apartment, scrutinizingly, as if blaming the room for the noise. Her eyes found the grate on the wall. It was louder than it had been the night before, cutting eerily through the frozen air. She knew then where the noise was coming from, although fixing the problem made her feel sick. The noise was coming from the basement.

Matilda paced her apartment, her slippered feet sliding across the hardwood. It had only been a dream after all, but just something about it had stayed with her. It was only Jason down there, maybe he didn’t realize how loud the music was, maybe she should just go knock and ask him to turn it down. The vision of the door to the basement stairs surfaced in her thoughts and she felt her breath catch in her throat.

Get a hold of yourself, for christsake you’re an adult. It’s a basement. We aren’t freezing to death listening to seventies music because you’re scared. Angrily, she stomped her feet, balled up her fists, and faced her front door. In a jolt of angry courage she pulled open her front door and stepped into the hallway. The hallway was colder than her apartment, but it didn’t deter her from walking toward the back of the hall, where the door to the basement would be. The music was in the hall too, up through the same grates in the walls. A low rumbling gurgle joined the music the closer that Matilda got. Her paced slowed as it got louder and changed into something more recognizable. It was a growling noise and it was moving on the other side of the wall. She shuddered and put her weight against the wall, her legs betraying her.

Only in my dreams did that wall between us come apart.

Her moment of courage was gone and she felt her knees start to buckle. The hallway began to rotate and twist. The growling continued ahead of her, she trembled. The music was blaring through the building, but she could hear something moving up the stairs. It was a soft and sludge-like sound, it made a slapping noise with every movement. The lights flickered and Matilda suffered with the music. The lyrics forced themselves into her brain scrambling all of her thoughts. She felt more dizzy and disorientated than she ever had. She heard the door to the basement swing open with incredible force.

I can feel your body swayin, one floor below me you don’t even know me.

The lights in the hall started to pop, going out one by one away from the basement stairs and sprinkling glass shards into the carpet. She felt a stone drop in her stomach and turned back to her apartment. She struggled to walk to the door, her entire body fighting her on moving; terror seizing her limbs. Tears were freely flowing down her face as she grabbed at the door knob. Whatever was in the basement was close behind her, she could hear it moving across the carpet. She could feel heat from it on her calves and the smell of rotting flesh filled her nose. She pounded on and forced her weight against the door, as it became harder and harder to breath. She screamed into the darkness as her door burst open.

Matilda fell inside and pushed the door shut with her foot. But not before she caught a glimpse of what was behind her. Green eyes that glinted in the darkness. She scrambled to lock the doors and sat with her back pressed it to, sobbing into her hands. The last thing she remembered before passing out was the music cutting out almost instantly, the growling stopping, and a soft, wet tap on her door.

First Drafts, Short Story, writing

Knock Three Times (Part One)

R. Hamilton

I do not know the original photographer, if you do please let me know.Matilda sat alone in her ground floor apartment. Her eyes followed the lines of the book, but her mind followed the footsteps of large and loud Mrs. Flintman upstairs. She heard that woman everywhere and was beginning to think Mrs. Flintman was loud on purpose, although one look at the woman would change the mind of others. Mrs. Flintman was a rotund woman, with a voice reminiscent of crows cawing at passersby; things that would be very hard for someone to change at the drop of a hat. Right now she was dragging her feet across the floor and Matilda was sure she saw dust fall from her ceiling. It was distracting and disruptive, but there was no way around it. Rent was only four hundred a month with full utilities and they were close to downtown Portland. Matilda couldn’t afford anything else at the moment, and, on the rare occasion when Mrs. Flintman was sleeping or out, it was quite peaceful.

It didn’t help that Mrs. Flintman owned the building either, or Matilda would have complained. She tried not to let it bother her and would do things out as much as possible.  She never brought people over though, for the sake they don’t ask why the hall staircase had orange shag carpet and smelled of cat pee. No one was ever really in the building but the two of them. There were only three apartments and the basement apartment had been empty ever since Matilda moved in. Mrs. Flintman’s son would come over sometimes. He was an average 30 something business man with a nice car. When they saw each other, which was rare, he would be pleasant with her. But she never got his name; he mostly came over to check on his mother. She asked him for money a lot, Matilda heard their conversations through the fan in her bathroom. He always suggested that she rent the basement apartment if she needed more money, which would upset her, and she would start to cry, which was his cue to promise to deposit money into her account as soon as he got to the bank.

Matilda was never sure what Mrs. Flintman used the money for. Groceries and things, for sure, but those were all delivered and never more than a few hundred dollars a month. Matilda had the working theory that the money went to online shopping and cats. There were so many cats and unopened packages in the building. Matilda had never minded cats, but now it was at a point where she struggled to get out the front door in the morning.

 

She came home from a busy day at work one day to the sounds of shouting. She recognized Mrs. Flintman’s, her son’s, and a second female voice she didn’t know. They were shouting about the basement apartment. Matilda had stopped in the hall to listen, her key in the lock. A great, white, and fluffy cat pressed itself up to her calves and purred. A slamming door upstairs made her jump and she quickly unlocked her door and stepped in, just in time for the unidentified voice to gain a face.

“We’re renting out the damn apartment.” The woman mumbled harshly, kicking the cat out of her way. The cat yowled and bolted through Matilda’s open door. The woman slammed the front door so hard that the dirty window cracked. Mrs. Flintman’s son rushed down the stairs after her. Matilda heard the whaling moan of Mrs. Flintman upstairs, and shut her apartment door.

Over the next few days, cleaning men and builders were in and out of the basement apartment. The carpet on the stairs and in the hall got pulled up and a new beige commercial carpet was laid down in it’s place. A week later, a moving truck showed up. Matilda had mulled over who her new neighbor would be in her mind so many times that she decided to be absent during their move in. She didn’t want to disappoint herself. A neighbor other than Mrs. Flintman, it was like a dream come true. She had imagined a woman her age and they could watch movies in the basement with popcorn and talk about how much they wish they could afford a better place. A whole apartment to buffer the sounds of Mrs. Flintman.

When Matilda did come home again, there was no new car in front of the building. The basement windows had acquired curtains though, a sliver of light passed through the part of a pair. She decided that she would let whoever it was get settled before she went down with a bottle of wine to welcome them to the building.  

Mrs. Flintman must have been asleep, Matilda didn’t hear the television upstairs or the woman herself. She sighed happily and dropped her bag on the chair next to the door. The cat that was laying there protested and jumped down. The white cat hadn’t left the apartment after the woman stormed out, and Matilda hadn’t bothered to get rid of it. Instead she gave it a name, Yonkers.

“Sorry.” Matilda muttered to the cat, falling onto her dark couch and kicking her shoes at the door. She stared up at the ceiling, her eyes heavy from a long day. That’s when she heard it.

Knock three times, on the ceiling if you want me…

It was very faint, almost a whisper. She turned and saw the source of the noise was the old furnace grate in the wall. Meaning the sound was coming from under her.

Twice on the pipe if the answer is no…

She continued to stare at the grate and grimaced. Her hopes of having a younger neighbor had been dashed. The song was so old, that they were probably old too. Matilda picked up a pillow and faux screamed into it. She went to bed that night with headphones in.

Her dreams were terrible. She was trapped in her building, the doors and windows were nailed shut and snow pushed against the outside. The lights were dim and she was filled with a sense of dread. Her last memory of the dream was sitting in the corner of the hall watching the door to the basement, hoping that it wouldn’t open. The door was opening and she was hit with a fantastic and terrible smell.

Matilda jolted awake in bed. Sweat poured down her neck and face, her heart thumping in her throat. Yonkers jumped up on the bed and meowed at her. She looked quickly around her room and registered no threat. Her clock read three.

She kicked off her blankets and hung her legs over the bed; Yonkers waddling through the mountain of discarded warmth. He laid down and purred. Matilda got up out of bed and walked to her front door. None of the locks looked out of place, but a raw nerve in the back of her brain wasn’t satisfied. She held her breath as she slowly turned the handle, the sound of the latch disengaging seemed to echo in the quiet of the building.

She pulled the door open and glanced back and forth down the hallway. No one was there and Matilda let her breath out slowly. She shut the door and re-locked it. She pressed her back up against it and realized how cold her apartment was.

Matilda checked her thermostat. It read the room at about forty -two degrees. She turned up the dial and pulled a blanket from the back of her couch. She turned on her kettle and pulled a mug from her shelf. The small window above the sink started to fog as the kettle grew hot and started to boil.

The furnace kicked on and Matilda felt the warm air flow over her toes. She looked at the clock and it read three thirty. Plucking a tea bag from the box, she poured the water into the mug, and steeped the bag.

The tendrils of the nightmare hadn’t dissipated by the time the sun rose, but Matilda pushed it as far back into her mind as she could. She did her best to distract herself, but by the time she should have heard Mrs. Flintman roaming from her bedroom to the kitchen, Matilda sat in silence with her thoughts.

She made a silent list of things she was going to do with her day; groceries at the farmer’s market, maybe stop by the book stall, grab a cup of coffee with a friend. And not go in the basement, the small voice in her head said. Yonkers was curled up in a loaf on the ottoman, his head raised as he watched out the window.

Matilda was restless the entire day. She felt as if something was watching her where ever she went and she caught herself looking over her shoulder more than once. She felt as if the world was pressed in around her and rushed home. Once she had the front door of the building close, she felt a tiny bit of relief.

The building was eerily quiet. Matilda couldn’t place what was missing until she realized in was Mrs. Flintman. Or the lack of her, really. Matilda didn’t think the absence of noise would be off putting, but it made her uncomfortable. It had been almost a full day since Matilda had heard anything from upstairs; and considered checking on the old woman just to be safe. She recalled how upset Mrs. Flintman had been after her fight with her son.

Matilda sighed and walked up the stairs, her conscious telling her to do the right thing and go check in on the old woman. Matilda had never been on the upper level of the building and the smell was the first thing to reach her. Rotting trash and cat smell, among other things, made their presence known to her nostrils and she shuddered. The door to Mrs. Flintman’s apartment was down a narrow hallway that was even smaller due to the amount of trash. Matilda kneed a table in the hallway and swore under her breath. She heard a shifting sound from further down the hall.

“Mrs. Flintman?” Matilda asked loudly, she moved the table out of her way and continued her way down the hall. Matilda finally got to the door, which she only could assume was one color at some point, and knocked. “, Mrs. Flintman?”

There was no response. Matilda knocked again, this time holding her ear to the door. Still, no noise. The smell in the hallway was getting intense, the bevy of smells changing steadily. Matilda pounded on the door now and it budged open, just the slightest. Matilda tried to situate herself to see through the gap, but Mrs. Flintman’s apartment was dark. She thought she heard the faint crinkle of plastic and a shadow move across the floor. Something about it made Matilda’s blood run cold, the shadow kept moving along the floor.

“Mrs. Flintman?” Matilda whispered urgently. “, Mrs. Flintman, are you there?”

The feeling of dread got worse, Matilda started to feel sick. She swear she heard a soft tearing noise followed by an even softer chewing sound. Her ears were flooded with a static noise and her breathing quickened.

“Mrs. Flintman?” She whispered even more urgently. Nothing, but the shadow on the floor, moving back and forth. Matilda felt the need to get off the top floor, her heart raced. She stumbled to her feet and tried to turn around. She lost her balance and caught the wall to steady herself. She didn’t take her eyes off of the gap in the door. The gap grew darker and she tried to walk away from it. She maneuvered out of the trashed hallway, catching her breath once she had room. She crouched slightly and tucked her head between her knees, taking deep breaths. A hand landed on her shoulder.

Matilda screamed and thrashed out to what ever was behind her.

“Woah. Woah.” A male voice shouted, grabbing one of her thrashing wrists. She realized it was a person and gasped in shock.

“Who,” She breathed deep. “,Who are you? What are you doing here?”

She pulled her wrist away sharply, looking at a man she didn’t know. He laughed.

“Don’t laugh.” She said harshly, rubbing her wrist where he had caught it.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I just, I didn’t think we’d meet like this.” His laughter subsided and he held out his hand. “, I’m Jason, I just moved in to the basement apartment.”

She stared at him and then his hand. She took it cautiously and they shook. Matilda looked him up and down. He was rather attractive; dark hair and tall, with piercing green eyes. She lingered on his eyes, there was something almost unnatural about them. They had been standing in an awkward silence when Matilda  broke it.

“I was looking for Mrs. Flintman, I haven’t heard her for a while and I was worried. Do you know where she is?” She asked him, speaking quickly. The feeling of dread hadn’t left her and she glanced down the stairs nervously. He looked over Matilda’s shoulder.

“Oh, didn’t she tell you? She went on vacation.” He continued to stare over her shoulder and she glanced behind her.

“Vacation? Mrs. Flintman?” She asked skeptically and then said quietly. “,That sounds impossible.”

She chuckled nervously.

“Yea, I spoke with her yesterday on her way out. She said she’ll be gone for a while.” His eyes moved from behind her to down the stairs. “Anyway, maybe we can get together one night and get dinner. Like a neighborly thing?”

Matilda’s brain was still swirling with information and she didn’t fully hear or understand his question.

“What?” She asked.

“Dinner? Get to know each other? We’re the only two that live here, it might be nice to have a buddy.”

“You mean, other than Mrs. Flintman?” Matilda continued to stare at his face.

“What? Of course. But I’d rather have dinner with you.” He chuckled again. He pointed down the stairs. “,I’ve, uh, I’m gonna go, I’ve got pasta on. But I’ll see you later right? Neighbor?”

“Yea, sure. I’m just gonna go close her door. It opened when I knocked. See you later.” Matilda turned back towards the hallway and began the adventure back towards the door. Her heart was still racing, as she moved between the towering piles of trash bags. The journey back down the hall wasn’t as bad as the first one, the air didn’t feel as heavy. She felt freer in the claustrophobic hallway.

As she reached the door, she noticed that it was closed. Puzzled, she reached for the knob and tried to jiggle it. The door knob held fast. The metal was warm under her fingers. She let go and told herself it must have been the wind that closed the door, that Mrs. Flintman must have left a window open. Probably so the cats could go in and out of her apartment while she was gone. She hadn’t fully convinced herself of that, but she decided it was the only thing that made sense. She worked her way back out to the stairs, descended them, and inhaled the fresher air at the bottom of the stairs. She slid her key into the lock on her door and entered her apartment. She went to her bathroom and took an aspirin, the stench up stairs had given her a headache. She felt gross, stepped out of the clothes that had brushed up against so many unknown substances, and stepped into her shower. With the curtain drawn she felt a sense of safety. With the new feeling of security, she allowed herself to cry, the water rushing over her; they weren’t tears of sadness, but tears of relief.

Matilda stepped out of shower, wrapped herself in her bathrobe, and laid down in bed. Yonkers curled up on her feet, and she closed her eyes against the world.

 

((to be continued…))

 

Life, Uncategorized

Well, Hello There!

R. Hamilton

So, it has BEEN A WHILE HASN’T IT INTERNET! I’m excited to see you again! Life has been INCREDIBLY crazy the past few months. I haven’t completed a single project, but I have run into some major roadblocks. Bryant moved all the way to Montana and then promptly left me about 2 months later, I’m still a little bitter about it. My job at the bakery broke my tiny little baker’s heart. A few good things though, I didn’t severely burn myself all season at the bakery, I am now single, I have the white car that I drove in high school back in my possession and I AM MOVING IN WITH MY BEST FRIEND! So, more good things than bad things. \

NaNoWriMo starts next friday. I am actually taking a class to help me stay focused this November. Hopefully this year I will finish without any terrible things happening. I am the world’s greatest procrastinator and it effects how I write. I think everyone should participate in NaNo, even if the thought never occurred to them to write a novel. It’s a great boost when you reach a goal and with writing I just find it easier. 

This year’s plan for Nano… is that there isn’t one! There never is. I am thinking about reworking the story I was working on for camp. There is a part in it where my main character has to make a decision, either go save the world (it’s more than that but that’s what I use to describe it) or stay at home, get married, and live a long, happy, and uneventful life (-snore-). Obviously I know what he is going to do, because if he didn’t do the former, there would be no story. So, instead of giving him the choice, I think I’m just going to have him kidnapped. 

I’ll lay it out here for you:
Rhen Farrar is our main character and he hates living in Oakreach, a town in a mountain (which I based off Columbia Mountain if you wanted a size comparison).
So, one day he goes off on his own to make him way to the capitol city, erm… blergablerga. (I don’t have one yet). He has left with a bunch of merchants and traders who end up robbing him and leaving him for dead.
He is tied up and bleeding and whatnot and this woman saves him. For some reason she looks like the girl from Brave (who has a name I cannot spell for the life of me) only older. She treats his wounds and gives him a token. Then she leaves him in the forest.
Rhen has to walk home and given his lack of a lot of clothing, shoes and no money; he has a bad time doing it. He’s is almost dead by the time he gets back up the mountain.
He recovers (of course), and asks his childhood sweetheart (who he had almost been engaged to before he left) to marry him, she says yes and la-dee-da the plan the wedding.

So, this is where I have been stuck, because Rhen wants to marry her but the red haired lady from the forest shows up and is all “we need your help”. So he has to make a choice about going with her or staying with his soon to be wife. What I’m thinking, is that instead of him even having a choice, the red haired lady (who actually doesn’t have a name, yet) just abducts him in a huge shroud of mist and she makes him a deal about he helps her and she takes him home and everything goes from there. 

I think it adds a dramatic effect to it, but I’m not sure if that’s the direction I want to take. But that’s all I have thought about NaNo this year. haha!

 

As I believe I have mentioned somewhere on this blog, I want to start doing book reviews, one every two weeks or so. But I’m not sure what I want to review, so I am leaving that decision up to all my lovely readers. If there is a book that I absolutely must read, please let me know in a comment!

I have missed you all, and I will try to post more often, though through November, I may just post excepts.

 

Food

Fictional Adventures and Boring Cooking

R. Hamilton

So. Hello everyone!

I’ve been busy lately. I know I’ve been saying that a lot but it’s true, I’m not just saying it so that you think I’m too good for you all. But work has kept me busy. Baking lots of things, being told I’m not allowed to do it, and then doing it anyway because no one else would do it. I’m still trying to get a job out at the mill, but that isn’t panning out like I hoped it would. I really hope I hear something soon, because it’s a great job and has great benefits. A friend of mine works for BNSF and I’ve considered getting a job there, but the one I was looking at would mean I would have to work in Minot, ND and from what I can tell it would be for three years or so, but I would work out of whitefish I guess. I don’t really know, I’ trying to get more information out of my friend, but he’s been off and on all day and it’s hard to have a conversation that way. It’s a better job than plum creek, but it would be hard to have a life while working there. From what I understand, you don’t get to move around as much for a while, and you are on call. Bryant and I have been talking about it. He’s convinced he will never see me. He will but there will be times when we will be apart for a period of time. I don’t know. Sometimes it feels like I’m not doing enough.

Other than work though, I’ve tried to start up writing again. It’s harder than I remember. I haven’t read a good fantasy novel in a while though. I’ve read a lot of H.P. Lovecraft and I love his work, but that’s not what I write about. I am waiting and waiting for payday so that I can go up to Bad Rock Books and see what they have. I have learned in my life to never walk into a bookstore broke. You stay all day and read, and then when the day is over but the book isn’t you have to leave it there and eventually you forget what page you are on, or someone else buys it, or something of that caliber and you feel robbed because you spent so much time with something and then it left you. Hmmm, kinda like real life. 

I don’t have a whole lot of work done on it yet. I have a loose outline but not much else. It has been so long since I read a actual fantasy book, it’s become a little absurd. 

So, I’m cooking a turkey. Why? Because I’m bored. Seriously, it’s the only reason. I made a broth out of chicken bullion, garlic salt, black pepper, lemon juice, and beer. I sprayed some butter flavored cooking spray on the top because my mum doesn’t have olive oil or canola. Hopefully it crisps how I want it too. Hopefully hopefully! 

BIRD! Cook faster! I want to take a picture of you!

Crafts, Life

Taxes, Carpal Tunnel, and The Gym

R. Hamilton

So got my taxes done today, something that I have been putting off. Among other things, I was putting them off because I just don’t like getting them done. I’ve also been putting off sewing, knitting, crochet, writing, learning how to speak Swahili, remembering that I’m 22 now, and reciting the poetry of Sextus Propertius backwards and in the original Latin. I may have been a tad hyperbolic on a few of those. But all the same, I haven’t been as crafty lately as I would like to be, partially because of my carpal tunnel. But,back to taxes. I went to a new H&R Block for my taxes. I don’t know how to do them myself (which I can admit) and I would be to nervous to do them myself because I’m prone to screw things up. So a few days ago I set the appointment and gathered my things. When I arrived today at the office I was the only one with an appointment, I arrived 10 minutes early. So I sat and waited… and waited… and waited some more. A quarter ’til five I was finally seen. I didn’t mind waiting since I was waiting on the person ahead of me to finish their return and it wasn’t the employee’s fault. So I sat there and waited. Once I was taken over to my Tax Preparer, I noticed something interesting. I attract really hyper people. My Tax Preparer was all about good attitude and tons of energy. It was nice. The same thing happened yesterday though when I went shopping for an undergarment (as I have not perfected the art of crafting them yet). My assistant in sizing and style choices was all about her energy. She liked the fact that I was taller than her and that I had long hair like her. It was a good experience on both accounts. So maybe I should hang out with these upbeat people.

I mentioned my carpal tunnel, which is something I have. Something that I ignore (for the most part) and something that I don’t let rule my life. Sure, the pain does prevent me from doing some things some times but it doesn’t stop me from doing them. Bryant bought me a magnet bracelet to help with the pain a few months ago, and it has helped considerably. That was until I played video games for six hours the other night. My hands went numb and my fingers tingled. When I put the controller down and flexed my finger it hurt to move them.  That night when I went to bed I woke up several times with dead hands and for the first time in a while I considered wearing my braces to bed. I decided against it. I’ve decided I should probably see a doctor about it, I’m just nervous about that because I’ve read that I can lose strength in my hands or lose feeling and control. That’s just not cool with me.

Tonight was gym night. I haven’t gone in over a week. It was hard but good for me. However, I had more of a workout than I had bargained for. The incline on the machine was kind of broken. By kind of I mean that when I pressed the button to incline it didn’t incline. Instead, it decided to incline with five minutes left of my work out. It wasn’t just a small incline either, it was a full 11.5 incline with a 4.8 mph running speed. I wasn’t going to give up five minutes until the end, I was going to finish. Even if it meant I fell off of the tredmill. Then, 20 seconds later, my speed dropped to 2.8 and I ALMOST face-planted. I caught myself before I did. Then the incline dropped to a 7.5 and the speed increased to 3.8. At this point I was incredibly confused at this point. My tredmill was POSSESSED. For the remaining time on my workout it changed seven more times in both speed and incline. By the time my cool down started I was a little wary that it was going to go awry and my cool down was about to become the “psych, we’re not cooling down yet, got ya” but it finished nicely.

Three topics are hard. I think I’ll stick to two topics. I can make that sounds more adventurous that I can three. Three sounds like a list of things to do. Had I written about two I could have said “Tackling Taxes and Gym (insert word that starts with ‘g’ that means adventure)”.

I wanted to acknowledge the fact that four readers have decided to follow my blog. It’s the most followers that I have ever had on any blog I’ve ever written, so thank you.