Post by SomethingAboutTheStars on Dec 30, 2011 18:53:11 GMT -5
Thank you for the comments, walktherainbow and a guest, Kailyn! (: Things will get better soon. Comments appreciated. Read prior chapters! Thanks again. They can be found:
Prologue: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=fiction&thread=789&page=1
Chapter 1: www.thegreysonchanceforum.com/ind....play&thread=793
Chapter 2: You're already here!
Chapter 3: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....play&thread=798
Chapter 4: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....play&thread=807
Chapter 5: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=fiction&thread=809&page=1
Chapter 6: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=fiction&thread=811
Stephen drops me off at my house, making me promise to come back to the shop soon. I tell him of course. He should know that I’d rather be there than here. My apartment is cold, nearly empty except for a bed, a cough, the stove, the fridge, and a few tables with lamps on them. There’s also a book shelf. It mocks me every time I write or even look at it.
My fingers wipe the thin layer of dust that’s settled on the box, and with the other hand I slowly pull it from its hiding spot, wedged between two thick books. I swiped my hand across it again, rubbing my fingers together afterwards to rid them of any lint or dirt. The box is a small metal tin, smaller than the average size book, but bigger than a tin of mints. Inside, cushioned by sheets of fluffy white cotton, are a necklace and a handwritten letter. Carefully, I pick up the letter, pulling the corner free of the soft cotton.
I’m not going to read it now. It’ll just mock me like the rest of the world. I’m not clever enough to figure out what it’s supposed to mean. My manager over estimated me. He was too nice. So I will never find a connection to him again. He saw a ghostly image of me. He didn’t see the real me. He somehow some good in me that even I couldn’t find.
It wasn’t fair.
I sigh, and put the note back into the box. The rough, dry skin of my fingers catches on the cotton. I am repulsed by the feeling, so I shove the lid onto the box and cram it back into its place. It stays there just long enough for me to get rid of the painful lump I feel forming in my throat.
I pull myself together, wipe my eyes, and make myself a simple dinner. Hot soup from the stove is delicious when it’s snowing. Stephen was right—it was getting cold. My apartment wasn’t built in the best way, the cold sneaks in through the thin metal windows. The landlord doesn’t bother heating the hallways, and so the cold enters from beneath the wide door crack too. The fire escape’s nice in the summer, but in the winter, it’s bitter. I wrap myself in a fuzzy bathrobe and my heated blanket and eat my soup slowly. It tastes so good in the cold, salty and delicious. It’s broccoli cheese. When I’m done with that, I wash the bowl and set it on the side of the sink to dry. Then I do homework that’s supposed to be done by Monday. And yet it’s Friday. But I want my weekend to be free. As always. I write at the café after my morning shift at the bookstore across the street, and then I’ll argue with Stephen about my jacket and a ride home. He’ll win, and at home I’ll try and decode the message my manager left me.
I take a cup of tea and sit down on my couch after grabbing the box. Again, I lift the note from its spot. I take off my charm bracelet and lay it out on the tiny coffee table. My bullet necklaces follow soon after. I stare at the note.
1 Crossed by Ally Condie (hardcover)
165/12/4
2 The Book Thief by Markuc Zusak (paperback)
143/1/8
3 Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (hardcover)
349/23/5
4 Haven by Kristi Cook (paperback)
111/6/12
5 Paper Towns by John Green (paperback)
71/3/7
6 Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (hardcover)
96/22/2
7 Will Greyson, Will Greyson by John Green and David Levithan
122/6/5
8 Take e There by Suzanne Collistani (paperback)
1/3/4
9 Angel Burn by L. A. Weatherly (paperback)
128/24/5
10 See 6
11 Annexed by Sharon Dogar (paperback)
12/11/13
12 The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (hardcover)
27/25/3
13 Peak by Roland Smith
4/18/7
The numbers keep going like this, up to 73.
Soon, my face is in my hands. There’s just too much. I know it’s a code, that it’s a message, but I don’t know how to decode it. It should be simple, easy. But I’ve studied for two years and I can’t even figure it out. I want to cry. But I slap the thoughts away and continue on studying the note. I can’t give up. Two years for a message has been long enough. So I stay awake until everything screams at me to stop.
Prologue: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=fiction&thread=789&page=1
Chapter 1: www.thegreysonchanceforum.com/ind....play&thread=793
Chapter 2: You're already here!
Chapter 3: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....play&thread=798
Chapter 4: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.c....play&thread=807
Chapter 5: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=fiction&thread=809&page=1
Chapter 6: thegreysonchanceforum.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=fiction&thread=811
Chapter 2
Laurence
Stephen drops me off at my house, making me promise to come back to the shop soon. I tell him of course. He should know that I’d rather be there than here. My apartment is cold, nearly empty except for a bed, a cough, the stove, the fridge, and a few tables with lamps on them. There’s also a book shelf. It mocks me every time I write or even look at it.
My fingers wipe the thin layer of dust that’s settled on the box, and with the other hand I slowly pull it from its hiding spot, wedged between two thick books. I swiped my hand across it again, rubbing my fingers together afterwards to rid them of any lint or dirt. The box is a small metal tin, smaller than the average size book, but bigger than a tin of mints. Inside, cushioned by sheets of fluffy white cotton, are a necklace and a handwritten letter. Carefully, I pick up the letter, pulling the corner free of the soft cotton.
I’m not going to read it now. It’ll just mock me like the rest of the world. I’m not clever enough to figure out what it’s supposed to mean. My manager over estimated me. He was too nice. So I will never find a connection to him again. He saw a ghostly image of me. He didn’t see the real me. He somehow some good in me that even I couldn’t find.
It wasn’t fair.
I sigh, and put the note back into the box. The rough, dry skin of my fingers catches on the cotton. I am repulsed by the feeling, so I shove the lid onto the box and cram it back into its place. It stays there just long enough for me to get rid of the painful lump I feel forming in my throat.
I pull myself together, wipe my eyes, and make myself a simple dinner. Hot soup from the stove is delicious when it’s snowing. Stephen was right—it was getting cold. My apartment wasn’t built in the best way, the cold sneaks in through the thin metal windows. The landlord doesn’t bother heating the hallways, and so the cold enters from beneath the wide door crack too. The fire escape’s nice in the summer, but in the winter, it’s bitter. I wrap myself in a fuzzy bathrobe and my heated blanket and eat my soup slowly. It tastes so good in the cold, salty and delicious. It’s broccoli cheese. When I’m done with that, I wash the bowl and set it on the side of the sink to dry. Then I do homework that’s supposed to be done by Monday. And yet it’s Friday. But I want my weekend to be free. As always. I write at the café after my morning shift at the bookstore across the street, and then I’ll argue with Stephen about my jacket and a ride home. He’ll win, and at home I’ll try and decode the message my manager left me.
I take a cup of tea and sit down on my couch after grabbing the box. Again, I lift the note from its spot. I take off my charm bracelet and lay it out on the tiny coffee table. My bullet necklaces follow soon after. I stare at the note.
1 Crossed by Ally Condie (hardcover)
165/12/4
2 The Book Thief by Markuc Zusak (paperback)
143/1/8
3 Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (hardcover)
349/23/5
4 Haven by Kristi Cook (paperback)
111/6/12
5 Paper Towns by John Green (paperback)
71/3/7
6 Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (hardcover)
96/22/2
7 Will Greyson, Will Greyson by John Green and David Levithan
122/6/5
8 Take e There by Suzanne Collistani (paperback)
1/3/4
9 Angel Burn by L. A. Weatherly (paperback)
128/24/5
10 See 6
11 Annexed by Sharon Dogar (paperback)
12/11/13
12 The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (hardcover)
27/25/3
13 Peak by Roland Smith
4/18/7
The numbers keep going like this, up to 73.
Soon, my face is in my hands. There’s just too much. I know it’s a code, that it’s a message, but I don’t know how to decode it. It should be simple, easy. But I’ve studied for two years and I can’t even figure it out. I want to cry. But I slap the thoughts away and continue on studying the note. I can’t give up. Two years for a message has been long enough. So I stay awake until everything screams at me to stop.