Agnes Seraphine - Random Excerpt

                Civics class.  Probably the most boring, unproductive class that I’ve ever taken.  It’s simply a combination of American History and blah blah blah.  How is it humanly possible to be interested in this sort of stuff?

                Well…thus Mr. Reynolds.  A tall, skinny man, orange hair with a mustache and beard; always wore those grandpa sweaters with the diamond pattern down the front.  He stood at the front of the class, pacing like he was some sort of important college professor (which he isn’t) while rambling on about presidential impeachment.  This stuff is so above--or below, I can’t tell--me.  It’s too much reality for my poor brain.

                So I sat, bored out of my mind, tapping the tip of my pen on the desk.  I sat in the back left corner, so it was pretty easy for me to get away with not taking notes or even paying attention.  I glanced sideways at the new kid, Phoenix Stratos, who looked as bored as I was.  I know right, pretty much the coolest name ever.  He didn’t talk much though.  I hoped it was just because he was new here at Bolton; I would’ve liked to get to know him.  He looked like a funny, interesting guy.  Plus I heard that he played bass and wanted to start a band and name it Stratosphere.   Hells yes.

                As Mr. Reynolds explained the steps towards impeachment, I watched as Phoenix drew a Deatheater tattoo on the inside of his left forearm with a Sharpie.  He paused and grinned at his work.  Maybe he should be an artist like me instead of a musician.  Well, technically, musicians are artists, but you what I meant.

                “Who was the only president to be impeached?”  asked Mr. Reynolds in a loud voice.

                “You.”  I hear Phoenix mutter under his breath.  I stifled a laugh.  Mr. Reynolds stopped pacing and looked at Phoenix with hard, black eyes behind thick-rimmed glasses.

                “Phoenix, do you have an answer?”  he asked presumptuously.

                Phoenix blinked.  “Can you repeat the question?”  he said, not too mockingly.  Mr. Reynolds’ eyes narrowed on him even more.

                “Who was the only president to be impeached?”

                “The Sith Lord.”  said Phoenix, nodding confidently.  He received a round of laughter that rippled through the room as his applause.  With one gesture of his head, Mr. Reynolds demanded for everyone to be quiet.

                “No, that’s incorrect.”

                “No, duh.”  I muttered, smiling at Phoenix, who smiled back briefly.  Then he returned to his permanent marker tattoo; adding minute details.

                “Agnes?  How about you?”  said Mr. Reynolds.

                I didn’t know what to say.  I wanted to make a smart-a*s comment like Phoenix, but I couldn’t think of anything good.

                “Uh…Nixon?”  I guessed.  Mr. Reynolds grinned sneeringly.

                “Good guess, but no.  Nixon was almost impeached, but resigned before that happened.  The only president to actually be impeached was Andrew Jackson.  He--“  Blah blah blah.  He resumes his rambling and pacing. 

                As for me, I was even more bored than before.  I glanced at Phoenix again.  He sat down his Sharpie, crossed his arms, and laid his head down.  I turned and looked out the window.

                Weird.  For a second there, I thought I saw a person cloaked in black, peeking through the trees.

 

 

After Civics, we all went to lunch.  I wanted to sit near Phoenix, but he went into the bathroom and I didn’t see him again after that.  So I sat with my best friends Beth and Talia.  Beth was a transplanted Georgian, so she had that ‘God bless ya’ll’ sort of attitude and was reminiscent of Kelly Clarkson and Paula Deen.  She liked gossiping, music, and gossiping.  Talia was an Edgar Allen Poe-inspired poet with glasses and always wore low-top sneakers and skinny jeans and never wore makeup.  I didn’t think she needed it; she was already very beautiful with her dark skin and thick black hair.  And she was the only one who knew what the heck Mr. Douglas was talking about in Literature class.

                That was our threesome: Elizabeth Marianne Collins, Talia Lynne Gordon, and me, Agnes Seraphine Stewart.  All straight-A juniors at Bolton High, deep within the heart of the woodlands.  Yeah, our little town of Bolton (Population: 856; 56 of which are teenagers who attend Bolton High...interesting, huh?) was nestled in the trees.  We were like lumberjacks, prairie folk--whatever.  Sort of.  Not really.

                I stared at my granola bar as Beth and Talia babbled on and on about twenty-two different topics per minute, ranging from Justin Bieber to Beauty and the Beast and the assassination of Rasputin.  I didn’t really feel like eating that granola bar.  It had tiny dehydrated marshmallows in it.  I don’t even like hydrated marshmallows.  Why would I want to eat tiny marshmallows that have been sucked of life?

                Then I heard a sound--something...a scream?  A moan?  A growl?--coming from the woods.  It was so loud that it echoed in my ears.  I dropped my bar instantly and clasped at my head.

                “Aggy?  What up, girl?”  asked Talia.

                I stare at her and Beth.  They’re both looking at me like I’m some sort of pretty alien.

                “You…didn’t hear that?”  I said, still in shock.

                “Hear what, Aggy?”  drawled Beth’s syrupy voice.

                “I think it was a scream, but I can’t be sure.  It came from over there.”  I gestured loosely at the woods.  “How could you not hear that?”

                “I didn’t hear anything.”  said Beth.  Talia nodded in agreement.  I took a breath and reached down to pick up my granola bar, shrugging.

                “Maybe I just imagined it.”  I smiled at them reassuringly.  “Wouldn’t be the first time, hmm?”  My friends laughed and then went back to talking about moral issues in Twilight.  When their conversation deepened, I was able to slip away.  I started to run towards the woods.  There were only ten minutes left for recess; I had to hurry.

 

 

I basically navigated through the trees on instinct.  I didn’t know where the heck I was going, but at the same time, I kind of did.  It’s hard to explain.

                But I wasn’t finding anything out of the ordinary.  What exactly was I looking for?  I didn’t know, but I couldn’t have imagined that sound.

                I whirled around when I hear someone--or something--pass behind me.  Nothing was there.  Something was playing with me, and I didn’t like it at all.  I crouched down behind a bush and tried to collect myself.  My legs hurt from running so fast, and my lungs burned from breathing in the crisp February air.  I took off my plaid newsboy cap and fanned myself with it.  I took several heavy breaths before I heard several people talking from some thirty or so feet away.  I sat very still then; silent, listening.

                “--he’s finally found him, or so he says.”  sneered a young woman’s congested voice.  I could easily imagine what she looked like.  “The past hundred times have been nothing but BS.  I’m tired of waiting.”  I hear her kick something.  “He’s better be right this time.”

                “Or what, Esmer?  What will you then?”  said a man’s voice.

                “I’ll kill him.”

                The man laughed.  “Ah yes, kill our soothsayer.  The source of all our knowledge.  Lord Drago will certainly be pleased.”  he said.  The girl snorted as the man and another laughed softly.

                “Shut up.  You know this whole ‘chosen one’ thing has been a doozy.  You can’t tell me you’ve enjoyed being his stupid, insignificant slave for all these years.”  she sneered.  The other two stopped laughing.

                “Agreed.”  said a younger male voice, after a moment.

                I sneezed then, not too loudly, but I knew it was over for me.

                The three strangers stopped talking immediately, and one of them was walking towards me, slowly.  I pitifully tried to hide myself in the bush without making any more noise.  I knew full well that they would find me, but I was too afraid at the time to make a run for it.

                The footsteps were very close now.  The edge of a blade came over the top of the bush"

                “Ralse!  Derrin!  Esmer!”  rang out an old man’s voice, “Now!”  I assumed Ralse was the older man with Esmer; Derrin the younger one.  The blade above my head disappeared.  I heard a few shuffling sounds, a murmur, and then nothing.

                After a minute or two, I decided it was safe enough to stand up and look over the bush.  No one was there, nor was there any trace that anyone had been there.  Who were those guys?  And what was so important that they had to hurry off without checking to see if there was a potential eavesdropper hiding in the bush?  They had the strangest names I had ever heard, and let’s face it, they were awfully suspicious.

                But the bell rang then, and I ran back to school.

 

 

History followed.  Another class that I didn’t particularly care for.  Why couldn’t school just be Physics and Trigonometry?  Oh, and Calculus.  Can’t forget good ol’ calculus.

                I kept thinking about the incident in the woods.  Those people were up to something, and judging by their arrogant, lofty voices, it wasn’t something good.  I wished that I had seen what they looked like.

                Class began, and Mrs. Ward looked up from her writing.  Her eyes scanned the room, looking for absences.

                “Mr. Stratos isn’t here today?”  she asked us.  I looked behind me; sure enough, Phoenix wasn’t there.  I suddenly felt dizzy and got a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach.  Those people--could they have--No.  I was being ridiculous.  They were probably just some weirdos looking for…stuff…to sell.  Maybe Phoenix wasn’t feeling well, so he went home.

                “He was here,”  said Beth, fiddling with her hair, “I saw him at lunch.  Dunno where he is right now though.”

                “Hmm.”  said Mrs. Ward, scribbling something on her paper before standing up and beginning a 45-minute lecture on the Roman Empire.

                I couldn’t sit still.  I couldn’t write notes.  I could just copy Talia’s later.

                Something wasn’t right.

 

 

That night, I lay awake in bed at 12:30a.m.  Phoenix had hardly left my mind.  I thought of all the horrible things those people could be doing to him.

                I shook my head and turned over.

                I watch too many movies.  I thought to myself.

                He was fine.  I was the one that wasn’t fine.

 

 

The next morning went as every school morning went--you know the drill.  Punch alarm clock, get up, shower, dress, cram a little for Physics test, etc.  I was going over terminal velocity when Mom turned up the volume on the TV.  It was the local news.

                “A Bolton High teenager was reported missing last night.  His parents told police that seventeen-year-old Phoenix Stratos had not returned home after school, and when they called his cell phone, he did not answer.  Teachers at Bolton High said that the boy seemed in perfect health before he disappeared around noon…”

                I stood there in a daze, my mouth open, a butter knife slipping from my fingers.

                “Oh dear, the new boy!  I hope they find him.”  said Mom earnestly.  She looked back at me when the knife hit the counter with a loud thrum.  “Honey?”  I looked at her and shook my head.

                “Nothing.  Wow, I hope he’s okay.”  I said, trying not to sound too worried, and trying to butter my toast without shaking.  “I don’t know him very well, but geez…his parents…that’s really sad.”  Mom nods and reaches for her coffee.

                “Well, I’d better get going.  Have a nice day at school, Agnes.”  she said before heading out to her Rubik’s cube job at Bolton Realty.  I know…they’re not very original with the names around here.

                I closed my Physics book.  It sucked missing a test for your favorite class, but…

                …There was no way I could go to school that day.

Author's Note

This an excerpt from Chapter Two of "Agnes Seraphine". Please let me know what you think!

Reviews

[Illuminare]

Phoenix Stratos...duuude, that's a sweet name. And this is quite an interesting little story you got going on here. After reading your book "Felicity", what struck me immediately was the total change of tone, theme, voice-everything! And you wrote this with the same finesse. Versatility is one of the hardest things for writers and I think you pull it off nicely! :)

Agnes is an intriguing character, as is Phoenix. I'd like to get to know them a little better. (cough hint hint cough)

[ravenjess]

wow that was awesome. agnes is a great character, her voice is entertaining. i love this put up MORE.....

[Sylvana]

This is really good, I couldn't stop reading it. I agree a bit more detail would help for better imagery, otherwise, I would think it was pretty much well written.

[Amateur Dreamer]

this is a good writing. perhaps you could put in a little more description then it would get easier to visualise the picture. :) i really enjoyed it. put the rest up soon. good luck :)

[Bridget Murphy]

OOH, EVEN STEPHANIE ISN'T EVEN MENTIONED!!!! still good, and I like that name, Phoenix Stratos, Amazing can't wait to read the first chapter, put it up fast!!!!!

[Annie]

Woah! I love! If you put the rest up I will definitely read it. :) It's great, couldn't stop reading. You might just want to double check your writing, somehow a few random punctuation marks got put in. Great job!