Chapter 1

 

 

“A book holds its secrets, and they usually don’t show us unless we trust them, reading their side of the story.” –Nicole Renee

 

Letting her fingers flip the pages of an old, fashioned white leather book, Harriet felt her eyes glazed over with interest on the first chapter of the book called The Silver Light Chronicles.  The chapters didn’t have names, only having roman numeral numbers replaced for real numbers. It didn’t bother Harriet that much since it held an interest and it got her out of the world that she lived in now. She had always felt out of place, her hair being black as the midnight sky and her eyes being the lightest color of blue with a mixture of a violet color in them. Her skin was a fair color, yet seemed to be somewhat lighter than other girls her age. Plus, her teeth were surprisingly straight, her mother wondering if she was born an angel.

            Mouthing the words on the words on the fourth page, a quiet voice broke Harriet’s concentration. “What do you want, mom?,” Harriet mumbled, her eyes peering from the edge of the top of the book. “I want you to pick up a few things in your room. It’s starting to turn into a mess.” Harriet rolled her eyes, shutting the book lightly. She took a glance at her mom, noticing something that didn’t bring attention to her before. Alyssa Williams had light brown hair, having a bit of darker brown mixed in with it, and her eyes were brown. It wasn’t a hidden fact that Harriet was a ‘given orphan’ to Alyssa, having been told about it years ago. People had asked her if it bothered her at all, which the reply was no since she felt like a real mother to her and that her real parents probably had a reason to leave her with Alyssa for unknown reasons. But for some reason, Harriet had really noticed her features, shaking her head as she walked off to her room with The Silver Light Chronicles in her right hand. “And Harriet?” Harriet spun around. “Yeah?” A small pause was between the two before Alyssa picked up a cardboard box with the word JUNK scribbled on its side. “Can you bring this up to the attic after you’re done with your room?,” Alyssa asked, titling her head a bit to lift up the cardboard box. “Ok.” Harriet nodded, gliding off to her room as if wings were attached to her feet.

 Opening the door to her room, it was a well sized room that made most of her friends jealous of it. The colors of the walls were of forest green on one side and a light tan on the other. The cold wooden floor put chills to Harriet’s feet, making her wish that she had her slippers on that every second. “My room isn’t that messy…,” Harriet grumbled a bit, only seeing about three items on the floor. But the idea of cleaning didn’t surprise Harriet, Alyssa being a major neat freak. She would have weekly checks on each room, making sure nothing was out of the ordinary.

Picking up everything that was on the floor, the words ‘I got a lot to say to you, Yeah, I got a lot to say….I noticed your eyes are always glued to me, keeping them here and it makes no sense at all..’ suddenly got stuck inside Harriet’s mind, playing over and over again like a broken old record. “I wonder were that Paramore CD is….,” Harriet spoke out loud, her violet-blue eyes searching in her closet shelf where her cds were usually held. She would have used her mp3 player to hook up to her radio/ cd player to use the AUX on it, but her mp3 had been shipped over to be looked at, not letting her add anymore songs onto her Zen mp3 player. Pushing a few things out of the way, Harriet heard a swoosh of a paper falling towards the ground.  “What was that?...,” Harriet thought, turning around to see a piece of paper on the ground, shrugging away as she went into her closet again.

            She resumed to her ‘hunt’ until a huge thud noise had landed on the ground. “Oh s**t…” Harriet walked over to The Silver Light Chronicles book, picking it to feel an addition on the cover. “I’ve never seen this lock on here before…,” Harriet said quizzically, titling her head at the thought of it. All of the suddenly, the chain of the heart shaped locked that was around Harriet’s neck felt different, as though somebody was pulling the necklace towards the book. “What the---” Pulling the necklace off with all her might, Harriet tumbled backwards and let the necklace fly on her bed. At first, she thought she was hallucinating and thought that what she had felt was a joke. But when she pushed herself up from the hard wood floor, and walked over to the satin sheeted bed, the weight of the necklace was still the same. “I must be imagining this…,” Harriet said, shaking her head as she picked up the white, leather book. It felt soft, as though it was touching babies’ skin. The lock on the cover looked exactly like the locket that was Harriet’s bed, an idea forming inside her head. “I’ve got to be crazy…,” Harriet smirked, feeling a little weird for some odd reason as she snatched her necklace off the bed. A gut intention went throughout Harriet, opening the locket to fit it upon the lock on the book. The metal straps snapped off, one of them hitting Harriet’s knuckle. “Ouch!” A tiny speck of blood trailed off of her knuckle, the effect of it seeming more dramatic than it should have been. “Whatever…,” Harriet muttered, rolling her eyes as she flipped through the chapters with her unsettled fingers.

            Fixated on if there was a slight difference, Harriet realized that she had to bring the cardboard box of junk upstairs, rushing over to the door with the book still in the crook of her hands. She hadn’t noticed until her violet-blue eyes warned her at the entry way of the room. Harriet figured that she would find out later about the mysteriousness of the book, laying it down against all the other piled up books that towered over everything else that stood before its path. After pushing the infinite pile that she had on her shelf, Harriet swooped up the JUNK box, balancing it on one hip as she walked over to the attic door. Her footsteps sounded like scattering mice among the icy wood floor, the door way to the attic aging with tiny cracks around the bronze knob. It surprisingly didn’t feel as cold as the rest of the house, the slight touch of warmth overpowering the cold that Harriet was feeling at the moment. “That’s weird. , “ Harriet said with a form of curiosity, floating up the stairs as though her feet had no gravity around them at all. Her bluish – violet eyes followed the railing all the way up the rickety old stairs, hearing every moan that came from each and every step that Harriet took until she got up to the top of the stairs.

            Harriet let out a small huff, putting the junk box next to an abandoned mirror, moved up into the attic after Alyssa's room got remodeled. It seemed like it was over thousand years old, the individual cracks in the corners of the mirror, each telling a story of how they had become. The mirror made Harriet stare at it with a wondrous awe, not noticing the sudden flash of pure white seeping through the wood floors of the attic before she turned around to go back downstairs. “That’s coming from my room!!,” Harriet panicked, her feet moving before her brain could get the message that she should be getting to her room as soon as possible. The wind rushed through Harriet’s hair, practically ripping the door off the hinges when she tried to open the door with butterflies elevating up to her hands. It took about five minutes to get from the attic to her bedroom, the book exposing the white flash that was seen between the wooden floors of the dusty, old attic. Harriet threw herself at the foot of the bed, crawling up the sheets to get closer to the book. When her left hand went over the cover of the book, Harriet grabbed the back of it with her right hand, slamming it shut before it could do anything unusual. “Harriet, is everything alright???,” Alyssa shouted from the other room, taking Harriet a few minutes to collect her nerves. “Yeah, everything’s fine, mom!!!,” Harriet yelled back, breathing in and out to slow her racing heart that was strumming back and forth inside her chest. As she let the white book fall flawlessly onto the bed, Harriet heard Alyssa screaming for dinner. She knew that if you didn’t get into the kitchen as soon as you could, then Alyssa would use a cow bell for a five minute warning before saying‘Supercalifragilistic’ in a heartbeat second.

 

            The beer and sausage soup smell made Harriet’s mouth water, being one of her favorite soups that Alyssa made in her seventeen years of living. Alyssa was a head chef at one of the restaurants nearby their house, being one of the most favorite cooks among her work line. She had been on Food Network once, competing in one of the cooking shows for the best cook in the United States. Alyssa had gotten second place, and had gotten some pretty good prize money for almost being first place. She would have been in first place, but the chicken was just a minute overcooked, the judges being picky about overcooked foods.

            As Harriet dipped her spoon into the cheese colored soup, Alyssa sat down right across from Harriet with her favorite handmade soup bowl in her right hand, her husband giving it her for a gift before he died in a tragic car accident that got him killed instantly. “So how’s school been, Rae?,” Alyssa asked, using Harriett’s nickname instead of her real name. “Fine.” “Anything special going on in school?” Harriet shook her head. “No.” Alyssa raised an eyebrow with knowledge that she knew Harriet would want to remember. “I thought Prom was coming up…Aren’t you going?,” Alyssa questioned, Harriet raising her head from her soup bowl. “I would go if I could find a guy that’s not an idiot to go with me.,” Harriet admitted, concentrating on getting her spoon into the rippling soup. Alyssa grinned deviously. “I thought you liked your guy friend in your Statistics and Probability class…Ryan Ochoa? Aren’t you going to ask him out to prom?” A crimson blush went over Harriet’s face, sulking low into the chair that she was sitting in. She regretted telling Alyssa that she liked Ryan, who had been her best friend since the sixth grade. Harriet started liking him a few months ago, a rush of embarrassment always going over her whenever she mentioned about it.   “H-He has a girlfriend, mom….remember?, “Harriet stuttered over the table, feeling as though somebody else was eavesdropping onto their conversation.

             Alyssa put her back on the chair, her deep brown eyes sinking into her daughter’s skin. “Oh, I forgot about that…” Harriet shrugged with a sliver of envy. “It’s fine, mom…it’s fine.” She knew it was wrong to like somebody that already had somebody to hold onto; especially when  it was your best guy friend since the sixth grade. Trying to think about how awkward it would be to date Ryan, the phone rang twice in a high pitched rhythm. Harriet stood up to get the phone, but Alyssa had beat her to it as she sprinted towards the wall phone. “Hello? Oh! Salut, Maman ! Comment avez-vous été dernièrement ?” A huge smile went over Alyssa’s face, twirling her hair as she spoke into the receiver to her mother in France. She was ninety nine percent French, being about one percent something else unknown to Harriet and everyone else. Alyssa originally had lived in France all her life, moving to America when she was thirteen years old. Her mother wanted her to have a better life, with certain profits along the way.  Alyssa loved where she lived now, yet her heart was set in France, always saying that she and Harriet would move there someday in the mere future. Harriet knew it was a lie since she specifically told Alyssa that she wanted to graduate with her friends from school and not with strangers in a private French school.  

            Harriet listened intently while she was slurping her soup quietly, wanting to hear if she could catch on to what Alyssa and her grandma were talking about. Harriet had learned French from her mother, being like a second language besides speaking English. Leaning over her soup to hear, Harriet’s shoulders dropped down as soon as Alyssa hung up the phone. “So who was that?” Alyssa gave a ‘well-isn’t-it-obvious’ shot to Harriet from across the room with her arms folded across her chest. “It was your grandma, Rae…” Harriet shrugged with her hands moving along with her shoulders. “Oh ok, I was just wondering.” She could hear Alyssa sigh when she picked up her soup bowl, her slip on shoes clanking among the titled floor. It reminded Harriet of horses for some reason, remembering the times that she rode on her horse Cinnamon in the summers before Alyssa had the family moving to Baraboo, Wisconsin a few years back.  

             Staring blankly at the little amount of soup that she had, Harriet stood up and picked up her soup bowl with a balancing hand. When it came to handling the dishes on the palm of her hand, Harriet was somewhat of a klutz. She assumed that it was a trait among the Williams women, Alyssa doing the same thing as well. It was why Alyssa had gotten fired from a waitressing job she did once when Harriet was six years old, only doing the job to get by in life. They weren’t doing that great before Marcus got a job as a doctor, having to recently graduating from the college he was at before Harriet turned three. She was grateful for what Alyssa and Marcus had done for her during her life, even when the thoughts of her real parents came to her mind once in a while if she was feeling down in the dumps. Nibbling on her bottom lip, Harriet saw a hawk gracefully flying through the trees, looking invisible behind the forest green leaves on the trees that stood around the house like permanent guards. “Mom, I’m going to go outside for a while to read….,” Harriet said while grabbing her light sunny colored coat with a yawn escaping her lips.     

            Approaching her bedroom door, the pale white book laid still in its spot, as if it was expecting Harriet to take it away from its place besides the door. But before she got the book, Harriet took a while to find her shoes,. She didn't spot them until the fabric of the shoe was felt on her big toe.“There they are!,” Harriet smiled, slipping her feet inside her favorite slip on shoes. They were last year’s brand, having blue and brown strips going horizontal on the top of the shoe. Shrugging at the shoes, Harriet eyed her black tote bag with a white ‘paint’ splatter all over the bag. “I should bring my notebook along as well…,” Harriet thought, letting her fingers entwine with the thin straps that held the bag together. “Harriet!,” Alyssa shouted from the kitchen, scaring Harriet to turn around. “Yeah?” “Don’t stay out too late...” Harriet could hear the concern in her voice, putting on a small smile as she touching the door knob. “Ok…,”Harriet said, fidgeting with the door for about seven minutes before it let her free into the spring breeze. It felt good on Harriet to feel the cool breeze on her skin, running quickly to her favorite spot in the world; the woods.

 

            After wandering around the woods to find one of the many spots that were enjoyable to be at, Harriet was in a huge aging tree that had long, thick tree trunks that seemed to spiral to the skies itself. The leaves rustled with each other on the ground, a wood pecker hitting its beak against the bark of the tree that was right across from where a fox was sleeping with her baby foxes curled up by her stomach. The atmosphere left great imagination for a creative mind; Harriet being one of the few. She was writing things that came to her mind in a plain red notebook that had much doodling on the face of it, having stars and hearts as the main theme. It had been quite a while before she set it down on her lap, picking up The Silver Light Chronicles to flip open to the chapter that she was now on. Chapter 1 was just an introduction about the many things that walked the face of Avian; the trolls, fairies, vampires, and werewolves being ‘the originals’ that first showed up in Avian. It only meant that they were well known and had a good reputation, even if the trolls were labeled a lot as stupid in most eyes.     

Skimming a line or two, Harriet read a paragraph out loud to herself in order to visualize the many things that were possessed inside Avian’s walls. “There were other creatures that shared the world with The Originals, which some weren’t able to speak of. Some of the creatures were The Prata Snake. It was poisonous and deadly, the white blood being the most deadly thing to been flown inside the Prata Snake itself.’ Harriet paused, swearing that she could hear a low sound from afar. After a minute or so, Harriet just kept on reading. “The Fargora frog is a rare species, having to be raised in a certain part of the woods since it desired the lives of the old trees that grew. The Fargora sounded innocent and only half evil, but it had spikes among its back that were as thin as sewing needles, and just as sharp to break somebody’s skin on it. Nobody in the town even went near a Fargora unless they wanted to be cut into tiny slices of meat, or wanted to mess around with it for fun. So the Fargora usually got peace and quiet among the deep dark woods in Avian, never going near the town for the fear of dying from the strength of the youthful trees that grew around the borders.’ A tickle got caught in Harriet’s throat, having a coughing fit before reading a sort of monster that had caught her eye a little.

            ‘Least, but not last of any creature, the dreadful Unforgettables. They are monsters that lust for the souls of vampires and werewolves, but they mostly go after the vampires for their immortality and strength. They are not spoken among anything in Avian, for the major made it a strict rule not to utter their names. Nobody knows what they really look like, only having red cloaks with black lining that cover their face and hands to seal their identity. Even if the Unforgettables are only known for their soul sucking powers, they possess a ‘fake key’, being exactly like a clone of the legendary ‘Key’. Expect if it awakens the power underneath the heart of Avian, it would bring a terrible power that would sweep over humanity and kill every living thing breathing its air.”

 

            Leaning into the twisting trunk of the tree, Harriet flipped to the next page. The corner of the page cut her finger, a small blob of pure red blood running down her finger. “Damn…,” Harriet whispered, setting the book into her lap to stick the book marker in front of the last page of Chapter 1. The seal for the book was still were it was before, the heart shaped necklace dangling off of Harriet’s delicate neck. The keys clanked together as Harriet leaped off of the trunk, walking back to the house when she realized what time it was. “It’s only eight, but I’m hoping mom won't get pissed off with me…she worries too much…,” Harriet mentioned out loud, having a knack for talking out loud to herself. She hugged the book close to her chest, a wave of cold washing over Harriet as she continued to walk faster in her pace.

            It suddenly felt dangerous in the woods, a night owl hooting from a hole in the tree with its beady yellow eyes patrolling its territory and to protect her young. The fox that was seen earlier was hunting for a feast for the family, sniffing the ground for a particular scent that secretly lingered behind the few leaves that where on the ground. Now rushing to get home, Harriet pumped her arms and pretended that she was trying to win for her school’s track team to win the gold. Her face started to flush, the wind encouraging her to not stop running until she got to the goal mark; home. Everything seemed to zip on by, not being able to see much from the side view since Harriet’s raven black hair was wiping at the sides of her face.  It didn’t matter to her, though. The only thing that really matter was getting home to curl up beneath a cozy blanket. After that, she would go online to chat with a few friends before she got lost in the world of dreams.                                

                  Motivating herself even further, a thick tree trunk stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of a light darkness without even getting a warning about it in the first place. A blow on the head seemed powerful enough to knock Harriet on her feet, a medium sized gash striking across her forehead. The book flew out of her hands and into the air, landing wide open by Harriet’s face. The warmth of the blood dripped down Harriet’s nose and off on the ground. The only sound coming out of her was moaning, a blanket of blackness closing her eyes into a skin deep sleep. A night owl hooted over the unconscious girl, not knowing what was going to come after her as it disappeared into the cascading colors of the night.

Author's Note

My Creative Writings teacher liked my story!!!! Bonus! :D Hehe. She liked the first paragraph, so I was excited about that (she only read it so she could review it...she hasn't read the whole chapter yet). :] Just felt like sharing that small piece of information.

Credit: Pan's Labyrinth soundtrack

UPDATED: 03-17-08 :D

Reviews

[Lauren Xena Campbell]

The ending of this certainly has me hooked, and through out you have delivered your information about past, and character relationships with great skill. Loved the suspense right the way through, with the climax right at the end, feels like the tension from the prologue drifting though to this reality, yet not understood by Harriet. Maybe it's not just her who is out of place. Wonderful chapter and looking forward to reading more.

[Ice Queen of the Vampir..]

What a fantastic continuation. This story is incredible, I've been glued to the screen reading and now I've got to go read the next part cause I'm dying to know what happens next!!! lol Great work!!!

Heather

[Damon Ross Cottrell]

This is a very creative tale. You have some wonderful descriptions which are very imaginative. You have the ability to draw a distinct and memorable picture in the mind's eye.



Grammar: Let me guess, you write like you talk. That doesn't always work. There are a lot of redundancies in your writing.

The chapters didn't have names, only having roman numeral numbers replaced for real numbers-- You have a few sentences that could be pared down. "The chapters, lacking names, had only Roman numerals."

It felt soft, as though it was touching babies' skin.-- "It felt soft like a baby's skin." or "The book felt so soft it was like she was touching a baby's skin."

crook of her hands-- crook of her arm (the inside of the elbow)

Fixated on if there was a slight difference, Harriet realized that she had to bring the cardboard box of junk upstairs, rushing over to the door with the book still in the crook of her hands. She hadn't noticed until her violet-blue eyes warned her at the entry way of the room. Harriet figured that she would find out later about the mysteriousness of the book, laying it down against all the other piled up books that towered over everything else that stood before its path. After pushing the infinite pile that she had on her shelf, Harriet swooped up the JUNK box, balancing it on one hip as she walked over to the attic door. Her footsteps sounded like scattering mice among the icy wood floor, the door way to the attic aging with tiny cracks around the bronze knob. It surprisingly didn't feel as cold as the rest of the house, the slight touch of warmth overpowering the cold that Harriet was feeling at the moment. "That's weird. , " Harriet said with a form of curiosity, floating up the stairs as though her feet had no gravity around them at all. Her bluish � violet eyes followed the railing all the way up the rickety old stairs, hearing every moan that came from each and every step that Harriet took until she got up to the top of the stairs.

Here's a suggestion. Not the best rendition, but the mechanics are better.

Although she was fixated on the slight difference in the book, Harriet realized she had to bring the JUNK box upstairs. She was still running with the book tucked into the crook of her arm, when her eyes alerted her to the box at the entryway to her room. Harriet would have to wait to find out the new mystery of the book. Laying the book against the myriad tomes that towered on her shelf, she swooped up the JUNK box. Carrying the box against her hip, she walked over to the attic entrance. Her footsteps sounded like mice scattering across the icy floor. The aging door to the attic was ringed with cracks around the bronze knob. The doorknob seemed warmer than the rest of the house. It's warm touch overpowered the cold sensation she had been feeling. "That's weird," Harriet said with a form of curiosity in her voice. Floating like there was no gravity to hold her down, she climbed the steps. Her eyes followed the railing up to the attic as she heard the moaning of each and every step her feet took.

her slip on shoes clanking among the titled floor. -- her slip-on shoes clattering on the tiled floor.

[Brenda Sue]

Very well written. I am enjoying reading it very much. A few sentences need a little work but the story is excellent. Wonderfully penned.

[smiggle wiggle]

I've heard of the movie Pan's Labyrinth but I've never actually seen it or heard the soundtrack so I can't comment on anything there. Lol. Chapter One is great though! You did a great job on describing things. Lmao and I love the dinner you chose Alyssa to make. Hilarious! Keep writing!

[DarkAngelWriter]

"her real parents probably had a reason to leave her with Alyssa for unknown reasons. But for some reason,"
"Opening the door to her room, it was a well sized room, making almost all of her friends jealous of the size of it."
"She would have used her mp3 player to hook up to her radio/ cd player to use the AUX on it, but her mp3 had been shipped over to be looked at, not letting her add anymore songs onto her Zen mp3 player."

"before getting grounded before saying 'Supercalifragilistic' in a heartbeat second."

"Moving left to right to look for her slip on shoes, a thud on Harriet's toe grabbed her attention. "There they are!," Harriet smiled, slipping her feet inside her favorite slip on shoes."

These lines bothered me...just so damn repetitive, Nicole! Lol.

Take a look at the following:

"Harriet swooped up the JUNK book,"--Isn't it supposed to be "JUNK box"?


"Harriet let out a small huff, putting the junk box right next to an old mirror that was in Alyssa's bedroom before she had the whole room re-done completely." I'm not one to nitpick, but this could be shortened and less confusing lol. I have a feeling only people like us really get it. But you could change it to "Harriet let out a small huff, putting the junk box next to an abandoned mirror, moved up here after Alyssa's remodeling." Or something =/ Hell, idk.

"The beer and sausage soup"--Beer and sausage? Sounds interesting...lol

"She would have been in first place, but the chicken was just a minute overcooked, the judges being picky about overcooked foods." Jerk asses... grrr...

"Alyssa sat down right across from Harriet with her favorite handmade soup bowl in her right hand, her husband giving it her for a gift before he died in a tragic car accident that got him killed instantly."--This could be "Alyssa sat down across from Harriet, holding her favorite handmade soup bowl in her right hand; a gift from the loving husband taken from her in that fatal crash" Or something... =/

And omg, what is with the girl bleeding? She bleeds like three this chapter alone! Lol.

"a thick truck stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of a light darkness"--I didn't get this. Is it supposed to be "think trunk" or is there a truck now? =/

Overall though, I enjoyed it. Even though you KNOW this isn't like what I usually read lol. Great write, as usual, mi amiga. I'm heading over to chapter 2 now. Keep it up, cause once I get finished with what you have posted, you know I'm gonna start getting impatient waiting for more. Write write write! =D

[Marie]

This is pretty cool. I love the formatting and the story.

[Captain Blackheart (The..]

Never seen Pan's Labyrinth or heard the songs so can only coment on your work here. Again Nicole you take us aon a wonderful creative journey. A great piece of writing and it flows along at just the right pace. You keep the reader thinking and guessing as you go along and make us want to read more. I am curious about the strange magical creatures in the book (especially the frog.lol) A very good write!!!

[JC Fox]

Pans Labyrinth was such a great movie! LOL this was a great chapter and I do hope you continue with the story and yay on the teacher liking it.