Writing Sample: "A New Chapter" |
The never-dusted blinds sliced the evening light into precise lines that cast ever-shifting shadows across the wooden floor. Outside the brownstone apartment that served as the Merry Men's current headquarters, Emerald City pulsed with its own rhythm, set to the asynchronous beat of desperation and depravity. Three weeks in the city and it still felt foreign to the dark-haired man sitting in the wingback chair behind a worn executive desk. The chair and the desk, like him, had seen better days. And, like him, they still served a purpose.
Archer Robert Moore, most commonly known as "Rob", sat staring at the hardcover book in front of him. It had lain there, mocking him, for the better part of two days. He had ignored it in favor of the requisite discussions and errands that came with his work. (A good theft took planning, a good con even more so.) As the sun had set, the phone calls had ceased. All that remained now was to await Johnna's call to confirm the meet had been set. In the quiet, the book's taunting grew harder to ignore. Why had he bought the bloody thing anyway?
Oh, that's right. The girls.
At the train station downtown, a pair of teens or twenty-somethings (it was hard to tell; they were too young for him) had chatted excitedly. One of the pretty young things with long brown hair and longer tan legs had held a book in her lap. Rob had noted them as pretty pieces of the scenery while waiting for a contact. They would have remained scenery if he hadn't caught part of their conversation.
"Is that the latest one by Lucille Trevor? I've been meaning to download it."
He knew the name. Marian used it for her historical fiction. The popularity of her work had grown over the past decade, and now there was a buzz about her latest book. The one about their story. She supposedly lived in Emerald City - not that that had influenced his choice to come here - but he had purposefully avoided news about her and the book so far. They were here for the Senator. It was best to avoid temptation and complications.
The brunette with the book in her lap had turned to her companion and smiled in commaraderie, her voice bubbly with excitement. "Yes! The Robin Hood one, although she adds her usual something extra. It has the swords and fighting, of course, but... She writes Robin so... romantic."
A smile had come unbidden to his lips. He made himself walk away and focus on the task at hand. Yet when he left the station, his fingers found the ring hanging on the chain around his neck, and by the time he returned home, he had a copy of the book under his arm.
Now he reached for it as if it might bite. He had only read one of her stories. Nearly a century had passed since then and he had avoided the others since. It had been too painful to hear her voice in the text. Would it be more or less so to hear their story in that voice? "Up for the challenge, or glutton for punishment?" He muttered quietly to himself.
Turning to the first page, he shook his head. He was weak, that's what he was.
Archer Robert Moore, most commonly known as "Rob", sat staring at the hardcover book in front of him. It had lain there, mocking him, for the better part of two days. He had ignored it in favor of the requisite discussions and errands that came with his work. (A good theft took planning, a good con even more so.) As the sun had set, the phone calls had ceased. All that remained now was to await Johnna's call to confirm the meet had been set. In the quiet, the book's taunting grew harder to ignore. Why had he bought the bloody thing anyway?
Oh, that's right. The girls.
At the train station downtown, a pair of teens or twenty-somethings (it was hard to tell; they were too young for him) had chatted excitedly. One of the pretty young things with long brown hair and longer tan legs had held a book in her lap. Rob had noted them as pretty pieces of the scenery while waiting for a contact. They would have remained scenery if he hadn't caught part of their conversation.
"Is that the latest one by Lucille Trevor? I've been meaning to download it."
He knew the name. Marian used it for her historical fiction. The popularity of her work had grown over the past decade, and now there was a buzz about her latest book. The one about their story. She supposedly lived in Emerald City - not that that had influenced his choice to come here - but he had purposefully avoided news about her and the book so far. They were here for the Senator. It was best to avoid temptation and complications.
The brunette with the book in her lap had turned to her companion and smiled in commaraderie, her voice bubbly with excitement. "Yes! The Robin Hood one, although she adds her usual something extra. It has the swords and fighting, of course, but... She writes Robin so... romantic."
A smile had come unbidden to his lips. He made himself walk away and focus on the task at hand. Yet when he left the station, his fingers found the ring hanging on the chain around his neck, and by the time he returned home, he had a copy of the book under his arm.
Now he reached for it as if it might bite. He had only read one of her stories. Nearly a century had passed since then and he had avoided the others since. It had been too painful to hear her voice in the text. Would it be more or less so to hear their story in that voice? "Up for the challenge, or glutton for punishment?" He muttered quietly to himself.
Turning to the first page, he shook his head. He was weak, that's what he was.