Sample Writing

Ch 1 : Faye

I sigh as I roll over to turn my phone alarm off. It was the fifth one this morning, and I was having a hard time finding the motivation to get out of bed. Wearily, I glanced at the time. 6:15 A.M. It was already 15 minutes past the time I should have gotten out of bed, but I roll over and squeezed my eyes shut. I took a shower two days ago, I muse, I probably don’t smell that bad yet. I can lay in bed for another 15 minutes. I’ll take a shower tonight. Warming up to the thought, I snuggled deeper under covers. There was nothing better than stealing a few more minutes of sleep before facing the world. My reverie was broken by a loud cacophony of MEOAW!!!! and the sound of a small ball with a bell being batted around the apartment. Groaning, I sat up to observe my cat running full tilt around the apartment. Guess someone has decided it’s time to be awake. I let out a deep sigh and finally rolled out of bed, resigned to starting my day.

My morning routine is simple: chase my cat around the apartment, get dressed, brush my teeth, pack a quick lunch and decide if I felt like wearing any make-up that day. Glancing at my phone, I realized there was no time if I still wanted to stop for breakfast. The growing rumble in my stomach made the choice for me: breakfast before beauty. I scooped my cat up, smothering her in kisses despite her apparent frustration and agitated meows. “Goodbye my love!!! Be a good kitty. Hope you have a great day!” The words rang out through the apartment as I rushed out the door to my car. Before I had even left my driveway, my car announced “Incoming call.”

“Good morning, old man,” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster at 7 A.M. “Did you sleep well last night?” “I slept pretty well honey,” he responded. “Are you headed to work already?” I smiled, thinking about how precious these moments were. My favorite part of the morning was the daily phone call I had with my father. As he grew older, I was acutely aware that the day would come when he was no longer around. As I drove to work, I continued to chat aimlessly with him. The subject was always different, and this morning we were talking about his daily walk around the neighborhood. “Alby says hi, although I didn’t see his little companion this morning,” my father said in a jovial voice. Alby was a Great Pryenees that my dad and I always stopped to pet when I was able to join him for a walk. Alby’s “little companion” was a small white dog that would bark at us, but never get close enough to the fence for a proper hello. “Tell him I miss him,” I replied. As my dad was about to continue, I pulled into the parking lot at work. “Hey dad, I just got to work so I gotta go. Love you!” “Love you too, sweetie, have a great day,” my dad replied. As I gathered my stuff, I swore under my breath. While talking with my dad, I had been so distracted that I had forgotten to stop and grab breakfast.

I am not a pleasant person to be around when I am hungry. Especially if I am hungry because I didn’t eat breakfast. It is the one meal that I cannot skip. Lunch? Dinner? I skip those meals all of the time. But breakfast? It's one of the only things that gets me out of bed. That, and needing to make money so I can pay bills, I thought grumpily. Today was going to be rough. No, I thought, today is going to be what I make it. All I have to do is make it to lunch.

The rest of my work day went by in a relatively uneventful manner. My boss had figured out that I was grumpy cause I had forgotten breakfast, so he gave me some snacks to tide me over till lunch. Once I had some food, my mood improved and I had no problems at work. Driving home from work, I admired the scenery of the small town I lived in. It was an arid climate, so there wasn't green everywhere, but we got enough moisture to have some trees and the city planners had done a good job with the landscaping. I lived close to the downtown area, which had some of the older neighborhoods. Large oak trees lined the streets in front of the Victorian style homes, and people walked down the idyllic streets as I neared my apartment. Parking in my driveway, I unlocked the door to my place, set down my things and plopped down on my bed with a contented sigh. After a while, I made myself a light dinner, watched a random dating show on Netflix, then went to bed. Today had been a good day, and I closed my eyes, ready for the sweet blissfulness of sleep.


I looked around the room, feeling the tension building inside me. The other’s seemed oblivious to the growing danger, or they just didn’t care. I watched as the middle-aged man stared intensely at the young girl. She seemed to be about 16 or 17 and was giving the man her best sexy eyes. I wanted to scream at everyone “THIS IS THE MAN THAT WAS JUST RELEASED FROM PRISON. HE WAS IN JAIL FOR COMMITTING A STRING OF GRISLY MURDERS!!! WHY IS NO ONE STOPPING HIM!!” but the words wouldn’t come out. His daughter, who was my student, had invited him, and seemed to be the only other person who was concerned about the scene unfolding in front of us. The girl coyly moved over to him and sat on his lap. In that moment, an overwhelming amount of fear gripped me. An aura more evil than I had ever experienced filled the room, with darkness engulfing the walls. A sadistic smile spread across the man’s face as he grabbed the girl.

All at once, chaos exploded in the room. Everyone burst from the room, running and screaming at the top of their lungs. I knew there was nothing I could do, except get out of that room. I made it into the parking lot before I started sobbing, fear wracking my body and immobilizing me. I heard the girl screaming and my mind filled with the images of what he was doing to her. Yet, the only thing I could focus on was one small thought: You are his target and that will be you next.

I bolted awake from the nightmare, still feeling the deep seated fear that had visited me in my dream. “So much for the blissful nights sleep,” I muttered. Looking around my apartment, it suddenly felt cold and lonely. This was the one thing that I hated about living alone. I hadn’t had a nightmare in awhile, and this one had been especially intense. The feelings of insecurity, dread and fear in my dream had followed me into my conscious state. My apartment that usually felt cozy and endearing, now made me feel vulnerable and unprotected. I turned on a few lights, and double checked that the doors were locked. I snuggled my cat for a brief moment, climbed back into my bed and closed my eyes. The fear came back instantly, and my mind began replaying the nightmare. I tried unsuccessfully to redirect my mind, to focus on something pleasant, to drown out the nightmarish scene in my head. After a few minutes, I gave up and opened my eyes. The t.v. flashed on and I started flipping through Netflix. If I couldn’t get rid of the nightmare, then I would drown it out by watching every sappy chick flick I could find. After a few movies, I finally drifted off into a dreamless sleep.