From Niki’s #WIP …
Ember—literally kicking and screaming—was dragged to the other side of the room. Her mother reached the kitchen counter and picked up her drink while Ember tried to free her hair. Sara sipped the whiskey mixed with orange juice. She thought no one realized it was booze. Ember managed to wiggle away, losing hair in the process. She wobbled to her feet and started to run.
Ember made it to the far side of the kitchen when something hit her in the back of her head. Collapsing into the hallway, the filthy, yellow shag carpet filled her mouth. Blood from the back of her head ran down her cheek. Warm tracks of crimson flowed onto the floor.
Unmoving, she could taste the cigarette smoke soaked permanently into the carpet. She tried rolling away, but her head was throbbing, and the black spots made her dizzy.
Ember wasn’t sure what her mother had thrown at her. It hadn’t felt like a bottle. Strange that I’d know that, she thought.
“You’re ruining the carpet.” Sara swayed as she mumble-screamed.
She was upset about the carpet that, as far as Ember knew, had never been cleaned and had been in the house since the seventies. Encased in the shag was Sara’s vomit, old food, and now, Ember’s sweat and blood.
Ember had tried to clean it once. She’d rented a carpet shampooer. Sara had called her a selfish bitch who didn’t appreciate her housekeeping and broken Ember’s wrist.
The worst part was how bad Ember had felt for hurting her mother’s feelings.
As Ember rolled over and pushed herself up, the world beneath her shifted like sand and she fell again. Struggling, she managed to drag herself to the living room, aiming for the front door, but Sara caught her by the hair.
“Why do you treat me this way?” Sara gestured wildly around the room giving Ember enough time to bob away. “I do so much for you and this fucking house and all you do is take advantage.”
Sara blocked the door. Ember swayed and closed her eyes to focus on breathing. She opened her eyes to see Sara clench her fists and staggering sideways toward the coffee table. She reached out, grabbing the closest thing to her, and throwing it at Ember. The remote whooshed just above her head. Sara’s mood shifted again, taking Ember’s evasion as a personal slight.
Crying for only a minute, Sara started yelling again.
“Worthless cunt,” she slurred. “You think you’re hot shit, but you don’t do a goddamned thing around this house. Your ungrateful ass is so grounded!” She dragged out the word ‘so’ for several seconds.
“You’ll be home by six every night until you’re eighteen.” Sara shook with rage, and when Ember didn’t respond, she tacked on “and you don’t get to stay with that Sabrina for the rest of the school year. That annoying bitch can’t stay here either.”
Isolation.
Writer’s WIP Questionnaire – 2
- In the past two weeks, I have felt mostly happy about the progress of my WIP.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Comment: Some days I feel like I’m moving backward…and lately, everything I’ve worked on feels like trash.
- In the past two weeks, I have mostly managed to balance my writing life with the rest of my life.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Comment: My elderly parents both got sick at the same time, one in the hospital, the other with pneumonia. So while I did some work, my personal life absolutely took over recently.
- In the past two weeks, I have made drastic changes to my WIP.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Comment: in my brain though…not on paper yet. I swear, it’s coming.
- In the past two weeks, I have mostly suffered from ‘writer’s block’.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Comment: I have great ideas and know what I want to do, but when I look at my writing it’s like a foreign language lately.
- In the past two weeks, I have focussed on one project.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Comment: I don’t have the time right now to get side-tracked, which is good I suppose.
Feel for you – sometimes writing is really hard. Your WIP looks brilliant though, and I can’t wait to find out how/if Ember escapes! Thanks for taking part, and all the best!
Niki Kamerzell lives in Colorado and spends her summers out in the wild enjoying camping and fishing. Her favorite place to visit is Yellowstone National Park.
She spends her free time reading and writing and will read just about anything recommended to her. She’s been known to sacrifice eating and sleeping to finish a good book. Niki writes fantasy and has been writing for the last ten years. When not writing or reading, Niki is probably distracted by her Corgi or out hiking in the Rocky Mountains with her husband.
Her other distractions include driving around and singing off key with the radio and scrapbooking. Always willing to make things awkward, sarcasm is like a second language to her and, next to her passion for writing, probably one of the things Niki’s most proud of.
Find out more about Niki here …
Book: http://mybook.to/lasttimeshedied
Facebook, twitter, & Instagram: @niki_K_Writes
Website: https://nkamerzellwriting.wixsite.com/website
Morwenna Blackwood, Author 