Walmart, Lilly Allen, and the First Chapter 11 Excerpt

Today was a rather unproductive day. I have written nothing except a grocery list and then went to Walmart in Frankfort after an appointment I had down there. I have told people before, going to Walmart is akin to falling into a black hole. You hope you can get out easily, but it may take everything you've got to ever pull yourself out. There are too many things in Walmart that can just suck you into it all. I had to get groceries which would have been simple if that was all that I was after. I could have just stuck to the grocery section and been in and out relatively quickly.

Of course, they changed everything in the Frankfort Walmart so now I know where nothing is anyway and it was obviously going to take longer than seemed necessary. However, to make matters worse, I had to go to the health and beauty section across the store to start out then make my way to the "do-it-yourself" section to pick up air filters for our house. As usual, I had to make a pit stop in the restroom, but the one in front was being cleaned so I had to make my way to the back of the store for the restroom back there. This was a mistake. I had to walk right through the music and book section to get there. I was overly tempted and picked up a CD I've been wanting to find, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus "Don't You Fake It" CD. I almost bought a book too, but I managed to behave myself. The CD was only $9, but the book was almost $20. That may not seem like much, but I knew I had a lot of groceries to buy, bills to pay when I got home, and books to order for my signing next month, plus I had already agreed with myself to buy a couple new pairs of jeans for the cooler weather and a few t-shirts (I got a Beatles tee on clearance) while I was at Walmart.

Well, by the time I tried on jeans, got all the groceries, and left the store $300 poorer, it was already nearly 1:00. I had to drive the almost hour long drive back home, unload my new purchases, and put them all away, get online to pay bills, and then the kids got home. You can imagine how frustrating of a day that made for when what I really would have liked to do was spend the entire day writing. Personally, I hate leaving the house for things that just take away from my writing time. I've become something of a recluse for the most part, only coming out for the necessities (groceries, appointments, and soccer mostly).

Aside from writing, I really needed to get my hair cut today and, if you ask my husband, I needed to get back in to see the doctor about my persistent cough. Maybe Monday I'll get to the doctor and then get a haircut sometime next week. Although, I may avoid it since I'd rather be writing. Really, I need a bumper sticker that says that, "I'd Rather Be WRITING!"

So, this whole rambling above is basically to tell you all that I hate Walmart. It is the black hole to hell, in my humble opinion. I wouldn't shop there if it weren't for A) they have everything in one place B) I have a family of 5 and a budget to stay on C) it's more conveniently located than any other grocery store (Frankfort or Dry Ridge).

On a totally unrelated note to anything else in this blog, today is my daughter Tiana's cat's birthday. Harry is officially two years old today. Happy birthday to Harry and his twin brother Potter. (Yes, we like Harry Potter in this household.)

Today I'm listening to my main playlist on playlist.com rather than my writing one since I'm not getting any writing done anyway. The music of the moment is: "Take What you Take" by Lily Allen. I love the words to the chorus, "Say what you say. Do what you do. Feel what you feel, as long as it's real. I said, take what you take and give what you give, just be what you want as long as it's real." There is the F-bomb in the song a few times, but the overall message is good and I don't mind language in my music so long as it isn't extremely gratuitous. Plus, Lily Allen is British and has a cool voice to listen to. I also like her song "Smile". That's another CD I'd like to get sometime too, Lilly Allen's.

The excerpt of the day is the first from chapter 11! Don't forget that I will be ending the excerpts at the end of chapter 12, leaving you hanging for the ending of the book if you don't buy it to read chapter 13! Anyone who read the book already can tell you that chapter 12 ends in a cliffhanger.

The setting is still that Saturday night when Amie is spending the night with Elyssia. This is Elyssia having another vision in her sleep like she did in the beginning of the book and a few times since then. It's the same vision she's been having, only with a turn she didn't see in the previous visions.

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I recognized the vision this time and felt less frightened knowing what was happening. Once again, I found myself in that same girls’ restroom from school. I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was all mussed up. I looked like I had been crying recently, and my face looked puffy and swollen. There were still tears in my eyes. I turned at looked up at the windows. I wasn’t shocked to see it was dark. I was desperately seeking a way out aside from the door and felt frightened that the windows didn’t open in any way for me to climb out one of them.

The voices were outside the door, not far from where I stood. I could hear them, but just barely. I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I cracked the door open slightly and tried to listen. They both were thick with Australian accents and I immediately recognized Jackson’s voice, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. The other voice sounded more mature and much angrier, perhaps Jackson’s father.

I threw open the door prepared to face them and demand an explanation for why they were chasing me, but I was caught off-guard. I saw the man to whom Jackson was speaking. He looked like Jackson in the face, only somewhat older. What shocked me most was what, rather who, was in his arms with a dagger to their throat… They had Amie.

I started screaming and saw Evander come running down the hallway with Nate close behind him.

The vision cut out, and I was being shaken awake. I could hear Amie’s voice. “El! El! Are you okay?” I realized I must have screamed aloud and awoken Amie.

“I’m fine,” I responded groggily and tried to wake myself up a bit more. I sat up in the bed and turned to face Amie just as Evander came bursting through the door, turning the lights on.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” he demanded.

I blushed at him, realizing I was wearing a rather revealing silk nightgown, but he wasn’t paying any attention to that. “I had another vision.”

“What about, El?” asked Amie.

I heard my father coming down the hallway towards my room and pulled the comforter up a bit more to cover myself. “What is all the commotion? What is going on in here?”

Evander answered, “Elyssia had another vision and it apparently scared her. I heard her screaming, and it woke me up. I could sense her being terrified and came running in to see what had happened.”

My dad looked at me. “What was the vision about, Elyssia?” he asked in a less brusque tone than he had when he came into the room just before.

I looked at Amie carefully, knowing this would likely scare her to the point she would not sleep the rest of the night. I then turned to face Evander and my dad. “I had a vision that I was in the school in one of the restrooms and had been crying. I felt like I had been attacked by someone, I think. I heard voices out in the hallway. It was Jackson and his father, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying. I went to open the door and face them, but when I did, I saw his father had Amie and was holding a dagger to her throat. Evander was running down the hall towards us when I screamed and then Amie woke me up.”