Paragraphs, Pie Plates and Pictures...

I’m leery to put anything I’ve written up here but I figure, why not. If someone is douchebag enough to steal it from me, then there’s nothing I can do about that. I just hope that people enjoy it enough.

So here is the beginning of a story I have tentatively titled; “Molly”. I have had the story shooting off in many different directions but can’t seem to nail down the one I wanna follow. I had some help with it after going to a Writing for the Children’s Market course taught by the lovely and talented Sharon Jennings. She is a children’s authour and even did some writing for the Franklin the Turtle series. She has helped me here and there with some of my writing and I hope to re-connect with her soon! She has an uncanny ability to pull the creativity and inspiration out of me, and believe me, that isn’t always easy to do.

In any event, here it is. The beginning of “Molly”…

Molly stood on the folding ladder to the attic, her head poking up through the opening in the floor. The wooden planks of the attic floor were frosted with a thick layer of dust, only a few mice tracks disturbing its smooth appearance. The round window at the far end allowed an oval of light to come down almost perfectly in the center of the room. The space was old and unused, but completely comforting. Molly was surprised to find the spider webs made it almost cozy.
Molly turned and looked behind her. She took two slow steps up, then three quick steps back down. She made another quick check behind her, straining her ears to hear the front door. Finally, she squared her shoulders and gave herself a quick nod. She climbed further up the ladder until her sneaker stepped into the dust, leaving a footprint like when you walk in the first snowfall of the year.
Her eyes scanned the expansive room, taking in all the strange and derelict items. There was large antique furniture draped in white sheets that had yellowed with age. It was like they were hiding a group of crouching beasts, waiting to pounce if some unfortunate person got too close.
Molly’s stomach was tight and filled to the brim with butterflies, all fighting to get out at the same time.
She turned to head back down as a small blur blew past her, brushing against her face. She let out a piercing shriek, lost her balance and toppled backwards onto the floor. Dust billowed out from underneath her, filling in the beams of sun with swirling particles. Molly coughed as she scrambled to her feet, her head swinging around to see what had viciously attacked her, causing her to dirty her favourite white hoodie.

“Stupid fuzzy… THING”, murmured Molly as she continued cautiously scanning the room, trying in vain to brush the dust off. Something caught her attention up near the ceiling. It looked almost like it could be a small hornet nest, but she hadn’t remembered seeing it before. Slowly she approached the new discovery, trying desperately to focus her eyes before she had to get too close. The dust she had stirred up from her fall was not helping in the vision department as she kept wiping her eyes with the cuff of her sleeve.
Molly was about 4 feet away from the hanging thing when she finally recognized what it was. Before she could scream, the small brown bat spread open its thin, leathery wings and gave a couple flaps before releasing the rafter and flying at Molly. She curled herself up into a protective posture, squealing repeatedly as the bat approached her.
To her left she heard a sound. It gave her goosebumps. Like rock scratching against rock.
Molly dared to peek over her shoulder as one of the sheet covered objects moved in a fluid motion, rearing up near her head and making a snapping noise before returning to where it had been.

She screamed again and backed away quickly, hardly able to believe what she had seen. She was halfway down the stairs when she remembered the bat. It was gone. Slowly she looked up into the attic, her eyes level with the floor when she heard a soft crunching sound, like someone chewing pretzels.

That is just the first little bit of the story, but I don’t wanna bombard you with it all at once. If you like it, let me know and I will post some more! As always, questions and comments are always welcome!!

MultiMatt