postponed by real life

Sorry everyone. I got caught up in non-writing stuff yesterday, so I ended up without any time to write the next installment of They Walk Among Us. But I plan on getting it done today, and there will be a new installment tomorrow for you all. :)

I hope you have a great Tuesday.

NSFW Monday Morning

Or it might not be safe for work, depending on how you look at it...lol. :) At least the picture is. My post won't be. I'm hoping to be over 10k into Death by the end of the day today, plus I have to get the next installment of the blog story done as well. We'll see how good I am to sticking to the plan...lol.

Had a good weekend, and got some writing done, but not a lot. Needed to recharge and relax.

I hope everyone has a great Monday.

Yay! It's Friday....

Not sure why I'm so excited about it being Friday. It really doesn't mean anything different to me. I'm still going to be writing over the weekend...lol. It simply means people will be home with me all day instead of arriving home after work. :D

I wonder if authors have sympathy pains according to what their characters are feeling. The guy Death is going to fall in love with is a heroin addict, and in the scene I was writing right before I went to bed last night, he shoots up. By the time I climbed into bed, the inside of my elbow hurt like I'd stabbed it with something. (Possibly an imaginary needle?)

Death is going pretty well, and I'm happy with how it's flowing right now. :)

I hope you all have an awesome Friday...and wonderful weekend.

They Walk Among Us

They Walk Among Us copyright c. 2011 T.A. Chase

Part Seven-

I paid no attention as the cab driver raced through the city. It didn’t matter to me where we were as long as we got to the bus station, so I could retrieve my bag. I’d go to Jackson’s place, and drop off my stuff, but I wouldn’t stay. Something drove me to find my sister. Our link told me she was in serious trouble, and I needed to find her as soon as possible.

The cab pulled up in front of the bus station, and he told me he’d wait for me to come back out. After shutting the car door, I stood for a second, trying to stretch my senses. If anyone meant to do me harm, I would be able to sense it, and hopefully keep them from doing anything.

Of course, it didn’t work with the men who attacked me. I wasn’t ready for them, and they had some kind of shield over their minds. Yet if I was prepared, I still would have known they were coming after me. I might not have been able to read their minds, but there would have been an echo of their intent vibrating in the air around them.

Sensing nothing out of the ordinary, I strolled into the bus station, and over to the lockers. I opened the one I bought, and tugged out my duffle bag. After retrieving it, I returned to the cab and let him take me to Jackson’s apartment.

It was small, but clean, and I could see Jackson made an effort to make it look nice. I set my bag just inside the door, not sure where to put it. I wouldn’t be taking his bed, so the couch would do for now. I hoped I wouldn’t be here very long.

The attack was a slight setback, but not one I couldn’t overcome. A yawn took me by surprise. I couldn’t actually sleep in the hospital, not with Zach coming in every hour to check on me. Also, the volume of thoughts running through the place made my head hurt, and not only did I have to heal myself, I had to work to keep from going mad at the noise.

I fell onto the couch with the thought of napping for twenty minutes before I started looking for my sister again, but my body had other ideas.

As I drifted off, instead of seeing my sister’s face in my mind, I saw an image of Zach. His light brown eyes had peered into my soul, like he knew I was different, and found those differences fascinating. Maybe Zach did, but it wasn’t the same creepy fascination I’d been warned about by my human parents.

No, when Zach looked at me, it was like he saw some wonderful new creature for the first time, and he wanted to stay, staring at me for the rest of his life. I snorted silently at the silly thought. All of the attraction I felt toward Zach was in my mind. There wasn’t any way Zach could feel that way about me, and I didn’t have time to act on any attraction I might feel for the doctor.

I fell asleep with that as my last thought.

* * * *

“Hey, wake up.”

I sat up, almost clipping Jackson’s chin with my head. I glanced wildly around me, trying to figure out where I was. It didn’t look like my room at the farm. When I glanced up at Jackson, who stood a few feet away now with his hands at his sides, I remembered where I was.

I scrubbed my hands over my face, and shuddered. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but apparently my body had other ideas. I met Jackson’s gaze again, and pointed at my wrist.

“It’s about eight in the morning. I just got off shift, and I wanted to know if you wanted anything to eat before I crash for a while.”

Taking inventory of my person, I discovered my stomach did feel empty, so I nodded.

::If you show me where the food is, I can make my own breakfast. You can head to bed. I know you must be tired.::

I pushed to my feet, and stretched. Jackson shook his head.

“I’m used to making myself something to eat when I get home, so it’s no big deal.”

::Then I’d love some breakfast. Afterward, I need to go out, and find the building my sister was being kept in. I know she was there before I got attacked. Maybe they haven’t moved her yet.::

“Who do you think has her?”

Jackson moved toward the kitchen area. I followed, and sat on one of the bar stools placed in front of the section of counter separating the kitchen from the living room. Resting my chin on my hand, I shrugged.

::I don’t know. The men who attacked me moved like a well-trained team.::

“So probably government men,” Jackson commented as he opened the refrigerator and pulled out some eggs.

::It’s possible, I guess, but they could also have been mercenaries. Rassia might have been taken, not because she is an Opalite, but because she is female and young. Humans are known for stealing the young away from their families, and turning them into slaves.::

Jackson winced. “You’re right. I know you were young when you were orphaned, but would Opalites do anything like that to their children?”

I thought about it. I might have been very young when the humans killed my Opalite parents, but the elder who took me to my human parents had put into my subconscious all the collective knowledge of my people.

::I can’t say that all Opalite parents are the same. That would be like saying all humans are the same, and I know that isn’t true. For the most part though, Opalites treat their children like presents from the gods. Since it’s so difficult for us to have children, none would ever send them away or sell them.::

“Yet they gave their young to humans to raise. I’m not sure how that works.”

Jackson cracked open some eggs into a frying pan. I’d understood, even at the moment it happened, why it needed to be done.

::They were being exterminated. We children would have been taken by the governments and used in experiments, and tortured to reveal our secrets. My people were not willing to sacrifice their children in that way. The adults died to keep their young safe.::

Hunk Day

Well, I'm up and at 'em this morning. Got all the morning chores out of the way. Now I'm ready to sit down and do some serious writing. I'm 3k into Death, and he's really talking to me. I'm 1k into my Valentine's story...and I need to make sure I work on that today as well. Plus I have the next installment of They Walk Among Us to do.

I'm going to be very busy today, but heck, I don't mind. It's fun to create worlds in my head, and put them on paper to see if other people think they're as cool as I do. Of course, I've always been a bit of a day dreamer, so it's easy for me to let my mind wander, and imagine things. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday. :)

They Walk Among Us

They Walk Among Us copyright c. 2011 T.A. Chase

Part Six-

I pulled out the drawers and found my clothes. Wrinkling my nose, I almost didn’t get dressed. How I hated dirt and filth, and that was the only thing on my clothes, but I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t walk out of the hospital naked, and I needed to leave.

“Wait.”

The voice shocked me, and I barely managed to keep myself from diving under the bed. I turned around slowly, and spied Jackson standing there. He held a pile of folded fabric in his arms.

“I figured you’d want to leave once you heard about the guys downstairs.” Jackson took a step closer to me. “The doc wouldn’t give you up, even if he did know what you were. He doesn’t trust those government boys any more than you do.”

I shook my head, and pointed at my throat. It was times like these when I hated not being able to talk. From what one of my elders told me, sometimes our bodies adapted to our needs, but apparently being able to speak wasn’t one of mine.

::I know you can’t, and I know why you can’t talk to me.::

Surprise and fear raced through me. How did Jackson know about me? Was he one of my kind?

::Are you like me?::

Hope welled in me. My human parents told me there were others like Rassia and me out in the world, but I’d never met any of them. The humans who had taken in the Opalite children didn’t want to risk the governments getting suspicious when there were large groups of unusual children together. We were split up, and sent throughout the world, except for Rassia and me. Our family bond was unusual among the Opalites, who tended to only have one child in their lifetimes. Siblings were rare in Opalites, so the elders and the humans chose not to take us away from each other. Maybe they believed we would develop stronger powers.

Jackson shook his head. ::No. I’m not one of your kind, but I grew up with one. I learned how to communicate with her, so she would have a friend.::

::Is she still alive?::

Sadness and anger rushed through our mental link, and I flinched. Jackson saw my reaction, and like he put up a wall, the emotions stopped suddenly. Reaching out, I laid my hand on his arm.

::I’m sorry.::

“It wasn’t your fault, so there’s no reason why you should be sorry.” Jackson held out the clothes. “I brought you a change of clothes. I know you’re probably cringing at the thought of putting your bloody clothes back on.”

I took the offering, and nodded. ::Thank you.::

“I’ll wait out in the hallway while you get dressed. Knock on the door when you’re done. I’ll get you out of here without anyone seeing you.”

::Why are you helping me?::

“Because I couldn’t help my sister when she needed me. I’ll give you my address as well. If you need a place to stay while you’re in the city, you can crash at my place.”

Jackson left, and I quickly stripped out of the hospital gown and into the clothes he brought me. I don’t know what they were called, but Jackson wore a pair, so they must have been nurses’ uniforms or something like that. When I finished, I knocked on the door, and Jackson opened it to peer in.

“Follow me. Just nod as I talk to you. We’re going to act like two nurses going out for a break.”

There was nothing I could do, but go along with him. He knew who I was, and he could have gone down to the government men, telling them of my existence in the hospital. For some reason, out of guilt or whatever, he didn’t, which was fine with me.

We wandered down the hall to the elevator. I kept my gaze either on the floor or on Jackson. The other nurses waved hello, but none of them tried to stop us. We got to the first floor, and walked outside.

“Do you have some place to go?”

::No. I stashed my bag at the bus station, but within an hour of me arriving in the city, my attackers found me. I know they have my sister, and I need to find them.::

“But you also need to get some rest,” Jackson pointed out. “Here’s my address. Go there after you collect your things, and sleep on the couch.”

::You won’t get in trouble for this?::

Jackson laughed. “I’ll tell the doc you left while I was down in the ER. He won’t believe me, but he also won’t call me out for it. He knows you’re different, and he saw how you reacted when I told him about the government men. The doc might not know you’re one of those, but he knows there’s something odd about you.”

::Should I be worried about Doctor Harleigh?::

“No. He won’t do anything to get you caught by the authorities. Doc likes them as much as we do. Trust me, he hates the fact that they come and bother him about the aliens all the time.” Jackson shrugged. “I’m not sure why Doc knows so much about you, but he’s the leading expert, or at least, the only one who hasn’t been seduced by government money.”

::Will you tell him thank you for me?::

Jackson nodded. “Sure I will. You know if you need any help, the doc might be the guy to ask. Not just because he knows so much about your kind, but because he’s well-connected in other ways.”

I don’t know what Jackson meant by that, but I smiled to let him think I understood. Jackson flagged down a cab, and paid the man to take me wherever I wanted. I still wasn’t entirely clear on why Jackson would do this for one of the aliens, but I didn’t have the money or resources to tell him no.

Good Monday...

Well, today's the start of another week. Yay! lol. I'll be starting Death today, and do some more work on Bring Him Gold. Hopefully, I'll get a good amount done on BHG today.

I'm doing some volunteering at the museum I used to work at today as well. So I'm off to do that this morning, then when I get back, I'll get started.

I hope you all have a great Monday.