I’ve been procrastinating long enough and I haven’t posted up a Shitty First Paragraph in a while, so, now is as good a time as any. Since I’m finishing up the last few chapters (bouncing around) of Love, In Reverse before I move on to editing, it seemed like a good candidate.

Saturday, 2 July, 8:12PM

“You look gorgeous.” Tessa started and turned around. Her mom leaned against the doorframe, smiling. Tessa had only seen that look on her mother’s face a few times before, a mixture of pride and awe. And each time, it left Tessa with knots in her stomach. She smiled and set the brush down on the dresser. Her mother straightened and continued, “Although I don’t think your father’s going to be too excited to see you in that dress.”

At first it was going to be a full-length novel, but after mapping it, I decided it would probably be better served as a novella. This story is firmly rooted in reality (meaning there are no supernatural beings or sci-fi/fantasy elements) and would probably be best classified as drama.

Now, without further ado, the SFP(age):

Friday, 23 September, 9:06PM

Tessa’s phone chirped from the night stand, telling her she’d received a text message. She didn’t move. Her mind was preoccupied with quieting itself. The phone chirped again. Headlights spilled through the blinds momentarily flooding her room with stripes of light and shadow. A car halted at the curb in front of her home. She checked the slit beneath her bedroom door. Still dark.

She rolled over and checked her phone.

RICK 9:06PM: we need 2 talk.
RICK 9:07PM: I need 2 c u.

Tessa had just finished typing her two letter response when the phone chirped again and a new text message consumed the screen.

RICK 9:11PM: im outside. come out.

After deleting the previous three messages, Tessa returned to her text and hit the send button. The phone chirped almost immediately.

RICK 9:13PM: ill knock.

A small gust of air caught in her throat. Again she checked the slit beneath her door. Thirty seconds passed before she was certain her parents hadn’t been awakened telepathically by Rick’s threat.

She called him.

“This will only take a few minutes,” he said the moment he answered the phone, before Tessa could collect her thoughts to speak.

“Why are you doing this?” She whispered.

“Because I love you. And I know that means I need to let you go. That’s why I’m here, to say good-bye.”

I’m actually going to do something a little different and release the first chapter since I’m close to having the entire first draft completed. Click to download Chapter 1 (PDF, 5 pgs.).