Chapter 1 ~ Trilby

Trilby Awakes is a work in progress. Here's a bit of chapter one...

Trilby was running as fast as she could down a dark, narrow hallway. The floor felt like clay, and her bare feet made a slap-slapping sound that echoed off thick stone walls pressing in on either side. On top of the slapping was the sound of her breathing--frantic gulps of air that didn't soothe her burning lungs. Her forehead and armpits were slick with sweat but she dare not stop. There was something else in the hallway, behind her. Another pair of feet. Gaining on her. She took a sharp turn to the right at the end of the hall, then left and right again, zig-zagging through the maze, looking for a way out, trying to evade her pursuer. The odor in the hallway was dense and vile, the smell of blood, bone, flesh, and mud. The sour smell of her fear. Suddenly the hall stopped. She was trapped in a small room. Near the back, in a corner, she saw a leather case on a tall table. She rushed to it and unclasped the hinges. Light escaped as she opened the lid. Inside was a circlet of silver and gold, wound together, emitting light. She lifted the crown in wonder, admired its intricate metalwork, moved to place it on her head. Something entered the room behind her. It was huge. Malevolent. It shouted at her, "Trilby, STOP!" Trilby clutched the circlet and whirled, expecting to see some kind of monster. In the doorway was a woman, a beautiful woman in a green velvet dress with thick black hair flowing all the way down to her hips. Her eyes were luminous blue and looked somehow familiar. Trilby took a step towards her. "STOP!" the woman screamed again, holding up her hand. Then her mouth opened wide and emitted a continuous ringing sound that got louder and louder and wouldn't stop until…

"Fuck!" Trilby shouted as she slammed down the button on the alarm clock. 

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" She wasn't in a labyrinth. There was no beautiful crown of silver and gold, no woman in a green dress with luminous eyes, no adventure, no quest. No nothing. Just a girl in a bedroom in San Francisco--a silly red-headed girl who was going to be late to school. "Fuck," she said dispiritedly as she swung her legs out of bed and took a look at herself in the full-length mirror where she confirmed that, of course, no miracle had occurred.

It was a special day, her sixteenth birthday, and one small part of her brain had hoped that in the night she might magically transform into a woman. But no. She still looked like a barely pubescent girl, with an unruly halo of red hair and an epidemic of freckles from forehead to toe. Well, she could fix that. The only problem was it took 30 minutes to do it, and another 45 minutes to get the bus across town to school. And since she must have pressed that damn snooze button five times or more, there weren't enough minutes in the morning. 

Okay. She would be late. She could deal with that. Besides, there were no other options. No way was she going to school looking like herself. 

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Trilby Awakes is a work in progress, but the progress isn't progressing very fast!!! Hahahah. I'll update you here if I ever finish. Find more of my work on my Amazon Author Page. See what I'm working on now at northbeachnotebook.blogspot.com.

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