End of Week Round-Up and Another Excerpt

If you've been following my Twitter – which, by the way, is @wandaXmaximoff, feel free to add me – or keeping track of the progress meter to the left of the main blog, you'll see that today I breached the 25k mark.

Yes, that's right. I'm only on day ten of my NaNo journey and already I've accumulated 25, 783 words!!


I am SO proud of myself.

And still I'm LOVING this story, and I have a feeling its only going to get better. The action is really about to kick off in the next couple of chapters.

I CANNOT WAIT!!

Unfortunately, yesterday I didn't add to my total. I was feeling sick, and so took the day off from writing. I did, however, update the design of my blog. I love it now, its so much more elegant.

Excited to get back to writing today, I'm setting myself a goal of reaching 30 k by the end of the day. I'm sure if I focus I should be able to write five thousand words in one day. Plus, I want to compensate for tomorrow, as I'll have less time to write, due to starting a child care course.

I'll leave this update here, and finish off with another excerpt. Enjoy.

Esmee followed Claudine's gaze and found herself looking at a group of armed guards all carrying black whips on their belts and guns in torso holsters.


However it wasn't the guards that held Esmee's attention. In the centre of them was a woman with long black hair pulled back into a tight pony tail. She was wearing long green robs that reached down to her bare feet, and her face was covered by a metal mask that shined dully in the artificial light of the basement testing area.


"The Reader approaches," Claudine informed.


"Why does she wear that mask?"


"She told me its so that you're fully focused on the assessment and not her face."


"Makes sense, I suppose. And why doesn't she wear shoes?"


"I don't know. She's never told anyone."


The Reader entered the room then, leaving the armed guards waiting outside.


"Shut the blinds, please," she told Claudine, and then turned to Esmee. "And you, take a seat."


Esmee did as she was told and dropped down onto the plastic chair to her left. The Reader occupied the seat opposite, sitting just a few inches apart from Esmee.


When the blinds had been pulled down to the floor Claudine crossed the room and sat on the chair to the rear.


"What is your name, Child?"


"Esmee Donnelly."


"Your real name, Child?"


"Oh. Esmee Reid."


"Esmee Reid, look at me now."


Esmee moved her gaze from the Reader's toes, that she had been admiring the red nail polish of, to the Reader's masked face. Though the Reader's stare was intense, Esmee gazed deeply into her bright blue eyes, determined not to look away.


From the corner of her eyes Esmee saw the Reader raise her arms, and then Esmee felt the Reader place her hands on her shoulders.


The contact overwhelmed Esmee and caused everything else in the room to dull and fade. The walls and floor became unfocused until finally they vanished into nothingness. Then the Reader her self became more and more indistinguishable until she vanished too. The faint gleam of metal from her mask finally faded and Esmee was left staring into blackness.


All was silent now, and Esmee could hear nothing, not even the unsteady beating of her own nervous heart.


From the blackness a faint pink light grew. The light became brighter, and more focused until Esmee realised she was now looking at a rose. A rose very similar to the one the girl in the room opposite had given her.


From seemingly nowhere the rose's stem grew and expanded, and then holding onto the stalk was a man. The man handed the rose to a smiling woman and she kissed his cheek.


When the kiss broke apart it revealed the same man and woman standing there, only this time they were in a church, quite obviously the bride and groom.


The groom slipped his hand into that of the brides, and Esmee's focus was directed to their entwined fingers.


Then the vision zoomed out, and the man and woman were still holding hands, only this time it was with the woman on a hospital bed, with a heavily pregnant stomach, as a Sonographer preformed an ultra-sound scan.


The image before her focused in on the woman's smiling face, and tears gathering in her eyes, as one slowly trickled down her cheek.


When the image zoomed out again it had changed once more, this time to the man and woman sitting on a hospital bed, holding a new born baby.


As Esmee focused on the baby, it transformed before her very eyes, gradually getting older and older. All the while the child was accompanied by its parents, who too grew in age.


Esmee watched the life cycle of the child as she reached adolescents, then moved on it adulthood, getting married and having children of her own.


The vision ended with an elderly woman, long grey hair bound in a plait, as she set on a wooden rocking chair and held a vivid pink rose in her hand.


Esmee's gaze focused on the rose, as it got closer and closer, until all she could see was a blur of pink. Slowly the pink faded, and then there was nothing but blackness once more.


Suddenly with a rush senses the room came alive again, and Esmee was bombarded with sights, smells, sounds, tastes and sensations.


She saw the Reader before her, blue eyes shining brightly. And the faint spell of Claudine's perfume, musky and slightly overpowering. Once more she could hear the three of them breathing steadily, and on her lips was the taste of the peppermint tea she'd hand with breakfast. Under her fingertips she felt something soft and velvety, and when she looked down, Esmee was surprised to see the rose had fallen from her hair and had landed in her lap. She fingered the petals gently.


"It is done," the Reader announced.


"And, what powers does she possess?" Claudine asked, as she rose from her chair and came to stand behind Esmee, taking a pen and piece of paper from her pocket as she did so.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the excerpt, and please keep checking back for more updates.