Instead of a long, drawn out discussing of my journey this go round, I’m going to give you a sneak peek at my story, Into the Web, which continues the Double Inkwell series and the lives of twins Jovan Parham and Cheyenne Parham.
I will say this; I’m on day 43 of the writing journey. Today, I am to have 22,360 words written. I have 24,735 words. So, I’m making it.
So, what is Into the Web about? Well, still fleshing that out as this is the first time I’m writing without the net of an outline. But essentially, we’re about two years past everything that happens in Death at the Double Inkwell [which you need to buy now], and the twins find themselves squarely in the center of a case involving a serial killer who meets young victims online, then kidnaps and murders them.
Without further ado, here’s the prologue to Into the Web. Remember, this is a rough draft. Haven’t been back to look at anything yet. Just plowing through.
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Except for the glow that resonated from the laptop’s screen, the room was devoid of light.
In a corner of the room, Celeste Franks sat upon a metal chair, her weary eyes focused on the back of his head. She watched him as he sat before the laptop, leaning forward, and typing with a swiftness that only came with skill. Or obsession. Or both.
She licked her lips, finding them and her tongue dry.
“Thirsty,” she whispered.
The man continued his feverish typing.
She thought about keeping silent. If she did, perhaps he would continue playing on the computer instead of playing with her. Just the thought of his eyes taking in her barely-there body made her stomach flip. His hands on her adolescent skin made her want to vomit. But what would there be to vomit? She hadn’t had a drink of water all day and what he considered food was no more than something grainy, like Cream of Wheat or grits too watered down.
She blinked and tried to think about how long she’d been there. Had it been a day since she ate or drank? With the windows boarded up, the only source of light she received was from the laptop’s screen, and that didn’t tell her much.
Her first night in the room, a moment she wished she could erase, was met with a beating that left her too delirious to notice that he had forced himself onto her, into her. It wasn’t until she had awakened hours later and saw the blood on the floor and between her legs that she realized he had taken her virginity.
Celeste coughed before saying, “I’m thirsty.”
“I heard you the first time,” the man replied gruffly.
He remained at his laptop.
Celeste wiggled her bare toes, trying to remove the cramping that began in her thighs and made its way down her legs.
She smiled, something she hadn’t done since the man took her.
Ten days.
That’s how long she had been here. She had been released from her shackles nine times thus far, allowed to get up and move about the room—only after the laptop had been removed from the room, her hands had been tied, and her mouth covered. After the fourth day, he allowed her hands to be free, her mouth uncovered. When he saw the shine diminish from her eyes, he knew she wouldn’t put up a fight, let loose a scream, and she didn’t.
Ten days.
She frowned.
Her bottom lip quivered.
She prayed, she wished, God, how she wished she could go back in time and never have wandered into Teeniverse, an up and coming social networking site for teens. Because of it and her joining, she met Doug and thought she met a cute boy who liked everything she liked.
After two weeks of daily talking with Doug, Celeste jumped at the chance to see him when he texted her, “Cn we c 1 another f2f finally?”
She knew her parents would kill her if they knew. They didn’t want her to even think about boys or have a boyfriend for at least another two years, when she’d be 16. And to know it was someone she met online? They would obliterate her laptop, crush her cell phone, and then come after her.
But she agreed to meet him at a local pizza parlor, a ten-minute walk from her house.
But she never made it.
She bounced down the stairs, dressed in her cutest jeans and pink top, her long black hair pulled back into a ponytail. She didn’t wear makeup, though she wanted to wear some desperately, but she was allowed to wear lip gloss, and she coated her lips with her favorite flavor, bubble gum.
She lied to her parents, something she never did in the past, as she said, “I’m going to meet Carina at her house to watch a movie. Her parents said it’d be OK. Be back in two hours.”
Her parents kissed her, told her to behave, and said dinner would be in the oven upon her return.
A tear slipped down Celeste’s eye as she thought of her parents. She missed them terribly and knew that they were worried. She could see her mother, an older version of her, sitting on the front porch, waiting, hoping for her return, praying that nothing bad had happened.
No tear fell, however, as she bounded out the front door of her house and practically ran down the sidewalk. She made it nearly halfway before a red car pulled up alongside her, and a man with a baby face smiled at her and said, “Doug said you were pretty, but he didn’t say you were this pretty.”
Celeste blushed, but she at least had the right mind to ask, “Who are you?”
“David, Doug’s older brother.”
Celeste looked inside the driver’s side window. “Where’s Doug?”
David rolled his eyes. “Stupid kid told our ‘rents the truth about meeting you, and now they want to meet you. Make sure you’re not some old woman after young boys. Mom said,” he added, raising his voice an octave, “You go pick up that young lady and bring her here. We won’t be having any of that To Catch a Predator going on in our house.”
Celeste laughed. “Parents sound cooler than mine. My dad would lock me in the house forever if he knew I was out here.”
“Well, let’s put my parents’ insanity to rest,” David said. “I’ll give you guys a lift to the parlor afterward.”
Celeste trotted around the front of the car and slid into the front passenger seat.
“So, tell me,” Celeste said, excitement building, “is your brother as cool as he seems?”
David turned to Celeste and chuckled. “He’s OK. I’m the cool one.”
And when he pulled off, Celeste set back, smiling and hopeful of meeting Doug.
She didn’t know she’d never meet another person again.
Fear crept inside her. Usually, the pain of being constricted would be making its grand entrance in her body right before the man would set her free to walk in the room. The pain had set up residence, playing her muscles like guitar strings. She wanted to scream just to alleviate it, but the fear gripped her.
Why hadn’t he fed her? Why hadn’t he given her something to drink? Why hadn’t he let her loose?
She stared at the man’s silhouette, the glow that radiated around him from the screen. When she did this long enough, she was able to take quick snatches of the room around her. She saw the twin bed, neatly made, the dresser beside the computer table, the seat with bucket beneath it where she was allowed to go to the bathroom.
She hadn’t used that today either.
Instead of releasing her fear, Celeste said one last time, “May I have something to drink?”
“Damn it,” the man yelled. He jumped from the chair and spun to face Celeste in her corner. “You think this is all about you, you, you, huh?” He marched toward her and delivered a powerful blow to her face. Celeste let loose a loud grunt before her head rolled back and her eyes closed.
“You ain’t even that pretty,” the man said, spit flying from his mouth. “Damn sure not as pretty as the last one, and neither one of you hold a candle to the next one.”
The man’s brown eyes grew dreamy as he moved toward the laptop and stared at the picture on the screen. The young blond-haired, blue-eyed beauty that stared back at him made his entire body stiffen.
“You and me?” he said to the picture. “I know we’ll be together forever.” Celeste groaned, and the man frowned. “But before I can have you, I have to do away with her.” He stared at the picture until his smile returned. “And for you, I will do anything.”
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