Sandpaper and Silk

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Wed, 19 Jul 2006 01:40:12 GMT

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Lunch came, and by that time Carmen was absolutely ready to go home. She needed to talk to her dad about home school, she just didn’t feel right about going to private school around all the people that she wanted to avoid in her life. She knew that it might be hard for her to talk to her dad about something so serious, but she was willing to take his chance. Maybe if he was so brokenhearted and down, he might not really care about whether or not Carmen went to home school. Yes, Carmen might have to find a teacher, but she was sure that would be plenty easy. Maybe Molly Ann might even decided to do it, since there was really no use in doing anything else since all the maids were the ones who cleaned most of the time. But nevertheless, Carmen was fed up with school. She knew she might have to spend today and maybe Monday at school, but that was way better than the entire year. School was only a week in, that day being Friday. She still had weeks upon weeks of school left, and there was no way she was going to be able to put up with that. She shook her head in disgust, and left on her journey towards her car. She did not want to come back, but she knew she had to. As she walked down the stairs, she spotted Brooklyn out of the corner of her eye. She looked over at her, wanting to know how she was doing at least. But Brooklyn was fine, she was surrounded by a bunch of girls who she had always been friends with, and who were just as superficial as Brooklyn was. All they cared about was their fathers’s bank account and their own trust fund. Carmen looked away just as quickly as she had looked over, and she continued her walk towards her white Mercedes, standing out and sparkling parked in the middle of all the other dull and not-as-expensive cars. She had turned her head just in time to miss Brooklyn’s longing gaze towards her. Carmen handed the security officer her senior-off-campus pass and headed towards her car, not knowing that she was being watched by not only just one person, but three. Carmen got into her car and left the school. She just wanted to get away, even if it was only for an hour. She felt too secluded their, and yet so in the middle of everything. Michael had not talked to her that day, he passed by and nervously glanced at her, but other than that showed no sign of recognizing her. Jason might have or might not have been at school, for Carmen had not seen him yet. But Carmen didn t really care all that much. At that school, there was no need for friends. The only break that she had was lunchtime, and she left to go to a restaurant every day. There was no way she was staying some place that she didn’t want to be in.

*******

The school day finally finished after Carmen had put up with three long classes that seemed to never end. She was so thankful when that final bell rang, and she rushed towards her car. She had the highest feeling of hope that day would be the last day of ever attending San Marcos Private Academy. But something inside of her stirred when she thought about that. As she opened her car door, she realized that she had left her top down, just like she had the day before. She cursed her self for doing such a thing and got into her car, writing a note to herself in her mind to put the top up everywhere she went. The top to her convertible was a hard-top, and when it was up, the car looked like any normal Mercedes Sedan. But the top came down, and Carmen loved the car for that. She hated convertibles for the reason of their canvas tops. They were so easy to break into, and Carmen had always worried about that. So when the Mercedes hard top convertible came out into dealerships, Carmen was delighted and informed her father of the news right away. He had smiled and said, “We will see,” and Carmen had been so upset. Her father wasn’t one to just do that, leaving Carmen to guess. He normally had always told her that they would get whatever she wanted, but that time he had played games with his daughter.
Carmen remembered the first time she had laid eyes on the Mercedes, sitting on the terrace where she would normally park her BMW, but the Mercedes had taken the spot. She hadn’t known what was going on at the time, but as she parked her car on the other side of Stacy’s Aston Martin, her father and Stacy came running out of the house, smiles plastered on their faces.
“How do you like it?” Her father asked. “Isn’t it pretty?” Carmen was confused and still didn’t know what was going on.
“The car? I like it, is it Stacy’s? Because it is parked in my spot.” Wayne and Stacy had exchanged knowing glances and they walked up to Carmen, and Stacy spoke softly.
“Sweetheart, the car is yours.”
Carmen snapped out of her thoughts, not liking the thought of Stacy, for it was bringing unwanted tears to her eyes. She left the school, knowing that she was glad to be leaving, and she wouldn’t miss it if she never saw it again.

*********

As Carmen drove up the long, beautiful drive, which after so many years of driving up became very dull and boring, towards her house, she glanced at the side drive leading towards the tennis courts and the swimming pool. It had been so long since she had last visited the yards. Maybe six months, if that. She imagined that it was longer than that. She was just so busy with her life that it was so hard to find personal time. She had not put her bathing suit to good use yet, and she had bought it seven months ago. She shuddered at the thought of what was happening to her life. At least if she was in home school she would have the time to do things more personal. Then she remembered the horses, and she cursed herself for forgetting about them. Of course, they were taken care of by staff members, but she had not visited them in so long, they had probably already forgotten who their owner was. And poor Midnight, Stacy’s pure black, shiny, and perfectly managed horse. Carmen wondered if Midnight could sense that her owner was gone from the world, since Carmen knew that animals had very strong senses. Almost like they were telepathic. Carmen fought back the tears forming in her eyes at the thought of how much Stacy loved that horse. She remembered the many afternoons when she and Stacy would ride up the mountain on their individual horses and watch from the top as the sun went down, creating the most beautiful landscape and color scheme as it gleamed over the lake, so mystical. It looked like a watercolor, and when Carmen was young she used to think just that. She was so determined to believe that God had painted a picture every time Stacy and her rode their horses up that mountain. It was so beautiful and breathtaking. But Carmen could not think about such memories as she was, and so she decided to continue driving. She made a mental note to visit the vast yards over the weekend, since she had nothing better to do.

*******

As Carmen walked into her bedroom, she was distracted by a hint of red shining underneath her window. She looked over and saw the rose that she had found in her glove box earlier that morning. When she saw the rose, which she obviously figured, with good reason, that it was her father who left it in her car, she was reminded of her school situation and how she would need to talk to Wayne sometime that day in order to be effective. She just had one thing to worry about: how she would get in contact with her dad. She decided to get it over with and walked down the hallway towards her father’s room. As she approached the door, she knocked silently, her heart pounding, her pulse quickening, and her blood pressure rising as she waited anxiously for the door to open. Or, at least to hear some sign of life inside of her father’s cave. When there was no answer, Carmen decided to rely on her voice to get his attention instead.
“Dad? Are you in there?” Carmen waited for about another 20 seconds. And just as she was about to turn around and head back to her room, defeated, she heard a rustling coming from inside. She froze at the spot, anxious to see her dad for the first time in so long. She put her ear closer to the door, listening for her father. The rustling kept getting closer to her, and she knew that her dad was walking towards the door. “Dad?” She was answered by the doorknob turning, and she took a surprised step backwards.
“Hi, Carmen. How are you?” She sighed at the ease in which he said her name. She knew in her heart that her father still cared deeply for her, but she was so deprived of the sight of him, that it seemed as though sometime that were so far from the truth.
“Hi Daddy! I am doing okay, I guess. But, how are you doing?” Wayne looked at his feet, and shrugged his shoulders.
“Okay for the situation given, I would think.” Carmen forced a smile and grabbed for her father, embracing him in the first hug she had received from him in a whole week. “So, do you need something or did you just want to talk. Because I can work with both.” Carmen thought of the answer. What had she really walked up to his bedroom door for? Suddenly, the answer hit her. The perfect answer, nonetheless.
“Both.” Her dad nodded his head and beckoned her inside. They sat down on the couch closest to the door. Carmen was surprised to see that the room was in good shape. She knew her father was not one to go without a clean room to live in, so it was either him doing all the work to keep himself busy, or it was the maids. As Wayne sat down, he took a deep breath. “So, first, what is it that you need?” Carmen took a deep breath, too. It was now or never.
“Dad, I know this might upset you in a way, since I have already mentioned it and you have denied me the ability, but Dad, I am putting my foot down now. I need you to consider this with everything that you have left, okay? My sanity is in stake here.” She stopped and waited for a response from her father. It took him a few seconds to realize that this was what she was doing,, but when he did, he nodded his head and smiled.
“Of course, Carmen. I want to keep you happy.” Carmen smiled and continued as quickly as possible so she would not melt in front of her dad like she normally did, especially when he looked so upset.
“Daddy, I need you to consider letting me transfer to home schooling. Now, before you respond,” she said as her dad took a breath, obviously ready to defend, “I need you to know that I will do the search for a teacher, and I have even considered Molly Ann. I mean, what does she do around the house anyways besides keep the housekeepers in line?” She smiled at her comment, but went on normally. “I can not stand going to that school any longer, and it is seriously driving me insane. I need you to consider this, Daddy.” She looked at him with her most innocent look and pleading look she could muster. Her dad looked at his bundled up hands in his lap for at least two minutes, and Carmen knew that he was at least considering what Carmen was suggesting. Finally, it looked like he was ready to respond.
“I think that is a great idea, Carmen. Have you talked to Molly Ann about it yet?” Carmen was shocked beyond words. All she could do was force herself to shake her head no. “Well, you need to. Maybe I will call her in. I had forgotten that Molly Ann had attended school and got her degree for a teacher. Prefect idea, Carry.” Carmen smiled, and leapt into her father’s arms. She was so happy that her father had just agreed to letting her switch to home schooling. He obviously understood the pain that Carmen must be going through, too, and that meant more to Carmen than anything ever had before. She was at a higher level of respect for her father at that moment, and when her father let go of his embrace, Carmen felt safe and secure, a feeling which had become so unfamiliar to her. “Well, what do you need to talk to me about, now?” Carmen looked at her father with loving eyes and admiration.
“I just want to talk about nothing in particular.” With that, she laid her head down on his shoulder and she stayed there, talking with her father about anything in general. She got him to laugh, smile, make his silly jokes again, and even stand up and be animated. Carmen loved her father more than ever at that moment.

**********

“Molly!? Can you tell Dad I am leaving, please?” Carmen yelled up to her new friend her good byes and walked towards her car. It was Saturday, and she was feeling great about how her life was turning out, so suddenly. She was leaving to go down to the school and get her papers and all the other things that she would need, along with clean out her locker which she never used anymore. She was so excited to be leaving the school for good. They had worked everything out, and starting in a week, Carmen would be home schooled. The best thing was that Carmen did not have to go to school during that week while she waited for Molly Ann to get her lessons planned and have her meeting with the school in order to get the curriculum which Carmen needed. And the funny thing was that neither Brooklyn nor Jason knew that she was no longer attending San Marcos. No longer would she show up to that school, ready to learn. She had had enough of her old friends, and she was mostly glad to get away from them more than anything. She smiled as she shook the thoughts out of her head and approached her car. The top was down, again, and Carmen cursed herself, again. She had to remember to stop doing that, otherwise things could get into her car, like leaves or animals, and that car was too expensive to ruin by careless mistakes like that. Suddenly Carmen remembered the rose, and she had forgotten to ask her father about it. She made a mental note to talk to him about it when she got home. She smiled as she remembered the flower, and she opened the glove box, wanting to look at where it was put, just to remember. But something else was in her glove box that should not have been. She leaned over to try and see what it was, and she realized that it was a note. She grabbed for it, and looked at the top. It said Carmen in scripted letters, and she furrowed her brow, knowing that that was not her father’s handwriting. She opened the note slowly, sitting down on her seat, and she saw more of the same writing. This was definitely not her father’s note. She concentrated on what the note said, and she read:

“Nice choice of a spot. I love the way the sun delicately lays on top of the pedals of the rose, just as I imagine our bodies like when you are finally mine. I have waited far too long, Carmen.
Love, Me”

Carmen finished reading the note and screamed out loud. She threw the note out of her car and sat there, terrified. That was definitely not her father’s note, she knew that for sure. She looked around her, making sure no one was around. Whoever sent the note knew about Carmen’s house and had seen the rose. Then she realized that without sneaking in, that was impossible since absolutely no one had been in her room. They could have seen it through the window, though, Carmen realized. Then, an instinct came to her. She would tell Mason, she had no other choice. She slammed her car door shut and turned her car on, speeding off down the drive, the trees, the bushes, and the other miscellaneous landscape objects blurring by like they were never there in the first place. They sure did go unnoticed like they were never there, that is for sure. She reached the last turn off of the drive and sped around its corner, not caring too much about her car at that moment. She was worried about other things. Panic had increased inside of her, and she was in desperate need of that wonderful feeling of safety which she was having trouble remembering. She slammed the breaks when she reached the security building, nearly hitting the parking curb, and she jumped out of the car instead of opening the door. She ran into the building without question and she was pointed directly towards Mason Fields, who was standing looking at a piece of paper with his back turned to her, not a clue in the world about what he was just about to be informed of.
“Mason!” Carmen gasped, trying to find her breath that she had left back up at the terrace. Mason was shocked at the kind of state that Carmen was in. Everyone in the building had their eyes on Carmen, the new lady of the household, and they listened to every single word, every single breath even, that she made. She was unaware of the attention and pressure that was put onto her, though.
“Carmen Elizabeth Sawyer! What on Earth is wrong with you? What in God’s name is going on here?” Carmen looked at him with the utter most seriousness.
“I need you to activate maximum security on the house, right now, Mason. Instantly.” Everyone around the two started rushing off to do their jobs at maximizing security at the moment she said the words. “We may have an intruder.”

******

Carmen awoke to the sound of her alarm clock. She frowned a little and then looked at it with swollen eyes. She groaned desperately as she realized that she forgot to unset it. She no longer had to get up at the early hours of the morning to go to school. She had an entire week to relax so that she could give Molly Ann time to prepare for her new job. The two of them had decided to convert one of the spare bedrooms into a school room and Molly was being very creative about everything. She was making it very pretty and educational, and Carmen was so excited to get to work, surprisingly enough. She smiled at the thought of not having to get up and being able to sleep in, and she turned off her alarm before it annoyed her too much. She laid back down and got into an extremely comfortable position, sprawled out on her full sized bed, covered in her summer down quilt, a vision of beautifully exquisite elegance. But as the silence overtook her, she realized that her room was not absolutely as silent as it should have been. She frowned a little yet again, and she lifted her head up. A silent humming was coming from the corner of her room where her computer was. She looked over and realized that the screen saver on her computer was on. She thought hard for a few minutes, and became instantly panicked and confused. She had turned off her computer before she went to sleep, and the screen saver only stayed on for about a half an hour after it came on, after that, the screen blacked out. Carmen freaked out a little and walked over to her computer. She ran the mouse over the pad quickly, activating her computer. There was a picture of something, with a message at the bottom. Before Carmen investigated any more, she looked around her hurriedly, almost instinctively, to check to see if anyone was watching her. She erased that idiotic thought out of her head and looked back at the computer screen. She read the message first:

Zoom In

She frowned slightly, but complied. She zoomed in until she could perfectly make out what was in the picture. Captured there was her shopping on Rodeo Dr. in Los Angeles with her father about a year before, and they were surrounded by a crowd of people. It was completely candid, and Carmen had no idea someone was taking a picture of her. Her face was barely visible, but it was obvious that the picture was focused on Carmen. She hurriedly closed the window, only to find another one with her word processor open. Another message read:

Scroll Down

So, Carmen being curious to see what was down on the other pages, she did just that. She scrolled down. The images before her sent her into extreme fright and disgust. There were tens upon tens of pictures of her walking around different towns, including Santa Barbara. She never looked at the camera once. There was even one of her and Jason leaving the school, walking towards their respective cars, hand in hand, and kissing quite passionately. Carmen’s eyes were darting furiously across the page. It was sick. These were all pictures of her while she was not looking; candid pictures, stalking pictures. Carmen leapt out of her seat and screamed, but of course no one could hear her because the house was so vast. It was made for the use of sound-proof rooms. But that might have been a good thing, since Carmen was in no way ready to tell somebody. Who would she tell, anyway? Her dad was in no shape to hear something like that, and every one else, well, she just did not feel comfortable about something like that. She just thought it would be too weird to confide in Molly Ann or Mason with something like that. She shook her head and paced the room. She exited all the windows on her computer, shut the blinds to her window, and then walked out of her room, not ready to be alone in there just yet. That had freaked her out, and what if whoever did it was still in her room. Like, in her closet or her bathroom? Carmen was so frightened. She needed to be around someone, so she went to the closest place where she knew here was always going to be someone. The kitchen.
She walked into the vast room and greeted Lucas, trying not to sound as emotional as she felt. When Lucas looked up at Carmen, his eyes and forehead were brought into a frown.
“Why aren t you dressed, Carmen? School starts in about an hour, doesn t it? Shouldn t you be ready. I was expecting you at breakfast a little while earlier than now, and by all means, without your night clothes on.” Carmen laughed, remembering that she had not informed Lucas about her switch of school systems.
“Oh, that. I forgot to tell you, Lucas. Daddy is letting me be home schooled now. It is rather exciting, I am so happy that I do not have to drive all the way down to the bottom of the mountain every morning and afternoon now. It is such a waste of time, that drive. I always wondered why dad never bought a house closer to the town. Then we wouldn t have to take a field trip every single time we wanted to go somewhere. Somewhere close even, like downtown. Anyways,” Carmen realized that she was rambling, and she stopped immediately. “I guess that means I will not be needing breakfast from now on until about, I do not know, about maybe nine. Yeah, that sounds right.” Carmen’s mind was on other things, and she could not stop herself from rambling. Lucas just smiled and continued what he was doing.
“That sounds perfect, it means I can sleep in just a little bit longer.” Lucas looked at her and smiled, and ended it with a slight wink. Lucas looked as though he expected Carmen to leave any second, and yet Carmen stayed implanted in her spot, determined to be around at least one person at all times, even if that meant living in the kitchen just like Lucas did. Well. at least that is what it seemed like to Carmen, since he was always in there when she was. But supposedly he slept in the lower house and everything, he just liked to stay in the kitchen longer. Which, of course, that was a major reason as to why his salary was so large. Same went for every single staff member at the house.
When Lucas noticed that Carmen had not left yet, he turned to look at her quistively. “Do you want something else?” He asked extremely politely, not at all sounding, or being, rude. Carmen simply shook her head and sat down at a bar stool at the front counter.
“Just relaxing. I find that different parts of the house appeal to me lately. Just, randomly. Today just feels like a kitchen day.” To hide her embarrassment, Carmen put her face into her crossed arms. She knew she sounded foolish -- she felt foolish -- but it was really the only thing that came to mind at the time. She forced back a laugh and lifted her head back up, gazing out the kitchen window at the grounds. Just a couple stories up and to the left a few windows were the windows to her own room. All three of them had the perfect view of the front yard, as Wayne had made sure of when they built the house. He wanted Carmen to have the best and biggest room in the house, and so she did. He loved to spoil his daughter, and it showed in everything that he did for her. Carmen imagined what life would be like if she did not live in that amazing mansion, Serenity, or if she did not have anything and everything she would ever need or desire in her entire life. What would life be like? This was a thought that sometimes crossed her mind, more often than not. She loved her life, and ever since Stacy’s car accident, she had began to think about what life would be like if she did not live at that house, and she was worrying, even preparing for it, and she did not know why. She thought maybe her potential stalker had something to do with it, but she had the comfort of knowing that Serenity was on maximum security and that the staff at the security office were busily watching every tape of the house that night, searching for the culprit.
That thought cooled Carmen down, and she stood up and started to walk away when she realized that she had not yet said good bye to Lucas.
“See you later, Lucas!” She waved to him, knowing that he must think that she was a total loser by then, and she took off. She walked up the stairs towards her bedroom and slowly entered her room. She dared not look at the computer screen, and she hurried to her closet to get her new bathing suit out so that she could go swimming for the first time in ages. She put her hand on the doorknob, and just as she was about to open the door, she heard the computer make a beeping sound. She jumped back about three feet, startled at the noise. It was not a usual noise, she did not recognize it. She turned and looked at the computer sitting on her desk, completely black-screened. She walked over and wiggled the mouse a little, just like before. There on the screen was a message that popped up, informing her of an incoming message. She frowned and sat at her chair. She decided she better read it, no matter who it was from. She double-clicked the message title, which said, “Never”. The message instantly popped up on the computer’s note pad, and she read it slowly:

“Even if they find me, they will never know who I am. But for now I will back off. Nice try though, Carmen. But it is a waste of time. One day you will want to spend the rest of your life with me, and when that day comes, you will also never know who I am. But just know that one day, you will be mine forever.

Love, Me”

Carmen felt dizzy and light headed. She was going into a tremendous state of shock, and she hated the feeling. Who the hell was this person? She closed the message down, and screamed in frustration. Suddenly, her bedroom door opened. Carmen jumped out of her chair and turned to face the door, deeply defensive.
“Carmen? Are you alright?” Carmen let out a deep breath and sat back down. It was just Molly Ann.
“Hi, Molly Ann. I am just a little frustrated with life right now.” Carmen rested her head and her knees and looked up at Molly Ann, the only mother figure she had left in the world. Molly Ann nodded her head and sat on the stylish lavender chair that went to Carmen’s vanity table.
“You have every reason to be, Carry. So many things have happened recently, and I know you understand that. So do not worry about being frustrated, in time that will go away. Soon enough.” Molly Ann smiled at Carmen and got out of her chair, a scattered look on her face. “I forgot, I was supposed to be bringing Wayne his breakfast.” Molly Ann started to walk away, but Carmen stopped her before she got to the door.
“Molly Ann? Shouldn t you be working on the school thing instead of catering to my father and me. I thought that was what your new job was, anyways.” Molly Ann nodded and gave a very simple answer.
“Yes, that is absolutely correct, Carry. But I was just checking up on your dad to see how he was doing. And I offered him the luxury of bringing his breakfast up to him since it was about that time. So I left for the kitchen, and that is about when I heard you--” Carmen stopped her as she recognized the signs of Molly Ann changing the subject so as to avoid saying something that she was hiding.
“Molly, Ann? How is my father?” Molly Ann looked at the ground, ashamed. Carmen did not know exactly what she was ashamed about, though. She could have been ashamed about herself for staying too long to be asked that dreadful question, or she could be ashamed of Wayne himself for letting himself go on like he was. But Carmen was determined to wait to see which it was. When Molly Ann had not answered after about a minute of Carmen’s question, Carmen cleared her throat. “I really would like to know, you know Molly Ann. I do not have the courage to walk into that room myself, so I feel more comfortable hearing about it rather than seeing it, if it really is all that bad. So please, without any further hesitation, please tell me. Plus, you do not want to keep Daddy waiting for very much longer, now do you?” Carmen was very satisfied with how she handled the matter, but she was also nervous to hear what Molly Ann had to say. She knew in her heart that her father would never get one hundred percent better, but Carmen still had hope. And she knew that if he got any better at all, it would only be a very slight bit. Time would be the major factor in his healing process. So Carmen waited for a couple more seconds before Molly Ann finally gained the courage to say what she needed to say.
“Your father is not doing so well, Carmen. He has been laying in bed all day, not moving or anything. He has not taken his shower or turned on the television. He is just laying there, sulking. I suppose it has to do with the fact that the last few days were the first weekend in about sixteen years that he has been without Stacy, and it is finally taking its effect. It is killing him inside. That woman, well, you know, but still, she meant everything to him, and now he has lost that. Now nothing means anything, no offense or anything. It is a psychological thing, of course. But Carmen, I must be going. I do not want to keep him waiting, plus. I have a school room to get ready.” With that, Molly Ann left the room, heading for the left towards the kitchen. Carmen listened as Molly Ann’s shoes clicked down the marble stairs and echoed throughout the entrance hall, then disappeared off into the kitchen. Carmen walked towards her open door and closed it, knowing now that she would not be able to be heard if Molly Ann were to walk by her room.
Carmen laid down on her bed and sighed deeply. Her father was getting worse, something Carmen had not expected. Light had been shad onto her when she talked to her dad the last time about home school and everything else; he was so lively and bright. And now he was sulking tremendously, not getting out of his bed or doing anything he normally did. Somera Capitol was probably suffering because he had not shown up at the office or answered any phone calls, at least that is what Carmen expected. She figured he probably turned off his phone the day Stacy passed away and he had not turned it back on since. That would definitely prove to be something of a struggle to the business, and Carmen felt a pang in her heart. That business was one of her father’s hobbies. He enjoyed it with all of his heart and soul, not leaving the office until it was necessary, and he was always there when it was, sometimes longer. And now Stacy was gone and, just as Molly Ann had said, nothing mattered to him anymore. Nothing was of interest to him, he had forgotten his life before Stacy, and it was impossible to go back. He barely had any life at all, and Carmen felt horrible for her father. Not only for her father, but about her father. He had always been such a happy man, and now he was simply depressed and down, no longer that bright man that he had used to be. Carmen shook her head in disappointment, and she soon found herself feeling the effects of waking up early, along with all the stress she had been through throughout the day. She forgot about swimming or playing tennis, or even visiting the horses. She just wanted to sleep. Her eyes became heavier and her thoughts more clouded. She picked up her blankets and threw them over her and turned around into a more comfortable sleeping position, falling into a deep sleep in mere minutes.

*********

Carmen’s week wore by very slowly. She was afraid to go outside at all, for fear of something happening to her. Her father was more secluded than he ever had been, staying in his room and making Molly Ann cater to him. Whenever Carmen knocked on the door, there was no answer, and Carmen knew that her father was avoiding her for some odd reason. But inside Carmen knew that in time the pain would wear away and her father would be normal again, but in the mean time, her father was treating her absolutely horrible, and there was nothing that she could do about it.
As she sat in her room thinking about it on a Thursday night, she shook her head in disappointment. Life had become so difficult, when it was once so easy. She was so used to the way she lived before, and this was completely different. Life was harder, and more complicated. That was not what Carmen was used to, and she wanted out. But she saw no way of that happening. She sighed as she got out of her chair and walked towards her closet. She felt like playing tennis. And even though it was late at night, she could still do it, no problem. It might even make it better, since there were no distractions that would be able to be seen. So she changed into an outfit made for playing tennis and got her equipment from the sport section of her closet that was so big, it was equal in space to the normal sized living room in an average American home. She ran down the stairs to the sun room where there was a hidden box that had all the switches for every single outside light. She turned on the tennis court lights, and the lights to the path leading down to it, and she closed the box hurriedly. She then opened the glass door to the outside air and rushed down the path, letting the door close behind her with a big banging noise. As she approached the courts, she opened the gate to the nearest on and pushed it open. She set up all her things and put about one hundred balls into the box for the automatic ball shooter. She stood at the other end of the court and waited for the cycle to begin. As she waited the couple of seconds for the balls to start coming, she realized that it was a completely windless night with no clouds at all in the sky. She smiled as she took in the pleasant air, and then looked back down at the ball shooter, ready to play. The ball shooter made its humming noise before shooting out a ball, and the first one came at her. She hit it with a perfect stroke of her racket and stood in a stance, waiting for the next one. The next one came in a matter of split seconds, and she laid a very graceful backstroke onto it, sending it clear across the court. In a matter of seconds, as the next one was automatically picked from the box, the ball made its way through the little tunnel, but suddenly, the ball shooter stopped making noise, and the ball was sent very slowly out of the tube, and hit the ground at rolling speed, a few mere inches away from the base of the machine. Carmen heard the wind rustle behind her, and she stood there, waiting for something to happen. But when nothing did, she groaned in frustration and threw her racket down on the court. She stalked over to the machine and tried to see what was wrong with it. She predicted it was the same problem with the motor that they were having when she had last played tennis. She opened up the cover to the motor as she heard the wind rustle again, coming from the same spot.
But as Carmen thought to herself, she suddenly froze in spot. It was a windless night. There were no clouds. There was no wind. She could not have been hearing the wind. There was something, some noise, coming from the outskirts of the baseball field, directly behind the tennis courts. She dared not look behind her at the darkness. Physics was against her, and the light shining from where she was would prevent her from seeing anything in the darkness that surrounded the courts. But whatever, or whoever (Carmen shivered at this thought), was out there could see every move that she made. She tried to pretend as though she did not hear anything. She continued rummaging with the machine and tried to fix it by moving a lever that the mechanic had done the last time. Suddenly she heard the noise again. It sounded like whispering. Human whispering. She frowned, and panic rose in her even more. She had to get out of there, but the walk up to the house was such a long way, and she was scared of what was behind her. She knew that the house was on maximum security, but she couldn t help but psychologically think that somebody could have intruded.
Carmen could barely breathe, and she was suffering from her heart beating so fast. She felt paralyzed in fear, and she did not move a muscle. She strained her ears for the noise again. She waited for at least a minute as she tried to make out any sound what-so-ever besides the nightly crickets. Then she heard it, and she could make out what the person was saying.
“Carmen!” Carmen froze even more. Somebody was calling her name, and she could not, for the life of her, figure out who was saying it. She then decided to act.
“Who is out there?” She asked angrily, turning around and trying to see in the darkness. Impossibly so, but she still tried her best. There was no answer, when suddenly she heard rustling in the grass around the area where she had heard the voice coming from. Then she heard a grunting noise, followed by a rustling of the bushes straight behind the baseball field. Whoever it was was leaving. Carmen’s heartbeat picked up even more so, and she gathered all of her stuff. She unplugged the tennis ball shooter and booked it for her house, making sure to lock the gate to the tennis court. She ran as fast as her legs, and her bag, would let her. As she finally approached the glass back doors, she opened them as quickly as she could and slammed it behind her so hard that she was scared of breaking the glass. Which, she knew that was physically impossible, but she still got frightened. She dropped all her stuff on the floor of the warm sun room and raced to the light panel hidden by the wall plant. She opened it up and switched on every single outdoor light. She could see the entire yard, all twenty five acres of it. She looked everywhere. At the tennis courts, basketball courts, the baseball field. She searched the pool house, and the pool itself. She looked at the garage and the ATV/dirt bike track. She wished she could see everywhere else, but it was all blocked off by tress and bushes. She could see nothing and nobody in the yard, and she sighed in frustration, nervousness, and a little bit of relief. It was at that moment that Carmen realized that she was not alone in the sun room. A throat cleared, sending Carmen into uncontrollable screams. She ran to the other side of the room and when she realized that it was imply Lucas, it took her a few seconds to stop screaming. But she finally did when she busted up into tears from laughing so hard at Lucas’s outrageous arm gestures, trying to keep Carmen quiet.
“Shhh!! Carmen! You might wake your father! What on Earth is going on here? Why are you so fidgety?” Carmen laughed at Lucas one more time, and she answered simply.
“I thought I heard something on the courts and I freaked out and ran back up. You scared me though, Lucas!” Lucas laughed as he walked away, shaking his head in disbelief. Carmen collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted. What a bad idea it was to go play tennis. She groaned to herself as she made her way towards her room, dragging her bad along beside her. All she wanted was to go to sleep, and not have to worry about certain stalkers. She felt safe while she was sleeping, and that is exactly what she needed.
As she fell onto her bed after changing into her pajamas, she smiled as the down blanket caressed her skin, soft and delicate to the touch. She loved the feeling, and she scooted herself up to the top of the bed and laid her feet under the blankets, savoring the feelings that she was getting from the soft blankets. She laid her head down on her fluffy but firm pillow and shut the lights off. She was asleep in a matter of minutes, and even though she was not conscious to know, she felt safer than she had ever since her stalker came into the picture. Or, at least she thought he was a stalker. But it was definitely a guy, and there was no doubt about that. These were her thoughts as she slept dreamlessly for the first time in months, the last time being when she was so depressed about Jason’s abuse, her body forced herself not to think about it while she was sleeping. And now she had other worries and stresses, and she slept without a dream, without a thought or image of her outside life.

*******

As Carmen was sitting by the pool the next day, her eyes would not stop adverting to the direction of the baseball field. She had a psychological thought that whoever had been in her yard the last night was still there, and it freaked her out. She had not wanted to go down to the pool that day for fear of what had just happened, but she decided to anyways and face her fears, something that she had always had trouble doing. It was broad daylight, anyways, so she was sure that nothing would happen. Besides, she had talked to Mason that morning about security, and they said they had found a guy sneaking through the trees into the property a couple days earlier - the day Carmen found that rose in her glove box - and he had possessed binoculars. But the only problem was that the cameras did not get a good capture of his head, since it was completely covered. But that sighting had made all the staff members freak out and they were altogether more determined to protect the household. They had started to put fencing around the yard that morning and they had twenty four hour surveillance on every single part of the house. That made Carmen a lot more comfortable, and after swimming and tanning in her new bathing suit, she was planning on driving down to the horses to check up on them and get some socializing time between her and her own horse.
She finished her tanning and she stepped into the shower really quick in one of the rooms at the pool house, then she pulled on her change of clothes that she had taken down with her and she put her bathing suit into her bag. She walked down to her car which was parked not very far away from the pool house since she had driven down there instead of walking because she knew she would need her car for the drive to the horses, which took a while if you traveled on foot. Besides, Carmen was not in the mood for walking that day. So she plopped her bag on the back seat and sat at the steering wheel and started her car. She was actually pretty excited to see the horses, and she sped off just a little too quickly. She did not notice the red Mazda Miatta coming straight for her, and when she finally did spot it she had just enough time to slam on her breaks to avoid hitting its front end. She shook out of her state of shock and looked at who the driver was. It was Mason Fields. He was getting out of his little sports car and he was walking towards Carmen’s car with a concerned look on his face. She couldn t help but notice that he was carrying a little envelope in his right hand. As he approached, he started talking immediately.
“You okay, Carmen? You don t seem to be paying too much attention to where you re going.” Carmen smiled sweetly and answered the same way.
“I am fine, Mason. I just didn t expect anyone to be driving along here. No one ever does except for cleaning staff, and they re all working right now. Mason nodded, signaling that he understood. He looked down at his hands and noticed that he had that envelope there.
“Oh! Carmen. This is why I came down here. I knew you were here because we have been making sure to keep a very close eye on you and your father now that we know that there is an intruder. But, I found this on the combination box at the gate. It had your name on it, so I used common sense and decided to give it to you. Carmen smiled sweetly at the man she had known all of her life,
“Thank you, Mason. And I will be sure to watch out around the driveway next time, I promise.” Mason smiled and had an amused look on his face.
“Well, hopefully there won t be a next time, right?” They both laughed and he climbed into his car, taking off backwards toward the security building. Carmen sighed as she opened up the envelope. Whatever it was, it was on binder paper. Carmen was very curious as to who would be sending her a letter this way. She pulled out the letter, suspension filling her, and unfolded the neatly creased lines. The writing was typed from a computer, and so Carmen did not know who had written it. Besides, the letter did not have a signature at the bottom. So Carmen read the letter, curious to see who it was from.

“Carmen,

Hi. I hope I am not scaring you too much. I try to find the courage to talk to you, but it doesn t work. I normally see you every day, but for some reason I have not seen you lately. You are always there, and I always want to go up to you, but my will power fails horribly. I will not tell you where I see you, since that would be giving away my secret, and might force me to have to talk to you. I am nervous, though, and until that time that I am no longer as afraid, I will continue trying my hardest to break that void. I might show it in weird ways, but I promise you that I am not meaning to scare me.
I noticed that your house in on stronger security now, leaving it harder for me to see you. I tried to talk to you yesterday, but when you turned around, asking who it was that was calling out your name, I got scared and I couldn t stay. I had to run into the bushes, it was my only escape plan. I am sorry if I scared you too horribly. I know that you may find it unlawful for me to break into your house in such nature, but I find it necessary, since I have not seen you in so long. So I will leave this on your gate or something, since the chance of me getting caught is greater now. Hopefully you will get this. Gotta go, someone is coming.”

Carmen frowned, and she felt that not uncommon feeling of light headedness after reading or seeing something of that nature. Someone, whoever it was, was out to get her. She just did not know who, or how to stop it. She did not even know where to begin, she was so lost. She shuddered as she folded up the note and threw it on the passenger’s seat. She started her car again and sped off towards the horse corals, not wanting her day to be disturbed by anything, even a creepy letter from her stalker.
But as she was driving towards the drive to the horses, she head her cell phone go off. She stopped her car in the middle of the drive and removed her phone from her purse. The caller ID showed: Unknown. She frowned and yet she answered it, curious to see who it was.
“Hello?” She asked sweetly. She heard breathing on the other line. Male breathing. Then, Click. She was hung up on. She frowned again and threw the phone back in her purse. She stepped on the gas pedal, ready to go, when the phone rang again. She groaned in frustration and braked the car again. But the phone did not ring a second time. It had only rang once and the person had hung up. At that moment, she realized that she was being messed with. Someone was trying to scare her, and it was most likely the same person that was out to get her -- at any cost.

********

As Carmen lie in bed that night, trying desperately to fall asleep, she could not seem to bring the thoughts of her stalker out of her mind. It kept drifting to the different things that had happened to her that past week. The phone rings, the letter, the rose, the whispering, the pictures and note on her computer. It was all so creepy. She had no idea who it would be. She also had no idea who to talk to. Her father had become more secluded than ever, Brooklyn was not to ever be trusted again, and Jason, well, he was out of her life for good.
Suddenly, an idea came to Carmen;s mind. Jason! She jumped out of her bed and looked at the clock. It was 9:20 at night, which meant it was early enough for Carmen to call him. She raced for her phone and pressed 2, the speed dial number for Jason. The phone rang, mockingly. It rang once, and when no one picked up, Carmen became anxious. It rang again. She waited. No answer. It rang a third time. She waited, even more anxiously now. No one answered. Just as it was half way through the fourth ring, she heard the phone click, and sound came from the other line. Jason had answered.
“Hello?” Jason asked, obviously sleepy.
“Hi, Jase. Did I wake you up?” Jason graoned on the other line, answering Carmen’s question for her.But he answered anyways.
“Yeah, but do not worry about it. What is up?” Jason asked with obvious sympathy in his voice.
“Don t get your hopes up, Jase, but I need to talk to you, preferrably tomorrow.” Jason sighed, and he took a minute to think about what to say.
“Carmen, we have school tomorrow.” Carmen smiled at this.
“No, you do.” Jason didn t say anything, most likely confused as to what Carmen was talking about. “I transfered into home school finally. I don t go to San Marcos anymore, Jason.” Jason was moving around somehow on the other end, obviously uncomfortable with what Carmen was saying.
“When were you going to tell me, Carmen?” Carmen laughed at Jason’s moment of stupidity.
“I just did, Jason.” Jason groaned a little in madness, but he did not react very much more, which was surprising to Carmen. Normally, Jason’s anger problem was off the wall, and completely incontainable.

Carmen walked up the stairs towards her bedroom, wanting to put her stuff away from school and get dressed into more comfortable clothing. She hated wearing her school clothes longer than what was absolutely necessary, and even though she was now home schooled, she still dressed in her school clothes. It helped her think and concentrate. She had developed a habit of changing into different clothes every single day she got home from school or a day out in town. So she changed into a pair of velour sweat pants and a matching top and she put on a pair of her favorite slippers, maroon with tan embroidery, which matched her pants and top perfectly. She then took her earrings off for the day and put on fragile gold ones that matched the embroidery on her slippers. If there was ever one thing Carmen was known for, it was her impeccable sense of style, and her perfect ability to match her clothing so exact and accurately. Carmen put a little bit of hair spray on her hair and scrunched it up a little bit, then put it into a high ponytail, fastening her hair with a shiny gold tie. She was a perfect vision of maroon and gold, and perfect model material. She then exited her room, read to be out of it, for that had become her cave during the past two weeks since Stacy had her horrible, traumatic accident. As she crossed the living room, she heard her name being called from the dining room to her left. The echo of the room made the call more emphasized, and chills ran down Carmen’s spine. The voice sounded so familiar, yet so depressed. Carmen walked into the dining room, and was met by a sight that surprised her entirely too much. She gasped and felt light headed, so she leaned against the wall directly behind her. The room was dimly lit. The only light that was in the room was a very dim lamp sitting on the buffet table directly behind the head of the dining table. Sitting there was her father, a darkened figure sitting in the silence of the room, surrounded by such a disappointed air. Carmen could not see his eyes, but she knew that he was looking straight into her own, not looking away or blinking. Carmen was frightened by this display of her father which she had never before seen in her lifetime. It was the first time that the image of her father scared her into wishing that she was not gazing upon it, the first time she felt unsafe in her father’s presence.
“Dad! What are you doing down here?” Carmen tried to ask her father without sounding too surprised or suspicious. Because of the dark atmosphere, Carmen could not tell what the expression on her father’s face was.
“Is that a crime, Carmen?” Wayne asked. The tone in his voice shocked her more than ever. He sounded so depressed and barely alive. This was not the father that Carmen knew. This was a different man, an intruder inside of her father’s body.
“Well, no, Daddy. But I thought you would take longer to get out of your room stage. What is going on?” Wayne hesitated before answering and he slowly rose from his chair. He turned on another light in the dining room, and Carmen finally got a good look at his face. When she did this, she gasped in shock, yet again, but this time beyond all others. This was definitely not her father, at least not the one she knew him to be. His eyes were darkened underneath, the actual eyes seeming hollow and blank. He was completely pale, just like a ghost, and his hair seemed grayer and his face was worn down. He looked as though he had died two weeks ago. And her could possibly have done just that.
“Nothing is going on. I just needed to get out of my room.” Wayne stopped immediately, looking as though he was holding back tears. Carmen’s heart melted at the sight of her very weak father, crumbling at the spot.
“Dad, how are you?” Her father, or rather, the figure of her father, looked her square in the eyes with the most haunting face Carmen had ever laid eyes on. He bowed his head in shame, shook it, and walked away toward the living room, his shoulders trembling slightly. Carmen was dumbfounded. Her father had cracked, and there was no more life in him. The only thing that dwindled inside of him was the light of his love for Stacy, keeping him alive by a thread. Stacy may have been gone, but that did not take the love that Wayne felt for her away. And that was the only thing which was lit inside of him. Everything else had been blown out when Stacy had died, and now Wayne was trying desperately to hold on to his love for her in order to stay alive. At these thoughts, Carmen fell to the ground and screamed in sorrow. She let everything, every one of her emotions, every one of her concerns, and every one of her worries out in her tears. The sight of her father like that crushed and grinded her insides, and Carmen was suffering. She screamed time and time again, sorrowful, depressive, insane screams that echoed throughout the house. And as she heard footsteps rushing from the direction of the kitchen and heading for the room in which she was breaking down, she did not stop the screaming. It was too much for her to take, too much for her to handle. Everything, her father’s meltdown, Jason’s horrible abuse, the mysterious person who was obsessed with her and trying to kill her, all it. It was just too much, and she could no longer stand it. She had to escape before it was too late. She had to leave Santa Barbara.

Day 10

Fri, 11 Nov 2005 20:55:08 GMT

19,365 / 50,000
(38.7%)

“Letting you keep your distance, if you must know. I have not really wanted to disturd you and your father while it is your time to sulk. You have each other for that.” Carmen looked own at her feet.
“Um, actually, that is not all true. My dad has not been very open to the idea of helping me. He has been stuck in his room, not coming out. I seriously have not seen him since the day of the accident. But Lucas says he has been going down to the kitchen every day for food. He says that dad is lkike a zombie almost. But that, I would not know...” Carmen trailed off, not wanting to get too emotional before school started. Molly Ann had an extreme look of sympathy on he face, and she couldn t take it anymore. She leaned over and gave Carmen a warm hug, wanting to comfort her like she needed to be at this time of her life. How dare her father neglect her at a time like this. Molly Ann was determined to show that she cared about Carmen and her happiness. “Thank you Molly Ann, your support means a lot to me,” Carmen said as she pulled away from her. “But I do have to get to school. Maybe we can talk later?” Molly Ann let out a huge smile and nodded her head, almost excitedly. “Well, good bye then.”

Carmen ran upstairs to grab her purse and pulled out her car keys. She wasn t looking forward to school, and she was contemplating convincing her dad to let her go into home school. There was no point in private school any longer. She passed through the entrance hall and walked out the door, keys and purse in hand. She climbed into her car and started the engine, pulling her seatbelt on and turning on the radio. She pressed to automatic button for the top to uncover, and she breathed in the fresh Santa Barbara mountain air. She backed up her car and drove off. But as she faced the sun, she felt a need for her sunglasses which were in the gloce box of her car. She stopped the car and reached over to the compartment, opening it up. She grabbed for the place where her sunglasses should be, yet she did not grab her sungalsses. Instead, she grasped something pointy and she pulled her hand back in pain. She leaned over to the right to get a better look at what was inside of her glove box. Suddenly, a red rose came into view as she leaned farther and farther over. She furroed her brow and reached for the flower, pulling it out and examining it. She didn t understand who could have done that. It was fresh with dew still on it, obviously picked from Stacy’s rose garden. Then it came to her, it must have been from her father, the only one who ever visited the garden these days. She smiled and smelt it lovingly, glancing at the clock. She still had enough time to run up to the house and get a vase for the flower and stick it in her room. She didn t want the flower to die. So she cut the engine and darted off up to the house. She ran through the house to the living room where their crystal vases were kept on a very handsome display shelf. She reached up and grabbed the smallest one, ran to the dining room and filled the vase with cold water and walked fast, yet with coordination so as not to spill the water, up to her room where she placed the vase and rose on top of the shelf directly below her window. The flower would be easily visible from the front yard, and Carmen praised herself for picking such a good spot. She stole one quick glace at the yard stretching beneath her and the house, and finally took off down the hall, down the stairs, and back to her car where she sped off, not wanting to be too late for school.

Day 9

Fri, 11 Nov 2005 01:37:32 GMT

Oh my gosh! I can not belive I didn't write anything in my novel last night. I had this huge paper that was due today that I was working on for anatomy, and I kept finding all these mistakes and I had to revise pretty much everything. So I plan to write double tonight. And then make up tomorrow because I have no school. But I am no way behind in my writing, that's for sure. So that's definitely a good thing. I'll post tonight's writing tonight or tomorrow morning. :-)

Day 8

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 03:42:42 GMT

18,674 / 50,000
(37.3%)

She tried to close her eyes so that she wouldn t have to watch as she plummeted to her doom, but for some reason, she could not do so. Some irresistible force was keeping her from closing her eyes to her death. She let out one last scream. Two seconds before the car slammed into the rocky crevice, Carmen thought of her dad, of Stacy, of how she was meeting her doom just like Stacy did. She now knew exactly how Stacy had felt when she found out that she was going to die within the next second. Like a slow motion video, Carmen watched as her face met the ground beneath her.

*******

She could not catch her breath. She sat upright, trying to catch her breath. She felt moisture on her back and reached behind her and felt her own perspiration dampened and soaked through her night shirt. She grabbed her chest, for it was hurting too badly to breath correctly. Before she knew it, Carmen was shedding tears harder than she had ever before. She could not control herself, and she felt horrible for the night mare that she had just had. How wrong of her to think about knowing exactly how Stacy felt right before she died. That was impossible while living a dream, and Carmen felt she had no right to take that away from Stacy. But that was not the only thing that made Carmen feel completely degraded. She had thought that she was joining Stacy, and for some reason, she was happy. At this thought, Carmen jumped up from her bed and paced the room. She opened her blinds and looked at the vast yard which lay in front of the house. She could see the lake that lay across from the highway which was hidden by the trees, the water spotted and gleaming from the light of the midnight moon. She closed the blinds and rested her hands on the shelf that lay right beneath the window sill. She was still trying to catch her breath, but it was not working. She contemplated taking a shower, but decided against it, figuring it would be better to take one in the morning. She stood in that same position until her breath finally calmed down, and she changed her shirt before climbing into bed. She was in desperate need of sleep, and so she forced herself to think about other things besides the nightmare that had just consumed her. It worked, and soon she was again in a deep, peaceful sleep.

*******

Carmen approached her scratch less Mercedes-Benz with extreme caution. She was scared to get into it and drive away, for fear of the dream she had had the last night being a premonition. That is, she was scared that it was a glimpse into the future. She was scared that it actually might come true. And she didn t want it to be that day, regardless of whether or not she wanted it to be any other day or not. Just not that day. And of course, she knew in her heart that she would say that about every day, but nevertheless, she got into her car after taking a deep breath. She started the ignition and soon she was on her way down the drive, heading towards school. But as she approached the place where her dream had occurred, she instantly became so frightened that she could barely breathe. She was gasping for air so badly, she almost didn t hear her cell phone go off. She looked at her hands free attachment where her phone was peacefully resting. It was Brooklyn. Carmen looked ahead at the road, scared to take even one hand off of the steering wheel, for in her mind, Carmen knew that a cell phone was why her father had almost died a few days beforehand. And she was not exactly sure, but it could have easily been the reason for her stepmother dying also. But in the end, she wanted to see why Brooklyn was calling her, and she quickly pressed the green button, replacing her hand right back on the steering wheel after she as done and she intently stared at the road, paying complete attention. She almost forgot to say hello, but she remembered just in time.
“Hi, Brooke.” She said with no obvious enthusiasm. But instead of hearing Brooklyn’s voice down and ashamed like Carmen had hoped that it would be, Brooklyn’s voice was bubbly and cheery, pretending like nothing had ever happened.
“Hi Carmen! Where are you right now?” Carmen had no intention of being nice at all to her friend, not until Brooklyn apologized and got the understanding that Carmen was never going to trust her with her personal stories for a long time, if ever. So she talked to Brooklyn in a pissed off tone in hopes of making her come to her realization sooner.
“I am driving to school, just like I normally do. Why?” Carmen kept her eyes on the road, not wanting to concentrate too much on her conversation and take away her concentration from the road and what she was doing on it.
“Just wondering. I got to school like twenty minutes too early for some reason. I think I had a dream that told me that school starts earlier than normal, but obviously that isn t true.” Brooklyn had not seemed to notice Carmen’s pissed off tone, so Carmen continued it.
“That sucks. Go get McDonald’s or something. Or go home. You live like minutes away don t you?” Carmen realized she was getting too into it, and understood that that might give Brooklyn the realization that Carmen was actually interested in this conversation.
“Good point. Gotta run, See ya!” Brooklyn hung up the phone, leaving Carmen to hurry up and hang up hers in order to avoid getting into and accident just like the rest of her family.

********

As Carmen drove up to her parking space, she saw Jason’s car parked in its normal place. Obviously Michael had not taken his spot that day. Carmen hoped that now Jason wouldn t be as angry as he would have been otherwise, but she didn t get her hopes too high up. She got out of the car, not worrying to find either her boyfriend or her best friend, for they both proved unneeded in the last couple of weeks. While she was walking up the steps towards her first class, since she had gotten there right in time for the bell to ring, she saw Brooklyn waiting where she normally was every morning. Instead of looking at her and greeting her, Carmen kept walking, loving the shocked look on Brooklyn’s face when she passed by. She heard footsteps coming towards her and sighed out a deep sigh. She didn t feel like talking to Brooklyn that morning. But she tapped Carmen on the shoulder and Carmen turned around to snap at Brooklyn, when she realized that it actually wasn t Brooklyn at all. It was Michael.
“Hey! I thought you were someone else!” Carmen said, as she then realized that the information she had just given Michael was absolutely pointless to him. “Sorry, I am sure you really do not care,” she added as she laughed at her stupidity. Michael laughed with her and offered her his arm.
“Mind if I walk you to class, Carmen Elizabeth Sawyer?” Carmen was stunned. How in the world had he figured out her middle name, and why was he asking her a question like that if he had just agreed the night before that they would keep their friendship limited to talking only? Carmen forced a smile from her lips and lightly shook her head, trying to be as sweet as she could.
“I wouldn t, but Jason would. Sorry, Michael.” Michael looked torn, and Carmen just had to add something to make him feel better out of guilt. “I am sorry my boyfriend is such a loser, you know that. Maybe later that will change, though. Who knows? But you can walk with me. Just no arm holding and whatnot, okay?” Michael smiled at this. Carmen was doing this for her own good. She was scared of Jason now, knowing that he was willing to hit he in public. She came to the conclusion that she was never to be alone in the hallways. And since she wasn t planning on walking with Brooklyn anytime soon, Carmen decided that sticking with Michael and his friends wasn t such a bad idea.

********

Carmen and Michael left their last class together, and said their good byes. Carmen was looking forward to going home and getting some rest. She was even hoping to get a little bit of chat time with Molly Ann. She started her walk towards her Mercedes, not really wanting Jason or Brooklyn to find her. She was too mad at them to have to stand and talk to them for a long, awkward moment. She looked down at the parking lot, finding her car in its usual place. Her eyes automatically focused on the car parked right to its right side. Jason’s car. And to her unfortunate luck, Jason was standing at the driver’s door, obviously waiting for Carmen. Carmen slowed down her pace, and not for no reason. She looked around her for escape plans, but of course, there were none. She was not going to leave her car in the school parking lot. She needed to get to that car. And in order to do that, she was going to have to encounter Jason in some way so as not to piss him off even more. He was very scary when pissed off, and no matter how mad she was at him, Carmen was not going to test that. So instead of escaping like she so desperately wanted to do, she kept on walking towards her car. When he spotted her, she pretended not to notice him and took her keys out, unlocking her car doors and unsetting the alarm from the remote. She opened up her car door when Jason spoke up, to Carmen’s dismay.
“Carry.” Carmen looked up and pretended to see Jason for the first time.
“Oh hey. I din t see you.” Jason didn t seem to believe it very well, but he was silent nevertheless. “What are you up to?”
“I was just waiting for you, wanting to be nice after what happened yesterday. I know I was absolutely horrible to you Carmen, I know that. And I apologize for that, I do.” Carmen thought about what she should do. She contemplated being nice back and forgiving him, her safety in stake, but she decided against it. She had people to protect her.
“Jason, you are ALWAYS apologizing to me. I have had enough, wouldn t you think so?” She walked around the front of her car and got face to face with him, knowing he wouldn t do anything in such a public surrounding. She whispered to him so that the people surrounding them wouldn t hear her. “Sorry doesn t make up for hitting me, scarring me, bruising me, and hurting me Jason. It never will. I have had ENOUGH!” While he was vulnerable, she took the chance to slap him in the face as hard as she could. He surprisingly didn t do anything, yet that might have been because almost every single person in the parking lot had their eyes on him at that moment. Carmen then looked around the parking lot at everyone staring at the couple. She looked back at Jason. “Look Jase, just what you always wanted. The center of attention. You never got that from me, did you?” She lowered her voice down to a whisper again. “Oh, wait. Never mind. You had my complete attention whenever you were beating me. How could you not have?” She raised her voice yet again to a normal speaking volume. “We’re done, Jason. Over. Through. I never want to talk to you again. I do not want you touching me, harming me, talking to me, or coming near me ever again, you got that?” With that, she turned on her heal and walked to her car door, climbing inside and revving her Mercedes engine, everyone watching as she peeled out of the parking lot, never feeling better about herself in all the years that she had been alive and dealing with the abuse that almost every single guy she had dated inflicted on her. Whether it was physical, emotional, or psychological, it always existed. And now she was vowing it out of her life forever. No more would she date just any other guy. No longer would she put up with the first few abusive words or harmful touches. She now had a first strike and you are out deal with herself, and she would stick with that for the rest of her life.

*******

“Carmen? Are you up there? It is Molly Ann!” Carmen woke up form her thoughts as she heard her name being called from that familiar voice that she loved so much.
“One second!” Carmen replied loudly enough for Molly Ann to hear. She quickly got up and darted down the stairs, embracing Molly Ann in a warm hug. She had not seen Molly Ann in so long. “Where have you been?” Carmen asked with interest.

Day 7

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 03:42:24 GMT

16,427 / 50,000
(32.9%)

It is inconsiderate for him to think and believe that he is the only one who is upset by this and that should be taken car of.”
“Jason, stop it!” Carmen could not take hearing bad things about her father. “Just, stop talking like that, Jason. I can not take it.” Jason glared at her yet again with that look of his that told Carmen she was in for a scolding from him when he got her alone. She cringed at that, and looked down at her water. Jason took in a deep breath, obviously ready to say something, and something very harsh, when the waitress came by and asked them what they wanted to eat.

“That is fine, Miss. We will not be eating today. But can you bring us two iced teas, please?” The waitress nodded her head and left the table. The second she was out of earshot, Jason turned to Carmen, with fire in his eyes. Carmen flinched. “Do not think that just because we are in public does not mean that I will blow. It is not illegal to yell at a girl, and I can prove it. Carmen, you are on my LAST nerve, and I can not take your stuck up, stubborn, and pathetic ways ANY MORE. Carmen, if you want to go and fucking tell Brooklyn you want out of this relationship, you can. But that does not mean that you WILL get out of this relationship. Carmen, you are stuck with me and you were from the moment you agreed to date me. You got that, Sweety?” Jason looked at Carmen with the most hatred that she had ever seen in her life, and knowing that it was directed toward her made her cower. She looked around her surroundings, begging for help, searching frantically for an escape plan if the devil sitting right in front of her tried anything risky. But there was no one around and no ways to get out of his grasp. So she nodded her head, but did not look at Jason, out of the fear that with just another one of his evil glances, Jason could murder her right on the spot. Not just murder her, slice his knife through her main organs, again, and again, and again. Chop her to pieces and throw them in the river. Slice her through her head where she could still feel it. Those feelings were running through her insides every single time she looked at him when he was like that, and she could not take it anymore. Anger rushed through her at that moment, and without thinking, she looked at Jason with great force and determination, almost showing him just as much hate as he was showing her.
“What the HELL gives you the right to talk to me like that, Jason?? What are you think--”
*WHAM*
Carmen stopped talking at an instant. She was dizzy from the force of the hit that Jason had just lain on her at the side of her head. She could hear and feel a thunder pounding through her head, and she could not make out what Jason was saying to her. She had a strange urge to simply lay her head down on the table and fall asleep, no matter who was around to take advantage of her during her sleeping state. But soon enough the dreadful feeling went away, and all that was left to feel was pain. She was no longer dizzy, but she was still a little bit tired. She looked up at Jason with subconscious tears pouring out of her eyes.
“How dare you!” She whispered to him.
“How dare I what, Carmen? You say that like you did not deserve it. Ladies are not supposed to talk back to the men in their lives, Carmen.” He had a serene grin on his face, and he leaned back in his chair, his arms folded across his chest. Carmen looked around her surroundings again, a look of hope on her face. “Do not worry, my dear. No one was looking. Do you really think I am that stupid. Now, yelling is not illegal, but being caught hitting a girl, well, that definitely is.” Carmen glared at him. Before saying anything, she made sure that there was at least someone in earshot or eyeshot. To her luck, the waitress was walking up to the table, their drinks in her hand. She turned to Jason, ready to talk fast.
“It still is illegal to hit a girl, Jason. Whether or not you are caught. And I can still go in and tell the authorities what you are doing to me. There ARE things called restraining orders, and even if you refuse to believe that we broke up when that time comes, that is all fine and dandy. You can go on thinking we are still dating. You are just going to have to do it from 50 yards away, you got it?” Jason still had his serene grin on his face. “Why do you look so happy, Jason?” Just then, the waitress had arrived at the table, and Jason was kept from telling Carmen exactly why he was not at all affected by what she was telling him. They waited for a few awkward seconds, and when the waitress was again out of earshot, Jason leaned forward and spoke to Carmen in a degrading whisper.
“You would not even dare to get a restraining order on me. You know damn well and good that a little piece of paper is not going to keep me from getting to you. You just wait and see. With that, Jason got up and left, getting into his car and peeling off, the sound of the screeching rubber against the hot and cold pavement echoing through the vastness of the valley that they were located in. Carmen was left to pay the bill, but that did not bug her very much. She simply got up from her seat and went to the payment desk, handing them her debit card. The thanked her, using her first name since she was such a regular at their restaurant, and she was sent on her way in a matter of no time. She slowly walked towards her metallic white Mercedes and climbed in, loving the safety that she felt whenever she was enclosed in its surrounding walls. She started her engine, waving goodbye to the waiter that usually served her table, and accelerated down the road, making sure that her exit from the place was not as dramatic as her boyfriend’s was. She was anxious to get home, yet driving in a car those days made her very nervous, and she drove as slow as she could without getting pulled over or honked at. So she drove on without worrying too much about getting home as soon as possible. Plus, the only thing to do at home was to sit around and do homework, which she of course was not looking forward to doing. But when she had finally pulled up to her empty parking space, she knew that it was time to get cracking on her school books. She let out a frustrated groan and pulled her books out of the back seat of her car before entering the deadly house.

**********

Carmen sat at her computer, completely bored and worn out from all of the homework that she had to do that night. She could barely focus her eyes, and she was having a hard time staying awake. It was only 8 o’ Clock, and Carmen did not want to go to bed at that early of a time. She had just eaten dinner, anyways, and that just seemed absurd to her. So when her cell phone rang out at her from her purse, she was relieved to have an excuse to stay up.
“Hello?” She answered in a sleepy voice.
“Hi, is this Carmen Sawyer?” Carmen did not recognize the voice, and so she answered with caution.
“Who wants to know....?” She heard a sheepish laugh on the other end of the line.
“This is Michael. I talked to you earlier today. I do not know if you will remember me or not.” When there was no reply on Carmen’s end, he continued. “At lunch, I came up to talk to you. You kind of blew me off., Led me to believe that you were single and whatnot.” Carmen had had enough.
“Yeah, I remember you, Michael. What are you doing calling me? I told you I have a boyfriend.” The intent of her words was harsh, but Michael supposedly did not take them in that way.
“Yes, I know that. And thank you for letting me know sooner than you could have. I would have made even more of a fool out of myself. But anyways, back to your question. I thought that maybe if we are not in a relationship sort of deal that maybe we could just be friends. You seem like a really cool person. And I know you probably get that a lot for being who you are, but I will have you know that that is not my intention at all. Not even one little itty bitty tiny bit. So you do not have to worry.” He was talking as if he had a smile on his face, and that sort of cheered Carmen up, but not much.
“I was not worrying, but thank you anyways. But, Michael, I am sorry. I do not think that Jason would appreciate that very much, if you know what I mean.” Carmen tried to sound her nicest while letting Michael know this. She had always had bad experiences with guys’s tempers, and she was not one to try and manipulate them, for she found that sometime, well, most of the time, that never worked. She did not hear anything for a while on Michael’s end of the line, so she spoke up first. “Michael, thank you for the gesture. Maybe I will see around school. I did not say that to mean that I do not want to talk to you. I think that would be absolutely fine. I think I would even enjoy that, but you must understand that I do not want to piss Jason off, you know?” She then heard Michael laugh. She sighed a sigh of relief. Thank gosh he was not too upset. And Carmen was not used to that.
“”I am sorry, Carmen. I thought that you meant you did not want to talk to me anymore. Of course I understand what you mean now, though. I will definitely see you around.” With that, Michael hung up the phone, leaving Carmen having to find another excuse to stay up, for it was only eight ten then. She paced her room, she looked out her many different windows, she tried to listen to music. She tried many things to stay awake. But after about 15 minutes passed, Carmen could no longer stand it. She gave up, changed into her pajamas, washed her face, and then hopped into bed, not caring if she was being any measure of lame. She wanted her sleep, and that day had been a very long day. She just wanted it to end so that maybe the next one would be a little bit better. Oh, how she wanted all the rest of her days to just be a little bit better. And that was the last thought that crossed her mind as she drifted off into a deep, careless, and peaceful sleep.

*******

As Carmen drove to school, she thought to herself about the night before. She just did not understand why she had lost all energy and gone to bed the earliest that she had ever gone to sleep in all of her high school years. She thought long and hard about the day’s events. She thought of talking to Brooklyn, of Michael talking to her, Jason getting pissed off about that, the girl in her physical education class who had told her that her brother was interested--that is if she and Jason broke up. She thought of Michael calling her on her cell phone and then hanging up so quickly after coming to a spontaneous agreement with her. Carmen was lost in her thoughts, once again, and she forgot about her surrounding. Suddenly, she was in a state of panic, horns blaring, headlights gleaming, she was losing control of her steering as she swerved out of the way of the RV that she was just about to run into. Then suddenly, BAM, she ran straight into the fence, but only instead of keeping her from falling hundreds of feet to the ground and disintegrating at the point of impact, the fence snapped, just like that of a toothpick, and the momentum of her car sent her plummeting down into darkness. She could only see the bottom of the valley, the rest of the world shut off. She was in a complete state of shock, but soon realization came to mind. She screamed and screamed at the top of her lungs. She tried to get out, but she could not move for the force of the wind created by the falling car was holding her in place.

Day 6

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 23:35:35 GMT

14,119 / 50,000
(28.2%)

That look slightly scared Carmen, but as she thought abut it, she knew that Jason wouldn t try anything when there were so many people around them. So instead of hurrying into her car and driving off at high speeds, Carmen waited there for Jason, looking as cool with the idea as she could. Jason made his way over to her, not taking that look off of his face, and gently smiled as he stopped right in front of her. He took a few seconds to catch his breath, and when he spoke, he breathed in small gasps.
“Hey. I have something to talk to you about. Can we go somewh--”Carmen instantly refused.
“No, Jase. No. I am not going to be anywhere in private with you, not after what happened yesterday.” Jason grew a hurt look on his face and it took a while for him to think of something else to say. Carmen looked around nervously. But then, she realized that there were probably about ten groups of people watching the exchange between Carmen and Jason. Obviously they all knew about the problems Carmen and Jason were having in their relationship. Carmen looked away from them and back up at Jason, waiting for his reply. Finally, he took a deep breath.

“Carmen, you know that I do not mean to do those things to you. You know that I sometimes can not control my anger. It is a normal thing, but you know I am trying to fix it. I do not want to hurt you in any way, but sometimes I snap and I lose all knowledge of my feelings for you.” He stopped talking, with obvious tears welling up inside of his eyes. Carmen could never resist it when Jason, or any other guy for that matter, cried in front of her. She melted, and she would always forgive whatever wrong any guy had done to her. That was one of her problems, but just like Jason, Carmen could not help it and she lost all feeling of hate inside of her. She reached over and gave Jason a hug, and Jason relaxed a little bit, accepting the hug from his girlfriend. He then leaned down to kiss her, but this time it was gentle and soft, not hard and demanding like his kisses normally were. Carmen felt in love, and yet she knew that it was a mistake. But at a time like that, Carmen did not want to think about the bad things in her and Jason’s relationship. All she wanted to think about were the good things, and that was not very hard in that moment.
“Jason, I understand that you need to talk to me, but I do not think it is a good idea. My dad is not letting in anybody outside of the family because of what happened,” Carmen cringed at her lie, but she did not want to tell the truth about not wanting Jason in her house, for he scared her when he was there. So, Carmen continued without pause, “So maybe we can drive up to Old Spring Tavern right now, and then I will call my dad after we are done to see if we can go swimming the pool or do something that is outside of the Upper House, okay?” Jason looked pleased by this decision and nodded his head.
“I just have to go find my car first.” Carmen furrowed her brow and looked at the parking space where he usually was: right next to Carmen’s. “Some jerk stole my parking space.” With that, he started walking away, searching the parking lot for his dark green Toyota.
“That never happens!” Carmen yelled to him. He just shrugged his shoulders. Carmen smiled and got into her Sparkling white Mercedes. She left the door open a little and turned the air conditioning on. Suddenly she saw a guy walking towards her ,and it was not Jason. ‘Oh great,’ Carmen thought to herself, ‘another guy who wants to go out with me if it does not work out between Jason and I?’ But soon she realized that the guy walking towards her was the guy who had talked to her that day at lunch, Michael. Carmen slowly reached her hand for her car door, pulling it closed. She started her car so as to make it look like she was getting ready to leave. She then locked the doors for safety precautions. This guy had a way of making her feel unsafe. But instead of walking up to the driver’s side of her Mercedes, he walked up to the driver’s side of his Honda Civic, parked right next to hers, in Jason’s parking space.
Carmen tried to make herself invisible, she crouched down and tried to make herself as small as possible. She really did not want him to see her and want to make conversation. She started praying that Jason would hurry up and find his car so that they could take off up the mountain into safety. She heard him cough, but she had not yet heard him open his car door. She was too afraid to make any sudden movements by trying to look over there, so she relied on her hearing to do all the work for her. Finally, she heard the sound of keys jangling and she heard the beep of the car opening its locks to its owner. She let out a sigh of relief and started tapping her foot, anxious to leave the parking lot. She thought about leaving before Jason got back over to her, but she knew that that would just make him mad, so she decided against it. She heard the car door close, and the engine started. She was sweating with anxiety by then, and suddenly she heard a car’s horn. She did not know if she should look up and see if it was Jason or someone she knew, because that would mean that Michael would then see that she had been hiding from him the entire time.
“RING” Carmen jumped at the sound of her cell phone going off. Someone had just sent her a text message, but she did not want to reach and get it because someone might see the top of her head poking out. But she finally decided that she better get up, because it had already been about 5 minutes since Jason had left, and she figured that that was enough time. So she slowly creeped her figure up the driver’s seat and looked over her dashboard. She did not dare look to her left, for she could see Michael’s car out of the corner of her eye. But right in front of her, Jason’s Toyota was waiting for her, but Jason was not inside. Suddenly, a loud bang came from her window, and she freaked out, her heart skipping a beat. She heard a male voice yelling at her from the outside, but she could not decipher who’s it was. She looked over at the man at her driver’s window, and realized that it was Jason. She let out a funny smile, wondering how stupid she looked for sitting in her car like she was, hiding her face from view. She then also realized that her car was still running, and she slapped herself in the forehead. She rolled the window down, greeting her boyfriend with a smile on her face.
“Ready to go?” She asked in one of her sweet voices. Jason looked at her like she was losing her mind.
“What are you doing, Carry?” Carmen smiled at his inquiry, but simply shrugged.
“I’ll explain later. Let’s get out of here, shall we? Please?” Jason smiled at his girlfriend and leaned over and gave her another one of those soft, gentle kisses.
“Sure, why not?” He said in a sexy voice, and he got back in his car, waiting for Carmen to take the lead. He hated the drive up the mountain. It was complicated and Carmen knew it by heart. He felt safer when she was leading the way, that way he did not miss any turn-offs and have to drive about a mile to be able to turn around, or that he did not drive off the side of the road, though that was near impossible. But Jason still worried, nevertheless. So Carmen slowly accelerated, and they were soon on their way towards the mountain highway.

*******

Carmen pulled up at her favorite spot to park at the Old Spring Tavern. It was right under the trees and had a splendid view of the river below. She cut the engine to her Mercedes and hopped out, waiting for Jason to get out of his car. When he finally did, the two of them walked arm in arm along the path that led to the restaurant. Carmen loved that place, with the mist from the river in the air, the sun finding its way to the path through the many layers of trees, and the soft music that they played from inside. It really was a beautiful place. Jason and Carmen had had their first date there, so it was a very sentimental place for the two of them. Yet, Jason hated going because it was such a long drive and they had gone so many times. But this time, Carmen felt like it was a requirement that they be out in public. They were directed to a seat out front when they had walked up to the host, who knew them personally. Of course, Carmen was infamous wherever she went in Santa Barbara, so there was really no need in her knowing anyone personally in order to get special benefits. But nevertheless, Jason and Carmen were seated out front at the nicest seat in the restaurant. The host pulled out Carmen’s chair for her, and then scooted it in when she was seated. The couple sat in silence for a few minutes, but Carmen could not take it any longer, and she had to break the silence.
“So what did you need to talk to me about, Jase?” Jason looked up from his glass of water and smiled.
“Oh, Carmen. You crack me up, you know that? You make it sound like you know nothing about what has been going on at school. But I know that you know, Carmen. All those guys hitting on you, making their moves. Do you know why that is, Carmen? Any idea at all?” Suddenly, Jason had become mean, his eyes flaring and his temples pulsing. Carmen was afraid of him when he was like that, but she knew that they were in public, and she was relieved that she had that knowledge of safety.
“Jason, I do not know why those guys have been coming up to me, honestly--”
“Carmen, that hurts me. The fact that you feel the need to lie to me, when really, you know perfectly well that I know exactly what you said to Brooklyn. The entire school knows now, Carmen, and it is all your fault. You know better than to go and open your mouth to her. She is known for her blabber, and that is why so many people do not trust her, Carmen. I can not believe out of everybody in this school, you are the one who did that. Carmen, we may be having troubles, and that may be my fault, but you can talk to your dad, or me, about it.”
“Jason, what did I tell you? My dad is not in the proper state of mind to be listening to my problems. He is having his own right now, I would think. Wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you think that losing your wife would make you cut the rest of your world out?”
“Even my daughter? No, Carmen. I would not do that to my own daughter. Especially since I would know that not only did I lose someone close to me, but so did she. So do not try to say that your dad has an excuse for not being there to talk to you, Carmen. That is no excuse in the world, and your father is a horrible father figure right now for doing that to you. He just does not understand that the effects that this loss are causing are not only stressed onto him, but you as well, along with all the other people who were close to Stacy in her life.

Day 5

Sun, 06 Nov 2005 05:15:22 GMT

12,031 / 50,000
(24.1%)

Carmen Sawyer sat on her computer that night, completely lost in her thoughts. She heard the clock on her wall ticking, and the hum of her computer was evident. There was dead silence. No one made a sound in her house, and she had the feeling of drowning slowly in time, not knowing what to do. Every time she thought of something, a voice inside of her convinced her that it was a bad idea, and she was yet again stuck with nothing to do. She had no energy, no incentive to do a thing. Suddenly, her compute beeped at her. She looked up at its screen. Jason was instant messaging her. It read:

Snwbrder783: Hey. Are we going to do something today?
PrtyNPlatinum64: Hey Jase... I do not know. I have bad news, though
Snwbrder783: Really? Tell me
PrtyNPlatinum64: I can not when I am not in front of you. Can you just drive up here? My dad is not in the right state of mind to really care. I will meet you on the terrace, okay?
Snwbrder783: Sure, I guess that is cool. But now you have me worried. What is wrong?
PrtyNPlatinum64: Jason, I will tell you when you get here. I can not tell you right now. Please, just hurry up, alright?
Snwbrder783: Carry, do not talk to me like that. It is disrespectful. You know that I do not like it at all.
PrtyNPlatinum64: I am sorry, Jason. I did not think.
Snwbrder783: It is okay this time. Just remember what happened last time. I will be there in about a half an hour.

Jason signed off before Carmen Sawyer could reply. Carmen Sawyer turned off her computer and laid on her bed, reaching for her remote control to her stereo. She pressed the blue power button and music filled her room, coming from her surround sound speakers. She felt a little better with the noise, a break from the dead silence that filled the house of mourning. Carmen buried her head into her pillow and shut her eyes, not wanting to see anymore of the world which had done her so much wrong.
Twenty-five minutes later, Carmen was being awakened by her cell phone ringing loudly from inside her purse. She got up quickly and raced to the other side of her humongous room. She pulled the phone out of her purse and saw that it was Jason calling her. She picked up her phone and hesitated before answering it, just like she always did. But a couple seconds later, she opened up the flap to her Razr and answered t in her sweet voice that she always used with Jason.
“Hello?”
“Hey. I am outside on the terrace, where are you?”
“Oh! I am in my room. I fell asleep on my bed while waiting for you. I will be down in a sec.” She hung up the phone and looked in the mirror, primping her self so that she looked okay when she met him outside. She decided that she looked okay and ran downstairs. She calmed herself down right before opening the front door. She took a deep breath and opened it, seeing Jason standing right next to his car. It was a cheap car, nothing like the ones it was parked next to. It was simply a Toyota, a deep green color with tan interior. It was good enough for the average teenager, and Carmen knew that Jason was lucky enough to have his own car. His family wasn’t very generous in giving him things, but they had decided at the very last minute that he was worthy enough of his own car, especially since he had a girlfriend who lived in the hills. He did a lot of driving up there, for many different reasons, whether it be to pick her up and take her somewhere, dropping her off, or simply hanging out there.
Carmen ran up to him and gave him a tight hug. She always loved the hugs that he gave. He smelt so clean and fresh, and he held her tightly and firmly. It was really the only time she ever felt like he truly cared about her. So Carmen led Jason to her room, knowing that no one would find out since everyone was locked up in there own holes, mourning in their own ways. Her room was far enough down the hall form her father’s that there was no way that he would be able to hear. Plus, there was no possibility of him checking on her since he was spending all of his time drowning in his tears. The only person that for sure knew that Jason was there was Mason, but she wasn’t too worried about that. Mason never went to the Upper House for any reason and left family affairs up to just that: the family. So Carmen and Jason entered her enormous room and sat on the couch. Carmen leaned her head against Jason’s shoulder and yet Jason was not very understanding of Carmen’s need for sensitivity at that moment. He lifted her head from his shoulder and made a move to kiss her. Carmen leaned her head back, surprised by this gesture. She was hoping that he wouldn’t be like that, and instead offer her comfort in his arms. Yet here he was, proving her wrong again and wanting to make out with her and be sexual when she was in desperate need of someone to talk to.
“Jason, what are you doing?” Carmen asked in a strict tone. Jason stood up quickly and looked down upon his girlfriend with harsh eyes.
“What is wrong with you, Carmen? Why don’t you ever want to do anything with me? We have been together for a whole year and we have only done something like that about five times. It is a little disappointing, don’t you think?” He then came down to her level and placed his hands firmly on her shoulders. He shook them hard and then said, “If you are having such a hard time, I’d think you would want comfort in knowing that someone out there wants you this bad. But no, Carmen. You have to be a prude, little miss Virgin Mary.” He then took his hand and raised it in the air. Carmen knew what was coming. She tried to hide her face from his reach, but it didn’t work. He lay a hit across her bottom jaw and Carmen yelped in pain.
“Jason! Don t!” Jason shut her up by slapping her on the other side of her face, right on her cheek. Carmen was in pain, and she was too afraid to try to stop him. She knew that he was much stronger than her and he would be able to hurt her easily if she tried anything. She learned that the first time he had hit her.
“Don t what? What are you going to do, Carmen? Yell for Daddy?” Carmen could not believe her ears. Why was he always so mean to her, when she did absolutely nothing besides try to stick up for herself and emotions? And especially when she was in need of his niceness, just like a time like this. “What is so wrong with you anyways? What is so wrong that you do not want anything to do with me sexually? Huh?” Carmen took this opportunity to make him feel like shit.
“My stepmother died this morning.” Jason froze.
“Carry, I m sorry. I didn t know. Of course I didn--”
“Get out of my house, Jason. Get out.” Jason nodded his head, turned around, and Carmen listened as his footsteps vanished. She quickly grabbed the phone by her bed and dialed the number 5. Mason answered within two seconds.
“Mason, make sure that you see Jason’s car leaving the house. I suggest trying to find him in the house, he is somewhere around my room. Maybe outside by now. But whatever you do, make sure he leaves. And do not ever let him through those gates without permission. We need to change the code sometimes soon.” Mason agreed and they hung up. Carmen was finally left alone with her thoughts. She felt like crying, but she had cried way too much for one day. She ventured down into the kitchen to find dinner waiting and Lucas looking very upset. He had obviously heard the news. When he saw her, he leapt up form his spot and greeted her, trying to look as cheerful as he could.
“Carmen! I didn t expect you to come down here. I was just getting ready to have Molly Ann bring you your food. Would you like to sit in the dining room or the sun room tonight? Or would you like to bring your food up to your room?” Carmen thought about this for a few seconds. She didn t think that she could deal with eating in the dining room or sun room. There were too many memories of eating there with Stacy, and Carmen didn t want to face those yet. She looked at Lucas with the nicest look that she could muster.
“You know, Lucas, I think I’m going to eat in my room tonight. Thank you.” Lucas nodded his head, obviously understanding. He served her food on a beautiful China plate and got her a glass of milk.
“Bring it down whenever you re done, Carry.” Carmen thanked him again and walked up to her bedroom. There, she ate in complete silence. The day had been too much for her, and she was overwhelmed with different emotions. She cursed Jason for treating her with such disgust. But she finished her food and brought it down to the kitchen, just as she was told. But when she got back up to her room, the only thing that she ha enough energy to do was get dressed into her pajamas and go to sleep.

*********

When Carmen woke up the next morning, she contemplated whether or not to go to school, but then decided it was the best choice. She couldn t possibly take another day of being in her house, completely isolated. She needed people. So she got ready and headed down to the kitchen and got her breakfast. With that, she sped off to school, wondering how much homework she had missed. When she got there, she spotted Brooklyn waiting for her in front. She parked her car and walked up to her. When Brooklyn saw her, she leapt up and immediately questioned her.
“What happened yesterday, Carry?” Carmen simply shrugged her shoulders and sat next to the spot that her best friend has been occupying just seconds before. Brooklyn took her old spot and looked at Carmen with concern. “Is everything okay, Carry?” Carmen knew that she had to tell Brooklyn, so she gathered up the courage and silently found her voice.
“Stacy...She died in a car accident.” Brooklyn gasped deeply, and adopted a look of complete shock and resentment.
“Carmen!” She leaned over and gave Carmen a huge hug. “How many people have you told?” Carmen shrugged her shoulders, then decided to tell Brooklyn a little about what was going on between her and Jason.
“I told Jason, but other than him, my family, and the staff members, no one knows. Well, of course, the hospital knows, along with our doctor. But, when I told Jason, he didn t really seem to care much. Instead of helping me through my hard time, he wanted, well, sexual thing that I wasn t in the mood for. I don t know, it was really weird. I have about had enough of it, though. I need something new, and not with him.” Brooklyn hugged her friend tighter. But before she could say anything, the bell rang. “What did I miss in class yesterday?” Carmen wasn t looking forward to the answer.
“Oh gosh, no homework, thank the Lord. But we had way too many lectures. I am sure it is not that big of a deal, for now at least. I do not think it was anything too important.” With a sigh of relief, Carmen walked up to the school’s entrance, he best friend right beside her.

********

After the first half of classes were over, Carmen’s stomach was aching with hunger, and she could not wait to get down to the cafeteria and get some food. Brooklyn had promised her that they would eat out front that day, and that they wouldn t have to drive anywhere or sit in the middle of a bunch of people. Carmen figured that this was because Brooklyn understood her need of privacy at a time like this, and Carmen couldn t be more thankful to her. So they got their food and walked outside. They sat down on the steps next to a group of guys and they started talking about Brooklyn’s father’s business. All of a sudden, one of the guys from the group they were sitting next to came up to the two girls. He looked at Brooklyn, but then changed his gaze to Carmen,
“Hey, my name is Chris. Your’s is Carmen, right? I have seen you around school, and I must say, you caught my eye.” Carmen found this display of affection quite comical and decided to wait a while before stopping him. She also figured i would be fun to lead him on for a little while.
“Oh really?” She asked in a flirting voice. He seemed pleased, so she continued, “You don t look so bad either, Chris.” She got up and walked closer to him. “Do you have a girlfriend, Chris.” He seemed very nervous, but he answered her nevertheless, in a very sexy voice, “Nope, not at the moment. Say, do you want to go for a date sometime, just you and me? I would really enjoy that.” Carmen smiled at him sweetly.
“Chris, that is so sweet of you! I think my boyfriend would get a little angry if he found out, though. Sorry.” With that, Carmen sat down next to Brooklyn again and they laughed as the group of guys left immediately after Chris had gotten turned down. Carmen and Brooklyn smiled at each other, and then a thought came to Carmen’s mind. “Hey, Brooke. Do you have any idea why some guy would be asking me on a date, when I am sure the whole school knows that Jason and I are dating?” Brooklyn looked at her with a confused face.
“No idea. Maybe that one just figured you looked like the type of girl who would go for more than one guy. Who knows?” Carmen’s brow furrowed, but only for a split second. She forced herself to forget about it. So the girls finished their lunch, just in time, because right after they returned their dishes to the cafeteria, the bell rang for class. Carmen and Brooklyn groaned loudly. They had physical education next, and Carmen knew that she would be having a few laps to make up.

********

When physical education was over, Carmen and Brooklyn had just finished their laps when a girl came up to Carmen with an inquisitive look on her face.
“I heard you and Jason are having some problems. Is that true? I mean, I do not mean to sound weird for asking you that or anything, but my brother really thinks you are cute and was wondering if you would be available.” Carmen was in shock.
“Who told you that Jason and I are having problems.” Carmen looked at Brooklyn, but she was gone. Carmen looked back at the girl in front of her, demanding an answer.
“Brooklyn told me. Practically the entire school knows now. Haven t there been guys coming on to you? I would think so, since you are wanted by like every single guy in this school. What with all your money and everything. Your father being so infamous helps matters, too.” With that, the girl ran off to the locker room leaving Carmen standing there with her anger building up inside of her. A few seconds later the passing bell rang and she had to run to the locker room and get changed before she was late to her next class.
After school ended, Carmen couldn’t find Brooklyn anywhere. She was standing next to her car in the parking lot, searching everywhere. Normally, Brooklyn stood at the entrance waiting for Carmen, but obviously today she had a reason not to. Carmen covered her eyes from the sun and suddenly spotted a familiar figure coming out of the school. But it was not Brooklyn, it was Carmen’s boyfriend Jason. Jason spotted her before she could move out of sight and he started running towards her, a serious look on his face.

Day 4

Sat, 05 Nov 2005 07:29:34 GMT

8,522 / 50,000
(17.0%)

She hopped out of her car, not waiting to close the car door completely, and rushed towards the front door. She pulled it open at top speed and as she looked around the entrance hall, she spotted Molly on the foot of the stairs leading to the residence hall. She had her face burried in her knees, shoulders quivering with force, sobbing at uncontrollable measures. Carmen rushed to her side. Molly lifted her head, makeup smeared all around her face, and said to Carmen with unbelieveable difficulty, “Your dad’s waiting for you upstairs in his room.” She gave Carmen a warm hug and gave her a little nudge, encouraging her to go upstairs. Carmen did just this, at a much faster pace than normality would allow. She rushed passed all four rooms in the residence hall, including her bedroom, her office, her father’s office, and Stacy’s office, before getting to the fifth one and the end, Stacy and her dad’s bedroom. She pushed the door open without knocking, finding her father layed out on his bed, face down, and sobbing teh same uncontrollable tears that Molly had been at the foot of the stairs.

“Dad! What’s going on?” Carmen asked dramatically, completely comfused as to what was happening to her family. Then the thought came to her mind. Where was Stacy? “Dad, where’s Stacy?” At this, Wayne’s tears increased in force and he was absolutely not able to respond to what Carmen was asking him. “Dad,” she said, walking over to him and putting a hand on his back, “I’m here, Dad. What’s wrong?” Wayne seemed to take well to this display of care, and he looked up at Carmen, his face completely devastated and seemed to be aged about 20 years older, when he had just looked so alive and jubulent that same morning. “Daddy, where’s Stacy?” Wayne gave her a hug at that moment, seeming as if he was delaying the time, as if he were not wanting to say what was needed to be said. It seemed as though saying it would only confirm that it was true, and make it hurt, if possible, even worse than it did already. But nevertheless, Wayne answered Carmen, finally, as he swallowed back tears, for Carmen’s sake. He explained to her the family emergency in only a few, cold, devastating and dark words. Words that would haunt them for the rest of their lives:
“Carry, Stacy’s been involved in a car accident.”

**********

“What?!” Carmen was stunned beyond anything. “Did I hear your subliminal messages right, because I know that you didn’t just tell me that my stepmother died in a car accident! She’s okay isn’t she? She’s here in the first aid room being taken care of by Dr. Harley, right? She’s just down the hall, right, Dad? Can I go see her?” Carmen was about to go insane with anxiety. Her dad was simply looking at the floor, his tear ducts dry, trying not to be too affected by the craziness in which his daughter was now acting.
“Carmen, calm down. Just, please, chill out for a few seconds.” He looked her in the eyes with his looking baron and empty. There was no way of Carmen knowing that this was the most alive she’d see him for a really long time, or of the effect on him of what he was about to tell her. He took her by the shoulders and softly massaged them. “You have to promise me that you won’t start freaking out when I tell you this. My emotions are weak right now, and for our family’s sake, I must stay strong, okay?” Carmen nodded, knowing bad news was following her father’s words of plead. “Carmen, as much as I hate to inform you of this, but while Stacy was heading to work this morning, she was involved in a horrible car accident in downtown on the freeway. It involved two semi trucks and her small little Astin Martin. Carmen, the accident was too fatal for any one of them to survive.” Carmen broke down into tears at this information. The only mother figure in her life had died. “Carmen, I’m sorry. She passed away. There was no saving her.” With that, Wayne took his only child into his arms and held her as she cried every single one of her tears away. They sat on the bed and stayed there for hours, talking about memories and feelings, never without a tear in at least one of their eyes. Molly brought lunch up to them, knowing that at a time like this, they would definitely not be planning on going down to the dining room to eat. They thanked her for her assistance, and she left without a word, leavning the family to sulk on their own. They finished their lunch, and then Wayne asked Carmen for a little time to himself. She was walking out of his room, Wayne going to shut the door behind her. But then, a question came to Carmen’s mind that she wanted desperately to be answered.
“Daddy?” She asked, stopping him from locking her into the hall. “What were the details of the crash? You never told me. Or do you know?” Wayne just shook his head.
“Another time, Sweetheart. I need some time right now. We’ll get into that later.” With that, he shut the door, leaving Carmen helpless and with a disgusting feeling of dread and depression. But she understood her father’s need for privacy and walked into her own room. There, she collapsed onto her bed and fell asleep, her eyes sore and swollen from all the crying she had done.
When she woke up a few hours later, she scrambled out of bed and dragged her feet along the way to her father’s door. She knocked a few times and heard a rsutling noise from the inside. A few seconds later, her father had opened the door and was surpringly looking even worse than when she left him earlier.
“Daddy? Can we talk now?” She asked with a childish innocence in her tone. Her dad had a look of disgust on his face and simply shook his head.
“Listen, Carmen. I am not going to be able to do that anymore now, at least for a while. My strength can not take it anymore. I am so sorry. Maybe you should talk to one of your friends about your troubles, Carry. Maybe they can be of more help. Like Jason, how about him? I think that that is a much better idea at the time, do you not agree? But please Carry, do not come to me. I can not bear it any longer. He closed the door, yet again, right in front of her face before she could utter so much as one tiny little sound to her devastated and depressed father. She thought of calling Jason and confiding in him, but decided against it. He was not one to talk to about matters like this. She thought of calling Brooklyn, but that was even more absurd. Her and Brooklyn only talked about clothes, boys, school, celebrities, other friends, and music. Not about her familt problems. So she was left with nobody, and she could hardly deal with that knowledge. All her life she had been so used to having someone there for her, whether it be Stacy or her father. But now, both of them were dead, whther it be phyiscally or mentally, or both. But then, as she lay on her bed looking at her cell phone, she thought of something. The only real family member that she felt she had. Her birth mother. She raced to her fahter’s door, not caring if it would bug him or not. She was desperate. She knocked hard, and didn’t wait for her dad to answer.
“Dad! I have a question! I was just thinking of something and this idea popped into my mind. Should I call Carol?” Wayne stopped dead in his tracks. This was the last thing she had suspected from his daughter.
“After all those years of her neglecting you, you are wanting to call her at a time like this? What would she have to say? I am sorry? That is really all there is to say, Carmen. And after she says that, it is going to be very awkward and you are going to then be reminded of all the birthdays she forgot or did not car about, and the years that she has been out of your life. Then you will be regretful you ever had the idea of calling her. Trust me, you do not want the extra stress right now. Carmen, do not do it.” Carmen knew her father had a great point. She shrugged her shoulders and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her, walking back to her room and laying on her bed like none of that had just happened. She laughed at herself for thinking of such a silly thing, and then realized that she admired her dad even more now for what he had said and been so right about. Now, if only she could show him that admiration without being told to leave his room, she would be extremely satisfied. She felt completely lost in her conciousness and felt dizzy and dazed everytime she tried to think of complex thoughts. The best solution that she could come up with for this was sleep, and that is exactly what she did.

**********

Day 3

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 05:39:14 GMT

6,925 / 50,000
(13.9%)

*Beep**Beep**Beep*
Carmen woke up in a start the next morning, surprised by her alarm clock. She glanced at the clock. It said, in birght, bold, red numbers: 6:20. She groaned into her pillow. She had forgotten that it was a school day. She got up relunctantly and clammered over to her full length mirror. She hated the mornings, and she was never in the mood to get ready for school. Even though it was a small private school at the bottom of the hill, it was still a pain to have to go there. She had begged her dad time and time again to let her be home schooled, but he refused, saying that the experience of a school out of the home, even if it was just a small private school, was still worth the knowledge of every day life in the world. Of course, that was just mumbo-jumbo to Carmen and she despised her dad, if only for a small reason, for not letting her be home schooled. She once protested by saying she would not have to waste a bunch of money on gas, but he came back, saying that money was definitely not an issue for them, and Carmen could not say anything to that, because of course she knew that that was perfectly true.

She gathered her thoughts together as she realized she was again being sidetracked by them and she continued getting ready. When she got out of the shower, her cell phone rang. She hurriedly wrapped a towel around her and rushed out of her bathroom in order to get to the phone in time. She looked at the cover of her Black Razr: Jason. A pang of fear attacked her when she read this name, but it soon vanished. She hated herself for that instinct and instead convinced herself that there was nothing to fear with him before answering the phone.
“Hey, Baby! I just got out of the shower. What are you doing calling so early?” She heard Jason laugh on the other end.
“Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I will not be at school today. I have this weird appointment thing going on and my dad is insisting that I go. So I’ll call you later tonight and maybe I can drive up or something?” Carmen frowned a bit.
“Jason, you know that my dad does not want you up here anymore. I do not think that is a very good idea. Maybe we can meet somewhere, like Old Spring Tavern or something? Is that okay?” Jason cursed under his breath so Carmen would not hear, but inevitably, she did. She decided to ignore it though, afraid to piss him off in any way.
“Carmen, your house is so big, how would your dad even notice that I was there? Seriously. Plus, he is at the office all the time instead of at home taking care of his family, right?” Jason was undoubtedly pissed, even if Carmen dad try to prevent that. Lately, there was no escaping it.
“Jason, do not be like that. Listen, can we just meet at Old Spring Tavern for today? I will talk to my dad about it tonight. But Jase, I gotta get ready for school. Have fun with your appointment thingy, okay?” Carmen knew Jason was pissed off at her, and she hated that knowledge. All of a sudden she heard Molly yell her name, followed by a few more shouted words which sounded something like, “Mumble Mumble Mumble,” but Carmen knew Molly was referring to the phone and Carmen having the possibility of getting to school late. Carmen rolled her eyes and heard Jason sigh deeply.
“Whatever Carry. I’ll see you at the Tavern.” With that, he hung up, leaving Carmen hating herself for making her boyfriend so mad at her. Well, she figured, she would be paid back for that later. With that, she continued getting ready.
When she was done, she rushed down the stairs to the kitchen where Lucas was washing the dished. They greeted each other and he informed her that breakfast was witing in the sun room, which was right off the dining room and looked over the entire back yard and was where Carmen’s family ate breakfast every morning. She thanked him and walked through the rest of the kitchen, past the staff dining table and event preparation room, directly into the sun room, greeting her father and stepmother. She sat down and quickly engulfed her breakfast without saying another word. When she was done, she looked at her watch, which perfectly matched her outfit, as everything did. That was one of the many advantages of having all the money you wanted to spend on clothes and accessories. Her watch read 8:35 and Carmen made a mental note to get up and go to her car in abuot 10 minutes. School started at 9:32 and it was about a 40-minute drive there. She liked to get there about ten minutes early so she could socialize with her friends, Jason in particular, but it was no use that day since he wasn’t going to be there. But she did not mind all that much because she knew that Brooklyn would be there, nevertheless. She always was. Lucas came in and grabbed everyone’s plates and Carmen relaxed in her seat. Stacy looked at her with the same motherly expression that she had looked at Carmen with ever since the day she met her.
“Looking foward to school. Sweetheart?” At that moment, Carmen realized that Stacy was just as huge of a part of her life as her father was. She had never felt that impact stronger than she had that day, sitting at the breakfast table.
“Not really.” She stole a sideways glance at her dad. “I still say I should be home schooled. There is no point in leaving this house, all secluded up here from the rest of the world.” Wayne laughed a hearty laugh.
“You always have different excuses, my dear. Every time, there is always a new reason.” He smiled serenly at his daughter.
“Well, don’t you think that that is why it is a good thing to be going to private school? You do not want to feel like a hermit, now do you?” Stacy asked with obvious humour in her soft, gentle voice. Carmen smiled and then laughed a little, giving in for the day.
“Well I better be going,” she said in happy tone. She got up from her seat and kissed both her father and stepmother on the forhead. As she was leaving the room, she called out, “Bye, Dad! Bye, Mom!” She left Stacy in complete shock, and Carmen couldn’t control the grin that stole her facial expressions as she said that. She finally had a mom, not just a stepmom, but a mom. A mother. Something she had never experienced in her life. She got in her car and carefully drove out of her parking space, loving the life she was now living. Well, except for a few minor details, but Carmen could deal with those. She then drove down the drive at about 40 MPH, knowing that she would be hearing from Mason when she got home and as she approached the gates, she slowed to a stop, calmly waiting for them to open so that her white Mercedes could continue to its destination. When they finished opening a few seconds later, Carmen let go of the brake and when she approached the security box outside of the gate, she pulled the emergency brake and leaned way out to the right side of her car and pressed the call button. Mason’s voice greeted her from the speaker, and she simply said her daily good byes, adding in there an apology for speeding down the drive. Before he could answer, she lept to the driver’s seat, let the emergency brake go and sped off down the drive, stopping for a few seconds to look both ways along the highway, and again took off, thanking the Lord for blessing her with everything that he had given her.

*************

Carmen sat in American Government, watching the second hand slowly tick away the time. Carmen had about 20 minutes left of boredom, and time was not passing as fast as Carmen would have liked. First period was deifnitely one of her worst. She had learned that the day before, when she sat in the same desk, her professor’s voice drowning out the room about some convention he went to over the summer. Carmen was deeply unaffected by this news, and she daydreamed the entire time. The professor did not mess with her though, as none ever did. The only time one had done that, they had heard from her father, and that was supposedly very intimidating, since every professor treated her with respect and never picked on her in class ever since that day. Carmen looked over at Brooklyn and made a gesture with her hand, suggesting that she was extremely bored, and Brooklyn nodded her head and slouched in her chair. Professor Comber immediately stopped his lecture on the Republican effect on human minds and looked at Brooklyn, raising his eyebrows. She didn’t get it at first, but finally it came to her. She slowly raised herself to a sitting position, looking absolutely frightened. Professor Comber continued his lecture mid-sentence as soon as she had done what he wanted her to. When he had his back turned to the class, writing something on the board, Brooklyn looked over at Carmen and frowned. Carmen was completely toppled over her desk, head rested on her upper arm, and not paying any attention to what the professor was saying. Carmen simply smiled at Brooklyn and shrugged her shoulders and looked back at the clock. Fifteen more minutes. The class was then distracted by a guy walking into the classroom, a yellow piece of paper in his hand. Professor Comber stopped his lecture again and turned to the boy, accepting the piece of paper that the boy was offering him. He looked it over for a few seconds and looked directly at Carmen. He walked over to her and handed her the paper. She unfolded it and read:

Notification of Dismissal
For: All Day
Reason: Family Emergency.
Notes: Go Home Immediately

Carmen furrowed her brow but stood up at the spot. Professor Comber looked at her with apologetic eyes and didn’t say anything as she grabbed her stuff and left the classroom, obviously understanding the emergency. Brooklyn got up to follow her, but instead of being rewarded with the satisfaction of helping her best friend, she was rewarded with a detention slip.
Carmen raced outside of the 4 story building and ran out to the parking lot, surprisingly not being stopped by any security staff that might have been outside at the moment. She found her car using the panic button and hurried into it. She started it up and took off before even looking, thankfully not hitting anyone or anything. She was even more worried than she normally would be because of waht had happened yesterday to her father. She hoped that no one was injured, or worse. At that thought, she pressed the accelerator even harder, thankful that there were no Highway Patrol that ever patroled the mountain highway. She sped up the hill, passing every car that she could. She despised this drive more than ever at that moment. Every second that ticked by seemed like a minute at least and no matter how fast she was going, it never seemed to be just fast enough. But sooner than she knew it, she saw was at the turnoff to Serenity. She turned left as quickly as safety allowed and when she rounded the corner of the drive, the gate was already opened. She sped up, going about 45 MPH, knowing that this time she would not have to apologize to Mason. She finally arrived to the top level of the drive and looked at the cars to see if she could park safely and quickly, but decided against ramming into the half a millions dollar cars to either side of her space. So she stopped the car right in the middle of the terrace and lept out, leaving the keys in the ignition.

Day 2

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 06:01:34 GMT

4,870 / 50,000
(9.7%)

The siding on the outer walls was painted in a slate color with a darker gray color of flat stone on the bottom half. There were approximately 30 windows just on the front wall, not including the section that peered forwards on the left side of the house. On the parking terrace across from the left section of the house was occupied by about 15 cars, some were covered and some were on display, but they were all the most expensive makers of luxury cars. There were BMW's, Mercedes, a Bentley, a Porche, and even a Jaguar. A trail left from the parking terrace leading back down the hill. The trail was covered by the shades of trees, and it bent to the right a small bit, leaving it impossible to see to where it led. There was another trail, yet gated and uncovered, the led to what seemed like the back of the house. The cab driver knew that this was one expensive house, and this was not just anybody in the back seat of his car. This was somebody important. But the man was now getting out of the taxi and was walking towards the driver’s window. The driver subconsciously told the man how much money was owed, and he didn’t even count the money to find that he was left with a rather surprising tip. He was entranced by the beauty of the house. He listened as the rich man told him about security watching his car, making sure that he left without one stop, and the driver agreed by force. The man walked towards the entrance to the house, and the cab driver knew he had to leave for fear of being prosecuted. So he backed up, taking all the time that was unsuspicious. But soon, he was turned around, heading down the drive, and soon back onto the highway, the gates of Serenity locking him outside where he belonged.

********

Wayne approached his front door slowly after he had made sure that the taxi car had completely left his sight. He grasped the door handle firmly with his right hand and hesitated. How would he tell his family about what had just happened? Their cars were in the parking terrace, proving that they were home. He took a deep, helpless breath and let it out in a long, heavy sigh. He turned the doorknob and slowly opened the door revealing the tall, multi-storied entrance hall, letting out a faint scent of mayberries and gardenias, the air freshener which Molly used during the late summer. He stepped inside, his shoes tapping on the tiled floor. He closed the French door softly behind him for fear of being heard and slowly took a few steps ahead, gently placing his heels down first, followed by his toes, barely making a sound. He wanted to get upstairs and into his office before anyone saw him. Even though the chances of them being in the same area of the house as him, or if they were, even hearing him, were very slim, he still didn’t want to take the chance. He at least wanted to relax a little, perhaps call his secretary back to see what she wanted, and possibly freshen up before confronting his family. So he continued his silent steps across the hall, not wanting to make a sound. He had reached the foot of the stairs when he heard a slight cough coming from upstairs. He instinctively looked around him at the entrance hall, eyeing the grand piano to the left of the room and the fountain, seen from the tall 3-story windows behind the piano, that resided in the side yard. He looked at all four exits from the entrance hall, including the kitchen, the living room, and the entrance to the first story guest hall, along with the entrance right above it, the second story guest hall. No one was there, but there was definitely someone upstairs. He dared not take a chance at the rest of the house, so he lifted his foot to place on the first stair. Suddenly he heard footsteps retreating from the residence hall, exactly where he was headed. The footsteps proved that whoever was up there was headed directly out to the entrance hall, and Wayne had only a few seconds to react. He straightened up and steadily walked up the stairs, starting to make noise, which he cringed at. Whoever was coming had definitely heard his presence, for the footsteps grew quicker. A body poked around the corner of the residence hall, looking down at Wayne from behind as he reached the platform and turned a 180o, preparing to ascend the second set of stairs leading to the residence hall. He was now face-to-face with his daughter Carmen, looking into her emerald eyes, smiling a dazzling white smile, identical to her father’s. Wayne’s heart sunk. How could he tell her? Breaking her heart was like breaking his, for hers was so genetically similar to his, that everything the happened to her was reflected onto him. She confided in him for support so much, how could he let her know of his weakness he had had earlier that day? She ran down the stairs, her layered, shoulder-length, dirty blonde hair flowing like silk behind her. She wrapped her arms around her father’s mid drift, holding on tightly. She loved greeting her father at the door every day. But today he was late, and she wanted to know why.
“Where have you been, Daddy? You are an hour late!” She looked up into his eyes, begging for an explanation, it completely obvious on her face.
“I just had to take care of a few mishaps at the office, that is all,” he explained in a soft, assuring voice. He kissed her on the head and she continued walking down the stairs. She looked back at her father, suspicious of something odd in his appearance, and caught his attention before he had disappeared down the residence hall.
“Daddy, Lucas said that dinner will be ready at 7:00 tonight. Just thought I would let you know,” she said, implying to their live in cook, Lucas Herity.
“Thanks, Sweetheart. I’ll be down, do not worry about that!” Carmen smiled at her dad and headed towards the kitchen. Suddenly, Wayne thought of something. “Carmen, where is your mother?” Carmen looked at him with questioning eyes. She hesitated before answering.
“Chico, Dad. What do you mean, where is she?” Carmen was confused by this question. She had not heard from her mother in over 3 years. Why would her father be asking her this question?
“No, Carry, I mean Stacy, your stepmother.” Wayne understood perfectly why Carmen had gotten so confused. He had never used that term for Stacy with her. “Sorry, that is what I meant to say.”
“Oh! I do not know, this house is so big to me sometimes even though I have lived here my entire life. I have not seen her all day. She did mention something about going down to the pool this afternoon, so maybe she might be there. Who knows?” With that, Carmen exited the hall, humming to herself. Wayne was not completely satisfied with this answer, but he accepted it nevertheless. He gave up with trying not to be heard and continued his journey up the stairs as he would any normal day. He was planning on telling his family about his accident that night at dinner after everyone had finished their daily stories. The only thing he was worried about was that it was Carmen’s first day of senior year at her school, San Marcos High, that day, and he did not want to ruin it. But he would have to tell them to explain why his new car was missing. He let out a deep sigh and walked the rest of the way to his office.

************************************************************************************

Wayne and Stacy listened intently as Carmen explained her first day of senior year to her dad and stepmother. She was so animated when she told her dinner stories, and tonight was no exception. She told Wayne and Stacy everything, from the fun stories to complaining about classes. She had a great relationship with both of them, and every night she would tell them stories about her life, making sure they knew what was going on. She hid nothing from her father, and she was sure that when her father and Stacy were alone, her father would share what Carmen had told him with his wife. But all was well with that, and Carmen loved her home life. Stacy was more her mother than anyone had ever been.
When Carmen had finished explaining her day’s events, dinner was over and Lucas came out to clear the table. Carmen looked around the table, wanting to be excused, but for some reason her father was not excusing his family. Instead, he was looking rather pale and nervous about something. Carmen was intrigued to find out why.
“Dad, what is wrong? Can we leave the table yet?” He father took a deep breath and shook his head.
“I have something to tell you girls.” Stacy and Carmen exchanged confused and concerned glances before focusing their attention on Wayne.
“What is it, Honey?” Stacy asked, sounding very worried. Her husband never acted like this or spoke to them in this manner. Wayne cleared his throat and they listened intently.
“I was involved in a car accident while coming home today.” Stacy and Carmen let out simultaneous gasps. Wayne continued, “I was approaching the bridge on the highway and my cell phone started ringing. I thought it was this very important phone call that I was expecting and I had to search for the phone in the back seat.”
“Didn’t you pull over, Daddy?” Carmen asked, matter-of-factually. Wayne shook his head. Carmen and Stacy gasped again.
“No, I did not think about doing that. I was in too much of a rush, and before I knew it, I was head on with an RV. I swerved out of the way in time, but I collided with the fence on the side of the road. Luckily, I am not hurt. But if that fence would have broken....” He did not continue, for both Carmen and Stacy knew what would have happened if, in fact, that fence had done just that. Broken. Wayne would be at the bottom of the canyon.
The dining room was silent. Not a word was said, for everyone was in their own little world, thinking their own little thoughts. They thought of how lucky they were to still have Wayne in their lives, and of how close they had come to losing him, and they had not even known it. It was silent for minutes upon minutes until Carmen finally gained the courage to stand and give her father a hug. Stacy selflessly looked on, as she knew her stepdaughter needed her father now. Stacy would have her time with him later. Everyone had tears in their eyes and they all looked at one another, silently thanking the Lord that they had one another still. Carmen looked up at her father and thanked him for telling them. He then excused her to bed, giving her a kiss good night. Carmen left the dining room in complete shock. As she walked through the house and up the stairs, she held back her tears that were welling up inside of her. She walked into her room, surrounding herself in an enormous lavender and tan room, equipped with everything she’d ever need as a teenager. As she plopped down onto her full-sized mattress, she looked up at her built in stars faintly lighting her room and let out every tear that had hidden itself from the exterior of her face. She had almost lost her father, the closest person to her. All her friends were not really what one would call friends. They all had their superficial tendencies, only befriending her because she lived in the Santa Barbara Hills in a 50 million dollar mansion that was more extravagant than any other house in Santa Barbara. Almost every person knew exactly who Wayne Sawyer was and they all knew what Serenity was whenever they heard it. The two were infamous, and because of that, Carmen had a hard time finding real friends. The only reason they wanted anything to do with her was because of her inheritance money and her beautiful appearance. The only two people she really felt all that close to were Jason Parkinson and Brooklyn Lawrence, her boyfriend and “best friend”. But that wasn’t saying much, for she wasn’t all that close to either one, each one for a different reason. Carmen was lost in her thoughts, a trait she had inherited from her father, and soon she was lost in sleep, not yet changed into her pajamas.

**********

Day 1

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 07:48:36 GMT

WORD COUNT: 2702
The afternoon sun trickled down through the trees as the day continued to slowly creep away. The dry mountain air surrounded the atmosphere as the few cars and the people in them continued their destinations to far away places. Not many people who traveled through the Santa Barbara mountains finished their destination there. The only places to go were the ranch homes and estates which costed millions upon millions of dollars that were spotted along the highway, the Santa Barbara Country Club, or the Old Spring Tavern restaurant. There was a slight breeze blowing which was barely notable in the soft leaves of the trees that piled along mountain sides and valleys. The sky was without a single cloud in its wake and the temperature was perfectly comfortable. This kind of whether was the kind to put people like Wayne Sawyer at complete ease, removing their worry of all things surrounding them.

A shiny, sleek, black BMW convertible rounded the last familiar corner on its route back home. The sun shone down onto its tan leather interior, heating it up to a point where it was unsafe to touch immediately. The driver of the luxury car had placed his Oakley sunglasses carefully in front of his eyes in order to be able to see the road clearly, though he could have driven that route with his eyes closed if he wanted to, but that was unsafe. He quickly glanced behind him at the back seat to make sure his papers were still intact in his black leather briefcase. He despised convertible cars sometimes, but his daughter Carmen had convinced him to buy this one, and on days like this, though he hated to admit it, it was nice to have this extra car to gallivant around in or take to the office on one of these warm, summer days. But his favorite car was still, and always would be, his midnight blue BMW sedan parked on his terrace at the front entrance to his estate home. But this one was still satisfying and he rather enjoyed the feeling of the wind blowing through his hair while going top speeds up and down hills and rounding corners during his 30-minute-long drive up the mountains back home. Yet he turned his head back to the road as he realized everything was strapped down tightly, secure enough to hold the contents of his briefcase in its proper place.
Wayne realized that he was being very paranoid that day, and he blamed it on the business meeting that he had had with the presidents of the subdivisions of Somera Capitol, the business that his father had founded, and which he had inherited complete control and ownership over. They had told him that instead of going up like they were and should have been, profits were stuck in the same place, and from the sound of it, they’d stay that way until Wayne did some reshaping of the businesses. So, Wayne hired some advisors to come down to the office and see what they could do. They had agreed to help Wayne with his business, and his employees informed him they would call him on his cell, if they needed to know anything. Nevertheless, Wayne didn’t want to worry about it away from the office, so he vowed to quit being so worrisome and instead, to focus on the familiar scene around him which he loved so much. Every turn, every hill, every tree, he knew exactly by heart and everytime he looked over them, he got the same feeling deep inside of his chest: he was going home.
Suddenly, Wayne was awoken from his thoughts when he heard Beethoven’s 9th Symphany, the ringtone on his cell when someone from business was calling. He placed his left hand on the steering wheel and held a firm grip as he looked at the back seat, searching frantically for his cell phone with only his eyes. He gave up after a few split seconds, and looked back at the road. All was fine. There were no cars in sight, but just ahead around the next corner was a long bridge that went over a deep valley filled with canyons and a thin stream trickled its waters perpendicular to, yet, hundreds of feet below the bridge. At the moment though, all seemed okay to Wayne and he looked back behind him, looking for the still-ringing cell phone. His ears led him towards the floor of the car, right beneath his seat. He stole a wuick glance at the road before continuing. He could not miss this call. He quickly bent down lower and reached for the phone. He couldn’t grasp it. He stretched his arm as far as it could go and caught hold of the antennae. He pulled it slightly, finding impact between his palm and the phone. He started to pull it up towards his ear when a loud, obnoxious sound blared into his left eardrum. He recognized the sound as a car horn while still in the momentum of bringing his phone to his ear. He glanced speedily towards the road to find that he was in the wrong lane, head to head with a speeding RV that had just rounded the corner. He instinctivly placed his hands on the steering wheel, causing him to drop the cell phone onto the center console, and firmly swirved to the right. The RV, not having enough time to slow down, missed the back left end of the BMW convertible by merely a few inches, but the force it created pushed the car farther to the right of the road. The car rammed head on into the fence protecting vehicles from going too far over the shoulder, for there was a 100 foot drop just a few inches behind it. Stem blew from the front of the car as the airbags deploited, saving Wayne’s skull from crushing on the steering wheel at impact. The RV had not stopped, and seemed as if it had no intention of doing so. Wayne was sitting in his car, airbag in his face, in complete shock. His breathing was at a very dangerous speed and he had gained a horrible, overwhelming, and overtaking headache within a few seconds. He knew he should call a towing truck, but he did not have the stamina or strength to find his cell phone. After all, that phone was the main cause for the accident. Wayne was full of hatred for the RV who had so bluntly continued its journey through the mountains instead of stopping and helping him. He was furious at himself for not placing his cell phone in his hands free attachment. But most of all, he was furious at himself for being so determined to answer his phone and endangering his life, when he could have ignored it (they would have called back soon after) or he could have pulled off the road. He yelled in frustration as he sat deserted in the mountains that had so soon ago been his home, but now felt like his worst enemy for being so secluded from the world. There was no one to help him here, no one to stop and offer him assistance. He was shaking from head to foot, and nothing he did or thought about could calm him down. He was starting to panick. His daughter Carmen ran through his mind, and following that, his wife Stacy. How he loved her. He thought of her long blonde hair reaching down to the middle of her spine and her lightening blue eyes; the deepness of them when you looked into them and it was like you could see her soul. He thought of her long blonde hair reaching down to the middle of her spine and her lightening blue eyes; the deepness of them when you looked into them and it was like you could see her soul. He thought of her smile and the straightness of her teeth, sparkling at you on the frequent occasions in which it happened. He thought of their wedding night and the magical atmosphere in which they were consumed in every minute that passed them by. He thought of her long, flowing peach dress and the exquisite beauty which she resided in, though she was always beautiful. He was lost in his thoughts of her, and it took his mind off of the life-threatening event which had just happened. His airbag had retreated back to a deflated state and spotted his cell phone lying on the center of the car, face down on the floor. He picked it up and looked through his missed calls. It informed him that his last call was in fact from his secretary at work, not one of the expected employees. He cursed at himself as he exited out of the list and set his phone on the center console. He opened up his glove box and took out a yellow piece of paper with a phone number scribbled onto it. He dialed the number and was soon in touch with a towing company. They said it might be an hour or so before they got there since it was such a long drive, but they assured him they would be on the scene. They had even asked him if he required assistance, but he turned them down and they disconnected their line. He then called for a taxi and they said that they would make sure to be there, and would wait if they had to if the towing truck had not arrived at the scene yet. He thanked them and once again hung up his cell phone. He laid his head against the head rest as he took a minute to think things over. He had just been involved in a car accident. At that crossed his mind, Wayne again thought of his daughter Carmen and what she would say when he told her. She was so protective of him, her father, and hated hearing about incidents when he hurt himself. A place in his heart grew cold as he realized that he would be disappointing her today when he informed her of his accident. Tears formed in his eyes as he thought of the care and love in which she acted towards the only real parent that she had. Her mother lived in Chico, California and never called or sent a birthday or Christmas gift. But Stacy filled that gap in Carmen’s life almost perfectly, although Wayne knew there was nothing like having a real mother to confide in. Wayne was again lost in thought and he found himself slowly drifting off into a slumber.

**********

Wayne awoke what seemed like a few seconds later to the sound of a loud horn honking. He looked in his side view mirror to see that both the towing truck and the taxi were parked behind him. He lifted his head and turned around, waving at them. He looked up the lane for any cars coming and he didn’t spot any. He opened the door and climbed out of the car. He greeted the truck driver and they discussed the situation. The driver would take the car to the mechanic that Wayne went to and the mechanic would call Wayne when the car was ready. He gave the driver his cell information and his P.O. box address and the driver kindly told him that’s all there was needed to know. Wayne then walked over to the taxi cab and hopped in, calmly telling the driver where he was headed. The driver whistled quietly to himself when Wayne told him the destination, but Wayne hadn’t caught it and the deed went unnoticed. He again laid his head on the head rest and looked out the window at the scenery as the taxi drove him home.

**********

As the taxi cab approached the turn off to Serenity, the name of Wayne’s Santa Babara mansion, Wayne signaled to the driver and he obediantly turned right towards teh driveway which was hidden by surrounding trees. The car approached the gate on a slight hill that swerved to the right and Wayne got out of the car and walked towards the box to enter the code. He hid his action from the driver for safety precautions and when he pressed enter, the house opened its gates and welcomed it owner back home. Wayne climbed back into the car and told the driver to keep driving until he reached a dead end. Wayne would not walk all that way, and he didn’t want to wait for Molly, the main staff member at Serenity, or Mason, the security manager, to drive a golf cart all the way down to the gates since the golf course was on the other side of the property, which could take about 45 minutes to a half an hour in the slow-moving vehicles. Plus, the drive up to the house at a normal speed in a normal car was about 5 minutes. So the taxi lurked ahead and continued its journey up the drive towards the 50 million dollar mansion that lay ahead of them.
The drive was surrounded by all sorts of trees and there was a brook that cascaded down rocks along either side of the road. The first trail to the left leaded to the horse pasture which was slightly visible behind the trees. A little bit further up the drive lay another little driveway that led to a big cement and marble parking space which was home to Wayne’s black and gold private bus. Parked next to it was Mason’s red Mazda. Behind the bus, concealed by trees, was the building where the security was controlled. Inside were tens of video screens capturing all spots in the interior and exterior of the house, along with about 50 employees who helped control everything. A little bit further up and to the right lay another trail that led to the baseball field and the front garden, including the pond with the fountain and Stacy’s rose garden. Again, further up and to the right was the parking terrace for the “Lower House”, or staff housing. The house and terrace was completely elaborate and lacked nothing in class. Wayne liked to make sure that his employees were well taken car of and had proper housing. They all lived down here, except for one, Molly who lived in the “Upper House” or the main house, so the house was of course considerably larger and extravagent than the avverage American home. The cab driver whistled again when he spotted the home and stopped the car. He surveyed the house and let out a huge smile. He looked in the rear view mirror at Wayne who was lookng and feeling quite confused as to why the driver was stopping here instead of continuing.
“This is your house, man? That’s a great house. If you don’t mind me asking, how much d--” Wayne cut him off before the driver could finish his sentence.
“This is staff housing. The house, sorry, my house, is up at the top at the dead end which I informed you of. I’ll let you know when to stop.”
The cab driver apologized and nodded his head. This man was obviously a man with a ton of money. In fact, he looked very familiar, but he just couldn’t place it. So the driver continued its journey up the drive towards the main house. They only passed by one other sub-driveway that led off to the right, which took its traveler to the back entrance of the tennis courts, swimming pool and pool house, basketball courts, gym, ATV/dirtbike trails, golf course, and garage that stored all the ATV’s, dirtbikes, golf carts, speed boats, and bicycles. But the rest of the drive was dedicated to about 3 minutes of the most beautiful scenery and sounds that the cab driver had ever experienced. The short vacation soon reached its climax when the drive turned a sharp right and revealed a sight beyond all others. A humungous 3-story mansion stood before them, towering over everything. It was amazing that the trees had hidden this so well from view, especially from the road. The house seemed to domineer any great monstrousity that the cab driver had ever seen.

2 Hours to Go!

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 06:12:01 GMT

And Gosh, am I excited! I can barely wait for 12:00 A.M. to strike. I have everything for my introductory scene all planned out and now I'm just anxious to start! I'm already getting tired, though. I guess I'll just need more Halloween candy in my system before I start. Wish me luck, as I'm really needing it about now! ;-) Good luck to everyone!! And have fun!

Peparing--Mentally

Sun, 23 Oct 2005 00:40:16 GMT

Well I've basically finished my preparing for my story. I know what's going to happen, and I know my characters very well by now. Really, I don't have much to do in preparation. Just preparing mentally, really. I'm a little nervous about writing 2000 words in one day, I mean, I've been practicing here and there, and it seriously takes some concentration and some major time to get that ammout of words in one sitting. But I have faith in myself, and I'm going to push my limits. I already planned out approximately how many words I'm going to dedicate to each section of my story. Here is the rough approximation:

1 -- 2000
2 -- 5000
3 -- 9000
4 -- 2000
5 -- 10000
6 -- 2000
7 -- 3000
8 -- 10000
9 -- 1000
10 -- 2000
11 -- 3000
12 -- 1000

Of course, you don't know what is in each section, but you soon will over the time of Novemeber. Just so it's cleared up, I will be posting each night's writing to the journal after I'm done, and anyone interested in reading it can find it here. I won't be doing any editing, and beware that it might be very choppy, contain many grammar and spelling errors, and have any other imperfections made possible. But none of that really matters, as everyone knows. So enjoy!

Carmen Elizabeth Sawyer

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 00:34:05 GMT

My first Character Profile! Carmen Elizabeth Sawyer is my main character. Get to know her, she's the biggest part of my novel for November, which also means she has to be absolutely perfect! ;-) Here's her profile (Provided by Critique Circle Online):

Carmen Elizabeth Sawyer

One Month To Go...

Thu, 06 Oct 2005 05:47:34 GMT

October has fallen and NaNoWriMo is only one month away…Which means people all around are now jumping into extreme planning of their novel at this very exact moment, preparing for November! The site will be reconstructing today until 3 pm, opening it’s doors to all November 2005 sign-ups. I myself won’t be home to sign up right away, but later tonight I’ll do it in a heartbeat.

In other news, I’ve found a perfect site to prepare me for my novel: Fiction Factor. It has many things offered there to help with anyone wanting to write a good novel. The one thing I found most helpful, though, was their tutorial on making a prefect, simple template for your story. I’ve already written mine all out, and I'm really satisfied. For anyone who wants to do that, it’s absolutely free, just in case you were wondering.

I hope this helps any of you wanting to try and go for the challenge! Happy writing, my friends! (Or whatever it is that you do)

NaNoWriMo

Thu, 06 Oct 2005 05:17:40 GMT

I’m participating in NaNoWriMo this year (2005) for the first time and I’ve decided to write down my adventures and frustrations, as there will be plenty, I guarantee you. I’ve already started planning for it, even though I won’t be starting until the appointed time: 12:00:00 a.m., November 1. I’ve got a great plot sorted out and I’m really excited — and I still have over a month left until I can actually start writing!

I went to Create-a-Character to fill in attributes that I wanted the main character to have and it came out perfect for the storyline that I have brewing in my mind — which I won’t be giving away. You’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you?! ;-) Well, this is what the site came up with:

—-
MC(Main Character) is a trustworthy ally, always there for friends and family but specifically focused on those in authority. MC basically doesn’t trust his/her own decision making ability, so looks to others who he/she feels knows the answers.
As a child, MC connected with the father figure, who was very loving and gave great advice. Perhaps MC was abused outside the home, picked on in high school, and looked to the father figure for answers on what to do. As a result, MC learned to look to authority for the rules on how to survive. As an adult, MC has associated with a company or system that he/she looks to for answers. The flaw is that the company or system may be destructive or evil in some way, opening an opportunity for growth where this character makes a decision for him/herself. MC strives to create a happy life for herself, away from the drama her father’s house has caused it.
—-

It’s perfect. So that’s the main chacter for you all. And that’s all I’ll be saying about that! Well anyways, for anyone who’s going to or wants to paticipate in NaNoWriMo, I’ll be blogging about sites that I’ve found that will help, and also different strategies that I’ve come up with. I have many reasons for doing this, including having a place to keep things written down so I don’t forget anything, and letting the general public/friends know what's going on with my NaNo.

Which reminds me — I do have a Sims 2 blog, Serendipity Sims. I have two stories going right now, one on the Hampton family, which I created for a challenge for the game. Another is a story called Destiny at Heart, which chornicles the life of Autumn Parker and her adventures with her hectic family life. I use the Sims 2 to create pictures for these stories, illustrating the story more completely. The Hamptons is more where I play the game and then make up a story to what happened, whereas Destiny at Heart is more where I write the story and then create pictures to go with it. If you'd like, you can go check htat out as well! There are lots of brilliant and amazing people in the Sims 2 blogging community. :-)

I plan on posting more in the very near future about my plans for NaNoWriMo 2005. I hope you all enjoy it, as I know I will!

Happy writing, My friends! (Or whatever it is that you do)