That was a year ago! A year ago I was sitting in the top five, frantically trying to make sure everything was ready for when HarperCollins read my book. A year ago! So much has happened to this book since then.
Like, the writing. I feel like my writing developed a lot. And the book itself has changed so much. When HaperCollins read my book, this was the opening.
She closed
her eyes and stood there. Tonight would be the night that he’d come for her;
there was something in the air that said so. For a year and a half he’d
slapped, screamed and abused her into telling him what he wanted. He had even
locked her in a house, away from the world, hoping to get “it”.
But she
didn’t know what “it” was. Whenever she’d ask him what “it” was; he’d say that
she knew.
As much as
she told herself; she couldn’t be brave. It was all an act, Please, Lord, please forgive him for what he
is going to do, she prayed, but she wasn’t going to be the one forgiving
him for all the things he had done to her.
Pulling the apple out of the
fridge, she walked to the counter and began to cut it. She placed the knife
back down on the counter and turned to wash her hands. It just needed to be
over, the agony and anxiety; she just wanted it to end. The only thing that mattered was that her baby
survived. Her baby would be okay, she could see these things. She knew that her
baby would be destined for great things, depending on what one would call
“great things.”
The
slamming car door made her jump, and she listened for the sounds of his
footsteps approaching the front door. He
jiggled the door, but the lock held. Angry, he began to bang on it; each bang
making her heart beat faster and faster.
“Sarah, come answer the goddamn
door.”
“No!” Sarah
cried. She wasn’t going to let him in. That would be like letting the devil in.
She could not welcome evil into her house, not willingly at least. “Please,
don’t let him have a key, Lord,” she whispered. She knew that he wasn’t going
to let her live much longer.
She wanted
to live. She was going to put up a fight, even if she knew it wasn’t worth
it.
The door
opened and closed quietly and her heart began to beat faster.
“Where is
it?” Three little words had enough power to send chills down her spine. It
amazed her how one man could cause so much fear and terror in her life.
“It’s not here,” she said. “I don’t
know what you think I have, but I don’t have it, and if I did, I most certainly
would not give it to you.”
She could
feel his gaze on her. “Very funny, Sarah, but I don’t have time for this,” he
said.
“You’re
going to kill me, aren’t you?” Sarah knew better than to ask the question, but
it was too late.
“I won’t if
you tell me where it is.”
If only it were that simple, she
thought. Then she snapped.
“For the
last time, I don’t know where “it” is. Goddamn you! Having the nerve to lock me
up in a house expecting me to give you whatever it is you want! Well, I won’t
deal with it anymore! Get out of my house!” She swung the knife at him, trying
to get him to back off.
He took a
step back then stared at her in amusement. “Calm down, it’s all okay, if you
don’t know where it is; I guess there’s only one thing to do then.” He grinned.
“You kill
me with that thing,” she gestured to the gun hidden in his jacket- “You’ll be
sorry. I’ve seen it. You think you’ll be the one with the last laugh, but you
won’t be. You better not come anywhere near me with that thing!”
Sarah was
tired of this. She could either kill him, or let him kill her. But that was the
difference between them. He killed people for a living; she couldn’t even kill
a fly. She respected life, he destroyed it.
“Really?” he
asked her, “And I suppose you think you’re going to tell me that you had
another vision.”
He thought
her “visions” were nothing but crap. They didn’t mean anything. She’d been
right before with her visions, but Brent refused to believe in such things. He
simply believed it to be all coincidental.
“Yes, I
did. You kill me, and she,” she pointed to the baby, sleeping in her crib in
the living room, “will be better at your stupid little game than you.”
They both turned to listen to the infant
girl, now awake at the sound of the arguing. Sarah moved to go pick up the
baby, but he stopped her.
“Excuse
me?”
“I know you
kill people. If you kill me, you will be caught. And she will take your place,
and she will be a better assassin that you could ever imagine. You will try to
kill her, try to stop her, but you will be stopped.”
“That is
crazy.” He raised the gun and aimed it towards her head.
“No, you-”
She crumbled
to the floor, and the knife she had just threatened him with slid across the
tile. Blood rushed from her head,
down onto the floor. He gave her a kick in the side and leaned down. “Looks
like everything is finished here.”
He stood
up, made his way to the door, and then stopped. He turned back to the baby,
staring at it. He thought back to what Sarah had said, something about that
baby being a better assassin than him. It made him laugh. After all, that baby
was just a baby, a baby girl. She’d never be able to kill.
After a
moment, Brent decided to leave the baby where it was, in the crib, she would
starve to death. No one would ever have to know about her, or her mother.
Brent
opened the door, and without another glance, he walked into the dark, cold
night.
