Ah, summer: fireworks, hot lazy days by a body of water, grilling burgers, gorging yourself on homemade peach ice cream…. Hard to believe it’s already half over! For the rest of July, I’ll be pulling from a WIP novella, Dark Paradise. Set in the early 60’s, it’s about the relationship between two teens, good girl Celly and reformed bad boy Duke.
Celly ignores the knock on the front door, but her little brother Tommy does not.
“Where’s Celly?” she hears Mona ask, even though her friend knows exactly where she is, where she always is.
She doesn’t hear his response because Mona is pushing into her tiny bedroom, just a twin mattress on the floor and a desk she dragged home from in front of a neighbor’s house and some crates full of clothes. Her whole life could fit into the backseat of a car, and she sometimes dreams of that, of throwing all her stuff back there and taking off, to New York or L.A. or Mars, but she doesn’t have a car.
“Why aren’t you ready yet?” Mona asks.
Lying facedown on her bed, Celly doesn’t lift her head as she says, “I’m not going.”
“Of course you are,” Mona says as she tugs on her arm, trying to flip her onto her back or maybe off the bed. “Everyone goes to the fair.”
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Sounds like this will definitely live up to its title, dark. The description is very vivid. I had a bit of confusion as to who didn’t hear the response – maybe you should swap places of She & Mona in the sentence so it is a little clearer.
I’m intrigued by the premise. You have a novella here or maybe longer. As a reader, I want to get invested in your story. It’s up to you, ED
Yes, isn’t a law everyone goes to the Fair in the summer? Excellent excerpt, very realistic feeling….