Hey guys!
I'm gonna make this note sweet and simple.
This is a sample chapter to the sister sequel story
to my six-shot I published at the beginning of the summer,
Morgan Goode.
If you have not read Morgan Goode,
I encourage you to click on my name above,
find it in my stories, click again,
and read like the wind!
because NONE of this will make any sense
if you didn't read that. pinky promise.
To those of you who have read Morgan Goode,
you've probably already read this sample chapter.
I've tweaked some stuff, but the main purpose of publishing it
is so I can gain some momentum and really write this story.
Cause I really want to.
I just need a push.
And, hopefully this will help.
So, here's a slightly improved sample
of a piece I like to call, Annie Goode.
Enjoy and let me know what you think!
yay yay yay
- Sweetly
On the nights Agent Zachary Goode
was off duty
not out of town,
out of state,
out of the country
for days, weeks,
months at a time
where every move he made
was carefully calculated
and heavily classified.
But, when he was
home,
He and his wife would
normally do something,
anything
to mark the occasion
and subtly celebrate the homecoming
neither would dare take for granted
ever again.
Usually, the two would go out to dinner,
grab Italian or Chinese,
or, sometimes even attempt to stay in
and make dinner
due to Annie and Morgan
and the tendency of most of the Goode's go-to babysitters
to be somewhere off the radar and, therefore, a tad difficult to call on short notice
At least, without the assistance of Liz Sutton.
But, however convenient from a parental standpoint,
the Morgan family's microwave-only gene,
and Zach's inability and slight disinterest to cook
most things other than bacon and spaghetti
resulted in the choice to "stay-in"
to be the only consistent mistake
you could pin on either
half of the Goode couple
Therefore, those particular nights ended with
smoke in the kitchen,
a movie in the player,
and two highly trained operatives
conditioned to last weeks in the harshest conditions
passed out on the couch,
her head on his chest.
This pleasure was a simple one,
a habit that just happed,
without being discussed
or planned
or fussed over.
a natural side effect
of the world nearly falling apart
when Morgan Goode was twelve,
and Zach Goode had vanished.
However, this particular night
was different.
Though only a day ago,
Annie and Morgan Goode's father had returned from
what was supposed to be a three week
assignment in Madrid but ran long,
two whole months long,
Cammie went to bed early,
and Zach ate cold pizza for dinner.
Something was off,
something was wrong.
But, it was a something
so well hidden, so deeply buried,
that anyone on the outside wouldn't have detected it.
So, neither did Annie.
If the small girl had noticed any indication
of her father not feeling himself,
if she had seen him cringe ever so slightly when he walked,
his normal pace and pattern slower,
more careful.
Then little Annie Goode,
well read on the importance of sleep
and the theories concerning the correlation
between the body's regular rest period
and a longer life span,
would have canceled story time in a jiffy,
and sent her father straight to bed.
But, given,
Zachary Goode was a seasoned operative,
in his prime,
Invisibility was his trade.
Therefore, there was a lot Annie didn't see,
or hear
or know.
Even when she tried her hardest,
to see,
to hear,
to notice things
like a Gallagher Girl would.
But, even when her mother,
the Gallagher Girl,
did see
and hear
and notice.
There was still a lot under the surface
Annie hadn't quite learned yet,
much less could detect.
And, even if she had the opportunity,
even if there was a whole text book
she could memorize
filled with all the dirty details,
all the unfortunate truths about
the grief and despair of the world,
and their effect on the intangible,
unmendable human soul.
Cameron Goode was almost certain
her daughter still wouldn't
understand.
Because, Annie Goode,
though highly intelligent
was still seven.
And, her mother
wanted to keep it that way.
Particularly so, after seeing her husband's scar.
Or, well.
His new one.
"Where's that from?"
She was supposed to be asleep,
so that's what her husband expected
when he walked into the master bedroom
post Annie's bedtime story hour.
But, there were many things
Cameron Morgan Goode was supposed to be, but wasn't,
many things she was supposed to do, but didn't,
places she really shouldn't be, but was anyway.
at least, recently.
But, Zach has always known his wife was
a little bit (well, a lot a bit) of a rule bender,
if not a rule-breaker.
So, the truth was, Zach wasn't surprised
when he opened the door and reached for the lamp,
that Cammie sat up and stared at him
like someone who totally wasn't sleeping,
nor hadn't slept for days,
or rather,
two months.
Zach wrinkled his forehead,
tossed his t-shirt into the dirty hamper
and looked at his wife,
"Where's what from?"
Cammie pointed at his bare back.
It certainly wasn't a hard mark to miss.
It was fresh,
red, and irritated.
From a rock maybe.
Or a blunt knife, Cammie thought.
And, as she winced at the sight,
Zach's face carried a tinge
of disappointment
as if he meant to hide the wound,
but did such a fine job,
that he forgot it was there
leaving it to be discovered by the only other person in the world
who knew as much, if not more, about hiding than he did.
Regardless,
the secret was out.
So, he simply shrugged
and turned toward the bed.
But, for Zachary Goode's wife,
that was an answer that hardly sufficed.
"Zach." She warned.
He slipped under the sheets,
and reached for the light.
But, though Cammie had been
off active duty for a little over three years,
she remembered all her skills,
specifically her combative skills,
like she was on the field yesterday.
Which is why when she
grabbed and twisted her husband's muscular arm,
pinning it behind his back,
next to his massive scar
he couldn't move, despite his strength,
he couldn't counter, despite his skill,
and he was forced to comply.
Well, not immediately.
"Well, that's not helping anything,"
Zach said through his teeth.
Cammie tightened her hold.
Zach muffled a cry,
"Okay. Gallagher Girl, okay."
Cammie released his arm.
but, Zach wasn't easily defeated.
He reached for the light again,
quicker this time,
flicked it off,
then hid under the sheets
like a three year old in a thunderstorm.
She was soft.
Zach knew that if anything suffered the most
from Agent Cameron Morgan Goode's
hiatus from the field -
it was her mental strength,
her endurance,
her will.
But, then again,
that was a deterioration
that had been in motion since the day her father didn't come home,
and only accelerated the six months Zach disappeared.
And, every time he had to leave,
from then after.
And, this weakness of hers was one that
Zach almost - well, really – felt guilty
for using against her.
"It's nothing."
Zach gave in with a sigh,
uncovering his face and turning
toward a Cammie who half expected him
to stay under the sheets for an eternity.
And, seeing his wife's vulnerability through the dark,
her usual mask almost completely dissolved,
Zach Goode lied,
for her own good.
"I really don't know"
But, like the operative she way,
his wife saw through it.
"You can't just not know where
something like that came from, Zach," Cammie scoffed,
propping herself up on her elbow,
ready for a fight.
But, just as quickly,
Zach grabbed her free arm,
flipped it over slowly,
revealing the faded markings,
the slashes and cuts
from a summer that had run away from Cammie's memory,
yet still haunted her in scars
and aches
and pains
and nightmares.
"Sure you can."
He replaced the arm softly,
hoping to resolve problem,
ease her mind, and put her to sleep.
He knew what tormented her,
he knew where her mind went when she dreamed.
Fear.
It was all she had anymore.
And, he knew that.
It took a lot to frighten a Gallagher Girl.
Little Annie Goode strongly believed it was impossible.
But, it seemed the world had managed to do so
thoroughly.
He just kind of wished he could take it all away.
Yet, such a task was one
that made even Zachary Goode
lack confidence in his strength,
his skill,
his ability.
So, overwhelmed and on her own,
Cammie surrendered,
like she did so easily nowadays,
laying her head on her pillow,
now sure of two things,
if they hadn't been perfectly certain before:
Annie Goode was seven,
and she needed to stay that way:
innocent,
ignorant,
safe.
Which is exactly the reason
why Annie's mother
had hit the hay early that night,
a threat to the status quo
that made Cammie close the door,
escape the house,
if not to sleep,
then to think it all through.
"She passed the elementary level test."
Cammie said softly to the ceiling.
Zach, settled into his pillow now,
eyes closed, breathing slow,
only let out a small groan as a reply.
Cammie turned toward him,
knowing he was nearly asleep,
but unable to keep silent any longer.
"The results came in today," she said,
"Annie could be in middle school
by the time class starts."
"She's supposed to be in first grade,"
Zach murmured,
exhausted by nearly everything,
specifically the number of tests his daughter could take,
the number of grade levels she could skip,
and the significant resilience in little Annie's pursuit
to become a Gallagher Girl.
"You know what this means, don't you?"
"It means it's time to sleep,"
"Zach, with all these grades she keeps skipping,
two, three at a time, they're going to want to test her again."
"And…"
"And, if she passes the sixth grade before this year even starts,
she'll be ready for seventh."
"Define ready."
"Gallagher. We're going to have to test her for Gallagher.
You know that." Cammie said, "That's what she wants too."
All Zach did was open his eyes,
stare at his wife looking down at him,
propped up on one elbow again,
endlessly restless.
He placed a stray strand of hair
behind her ear and exhaled.
"She's not ready for Gallagher." Cammie whispered,
"She's just a little girl."
Cameron Goode was expecting an answer,
a conclusion,
a solution to the matter,
a resolution to her constant worrying.
But, Zachary Goode,
though capable of a great many things,
couldn't give her any of those things,
not truly.
So, Zach just rolled over and
pulled the covers tighter over his shoulders,
before replying weakly,
"Where else is there for her to go?"
There was a beat of silence,
a second where neither knew what to say,
how to continue.
So, Cammie finally collapsed onto her pillow for good,
returning her gaze to the ceiling,
asking her husband one last
inevitable question.
"Should we send her to Gallagher?"
But, he was asleep then,
or pretending to be.
Cam did catch him smile ever so much
when she leaned over and kissed him goodnight
on his cheek- a good indicator he wasn't all gone quite yet.
But, no matter how long they prolonged their consensus,
the question had to be answered,
inevitable meant inevitable.
And, if this claim were to be shaken,
if the question could be somehow avoided,
still, nothing would stop Annie Goode
from becoming a Gallagher Girl.
so, before her parents could decide
whether to expose her to their world
so prematurely
send her into an education
that would teach her far more
than the university level science,
and advanced language courses she craved,
The decision was kind of sort of,
and unfortunately,
already made.
Morgan had learned too early.
Morgan was exposed too soon.
And, it was almost a goal of
the Goodes' to keep their daughter's ignorance
for as long as possible.
But, Rachel Ann Goode had a mind of her own,
a mind far more advanced than any public school could handle.
She was meant to be a Gallagher Girl,
just like Cinderella was meant to be a princess.
And, nothing would stop her from
becoming what she was meant to be.
Not if she could help it.