Hi Guys!
So, I'm really glad so many of you are enjoying this. It's still in the crawling stage but I have awesome ideas for this and I have a feeling that this could be my best one so far. I think this will be THE one, if that makes any sense. But to just help me along, could you review at the end, just feeding me your thoughts and feelings about the characters. Thanks!
I am feeling really insecure about Karen at the moment so I actually need to know what you think. Thanks to xNPanache for giving me her approval, it means so much.
Today's recomendation is:
Saving Flo - by Luce17 - honestly, I have read this about 5 times. I love it. It's a little rushed at the beginning but it does stick in my mind as being a really good story. Please give it a check out.
Hope you like this chapter, it explains a little bit more about the people.
Tilda deliberately avoided my eyes as I sat next to her. She stank of sweat, urine and general despair. The blankness was radiating off her in waves, filling my head with half thoughts and images only half in focus. She was a water colour that someone had smudged, a clay sculpture that had been dented. She was incomplete.
"Tilda, can I hold your hand?" I said gently, slightly intimidated by this strong, angry girl, who's terror had fuelled her addiction and lead her to this state.
She snorted and gave me an evil look. "What are you? My shrink?"
My tentative smile faded. "My brother used to call me that."
She went back to her nails and pointedly looked away from me. I looked over at Lenny who shrugged nervously on the other side of the room.
How long as she acted like this? I asked quietly in my head.
Lenny looked up and answered. She was already here when I arrived a year ago. But I don't think she was always like this. She has this thing, where she actively doesn't like anyone.
What? I frowned.
Lenny nodded privately. She doesn't like me, though won't tell me why. She's properly rude to all the other girls and used to spit at all the guards. I saw a smile arrive on Lenny's face. I used to admire her for that. But now she's just lost the effort to even look up when they are around. I think she just can't see any nice things about people now.
I sighed and looked back at Tilda. "Tilda, how long have you been here?"
She stayed silent, but I knew she'd heard me. Her mind whispered, 4 years.
That was such a long time. I was reeling in my head. 4 years here with nothing and no one to help you. 4 years waiting for your soulfinder to come and get you out. No wonder she wiped herself clean of basic positive emotions.
"Tilda, I'm just going to have a look in your mind, just to see how much you've erased. Is that ok? You can tell me if you don't want me to do it."
I waited with baited breath. This was the most crucial part. I could glean information if I wanted to but I needed their permission to go any deeper.
She looked up finally and spat out her answer through her matted hair. "No offence sweet cheeks, but I keep my mind to myself."
I nodded, fighting off the disappointment. It happened a lot, I couldn't expect people just to let me see their mind. Normally I didn't have to, I'd be able to get the information I needed just from a general sweep. But if I wanted to help change something then I needed that person's full co-operation. If they freaked out or were only half ok with it then I could cause more harm than good.
I stood and went over to slump next to Lenny. She patted my hand apologetically. "I've been trying for a year to find out about her back story. She'll say nothing to you"
I looked down and stroked the red material of my dress over my thighs. "She's a recovering alcoholic and manic depressive. The dependence on the booze made her brain malfunction and helped the depression start when she got here. Or around about."
Lenny blinked. "Woah, you got more in twenty minutes than I've got in a year."
I looked over at her. "A year? That's a long time."
She nodded but smiled tight lipped at me. "Yeah, but not compared to some others here. You know about Tilda, I heard from another girl. Then there's this really old women stuck here as well. No one knows her name. She's properly mad, they drove her insane. She's been here forty years. They never take her out of her cell because she had a dangerous power so she's still wearing the same pair of clothes she had when she got here."
My jaw dropped. "Forty years?! That's barbaric!"
She nodded. "Yeah, most of us walk past her cell coming back from our daily march. We feel bad that she can hear us moving around but not leave herself so we try and drop some food through the corner of the bars. Just in case she's sane enough to realise it's us."
My head thumped back against the cold stone. "Tell me more about the people here. What about Maggs? I saw her when I came in."
Lenny reached behind her and pulled two tin blankets from the rickety beds in the corner. She handed me one and I pulled it tight around my shoulders. "Maggs is in charge. Well, she looks after us. And when I say 'looks after us', you know what I mean." She made quote marks in the air with her fingers. "She doesn't feed us, but she decides how much we get. She doesn't dress us, but tells us what to wear. She doesn't fetch us, but orders our movements around the compound. She manages us, I guess." A guilty look flashed over her face. "This is going to sound really bad, but it's better to be on her good side, then she could over look a little more food slipped onto your plate or let you be at the front of the line is a Potential comes to visit."
"Potential?" I asked.
"Potential soulfinder. A guy who comes to look at us."
I nodded and she shrugged. Telling me she was finished.
"Ok, what about the guards?" I asked, filing away the information about Maggs.
Lenny looked through the bars at a couple of guards within eyes sight. "Well, we have a selection of psychopaths." She made it sound like a shop and I smiled at her light hearted-ness. "This one guy, Trev I think his name is, he's a transvestite. This is the story so I can't guarantee that it's right but apparently he's really paranoid about it and is scared that people won't ever accept him, so he's hidden it and that paranoia and guilt drove him completely insane."
My eyebrows rose, I was dying to help him, that was exactly the kind of thing I dealt with, people who both needed and wanted my help.
Lenny went on. "Then we have a pair of kleptomaniacs who go to scary levels to get what they want, it's weird. They'll do things like kill if someone's standing in the way of their prize. I'd stay away from they, they go haywire really quickly."
I nodded. "Do you know anything about the guys who run this place?"
Lenny shook her head. "No, sorry. I mean. I heard that that guy Daniel Kelly gave them a load of money just before he went into prison but this place is an international affair. It won't be easy to take on."
I shrugged. "No, I never thought it would be. But, we might as well give it a go."
I looked over and saw Lenny start to grin.
Good?
Please tell me what you think, story-wise Karen-wise Tilda and Lenny, anything.
Thanks and see you tomorrow hopefully!
XX
