Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Secret Window, nor Secret Window, Secret Garden. Jeez.. :-P I get sick of these.. I mean.. c'mon.. I can't even afford a box of KD, the way it's going right now.. lol. Oh, yeah, by the way, I don't own the Forgotten Realms books, nor Drizzt Do'Urden from them.. I swear, R.A. Salvatore owns 'em all!
-----------
Mort fumbled with his keys as he unlocked his front door, dropping them a total of three times. He'd left the groceries in his truck, so when the knob turned and the door finally swung open on its hinges, he dashed inside and up the stairs, slamming the door behind him with a resounding crash. He didn't turn back to see if he'd broken anything, just flew into his rolling office chair in front of his desk… and went spinning across the room.
"Dammit." He muttered, and rolled himself back, waiting impatiently for his laptop to boot up. He tapped his fingernails against the desk. He glanced at the chair were his dog Chico used to sleep. He sighed, which sounded more like a growl when the screen glowed blue and told him that his computer hadn't been shut down properly. Who cared? He didn't want to know if he'd been stupid about shutting it down; he just wanted the thing to work.
Excited because the pretty girl gave you an idea?
"Yes." Mort agreed, and opened up a Word document as fast as possible. A full three pages of typing flowed out of him, seemingly before he'd even taken another breath. He stared in amazement at the screen, realizing that he'd just written three pages that were among the best he'd ever done.
Finally, he had a plot. So he typed. And typed, and typed until the sun came up the next morning, and there was a knock at the door. Mort looked up, dazedly at the door, wondering who would disturb the streak he was on. Dutifully, he angled himself out of his chair, and started down the stairs. He had three full chapters by now, and was halfway through his fourth, still going strong, and typing like there was no tomorrow.
He ran a hand through his hair, and pulled the door open slowly. The blinding sunlight revealed the girl that had pulled him from the water in the fountain yesterday.
"Good morning, Mort Rainey." She said, and he noticed that she always called him 'Mort Rainey', instead of 'Mort' or even 'Mr. Rainey', like everyone else. She smiled at him pleasantly. "I just stopped by to see how you're doing, after our little encounter yesterday."
This woman was just plain weird in Mort's eyes. He hadn't learned her name yet, even though they'd had three meetings already; one of those resulting in her saving his life. She'd inspired his book, and yet, he didn't know how she'd done that.
"I'm… fine." Mort said, a little confused. He hadn't honestly expected to see the nameless girl so soon. "Would you like to come in? I can make you some coffee." He offered, remembering a little hospitality.
She seemed to be debating it silently, he could see it in her dark eyes. Then she bit her lower lip. "Sure, I guess." The girl followed him inside and took off her coat. He could understand why she would need one. It was just barely getting out of winter, and though all the snow was gone, the wind still held a fierce chill.
He wandered into the kitchen and put some water on to boil, wondering what exactly he was supposed to do with this woman. He pivoted on one foot to find her comfortably settled into a chair at the small wooden table.
"What's your name?" He asked pensively, his eyebrows coming together a little bit to portray his confusion, and she smiled. It wasn't really a smile; more an ironic upturn of her lips. A smirk, perhaps, but not quite; Mort just couldn't figure out what sort of emotion was behind that face.
"My name, Mort Rainey?" She asked with a bit of a laugh. "You want to know my name? It's of no consequence."
His eyes narrowed minimally, thinking about her last statement. "Of no consequence, perhaps, but I'd still like to know. Out of interest's sake."
Maybe you should just leave her alone. Maybe she doesn't want to tell you her name, because you're a psycho killer.
Shut the fuck up, he thought viciously, and the girl leaned back comfortably in her seat, brushing her dark hair behind her ear. "Most call me Ivy."
"Ivy." Mort said slowly, giving his tongue a chance to get used to the way the name rolled from it. He nodded curtly. "Nice name."
She simply blinked in acknowledgement. "Ivy what?"
She seemed to think for a moment, hesitating long enough to make Mort wonder. "Ivy Shetfield."
She had to think, to remember what her last name is? Now that's what we might just call a doorknob, whaddya think?
Mort turned around suddenly, completely ignoring himself as he did so often, and poured this Ivy woman some coffee. Ivy Shetfield. Interesting. He shuffled over to the table with two ceramic coffee cups, and placed one before her, sitting down across the table from her.
"So Ivy." Mort said, and brushed his hair out of his face. "Where do you live?"
She laughed, and took a sip of her coffee. "That's a bold question, don't you think?" He just shrugged. "I live near the lake."
"Ambiguous answer for a bold question." Mort murmured, and he found his lips turning up of their own volition as he studied her.
She wasn't short, but she wasn't exactly tall. Mort would guess about five and a half feet for Ivy's slender frame. Her hair was tied back today in a braid, but a few rebellious brown strands had escaped and hung about her face. However, the feature that Mort noticed most about her was her eyes. They were… purple.
"Are your eyes always like that?" Mort blurted out without thinking.
Nice one, pilgrim. Very smooth.
She smiled, and blinked her lavender orbs. "Yes, they are Mr. Rainey. Ever since I was a kid."
"Wow." Mort breathed. How could he not have noticed that within the last couple of times he'd seen her? That was amazing. "Why are they that colour?"
It was Ivy's turn to shrug. "No one knows. They just are."
Something sparked in Mort's memory. "That's just like those books that R.A. Salvatore wrote, isn't it?"
She grinned, and nodded. "Absolutely. Drizzt Do'Urden was my hero because he had lavender coloured eyes too."
"So you liked those books?" Mort asked, hoping. He never had anyone to "bookchat" with, after he and Amy split up. This could be a good chance.
"I loved them!" Ivy said dramatically, and Mort grinned happily.
You should be writing.
He ignored that, and promptly forgot that he had a book to work on, spending the next three hours drinking coffee, and talking about books with a pretty girl. Later, he thought about it and realized that he, Mort Rainey, the supposed psycho killer, might have just made a friend…
------------
I hate this chapter to death, but then again huge thanks and Mort action figures to my reviewers!!!!
Plateado (Riley): Well, the great thing about how Mort thinks.. is that's how I like to write.. lol.. short choppy sentences. Makes everything a little more dramatic in my mind... my confused little brain.. lol.. and thanks very much.. :D By the way, inspiration can be a jerk.. lol, and one of these days, you'll just sit down at your computer and think "holy cow, that'll work!".. it's great fun.. :-P
Goth Princess: Thanks, lovely.. lol.. well I must admit that I was laughing like a lunatic when I wrote the part about the autograph, and my mom kept giving me weird looks.. as if she was wondering about my mental stability.. ah well.. Oh, look! Birds!
Vanillafluffy: Well I guess you'll just have to wait and see, now won't you?? ;) As you said to me, I like to keep the readers guessing.. heheh.. but either way, when I wrote "Children are little Lucifer's", I sort of meant it.. lol.. my cousins were over, and the little boy peed on himself.. and the floor…. Four times. So you can see my distaste.. :-P
Charming Visions: Thank you very much.. :D have a lovely day!
ShadowDiva: Thanks, darlin' for droppin' in and leavin' lil ol' me a review.. :-P… :D
Sunkist3208: Wasn't it a great movie?? :-P Plus now you understand what the heck's going on.. lol
Mishy: Lovely, thanks honey.. J
The reviewers of the next chapter get…. Um, let's see.. screwdrivers!!! Mwhahah.. annnnyway….. I'm a tree!
hehe
-Abbie
