1
2
Click click click click slam vroom.3
Groan. Emelye left her gum inside the apartment. Her energy gum, vital for her at this hour.4
Sigh. Creak slam click click click click bing!5
A fly is caught in the elevator with her.6
Bzz.7
Sigh.8
Floor: sixteen.9
Click click pling.10
She bent over to retrieve my fallen keys. The single light bulb in the hallway flickers. Roll her eyes. Janitors never quite manage to make it up sixteen floors to clean, much less replace lights.11
Fumble with her keys for a moment before Emelye remembered she left her car parked in a no parking zone. Struggle to unlock apartment, suddenly it’s blank as to where she left her gum.12
The sink? Don’t remember putting them there, but alright.13
Grab a NutriGrain bar to match up with her gum. She hates NutriGrain, but bites it anyway. Run out door, lock.14
Clickclickclickclick, bing!15
Ground level. Have a nice day.16
Clickclickclick creak slam vroom.17
Notice a pink slip wedged in between her windshield wipers. Sigh. Roll window down and succeed in grabbing it after four times. Parking ticket.18
Emelye decides to pretend she never saw it and dropped it outside.19
Roll up window. Her hair is half-fallen out of her hair band. Fine, that’s just perfectly fine.20
On the way to work, she managed to hit every red light possible.21
“You’re late.”22
“I know.”23
“I could fire you for that.”24
“But you won’t, Stanley.”25
“But I could, Emy.”26
“Emelye.” she corrected. Normally she preferred Emy, but coming from her boss made it awkward.27
“Sorry. Emelye.” He turns and starts walking towards his office.28
Her boss had a creepy, non-businesslike way of staring her down. Stanley Hershire is a pedophile, or that’s what it should be. The fifty year age gap kind of kills any hope of the returned feeling, on Emelye's end.29
Stanley clicked his tongue as he pivoted on his heel, facing her again. She plastered an expectant look across her face. He snapped his fingers at Emelye.30
“New assignment!” He practically screamed. He ducked into his office and ducked back out, emerging with a manilla folder. “You’re to go on an assignment!”31
Oh.32
“Joy.” She responded. “Where to, and for how long?”33
His face nose wrinkled. He looked like Santa Claus. He turned and walked to the water fountain, calling over his shoulder, “Czech Republic!”34
“For how long?”35
“However long it takes you, obviously.”36
Great. So she’ll be there for a while.37
“Oh, and Emelye?” He paused. “You…haven’t told anyone of your, er, line of work, have you?”38
He made it sound like an accusation, less of a question.39
Emelye's job is…complicated. Not really, but many people would think it to be silly. She works with the undead. Bones, you know. Just the bones. They’re extinct now, of course.40
But, anyway.41
The office she works in? Not really an office, but a lab. People, random people, all across the U.S. send whatever bones they can find that are similar to the pictures the company puts on its website. The researchers take a look, see if they’re real, learn more about vampires.42
Emelye had never been sent away before, nor had she seen someone being sent away to study. 43
Shuffle shuffle shuffle.44
Day scooted by. She didn’t even open the envelope, as she assumed everything she already knew was inside. Nonetheless, Emelye tucked it into her bag.45
Emelye was stuck in traffic at seven o’clock. Of course there’s nothing interesting on the radio. She searched through her bag and found the information she was looking for. There was only on sheet of paper with words on it, others were pictures of what she was to be looking for, she assumed.46
The first sheet read:47
To Emelye48
Who: Emelye!49
What: New bones found in central Europe. You are most capable to research them.50
Where: Czech Republic51
Departure: Tomorrow evening (plane ticket enclosed)52
Arrival home: Unknown.53
Emelye sighed. Her work was cut out for her, she guessed.54
XXXXX55
Emelye started packing up the minute she got home. This tiny town in Maine came straight from a horror novel. Like that one Stephen King book…56
She wasn’t sure how much to pack, so she packed just enough for two weeks. After that she would buy more clothes, if she was still on her assignment. She finished packing and went to bed, sleeping for fourteen hours.57
In the afternoon, Emelye was searching for a pair of socks. She could never find her socks. She crouched down and looked under her bed. Blindly groping for a soft ball of sock, something sharp and pointy scraped her pointer finger and she quickly withdrew, pulling what stabbed her with it. Emelye stuck her finger in her mouth to stop the blood and stared at the picture frame she pulled out.58
The glass was broken and the wooden frame was bent, but it was recognized nonetheless. It was Emelye’s mother, her real one. The one her adopted parents never knew she found out about. The story was that she was killed in a car crash, but that was too mundane for Emelye. She knew her mother was still alive. There were many times when she was younger that she pictured her mother as being a strong woman, but now Emelye’s fantasies were tainted and she now pictured her mother as a blow-off high school dropout.59
It didn’t matter anyway. Either way she wanted to believe it, her mother was dead. Gone. And she hadn’t wanted Emelye.60
XXXXX61
She arrived in Prague at about seven at night. Much to her surprise, there was someone to pick her up. He looked like a bodyguard and wore sunglasses.62
Emelye was driven to a hotel, where the man told her that everything she needed to know was in her file, and did she bring it? Yes, good, good evening, miss. One thing that struck Emelye as odd was what he had last said.63
He said, “Mister Stanley will inform you of your responsibilities when he is ready.”64
“Ready? For what?”65
But the man just tilted his head forward and replied, “For you to start work, of course. Until then, you are to relax, and get used to the time difference. It’s six hours ahead of Maine, you know.”66
Emelye nodded. As she searched for her room, she was curious. Why was she even there if the bones weren’t prepared for her yet? Stanley did always overestimate with timing.67
She finally found her room, number 224.68
The girl was so tired, probably from jet-lag, that she unlocked the door to her room, changed into her sleeping clothes, and fell asleep without even turning the light on.69
XXXXX70
Author notes
Basically an introduction to the story...enjoy. :]
A contest entry
- For Serious About Reviews Group Only by Andy Stephenson.
350 points, ended November 5, 2008, 16 entries
Honorable mention
• next story in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
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Hi
p11 to retrieve (her) fallen keys.
In the beginning you bounce back and forth from present to past tense. It seems like it would work better if the narrative was in past tense.
This is a perspective I haven't run across before. Hunting evidence of vampires by studying their bones is quite different.
In this contest I'm looking for stories that are complete in themselves and from members of the group, Serious About Reviews.
I like the tone of this story and the humor.
Thanks for entering For Serious About Reviews Group Only
.
Andy
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...
I liked the start. It caught my attention. The actual sentences could've contained more tohugh and a few didin't actually flow or make sense. Good though. -
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Thank you, I'll try to work on the sentences. :]
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