The Thursday Excerpt

Today’s excerpt comes from a member of my writer’s club, The Writer’s Meow. “Eleven” is a WIP and was inspired by a Food Tech room! Her Deviant art name is Magical-Badger, but in the real world she goes by Rose Davis. Her DA site is Magical-Badger and this piece can be found in her gallery here Eleven

Eleven

The last rays of sunlight gave up the fight for life and sunk below the horizon, giving way to the azure shadows which snapped at its heels, eager to seep across the sky; the lily-white moon rising fast, bringing tranquillity from the storm. Wind whispered through the wailing trees, its breath forcing tiny water droplets to slide along the slippery leaves, hang tense on the brink of its smooth surface until energy unknown to it decided its fate, changing it’s colour like a chameleon from deep, iridescent green to murky grey. Below, the river sighed as its bulk swelled under the seemingly perpetual rain, the once calm bed now a churned mess of muddy brown , reflecting the pure light as smudged.

The gentle patter of water on water was interrupted as a figure burst out from the forest around the river, almost not stopping in time as her feet slithered along the saturated grass, which nearly gave way beneath her. Quickly righting herself, she shook her hair like a great black wolf, the air around her becoming hazy with the influx of liquid. A small bush baby scuttled amongst the dripping bracken, it’s vast yellow eyes mirroring two perfect images of the girl before it hurried away, as if not wanting to be seen. The inky sky wept harder as the girl tried to remember why she’d been running. Running away? In the rain? It had taken her long enough to get through the forest: she knew, given the choice, she should have stayed behind, but even with no sense of memory she knew something back there was… wrong.

As she turned, a pure swift note of metal rang out. Around her wrist was a thin silver band, adorned with a solitary tag. Something about it made her shiver, but curiosity motioned for her to look. It was inscribed only on one side, and gloomy rain made it hard to read. Squinting, she peered at it, finally reading the lone word: ‘Eleven’…

Copyright 2009 by Rose Davis