NEW PROJECT 2014 - "Beneath the Door."

Beneath the Door.

The battle between a woman and her mind.

I have been working on this one for a couple of years now, in and out of some difficult life situations. I have actually sat myself down now and am forcing myself to take this seriously so that I may actually have a finished manuscript by the end of the year. Anyway, this is the very first time I have unveiled it publicly for constructive criticism/feedback. Be gentle.

LATEST NEWS
24/03/14 - 11:51pm - Currently now working on Chapter 7 (First draft)

Word count progress:

13489 / 90000 (14.99%)

Prologue.

There was once a girl I knew.

More accurately, she was a woman who started out as innocent and pure as a small little flower. If you were to get too close, her bones would shatter along with her mentality. Reality and dream blurred too close for her to distinguish properly between the two. Hate and love were the same emotion to her tortured eyes. Nothing held much significance for her - except the hate, fear and loathing she shouldered around with her like heavy sacks.

I was not exempt from this -  she hated me from the very first moment her cold, blank eyes fell on my naive frame as I stood before her. She stripped me to my very core, glaring deep down into my darkest places and laid them out bare. Her eyes narrowed and became glassy, as if I wasn’t interesting enough to hold her curiosity, as if I were nothing but a fly on the windowsill. Truthfully, it unnerved me how one single small woman could make me feel so pathetic and insignificant in the world. It was like she was collecting the thoughts of many and showing them to me as harshly as deep paper cuts. When she locked gazes with me, I smelled that familiar smell of mint and strawberries, I felt the texture of long blonde curly hair on my flesh, I recalled my last goodbye. She was like a poison, inflicting pain and emotion wherever and whomever she met with.

I remember my hands shaking that day as I glanced down at the clipboard and quickly browsed through her psychiatric history - her results were damn near terrifying. I was out of my depth - too inexperienced to handle such a damaged case as this. No wonder Ian Andrews had smirked with mirth, when he signed this case over to me - a mere fresh Graduate who shone a little brighter than the rest - or so my University professor had praised me.

Naturally, she locked onto my weaknesses faster than blood in the water. She eyed my shaking hands, she smirked, and turned away. Needless to say, when I finally escaped to the safety of the hallway after the intense short assessment, I had to breathe a sigh of relief and let my tension out at once.

I allowed myself to wobble along the corridor and along to my office, grasped the doorknob and quickly shut myself inside. I leaned against the door and put my head in my hands - what had I let myself in for?

--
Chapter Extract #1


“I’m dreaming aren’t I?”

The blonde girl momentarily looked up from the freshly made daisy chain between her slender white fingers.

“What makes you think that?” She smiled sweetly, lips as rosy as her cheeks.

“The sheer fact I’m dreaming about someone I hardly know. Someone I met in the storeroom of a mental institution. What does that say about me?” I could have smacked myself.

Rebecca’s ice cold eyes danced with amusement. She continued her daisy chain, humming under her breath as her fingers expertly tied each small flower to another.

“Don’t blame me. This is your dream.”

“Do me a favour and get out then.” I spat and moodily began to tear handfuls of lush green grass from the field we were sat in. A cool breeze swept over the cliff tops from the cerulean sea somewhere down below and carried the sound of seagulls and crickets singing, whilst the sun beat down comfortably from ahead.

To the left, was the big white door that I had long since given up trying to open. Rebecca finished her flowery new accessory and hung it proudly around her pale neck, surrounded by waves of her luxurious blonde curls.

I scowled at my strands of flat auburn hair and bitten-down nails.

“You need to relax.” Rebecca sighed. Even her sighs sounded musical.

“Sure, no problem. Attempted murder victim, psychologically damaged and socially handicapped. But I’ll stand over there and recite ‘knock-knock’ jokes, shall I?”

Rebecca rolled her eyes. “Mature. No - I mean you

to stop thinking and start living.”

“I haven’t killed anyone yet. I think that’s a job well done if you ask me.” Who was she to start trying to be my personal life coach? I already had one annoyingly-enthusiastic blonde in my life. I didn’t want to start collecting them.

“Don’t you see? You’re so wrapped up in the injustice of what has happened, that you aren’t even bothering to live!”

“I am living!” I snarled. “Don’t dare try and tell me how I feel.” I was thoroughly tired and wound up. Rebecca barely battered an eyelid at my extremely crap mood and laid back on her hands, stretching and wiggling her naked toes in the long grass.

“I was just making an observation.” She sang quietly.

“Well, don’t. Keep it to yourself. Get out of my dream.” I rolled over onto my other side and viciously tore more grass from the field, balling it together in my hands. Silence gratefully filled the space and I stupidly thought for a second, that she actually listened to me.

Golden hair invaded my face, my eyes. She was stood above me, ice blue eyes gleaming under the thick curtain of her hair. She pierced me with those eyes and stripped me bare to my very core. I was both utterly bewildered and terrified at once.

“If you want things to change.. You change.” She whispered. “This concerns more than just yourself now.” Rebecca grabbed my arms with cold prying vice-like fingers and prodded me towards the door. For a fleeting moment, I thought she was going to kill me.

Her blue eyes softened, she smiled ruefully. “I’m not your enemy.”

“You aren’t a friend, either.”

Pink lips curled upwards. “I’m not a friend.”

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Beneath the Door is something that ironically started up when I was in primary school as an innocent eight year old. However at the time, only Terin and the title were the only main elements that really stayed consistent. The ornginal plot of Beneath the Door consisted of Terin going to America for a student exchange program for a month in which she meets a lot of new faces, and ends up in a scary old house with a mildly psychotic girl.

Putting this aside to concentrate on other things and trying my hand at fanfiction, I decided to finally come back to this a few years ago. The old girl recieved a full makeover with a brand new background, characters, scenery, plot and twists. Only lately have I decided to rework the chapters again and raise the bar on the standards of writing within.

I am currently working on this novel at the moment and my goal is to hopefully get the first draft up by the end of the year at least, by which I will upload some more extracts onto this page, hopefully with some own bespoke character art as well. Stay tuned to this page for the latest news on 'Beneath the Door'.