deathpixie | NanoWriMo 2009

Katie sprawled on her front on my bed, feet kicking in the air as she read the bundle of printed-out pages. A red pen - the red pen she was supposed to be using to edit with, in fact - hung forgotten from her mouth as her eyes scanned back and forth, devouring the words printed there. Finally:

"EW!" She threw down the last page, shivering with delighted disgust.

I grinned to myself from the keyboard. "Done, then?" I asked, oh-so-casually. She threw a teddy bear from the collection on my bedside table at me.

"As if you didn't know. You put that bit at the end on purpose," she retorted, adding another "Ew!" for emphasis.

"Well, maybe. I can take it out if it's too much?"

"Don't you dare! It'll spoil the ending!" Katie sat up and glared at me. I grinned again, this time so she could see me.

"So, you liked it then?"

"Of course. It's better than 'Dead River', actually."

'Dead River' had been the story that had won me the school's Creative Writing prize last year, as well as the suggestion from the local newspaper editor that I try publishing it "in one of those sci-fi magazines". High praise indeed.

"Do me a favour? Go through it again and use the pen this time, O Dread Editor?" I asked. Katie was brilliant at picking up where things could be tightened up. "I have Plans for this one."

"Sure thing." Katie obediently flopped back down, picking up the red pen and uncapping it. Silence reigned for a while, or close to it - just Katie making the odd little noise as she found a typo or a mangled metaphor and me typing away at the computer. Then Katie paused and looked up at me.

"Fi, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Kat. What's up?"

"How come you never write love stories? I mean, I know you're great at the horror and stuff, but your people are so real... I bet you could do a really great romance."

I shrugged, looking for the words. Katie and I had been friends through grade school, high school and now we were roomies at college. We'd stuck with each other through thick and thin, shared confidences, dreams. We shared everything... except the secret that filled my chest as I looked over at her, thinking about romance. Something I didn't think I'd ever be able to share - Katie, with her string of boyfriends and her dreams of a career and children, her support of the various 'family values' groups that were springing up... she wouldn't understand.

So instead I shrugged and smiled sheepishly.

"Still looking for the inspiration," I lied.