The Vault
Red Booth
The way I approach a serial is I just write whatever scenes I can think of --then jam them together later. My plan for Red Booth was to tell a present day story that incorporates flashbacks. With Red Booth I wrote bits and pieces; some past, present and future and figured I'd meld it all together.
It's a hot mess and I think I have to start over from scratch with this one. I've been swirling this idea for a few years--so if it sees the light of day it might be Winter 2023 ?
I think it's only fair to give you a snippet. A quick refresher.
Red Booth takes place 6 Years after Goodwill. It story follows The Alexanders the summer of 2017 and has flashbacks to determine how they got to where they are and if their relationship is worth saving.
The story starts with them in 2017 coming home from Veronica, Charity's mothers, funeral. I feel like Goodwill may have come off as classiest--but the intent was to show how the residents of Riverside's choices are impacted by the lack of resources afforded them. They are never meant to be seen as bad people but victimized ones.
[Sofia]
We’d gotten the call about Veronica three days ago. Tragedy always seems to just come out of nowhere. I’d been in the middle of re-working the summer schedule I’d made for Elijah while eating lunch in the RN shared office space when my phone cell phone rang. It was Tomas. I stared at the screen for several seconds. Tomas and I always texted, so I knew if it was a call I had to brace myself for anything.
“Hello”, I said formerly
“Veronica”, he said and the first thing I registered was that it was his voice on the other end. That was always a good. Then I realized he was crying, “She’s…dead…fuck…”
I remember his voice broke but not much else from the conversation. I’d finished my shift on autopilot; everything felted muted and everything my patients said went in one ear and out the other. Luckily Layla was working and she didn’t pry when I asked her to check behind me to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
That evening when I got home I learned that Veronica had just gotten out of what people there called “a really bad way”. She’d just finished serving a little bit of time for assaulting her ex-husband and stealing his car in Charlotte. She’d moved back to Riverside six months ago and started bartending. She and her friends had gone out to the Riverfront Pier to celebrate.
No one will say what really happened, but somehow she got the keys. She was drunk. She had no business driving. She crashed full speed into another car. She died on impact and killed the young family in the other car.
That was the part that kept me up at night. The innocent lives. I’d seen what a body looked like after a bad car accident. It was so senseless
When I got home Eli had his homework spread over the table but was more focused on sharpening his entire pencil. His papers were spread around Charity’s Chromebook, it was tilted an angle and I could see Eli had helped her pull up the assignment program. Eli caught my eye in the way he always did when something wasn't right.
Did he know ?
I went into the bedroom and saw Tomas lying on his stomache, putting way to much pressure on his legs.. I dropped my jacket, purse and backpack on the floor and shut the bedroom door. I let Tomas wrap his arms around me and I applied enough pressure to pull him up in a sitting position.
“It should have been me”, he said wrapping his thin arms vice-like around me.
“It wasn’t your time”, I tried to comfort him
“What the fuck”, he said, “Why the fuck.”
I tried to channel everything Pastor Richard had ever said about cycle of life but that would probably upset him more. I packed up dinner so we could have a picnic in the park. I couldn’t get Tomas to come to the park with us and it hurt me that I’d have to tell Eli and Charity alone.
I think being outdoors helped, the park was a little getaway in the middle of Queens ad being surrounded by nature and the beautiful thing’s God put in the world made the telling of it easier or maybe I just wanted to believe it did.
Charity… I don’t
think she understood. She just nodded and seemed to be thinking it through. Elijah
understood and became distant in a way that scared me.That night we rented an SUV and drove through the night for Petal
Brooke.
Lipari
This is my pet project. I'm sure you can guess why I abandoned this fun Litany Lane 30k novella set in Italy in Spring 2020.
I've been revisiting and tinkering with it lately. It is 90% done and I would like to post it one day.
What's else ?
Well, nothing is finished or in a draft stage. I sort of have this bonkers idea to do a little crossover novella with Fierro and Sofia. There are actually some threads that would make them meeting possible
Pink Neon - Her Long Night
This is sort of a snapshot of Sera's life in New York City just months before they move to Harrison County. Paris is finishing up law school and Sera is working 24/7 doing side jobs, escorting and working as a professional Domme. Some nights are more eventful than others. This is an explorative look into one of those nights.
I don't write a lot of Sera's POV because her voice is very stream of conscious. She has good intentions but can't help but to be a little abrasive and selfish.
HER LONG NIGHT Part 1/2
Playlist
+1+
Glory Box
+2+
Face - Alex Kehm
King - Nikyee Heaton
Sex and Candy - Jade The Moon
+3+
Lifted - Allie X
Pour It Up - RiRi
+4+
Two Weeks - FKA Twisg
Hotel - Montell Fish
Addicted To You - DeeMax
