Samantha Mayotte

Creative Writing Workshop

Scott O’Callaghan

Roxanna headed home from school and began the walk home. It was quite a walk, but she’d done it often enough that it didn’t bother her. She walked happily, her MP3 player on a low volume in case any of her friends showed up to talk with her or keep her company. She was surprised and a bit worried when she saw a dark blue car pull up next to her and slow down. She tried to keep her head high and not pay attention. To her surprise, the car stopped in the middle of the street, causing several people to start honking like it was rush hour traffic. The driver’s side door opened, and she couldn’t keep her head straight anymore. She stopped walking and looked to see who it was, and if she should start running.

“Maxis, what are you doing?” she shouted, seeing that it was him who was driving. She couldn’t understand why he’d stopped like that. What did he want? Was he just trying to embarrass her in front of the entire town or something?

Maxis ignored her until he was standing in front of her. He grabbed her hand and led her to the car and opened the door for her. She didn’t protest, she knew that he shouldn’t be getting him into trouble. When he was in the car, she started to speak again.

“Trust me. It’s better for you,” was all he said.

She was very aware of how fast he was shifting, and how fast they were actually driving. “Um…maybe you should slow down….” she said, trying hard to keep her voice even. She looked over to see that he didn’t even glance in her direction as she spoke. She sighed and looked down at her bag. She had a ton of homework due for the next day, and she wondered how she’d find time to do it all.

She was half-relieved when he pulled into her driveway and killed the ignition. He got out and waited for her before going in. “I like to drive fast. What’s the point of the car if you don’t use it for what it was made for.”

Roxanna looked at him for a moment before figuring out that she was answering her question. “You drive like you want to die,” she said, unlocking the door.

“Maybe,” he said, stepping past her and through the unlocked door. Without another word he headed up the stairs and closed his door.

She headed up the stairs herself and went into her own room. She sat at her desk and unloaded her homework. She opened her history book, her ears slumping from the boredom she already felt. She started to read, but her eyes began to droop, joining her ears and her head hit the book.

Maxis sat in his room, absently listening to music and reading. He tried to keep himself focused on the words on the page, but his mind wandered. Giving up, he shut the book and reached for the cell phone he knew he didn’t have anymore. He’d given it up when he left home, knowing that he needed the money more than he needed the phone. He missed his friends, people that understood that he was more than he looked like, that he wasn’t just some…delinquent. He sighed and set his watch alarm to go off before Roxanna’s parents arrived at home.

Roxanna’s eyes opened, and she was panicked. How could she have fallen asleep when she had so much homework to do? There was no way it was going to get done now, and her teachers wouldn’t take excuses. She got up and walked to the window, then stopped at there. She looked outside, seeing the sky turning shades of red and purple as the sun sank into the horizon. She walked back over to her desk and sat down again, yawning. She knew that she had to get something done, but nothing would be accomplished in her half-asleep state.

The knock on the door jarred her fully awake and she headed to the door to open it slowly. “Hey, Maxis,” she said quietly, opening the door and moving aside so that he could step in. She tried not to focus on it, but the torn ear was still the first thing that she laid eyes upon when she looked at him. She sighed and sat down on her bed. “Do you mind if I turn on some music?” she asked, the silence all of a sudden screaming in her ears.

Maxis sighed silently, thinking what terrible things she could possibly put on. “Sure,” he said, running a hand through his messy black hair.

Without another word, she turned and headed to her stereo and hit play. She closed her eyes as the music started, and drifted back toward her bed. She opened her eyes to see Maxis staring at her like she was crazy. “What?” she asked calmly, hiding the smile threatening to break free.

“Wait,” Maxis said, crossing the room to sit on her bed, “you like Sleepless Addiction?”

The expression on his face made her drooped ears perk up and a smile spread across her face. She tried to resist, but a small giggle escaped her lips despite her attempts not too. “Yeah, they’re like my favorite, only second to Nightmare,” Roxanna said, hoping that the name would shock him further. She needed a good laugh about now.

Maxis’ black ear, or the whole one and what could of the torn one, stood straight up in shock. “I don’t believe you,” he said, giving her a glare as his ears narrowed and flattened along with his eyes.

Unfazed, Roxanna crossed the room and opened a drawer. She rummaged around for a moment or two, then loaded a CD into the player and waited for it to load. The room was suddenly filled with angry guitars and low growling of the band’s singer. She then turned back to him, a triumphant smile squirming its way onto her face. Her ears twitched with happiness as she watched his expression become more shocked, and his ears fold back in his shock.

Her victory was short lived when her ears twitched and affixed themselves slightly to the sides. Roxanna’s smiled faded to nothing and her eyes grew wide with fear. Maxis wondered what was going on as she quickly cut off the music and ran to her door, locking it and grabbing a chair from her desk. She placed it under the doorknob, leaning slightly.

Maxis perked his ears and listened for what she was so panicked about. He heard foot falls, much too heavy to be her mother’s, and much too sloppy to be anyone sober. Suspicion crawled into his consciousness as he watched her panic. His eyes narrowed as the footfalls stopped at her door and knocking began. She was now huddled in a corner, her hands on top of her head to cover her ears as she tried to block out what was happening.

Maxis looked out the window, hoping that the chair would last a few more minutes. They were closer to where his car rested than he had thought, and there was a clean break. After all, Maxis always landed on his feet, just like a real cat. A sly smile spread across his face, but didn’t last. He would have to get her out as well, and that may be more difficult then she made it seem.

He walked over to where she was huddled and grabbed her arm. Dead weight, as he’d thought. “I need you to move,” he said, pulling her to her feet. Her legs fell out from under her, and he grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. He put her back on her feet and looked at her sternly. “Stand,” he ordered, staring into her wet eyes. He was surprised when she was able to stay on her feet as he opened the window. He grabbed her again, annoyed at her incompetence, and jumped from the window.

He grabbed her hand after landing perfectly on his feet, still annoyed that she was practically dead weight. He opened the passenger seat and all but threw her inside before slamming the door, not looking to see if her legs were out of the way. He then climbed into the driver’s side, angrily jammed the key in the socket and turned.

Nothing happened, and Maxis closed his eyes in a moment of anger and embarrassment. The clutch, he thought, jamming the pedal and turning the key again. The engine came to life and he wasted no time leaving the scene.

He drove; he didn’t pay attention to where he was going, just got on the interstate and started driving. He wasn’t running away, and he had every intention of bringing her home.

She sat in the passenger seat, catatonic, until suddenly she was jarred by the sudden stop that took place. “Did we hit something?” she cried, panicking.

“No,” he said, his eyes watching her. His ears were pulled back, angry like his dark eyes as they bore into her. “What, exactly, is going on at your house? What hides behind the little façade of perfection?” he asked her.

She just stared, lost in the shock of the situation. “Well…” she started, then looked away from those intense eyes. She wondered why he was so angry. It wasn’t like he cared about her at all. Her ears drooped as tears fought their way into her eyes and fell with no hesitation. “It’s because he married my momma,” she said finally, when she trusted herself to speak again.

“It’s your fault?” he asked, not understand and not wanting to understand how it was right to do what he was doing to her.

“He doesn’t do anything…bad…to me, not compared to what other people do to their kids and step-kids. Like I said, it’s because he married my mom…when I was ten. I couldn’t take care of myself, obviously, and my momma didn’t want to leave me with a sitter, so they never got a honeymoon, and she never takes time off to spend long weekends with him or anything, just me. So…”

She stopped talking when a sound that could only be described as a growl escaped him. “And you haven’t told anyone because…” he asked, forcing her to look at him, pulling her face roughly to face his.

“It’s such a small town,” she said, almost unable to talk through the tears. The car had long since stalled, and it was the least of either of their concerns. “My family has enough money that…it doesn’t matter…they…cops are so easily bought…” she said before collapsing into unintelligible sobs.

He controlled his anger, pushing it down, trying hard not to start screaming at her. It certainly wouldn’t make either of them any better. “But…even with all that. Why not child services?”

It took her another several minutes before she was able to answer, he was about to repeat himself when she answered. “There was no one to protect me when he found out.”

Maxis didn’t say another word, but started his car and pulled back out onto the interstate. He pulled an illegal turnaround and headed back to her house. He pulled into the driveway and killed the engine, but didn’t move to get out of the car. He mulled the words around in his mouth again, like he had the whole way home. He didn’t want to end up going all cheesy romance novel on her. He also wanted to preserve something of the terror she felt when looking at him and his tattered ear. Finally he sighed and just said it. “I’ll protect you.” He didn’t look at her, but instead stared at the steering wheel, desperately hoping that she hadn’t fallen asleep, for he wasn’t about to repeat himself. He got out of the car finally and walked around the other side, opening the door for her.

Roxanna stepped out and looked at him, her face wet with the tears she’d silently shed. She didn’t say anything either, just took his hand that he offered to her and headed for the front door. He sighed, hoping that he didn’t bite off more than he could chew.

Though the feeling eating away at him was that he had. Much more.

Letter to Scott (and everyone else, I guess…)

Well, obviously, first of all, I’d like to point out that this is NOT the beginning of the piece. I couldn’t work with a beginning, but this is the scene that I’d had in my head for a few days now and it was starting to become physically painful to hold in any longer. The beginning is really…not so good. I think I’m just starting to get over a creative block I’ve been experiencing most of the summer. But, I noticed, at I kept writing, things became easier for me to write.

Truth be told, this is probably something that happens halfway through, maybe a little earlier or later, but around the middle. I didn’t describe any of the characters in detail because, as I’ve said, it’s not the beginning, so I didn’t want it to be in two places if I forgot to take it out later. So the characters are descriptionless, I know, don’t tell me…hmm…maybe a random scene wasn’t such a good idea, but something that I had a clue one was better than me sitting in the computer lab all night smashing my head against a table trying to make the inspiration leak out my ears, no? Well, anyway, I know it needs some revision, because, like I said, creative block, but it’s not total junk, completely salvageable, don’t you think?

Also, something that I feel that I should explain because their ears seem very expressive, and that is important. They have…kitty ears. Yes, cat ears on the top of their heads, not over where human ears are. It adds more expression, I think.