"The darkness suddenly enveloped her. Penny stayed her position and allowed her eyes to focus as much as they could. Placing her right hand on the side of the brick wall and her left out in front of her she gradually commenced. It seemed as if the steps continued on for ages, but she tried consoling herself that it only seemed so because of her slow pace in the dark. She glanced behind her, awed at the tunnel of yellow moonlight at the bottom of the steps.
Suddenly, her foot went up and then sank down to the floor below with a sickening emptiness. She groped for the next step but found none. Her hand swung out and slammed into the wall in front of her. The sound echoed in her ears and she felt her blood turn cold. At that moment she abandoned all desires to continue on alone, but greatly wished Malcolm was at her side to laugh or comfort her.
Penny tightened her ponytail and stepped forward an inch.
Sliding her hand along the wall in front of her she quickly recognized that this wall was certainly not made of bricks. She tapped her knuckle up against it listening again to the hollow echo. Apparently this wall was some sort of sliding door made into a wall upstairs identical to the one in the nursery leading down to the cellar. Her head felt a little lighter after coming to this conclusion. She only hoped she was right.
Penny allowed her hands to evenly run along the paneled wall. She searched frantically for the crack but found none. Her heart raced, palms slipping off the wall with sweat, until suddenly she felt it, a groove in the left hand side of the paneled wall. Sliding her fingers into the groove she pulled with all her might. The wall shifted and slid a quarter of the way open. Penny plunged her head out into the open and sucked in air. Something about the dark passageway seemed claustrophobic, almost wrenching at her throat.
But she had found it, the passageway was here, it existed. It was time to find out what was out there in the open, behind the sliding door, and out of the winding staircase."
From: Water of the Woods, Ch. 20, Pg. 230 Author: Anna Michael
7 comments:
Oooh, "almost wrenching at her throat." Perfect! This post made me even more excited to read your novel... I've got to find out what is going on!
My first thought was "oooh" but then I saw that Sarah had already said "oooh" So I will say, "Ahhh, this sounds excellent! I cannot wait to read this when you have it finished..." Keep writing!
I just showed this to the people in the room, and we sat around and analyzed it...broke down the emotive senses you evoke, the imagery, the real, raw emotion.
This is the real deal.
It's what good literature is all about: provocative, intriguing, engaging...
Oooh and Ahhh are the beginnings! Wow...can't wait to get my hands on this one!
This is going to be epic! Keep up the good work!
So cool! You didn't tell me you were a writer. :-)
P.S. loved singing with you.
I love the pic of the little girl and the penguin! Where did you get that?
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