Saaaturdaaaayyyyy

Here is an excerpt from my "in-processing" novel Many Doors (or possibly The Door in the Wall, or the Hall of Many Doors, or Crossing the Threshold)



"Mom and Dad had somewhere to go, which made it the perfect day to sneak out. They locked all the doors before they left, but I slipped a piece of cloth inside the kitchen lock, so that it wouldn’t fully lock. From there, even out high-tech locks could be picked. And only moments after they left, I was out. I was free. The first thing I did was climb that old tree I’d been dying to climb since we’d moved here. I climbed up that tree, and shouted and laughed, and sang. I think I was the happiest I’d been in a long time. I wrapped my legs around one of the branches, and hung upside down. I giggled and laughed some more, and another laugh answered mine. I swung back up to sit on the tree, and looked down. A blonde boy stood below my tree, and stared up at me? “What are you looking at?” I asked, “I’m looking at you, if you must know. The people who live here came a year ago, but they’re childless, and I’ve never seen you around at all” “Well, I’m the people who’ve lived here for a year. And my parents are not childless.” “They said that both their children died a month before they moved here.” My face hardened, ‘Well, that’s a lie.” “If you come down from there miss smarty, we can talk easier, and maybe I can show you around a bit.” I climbed down the tree and stood in front of the both, hands on my hips, “I’m Skye. Who are you?” I asked, “I’m Luke. Short for Lucas. But, why have I never seen you?” “My parents keep me locked up. I snuck out today.” “Why are you locked up? Are you crazy?” “I’m not crazy, but they are. They blame me for my brother’s death, and so they lock me up, and practically ignore my existence. I don’t know why, or how they can do that. I thought all parents loved their children no matter what. But I guess mine are different.” Luke scrunched up his eyes, “So, you’ve never been anywhere around here, except locked up in your house.” ‘Exactly.” “You must be pretty lonely.” “I am. Very lonely. On rainy days, Dylan and I used to play board games together. We would laugh and joke around. He was a lot younger, but we still had fun. He was my best friend.” “And, Dylan was your brother?” “Yes.” “What happened?” I crossed my arms and scowled, “I don’t want to talk about it, okay?” ‘Okay.” Then he took my hand, and pulled me along, “Where are you taking me?” I asked, “To have some fun, and get away from this old mansion” He pulled me all the way to another backyard. “This is my backyard,” he said, “There’s swing here, attached to the tree. Then there’s a fort over here. I’ve got a whole setup, play guns, and swords. What would you like to do first?” “Well, the swing looks fun.” “Hop on then, I’ll push you till you’re so high you’re almost bumping your head on the tree!” “How old are you Luke?” “I’m twelve. And you miss smarty?” “I’m twelve too, my birthday is next month, but I don’t think my parents will celebrate.” “Then we’ll sneak out, and I’ll take you to the woods with a good picnic. I’ll bring water balloons too. We can eat, and then have a water balloon fight. Maybe it’ll even be your best birthday ever. Who knows?” “Not without Dylan it won’t be.” Luke hung his head, ‘Just hop on the swing then, and forget about the world a minute okay? Just fly up into the sky, and there’ll not be a worry left for you when you touchdown on earth again.”
“Thanks,” I smiled. And that was the beginning of something wonderful. A friendship that would last forever. Every day after that, Luke would wait in my backyard to see if I could come out of the house. Some days I suppose he wasn’t there, he had to be somewhere else, but I never really noticed on those days because I couldn’t get out anyway. "