《A Ten Pound Bag》Chapter Four – Interlude
Advertisement
**** Chapter Four – Interlude ****
I recall my first morning, laying in that strange bed alone and realizing I didn’t immediately know where I was. It was my first sober night’s sleep in almost a month. It was a tormented sleep with dreams to curl your hair at the beginning and thankfully slowly fading into pleasant, peaceful dreams of meadows, brooks and breezes before the dawn came. Lying about in bed and getting my head straight didn’t last long as my awakening was once again ruled by my bladder leading me to a quick hot shower and a very thorough scrubbing of my teeth.
Clean and dressed I decided I needed to take stock of my situation starting with coffee and food. A quick inventory of the cupboard and the small fridge convinced me that David’s wife Lisa had taken good care of me but she had definitely chosen sides in this relationship breakup that didn’t have sides. Everything was in stock and every item was an item she positively knew I didn’t like. It reached the point of absurdity including “Turkey Bacon”, “Soy Cheese” and even “Bamboo Toilet Paper”; Lisa knew I abhorred these things but they were all brand new and fresh so I got the message. I don’t even want to mention the absurd coffee substitute she bought me. I wasn’t really welcome there and she was only putting up with me for David’s sake – it was apparent I needed to get out of there fast.
The first order of business was getting some food into me, I didn’t want to cause any havoc with David so I made coffee and cooked up some of the strange stuff Lisa had left me. Half of the pot of the pretend coffee went down the sink and the bacon, milk and strange cheese went out the door with me in a plastic bag. When I reached the nearest diner the weird food went straight into their dumpster. Grabbing a booth inside I ordered up my favorite breakfast and savored a fine cup of strong actual coffee.
Advertisement
After sating my base desires with coffee and good food I sat back to consider my situation. Thoughts flooded my head and I knew I need to put them into some sort of order. I decided to try to make a list of priorities, oddly enough I decided to do that because that is what Trish would have told me to do. I remember that clearly only because I still have that list with me to this day, it’s faded and hard to read now but just looking at that delicate and worn piece of paper reminds me of how things have changed.
The list I wrote went something like this, it’s not complete but some of it was personal and there is really no benefit to this story or to you for me to rehash a personal detail which turned out to be pointless before the summer started. First priority I decided was to inventory my finances, I knew I wasn’t broke but I wasn’t flush either. Second was to inventory my possessions and make the appropriate decisions regarding those, I suspected there would be some serious discard after my three and a half-week splurge. Thirdly I need to plan some real next steps, obviously I would need new living quarters and a new job and I would need those soon.
Now there were a lot of sub-bullet points on that list but they aren’t really pertinent to this story and there were some very personal items that just don’t need to be re-hashed. The basic point was I needed to get my waterfowl aligned and start moving forward again. I ordered a large coffee to go and settled up my tab.
I went back to David’s Guest House and fired up my computer, sadly it didn’t take too long for me to realize that I’d had too much fun on my binge of excessiveness and that I only had a short window before I need a steady income again. I had reserves I could plunder but that was an expensive move to make and it would only provide a short period of relief. A year at most if I intended to stay in SoCal. After the depression of dealing with the finances (aren’t they always depressing) I decided to distract myself by taking inventory of the detritus of my binge life. I had two large tote bags of what I assumed was drunken purchased crap and I was correct. I had Beanie Babies (really?) and coffee mugs mixed in with spice packets and absurd cooking tools. Apparently I had a very good time splurging with my female companions in my drunken splendor on those spring evenings during my binge life. Apparently in my drunken splurges that I usually went out without a jacket that the springtime weather usually called for so I had almost a dozen new sweatshirts, hoodies and fleece jackets bearing the trademarks of various establishments in the area. At the end of my sort through the trash of my weeks in an alcoholic haze I had some clothing, some coffee mugs, a strange automatic corkscrew and a pile of trash.
Advertisement
However in that pile of trash I noticed that there were several lottery tickets and I picked them back out on a “just because” basis. The Lottery was only a tool I used to amuse myself on my long daily commutes, something to daydream about while I sat in traffic. I would buy one on occasion simply to keep that daydream valid. On a whim I decided to check the numbers versus the lottery website and suddenly my world spun into change again.
Advertisement
- In Serial7 Chapters
Blaze
The story of a fire elemental's life in a world dominated by mages. He will have to learn how to manage betrayals, treachery, and maybe even love as he goes on adventures to find a meaning to it all. From dark, humble beginnings he will rise... or fall, devastating amounts in his journey across the world. Hello, Author here! I am, unfortunately, rather terrible at coming up with descriptions that seem to have the right amount of decorum and yet actually serve their function of adequately describing the story, so here's the coursenotes. - The story follows a fire elemental. (As you can tell from that, it is heavily besed on fantasy with mages and the like. Technology will not feature prominently) -As mentioned in the tags, this will have game-like aspects. (E.G. levels, stats. I will be trying to put my own twist on this notion however, so bear with me if the premise intrests you but you despise LitRpg) -It'll get rather dark, but not devastatingly so. (I'm trying to write a more complex story so it will have its dark moments, the prologue being one of them. Rest assured the whole story will not be this dark, though I'll make sure that no-one is a saint either) -The protagonist/protagonists will not be a Mary-Sue. (The plural will be understood when I'm further into the story. They also won't be impossiby unlikeable such as those in many Light novels.) -There is no prophecy (Anyone who says there is, is lying, trust me.)
8 142 - In Serial151 Chapters
An Upgraded Soul
Aditya, a 16-year-old teenager dreaming of becoming a professional Formula racer, currently studying in an international school is dealing with the biggest crisis of his life. He had been informed by the police that his parents have gone missing leaving no clue behind. To add on to his misery, Aditya has been sleeping 14 hrs a day due to an unknown reason for the past two weeks. He had been dreaming an alternate world where the 'other' Aditya lives the exact same life as him. But, things became more intriguing when the events in his dream started diverging from his real-life events. For one, his parents did not go missing in his dreams. They were safe and sound. Later in his dream life, Aditya went on to continue his studies in Europe and later became an F1 racer just like he aimed for, while in real life, he got himself expelled from his school and started working in a garage as a mechanic. A world of difference.Accompany Aditya on a journey filled with many impossibilities as he comes in contact with many hidden truths the world is unaware of, in his quest of rescuing his parents.The setting is mainly focused in IndiaTags: Action, Adventure, Missing Parents, Smart Protagonist, Kind Protagonist, Romance, Harem, Friends, Subordinates, Futuristic technology, Biologically Modified Humans, Cyborgs, Genius, Mafia, Firearms, Military Technology.
8 447 - In Serial23 Chapters
Sort of Forgotten
Waking from a prison that held her for 1500 years, Sariah was obviously ready to stretch her legs. Emerging into a world with little to no magic and no idea as to where all of the pieces of her physcial body are located, she begins her hunt. Vengance, death, destruction and war are in the future for all of the realms involved in her imprisonment. She must move quickly to outrun her quickly fading memories and her enemies powers growing. Her escape has began the return of magic, both good and bad. While her captors are the enemies she has in her sights, something darker and older than Sariah has awoken, and hates her beyond any and all logic.
8 77 - In Serial6 Chapters
The Heralia Legacy
In a world where the paranormal is the norm, and your bus driver is a weretiger. Beings in every nook and ass crack of lore are real. Countless species coexisting in a haven called Geas. Divided into three big ruling councils: Mana for the magics, Spectra for the undead and Were for the shifters. But to keep Geas a Haven, there must be a higher presence that enforces it. The Heralia. A being with mixed blood, of great power and the mouthpiece of the gods. Along with his enforcers The Order, the Heralia is the police and the law, the gel of a dangerous society but when the assassination of the century leaves the Heralia dead. A rippling political tide washes throughout Geas, which left everyone wondering just who will be the next Heralia? Enter one: Argus Knight, just an ordinary, if not quirky, college kid in a world where no one is ordinary. Argus’ is happy with his life, even though he doesn’t have any powers or abilities like most of his friends or any money, okay so maybe not that happy. He was left at the step of a shifter temple when he was a child, so that sucked since he must have been a sexy lookin’ baby. Raised by an adoptive shifter mom, that makes the best cookies and gives the warmest hugs and unleashes the sharpest sass a being can wield, and oh, is also the high priestess of the Were Council. He lived his life surrounded by nuns, he was spoilt and gobbled all that attention up and he’s not ashamed to admit it. One day, innocently doing a psychology exam, like pro, if you will, a weird rainbow mist starts gushing out of his skin, for the lack of a better word and suddenly he is floating, then seizing, yup still in mid-air, in the middle of his exuding rainbow aura session, a voice booms out like a missive from the gods themselves, “AWAKEN MY HERALIA”. Sweet baby sugar nuts, what just happened? Join Argus in his journey in becoming the next Heralia, which will be jam-packed with snark, some sarcasm, interesting friends, a dash of heroism, a bit of hubba bubba wink wink nudge nudge with a special friend and an ass crack full of awesome. Readers discretion advised, for readers under 18, strong language and some sexual scenes.
8 138 - In Serial110 Chapters
To The Far Shore
Post apocalyptic Oregon Trail. The apocalypse has come and gone. And come back again, and left again... nobody really knows how often. Nothing lasts forever, but nothing is ever completely gone. Which is a shame for young Mazelton, as his family has been around a terribly long time, and made an astonishing amount of enemies. Millenia's worth. So he has to run- from mobs, cannibals, soldiers, sailors, cholera, cattle, thieving sales-monks, starvation, mechanical horrors, vengeful spirits, negotiating your own marriage, and poison of every sort. Fortunately, his not terribly nice family has trained him well in the arts of core polishing. Or as you and I might know it- turning radioactive pellets into useful tools. And weapons. Updates Monday-Wednesday-Friday. Usual defensive tags applied. The goal isn't exactly family friendly, but you have probably seen worse on network TV. After the watershed. Not full blown HBO, let's say. This is the first novel I am sharing publicly, so feedback is very much appreciated and encouraged. Act 1 of the novel is completed, but do please let me know what works, what doesn't, and what you would like to see more of. Thank you, and Enjoy!
8 263 - In Serial11 Chapters
Spending 3 weeks on a vacation with Sam at Oliver's cabin was brilliant for them but when they get home everything changes for worse or better?!
8 112

