So basically, our teacher starts explaining our task regarding the novel we are studying at the moment and she says: So you have to write a chapter to add to the book in any part of it or rewrite a chapter from a different characters perspective.
Me (In my head): So we are writing fanfic then.
Teacher: There is one big rule though.
(Entire class straightens up)
Teacher: You can't write romance or sci-fi or anything that is not in the theme of the book.
Me (In my head): Awwwww...
So yeah it has no romance in it, and it is fanfic for the novel we are doing which is Falling From Grace. My chapter is taking a bit from the book, doing it from another characters perspective and adding extra things of my own. Oh and btw i ship Grace and Kip but i wasn't allowed to romance. Here it is:
“Imagine having a dad like Ted” Kip said to me. I closed my eyes and took a moment to think about it. I could picture it. It would be very weird to have a dad like that, but I think you would still love him in spite of those things. My dad isn’t like Ted at all so it would be very different, but then again, if my dad was Ted i never would have met my dad.
“If Ted was your dad,” I said “You’d still want him there.”
I watch Kip; he seems to be remembering Ted. I only met Ted once and that was in the cave. That is the only memory I have of him, however faint so I decide to break the tension.
“I can hardly remember him in the cave.” I said.
“I bet he still feels bad about it.” Kip said. He sounded like he’d gone into defensive mode. He must have thought I meant it as a poke at the fact that Ted saw me and didn’t save me. I am not angry; I just don’t know how to feel about that. I don’t really know how to feel about any of it. It isn’t something i ever thought would happen to me.
“I don’t think he’s bad, Kip.” I say to make up for the misconception. I hope he understands. I don’t want to offend him.
He laughs and says, “Yeah, but I wouldn’t exactly call him a good guy.”
I think about this last thing he said. He is right, Ted isn’t a good guy, but he isn’t bad either. I don’t think he is really good or evil, although you could say he is heavily affected by circumstance. I close my eyes and drift away. I smell the beach through the open window and I smell the dusty old house. I can hear my parents and Kip’s parents talking about taxes and such. I can also hear Annie and Sarah laughing about annoying older siblings.
I open my eyes again. Kip is staring at me and looks a bit confused.
“I just needed some time to collect my thoughts.” I say. I know it is a weak excuse but it’s all I have the energy for right now. He looks at me and I know he knows I just need some time. Suddenly his face changes and he cries out and I feel myself falling onto the floor. The last thing I hear is my parents coming in and I feel Kip catch me.
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I am in the cave, and there is water. I know I must drink it and wait for rescue. Drink, sleep, drink, sleep. Over and over. I must believe in rescue, I must! They will find me!
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I wake up, with my parent’s, Annie, Kip and Kip’s sister Sarah standing over me looking like scientists whose experiment just went terribly wrong. I can see Kip’s parents in the background. My mum starts talking and I tune out and listen to Annie. She is crying and saying “Grace…Grace…” over and over. I reach over to her and pull her into a hug. She starts crying in my arms. My mum is asking me if I am ok, and I explain that I had a flashback to being in the cave and the emotions that came with it. My mum looks as though I had a heart attack or something. She wants to stay with me all night but I tell her that I must pack and that I want to do it in private. She is reluctant to leave me, but eventually she and the rest of them leave.
I start to panic. I just don’t know how i feel about all this. I can easily say what i felt when i was there, but the aftermath is harder than the experience. I felt scared, i felt alone but i don’t feel like that now. I still feel lost though. Not physically, i was found in the cave, but in my own mind. I wonder how this happened and how long i’ve been lost in my mind and have just ignored it. But i think that now i can find the way. Looking back on it, i think if i had not found myself in this situation, i never would’ve thought about this and i know i never would’ve solved it. Maybe being lost helped me see that i was already lost, that i have been in that cave for a long time. I don’t know about carefree people, all i can say is how in this fractured world can you be that carefree. How are you not lost? And i am not saying i don’t want be carefree, I long to be like you but i am not. And that is the way life goes.
But i know one thing. Anything that is lost can always be found again if you try.
