thelastvaquita-blog

[thelastvaquita-blog]

Debt: Chapter 3

It was a warm and rainy February. Gusts of rain blew through the tree canopy as silent birds sought refuge under branches and logs. The sound of flowing water echoed from tree to tree, the peaceful flurry of motion that set the pace of the forest's heartbeat. A fox cub scampered beside the stream, fur glistening with water droplets. She paused, ears perked, and looked behind her, then ducked under a log. Shivering, she curled up into a fluffy ring, lay her head down, and stared at the downpour. Too wet for her comfort. Out in the darkness, she saw a light flicker on. ----------------------------------------- Jacqueline Liddy Rodriguez slammed her car door and hurried to shelter under the portico. Fumbling with her keys under the floodlight, she shakily unlocked the door and slipped inside. It was technically the suburbs, but her house had a lot of land around it, so there were never noisy neighbors. Gentle red lanterns lit the path up the long gravel driveway, barely visible in the downpour. Her son would be asleep by now. After wiping her boots and taking off her rain jacket, she entered the kitchen. Her husband was waiting at the counter, typing on his laptop. "Hi Honey," he said softly, standing up to give her a hug and a quick kiss. "There's some tuna in the oven, and salad in the fridge." "Thanks," she sighed, opening a cupboard and taking a glass as he sat back down. She peered at the glass - dirty smudge on the bottom - wiped it with a towel. Crossing over to the refrigerator, she placed the cup down and selected Cold. The sound of pouring water was lost in the patter of the storm on a ceramic roof. "I had a new idea today," her husband beamed, turning to her. "A bunch of kids meet up for a game of 'spin the bottle', but inside the bottle they find a map, leading to-" She chuckled, immediately regretting it as his expression drooped. "Elegar, it's not bad. I like it. Just..." She smiled. "Do today's kids even know what 'spin the bottle' is? Is there an app for it?" He rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. "Now you're just teasing me." She put a hand on his arm. "You're right. I'm sorry. I like it." She tilted her head a little to the side, in that apologetic slant that he always found adorable, until he gave her a smile back. Retrieving the meat from the oven, she sat down next to him and began to eat. "Tell me about this map.”

[thelastvaquita-blog]

Debt: Chapter 2

"Yea, I used to play with Xzilet. Good kid, or at least, I think he was a kid. He seemed sorta.. different at times, I guess. I never really knew much about him, or anyone, really. We were all some sorta misfits, it worked pretty well out. It was a lot of fun, getting on in the afternoon, sayin' hi to everyone, partying up for scen-" "Could you please start with how this group formed?" "Oh, yea, I reckon so. Um, so, I've been playing for about eight years, see. I got into it right after it was released, came and went a little, but mostly stuck with it. I was always a little worried that they might add lootboxes, DLC, something stupid, but it's been good." "T h e   g r o u p?" "Hold up, I'm getting there. Sheesh. So ever since it came out, there are clans, yea? And I never liked those guys, always hanging out, ganging up on solos, being dicks. Grown men ought to be socializing out in bars, and kids ought not to be learnin' how to be bullies. Feel? Bad deal all around. Well, one day, I came across these two guys. Well, gal and guy. Just, farmin', talking about life. I snuck behind 'em, figured they might have some good stuff, but I ended up listenin' to 'em, for a good hour. Man..." The man shook his head. "... they got problems. Bad kids, bad landlords, debts, health stuff, the works. I thought I had it bad, before, but nope. Not even close. The thing was, they weren't depressed, ya know? Like, they had some shit, but they were having fun, bein' civil. And didn't feel wrong, ya know? Like, duckin' responsibility. They were figurin' out how to approach things, how to make 'em better. Right proper people, not rich snobs, but not your absent pap type neither. So I came out, from my shrub, said hello. Damn near got my character blown to bits, but that's the way of it. Told 'em I had heard 'em talking, asked if I could join 'em. Said I could, just 'slong as I kept my hands in my own pockets, 'n' my head above my shoulders. Fine by me, and from then on, we were together, me and them. Turned out that they had a group, a club, not for bein' toxic, but for support. Only rule - be yourself. That's it. So I joined Periapsis. We got on, every day, did some trainin', some quests, some farmin'. Got some good players, good tips. But mostly, we talked. And I had a family again.”

[thelastvaquita-blog]

Debt: Chapter 1

"Since the dawn of civilization, birds have yearned to soar higher than ever before. By flapping their wings, birds are able to 'abtain' heights of tens of thousands of feet above the ground. We don't really understand how, but planes try to do the same thing. By exploding, over and over, a plane can shoot forward faster than any bird, and its wings are faster than a hummingbird, thats why they don't look like they move, but they do, they really do, they do they do they do they SHUT UP-" Jake and Kartik laughed harder. "Dude, Mr. Yal is gonna fail you so fast," Jake managed to blurt out, before breaking down and laughing harder. "It's better than your stupid presentation. You read facts about pears for 12 minutes and everyone was asleep." Jake frowned, but Kartik grinned at him. "Yea, I'm never eating a pear again, after that," he chuckled. Jack muttered a "whatever” and walked out of the classroom. Lunch was almost over anyway, the bell would ring in a minute. Not looking forward to it. "Hey, man," Kartik said, with an awkward slap on the shoulder, "it's good stuff. Just don't push too much, kay?" "K." "Cheers-" and Kartik was gone. Reached for bag, pulled out phone. No messages. Again. Bell ringing. Footsteps. Herbert walks in. Caked with mud, wild hair, sweaty and breathless. Again. "Hurry up! Pack your stuff up, we gotta get to class. Are you excited? You get to give your presentation today, it's gonna be great. Everybody loves planes. I wish I could fly a plane for the army. blam blam blam Take that, commies! bam bam Doubt. "You sure this stuff is right?" Herbert laughed. "'Course it is! I know more about planes than anyone. My dad took me to the airshow in January, and I knew what every plane there wa-" "Fine. Ready to go." Grinned at me. "When have I ever steered you wrong?" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunk down in front of computer. Mom asked something. Didn't hear. Another zero. Humiliation. Stupid. Stupid. Two hours untill dinner. Three hours untill Seawisp. Logged in. Same voice. “Welcome to Shadows of Doub-” Skip.

[thelastvaquita-blog]

First Post!

Hi everyone! I’m going to be posting chapters of my latest novel “Debt” here. Going to shoot for three chapters a week -

1x First Person chapter

1x Second Person chapter (First Person POV from a secondary character)

1x Third Person chapter

Let me know if you have any questions, suggestions, anything!

-thelastvaquita