Well, hello everyone! I’m here to bring you the first proper chapter of Dirt Under the Nails. I know I said I’d get this up last week, but I completely forgot that I was starting summer conditioning for soccer. It ate up time like nobody’s business, so sadly here I am, disgustingly later than expected. I hope you can all forgive me. ^^;
Anyway, today we meet a harassed (crazy?) old man, exploding suitcases, and a blonde girl with an annoying giggle. Please read on…
Over the Mountain
“So what brings a young lass like ya out to these parts? Pardon my saying so…but ya don’t really seem like the country type…”
Ryli slouched further down in her seat, absentmindedly brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. A pout was prominent on her full lips, a glare rested in her eyes. Her legs were stretched out as far as they could in the passenger seat of the little car, but she still found herself cramping. “What you mean, ‘
country type’?” the young woman demanded accusingly of her driver, shooting over a poisonous gaze. “What’s
that supposed to mean?”
The elderly man who sat behind the wheel flinched ever so slightly as her tone, keeping his eyes firmly on the dirt road before him. He scooted around nervously in his seat, his dirty overalls making scratching noises on the plastic seat cover. “I-I didn’t mean anythin’ bad by it, Miss. I-I was just sayin’…”
She cut him off. “Saying
what though, exactly?” Pushing with her feet, Ryli rose to a proper seated position. Her arms were firmly crossed over her chest. It was an easy task, seeing as how she had a rather boyish figure.
The old man was obviously uncomfortable. The young woman realized this. After all, most of the trip so far had been this way. But what did she care? She was used to it. Nearly everyone she talked to couldn’t stand the spitfire the injected into conversations. “
Can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen”…
“Whatever,” she dismissed hastily, turning to look back out the window on her left. She didn’t want to get into a full-blown argument. They were almost at their destination.
There were a few moments of uneasy, forced silence. The aging car bumped and skidded over countless unpaved roads. Fields of dead grass waved and danced. With a sigh, she leaned against the door, cheek pressed against the worn glass. Keeping her head still, she turned her gaze upward to look upon the sky. Puffs of white breezed past their backdrop of azure. All looked peaceful. Gentle. …Happy.
Psh. What was she talking about? Getting all wussy-thoughted like that. As if.
“We’re here.” The gravelly voice popped her thoughts like a soap bubble. And the voice was apparently true, for the car lurched to a standstill with a sharp, metallic screech of the brakes. Looking out the front windshield, Ryli couldn’t see anything but the dirt road continuing. All the way up to a ridgeline of ancient, dark grey rock. The path seemed to cut its way though the natural barrier, going off to who knows where. Dead grass lined the path, but all foliage disappeared as the rock stomped it off. She turned to look at the old man beside her, wondering what she was supposed to do now. The guy was supposed to take her to the place she was staying. Some little “farming community village”. And she didn’t see no village. Just a lot of walking into the potentially dangerous unknown.
“Umm… ‘Scuse me… But… Where exactl-”
“Just keep walkin’,” the man roughly interrupted her. He was still staring straight ahead, hands strangling the steering wheel with a vice grip. Refusing to make eye contact with her as he frowned out into space. “Keep walking down the road yonder, and it’ll take ya to the Valley. Got it?”
What?! The old geezer wasn’t even going to actually take her all the way to the effin’ town? What gives?! “Now see here!” she exclaimed, sitting rigidly straight in her seat while pointing an accusing finger. “I don’t think it’s very proper to do thi-”
But while she was sputtering away indigently, the old man silently opened the door to his side of the car. Lumbering out, he made his way to the trunk.
Ryli, of course, remained in the car. “Hey!” she shrilled, twisting around in her seat to look out the back window. Eyes glued to her driver as she began to panic slightly. “What yo-”
Opening the back up with a squeaky pop, he produced two large, leather suitcases.
“Those are mine! What ar-”
With a swing, he threw them (literally) off to the side of the side of the road. Landing in a sticker patch they exploded, odds and ends flying off every which way. Ryli sat within the car, mouth agape and eyes blazing, as she watched various articles of clothing and other…personal items fall to the earth in scattered heaps.
“What the HELL do you think you’re doing!” she screamed, flinging her door open with a bang. Sprinting from the car, she squealed in anger as she hunted down her belongings. Her jeans were catching slightly on some burrs, but she ran like a mad woman as her best white shirt landed on a gopher hole. “What is the MATTER with you, you f-”
A squeal matching her own in pitch sounded from behind her. Spinning on her heel in alarm, her pupils dilated in shock. The car was speeding away, pealing out and leaving thick dust clouds behind it. The old man said absolutely nothing as he turned a 180 and showered her with pebbles. He was off from whence they had came.
“No!” Ryli yelled after the retreating automobile, momentarily forgetting her suitcase crisis. “Come
back!!”
But it was far too late. The battered vehicle was becoming all but a dark spot in the distance, its driver out of hearing range. Soon, it was over the horizon, and completely gone.
…Silence as the wind blew though the grass. A bird chirped pathetically in the distance.
“Damn!” cursed the city girl, flinging herself around to face her previous problem. Her clothes were still floating about in the wind, getting caught on dead weeds, twiggy plants, and ant hills. She had no choice. Uttering a worse string of profanities under her breath, fists clenched, she stomped off to collect her belongings.
~ ~ ~
She was going down hill now. At least that was something. She knew quite well that Valleys were
down and
below the average land level, so she was most likely headed in the right direction. One suitcase in each hand, she carefully watched her footing as she made her way down the rocky slope. Even though the path had been cut solidly into the ground, loose gravel still sabotaged her footing.
She had managed to collect her things. Shove them roughly back into their proper containers. And although she was now missing her chapstick, uniform skirt, and those earrings Granny Soto had gotten her last Christmas, she had been actually pretty lucky. Most of her items had made it though all but unharmed…and she had always hated that skirt anyway.
Her footfalls echoed and bounced between the walls of rock that surrounded her. They rose high enough above her head that she could only see blue sky if she bent back her neck and looked straight up. Someone with intense claustrophobia might have been distressed, but Ryli was too pissed to be phobic.
But as she was pondering all of this, something caught her attention. A higher pitched noise than her steps on the gritty dirt. The faint echo of…voices. More specifically laughter. Coming from the direction she was headed. She quirked an eyebrow, adjusting her grip on her luggage. Curiosity stroked, she started to trudge along a little faster.
The sound was growing steadily louder, her pace was increasing. She didn’t want to jog too fast though. Slipping again was not on her to-do list. The slope was becoming more and more pronounced. One could practically feel the degrees of the angle clicking by. Turing along a swerve, she came to see the bottom of the hill. Some thirty feet into the distance was the bottom of the path. Where everything changed to horizontal once more.
Thank goodness, Ryli thought appreciatively. For there stood two people. She could only see the tops of their heads from here though. Only assume their gender from their hair styles. A young woman with cascading blonde locks. And a young man with dusty brown hair. How she hoped that they could save her from her so far wretched day.
She continued further down, slowly being able to see more and more of the couple. Her eye were glued to them, sometimes resulting in a trip or two. But did it matter? The girl’s blue outfit came into proper sight, and Ryli could see the man was sporting a red, checkered button up shirt and some jeans.
With each step, she was able to get more and more of their conversation though. They both had their backs to her, so they were unaware of her approach.
The blonde stood with her head cocked to the side, hands daintily clasped behind her back. The lady’s blue dress waved slightly at the hems do to the breeze. “Oh, Jon! You’re such a joker!” A annoying, fluttering giggle ripped the air. The man responded with his own chuckle.
Ryli promptly felt her eyes narrow. Oh, how she hated giggly girls. Josi always managed to find them for dates too. All acting air headed and girly while clinging to his shirt and batting their eyes for another drink and…
But wait…did she say…Jon?
“Hey!” Ryli shouted, stumbling down the slope with her suitcases thumping behind her. She turned to the laughing young man, gaze firm and direct. After all, weather or not she slept in a bed tonight might depend on the outcome of this question. “Hey! Do you happen to be Jon Ravenson?”
The two flung themselves around to face her. The man blinked a couple times, his laughter now dead. He observed her with a crooked gaze, as if not sure what to make of her.
The blonde girl narrowed her eyes with suspicion, getting her mouth close to the guy’s ear. “Jonny,” Ryli heard her whisper. One couldn’t help but get the feeling her “soft voice” was intentionally a bit too loud. “Who is that girl? Do you know her?”
The supposed Jon continued to examine Ryli in fascination, paying no attention to the striking young lady floating about his breathing space. His face was relaxed, but his eyes scanned the city girl’s form. Only in the slightest though. Briefly letting them twitch down and up again. A simple grin formed on his youthful face.
“Yeah.” His voice was soft and had a smooth, sweet…choc lately feel to it. He was making strong eye contact with his new acquaintance. “I’m Ravenson. I assume you’re Josi’s sis. I guess I should show you your new life…huh?”
Yes. Icky transition chapter. This one was a bit boring, but a necessary evil. It seemed not to flow that well either, but I couldn’t seem to tweak it right. So eventually I gave up and decided to just post what I had. ^^; It isn’t up to my usual self-standards, but I will try my dangest for the next chappie to be much more interesting.
I have also been told by reviewers in the past, for other pieces of mine, that I need to lower the vocab of my works. That I use some bigger words that are a bit unnecessary. I've concidered doing such if that is the case. Opinions?
