Marionette

Chapter 2: A Setting

Chapter 2

     "Who's Skye Chase?" Posy asked me the next morning.

     "Skye? She's my first main character. Why?" I asked, holding my hair in one hand, while trying to find an elastic with the other.

     "I met her last night."

     Her brown eyes were wide and curious, and I could tell Skye had had the usual effect. 

     "Yeah? What did you think of her?" I asked.

     "She's...I don't know. Mysterious. Kind of rude. Kind of...frustrating."

     "Sounds like Skye," I said, finally spotting a hair tie and trying to get every strand of hair into a ponytail.

     "How long ago did you make her?" Posy asked, trying to mask her disappointment.

     I finished with my hair, grabbed my laptop from my desk, and went downstairs for breakfast, talking as I went with Posy following along.

     "Officially? Almost five years ago."

     "What do you mean, 'officially'?"

     "Well, her character was kind of in my head before that, trying to escape onto paper. I didn't create her like I created you, just five minutes with a word document. She sort of appeared over time. I tried to write her down in various stories with various names, but she wasn't ready until Skye Chase. The book, I mean. Actually, she still wasn't complete the first time I tried to write her in Skye Chase, either. She didn't have the right powers or the right personality, but I tried again, and she kind of exploded onto the paper."

     Posy sat at the kitchen table looking glum while I went about the kitchen getting breakfast.

     "I thought I was your first character," she said.

     "Far from it," I told her. "But you're my first character in this new story."

     That didn't seem to cheer her up.

     "Skye Chase has a last name."

     "Yes she does."

     "She was wondering why I don't have a last name." Posy stated.

     I smiled. "We can figure that out later. Do you know how long it took for Skye to get her current last name?"

     Posy's brown eyes flicked up at me curiously.

     "About eleven months from when I started writing her."

     "You're not going to take that long with me, are you?" Posy asked, horrified.

     "Probably not," I responded. I sat across from her with my bowl of cereal and a banana. For a little while, it was quiet as Posy watched me eat and I tried to ignore her gaze.

     "Why did I meet Skye last night?" she asked me. "Did you dream about it?"

     I shrugged. "I don't remember what I dreamed last night. I wrote about it this morning, though. All my characters meet Skye. It helps me see what kind of people they are."

     "Oh. Is there anyone else I'll meet?" 

     "Ava," I told her.

     Posy looked concerned, and I had to laugh at her seriousness.

     "She's not at all like Skye," I assured her. "She's a lot like you, actually. Or maybe you're a lot like her? I dunno. Either way, you'll get along."