The Disappearance of Chloe Marsh
You awake with a small gasp, sitting back in your seat.
"Writing true human emotion is difficult, I won't lie to you. Most will never be able to accurately capture what it's like to see through the eyes of another human being."
Someone's talking. It takes you a minute before you realize where you are. The person talking is Mr. Monroe. He's walking around the room, lecturing.
Woah, you think, okay, it's okay. It was just a dream. I just fell asleep in class. It's cool. I'm okay. You sigh. No one seems to notice your startling awake.
"In reality, humans are the most complex beings, that we know of, in this universe," Mr. Monroe continues.
Mr. Monroe is your Creative Writing teacher. He's a man in his early thirties who stands tall at 6'2. He has dark hair and dark eyes to match and is dressed semi-casual in jeans and a button-down shirt with a black tie.
You remember when you first heard that he would be one of your new teachers after first moving here. You could barely contain your excitement. You own every novel published by Mason Monroe, and to have him as a teacher just made moving here to Blackwater worth it. However, you haven't found the courage to actually ask him to sign any of his books that you own.
Mr. Monroe continues, "Now, what do you believe it the most important thing to capture when writing a good character?"
From the corner of your eye, you see a hand go up.
"A character's flaws," Dahlia Skinner answers with a smirk. You can barely stop yourself from rolling your eyes as Mr. Monroe nods.
"Very good, Dahlia. Why is it important to capture a character's flaws well?" he asks.
Dahlia straightens up in her seat as she says, "As human beings, we are all flawed. To write a character lacking flaw is not only incorrect but proof of an unskilled writer."
Mr. Monroe nods slowly. "I wouldn't say an unskilled writer. I would say that it shows there's room for improvement."
Dahlia frowns. The urge to roll your eyes once more passes over you. You've only been in Blackwater for a total of three weeks, and you already have an idea of what kind of character Dahlia Skinner is.
There's no doubt that Dahlia is incredibly pretty with her shiny red hair and green eyes, but her stuck up attitude almost turns her ugly. When you first met her, you could feel her judgemental eyes scanning over you and deeming you unworthy of her time.
It was also clear that you were not the only fan of Mason Monroe's work. Dahlia parks herself right at the front every day and does most of the talking. You can tell that Mr. Monroe gets annoyed with her sometimes, but instead of saying anything, he just nods and moves on. Much like what he's doing now.
"In order to understand a character, you have to get to the roots of their heart, and that means diving into the deep stuff. Their fears, their flaws, their pains, their burdens. We all have them. If you want to impact your readers, you need to bring those things to light and show them your true character. And the best way to do that is to observe real people." Mr. Monroe continues to lecture and Dahlia continues to latch on to every word he says.
But, it seems that you can't concentrate. Your mind is still fuzzy from that dream you had. Which is odd, because now that you think about, you don't even remember falling asleep... or even really getting tired.
"One of my personal favorite characters is Rose McGuire from the novel Shattered." Dahlia's voice breaks your thoughts.
"Yes, Rose is a complex character dealing with the grief of losing her brother. In Shattered, we explore..."
You daze off, unable to concentrate. You look around at the other students, some paying attention and some half asleep. You look out the window. It's a bright day out without a single cloud in the sky. The very opposite of your dream.
"...and when Rose realizes that she was the cause of her brother's death, she..."
You can't help but wonder who was screaming in your dream. Sure, dreams are surreal and often make little sense, but you still can't help but be curious. Then again, why were you in that forest, covered head to toe in mud?
You open your notebook and begin to write. You jot down every detail you can remember from your dream in hopes that you find some sort of hidden answers. Just when you're about to finish an entire page, you find that Mr. Monroe is smiling down at you. When did he get over here?
"I'm glad that at least one of you is eager to get started on their next short story," he says. You feel your face heat up. All eyes are on you.
"That's good," Mr. Monroe continues, "because after reading through all of your previous short stories, there was only one person I felt earned a 100%." He motions over to you.
You feel that you could die of embarrassment... or from the death glare Dahlia is sending you.
Mr. Monroe chuckles. "Sorry, I don't mean to single you out. But, if there's anything you guys should know about me, it's that I like to give credit where credit is due, and you certainly earned it."
"T-thank you," you stammer out, mentally slapping yourself.
Mr. Monroe grins and moves to shuffle through some papers on his desk. While he seems to have moved on, Dahlia hasn't. She still has her glaring green eyes on you, studying. It's like she's trying to search your soul for your deepest fears and weaknesses. You do your best to ignore her.
"Now, we'll be having a quiz tomorrow on Shattered. The bell's going to ring in a few minutes, but I want to review some of the questions before we go."
Great. Quiz tomorrow. You'll have to review your notes-
Mr. Monroe calls on you.
"What object in Shattered symbolizes Rose's two-faced manner?"
Your brain comes to a halt. You feel that you know the answer, but with the sudden attention, you've become a little stuck.
What object in Shattered symbolizes Rose's two-faced manner?
"Writing true human emotion is difficult, I won't lie to you. Most will never be able to accurately capture what it's like to see through the eyes of another human being."
Someone's talking. It takes you a minute before you realize where you are. The person talking is Mr. Monroe. He's walking around the room, lecturing.
Woah, you think, okay, it's okay. It was just a dream. I just fell asleep in class. It's cool. I'm okay. You sigh. No one seems to notice your startling awake.
"In reality, humans are the most complex beings, that we know of, in this universe," Mr. Monroe continues.
Mr. Monroe is your Creative Writing teacher. He's a man in his early thirties who stands tall at 6'2. He has dark hair and dark eyes to match and is dressed semi-casual in jeans and a button-down shirt with a black tie.
You remember when you first heard that he would be one of your new teachers after first moving here. You could barely contain your excitement. You own every novel published by Mason Monroe, and to have him as a teacher just made moving here to Blackwater worth it. However, you haven't found the courage to actually ask him to sign any of his books that you own.
Mr. Monroe continues, "Now, what do you believe it the most important thing to capture when writing a good character?"
From the corner of your eye, you see a hand go up.
"A character's flaws," Dahlia Skinner answers with a smirk. You can barely stop yourself from rolling your eyes as Mr. Monroe nods.
"Very good, Dahlia. Why is it important to capture a character's flaws well?" he asks.
Dahlia straightens up in her seat as she says, "As human beings, we are all flawed. To write a character lacking flaw is not only incorrect but proof of an unskilled writer."
Mr. Monroe nods slowly. "I wouldn't say an unskilled writer. I would say that it shows there's room for improvement."
Dahlia frowns. The urge to roll your eyes once more passes over you. You've only been in Blackwater for a total of three weeks, and you already have an idea of what kind of character Dahlia Skinner is.
There's no doubt that Dahlia is incredibly pretty with her shiny red hair and green eyes, but her stuck up attitude almost turns her ugly. When you first met her, you could feel her judgemental eyes scanning over you and deeming you unworthy of her time.
It was also clear that you were not the only fan of Mason Monroe's work. Dahlia parks herself right at the front every day and does most of the talking. You can tell that Mr. Monroe gets annoyed with her sometimes, but instead of saying anything, he just nods and moves on. Much like what he's doing now.
"In order to understand a character, you have to get to the roots of their heart, and that means diving into the deep stuff. Their fears, their flaws, their pains, their burdens. We all have them. If you want to impact your readers, you need to bring those things to light and show them your true character. And the best way to do that is to observe real people." Mr. Monroe continues to lecture and Dahlia continues to latch on to every word he says.
But, it seems that you can't concentrate. Your mind is still fuzzy from that dream you had. Which is odd, because now that you think about, you don't even remember falling asleep... or even really getting tired.
"One of my personal favorite characters is Rose McGuire from the novel Shattered." Dahlia's voice breaks your thoughts.
"Yes, Rose is a complex character dealing with the grief of losing her brother. In Shattered, we explore..."
You daze off, unable to concentrate. You look around at the other students, some paying attention and some half asleep. You look out the window. It's a bright day out without a single cloud in the sky. The very opposite of your dream.
"...and when Rose realizes that she was the cause of her brother's death, she..."
You can't help but wonder who was screaming in your dream. Sure, dreams are surreal and often make little sense, but you still can't help but be curious. Then again, why were you in that forest, covered head to toe in mud?
You open your notebook and begin to write. You jot down every detail you can remember from your dream in hopes that you find some sort of hidden answers. Just when you're about to finish an entire page, you find that Mr. Monroe is smiling down at you. When did he get over here?
"I'm glad that at least one of you is eager to get started on their next short story," he says. You feel your face heat up. All eyes are on you.
"That's good," Mr. Monroe continues, "because after reading through all of your previous short stories, there was only one person I felt earned a 100%." He motions over to you.
You feel that you could die of embarrassment... or from the death glare Dahlia is sending you.
Mr. Monroe chuckles. "Sorry, I don't mean to single you out. But, if there's anything you guys should know about me, it's that I like to give credit where credit is due, and you certainly earned it."
"T-thank you," you stammer out, mentally slapping yourself.
Mr. Monroe grins and moves to shuffle through some papers on his desk. While he seems to have moved on, Dahlia hasn't. She still has her glaring green eyes on you, studying. It's like she's trying to search your soul for your deepest fears and weaknesses. You do your best to ignore her.
"Now, we'll be having a quiz tomorrow on Shattered. The bell's going to ring in a few minutes, but I want to review some of the questions before we go."
Great. Quiz tomorrow. You'll have to review your notes-
Mr. Monroe calls on you.
"What object in Shattered symbolizes Rose's two-faced manner?"
Your brain comes to a halt. You feel that you know the answer, but with the sudden attention, you've become a little stuck.
What object in Shattered symbolizes Rose's two-faced manner?