I Need Your Opinion

First, I've been tagged by Katie G.!

The rules for this are easy: grab the nearest book, turn to page 123, go to the fifth sentence, and type up the next five sentences!

"I went up the shore and down the shore, but it was all one, I could see no other impression but that one. I went to it again to see if there were any more, and to observe if it might not be my fancy; but there was no room for that, for there was exactly the very print of a foot, toes, heel and every part of a foot; how it came thither I knew not, nor could in the least imagine. But after innumerable fluttering thoughts, like a man perfectly confused and out of myself, I came home to my fortification, not feeling, as we say, the ground I went on." ~ "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe

I'm not a HUGE fan of "Robinson Crusoe", just because the writing style is a little tedious. But I still enjoyed the book, and it got my imagination going. It's a tiny bit like...well, an adult version of the first Boxcar Children book! It has those same elements of survive-with-what-you-can-find and be resourceful.

And that's all for the tag :) Thanks, Katie.

So, guess what? Yesterday was the 400th post! Wow! Sorry I missed it. I should have done something fun for it. Ah well.

[EDIT: Wow, I'm such a genius. I had a draft post just sitting around, so THIS was the 400th post -_- I could have done something special after all. Oh. Well XD]

I feel like I've gotten bad about being interactive. I used to comment back on every post and stuff like that. I don't do that anymore. It's not because I don't care about y'all anymore, it's not because I don't feel like talking to you, it's not because I think I'm all that and I don't have to answer you. I'm just kind of busy.

*sigh* Well, THAT came out lame.

I guess I'm not THAT busy, or at least I don't have to be. If I managed my time better, I'd have all the time in the world. But I don't. So I don't.

I am getting there. Um, really, really s l o w l y, but I AM getting there.

I'm thinking by junior year I'll have it all figured out XD :P

Getting back to the interactive thing, I want to post the stuff y'all like to read. Believe it or not, even *I* run out of ideas ;) What would you enjoy reading?

I'm gonna make a poll, but if you have any suggestions at all, please tell me :)

~Kendra

Sol: The Peacemaker and Something-About-Truth (I need help thinking of word for this.)

Meet Sol (and Aiden, but his own introduction is coming later). His God-given power? Sol can discern truth and has a deep desire for peace.

Sit back. Relax. Here's to Sol.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Sol put his head in his hands. All around him the noise of high-schoolers eating lunch and gossiping filled his ears and turned his stomach. Didn’t it bother anyone else how much spitefulness and deceit went on between “friends”?

“Sol?” A boy named Brandon clapped his friend on the shoulder. Sol blinked and raised his head.

“What?”

“Did you hear what I said?”

Sol rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger and grunted. “No. Sorry. What’d you say?”

“I said I talked to Rachel.,” Brandon repeated, obviously impatient. “About what you saw. With her and Michael Hendricks?” Sol felt a frown come together over his nose.

“Yeah. What’d she say?”

Brandon smiled, almost a smirk. “You were wrong. There’s nothing going on between them.”
Sol fought the urge to raise his eyebrows sarcastically. He had never had a good feeling about Brandon’s girlfriend, but after seeing her and the star basketball player locking lips in a corner, he’d had something concrete to tell his friend.

“You believe her?” he asked, almost gently. Brandon’s eyes narrowed.

“Of course I believe her. She’s my girlfriend. And you’re the one who’s always ranting about how relationships are built on trust. Jeez, man.” Sol frowned.

“That’s true,” he admitted, turning away. “I guess if you really think she’s being honest.” Brandon’s eyes narrowed again.

“I do.”

Sol shrugged. “Okay.”

Brandon ignored his moody friend and engaged in another conversation. Sol was secretly relieved. He hated to tell his friend that he knew Rachel was lying. Even if he hadn’t seen the girl making out in a corner, he would have known. Sol considered himself a good judge of character. He almost always was. The minuet he’d seen Brandon’s girlfriend, the word “snake” had popped into his mind.

Sol sighed quietly and absentmindedly ate a Frito.

Suddenly, something happened across the cafeteria, making Sol turn his head sharply to see. He frowned and scanned the back wall of the room, looking for something that would have gotten his attention. Had someone called his name? No, that wasn’t it…No one had dropped a tray or shouted or fallen, or even come into the room. Everything looked perfectly undisturbed.

“What?” Brandon grunted, nudging Sol. “What’re you looking at?”

“I dunno,” Sol said, still searching the room. “Thought I heard something I guess.” Brandon, uninteresting once again, turned back to his conversation. But Sol kept looking in the direction his reflexes had pointed him in.

After another moment, he turned back to his lunch. There was nothing to see. Everything was average in the cafeteria, nothing unusual, unless you counted that boy who’d banged into Ashlyn the other day. He wasn’t looking too good; kind of green and freaked out.

The bell rang; lunch was over. Sol packed his trash into his paper lunch bag and headed for the trashcan. In his back pocket, his phone vibrated. He tossed the brown bag into the garbage and took out his phone. Text message. From…Ashlyn??

Sol frowned and opened the message, walking towards the door.

Fell asleep in English and had a Dream. About you. I think you might be “blessed” too.

Sol stopped in his tracks, making a freshmen girl bump into him. Feelings of shock and almost horror washed over him. Blessed? Him too? With what? He didn’t dream the future. He didn’t do anything special.

He was about to hit “reply” when he turned immediately to the far corner of the cafeteria. His eyebrows rose. It was that boy. He was alone, standing against the wall near the corner of the room. His face was carefully controlled, but he seemed alarmed. Sol sensed his unease strongly, like waves of turmoil washing over him.

Sol frowned. What in the world…?

Everyone was gone from the cafeteria now except for a few stragglers who were on their way. Sol pocketed his phone and warily walked towards the boy.

The boy noticed him almost immediately and pulled out his phone. His fingers moved rapidly across the keyboard, but Sol didn’t think he was really texting.

“Hey, you alright?” Sol asked when he was almost to the guy. The boy looked up, pretending to be surprised.

“What? Uh, yeah. Why?” He seemed on edge to Sol, like he was trying to play something off.

Sol shrugged, his hands in his jeans pockets. “You looked freaked.” The boy snickered and tossed his slightly long hair out of his eyes.

“Nah. I’m good.” He went back to his fake text message and headed for the door, then turned back to Sol. “Okay, this might sound really weird, but…” Sol waited, silently eager. “…do you have any siblings or something?”

Sol deflated a little. “Yeah. You’ve met Ashlyn, kinda. You ran into her the other day.”

The boy nodded, smiling a half smile, and continued to move towards the door. “Right. Yeah. Thought you looked kinda familiar.”

Sol’s eyebrows twitched in acknowledgement. “I’m Sol.”

The boy snorted. “Hi, Sol,” he said, almost mockingly. “What is this? AA?”

Sol’s eyes narrowed, making him look almost formidable. The boy raised his hand slightly.

“Sorry. I’m Aiden. But really, you should stop going up and playing shrink to people. It’s creepy.” He opened the door with a shoved of his shoulder and disappeared, leaving Sol alone and feeling slightly embarrassed.

“Guess that was weird of me,” he muttered to himself, heading out himself. He mentally kicked himself. When was he going to stop feeling the need to fix things all the time?
~~~~~~~~~~~
PleasePleasePleasePleasePleasePlease criticize it! :D Or question it. Or point out typos. Or, if you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO, compliment it ;)

~Kendra

Ashlyn: The Prophetess

Today is legit Character Day :D

Okay, I know I'm supposed to do something different ever day, but would you guys mind too much if I focused on those four characters for a while? Sort of a temporary obsession, I guess. Y'all know how I get :)

Anyway, I know the profiles give a general idea of what the characters are like, but nothing captures someone's personality like seeing them in action, you know? So, I think I'm going to post pieces of the story that give you an idea of what each character is like, sort of each character's introduction. Is that okay with you guys? I mean, I know it's my blog, but...I like to post things that interest you!

However, since today is actually Character Day, I'll just go ahead and post Ashlyn's "introduction".

This part of the story takes place near the beginning, after you've gotten to see Ashlyn's power in action. (And apparently Sol and Ashlyn have an older, college-aged sister named Amy. Sorry. They didn't tell me that when I wrote the profiles. *eyeroll* I know, right? Characters.)

Note: Questions, comments, criticism always extremely welcome. I like to hear that you hate my stuff just as much as I like to hear that you love it. Just the fact that you're sharing with me what you think is awesome. Please, don't hesitate :D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ashlyn held her mug of hot chocolate in both hands, soaking in the warmth. She felt very small curled up on the couch of her living room. Her conflicting thoughts raged, making it impossible for her tense shoulders to relax.

Dang it, Ashlyn thought angrily, a tear running down her cheek. This is my spring break. My time off of school. My time to relax. So why can’t I?

She knew why. She knew it was the Dreams that wouldn’t let her enjoy church. The Visions that made her push God away in prayer. The Premonitions that made reading the Bible feel hypocritical.

Why was this happening to her? She wasn’t this kind of person! What had she done? How had she gotten into the occult without even realizing it? The Bible condemned psychics. It said they were of the devil, demonic, satanic, didn’t it? How could she be that kind of person?

And then, at the same time, there was that smug love of her internal conflict. That part of her that reveled in the power of seeing the future. That feeling of being superior to other, lowly people who weren’t special like her. She liked the drama of wrestling with her ability.

Ashlyn loved her power, and she hated it. She loved being powerful, but she hated the thought of being damned to Hell because of it.

She frowned. How messed up is that? The only reason I’m not completely in love with my power is because I’m afraid of burning for all eternity?

She brushed away the tears and looked to Sol on the other end of the couch, caught up his book. He looked at peace, like he always did. A fierce, angry jealousy gripped Ashlyn. Why was he so close to God and she wasn’t? Sol never had satanic premonitions that would damn him to the lake of fire. Because being a psychic would do that.

Wouldn’t it?

“Sol…”

He looked up, his wide brown eyes so open and carefree. Ashlyn fought the urge to strike out in jealousy. She felt her face twitch in her efforts to contain her tears. She looked away.

Sol looked surprised. “Ash. Are you okay?” He reached out to her, but she flinched away, sloshing hot chocolate onto her sweatpants.

“Yes!” she snapped, setting her mug on the table. She swiped at the brown spot on her thigh. “I’m fine. I’m fine. I just…” She wound her hand into the front of her hair in frustration. “Sol, the Bible says psychics are satanic, doesn’t it?”

Sol blinked. “Er…y—”

He stopped. Something wasn’t right about “yes”. He was suddenly not sure that was the correct answer.

“No,” he began slowly, beginning to realize something he hadn’t before. “No, I don’t think it does. I think it says you shouldn’t go to them. Don’t seek them out. And I think it depends on what you mean by ‘psychic’.”

“Someone who sees the future,” Ashlyn breathed, her eyes wide and intense. Sol leaned his head back at an angle, slowly taken aback.

“You. You see the future?” He raised his eyebrows as he said it. Ashlyn felt a shock of adrenaline run down her spine. All the anger drained out of her face, leaving only fearful desperation.

“I think I might,” she whispered, not meeting her brother’s eyes. “Don’t tell anyone. Please.”

Sol didn’t say anything for a long time. He believed her—he could always tell when his sister was lying—and he believed that she was right—he could usually tell when something was true or not.

“Joseph,” he said finally. He gave a firm nod. “With the coat of many colors. Joseph was psychic.”

Ashlyn looked up suddenly, meeting Sol’s eyes. “Oh, yeah,” she breathed. “Joseph…”

“God used Joseph for His purpose. That was God-given Sight. There was nothing satanic about that.”

“Oh, yeah…”

“But that’s different from your typical psychic, the ones who try weird stuff like summoning demons and talking to the dead and black magic.”

“Yes…”

“So, no. No, the Bible doesn’t condemn the ability to see the future. Like all power, what matters is where it came from, and how you use it.”

Ashlyn stared at Sol, her eyes wide and clear. Sobs of relief made her body shake. “I think you’re right,” she said through her sudden tears. “So…so, I’m not…a bad person? I’m not un…unchristian or unclean or satanic or damned to Hell?”

Each personal accusation she spoke seemed like a separate blow to Sol.

“No!” he cried, putting his hand on her curled knee. “Ash, no. I mean,” he gave a modest shrug, “I’m not God, I’m not even a pastor, I’m not trained in…Biblical analysis, but based on what I can see in the Bible, and in you, you aren’t anti-Christ.”

Ashlyn covered her face with her hands and took a deep breath. When she lowered her hands, she was the normal Ashlyn: calm, confident, and in control.

“I guess the question now is, what do I do?”

“You might want to put on some clean sweatpants,” said Amy as she walked through the room. “What’s that brown stuff all over your leg?”

Ashlyn wrinkled her nose at her older sister’s back. “It’s hot chocolate, thank you,” she said, sticking out her tongue.

Sol laughed until Ashlyn turned to him with one eyebrow raised. He cleared his throat and tried to put on a serious face. “What do you do? Honestly?”

Ashlyn nodded impatiently. Sol leaned in to her.

“I don’t know.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like I said, questions, comments, criticism...let me know :) Thanks.