Chapter 1: The Catastrophe

The beeping of James’ car woke me up. S**t. I over slept, again. What else is new? I haven’t been sleeping well for weeks now. The dreams I’ve been having lately just wake me up and keep me up. I mean it’s not like I just started with these dreams. I’ve had dreams since before I can remember. It’s just these dreams; they seem more real and they’re even scarier and freakier.

I jumped out of bed and looked out the window and saw James, my totally hot and amazing boyfriend. How did I get so lucky? I made sure he saw me and waved to him to let him know I’m not still sleeping. I took in the weather, which looked like it was going to rain soon and started to get ready. I grabbed the first pair of pants from my dresser I could find and put them on; they happened to be jeans. I grabbed my favorite sweatshirt off my hanger and threw it on over my head. I went to my bathroom brushed my atrocious hair and brushed my teeth and rid myself of morning breath. Crap. I definitely need make up; I look like I’m 40 years old and haven’t slept in a week. These dreams are taking a lot more out of me than I thought. No wonder why James has been on my case about sleeping more.

Rushing to get down stairs and out of the house, I grabbed my backpack and started for the door. As I reached for the door handle I noticed there was a note on the door. It read:

 

Sorry I had to leave so early; I have a two hour drive to the courthouse. And make sure

you get yourself something for breakfast before James comes to get you to take you to school.

There’s cereal in the cabinet and eggs in the refrigerator.

Love,ya Mom

 

I ran back to the kitchen and opened the snack cabinet and reached into the box of granola bars and grabbed a handful of them. I rushed back to the door making sure all the lights were turned off and the front door was locked as I left. I met James in his new blue ford focus that he got for his 18^th birthday. As soon as I got in the car he greeted me with a kiss. “How are you doing this morning, sleepyhead? Have any more bad dreams?”

“Yeah, something like that. But, hey, I don’t really want to talk about it right now, let’s just get to school.”

“Whatever you say babe,” He gave me a wicked grin.

We drove to school quietly, like most mornings with my sleepiness. And we were late thanks to me. I gave him an apologetic look when we got to school, which he brushed off with a kiss as he dropped me off at my first period class.

I crept into my seat, hoping the teacher wouldn’t see me come in. But, unfortunately, he did, but thank god he didn’t make a scene. He usually did make a huge scene by sending people to the office or just sending them home with quite a bit of yelling, but he only gave me “the look”.   

I got out my history books very quietly and carefully, trying not to draw too much attention to myself. I got out my notebook and started copying down the notes he had on the overhead. I had just finished the last line of the notes when he started explaining them in his monotone voice.

***

“Ping, bing, bong” I woke up startled, trying to take in where I was. The room was emptying out of the last few students in my honors history class. I guess I fell asleep, once again. I mean it’s not like I can help it. His class is so boring, all he does is talk on and on about " history!

            I scooped up my history book and my green binder and threw it into my newish pink and black backpack and tossed my pencil in it, hoping I can find it for my next class. I went to go to leave the room very hastily so I can get to my honors English class without being late; trying to collect my thoughts all the while, but of course, Mr. Robinson “wants to talk.”

            Mr. Robinson is sitting at his cluttered desk with his laptop out typing very slowing with only his two pointer fingers. He looked up over his glasses with a grim face, raising one eye brow. “Lisa I’ve notice that you’re sleeping a lot in class and on your last test you failed,” He reached in his briefcase and pulled out a packet with a huge F plastered on the top. He handed it to me expecting me to care and look at it. He swallowed hard and gave a faint smile, “Lisa, is there anything going on that you want to talk about? Is there anything wrong with your boyfriend or is there anything wrong at home?” When I didn’t answer he sighed and said,” Lisa I know I’m a teacher and personal topics like this isn’t something you want to tell your teacher, but I’m here to help you in any way possible. You’re a beautiful young woman who can do better than F’s and D’s.”

            I was getting a little too uncomfortable with this subject. Why would I tell him about my personal life? I don’t understand why he even cares, I’m just some kid who’s in his class and just happens to be doing poorly. I also notice his emphasis on the word “boyfriend” and his newly found interest in him. This all is just too weird for my likings. Especial since I feel like this same exact thing happened before. In Fact, I know it did, but when?

Mr. Robinson got up from his desk and coolly strolled over to the door to shut it. “Take a seat for me Lisa; I think it’s time to have a little talk.”

I very calmly walked over to the nearest desk and sat down, putting my backpack in the seat next to me so he couldn’t sit there. He’s still standing at the door watching me and smiling at me; my guess trying to make me relax. But, yet, it was doing the exact opposite.

 I kept getting this feeling that I just couldn’t shake off. I can’t understand what it means. I’ve never had this feeling before or anything close to it.

 He then started to walk over to me and sit on the desk in front of me. By the look on his face I could swear he wanted to say something but he just couldn’t get it out. Finally he started talking, “How’s your family doing, Lisa?”

I sighed. I guess I am letting my mind wander too far nowadays. I should really stop reading so many science fiction books late at night when I can’t sleep. “My family is fine, thank you,” I said hoping he wouldn’t hear my lying tone.

With an awkward smile he said,”Don’t lie to me; I overheard you and Emily talking about your father and your mother.” He paused thinking of what to say next, “I’m so very sorry to hear about your mother and I hope that they find your father soon rather than later.” I only gave him a small nod of thanks before he went on. ”How are things with your boyfriend?” He leaned in closer waiting for my response.

Okay, now this is getting even more frighteningly weird. What’s wrong with this guy, he’s like obsessed with James. He’s a stalker! First he’s listening into my conversations then he’s trying to ask me personal questions. What the hell? He’s supposed to be a teacher not a creepy stalker guy. “James is fine. He’s been a lot of help at home with what’s been going on.” I was trying to hide my fear of his closeness and bizarre questions.

I saw this very strange expression come across his face. It was a mixture of shock, uncertainty and something like suspicion. And just as quickly as the expression came, it vantage and was replaced by a new expression of cool easiness.

He got off the desk and started to walk around the class room with the look of thought upon his face. After what seemed to be hours, he came back and stood behind me. “I think you need me, Lisa.” He placed both of his hands on my shoulders and leaned in closer to my ear, “You should stay after school every day; for extra help, of course.” His voice had a smile in it. I was really freaked out; it was building up in me. He started to smell my hair and breathe in my ear while his hands were sliding down my arms reaching for the ends of my shirt.

Out of nowhere I thought I heard the sound of glass cracking. I didn’t really pay much attention to it though; I was too focused on what he was doing to me. As his hands were trying to finish sliding the last few inches down my shirt, the more and more scared I got. I was running through my thoughts, trying to think of different attacking moves I’ve seen in movies and learned in health class. Unfortunately, my mind was coming up blank.

During my thinking, the fish tank, on the other side of that room literally exploded. The glass was going in all directions, hitting the walls and ceiling like a bullet freshly fired. The water was spraying every which way and the fish were flying through the air, a waiting the moment they hit land. I ducked down to avoid any glass from hitting me and fish for that matter.

In all of this commotion, I realized I was screaming at the top of my lungs, Mr. Robinson somehow ended up in the back of the room lying down up against the wall. Then I took notice that the door was open and James was running towards me. And as soon as he came, he was dragging me out of the room while I clung to him, crying my eyes out.

He took me away from the room; down the hall then hugged me. “What happened in there?” Without even giving me enough time to try to explain he breathed. “Did he hurt you?” He started to expect me, running his fingers all over my body, sending tickles everywhere. James stopped and looked at my arm. “I am going to kill him! How dare he even lay one finger on you!” He screamed it so loud I’m sure everyone in the whole entire school heard it. He started to walk back towards the classroom then.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him as best as I could back towards me. “James, calm down. I’m completely fine. There’s nothing to worry about.” I really hated seeing him upset like this, especially when he’s upset over me and over something he had no control over. He always tears himself up with different things like this.

His eyes doubled in size in a matter of seconds. “No, Lisa, it’s not fine. He touched you and he left marks from his hands on your arms.

I looked down at both of my arms. I was so shocked at what I saw. I didn’t recall being hurt; I only remember being very scared as he neared me and touched me. I backed up against the lockers and slid down to the floor, just staring off into space rethinking what happened in the room.

James started pacing back and forth in front of me. You could tell he was trying to control himself from marching right back down to the classroom and confront Mr. Robinson about what he had done to me. He was breathing extremely hard and he had his eyes closed as he walked. His hands were down at his sides in tight fists.

“How did you know where I was? I’m supposed to be in my English class.”

“It’s not important!” He continued to pace.

I jumped in great surprise as James growled and hit the locker in front of me. “James you need to calm down; you’re starting to freak me out.” I told him with apparent fear in my voice.

He came over and sat next to me and put his head in hands. “I’m sorry Lisa, it’s just that… never mind, I shouldn’t be thinking about him and what he has done; I should be thinking about what you need and keeping you safe.” He leaned over and hugged me, willing me to understand and forgive him.

“Come on, I’m taking you home. I think you had enough excitement for one day, hell maybe even for the week.” He looked at me with an encouraging smiling.

“James, you know we can’t just leave school. They will see us; they have cameras in every hallway. And I really don’t need it on my record. I can just stay in school and act like nothing ever happened.”

“Yes, I know. I’m not that brainless. Now come on, I have a great idea.”

I followed him unhappily to wherever he was taking me. Even thought I didn’t want to admit it, I really didn’t want to be at school. I was feeling weak and after what happened, I feel creeped out and I’m sure other people will find out and I just don’t want to deal with all of that today. Actually, I never want to deal with it, so maybe I’ll never come back to school. That would really be great.

James opened up the door to the nurse’s office for me while holding my elbow. I was confused and about to ask why he was helping me, but I had the distinct feeling I was just supposed to play along with it.

The nurse came from around the corner with a cheerful smile upon her face. Then she looked over to James’s and her smile wasn’t quite a smile any more. I glanced up at James and saw that he had this extremely worried look of his face. He was such a great actor, which scared me sometimes because I can never be sure he’s not faking something.

“What seems to be the problem?” The nurse looked at me with a gentle smile.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I didn’t know what to say so I looked up at James, hoping he would have planned this far and know what to say. Thankfully he did, he was ready on the spot. “Lisa, here, has been feeling faint and she’s ill.”

“What do you mean by ill?” The nurse raised her eye brow.

“She’s vomiting.”

“Is this true?” She turned to look at me.

“Yes, ma’am” I looked down embarrassed, even though I really didn’t vomit and I was only telling a lie, which makes everything worst.

“Okay, well, let me call one of your parents, so they can come pick you up.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t even bother doing that.” I blurted.

“And why not?” The nurse asked with an attitude.

“My mom’s at work and I know for a fact she won’t pick up her phone.”

“Fine, then it’s settled, I shall call your father.” She glared at me.

“No, you can’t do that.”

“Why can’t I? You need to go home; someone needs to pick you up.”

“My father doesn’t live with me anymore and he’s not in state, so he won’t be able to pick me up.” I said kind of annoyed with the fact she couldn’t just take my word on things.

“Well, there is nothing in your papers stating what you’re saying.” The nurse said rudely.

Again James came to my rescue. “Miss, she’s telling the truth. There are no papers yet. The divorce just was made clear to her father and Lisa and her mother are going through a lot right now. Her mother is at work at the moment and her father, God only knows where he disappeared to. So, if you’d please, give my sick girlfriend a break and let me drive her home.” He finished with a stern look on his face along with his look of pissed off-ness in his eyes, which I would of thought to be kind of sexy on any normal day.

The nurse just stood there for awhile, shocked at the response she got from James. “Okay, you can take her home. Will I have to sign either of you out?”

“You just need to sign Lisa out. She’s still 16.” James looked at my teasingly.

“Let me go get your papers.” With that the nurse turned around and went towards the office.

I gave James a look of disbelief and he just gave me his wicked smile. “You’re amazing. I could have never done it without you.” I told him.

“Yeah, I know it.” He smiled jokingly at me. “Now go sit down and act like you feel like complete and total s**t.” He stuck his tongue out at me.

“As you wish, master.” I stuck my tongue back out at him.

“Would you just lie down and pretend you’re sick already?”

I went to the little school-nurse-office-bed and laid down and closed my eyes. I was still really tired from my nightmare that I don’t even remember and, even though the bed was as hard as a rock, I could fall asleep in five seconds and took a power nap.

The quietness of the little room took in the sound of the cracking and popping of a wood fire that’s been burning for a long while. A soft wind swept along with it the yummy smell of the charring logs and fresh clean air. The white walls morphed into a large field surrounded by huge trees and shrubs. In the middle of the field, there sat the fire blazing high and proud. There were candles and other objects that I couldn’t make out what they were sitting on a close by stone.

From the tree line behind the fire, I could distinguish the outline of a black figure.  Whoever or whatever it was, was walking right out into the open field with an even larger figure close behind. I had a feeling that I shouldn’t be seen, so I very quickly crouched down and ran to the safety of the trees behind me.

By the time I was hidden, there were two people standing next to the stone. One was a female who looked to be about in her mid thirties. She had long velvet black hair that fell around her waist. She was wearing a gorgeous tight black dress that showed off her legs and a good portion of cleavage. The other person was a male who looked like he was in his early twenties. He had on a pair of black dress pants to go with his black button up shirt, which he had left open to reveal his totally sexy abs and pecks. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to his bisects exposing how muscular he is. His shiny, black hair was spiked, showing off his very attractive face.

Pulling my eyes from him, I looked at what the lady was doing. She was playing around with plants and rocks; placing them in different areas, just like she did with the candles. She ripped pieces of the plants apart and crushed them up and put them in an odd shaped bowl. She picked up a knife and held it in the air above her head and said something that I couldn’t hear. The guy held out his arm and then she brought down the knife and cut his arm.

I pressed my hand over my mouth to keep myself from screaming my head off and giving away my position. I just kept staring at them with wide eyes as she cut him three more times; once on his left arm and twice on his one of his pecks. She brought the knife up to her mouth and licked off his blood, slow and sexy, staring right into his eyes and smiling at him all the while.

My eyes snapped wide open; my breathing was heavy. It took me a few moments to gather where I was; I was back in the school-nurse-office-bed. James was right next to me holding my hand and brushing back my hair with a worried look on his face. He is such a great boyfriend; too great for me. I mean he has always been part of my life, ever since I was a few weeks old. He has always been there for me; taking care of me; helping me. I had only asked for us to be friends and nothing more; I would have been happy if that was the case to. But, nowadays I’m always thinking what will happen if we break up, I can’t live without him.

As he kneeled in front of me, staring into my frighten eyes with his worried eyes, all I could do was stare right back into his never ending, peaceful eyes. I completely forget why I was scared in that moment, being surrounded and hugged by his love. Where his hands touched my skin, tickles began to spread throughout my body, following my veins and nerves to the core of me. I couldn’t help myself but to smile into his eyes and shiver where the tickles went.

Smiling James began, ”I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I was only trying to wake you up so we can leave. The nurse finally finished your papers. She had Brad come in with a huge cut on his forehead from slipping on water in the hall from “HIS” classroom. Would you like me to carry you to the car? You can sleep in my arms.” He gave me a playing wink.

I could feel my eyes widen as everything came rushing back into my mind. I shot up right. “No, oh no.”

That worried look ran across James face, “Lisa, what is it? What’s wrong? Was is something I did?”

“Get me home, please. I don’t want to be here.”

Carefully James picked me up and held me like I were a baby whose mother suddenly disappeared from view. I then began shivering with hysteria and it wasn’t until I laid my head on James shoulder that I realized I was crying from the wet marks on his shirt.

I had completely forgotten why I was going home, it just left my mind until James had mentioned Mr. Robinson. I remembered everything, every moment, every second in his room. Now that I recall it, I was very aware of my surroundings. There were two Mexicans cutting the lawn outside the class room; one on a lawnmower and another walking with a weed-whacker. I remember the smell of the fresh cut lawn flowing through the open windows and mixing with the sea smell. The slow motion of the Mr. Robinson’s fish tank exploding out in all directions as if a bomb blew up inside of it. And after that, the warmth and happiness that filled me from head to toe. Even thought I had the memory of happiness and warmth, I couldn’t help but feeling it was my entire fault that the Brad got hurt.

We somehow made it to my house and in my room without me having any memory of getting here. James was striping me down and getting ready to put my pajamas on me when I came back to the world. “Thanks James, I really own you. But I can finish dressing myself and you can go back to school.”

“You can finish dressing yourself, but I’m not leaving you. Your mom still isn’t home and I’m still really worried about you babe. You’re not supposed to be having this much trouble with all of this.” He looked up at me like he just said something he wasn’t supposed to say and was waiting to see if I realized it. When I didn’t say anything but nod, he told me to lie down and take a nap, which I was way too happy to do.

After I was done dressing myself in my favorite pajama bottoms, the ones with the cute little colored skulls on them, and a baggy t-shirt, I crawled under my blanks and started closing my eyes and began listening to the quiet sounds of my room. James turned off my light and shut my door so there was the least amount of light coming in my room. Unexpectedly, I heard his footsteps coming towards me and going around to the other side of the bed and then I felt him slide in next to me and hold me. “I love you, James.” I said almost too softly to hear. He kissed the top of my head and whispered “I love you too, Lisa” in my ear. With that I began resting in his arms, molding into his body and taking in the darkness of the room; fading away into it.

When I woke up, I was freezing cold. I somehow managed to kick off all my blankets and was know using my pillow as a blanket. I rolled over to see James was not there; his side of the bed was ice cold so he left me awhile ago. I was kind of hurt he left me alone, but I knew it was for a good reason. I still couldn’t help but feel upset, I never get to sleep or just lay with James anymore. It’s like the more that goes wrong with me; the more goes wrong with our relationship. He touches me less, he’s around less; I’m beginning to think things are going to end between us soon. I rolled over onto my back, wishing everything was back to normal before these dreams started controlling my life and before all this crazy stuff started to happen to me. Geez, speaking of which, what am I going to do about Mr. Robinson? Maybe I can which out of his class. I’ll have to do that tomorrow, first thing in the morning. And ugh! I have to make up all the class work and the homework I missed today.

I happened to look out my window during my moment of freaking out and saw that the sun was setting. No wonder why James wasn’t here. My mom must have been home for hours now and I’ve slept for... 6 hours! It’s 5:30! And boy is my tummy mad! It’s growling at me! I got up and grabbed my throw blanket and put it over my shoulders and started on my journey to the kitchen.

Walking into the kitchen I heard the TV on so I called up a “hey” to my mom. She replied with, “Hey honey, dinner’s in the oven. I didn’t know when you would be up, so I just left it in there. And you have a visitor; James is here! He’s been here for a few hours, waiting for you to get your lazy booty up. You must be feeling bad if you’ve slept…” With that I drowned her out with the thought of food hitting my stomach.

I quickly grabbed up the empty bowl sitting on the stove, just calling my name and opened up the oven to see homemade Mac & Cheese looking as delicious as ever. I took a two spoonfuls and went to go take a seat next to James on the loveseat. “Did you eat already?” I questioned James with concerned eyes.

“Yes, I ate with my family before I came over here to check on you.” He looked into my eyes trying to get me to believe him. I smiled trying to imagine him sitting and eating a meal with his family. I never saw his family or even where he lives and we’ve known each other since kindergarten. We have always just hung out at my house.

I felt propelled to ask my mom something to stop this image forming in my head. “How was your day, mom?” I thought to ask, thinking about the fact she had to go to court today thanks to my amazing father and his nowhere near trophy soon-to-be wife.

“Well, you know how court is, long and boring. Your father didn’t show up again, so it was pointless to even go. There’s more charges held on your father now, he owns a lot more money and he’s trying to terminate his parental rights.” Mom sighed and shook her head from side to side. “When will he stop this craziness?

“I hope soon, mom, for your sake.” With that I stood with my empty bowl in hand and walked down into the kitchen. I turned on the faucet to rinse my bowl of the excess cheese and James’s arms came from behind me and wrapped themselves around my waist. His lips kissed the side of my neck ever so sweetly. I placed the bowl and spoon on the counter and turned around in his arms and put my arms around his neck. His eyes met mine and my eyes met his. He bowed his head down closer to my face so his lips were almost touching mine; my lips tingling and my heart pounding, both of our breath coming faster.

“Lisa, would you please stop running water for so long, it’s just a waste of money.” Mom said groaning from the family room quiet unhappily.

I regretfully stepped out from James’s strong warm arms and turned the sink off. “Sorry mom, you know I like to make sure the dishes are rinsed off before they go into the dishwasher.” I then put my dishes into the washer and started to walk back to the family room to watch some recorded TV with my mom. Suddenly, my feet were no longer touching the ground and my legs were flying through the air as my body was twisting to the side. My breath had except me for a land I once knew quite some time ago. I recovered my breath and calmness and found myself cradled in strong, loving arms. I leaned into the warmth of my holder, resting my head on his breast and closing my eyes; taking in his intoxicatingly wonderful aroma. There was a gusted of air making my hair reach back behind my head and then I was being lowered down into my now cold but extremely comfortable bed. James got into bed with me and I rested my head on his chest and leaned into his warmth.

“Are you going to leave me again?” I whined in my sleepy little kid voice. I lifted my head and looked questioningly into James’s eyes, making my puppy dog face.

His gentle hands stroked my hair and caressed my face; his eyes looking in mine with a long and hard pain while his soft lips gave a soothing smile. “Sweetie, you know I’ll have to leave at some point. I really hate leaving you and you know that,” He placed his hand on my back and started rubbing it tenderly. “But I need to get home and get ready for school in the morning, but I’ll be right back here after I’m done to pick you up like always. You won’t even know when I leave; you’ll be long in deep sleep.”

I laid in James’ arms listening to his breathing, feeling the rising and falling of his chest and looking at the black of my eyelids. “Why did you leave me earlier? What did you do?” I asked him tiredly.

With a long sigh he said, “I got hungry and I didn’t want to eat all your food her. And I didn’t think you would want your mom to see us home alone. She might have thought we skipped and besides I had to che…” He went on but I could no longer hear his words. My thoughts were traveling elsewhere, far away from this world.

Reviews

[Mary Evans]

If there is no particular intention or plan or meaning for the present tense of sentences here and there, keep your whole narrative in the same tense (past in this case). In general if you decided to change the tenses you should do it in separate paragraphs.
“I jumped out of bed and looked out the window and saw James, my totally hot and amazing boyfriend” - You don’t want to have too many “ands” in a sentence without a particular intention. Also that’s too lazy of description for the boyfriend.
You should work on your sentence structure. There are sentences too complicated that can be simplified and others which need general rework of the word/phrase order. (The parasitic type – sentences that are connected with “and” - seems to be a reoccurring problem.) Also try to avoid repetitions.
The italics text is unreadable, either make it bigger or change the font.
Try to give every unconnected (to the previous) action a new sentence. I mean this “I gave him an apologetic look when we got to school, which he brushed off with a kiss as he dropped me off at my first period class.” You have 3 different actions; this should be 3 sentences and a little bit of descriptive details to spice it up. Your descriptions in general leave things to be desired. Same here: “But, unfortunately, he did, but thank god he didn’t make a scene.”
Robinson speaks too suddenly. Have some kind of introduction/greeting mentioned or spoken.
“He swallowed hard” – why was he afraid? Of what? Cornered? I don’t think so. Maybe clearing his throat would be better suited for this context. You should also really read your dialogues out loud, that’s the best way to judge if people actually speak like that.
“started to expect me” - You mean inspect.
Um… why aren’t people, teachers, security flocking to Robison’s office? I mean there was clearly a scream, sound of breaking glass, James punch of the locker. I’d figure commotion like that would bring about at least some kind of attention. Or at least have them walk farther than “down the hall,” that’s too vague of a distance.
“ask why he was helping me” – he is her boyfriend that’s why he’s helping her. It’s like she’s asking herself rhetorical questions. Also what happened to the bruises? Didn’t the Nurse see them?
Now when you begin describing the dream, that’s what I mean good flowing descriptions, try to pull it off in the whole of the story.
“ever since I was a few weeks old” she remembers that? Perhaps you should elaborate on what you mean by it.
“There’s more charges held on your father now, he owns a lot more money and he’s trying to terminate his parental rights.” – Really? I’m not sure a parent would talk to that to her underage child. Also she seems terribly calm with her boyfriend. Lisa is 16, however liberal her mother is there would be some restraints to her boyfriend.
“I regretfully stepped” reluctantly would be a better choice.
Your main problems are with style. Yours is a bit clumsy and inexperienced. You should both read more and reread your own stories. If you need recommendations feel free to ask me for such but in general I suggest Jane Austin and Emily Bronte when it comes to developing style. Still it depends on your personal tastes.
Overall the story seems cool. If you work out the issues and develop it further it will be an enjoyable read.

[NightDreamer]

To start off, I simply introduce the main character and a few important people in her life. I also wrote an attention-getting scene so that it can draw the reader(s) into the story; making them feel like a part of the novel and want to keep on reading it. The scene is also foreshadowing events that happen later in the novel. I also try to stress James and Lisa's relationship; how close they are and how dependent they are on each other. This will be important for later in the novel.