Intro

This is the intro to my currently untitled novella. Just as an FYI, I'm not finished writing. I'm putting these up as I go. That is all. :D

There was no way I could let myself hurt her anymore. No way. I had hurt her enough already. I’d hurt everyone enough already. All I wanted to do was to sleep. Disappear. Stop my apathy. And yet, she still cried for me. Even though I never deserved it… I wasn’t sorry for it.

*******

“Henry. Wake up, already! We’ll be late for school again.” I groaned. My younger sister, Faith, hovered over me, claiming superiority. I rolled over, burying my head into my pillow. Annoyed, she ripped the bed sheets away from me. “Henry. Come on. You’re my only ride. Get. Up.” I slowly lifted myself out of bed, rubbed my eyes, and stretched. She started at me, then said, “Well, aren’t you gonna get dressed or something?”

I glared at her. “If you’d leave, then maybe. I need to take a shower.”

She rolled her eyes, placing a hand on her hip. “Thank God, you needed it. Just hurry up, ‘kay?” Then she walked away. 

I sighed, then quickly stripped my boxers off to get in the shower. The hot water burned my skin, waking me up quickly. I washed myself as quickly as possible, then dried off and hurriedly got dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt. “Faith, you almost ready to go?” I shouted from my bedroom as I slipped my worn, black Converse on. 

“Yep.” She opened my bedroom door without knocking. “Why do you always wear black? God, is that the only color you have?”

“Why do you never knock on my door? Gosh, can’t you ask if you can open it first?”

“Whatever. But really. Is black all you have?” 

I sighed, ignoring Faith. Grabbing my car keys, I pushed past her. “Let’s go.” 

I hated being the older seventeen year old brother to a fourteen year old sister. Faith acted as if she ruled over me… well, maybe it wasn’t an act, but I was her personal chauffeur ever since I got my license. If I went somewhere, she almost always tagged along, becoming a major spare. An annoying spare…

*******

“Henry, are you okay?” my best friend, Macy asked, toughing my forearm gently.

I shied away from her unnoticeably, then nodded. “Yeah. Just… thinking. I’m alright.”

She smiled at me. “Okay. Good. So, did you hear what happened this weekend at Tracey’s party? She was totally--”

“Mace. I don’t really want to hear about it right now, ’kay? Sorry.” 

She said nothing at first, then shrugged. “Okay. Have you been working out or something? You look a lot more… beefy? I mean, like, not gross beefy like a football kid, just… like you could take out someone.” 

I shrugged. “Nope. Maybe it’s just puberty.”

She threw a sideways glance at me. “Puberty? You? Henry. You were one of the first boys that got a deep voice. You used to be the tallest. You’re done. Puberty is a thing of the past.” 

*******

I had no idea why Macy was my best friend. We didn’t have many of the same interests at all. She was a social butterfly, always trying to make new friends whereas I stayed more behind the scenes. I believe we met each other at a party… Long story short, I was sitting alone on the back porch and she ran up to me, panting. She asked if she could stay back there with me. I had barely nodded and she was already talking about how some guy was trying to get her drunk. I guess I wasn’t really listening since I can’t remember most of the stuff she talked about. But we hit it off from there, and now, she’s the only person I really have deep conversations with… even if I do have to sit through “the latest gossip” sometimes. 

*******

I had always been more reserved and awkward than most of the other kids I knew. Always. No one really knew who I was since I hadn’t gone to length’s end to make myself known. Plus I guess I don’t look exactly all that memorable. Black hair and hazel eyes are relatively normal in my opinion. Being six feet tall is pretty unnoticeable. For the longest I was included only because people felt sorry for me, but when I hit middle school, it ended. I was alone until I met Macy. And even then, I knew Macy didn’t really care all that much about me. So when the numbness hit, it was okay. My whole life had been preparing me for it in ways I never knew…

Author's Note

So how was the intro? Did it keep your attention? How was the dialogue? Any grammar mess ups? Any suggestions? Questions? Comments? You know I love constructive criticism... well, maybe you don't know... but I do! Thanks for all your helps!