I've been thinking that since I hardly post anything about my life on here, I should post stuff on my books instead. Really, I have nothing of any significance to post here about my life but I have several book-related things I'd like to post here.
Manuscripts, plots, short stories, etc. You get the picture, right? Alternatively, I was thinking about getting a new blog - something just for writing instead. Well, I don't know.
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Wow, I really have nothing to blog about... Oh! I'm making button badges! Basically, I'm borrowing the idea from JoEe and making new button badges out of old ones. You draw whatever you want on a piece of paper, color it and cut it out, and then you stick in onto the old bad you want to use and then laminate it with book wrapper or something.
I have several designs in the sketchbook I'm using but I haven't colored any of them yet. Expect to see me finished in forever.
Oh, yeah! I've submitted an article to the Minda magazine! And also a picture. The article's below:
The Legend by Brandon Choo, 4 Budi
1966, Somewhere in Oregon
‘Yeah? Get dad to move back to Arizona then I’ll play ball with you!’ he said before slamming the trailer door behind him.
Malcolm stared at the door from his spot on the hood of the station wagon. Malcolm was your average seven-year old kid. He was skinny with black hair and amber eyes, and a passion for baseball. He wore thick glasses and a set of hand-me-down clothes that were slightly soiled with earth. Sliding off onto the earthy ground, he tossed the ball and the mitt he had been playing with into the back seat and went to walk aimlessly around the campsite. It was a huge clearing lined with humungous pine trees, just outside of the skeleton of a town choked with RVs and mobile trailers. At the moment, it was largely vacant as many of the future residents of Nest Hollow were attending a meeting in town. The town hall had only just been finished a few days ago and the roads would be ready in a week. Malcolm’s dad had mentioned that they’d be able to get a look at their new house in a week’s time.
Malcolm’s dad had instructed his older brother, Reiss to take care of Malcolm while they were out, which Reiss apparently interpreted as leaving him alone and ignoring him, just as he had always done. Malcolm and Reiss were like oil and water; the two just didn’t go together. It seemed impossible for someone to be mad and grumpy all the time but Reiss was apparently an exception. Moving to Nest Hollow had only made him worse and every little thing seemed to bug him: the poor TV reception, the endless amounts of rain, the cold, the wildlife – the list seemed to go on forever.
Sure, it was hard for Malcolm too; leaving his friends behind, but he quickly made new ones here on the campsite. He couldn’t help but wonder – was it so difficult for Reiss to do the same? He was nearing one of the picnic tables, paying attention to nothing but the sounds of the forest and the gravel crunching beneath his shoes when he heard the trailer door open behind him. It was Reiss. He had a smile plastered on his face and Malcolm caught the jacket he threw at him.
‘Come on, we’re going for a walk,’ he said cheerfully.
‘Don’t you hate it here?’ Malcolm asked.
‘I think we should go check out that lake near the main road,’ he said, ignoring Malcolm.
‘Dad said we shouldn’t leave the camp grounds.’
‘You want to do something or not?! It’ll be fun! Maybe we’ll see a fox or something.’
Half an hour later, the two of them were leaping over puddles and pushing low-hanging branches out of their faces. It was almost seven and the sky above them was a brilliant orange colour but it wasn’t the time or place to admire a sunset. Night would soon be upon them and the lake was nowhere in sight. The camp grounds were far, far behind them – disturbingly so. Even more disturbing was Reiss’s tuneless whistling mixed in with the sounds of the forest. Even in the low light, Malcolm could see that his smile hadn’t faltered one bit.
‘Do you know where we’re going?’ Malcolm finally said.
‘We’re almost there,’ he said, and something about his tone worried Malcolm.
Malcolm rubbed his hands together and exhaled into them. He made to zip up his jacket for the umpteenth time but the zip was already up. He wished he had thought about bringing along another jacket or at least a pair of gloves. Ahead, Reiss stopped abruptly and Malcolm realized they had emerged in another clearing, but this wasn’t the campgrounds. It was huge; almost the size of two stadiums, but he couldn’t tell exactly how big it was because it was night already.
‘Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you around… or not.’
‘What?’
‘I’m leaving you here,’ Reiss said, looking into Malcolm’s eyes this time. The smile and cheerfulness was gone, replaced instead with a piercing scowl and a crazed look in his eyes.
Malcolm blinked at him. Was he serious? Leaving his own brother in the middle of the forest? It was madness! He couldn’t honestly be serious!
‘Since you love it here so much, I thought it’d be fitting to –‘
He didn’t finish for Malcolm was now attacking him with everything he had.
‘TAKE ME BACK, YOU JERK!’ he yelled. He scratched, clawed, kicked and punched at his brother. Never before had he pushed him this far. Reiss, being more than double his age and size overpowered him easily before he could do any real damage. Malcolm landed on his back, the force of the landing knocking his glasses askew. Reiss’ neck was bleeding.
He opened his mouth to say something but he was cut short by a deep rumbling growl from behind Malcolm. He knew only one animal that made that sound. Malcolm shut his eyes. Heavy footsteps sounded behind him, their force felt in the ground beneath him. When the wolves didn’t immediately began to rip them to shreds, Malcolm opened his eyes a fraction just in time to see the horrified look on Reiss’ face before he turned around and bolted into the darkness. Then, as the wild rustle of leaves and cracking branches died down, only the whisper of the trees and the sound of the animals behind him could be heard. Slowly, he turned to find a pack of seven. The jet black one seemed to be the alpha as he was the biggest and he advanced towards him first.
He didn’t know what to do as the creature slinked around him, scrutinizing him. He could smell him; hear his heavy breathing and he could almost make out the slow rhythmic heart beats from within its chest. He noted his paws: huge with equally huge claws. Malcolm gulped. Suddenly, the creature nudged him onto his back with a forepaw. The beast was on top of him, dwarfing his small frame. The creature was looking into his eyes and Malcolm mirrored him, their noses almost touching. The wolf’s eyes glowed ever so slightly. They were amber, just like his. Then the glow vanished as the creature shut them and did a sort of howl.
It was no ordinary howl. The world around him erupted in a brilliant glow of gold. He could hear what sounded like the wind and music. Shadows and shapes danced around him. Then, from out of the beast’s muzzle came a small orb. It looked like a miniature sun as it inched closer to him and then entered his mouth, sending strange sensations throughout his body. Warmth shot through him, effectively thawing him. Heat seemed to twine itself around his limbs. Surely he would catch fire! The heat was just so intense. Then, the light disappeared and Malcolm blacked out just as the black wolf collapsed dead next to him.
The fawn wolf who had been watching intently just feet away nudged its fallen leader in respect before fetching the boy to take him to the town. Malcolm rested on the back of the creature beneath him as it loped towards the nearest search party of humans, not knowing he was special, not knowing he would be the stuff of legends, not knowing that Reiss would never be found, nor that strange people would start paying his family a visit. He couldn’t know at that moment that Nest Hollow was a town for people who were gifted with his newfound ability and that the mayor was at that precise moment looking through a book for an old fable entitled “The Two Brothers”.
I'd upload the picture but it's in .png format so it'll take quite a while to upload. You can see it on my DeviantArt page here:
http://veneracio.deviantart.com/#/d3q4icc
Thanks for nothing!
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