Unnamed, Unedited Retelling

Sometimes, when my mind wonders, I come up with random thoughts about alternate lifestyles. This is one of those thoughts. It may end up as a novel, or it may just stay a random blog post. Only time will tell.
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Every day I used to dream of what it'd be like to live in one of those fancy houses we passed everyday ok the way to school. Now that I'm grown, that dream faded like the others. I was happy with my tiny apartment in the west part of town. The neighbors kept to themselves, and only a few people were robbed. It wasn't so bad.

Most days were the same. I'd wake up, grab a bowl of cereal, then head off to my boring retail job at Bigglymart. They sold everything from clothes to electronics to groceries. It was really a one-stop shop. I didn't care much for it but it paid the rent.

I daydreamed a lot while I waited for a customer to wander into my lane. Sometimes about traveling out of the country. Other times about what I'd cook for dinner. Who was I kidding, I hardly cooked anything. The stacks of pizza boxes outside my door proves that. Still, for a nineteen-year-old, I sure spent a lot of time with my head in the clouds.

"Good morning, Ms. Miller." Ms. Mary, the customer service manager, walked over to my register and snapped me out of one of my daydreams. Her sweet smile warmed everyone in the mornings even on the cold days like that day.

"Good morning," I replied back, returning the warm smile. Ms. Mary carried on about her business while I went back in my daydream.

A customer appeared in my line, a tall white man with brown eyes and shaggy dark hair. He was dressed in a black tee with a leather jacket and tattoos down both arms. This guy had trouble written all over his brooding face. It was hardly 9 AM, why was he so angry looking?

"Good morning, sir," I said in the best cherry voice I could muster up.

He glared at me and dropped a box of Life cereal on the belt.

"Hey," he said in a deep voice. He's defiantly from Arkansas.

"Rough morning?" I asked, and immediately regretted. He glared at me again, but this time a slight smile crossed his lips.

"For starters, I found out I was out of cereal after I woke up craving some," he said. His smile quickly faded.

"That sucks. Life is my favorite brand, too."

He let out a small chuckle as he pulled out his wallet. "Is that so?"

"Yeah, very much so," I replied. "That'll be $3.09."

He handed me four wrinkled $1 bills and said, "Keep it, I hate change."

He grabbed his single bag and headed straight for the door.

Is It Too Early To Be This Excited?

On April 25th, I participated in the #DVpit Twitter party. I wasn't expected much, but to my surprise, I received a good number of likes from literary agents, most of which were on my "to-query" list. The next day, I revised my query and first pages as much as possible and started sending them out to the requesting agents. Again, I wasn't expecting much.

Not even two hours later, I received my first reply. Nervous, I opened the email thinking it was yet another rejection. Instead, it was my very first FULL REQUEST! I was more than ecstatic. I went over my manuscript for about five hours before sending it to the agent's assistant. I had to force myself to press the SEND button on the email. A few minutes later, I received a confirmation email stating that she [the assistant] received my manuscript. According to their website, full requests take about 60 days for a reply. So here I am in the most painful 60-day wait ever.

That's not all. To distract myself from waiting for a response from the other #DVpit agents and my full request, I decided to send out a few more queries. On May 3rd, I queried an agent from a well-known agency that reps two of the authors with popular Young Adult books-to-movies. Once again, I wasn't expecting much, especially since most of the feedback from other authors is negative (she hardly responds if she's not interested...and she's hardly interested).

Five days later, I received an email from the agency's editor stating that she'd like to read the first 50 pages of my manuscript. She also asked if I had any other requests out with agents. I squealed! This isn't a full request, but the thought of possibly being among some of the best-selling authors made my day. I went over the first 50 pages for any errors that jumped out, saved it as a PDF, then sent it as requested. I added a note that I do have a full request out with an agent currently. Again, a few minutes later I received a confirmation email. I'm not sure how long I should wait on a partial request, but I read that it's a 3-month wait. According to Query Tracker, she usually responds to partial fairly quick so maybe I won't have to wait as long.

I'm excited but I'm keeping it cool. This doesn't mean either of them will be ringing my phone offering me representation, but it's one step further. I feel as if I've accomplished step 1 of my goal to being published, and that's something to celebrate. Ice cream for me! (as if I need a reason to eat ice cream).

Nevin Rockiest | Immunity Hunter

Name: Nevin Rockiest
Age: 17
Occupation: Student/Eradication Squad Trainee
Weapon: Lightning Sword
Magic: Lightning Rod

Everyone in this city is freaked out about the Konadai. Well, I am too but not as much as them. I'm just a laid-back kind of guy. The city isn't all that bad. We have everything we could ever want here, including PIZZA! But there is something I want more than anything—well besides Ashley of course, she's my world. Too bad her father doesn't like me. Does he think I'm a bad influence? I don't think I'm a bad influence. . .

Anyway, I wanna be on the Eradication Squad's sweep team! That way, I can show everyone I'm not just some loser. Then Ashley's father would have to respect me. . .right? Maybe they'll even make me a squad leader! That'll be cool.

Illustration by: Autumn-Sacura on DeviantArt

Jeiku Okamimuto | Immunity Hunter

Name: Jeiku Okamimuto
Age: 17
Occupation: Student/Eradication Squad Trainee
Weapon: None
Magic: Okamikiin

I'm Jeiku but my parents call me Fang...yeah, they thought it would be funny to give me such a stupid nickname, but mom said I bit her when I was born so I guess the name fits.

Don't worry about the collar. The humans force us to wear it but it's really just a bad joke. It's supposed to suppress our powers. Ha! Like that'll stop me. Those humans have bigger things to worry about than us Okamikiin. They'll be begging us for help when the Konadai breach the wall. Sure, the humans can use fire, lightning, and energy, but can they use their claws to tear a Konadai's heart out with ease? I doubt it!

At least my friends accept me for who I am. And Rin...she still likes me—for now. They're the only ones that matter. The rest of the humans on this island can rot like the Konadai for all I care.

Illustration by: Autumn-Sacura on DeviantArt