I wouldn't walk down this alley

Me! But not by the Aimee Laine me, the Emi Gayle me, who writes stories for Young Adults. Why is it here on this blog then? Oh, because I’m seriously lazy and this is the blog I signed up with. Plus, I’m probably going to merge the two. Do you know how hard it is to be two people? 🙂

Now, before we begin, let me talk about this chain. Normally, I do the Absolute Write blog chains … and I still will, but this month, I’m hanging with the girls (and guys!) of the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers. After me comes Lyla Dune and the full list is at the bottom of the post.

The theme for this chain:

Have one of your characters, from one of your stories (any! Novel, short, flash…) interview YOU!

Part one: Describe your interviewer (your character) in 50 words or less.

Part two: The interview. Use whatever method you like (Q&A, story, strict prose, etc.), but write it as if you were being interviewed — ‘you’ being the subject.

And now for the good stuff…

The Character…

Mac Thorne is a thorn in her own side. All she wants in life is to be left alone. Desperately, so. Unfortunately, she’s a changeling and has only 9 more months of ‘life as she knows it’. So everyone is butting into her business. Rightly so, though, as the clock strikes midnight on her 19th birthday, she’ll have to make her choice and so far, she’s failed miserably—at least in everyone’s eyes but her own. Will she choose vampire? Dragon? Demon? Siren? Angel? She can pick any of them. Or … would she choose … human?

The Interview …

I’ve joined Mac at the library, a place I love, and I know she loathes. It took her at least three minutes just to walk the twenty paces from the door to the table I’ve chosen. I have to hide my chuckle at her complete lack of confidence because I know this girl will kick ass and take names. She settles in the chair across from me, her hands clasped together on the table. She’s brought absolutely nothing with her. No paper, pen or anything to jot notes down.

A tendril of her tri-colored hair falls and she grabs it, tying it behind her neck. “So, Ms. Laine. Why am I here?”

My head tilts. Didn’t she ask me to join her? “Well…” I mirror her position, though acting cool at 37 and being cool at 18 aren’t equal. “Aren’t you the one who needs to learn more about the human race?”

On eyebrow raises on her smooth-cheeked, dark-eyed, face. “Do I have to, though? I mean, I won’t tell if you won’t. You can give me a cheat-sheet or something.”

I’d like to hang my head at some of the youth of today. “I could, but I won’t.”

She drops her head to the table. “You’re no better than the Council.”

I disagree, since I know the Council and it was their mandate that pushed her to talk to me. I’ll suck it up, though, and push us forward. “Why don’t you ask me a question, and let’s just see where this takes you.”

She huffs a breath as she straightens again, her chest rising and falling with distinct effort. “Fine. Got any kids?”

“I have three.”

“Husband? Boyfriend? Side piece?”

My lips curve. Side piece? “One husband whom I’ve been with since I was 14.”

“And you don’t want to kill him?” Her tone suggests she’s genuinely interested.

“Not usually.” I lean back in my chair and drape an arm across the back of the one next to me. “He asked me to marry him in a library.”

“No, shi—” She stops herself, her teeth digging into her lip. “Sorry. Winn keeps tell me to watch my mouth.”

“You like Winn, then?”

The flash of white on her eyes is none other than one my own teenage son would give me. I take her answer as a ‘yes’ and wait for her to engage in further questions.

Ticking grows louder as we sit staring at each other. She sticks her hands under the table or somewhere I can’t see.

I check my iPhone. At least two minutes have passed. People mill about, oblivious to our stare-down. She still hasn’t moved.

I could count to three, like I do for my kids, and make her continue, but I figure she deserves the respect of an adult, and if she’s finished, then I am too. “So, I guess that’s it then…” I push back my chair.

“Wait!” Out come the hands. “I’m sorry. It’s just that … well … about your husband?”

My butt hits the flat of the chair. “You want to know about him?”

She offers a small nod.

“Then ask me a question.” I give her my best Mom stare.

“Are human guys worth it?”

By ‘it’, I assume she means anything. “Given I’ve only ever been with a human, I would say yes.”

She corrects her posture and leans forward. “Some say, if you go vampire, you never go back. Think that’s true?” Unpainted lips curve upward.

I really want to burst out a laugh, but the steel in her eye suggests she’s dead on serious with her silly question. I lean forward, getting within an inch of her. “I have no idea.”

Air from her laugh hits me. “So since you’re just a human and all, what kind of supernatural would you want to be?”

We poor humans. We really are relegated to the bottom of the food chain, aren’t we? Well, this answer’s an easy one. “I want to be a changeling.”

Her hands slap the table. “No shit!” A round of ‘shhhh!’ fills the space. “You can’t be serious. Well, you could, but you can’t be a changeling since you’re like what … twenty-nine?”

I want to hug her right then and there. “Okay, fine. I want to be a shape-shifter.”

“It’s not all it’s cut out to be. Your body contorts into every which way. Going to animal is horrendous, and they smell. And don’t ever, ever—” Her hands splay out. “—ever try being a dragon.”

This interview is not about her, so I don’t ask her why.

“You think all humans want to be one of us?”

My head starts a slow shake even though my mind wants to say, ‘Yes!’. I don’t even believe myself. “I think there are a bunch of people who’re happy with their lot in life. Like me. I love what I’ve been given. I’m blessed. The grass is not greener on the other side for me.”

Her held tilts, eyes narrow.

Yep. I am not twenty-nine anymore. “It means—”

She smiles. “I know what it means, Ms. Laine. I was just messing with you. So …” She bites the side of her lip. “You were really 14 when you met your human husband?”

Does she think he was, at some point, not human? Do I? A quick check results in a definitive, ‘no, totally human’, but I keep that to myself. “Yes, I was 14. Why—”

“Did you, like, know-know way back then? Like really know he was the one?”

Way back then? All hope is lost. I’m old. I ignore myself and let memories fill my mind. Happy ones. Stressed ones. All of them a reflection of my 23 years with the man I adore. I know why she’s asking. For once in her life, Mac doesn’t want to be alone, and she’s got one hell of a choice to make. The question is, what will it be.

For me? It was simple. “Yeah, I knew.”

Her head whips to the side as the door opens and Winn walks in. They share a wink and a nod and Mac’s face just glows. She turns back to me. “Hey, so … this was good enough, right?” Her finger wags between us.

“Yeah,” I say. “This was good enough.”

Her walk toward Winn is far faster than the one she used to enter.

————————————-
Full list of participants:
Aimee Laine <– Me!
Lyla Dune : http://lyladune.com/blog.html
Carol Strickland : http://carolastrickland.blogspot.com/
Amy Corwin : http://amycorwin.blogspot.com/
Lilly Gayle : http://www.lillygayleromance.blogspot.com/
Rebekkah Niles : http://juturnafaerthing.blogspot.com/
Laura Browning : http://www.laurabrowningbooks.blogspot.com/
Andris Bear : http://andrisbear.wordpress.com/
Marcia Colette : http://marciacolette.wordpress.com/
Nancy Badger : http://www.nancylennea-inlove.blogspot.com
Sarah Mäkelä : http://blog.sarahmakela.com
Jennifer Harrington : http://www.romanceadventures.blogspot.com/
Scott Berger : http://romanticadventurestories.wordpress.com/