It’s weird to have a website/blog about my writing when you haven’t even read any of it yet, hmm?
Here’s a little snippet from the opening of my current Work In Progress. It’s a contemporary thriller in first person present, with a male protag – completely new territory for me! *wibble*. It’s also pretty rough around the edges at the moment. But I like the style so far and I love writing this bad boy main character!
***
In the heart of the chase, I am alive.
I’m just a few metres ahead of the cop. His breath rasps. Old man will get tired soon; I can keep running all afternoon.
I smile to myself. You’re dealing with Boy Wonder now, I think.
I glance round for Nat, but she’s already out of sight. Good girl. I need to keep his attention now, in case he wonders where the other one’s gone, so I weave between two cars and into the road, then cross to the other side. He follows, of course, red-faced but determined.
The soles of my feet kiss the pavement again and again. My lungs burn. My rucksack, holding the stash of games I swiped from the shop, slams into the base of my spine with every step I take – but I’m alight with the thrill of it all. The entrance to the Meade Estate – my home – is just round the corner. If I can get a bit more of a lead on him, I might make it in there – and he’s unlikely to follow me in alone, not with Meade’s reputation. By the time he gets back-up, I’ll be well hidden.
I put on a burst of speed and vault over a ramshackle fence into the garden at the end of the street to make a diagonal route across. I have to dodge a rusting shopping trolley and a grungy mattress lying in the middle of the lawn. South London life. Real.
Copper takes the long route, so I’m round the corner way before him. The stark blocks of the estate rise before me, finally. I skid into the main driveway. The kids are sitting out on the scabby, patchy ‘green’, probably skinning up ‘cause they just got home from school. I feel their eyes on me as I zoom past. Then, so I can take stock of the situation, I make a sharp right and take the steps up to the first level of Nat’s building.
From there I can see the entrance. As predicted, cop’s leaning on his knees, wondering if he should dare to come in unaccompanied. He lifts the radio at his shoulder and mouths something into it. I don’t think he’s gonna come after me. Haha! Boy Wonder wins again. I take a second to bask in my victory, but I know I’ve gotta get moving again before a panda car rocks up and spoils my fun.
I slide down the railing of the stairs and jog off towards the estate’s back exit. I’ll meet Nat in the corner of the park, like always. Then we can divide up the swag. I’ve got my eye on one of those sweet shoot-em-ups, the latest edition. Since I left school last year, those babies have been almost my sole occupation. That, and getting my hands on more.
I’m so caught up in my own thoughts I don’t see what’s coming towards me from my left-hand side…
Catherine Queen 
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