Watery Wednesday

In an effort to be better about blogging this year and to share some of my pieces that I absolutely love, I'm introducing WATERY WEDNESDAY'S on my blog. Each Wednesday I'll add a couple of pages (in order) from my award-winning Water Crisis Chronicles. Today we're continuing with Chapter 1 of  WATERFALL.

ONE

Zach (continued)

Our particular gated community outside of Philadelphia had become one of the refuge sites. Now we had armed guardsmen protecting our gates as the threats of national and international terrorism continued to grow. I’d heard that several of the upstream water sources had been hijacked by militia and the like. Most of the water had already been poisoned by industry years ago, but the few good sources left were now being targeted. I wondered if that’s why our rations had been reduced.

“What are you looking at?” snapped the soldier.

I hadn’t realized how long I’d been standing there so I quickly replied, “Just trying to figure out if it’s worth hurting my Jeep to back over you.”

“You’re an ass,” he said.

I gave him my one finger salute and jumped in the car. Revving the gas a few times, I checked the rearview mirror to see if the soldier was going to move. I don’t really know why he hated me so much. We’ve had this thing going on now for several months and it had become part of the routine.

Just as he started to walk away, I gunned it. Flying backward out of the driveway, my squealing tires caught the attention of several guards and refugees camping along the streets. I laughed at their appalled looks and waved as I passed by.

Vee’s house was only two blocks away and we almost always drove together. We’d been friends since middle school and practically inseparable that entire time. Although recently, Vee had been acting weird. We didn’t have many classes together this year, and I’d been so busy with football that we only really saw each other on our ride to school.

I pulled into her driveway and laughed when I saw her burst from the bright red front door. Angry blue eyes glared at me under layers of dark makeup. A ridiculous streak of pink stood out against her black hair and the gothic outfit was something new.

She yanked open the passenger door and threw her bag inside. “You’re late.”

“And you forgot that it’s not Halloween.”

She huffed and climbed in the Jeep. A few seconds later she snapped her head around and raised her eyebrows. “What?”

I chuckled again. “You going to tell me what’s going on here?”

“What are you talking about?”

Reaching over, I lifted the piece of pink hair. “When did you do this?”

She slapped my hand away and crossed her arms. “It’s called fashion, Zach.”

Laughing, I continued. “And what’s with the Beetlejuice eye makeup? You’re scaring me.”

A hint of a smile developed at the corner of her mouth before she snapped her angry façade back into place. “Are we going to sit here all day?”

“Relax, Vee,” I said, putting the Jeep into gear and starting our drive to school.

“Stop calling me that. It’s Vivienne.”

Find out more about Waterfall HERE.