Sooo…. I’ve been giving myself rough estimates as to how long my book will be. The first estimate is about 320 pages. The second estimate is 574… something must not be right here. If anyone knows how to go about this, please tell me! I have 172,278 thousand words in Hoefler Text size 10 font. (:

Would you show me the wonders of Neverland?

“I suggest we raise a little hell.” — Lord Henry Wotton; Dorian Gray

The chessboard’s marble surface was cluttered with Queens and bishops, it’s gleaming white shadowed by their dangerous game. My perch on the mahogany stool was sliding ever so slightly towards the board, far too intrigued for it to be a healthy obsession. I had been watching for months while Paris was off, traipsing around with a smile as she claimed the severed heads of her own pieces, their place on the chessboard marked with a dark shadow, the shadow of the deceased. I peered at the porcelain King leering at the granite Queen, the other Queen, his Hera off babysitting her pawns, those of which exceeding the common amount in a standardized set. The granite Queen was stone still, her patience tested by her companion, a two headed knight. The knight had begun with a single head, a beautiful porcelain, the smooth off white, the dark abbess of his eyes. Yet Hades was becoming someone else, no longer an enemy to Apate. I was transfixed by his transition when the loud crash of a slammed door made my pale narrow face shoot up like a firework, anger flaring in my eyes as I recognized the soft lines of Paris’s features. 

“Darling don’t spoil your good looks and slim frame with the like of reality television. You know the ending by now, anyways. Soon they’ll all be marked with a shadow, and we’ll be left alone.” My sister’s voice was a continuous note, dipping and swaying beautifully, neither too high a pitch or too low. Her body was moving effortlessly across the persian carpet, our safe haven for the battered souls, yet lacking more company than just ourselves, but we didn’t want the companions. We didn’t even want each other, but that was the single flaw in her seamless plan. When she was whisked away from life she would forever stay with me, that’s the way its been for the past three thousand years, and counting. “Now, do I have to use persuasion, or would you really like to hear about my day?” She asked me, dropping her satchel by the ivory bookshelf. She was walking closer.

“Persuasion.” I answered, glowering at her cheerfully bright smile.

“When will your grudge subside?” She whimpered, collapsing on the velvet ottoman to my left. Her head was held in her hands, her silent cries echoed by her shaking.

“Darling, don’t spoil your perfect appearance with the like of caring.” I told her cruelly, my own trembling beginning, only I wasn’t on the verge of tears, my edge was a far deeper and far more sinister route. I got up from the chess set, careful not to knock a piece, and I left her with her self pity, the pity she really, deep down, didn’t feel at all. It was just a rouse for sympathy. I was sick of those deceits.