1st 5 Pages June Workshop - Mitchell Rev 2

Name: Prentis Mitchell

Genre: Young Adult, Magical realism

Title: The Hidden

Pitch

Jess Emem’s normal teenage life is turned upside down with the opening of her front door.  Chased from her home by a supernatural monster, she is forced to put her trust in an improbable companion- a talking cat.  Pursued by a remorseless Golem, Jess escapes with Max the cat, into the hidden realm of the Occultum: a parallel world where the creatures of fairy tales and legends live unseen by human eyes.

Taking her under his wing, Jess’ unlikely saviour works to rid her of the relentless Golem.  His desperate plan is to enlist the help of Theopoli Stiltskin, a devious, magical wish granter, who will help anyone- for a price.  That price is the completion of a task which drives Jess and Max into the wicked clutches of Mama Sladka – the owner of a chocolate factory whose kind, elderly exterior hides sinister secrets and an insatiable taste for children’s flesh. 

As the unlikely pair descend further into the dark world of the Occultum, Jess faces terrors she thought were simply childhood tales.  Hot on their tracks is the famed hero Phillip Charmain.  Hailing from a long ancestry of monster hunters, he craves to make his name fighting the forces of darkness, but Philip has his own demons to fight.

Surrounded by manipulation and destruction, Jess must be strong and learn to trust in herself if she is ever going to return to the human world and see her mother again.

 

Chapter 1: The Opening Move

Jess Emem.  1.

Finally- the school day was over. 

Jess trudged down the steps, her school bag digging into her shoulder. She followed the last few pupils trailing out of the school, counting the seconds until she would be sat on that bus home. 

The day had been a battle of endurance.  It had started with double French and continued to slide downhill.  On the playing field, Jess and her friend, Paula, had skilfully avoided any meaningful involvement in the football match but that had not been enough when the ball smashed straight into her face.  The pain seared through her nose, stinging her eyes and drowning out the raucous laughter of the class.  The teacher had raced over at the sight of blood, fishing an old tissue from out of her sleeve which Jess pinched to her nose as she trudged off to medical.

Up ahead around the school gates, a glow of phones hovered like fireflies in the growing twilight.  A group of year 8s gathered giggling, clearly not as eager as Jess to get home.  She danced around them as she fished out her own buzzing phone.  It was Paula.  Her fingers danced over the screen as she replied to her, glancing up just in time to see the bus home pulling away.  She had run as fast as she could, arms waving frantically to catch the driver’s attention, but the bus disappeared with the sight of Mandy and her gang sneering and pointing from the back window.  

Bloody Mandy Chambers. 

The burning rage Jess had felt at lunch erupted straight back to the surface at the sight of her leering grin.  Lunchtime had been today’s ultimate humiliation.  From the moment Jess squeezed herself through the lunch line snaking out of the door, Mandy had been on her.  Surrounded by her sniggering cronies and using the canteen as her stage, Mandy began her attack on Jess.  After all these years together, Mandy never tired of preying on others.  Like seagulls to a picnic, the mob had flocked around them in anticipation of the approaching drama.  Jess had turned away from her, shrugging off the laughter and trying her hardest to ignore the rush of blood flooding to her cheeks as she desperately hunted for Paula’s support.  Eventually the taunts and laughter had become too much for Jess.  Tears pricking her eyes, she had run from the canteen with the sound of Mandy’s taunts stabbing at her.

The bus lumbered around the corner and out of view.  Jess looked at her phone.  Her mum would probably still be at work and wouldn’t appreciate her calling her for a lift.  Rather than face an hour’s wait in the cold for the next bus, she slung her heavy bag back onto her shoulder and began the long walk home alone.  Even hours later, Jess still felt the sting of humiliation of running away from Mandy.  Being one of the few faces of colour in a sea of white, she already carried the scars of names but running away was letting her win.  She wished she could wipe away the shame of running from Mandy as easily as she had the tears.  Tomorrow, she would give as good as she got, she promised herself.

Finally, Jess turned onto her road.  The last dying rays of sun faded behind the row of houses leaving only the thin sliver of moon grinning down on her.  Curtains were drawing the eyes of the buildings shut.  She dug her hands into her pockets, pulling her coat around her, as the chill wind swept down the street rustling the last few remaining leaves on the trees.  The only thing keeping Jess going was the thought that her mum may be home by now. Perhaps they could snuggle down with a duvet and binge watch something on TV.  The faded brickwork of her apartment block came into view, peeking over all the row of neat houses lining the rest of the street.  As she got nearer, her stomach rumbled at the lingering smell of bread from the bakery tucked away in the basement of her building.  Through the window, Jess watched the last of the staff clear the chairs onto the tables as they swept the remains of the day away. She wished they could eat out tonight or even better order in some pizza.  While lost in her own thoughts, she did not notice the car until it tore past her, sending a torrent of water splashing from the puddle.  She dodged aside but it was too late to avoid the spray.  

‘How can this bloody day get any worse?’ she cursed under her breath, looking down at her drenched socks and shoes.

She had no idea just how much worse the day would become.

From across the street, a figure stood hidden in the alleyway- a dark shape looming in the shadows.  The stranger eagerly watched the doorway of the apartment block.  When he saw the young girl approaching the building an opportunity opened.  The girl climbed the steps.  From the darkness, his eyes watched as her fingers stabbed the door code into the keypad, memorising the position of each digit she pressed.  The door buzzed and the girl slipped into the warm glow of the building.  One of his huge, heavy fists slipped inside his jacket, feeling the reassuring weight of the object tucked inside.  It was still there.  As the door closed behind the girl, he moved out from the darkness and onto the street.

Warm inside and in desperate need to put this day behind her, Jess wiped her shoes on the threadbare old rug then took the stairs two at a time.  Higher and higher she ran, passing by rich smells drifting from number 23’s dinner and angry yells from the couple at number 25.  As she reached the third floor, a fluffy, white cat curled up on a forgotten shopping bag barely managed to force an eye open as she passed by.

She finally reached the fourth floor.  At the door of her apartment, lay a parcel. The sight of the small brown box brought the first tingle of excitement in her whole day.  She picked it up, hoping it was for her.  The excitement slipped away as quickly as it had appeared when she saw the name ‘Mr Maughan’ printed on the label; they had left her neighbour’s parcel at the wrong address again.  She dropped it back to the floor, slipped her key into the lock and pushed open the door

Jess abandoned her school bag on the floor, followed closely by her coat and wet socks.  It only took a couple of shouts to figure out that the flat was empty.  She went to the kitchen.  The light flickered to life illuminating a plate of food wrapped in cling film and a scribbled note left on the kitchen worktop.  Jess scanned the note.

‘So much for still being at work,’ she spat.

She tossed the note aside where it landed on the cold leftovers.  Her mum had gone out with her friend. 

Again. 

All the anger and frustrations of the day twisted and gnawed in her stomach. The phone was in her hand before she even knew what she was going to say.  It rang and rang until eventually she heard her mum’s voice.

‘Hi.  I can’t take your call right now.  Please leave me a message.  Bye.’

The answer phone beep pierced Jess’ ears.  The ball of anger in her tummy erupted - a raging storm of frustration which she threw at her mum.  

‘I can’t actually believe you’ve gone out again.  Where even are you? I’ve been at school all day you know.’  

The rant continued: all the hurt, the humiliation, the anger poured out of her and onto her mum’s answer phone.  For the most of it, Jess could not even remember what she said but it felt good to get it out.  She threw the phone down onto the table.  The initial flood of anger was receding and now guilt was slipping inside.  She shouldn’t have said all those things to her mum.  It was too late to do anything about that now, Jess thought as she shoved the plate of food aside.  And anyway, if her mum had gone out partying with her friend again, then why should she feel guilty or eat cold leftovers from yesterday? Jess thundered out of the kitchen in search of the takeaway menus.

Outside on the street, the sound of heavy feet pounded towards the door.