Janie {part 1}

Writing- This is the first part to a story I just began today! It's going great so far, I expect it to be maybe 3 parts, although not positive.


Intro- Janie, an 18 year old girl, fresh out of high school, taking a year off before beginning college, moves into her first apartment! Apparently, it isn't a normal apartment. A strange man lives upstairs, but Janie knows he is hiding something. What is it?

Janie

“I’m sure I’ll be ok, Mom. Stop worrying!” Janie began to her mother, exasperated. “If you would just-“

“Oh, I know,” Mrs. O’Connell fretted. “I just can’t believe my little baby is all grown up!” She leaved down to kiss her 18-year-old daughter on the forehead, as if she was a little baby.

“Mom,” Janie said, softer this time. “It’s okay! I’ll come visit every few days, and I’ll call you if I need anything, anything at all.”

“Alright.” Mrs. O’Connell said sadly, wiping a tear from her eye. “I’ll just miss you so much.”

“Me too, mom.” Janie blinked back a tear, hugging her mom. “I’ll call you later, after I get settled in!” She closed the door to her new apartment, smiling through the tears. She could finally have the freedom she had been craving for the past 5 years! She loved her mother, don’t get her wrong, but Helena O’Connell was just too protective sometimes of her one and only daughter, Janie. Janie grabbed the few grocery bags she had bought at the grocery store just then with her mother, and began to put them back where they belong. Order could never hurt in a new home. If she wanted to stay organized without her mom doing everything for her, she better start right away! Janie dropped a peanut butter jar on her toe, and screamed in pain and annoyance. There was a stomp from upstairs, and Jamie froze. The landlord said the apartment above was unoccupied, because he had also offered her that one, though she preferred 2^nd floor right above the lobby. Janie assured herself it was just someone on the 4^th floor; there were probably kids up there running around. That thought made her tear up again, made her think of all the happy years she had spent with her parents before the divorce. Helena O’Connell was a naturally cheerful young woman until her husband, Jack Price, ditched her for the young woman down the street. After the divorce, Helena was quiet, reserved, and quite overprotective of Janie. Janie missed her old, happy family, before Dad left. “Well,” she concluded, talking to herself now. “We did have 13 years of fun! I just need to think of the positive. Yeah, that’s it! Think of the positive.” Janie suddenly realized that her toe was still throbbing painfully. She put down the bag of groceries she was holding and walked out of the kitchen into the small hallway leading to the bathroom. She tripped over something, what it was she did not know. It might have just been her clumsiness. All she knew was that when she fell, she knocked over the coat rack, which fell with a loud clang. Someone cursed loudly upstairs, and the stomping occurred again. Whoever was up there was walking down the stairs, loudly! Janie jumped up quickly, and ran to go lock the door. She was too late. The door was pushed open, and with a bang whammed against the wall. A man stood there, not just any ordinary man. This man looked as if he was too old and fragile to make that much noise. Janie blinked many times, making sure she had seen right. He had balding hair, but what was left was starch white. He had on an old smock shirt, like he had been painting, with smudges of what appeared to be spaghetti sauce all over it. He walked into the house, and Janie shrank back against the wall, wondering what this man was going to do.

Cliff hanger!!! :D