959 Words

I thought I had more than that, but I guess not. Still, I wrapped up the Stephen scene and I really like what I got. Stephen's really waking up as a character for me. His scene just flowed. Unlike the Charlie/Quint scene, which pretty much sucks rocks.

Okay, there's this thing at the end of the Stephen scene that I think is pretty cool and says a lot about Stephen's relationship with his father without saying anything about it directly. So I'm going to post a snippet. Enjoy:

Dad swung the door shut hard enough to shake the house. Stephen could feel the vibrations in his feet.

"You won't listen to anything I say," Dad shouted, voice grating and wet. When he turned to face Stephen, Stephen could see the red edges of his father's eyes, the reflective glaze coating them.

Stephen had never seen his father like this. And what was this? This couldn't possibly be all because Stephen snuck out at night, could it?

Dad strode toward Stephen. Again his hands formed fists at his side, just like earlier that day. This would be the time. This would be the day his dad finally stopped breaking everything around Stephen and strike Stephen instead.

But Dad passed Stephen, didn't stop until he reached the stairs. Back to Stephen, he said, "Do whatever you want, Stephen. If that's what you want, if you want to risk your whole life for a few early thrills, obviously nothing I can do will stop you."

Stephen grit his teeth. This speech again. The guy just didn't get it, did he? How could he, though? Stephen himself didn't get it.

The urge to break something came over Stephen. Just like Dad. That thought only fed the urge. The taste of blood filled his mouth. He realized he had bitten into the inside of his cheek. Pain cried through one whole side of his face, but he didn't loosen his jaw, would have bit harder if he could.

"I hate you," Stephen said through his clenched teeth, and could feel the blood dribble on his lips.

"Fine," his dad said, still not facing him, unable to see the blood on his son's mouth. He climbed the stairs, never turning to look at Stephen.

Stephen dragged his wrist over his mouth, smearing blood over the back of his hand. Crying, he went into the kitchen and rinsed his mouth in the sink. While he rinsed he thought he heard his dad come back down the stairs, but when he turned to look, his father was not there.