Introduction: The Seductress
"...Just a few more chapters to write and I will be done with this novel."
"...I need to get this done to turn into my publisher by midnight."
That's what I kept telling myself to motivate myself to stay awake and get this turned in as I sat in my leather computer desk nested next to my carved Mahogany desk with my hands in the home row position.
My name is Rylee Michelle Hunter and I am a novelist in the making. I am 26 years old and have been writing ever since I could pick up a pencil and paper. I enjoy writing drama stories about characters that I create in my head. The novel that I am writing is about a couple in a bad romance that takes a drastic turn for the worse.
My publisher, Kathryn, has been hounding me to turn in this final draft for six weeks now. I've been distracted with work and my recent vacation to Dubai that I've spent the course of a week with an all expense paid trip to. I needed time to myself and to focus on my craft and how this vacation could improve my writing.
Dubai was a beautiful country to visit and I would love to go back in the near future. Snapping back into reality, I had another two hours to complete my novel before Kathryn would find another novelist to sign a book deal. I was completely wired with caffeine and ready to work until she walked in.
Her stiletto heels clicked the hardwood floor as she entered my dim lit bedroom. Her stern facial expression as she pursed her lips and crossed her arms as she retorted a snarky remark.
"Must you be typing so fucking hard this late at night?"
"I can hear your aggressive typing from the hallway!"
I sarcastically rolled my eyes at the snarky remark and retorted back. Have I ever mentioned that I was an identical twin? I once shared a small place with... that! She may be my twin sister but we have nothing in common. We never see eye to eye and she drives me insane. She lives with me, unfortunately, because her boyfriend kicked her out and she had nowhere to go. As terrible as her "sisterhood" is, it shocks me too that I took her ungrateful ass in in the first place.
"I'm not going to apologize for trying to make a living for myself."
"I have a deadline that I have to make so you can take that negativity and shove it up your ass, Kaylee!"
"I have shit to do."
I took a sip of my energy drink and continued typing in home row while Kaylee yelped in frustration. She folded her arms at me and responded, "Whatever! Just keep it down!"
She exited my room and slammed the door with all of her force. I sarcastically rolled my eyes and continued my "aggressive typing" and got back to business. An hour and a half later, the caffeine adrenaline that I once had wore off and I started to crash. My eyelids were getting heavy and I decided to take a quick nap and get back into writing. You ever felt like you were sleeping longer that you expected to? It was one of those nights. As much as I want to get this novel completed and turned in, I need my sleep. Being an author is exhausting and you spend all your time confined in my place to write. Kathryn will kill me but I'll just ask for an extension to turn in my final draft.
Kaylee enters into Rylee's bedroom while Rylee is sleeping.
"It's about fucking time she stopped tapping on the fucking keyboard all night. Kaylee says to herself. "I need my rest, after all, I'm an upcoming supermodel by trade."
Kaylee rests her hand on her chin and looks at the computer screen and is repulsed.
"What is this shit that she's writing? It sounds boring as fuck. Maybe I should put my own twist on it."
Kaylee sits on the desk and turns the keyboard around and begins to type. As soon as she finished, she giggles to herself and gets off of the desk and exits the room. The next morning, I was awaken by the sunrays beaming through my window. I let out a yawn and reflected on the night that I had. I tapped the mouse and my draft pulled up and clicked "Save".
"I hope I saved my file." I said. "It would be a disaster if I didn't."
Kaylee entered the room and faced my direction and crossed her arms as she glared at me and retorted, "Are you in here talking to yourself again?"
I rolled my eyes at her, nonchalantly.
"Kaylee, don't start your shit this early in the morning, will ya? You've been talking shit all night."
"Then stop being so fucking weird then." Kaylee condescended. "Oh sorry. You can't!"
Kaylee chuckled as she grabbed her sides.
I rolled my eyes and stared daggers at her.
"Why are you even in my room anyway?"
"Just wanted to know how your novel was going."
"Eventhough I could care less about it because it's probably shitball." Kaylee said to herself.
"You don't care about me or my novel so don't seem interested now." I said, doubtfully.
"You're right; I don't give a shit about you or your novel." Kaylee taunted.
Kaylee waved and exited the room. I rolled my eyes and my iPhone 10+ started to ring. I sighed for a moment and answered.
"This is Rylee Hunter." I answered.
"Good morning, Miss Hunter. This is Kathryn, how are you?" Rylee's publisher said.
I began to feel little nervous in that moment.
"I'm doing well, is something wrong?"
"I'm calling to inform you that you missed your deadline And your submission was sent at 1:49AM. I'm pretty lenient with my authors but this is the second time that you've been late, Miss Hunter. If you can't get your submission in on time then I'm afraid I'll have to--," Kathryn raved.
My feet were planted and I stood there, stone cold, mortified.
"You're absolutely right, Kathryn. I'll just have to accept my punishment and forget about submitting my work. Sorry to have wasted your time. Could I meet you in person to explain myself?" I asked, nervously.
Kathryn sighed on the opposite end of the phone.
"Look, Miss Hunter, I don't like to be the bad guy. Deadlines are really important in this industry and you need to take advantage of that. I've been hounding you to have this in for six weeks. I'm available around 2:00 this afternoon. As long as you have a legitimate reason, I will able to listen. Is that understood?"
"Yes, ma'am. I'll see you at 2:00pm. Thank you, Kathryn." I replied, nervously.
I held my phone in my hand, nervously and looked down in despair. I then took a deep breath. That went smoother than I thought. Now I have to think of a little white lie to get her to continue our partnership. I really don't want to let her down and most importantly, myself.
Tue, April 24, 2018 @ 2pm in Kathryn Byrne Publishing.
As I entered the furnished waiting room of Kathryn Byrne Publishing, my feet were planted with the roots of doubt. I began to take a deep breath. This was it, I couldn't lie to Kathryn, I could only tell the truth, the honest truth. I began walking down the hallway that led to her office. As soon as I got to her office door, I knocked on her door. I heard her high highs clicking as she walked towards the door. She opened the door and greeted me with a smile.
"Good evening, Miss Hunter. Come on in."
Kathryn was wearing a pink silk blazer and a black leather pencil skirt and black Jimmy Choo heels with her jet black hair slicked back in a coif. She faced my direction as I entered her cozy yet retro office.
"Please, have a seat and make yourself comfortable." She said with a smile.
I sat on her white chaise with my ankles crossed and made myself relaxed.
"Thank you, Kathryn."
She crossed her arms and replied, "So tell me what you want me to know."
I scratched the back of my neck in nervousness.
"Well, Kathryn, you're not going to like what I'm about to tell you but--," I started. "I have worked as hard as I could to get this novel done by the deadline but I've had too many distractions."
Kathryn casually rested her hand on her chin.
"Distractions? What kind of distractions?"
"My fucking sister being a stuck up bitch all the time would be the first one."
"Language, please, Miss Hunter." Kathryn doubtfully told me.
I rubbed the back of my neck and apologized.
"I've been distracted by my twin sister that I don't get along with, my vacation to get my mind off of writing for a bit, and not being motivated enough. Please don't be mad at me."
Kathryn took a deep breath and began to speak.
"I'm not mad at you, Miss Hunter. I understand what kind of pressure you're under as an upcoming writer. As I mentioned before, deadlines are set in place for a reason."
Kathryn took her next breath to let out a sigh and continued.
"With that being said, I did receive your submission and was quite disappointed."
She gave me an awkward stare as she crossed her arms. I leaned back in disbelief.
"Why were you disappointed?"
"When I revised your rough draft, it seemed like you changed the story.
I was in shock by what I was hearing Kathryn say to me.
"There must be a mistake because I took all of your advice." I responded in denial.
"I'm just being honest with you, Miss Hunter. You had a solid storyline and it was completely different as I read it over. See for yourself. You'll notice exactly what I mean if you read my email."
I stood up from the chaise and began to walk towards Kathryn's computer. With Kathryn standing next to me, from the corner of my eye, I could tell that she was getting nervous. As I skimmed through my final draft that I have sent to Kathryn, I realized that all of my hard work has been compromised. A lot of the text that I have written has been sabotaged. One thing about being a writer is that you begin to remember what you've written and what you haven't. The first thing that came to my mind was that someone ruined my work and I knew exactly who could have done this... my evil twin sister, Kaylee Monèt Hunter.
I angrily crossed my arms and faced Kathryn. Startled by my disposition, Kathryn asked me what was wrong.
"What's the matter?" Kathryn asked, startled.
"That fucking bitch ruined my work! If she wants a war then by God, we will have a war!" I declared.
