She never wears plaits

by VeraWinters

Published September 24, 2009

Vesper is 15 and restless.

She wants a new best friend, a new guitar, new everything. The night before today she went to a party, at the moment she is not exactly sure what happened but her blond hair was tied into messy plaits and, reader let me tell you, Vesper never wears plaits.

She also found herself in a foreign bed, in a foreign room with a hideous Marilyn Manson poster on the ceiling. Sitting next to her was a boy with a bad case of acne and had reminiscence of his hair gel on a pillow. On a mattress next to her is a girl with a fire of red hair that she roughly remembers from her maths class. She is lying on a boys chest, face smeared with pink lipstick into a wonky grin.

Then she looked at herself. Surprisingly, her fingers were the first thing her gaze went to.

They were smeared messily with permanent marker and the skin around the nail was gnawed off.

But then she saw the rest of her body, she was naked, to begin with, her legs and arms sprawled aimlessly on the mattress. But she noticed that her body was not all the pale pink of her skin, some of it was ink.

Horrified she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror, writer had conveniently written the writing backward so she could read it.

Written in a bearably readably style, Stretching out along her legs and torso were the words “soon to be on youtube.”

Oh no.

Comments & reviews · 4
User avatar
kaitlyn
Review
kaitlyn wrote a review Review · Dec 27, 2022

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night(whichever one it is in your part of the world),

Hi! I'm here to leave a quick review!!

Anyway let's get right to it,

Vesper is 15 and restless.

She wants a new best friend, a new guitar, new everything. The night before today she went to a party, at the moment she is not exactly sure what happened but her blond hair was tied into messy plaits and, reader let me tell you, Vesper never wears plaits.

She also found herself in a foreign bed, in a foreign room with a hideous Marilyn Manson poster on the ceiling. Sitting next to her was a boy with a bad case of acne and had reminiscence of his hair gel on a pillow. On a mattress next to her is a girl with a fire of red hair that she roughly remembers from her maths class. She is lying on a boys chest, face smeared with pink lipstick into a wonky grin.


Oooh this is a rather intriguing place to start here. We've got ourselves what seems like a fairly typical character just being casually tossed out there and then it manages to really come right into a pretty dangerous sounding situation there. I love the rather fast transition it leaves us a little disoriented and definitely grabs our attention really quite well.

Then she looked at herself. Surprisingly, her fingers were the first thing her gaze went to.

They were smeared messily with permanent marker and the skin around the nail was gnawed off.

But then she saw the rest of her body, she was naked, to begin with, her legs and arms sprawled aimlessly on the mattress. But she noticed that her body was not all the pale pink of her skin, some of it was ink.


Well that is a truly horrifying place to wake up. The earlier part seems to be relatively confusing and a little scary but not so bad, but as we expand on the descriptions here things have taken a rather terrifying turn there with this little description. Whatever has gone down here it does not seem like its about to be a good thing.

Horrified she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror, writer had conveniently written the writing backward so she could read it.

Written in a bearably readably style, Stretching out along her legs and torso were the words “soon to be on youtube.”

Oh no.


Ahhhh that's an incredibly chilling ending. I was worried it was headed in that direction, and my fears ended up being properly confirmed with a step further there when it comes to the mention of YouTube. It looks like we've ended up running into the worst outcome here and I think you do a good job shocking us just about enough there before leaving it off on that cliffhanger.

Aaaaand that's it for this one.

As always remember to take what you think was helpful and forget the rest.

Stay Safe
Harry

Random avatar
alecmoran
Review
alecmoran wrote a review Review · Sep 24, 2009

Hola Vera,
Just some things for criticism:

I think it's been said, but I'm not sure exactly how the first paragraph fits into the rest of the story.
Also, and maybe this is a regional thing, or a girl thing, but I have no idea what plaits are.
And finally, I'm not exactly sure what's happened in the story. She wakes up naked in a bedroom, on top of a boy, with another girl on another mattress next to her. She looks at her naked body in the mirror to discover that someone has written "soon to be on youtube" on it? Now, I don't want to be a stickler, but nudity can't even be on youtube, as far as I've heard.

Now, onto the positives. I think you've created a really cool character, and the voice and mood of your story are really great. And in particular, I think you've got one really cool line:

VeraWinters wrote:her body was not all the pale pink of her skin, some of it was ink.

This has a really nice broken-verse sound to it. Perhaps you'd like to try replicating that in your piece? I think that would be pretty awesome.

Peace and love

User avatar
rlw92
Review
rlw92 wrote a review Review · Sep 24, 2009

This story didn't really appeal to me. For a start the never wearing plaits didnt make sense, it is more the title of a thriller than of a rather short almost embarassing tale.
Also the story doesn't really flow. For example you explained that the girl beside her had a "fire of red hair", but why do we need to know this?
You could have said something along the lines of "Beside her lying unconcious on the boy was a familiar faced student with auburn red hair flowing in a mess around her."
Basically look back over this do ALOT of editing and come back to me.

User avatar
LilyJamey
Review
LilyJamey wrote a review Review · Sep 24, 2009

Hey, Vera, I'm Lily (well, duh) and I'm going to give your first brutalisation critique! :twisted:

My comments and nitpickies are in bold.

VeraWinters wrote:Vesper is 15 fifteen (write out numbers) and restless.
She wants a new best friend, a new guitar, new everything. Not sure how this line fits in with the rest of your piece. The night before today she went to a party. Fullstop (or period, depending on where you're from), not comma. At the moment she is not exactly sure what happened, comma here but her blond hair was Do you mean "is"? That would make more sense. tied into messy plaits and reader, let me tell you, Vesper never wears plaits.
She also found herself in a foreign bed, in a foreign room with a hideous Marilyn Manson poster on the ceiling. Sitting next to her was a boy with a bad case of acne and had reminiscence not particularly sure, but I think "remains" would work better here. So Mr. Acne is awake? of his hair gel on a pillow. On a mattress next to her is a girl with a fire of red hair that she roughly remembers from her maths class. She is lying on a boy's chest, face smeared with pink lipstick into a wonky grin.
Then she looked at herself. Okay, why the sudden switch in tenses? Surprisingly, her fingers were the first thing her gaze went to.
They were smeared messily with permanent marker and the skin around the nail was gnawed off.
But then she saw the rest of her body. Fullstop, not comma.
She was naked, to begin with, her legs and arms sprawled aimlessly on the mattress. But (I don't think it's really needed.) She noticed that her body was not all the pale pink of her skin, some of it was ink.
Horrified, she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. Fullstop, not comma. The writer had conveniently written the writing backward so she could read it.
Written you could use another word, like scrawl, to avoid repetitiveness. in a bearably readablyI think you mean barely readable? style, stretching out along her legs and torso, were the words “soon to be on youtube.”
Oh no.


I love how you just dove straight in to the story. :D However, the second line seems strange and kinda out of place. You got a bit of your word usage and grammar wrong. Also, maybe you should use more of your MC's name instead of "she", so as to be less repetitive.

I like the way it unfurls, though. And it's a cool hooker. It makes me really curious about what comes next and before. I'll totally be waiting for the sequel.

Hope I helped!

Cheers,
Lily.



Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
— Voltaire