Quick Sketch - Chapter 1

This is just a rough idea--I'm finding it hard to work out an entire story arc without some details, so I think I'd like to press through in a chapter form and then look at the whole, then dive back into it. Macro to micro, micro to macro, back and forth.

I also think that we can still use the dovinities to a degree. In these, I see the Healer (Hannah), The Apprentice/Assimilator (Colin), the Trammeller (Aseem) and the Prophet (Beth). Names are up for grabs--well, everything is, of course. But let's keep revision focus on grand ideas, not little details, at this point.

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Hannah is nine, sick and simple. Her mother, as with most of the world, is about to have a breakdown, just barely keeping it together. Hannah has turned the city into her playground, frequently going where she shouldn’t and coming home with cuts and bruises from debris. On one of her excursions, she finds a hurt pigeon and brings it home. Certain her mother will flip out, she hides it in a box in her room. The bird is a mess, but Hannah feeds it as best she can and talks and sings to it. At times, she feels the bird can understand her, and other times, she feels the presence of other things, other beings.

Colin is a sullen, twenty-something college dropout who didn’t have a life before this event, much less now. He’s smart, but directionless. He’s bitter, sarcastic, introverted, and seems to dislike everyone, feeling no one has ever given him a fair shot, so he blames other people for his problems. He works at a bookstore that has remained open, the old, cheerful man that owns it believing it best for the people to go about business as usual. While making busy work, he finds a book that has been filled with handwriting over the text, appearing to be the ravings of a lunatic, but describing in detail what has been happening. Unsure if he wants to do anything or tell anyone, he simply pockets the book and decides to decide later.

Aseem is a builder from a poor town in India who has lost his children to tragedy. His wife is only a shell and he tries to maintain his strength for appearances but breaks down in private. He was a devout Hindu, but sees no point now, doubting all he ever believed. In an attempt to find some peace, however, he sheepishly performs a ritual with meditation, more for the comfort of the familiar than anything. He suddenly enters into a trance, receiving visions, voices, warnings and pleadings to help. He doesn’t know what or why, but he is rejuvenated, believing God is not dead and all is not lost. Eager for something to do besides watch his wife wither away, he sets out to the wilderness for an extended meditation.

Beth is homeless, an old black woman who lived through more than her share of horrors. She is quiet, always smiling, and most passersby figure she has a few screws loose. Ever since a traumatic incident in her childhood, she’s had future sight, though never on command and never much help. After the big event, she is plagued by painful, strong images of even greater destruction and more suffering. She also sees a little girl and a pigeon.