Background came from this design.
Genre: Contemporary YA Mystery
Word Count: 46,000 words
3 line Pitch:
Fresh out of juvie for arson, fifteen-year-old Mazie is living on the streets and drawing for a tattoo shop when she learns that Samantha, the daughter of the firefighter killed in the flames Mazie started, has disappeared. When she finds out a serial kidnapper is on the prowl, and that Samantha is likely one of his victims, Mazie hunts for clues that could save Samantha from becoming the next body to wash ashore. But finding Samantha means NOT laying low—a dangerous proposition considering a sexy tattooed stranger, maybe the kidnapper, is hunting Mazie down.
First 250:
I was the only guilty kid in juvie—or the only one who admitted it. When they stamped TIME SERVED on my court docs and Aunt Deb was done posing as a responsible adult, I stepped into the street and kept walking. Past the chain-link-fence-covered basketball courts. Past the half-lit Bail Money Now sign. Past Luther’s Pawn Shop and its promise of the best price for my gold.
If I went far enough, there would be a grassy park where people walked dogs and flew kites. If I took enough steps, nobody would know enough to whisper and wonder about the girl who lit the spark that grew into the flames that devoured the house on Decatur Road.
The sun breathed on me. I squirmed as drops of sweat rolled down my back. A car turned onto the street with its bass pounding. I looked at the cracks in the sidewalk and studied the ants. They hurried like a liquid line to a smashed crispy frog.Still, they knew where to go.
I slid my hand in my pocket and felt for the wad of ones Mama sent me. Still there. Not enough for a bus ride to South Carolina, but she couldn’t keep me anyhow.
“I’ll send more when business picks up,” she wrote.
I wondered where she’d send it.
My stomach growled. If I could hold off until sunset I could dumpster dive at the bread store. Maybe I’d even score some banana bread.
I walked quicker. A lone ant.
T--Brittany Booker
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