Hey, I've just been in the mood to share my original stuff no matter how bad it may be. So this is the first chapter of yet another novel I tried writing. This time my Junior year? I think. October 2018. This was supposed to be the first book in a five or six book series I think called Sutton Grimes and the Claimed. Media is cover.
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Most ten year olds were held awake by the horrible thought of a demon in their closet, a monster under the bed, or perhaps a mangled face in their bedroom window. Those kinds of thoughts still kept little Sutton Grimes awake at night. But each of those monsters had an odd little feature about them. They were all were all wearing glasses. They were all wearing his grandmother's glasses. Or his father's. Or his mother's. Or his older sister's.
It was because Sutton's grandmother had the dirtiest glasses in all of Accra. To him, it seemed like everyone in his family had filthy glasses. He hated looking at them. They were always covered in dust and dirt with fingerprint smudges to mix everything together.
Sutton always tried to get his family to clean their glasses- in his mind they couldn't even see through all the dirt and grime. He always said that to them, too: "Just because our last name is Grimes doesn't mean your glasses have to be grimy." He thought he was the cleverest ten year old on the planet.
When he first said that to them, they thought it was funny. They got tired of it around the second time.
But it wasn't like Sutton hated dirt. He really didn't mind it. It was just the glasses. They're right in his family's faces, right in front of their eyes.
He was just a concerned citizen who couldn't- wouldn't- let it go.
"Nana," Sutton would say.
Before he could even finish, Awesi would speak. "Yes, Sutton, I know. I need to clean my glasses. I'm sure your parents do as well," she would say, "Are you going to tell Esi, too?"
Sutton would end up telling his sister, along with his parents, the same thing.
Every.
Single.
Day.
They would eventually miss Sutton's pestering when he went away.
***
"SUTTON ADDAE GRIMES! I SWEAR ON EVERYTHING GOOD ON THIS EARTH IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR BEHIND BACK HOME THIS INSTANT-" Ama Grimes shouted over one of the two cell phones the family owned. This one was to stay inside the apartment and it wasn't to leave under any circumstances. The other was for the children, Esi and Sutton, to take when they left the home to hang out with their friends in the city.
"There is a thunderstorm, Mama. We are going to wait it out!" said Esi over the cell phone in her hand. She and Sutton had taken shelter in a diner from a surprise thunderstorm.
