Trial and Error

Azazel

Chapter 1 - Azazel

Sprinting through the woods, Carol frantically looked for a weapon to fight the horrifying beast behind her. The screams of her friend being eaten alive still echoed in her ears as picked up a large stick she could use as a bat. She knew the same thing could happen to her if she tried to fight this bloodthirsty monster behind her. Closing her eyes as It grew closer, Carol swung when she thought the moment was right, using all of her stregnth to smash the makeshift bat into Its head and-

Damn.

Thats no good either.

I ripped the page out of my notebook and threw it into the wastepaper basket, along with the rest of my bad attempts at making a horror novel. Im so used to writing romance that when I started writing I completely blanked. Even with the help of my best friend Ashton, who loves anything horror I cant make anything good. I really should just scrap this whole project and make a sequel to-

"Azazel, 'cmon! Youre going to be late!" Ashton yelled as he ran into my bedroom. Two cups of boiling hot coffee were in his hands, and small droplets of the steaming liquid spattered my glasses.

"Ugh, dont shake the coffee around so much you idiot! I already have bad enough vision." I replied angrily as I reached for my glasses cleaner. "And what am I going to be late for? The only plans Ive had today was to work on this stupid novel."

"Ok then... Wow I cant beleive you forgot." Ash said as he walked over to me and handed me my coffee. 30oz. of english toffee with exactly 4 pumps of chocolate syrup pumped into it. Perfection.

"Azie, honey ("Dont call me that!"), dont freak out when I tell you this.. You have a fan meetup and book signing at Barnes & Noble in half an hour."

"Yeah, so? It takes 5 minutes to walk there ill be fine." I said as i turned back towards my notebook to make a new atempt at writing my latest novel.

"Barnes & Noble in Farmington. Thats a forty-five minute drive from here, assuming that we wont get any traffic, no red lights, and we're speeding 20 mph over the limit. Chances are itll take an 75 minutes to drive."

As he let this sink in, my expression just changed from complete annoyance to oh-shit-im-late (you all know the face) in about 3 seconds. "GET UP WE NEED TO GO!" I shouted, quickly grabbing my jacket off my bed and quickly ran out of the room. Streaking out the front door, I ran out to the car, not even taking a second to appreciate how nice of a day it was. I grabbed the handle of my junky old '98 Chevy just to realise, it was locked.

"Forget these?" Ash yelled, my car keys dangling in his hand, as he rushed out of the house. Once we start driving, I finally get a chance to relax.

"God, I cant beleive I forgot my own fan meetup. Plus its my first one." I sighed. "I am such an idiot.."

"Oh, dont get me all the pitty party crap. It'll be fine. The fans will probably get a kick out of it. Plus, it will be a good chance to release a sneak peek of your new novel."

I just muttered a response and stared at the road. I dont think anybody realises how much more of a big deal this is than it seems. Ive published multiple romance and chick lit novels, but never a horror. Not even a romance/horror novel. This will come as a big surprise to a lot of people. Im not sure how their reaction will be.

"Azazel! Hey! Pay attention to the road!" Ash yelped, as I narrowly missed a red pickup truck.

About an hour later, we arrived at the Barnes & Noble, both slightly freaking out. It was when we had just gotten out of the car that I noticed I was still in my pajamas. This normally wouldnt be a big deal and could be easily explained, but these werent just any pajamas. These were the ones that my Uncle got me as a joke. Colored bright pink with prints of herself from various stages of her life printed onto it (A/N Anybody get the Gilmore Girls reference? Jacksons pajamas? No? Ill let myself out. ^^;). I seriously dont even know how he got so many pictures of me. The worst part, is that on the butt is a picture of me as a baby, naked and spitting up, next to the words Cute widdle Baaaaby. The only reason I was wearing them was because I was spending so much time working on my newest novel that I havent gotten around to doing laundry. I couldnt go in there wearing that, so I quickly jumped back into the car, crawled into the backseat and looked through the dirty laundry bag in the back for some clothes. I seriously need to take that thing to the laundromat. Some of the stuff in there I dont even remember wearing, and something must have been wet cause a lot was mildewy. Just when I had pulled out a pair of sweatpants that smelled like coleslaw and had a stain on them, I felt a jacket land on my back and saw that it was Ash's.

"Where that." He said. "I know how much you hate things to be dirty, and I would just feel bad if you had to wear week old clothes. Its big on you, so it should be able to cover you cute widdle baby ass." Ashton grinned as he said that.

"Oh, um.. Thanks Ash." I responded, blushing a little bit at the kindness in his eyes. Im not really used to people being that nice to me. Ashton and my familty are really the only people I talk to. Ash and I have been friends since we were babies. Literally. He was always at the same hospital playground as me. See, I was born three months early, which is not good for you as you probably know. Because I wasnt fully developed when my mother went into labor, I ended up being in the hospital for multiple months before they let me out. Even then, I still had to go back a lot because of how easily sick I got. I always got the exact same hospital room, and I actually can almost remember it better than my own bedroom because of how much time I spent there. Meanwhile, Ashton was in the hospital when he was three years old because of a car crash. A drunk driver ran a red light and smashed into the side of his familys minivan. His parents were mostly ok, bruised up of course, because the driver had hit middle of the car, not the front. It was on the right side, the side where Ashton sat that he hit. Ash's right leg and arm were broken, and he had a minor concussion. He also had 2 broken ribs, and was obviously pretty bruised up on the rest of his body. He would have died if the First Responders hadnt gotten him out fast enough, because the drunk's car was almost on top of theirs and slowly crushing down. Both cars were obviously totaled, and Ash's family almost went bankrupt because of the price of the new car and hospital fees. The only thing that saved them was Ashtons dad getting a pity bonus that was enough to pay for about 2 months of bills and a raise. He was my only friend in that hospital, and it devastated me when he left. Our parents both stayed in contact though, so we got to see each other at play dates. Twenty-four years later and we are still friends. Honestly I'm surprised it lasted this long.

"Ok, now that you have something to cover that up with," Ash said, emphasizing the word that, "we can go inside. We dont want to keep your fans waiting."

As we walked inside, it sounded like the building exploded. Screams of at least 50 people echoed throughout the building. All kinds of people. Asian, black, white, old, young, women, men, everything. I was expecting there to be about 15 squealy teenage girls. I didnt think it could ever be this diverse! I waved a little bit as I walked up to a small table that was set up with a banner hanging off of it that read, Azazel Wilson Book Signing Here! Taking a shuddery breath, I pushed up my glasses, and sat down with Ash at the table. The book signing had now begun.