An Entry

Hi guys! I'm so excited, because Brooke at Teen Words of Steel  is hosting contests again. The contest is open to anyone, and followers of her blog can vote for the entry they like best. Check out Sarah's post for all the rules. The entry's are due by this Wednesday. Now, moving past all the specifics, here is my entry: It came out at 305 words. (Thank you Brooke so much for giving a fairly large word count limit)

     The door swung open, scraping against the linoleum floor. I looked up at the sound, my aching head swimming with the movement.

     A man walked into the hotel lobby, tracking the rain in with him and capturing my attention. He looked like a character who'd crawled out of an Alice in Wonderland story and discovered the emo style. Dyed black hair edging his face, and a leather jacket, set off with a top hat.

     His liner rimmed eyes swung around to me and I looked down quickly and tried to look like I actually wanted the continental breakfast in front of me. I heard his steps coming closer and bit in a frown as he slid into the chair across the table from me.

     "Mind if I sit here?" His deep Chicago accent pulled my gaze up and he smiled, the skin around his lip ring pulling tight.

     A knot balled in my throat and I shook my head slightly. "That's fine."

     His smile grew wider, but it wasn't the grin of a Mad Hatter. This was someone who knew exactly what he was doing, and probably what everyone else was too.

     When I didn't return the smile his green eyes dropped to my plate. "That looks good. I think I'll get some." He stood and crossed over to the breakfast bar and I felt like I could breathe again. He returned a few minutes later, his plate heaped high. "Name's Con."

     I squinted at him involuntarily and he chuckled low in his throat. "Relax lady. It's short for Conrad."

     "Oh." I pushed the word out with effort. 

     He looked at me hard a moment then shook his head. "You want to hear a story?" He leaned back in his chair decisively, before I could even answer, his breakfast already forgotten. "Once upon a time."