Creative Writing: The Cellar

The first half of my book “The Cellar” written by Natasha Preston, was so good that I could not put the book down. The girl, at that point, had no memories which include her name and anything before she woke up on a dirty, bloody cabin floor. She looked down at her throbbing hand and found that two of her fingernails were missing. This scene was super suspenseful, it felt as if I was actually in the book. The main character, recits, “I wake up. But wake up isn't quite right. That implies sleeping. A bed. A pillow. I come to. Instead of a pillow, my right cheek is pressed against something hard, rough, and gritty. A worn wood floor. My mouth tastes like old pennies. Blood. With my eyes still closed, I gently touch my teeth with my tongue. One

of them feels loose. The inside of my mouth is shredded and sore. My head aches and there's a faint buzzing in one ear. And something is wrong with my left hand. The tips of my pinkie and ring finger throb with every beat of my heart. The pain is sharp and red.” (Henry 1). I liked how the author had put this scene in the very beginning of the book and turned around and explained more later. This character as well was I, was in shock, and had no clue what to do. This was also right before a man had taken her out back to kill her. She had been hurt badly, and did not have much control over her body. She might not be able to stop the man, and even if she could, she might not have any family to go back to. She doubts if she even should fight back, considering she might not have anybody at all to go to. Also, she had no memories so finding them would be almost impossible. It sounds like the girl has a big decision to make.
As the man takes her out back, she is thinking harder than she really should be. She makes more time by dropping her dead weight on him. After a while of thinking over the decision she realized that she has a life, and she needs to live it. I really like the way this character had thought about this situation. It really reminded me of how the society is these days, not many people would think like that anymore. However, this girl had no clue how to even fight in the first place. That she knows of anyways. She had thought about how she could go at it, and it suddenly came to her. The girl, elbowed the man in the stomach, released her arm from his grip and push him to the ground, all in a quick motion. The man had stopped breathing, and blood drowned around him. The girl was confused on how that happened. She started to investigate him and found that he hit his head on a rock and crack it open. She grabbed his wallet and phone, then when back to the cabin. I cannot imagine making a decision to leave a man you just killed on the ground in the woods. However, in her case you do have to see where she is coming from. If I were about to be taken back into the woods to be killed, I might have done that same thing. Although, she got to the cabin and looked for anything useful and found nothing. This character then realized that another man is coming back, and at anytime he could walk in and figure out that she killed his partner and is trying to get away. She must find a way out of there as soon as possible.
She stole a set of keys for a ford vehicle that was parked outside.

If I were her I would be too scared to steal a vehicle. In society these days stealing a vehicle is a huge crime and can be punished severely for. Even if you were to be kidnapped you will still serve some punishment. Clearly this character did not care about that, as she got in the truck and drove off really fast. She had to get out of there as soon as possible. She had avoided the main roads, but still she had not a clue of knowing where she is going. She kept on driving trying to figure out where to go and who to trust. She had a couple of options, she could go to a hospital for her hand or she could go to the police and have them figure it out before it gets worse. She realized that she still had the man's phone and can use a GPS. She decided to go to the police to get this figured out before anything else happens. This scene to me, is very unrealistic because if I, and i am sure anybody else, were to be in that situation, I would not doubt where to go. The police is used to stop these kind of things. If she were to go to the hospital, and the killer found her there she would be screwed. However, she did finally use common sense and used the man's phone during that she found the nearest police station, Newberry Ranch. She had gotten there and ran into the building before anyone saw her. There was a man in a uniform reading a magazine at the front desk. As she ran up there and said that she needed help

he looked up with no facial expression. She had explained what happen in a timely manner in case anybody would look for her here. Only because she did choose the nearest police station to the cabin so that would be an obvious place to be. However, the policeman had sat there with wide eyes. He kind of just stared at her. The girl had gotten his attention back and reminded him that she needed help fast. As the man in the uniform got up to inspect her hand, he realized that her hand was not the only problem with her. She had blood coming through her shirt. He had to get her to a hospital and told her he needed to make a phone call. He then went to the back room. If that was me in that situation I would not want to be alone. What if someone bad were to burst through the door and grabbed her and the officer was just back there making a phone call. The good thing is that did not happen and when he did returned, he told her, he would go first and give the all clear sign and then she would have to run carefully and lay down in the back seat. The girl did as told and soon discovered that she is now trapped in a police car and this is all a joke to him. The police officer had told her “ Katie, I know what really happened. I talked to your doctor. You're an inpatient at Sagebrush. You attacked a counselor there Michael Brenner- and fled in his car. Sagebrush is a mental hospital.” (Henry 73). The girl other known as Katie, now has to figure out how to tell him what really happened or as another option, espace. However, she doubts if her story might actually be true. She could really be a mentally ill person who is so sick that she illusions things in her mind. Katie is now in a confusing position, with lots of things to figure out.
She then happened to threaten the officer with one of his guns and ended up escaping.

She then went to a McDonalds. Katie got her food and accidently fell asleep on her table until they closed. There was a worker named Ty that worked there and woke her up telling her that they were closing. She asked if she could quickly go to the bathroom and made it in there. Telling herself that everything is ok. As Katie started to walk out she heard voices asking Ty if they saw any girl that looked like her. She knew the voice. It was the guy that ordered to kill her. She stayed in the bathroom and made sure to stay in a stall on top of the toilet. I wonder why the author wrote this scene the way she did. She wrote it as if Katie was not scared and knew exactly what to do if something bad happened. However, Ty knew that something was up with her and told them that he did not see her today or any day. Ty then walked into the bathroom where Katie was at. He asked her what was going on. Katie told him everything and he promised to help her get away and told her to stay at his place for the night until they get things figured out. Katie doesn’t even know this guy. Can she even trust him? She followed his instructions with a little doubt and did what she was told. She went to his house and went to sleep trusting that she would be safe. This was another confusing moment because, she barely had enough trust to drive on the main roads when first escaping, and now she has enough trust to sleep

at some person's house. On top of that, the only reason she is even there is because he was there at the right time. Altogether, she had barely any doubts with this guy. I am not sure if the author did a good job in this scene. However, when she got up the next morning, Ty was planning on what to do next. His plan was to go to the city they thought she was from. After a lot of walking, they then arrived at the bus stop and got a ticket to Portland, which is the place she is considered to be from. Katie and Ty get on the bus, but they really don’t know where they are going. They don’t even know that is the city she is from in the first place. Even when they get to Portland, where would they go from there?
All in all, this half of the book has been super intense. This book included some really good detailed scenes and also some scenes that did not make sense to me. However, through all of the super intense scenes, I have had to put the book down to process what just happened, because of all the things that happened all at once. This book, is they type of book that has you hooked from the beginning to the end. I loved how the author had stuffed the part of Katie waking up on the cabin floor, on the first pages. It really kept me hooked. It made me have to stay for the explanation. I like books and find quite a bit of interest in them. However, all the books aren’t always that good, but this book has been a really great book so far. It was recommended from a friend and I was not too sure about it, but when I agreed to read it, I was very impressed. If I rate this book it would be a nine. The part at the beginning explaining her waking up on the floor and how she has no memory, was really interesting. Actually the whole half of this book was interesting. In this book I had many doubts and I often found myself feeling really bad for the character, Katie especially when she was being set up by the “doctor” saying she was a mental person. All in all, it has been a great book and I really recommend it to anybody out there.