Pitch Slam Entry 4: THE RUNAWAYS, YA Thriller

Genre: YA Thriller

Title: THE RUNAWAYS


Word Count: 100,000

Pitch:

When Hailey, eighteen, fails to murder her father, he hires Caleb, cassanova-turned-killer to make her disappear. Caleb forgoes duty for runaway love; trading twisted family loyalties for her life. Betrayal never looked so good.

First 250:

My dad has a gun he thinks I don't know about. It's somewhere in his bedroom. Technically, the place is off limits, but I've never been good with imaginary lines.

Sometimes eavesdropping has it's perks. Especially on mornings when he thinks no one's listening--that's when his secrets slip through the walls.

Ten minutes ago, he whispered the dirtiest words in D.C. to a stranger on the phone.

"I'm not your friend, I'm the man with a .45 under his bed. I hope you're not dumb enough to cross me. I've never killed anyone, but that doesn't mean I won't."

Some monsters speak truth. I hoped Dad wasn't. So I figured I'd find out.

I snuck in when he stepped out--tiptoed down the hallway while he dragged his ten irons downstairs. He would've heard me if he paid attention.

So I tried to make him. I scraped my pink-peeling toe nails across his expensive wood floors just to see if he'd catch me.

Punish me.

Notice me.

Just once.

"Hailey?"

His voice cut through the quiet and ripped the air out of my lungs. I plastered myself against the wall waiting for my body to remember how to breathe, for the crash of footsteps to come clamoring up the stairs.

But nothing changed.

He shoved keys into the front door and let the conversation suffocate.

He should've yelled at me. Questioned me. Caught me red-faced and red-handed standing right next to his ugly little room full of ugly little secrets.





2 comments:

  1. I am not sure if my previous request made it, so sorry for the duplication. Please send full to Uwe Stender.
    uwe@triadaus.com

    ReplyDelete

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