PitchSlam #6: Defensive Gun, YA Contemporary

Genre: YA Contemporary/Realistic

Title: Defensive Gun

Word Count: 57,000

Song: "Possibility" by Lykke Li and "Brave" by Sara Bareilles

Pitch: During the course of a TV interview, Amanda relives the painful memories of her kidnapping and escape; if she doesn't tell her story now, her captor will do it for her.

First 250: Walking into the television studio was painfully similar to walking into the police station. The TV crew got really quiet and tried not to stare. They probably thought I wouldn't notice but how could I not? Those deputies and lawyers and handcuffed criminals had done the same thing. 

My shoulders sagged under the weight of their curiosity. I hated it but I understood. I was the girl who’d been kidnapped, here to tell the world everything that happened. Well, almost everything. I wasn't sure I was ready to talk about the day I was found.

You’re okay. You can do this. Just keep walking.

My steps faltered and I grabbed my brother, Travis’s arm. “I wish I had my tennis shoes.” 

Mom turned when she heard that. She knew which shoes I wanted—the ones I’d been wearing the night they got me back. But they were locked away in police evidence, covered in dirt and blood. She softened when I started rubbing my hand. “Talking about it will help.”

Her reminder was my doctor’s echo, a five-word platitude I couldn't escape.

I rubbed harder. 

“Well, at the very least it’ll take some of the public’s interest in you away,” dad, the practical one, said.

I nodded and pretended like I agreed with them, like those were the reasons I was doing this interview so soon. But they weren't. 

I had to talk now, before she got the chance. No one else had the right to tell my story.