The First Page Challenge 2024—3rd place

Congrats to Michelle Sanchez for winning third place in the First Page Challenge 2024! Here's what our judge (Michelle Barker) had to say:

"The author of House of Hunger did a wonderful job of creating tension right away and then maintaining it. Every moment contained the promise of threat which, combined with strong sensory detail, drew me into the scene and kept me there."

House of Hunger

22, June 1876, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico

Something is bothering Grandfather. He’s drumming his fingers and bouncing his knee. The table shakes with his rhythm and the water in my crystal glass sways. Grandfather wears his impatience like the dark suit jacket stretched across his stiff shoulders, reminding me of our horse Missy when she’s chomping the bit. Anxious. Unsettled. Capable of anything if triggered.

His gray eyes peer at me over the top of his newspaper. I squirm in my seat.

“He’s suspicious,” a male voice whispers. I ignore it.

Hard spindles press into my spine. My corset cages my torso tightly as I avert my attention to our dining table that is far too formal for my taste. Grasping my fork with clumsy fingers, I think of Mrs. Hartley’s extensive list of dos and don’ts during a proper English dinner. The pressure—to use the correct cutlery, not drag my sleeve in the soup, and keep my shoulders down and back straight—is exhausting.

I accidentally clink my fork against my plate, and Grandfather lowers his Gazeta de Puerto Rico. I hate how sounds that would be overlooked at a crowded dinner are obscenely loud when our long table is only occupied by two. As it always is.

For the hundredth time, I wish for someone else to act as a buffer between me and his moods.

The flickering flames of the massive silver candelabra worsen the dull headache behind my eyes and illuminate floral wallpaper that perfectly matches Grandfather’s merlot. He usually savors one glass of wine throughout dinner, but he’s already into his third tonight.

Michelle Sanchez is a graduate of the UC San Diego Copy Editing Program and author of House of Hunger, a YA Gothic horror story inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart set in atmospheric Puerto Rico. As a social introvert, she enjoys hosting both bible studies and murder mystery parties, reading, and writing twisty novels that somehow always include blood as a major theme. Michelle and her husband live in Puerto Rico where she homeschools their children when they aren’t surfing, playing sports, reading, or writing their own novels. You can follow her writing adventures on Twitter/X.