I groaned as I woke up, my head pounding and eyes dry and scratchy. I blinked in the dark, disoriented. The clock on the table beside me showed that there were still several hours before morning. I sighed as I worked a hand out from under the covers and rubbed my forehead. “What’s wrong, baby?” I heard whispered into my neck as muscled arms pulled me tighter. I smiled as Teagan nuzzled his face into the crook of my neck....

Chapter Fourteen - Nick “I’ll do it,” Minerva says quietly. “I don’t want you anywhere near him,” Eliot says protectively. “If he did shoot Oasis that means he’s already hurt one of daughters I don’t want him to have the chance to hurt another one.” “I have to do this dad. I have to help the police catch him. For my sister,” Minerva says in a calm voice. “I’ll go with her if you want,” I say without hesitation knowing tha...

Chapter Thirteen - Minerva I sit in the seat waiting for the doctors to come out and give us some news, any news. I sit there hoping and praying that my sister will be okay. I can feel the tears silently falling down my face. It’s been three hours since the nurse told us that they had to operate to remove the bullet and we still haven’t been told what has happened yet. I am looking at the clock on the wall for the thousan...

Sitting out here as a million stars circle the Earth high above my head, as I slowly drift back in memory to all of those things that happened and that were said then, and turning my attention to the pain that I have always denied yet knowing it still lingers there in some way. Maybe I could have changed if wisdom would have courted me instead of the way fear and mistrust did, with those ties that bind and bless the soul...

Chapter Twelve - Nick I find Oasis’ family in the stands and take my seat next to Olivia. She passes me a copy of the program and I see that Oasis is coming up after two other people. “I just seen Oasis and she was a bit nervous,” I say to Olivia politely. “She’ll been fine, Nick. She’s always nervous before she competes but once she gets in the arena is fine,” Olivia tells me with a smile. “She was so happy that you can...

Chapter Eleven - Oasis Juliet helps me unload Marina from her horse trailer so that I can groom her before I have to get changed into my dressage competition attire. I quickly and carefully start braiding her mane into button braids. When I’ve finished braiding her mane, I check that her tail is properly pulled and trimmed. Once her hair is all properly groomed, I make sure that her coat is properly brushed and shiny and...

Chapter Ten - Nick I sit at my desk working on my maths homework when my I hear my phone’s text tone go off. I check it and see that it is from Oasis. I need to talk to you, can we video chat later? I quickly reply and tell her I’ll be on at seven before setting my phone aside and getting back to my homework. I sit there looking at the questions on compound interest trying to figure them out but I can’t seem to concentrat...

Chapter Nine - Oasis I grab the saddle clothes off the railing, put them in place on Marina’s back before proceeding to put the saddle on her. Once I have everything put on her properly and have checked that everything is secure, I put her bridle, reins and the bit on her. Once I have her fixed up, I lead her through the stables and up to the riding pavilion. When she is next to the blocks, I throw the reins over her head...

|| Iris ||I sat at an orange picnic table, waiting for my interview. I ran my hand through my chopped hair, letting the winter sun warm my scalp. The families weren't supposed to be shopping, it was supposed to be a 'getting to know you' visit, but it was an audition and everyone knew it. I was worried- I didn't want to get placed. I would rather stay at this crappy foster home until I was eighteen.At a table under the bi...

Sitting here late at night and half asleep I seem to hear a voice calling me, as I listen and wonder if it is only in my mind or is it coming from someone I failed in some way or merely left behind? To sort it all out I let all of the good and bad guys I have been along with the demons and angels who defeated them come together in me now as I greet them like a cast that’s been assembled like a gathering in an empty room o...

Chapter Eight - Nick I feel a slow happy warm glow build up in me and when I pull back, I see that same happy glow shining from her eyes. She slowly leans back in and gives me a lingering peck on the lips, before pulling back and biting her lower lip. I slowly reach up, push a strand of hair out of her eye, before reaching down and grabbing her hand. “I hope this is a good movie,” I say to Oasis as the cinema starts to fi...

Moving forward, as I cross the river heading down this winding road to that place beyond the pecan groves. Passing bare trees and barren fields, which has me think of Fall and the events that took place there one winter’s night, and knowing that the Fall is sometimes known as the season of dying and yet there is something truly sincere about it, with the dying leaves knowing no manner of lying and are just alive and then...

Finding myself standing outside early one hot August evening in the middle of a heat wave, and being able to feel and see the heat rising in the still motionless air, as all the leaves droop and hang down. Looking to the far horizon and seeing that summer sun slowly setting in the distance like molasses. As it seems to set both the skies and horizon on fire in this turning of twilight, as I turn and head inside. Heading t...

Sitting here once again at my favoured corner table with my back to the wall, and knowing that closing time is soon approaching and I should be leaving this place soon. Yet, I am comfortable and at ease knowing that part of the current nightmarish situation has passed, as I am now looking past those bottles that seem to stand as though on file that were killed one by one. Now looking to where the sound of a guitar is bein...

It was a moment, when arguing was up a blind alley, and that remaining silent was the best way of protecting yourself. The vertically challenged lady’s friends came and helped her put the blame on me. The usual stack in my high school fairy tale, oh I’m so used to this. People in this school just loved making mountains out of molehills. They said I splashed the drink at her on purpose. It was not a big deal, really. It wa...