tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33041869322077377422024-03-07T18:57:30.203-08:00Finding the Soul ShoreAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15390595479663242537noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3304186932207737742.post-9852323068388905662014-03-01T10:23:00.002-08:002014-03-01T10:23:37.755-08:00Chapter 2<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> “Paxton Shaw…that’s me, right? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah,” I mutter to myself, huffing as I walk
down the street with my hands stuffed into my pockets, my breath white in the
freezing air. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Snow swirls vaguely in the
wind, tiny flakes sticking to the ice on the lank grass and melting on the
street and the sidewalk, leaving them a wet, slippery mess of cracked concrete.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I haven’t heard a human voice all
morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone is gone, and there’s
no one to talk to but me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Am I going to
disappear too?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t want to forget
me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’m Paxton Shaw. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My parents are Daniel and Colin Shaw. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a sister, Ainsley, and she’s six years
old. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My best friends are Rachel Bishop
and Stefan Faulk. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh…damn it…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stefan.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stop moving, scanning the empty houses in
front of me. I haven’t even made it to the end of the street.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How could I have forgotten about Stefan?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He stayed with us last night, climbed in
through the window and crawled into bed right between Rachel and me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So he’s gone too, then.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, they’re not gone. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know where they are, but I will find
them. I can’t help but see Ainsley’s face, though, her hazel eyes round and
wet, her chubby cheeks bright with spots of red like they always are when she’s
scared. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is she with Papa or is she
just…alone?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Pax!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stefan…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I whip around but there’s no one there, no
sound but silence and the wind soughing through the trees that rise up behind
the houses. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our neighborhood is nothing
but a swath of clearing cut into an old forest. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was Stefan’s voice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been hearing that voice since before I
could walk, back when he was a chubby toddler pretending he was big enough to
push me in the baby swings. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Stefan?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No answer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Stefan!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing but the wind rustling and the sudden
flash of snow blowing into my eyes, snow from a cloudless purple sky. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I turn to the side, shading my eyes, and I see
the house on the corner up ahead, a two-story red brick house, with vines
creeping up the sides, clinging to the windows. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stefan’s house.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I run, my chest tight and heavy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve walked up to every house I’ve passed,
peering through the blind-less windows and hoping to see Mr. Calgary reading
the newspaper at the kitchen table or getting his horde of children ready for
school, but no matter which window I’m pressed against, inside there’s always
the same thing—empty walls, little or no furniture and the kind of scraps of
trash on the floor that get left behind when people move, before the realtor
has a chance to come in and clean.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe Stefan’s house is different. Maybe he didn’t
want to wake me this morning and went home early before…whatever…happened. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let there be something different there, I
think before breaking into a run. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
tall and bony, all elbows, knees and gangly lines, with few of the curves other
girls seem to be growing and even less in the way of breasts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re more like beestings than anything
else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s good though. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Long legs and a lean body helps me run faster,
helps me sprint the long yards to the corner house in moments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Running feels good, exhilarating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Running makes me feel like I’m actually doing
something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It always has.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stop in the yard, my feet pressed together
on a thick granite stepping stone, now overgrown and cracked in half. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That door hasn’t opened for me in a year, not
since Stefan came out to his parents and his mother decided my dads were a bad
influence on him. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I only see him at
school and at night when he sneaks in through my window, leaving again before
the sun rises. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, it’s open now.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It hangs crookedly on
rusted hinges, vines grown wild across the surface of the brick, so thick the
brick can’t even be seen in most places. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I push the door wider and squeeze through the
crack, but hope falls flat just over the threshold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stefan’s house is no better than the others. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The wallpaper’s yellowed and peeling from the
walls, the tile floor cracked and left bare after the gutting of all the
furniture. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So far my house is the only
one I’ve seen with any furnishings left at all, like my family left in more of
a rush than the others.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such a rush that they forgot to take me with
them. Swallowing hard, I duck my head and spit out a curse that would make Dad
smack me a good one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They didn’t leave
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They wouldn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I head for the stairs,
stepping lightly on wood that is probably rotten. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Wait.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">There’s a handprint on
the wall near the top, a bright blue one that stands out starkly against the dusty
white of the flaking plaster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be
something, I think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell me something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I touch me finger to the print, and the very
tip pulls away, cold and blue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paint.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s wet paint on the wall.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Come
on, Superboy!” I yell, sounding a lot calmer than I actually am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyone could be in the rooms up here, or gone
already.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All I know is someone with
hands bigger than Ainsley’s has been here in the last hour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Tell me you’re up here trying to work out
the new super-symbol you’ll use every time you interrupt a mugging or pull a
squirrel out of traffic.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Still no answer, but why
should I be surprised?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether it’s a
dream or the start of a new living nightmare, silence is my new reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I study the handprint, my fingers tracing
just outside its edges, my feet poised on the top two steps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s small enough that I know it wasn’t a
person Papa’s size, or even Dad’s, which means it was probably a woman or a
teenager, someone closer to my size.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
smeared too, with long finger-streaks of blue trailing away from the fingers of
the print and down the hall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I follow
them around until they trail into nothingness at Stefan’s door.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Stefan?” I call, stepping inside.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fear freezes my muscles and leaves me hollow
because Stefan’s room isn’t empty like all the others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stefan’s room is like it always was, except
it’s very, very wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything is
frantically tumbled—dressers drawers pulled wide, clothes strewn across the
floor, posters pulled from the walls and ripped apart. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Slashes cut through sheets and pillows, glass
shattered on the floor, crunching under my feet even just two steps inside the
door.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
were they looking for?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did they find it?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Or
him? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did
someone hurt Stefan?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
can’t move.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, what am I supposed
to hope for here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did they take
something I need, someone I love?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or was
it someone I love who was here, doing this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If so, did they find what they were looking for, and will it help me
find them?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And is it okay for me to just
be relieved, even exhilarated that the paint is wet, that the room still looks
like Stefan’s no matter what’s been done to it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Is it okay to be happy that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">someone,
</i>whoever and wherever they are, is still alive?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I’m not alone.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I’m not alone, and for
the first time today, I’m smiling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Blue paint is splattered over the pale gray
walls, words scrawled in frantic fury:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I’m not what I seem.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I turn around, catching sight of the open
window and blowing curtains, and the words <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Find
it </i>in dripping paint beside the window, childish finger-paintings of what
look like waves or maybe just squiggles dabbled beneath and beside it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The white closet doors are so splattered with blue
it looks like someone dropped a bucket from the ceiling and left the mess
behind. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pull the doors open,
half-expecting to find Stefan gagged on the closet floor, but it’s just
empty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything that belongs in his
room is in it, as far as I can see, even the half-eaten box of peanut butter cereal
that could always be found on his floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The closet, though, had been completely stripped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t remember what used to be in it, but I
know it was never empty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">No, no it’s not
completely empty.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I kneel and reach into the back corner,
tugging a crumpled piece of paper from its place, half-stuffed under the
baseboard and then forgotten.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Flattening
it out as best I can, I squint at the small, cramped writing on the top half of
the page.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shadow on the wall and I spin toward the
window, shoving the paper in my pocket as I run to clutch at the splintered
sill, scanning the street and ignoring the eerie, injured sky.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A girl.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her skin is darker than my own light brown. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s that beautiful kind of brown I’ve always
wished I had, the brown so dark it’s almost black, so dark it gleams with light
even on an unreal day like this, with unnatural skies and snow that falls from
clouds that just aren’t there. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She clutches
her arms, shivering in a pink tank top and pajama shorts, her bare feet
stumbling over cracks in the sidewalk.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My heart seizes in my chest and I lean so far
out the window as I watch her hesitate in front of the house that I practically
leap from the roof. “Ray!” I yell, my voice frantic, like there’s a chance she
won’t hear me from fifty feet away. “Ray, I’m up here!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She looks up, relief evident on her face for a
moment, but then her eyes stretch wide and all her muscles tighten with fear.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Ray?” I call again, looking around for the
source of her fear. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Ray, what’s wrong?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She shakes her head, backs away. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stumbles and falls, chokes out a sobbing
scream and takes off around the corner, heading west on Redwood Gates.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really do scramble out onto the porch roof
now, easing my feet across dying shingles and taking Stefan’s long-proven
pathway down to the yard. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even with the
vines it’s a short, easy drop from the sloping porch roof to the metal toolshed
on the side of the house, and then to the ground. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t even stop to work the landing ache
from my legs before I take off after Ray.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two blocks on and the road splits in a way I
don’t remember. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of a straight path
ahead and a short street to the right, there’s no street at all ahead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a dead end, with one street branching
left and the other right. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are no
houses that I can see. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing known,
nothing familiar, only woods to the left and bare hills to the right, topped
with what looks like ice, or maybe sand. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Okay.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s that word again, but what else is
there to say? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s one thing for people
to move, for furnishings, cars and clothes to disappear because it
happens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People leave, right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
move, and they start new lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sometimes they even leave people behind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But entire streets vanishing and others popping up out of nowhere?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve lived in this neighborhood for as long
as I can remember, and there’s never been a street to the left here, just a
little cul-de-sac on the right and Regency Gates, which continues winding
forward until it hits the highway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of
course, I’ve also never seen it snow here in September, and yesterday afternoon
Ray and I were playing volleyball in Mr. Calgary’s huge impeccable and not even
slightly overgrown backyard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot can
change in a day, more than I thought possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did Ray go left or right here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forest or beach?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Closing my eyes, I just breathe, thinking. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where is she? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where would I go if I were running from
something and had no idea what I was running toward?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where did you go, Ray?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t run from me…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I open my eyes and feel the splatter of
something wet.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paint…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paint is falling like snow from the sky, leaving
wet droplets at my feet and on my skin, splotches of bright blue on the
concrete sidewalk, trickling down onto the street itself and tapping a pattern
of drops toward the street on the right, more falling with each gust of wind. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hesitate, step left. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hesitate again and head to the right, running
on a thin black path through sand dunes topped with cracked shells of ice.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A scream far ahead and I stumble. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s Ray’s voice. Ray is screaming, a
wordless blast of anger and fear.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’m
coming,” I whisper, my throat too tight with panic to yell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve found her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve found her, and something’s trying to
take her from me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hold on, Ray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m coming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just hide somewhere, okay?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hide
until I can help you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I scramble for a weapon, any weapon, and pull
a half-buried tree limb from the sand of a dune, gripping it like a club as I
run.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The road ends and there’s only sand and hills
and wind blowing grit into my eyes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sound of snapping teeth and a cold snarl. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I climb a dune and see figures moving in the
distance, up against the next sand monolith.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ray.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s stuffed herself back into some kind of
hole in the hillside, a tiny cavern of ice crafted from water that trickled
down through the sand and froze there, leaving just enough space for a bent
body.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two dogs snap at her, snarling and trying
desperately to shove their heads into the opening of the cave.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Get out of here!” I yell, running for
her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not close enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s way too far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Leave her alone!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The dogs snap again and
I see her hands reach past the edge of the cave, shoving at the huge white
head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Oh, God…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Finally close enough, I
swing my club and keep running, struggling to hit something, anything but Ray.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The white dog leaps at me, its black tongue
hanging from its mouth and its teeth closing on my arm, but I swing again and
catch it in the hind leg, clip the other one on the chin and it yips, calling
to its partner as it takes off, heading for the distant woods that are now
behind me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The white one growls and shakes its head, torn
between the fight and having to fight alone. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I swing again and miss, but the dog drops my arm
and slinks away, tail between its legs, whimpering a sad little whuff as it
darts back into the blowing sand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I drop to my knees and shove my head into the
little cave, blinking in the glitter of the ice walls. “Ray?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All I see is movement and a shadow, and then
her foot slams into my face.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing but white and pain and the crackle of
my nose breaking, hot taste of blood as it drips into my open mouth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cough, spit, stagger backward. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Shit.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cough again and spit blood, blinking to
clear the white light from my eyes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Holy
flaming tarballs, Ray, what the hell did you do that for? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m trying to help!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Silence from the cave.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then a sniffle, then the hopeful shift of
limbs on ice and sand. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then—soft,
tentative—Ray’s voice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Pax?”</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15390595479663242537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3304186932207737742.post-70536859901274051072014-02-25T20:53:00.002-08:002014-02-25T20:53:12.822-08:00Chapter 1<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ice crusts my brain, my
heart, my veins, squeezing so tight I can’t breathe, I can’t think, I can’t…be.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t see. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s nothing but dark and cold, frost in
the wind. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can feel it through the ice
inside me, but I can’t break free. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A burst of cold and
everything slows, stops…ends.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No beat, no breath, no being.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My eyes snap open, wide and panicked, my hair
slick with sweat. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A dream. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I shudder. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just a dream, but I don’t dream. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t even remember the last time I did. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Always good to start back with a bang, though,
isn’t it? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I choke on a laugh and unwind
the sheets from my hands, finger by finger. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything under me is wet with sweat and I
wrinkle my nose, turning to the passenger side of my bed in anticipation of Rachel’s
glaring brown eyes over her half-cocked elbow. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Sorry I woke—”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I blink at the empty pillow, the pristinely
made bed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Ray?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No answer, but I know she slept here last
night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bathroom? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Breakfast?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I bite my lip, staring blankly out the window
and listening for sounds, any sounds, from the rest of the house. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s light out, but there’s nothing—no smell
of bacon or bagels, no singing from the kitchen, no frantic footsteps as
Ainsley runs from one side of the house to the other, no cursing as Dad trips
again over one of the toys left scattered in her wake. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, there wouldn’t be that anyway. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s Papa’s day today. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad’s still at work, or sleeping.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I blink, finally seeing what it is I’ve been
staring at out the window. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t
notice the sky before, only the light coming in through the open curtains, but
not…the sky is wrong. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not blue, or
even gray and clouded. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, the only
clouds are bare streaks of white in the distance, and the sky is the purple of
last night’s bruises.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stand up and throw on the long t-shirt—one of
my dads’ old ones—and black yoga pants crumpled on the floor beside the bed,
and I take a step forward, then two, then I stumble and clutch at the window
sill, sprawling half out a window I don’t remember leaving open and staring
down at lank grass, brown and crusted with ice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not frost, but actual ice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s September in southern California and
there’s ice on the ground. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fence is
gone, vanished like it never was, leaving the woods behind it naked to my eyes.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can see mist writhing through the
trees, so thick that I can’t see anything about ten feet in. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stumble back and take off running through
the house, popping open every door I pass. “Li-Li,” I choke out, shoving my
head into her room. Everything is gone like she doesn’t even live here anymore.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The twin bed is stripped bare to the
mattress, no toys on the floor, no drawings taped to the wall. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Goodnight
Moon</i>, which always sits on the nightstand lest a bedtime panic rise up to
terrorize the house, is missing, and the lamp along with it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Papa? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ray?” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
scramble down the hall, but Daddy and Papa’s room is just as empty, save for
one blank picture frame hanging crookedly beside the bed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ray’s still here somewhere. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She has to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She can’t drive, and Papa wouldn’t take her home. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s no one there. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Ainsley…is it a school day?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, it’s Saturday.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Papa?” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m yelling now. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Where the hell is everyone?” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m in the living room, but there’s nothing
here. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No couch, no television, not even
logs in the fire place. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Empty counters
in the kitchen and only streaks of dirt on the floor where the refrigerator sat
yesterday. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I yank open the front door
and throw myself out into the yard, but the neighbors’ houses don’t look any
better. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are no cars, no bikes, no little
red wagons or abandoned baseballs lying in the grass. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The windows are dark and empty, and the
sidewalks are choked with weeds. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re
everywhere, even growing up through cracks in the street’s faded asphalt.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Okay,” I mutter, biting my lip again. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Okay, don’t panic. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go back inside. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It isn’t what it looks like. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just go inside.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Icy wind slices across my face and I shiver,
stepping inside and closing the door softly behind me. I lean against it with
my eyes closed, breathing and listening for a sound, any sound in the silence
but there’s nothing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Phone. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need a phone, but it’s gone too.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No…wait.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I crack my eyes open and I see it now, in its
place on the counter. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I missed it before
when I was walking by. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I dial Dad’s
extension at the hospital, but it rings and rings and no one answers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Same with his cellphone…doesn’t even go to voice
mail. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Papa’s either. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aunt Leah. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ray. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ray’s parents. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In desperation I dial 9-1-1, but even they don’t
answer and the short, clipped rings match the breaths I’m struggling to take. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Okay,” I say for what I think might be the
thousandth time, heading for my bedroom again. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m dreaming still. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to be, like I’m making up for the past
fourteen years of life with almost no dreams, or at least none that I can
remember.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I lie down on my bed and
close my eyes again, it’ll be an actual morning. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ray will be glaring at me for waking her up
early on a Saturday. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ainsley will be
standing on her tiptoes on the step stool in the bathroom, brushing her teeth,
probably with my toothbrush, and Papa will be in the kitchen, cooking and
singing off-key as loud as humanly possible. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I glare at the bed and head straight for the
closet, yanking down the baskets of rarely used winter clothes and pulling out
pale yellow sweatpants and a red hoodie, grabbing a t-shirt that actually fits
from a drawer right in front of me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I yank on the clothes and a pair of sneakers,
then head for the front door again. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Screw lying around waiting to wake up. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even in a dream I refuse to do nothing while
sister, my fathers and my best friend are missing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I press my forehead against the front door for
a second or ten, feeling the cool wood against my skin, and then, yanking my
hood up over my bare inch of kinky hair, I open the door and step outside
again.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15390595479663242537noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3304186932207737742.post-9861306177391471522014-02-25T20:50:00.001-08:002014-02-25T20:50:46.748-08:00A Novel of Macabre Fantasy--How Do You Save the Dying When You Don't Know What's Killing Them?My name is Raven Dayze, and you've stumbled across <i>Finding the Soul Shore, </i>the beginnings of a fantasy novel about a 14 year-old girl who wakes up with her entire world either missing, stripped bare, or overgrown like it hasn't seen a human inhabitant for twenty years...depending on which part of her world you're talking about. She's Paxton Shaw, and I hope you enjoy her story. <br />
<br />
I'm trying something different with my writing here, so I'm going to be posting this as I write it, so keep in mind that this is little more than a rough draft. I'm not asking you to be gentle. In fact, I welcome questions, comments and constructive criticism, and if you enjoy what you read, please share, share, share...share with whoever you want. I'm only pointing this out because I know from experience that a rough draft goes through a LOT of editing. In the case of my writing...massive editing. That means that what you're reading here, once I've reached the end and start over at the beginning again, will change. It'll be the same story...and yet it'll be completely different. Scenes will disappear. Others will come out of nowhere. Names may change and some characters may die or survive or do things you will never see in this version. I can't say what will change and what won't since I'm only just starting, but I know that what you read here is not what it will eventually be. <br />
<br />
Still, if you've found this, then I definitely invite you to come along for the ride.<br />
<br />
I only hope we don't crash too hard. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15390595479663242537noreply@blogger.com0