I'd love to get your feedback on my latest work-in-progress. It's only half done, so you'll get a sneak preview of certain sections before it's released this summer. Preview any chapter excerpt below. Post your feedback as a comment and I'll be sure to read and take to heart what you write. Not sure what to comment on? Here's a short list: plot, characters, genre, style, wording, themes, title, cover. If you like giving reviews....feel free to comment on anything else as well.
Thanks! Tina
Title: No Road Too Long
Release Date: Summer 2014
Author: Tina Webb
An unearthly rainstorm takes Maggie on an unexpected journey where her self-imposed isolation is challenged by human compassion and unsettling hallucinations.
Note: Only excerpts are included below.
Chapter One - Living: Push Pause
Oakhurst Central Library, stately
and archaic, sat pinched between the glass-covered financial firm, IFF,
and the new science and technology museum which was finished the previous year.
Inside its dark, musty corridors and royal blue carpeted circulation and
information area were senior citizens reading the daily news, moms introducing
their toddlers to the discipline of library quietness, and college-age
intellectuals desiring to fill their summer hours with romantic plots or
paranormal thrillers.
Sunlight peered through a thin
window, unmasking the exorbitant
levels of dust in the
dark, musty corridor labeled Ma-Mo. Maggie Carter coughed and kept her hand
over her nose as she hurried to find a book that would tantalize her for a few
hours.
Making herself satisfied with a
short novel that she knew would be less than satisfying, she left aisle Ma-Mo and
made her way to the circulation desk.
The vapors of her tuna salad
sandwich were making their way from her backpack to her nose, and she hoped
that no one else noticed the obvious odor of fish that had reached room
temperature.
Maggie hastened down the old stone
stairs of the library, turned right towards the science and technology museum,
and reached the corner where she pressed the crosswalk button.
Looking both ways she quickly jaywalked
diagonally to her destination.
The trees of Oakhurst Central Park
were as old as Oakhurst Central Library, but they looked much healthier.
Planted by the town's founder, Thomas Oakhurst, the oak trees, spruce and
poplar trees provided a sufficient natural beauty, shade and interest for
the residents and visitors of downtown Oakhurst.
Maggie walked slowly down one of the
meandering walkways in the park trying to find either a bench or a thick patch
of grass on which to sit. She settled under an oak tree that seemed to
grandfather the others on the slightly sloped south side of the park. The slope
ended at renowned Lyndon Avenue, home to stately mansions built in
the last century.
Maggie sighed. She had wanted to
arrive at the park thirty minutes earlier. Warm tuna and moist bread were hardly appetizing. But
a hungry stomach knows no prejudice.
Chapter Two - Brain Fog
Maggie shivered and squirmed
on the soft grass. It wasn't so comfortable after ninety minutes of
solid sleep. She squirmed again and then frowned. Opening her eyes she realized
that a light drizzle had been turning her grassy patch into a waterbed. She wiped
her face realizing that it was quite wet, and so was her hair.
"Wow, was I that tired?"
She shook her head, opened her backpack and pulled out a hair tie. She looked
around as she pulled her brown, now frizzy hair up into a messy ponytail. No
one was in sight and a light fog had settled in the park. The clouds overhead
caused a dusky darkness. Suddenly, loud thunder cracked and the
heavens opened.
"Oh sh-t!" She grabbed her
bag, pushed her wet feet into her wet leather sandals and took off running toward
the more wooded area where she figured the trees would at least serve as
an artificial umbrella until she found shelter. Her feet squashed in her
sandals making running
a bit difficult, and the tumultuous downpour made seeing almost impossible.
After a few minutes of running through the rain, Maggie gave up her shoes
and carried them in her hand. She knew that the park was several acres and not a typical city block. She hoped that she was running toward
the shops and delis nearer to the museum. Instead of walking all the way home, she could hop on a bus. Finally,
she heard the muffled sound of motorists driving ahead and dashed in that direction.
"Yes!"
She saw a neighborhood street and
dashed down the final slope of the park onto a sidewalk. She was not where she
hoped she'd be. Instead of shops there were tenement style houses and a
cobblestone street.
"Shoot, this must be Old Town. But
I thought Old Town was miles from downtown. I couldn't have run that far."
She remembered visiting the first occupied area of Oakhurst when she was a
little girl.
Instead of trying to navigate
toward her original destination, she jogged down the cobblestone street hoping
that the next block would reveal other shops or at least a bus stop. The
cobblestones were hard on her feet, and she could see that her sandals were
dripping, so she gave up her anxious quest to find shelter and accepted the
fact that she could not get wetter than she already was.
Shaking her head, she muttered
sadly, "I may as well face my now moment of being alive and one with
nature."
Being one with nature was not giving
her a euphoric high, however, as her jean shorts felt like weights and the
wet elastic of her panties began to cut into her hips.
"Ouch! C'mon...bus stop where
are you?!"
She walked in defeat down
the street and came to another intersection of Old Town. This was clearly a
residential area. She had the thought of knocking on a door to see if some kind
samaritan would let her wait out the storm on their porch. But she was not
naïve. For a young woman like her, in wet skin-sticking clothes, to find trustworthy, honest people in
this culture was like playing Russian Roulette with her life and
body.
She looked at the tenement houses as
she walked along hoping that maybe as quick as the storm appeared, it would
leave. Clear bags of canned soda were stored on the porch of a house
across the street. An old beat-up grey Buick sat leaning, the front-left tire
deflated from living. The house she passed to her right had a torn shade
revealing a small lamp turned on. In general, Old Town was a poorer section of
town. Dusky grey siding on each house blended with dismal despondency of
decayed hopes and dreams. Broken tree limbs sighed and swayed like drugged
addicts on their way to rock bottom. Suddenly Maggie stopped. Startled, she
looked to the right as the next tenement ballooned out, wood siding bursting
and tearing, with shards of fragmented glass flying toward her. She crouched on
the cobblestones, protecting her face and sacrificing the skin on her hands. A
bass hum emanated from the exploding house. As if on cue, the other tenements
began to vibrate, and the ground began to tremble. Peeking between cut and
bleeding fingers, she expected to see a tornado ravaging toward her. Maggie
gasped in horror as a huge colony of flies burst from the falling tenement.
They flew in her direction and she screamed as the flies grew to the size of
small mice, eyes fastening to her, mouths dripping with fire. These mutant
insects darted for her and hovered around her head. Taunts of paralyzing words
stung her, “This is you! This is you!
This is you! This place is you!” Her screams turned into wails for help as
she tried to scatter the flies away. Trapped in a tornado of torment, she
gasped as darkness rescued her.
Pellets of rain formed small pools
in the open cavities of her eyes, ears and opened mouth. Sputtering, she sat up
and looked around. Shocked, she whirled around and began to panic. No timber
and no glass, no blood and no insects were in sight. The neighborhood stood as
it had for decades.
Fingers trembling, Maggie groped the
ground next to her for her backpack and made her way to her feet. Her breathing
was erratic and she still felt faint. I’ve got to get out of here! Soaked, she
ran down the street searching for another human soul. However, this part of Old
Town was vacant, quiet, and aloof. This
place is you! She stopped, looking around for some mean kid playing an
awful joke.
Chapter Three - The Wanderer
Frustrated she looked at the sky. She
was not panicked. She felt no danger. Her undergarments were partially dry. Her
snack had satisfied her stomach. She sat still and looked around.
"No one is waiting for me because
I live alone. Why should I still be in a rush?”
She considered her phone. Her
parents were out of town but they lived thirty minutes outside of Oakhurst in
the country. Friends had gone home to begin their post graduate jobs early.
Only she had chosen to do nothing for two months of summer.
"If I'm serious about giving up
mere living for the sake of being fully alive, then I may as well embrace this moment
and have an adventure." She felt something brush against her ear, but
turning, she saw nothing.
Maggie sat on the bench and studied the
upcoming dirt road. The cobblestones had run out I guess, she thought. Beyond
the last tenement on the other side of the street were a block of warehouses. Peering
farther down, away from the direction she had come, she saw a lot of grass and
open air. "Maybe I'll just get to know my town a little more. What the
hell. I've got nothing else to do." There were a couple of hours until
she'd be hungry for dinner and so she looked around in order to memorize this
road for her return trip and walked where she had not walked before.
Chapter Four - Inventory
Her parents weren't poor, but they
also were not rich. Her dad, a mechanic, always worked late to finish cleaning
up the garage for the next work day. She remembered looking at his oil stained,
wrinkled hands as they grabbed knife and fork to devour his evening meal.
He never said much. He was too tired and usually too stressed at night with the
office side of the business. Her mom tried to help with the accounting and
inventory, but numbers were not her thing. She worked at the area nursing home,
tending especially to elderly patients left alone by relatives. She would listen
tirelessly as the patients, on their death beds, took inventory of what they
were leaving behind. Mom's gift wasn't numbers; it was loving.
Maggie reluctantly looked back at
those days. Her independent nature grew out of necessity. An only child, solitude
became her friend. Her parents did not have much time or money to take her
to ballet lessons or to play at the playground. Her mom's gift was displayed
each morning at 6:30 am by the warm sugarcoated bran muffins left on the table
with a note, ‘I love you, my dear. Enjoy school today. xo Mom’.
After working at the gas station for
three hours after school each day, she'd walk the two scenic miles home as
wealthier classmates drove by to hang out at the mall before dinner. Maggie
recognized at a young age that she did not want to duplicate her parents' life
of just living to make ends meet. The sweat of the brow was not fun and did not
bring the sparkling joy and wonder that Maggie believed humans were made for.
So Maggie promised herself to save up money and get good grades to not only pay
for college, but also to be in a position where the best paying jobs in her
area were hers for the picking. She had succeeded and secured a well paying job
that she was able to postpone starting until mid August. She was not on earth
to just live and succumb to the cares of this life. She was determined to be
alive.
Up ahead on the left sat a red
stone flat-roofed apartment complex. Across from this complex was a school
playground, older in style, the metal poles of the swing set slightly rusted from
time. It was an run down elementary school, the chipped pink brick façade
blending in with a community that was just living, but yearned to be alive.
Maggie smiled. She hadn't been on a
swing for years. Laughing, she jumped over the short metal fence, dropped her
backpack and hopped on the hot black rubber seat. "Now this is being
alive!" She felt gleeful. "I can do anything I want right now! I can
make my own memories. I can see new sights. I can swing for as long as I
want!"
A few apartment residents across the
street looked out of their windows and stared at the 20-something-year-old
woman swinging, grinning and shouting on a child's swing set. All would
conclude that she was high on something.
Scratch, scratch, scratch. The
bottoms of her sandals scraped the sandy gravel below the swing until she came
to a complete stop. That was fun, she thought. Now what? She looked left
towards the apartments and down the long gravel road that she'd walked on for
over an hour. She looked to the right and saw sprinkled in the landscape small
homes, a grocery store, a gas station and a farm.
Chapter Five - To Be Continued
She walked briskly now as the sun began
to show that dusk was on its way. Something didn't feel right inside. Her joy
at discovering new adventures had slowly waned ever since her hallucination in
Old Town and the creepy guy from the store. What did the creep call himself?
Steve. She shuddered. This was real life and not a dream and she felt stupid
and guilty for her childish frolicking. She could have been accosted and raped.
Somberly she kept walking. The dust
from the road billowed up as the breezes steadily increased in frequency and
intensity. Small ground level dust balls swirled on the road. Overhead a flock
of birds in V-formation headed westward. The long leaves of the corn stalks
fluttered. Maggie wrapped her arms around her chest, sullen and lonely in the
arid farmland.
About twenty-five feet ahead of her,
a small patch of fog had settled over a section of corn. Maggie stopped. It was
a curious sight and she wondered what atmospheric condition caused the
occurrence. As she looked, the foggy patch grew whiter and her eyes widened as
small flames began to emerge in the mist of the patch. A fire in the corn!
Maggie ran toward the patch to see if the flames were coming up from the ground
or whether the tops of the corn stalks had somehow been scorched by the hot
sun. Getting closer, she realized that the flames rose about a foot in height,
still encircled by the foggy patch of what she concluded was smoke. Reaching
the patch, she gasped. The corn was not on fire. Smoke was not wafting in any
direction. Instead the flames were situated directly in the center of the patch
of fog. She shook her head refusing to believe that she was encountering still
another strange hallucination. In the
center of the flames an image began to appear. The image grew clearer in detail
and she realized that she was staring at a headshot of herself in the midst of the
flames.
“Nooo!” She turned and escaped down
the gravel road. Someone was playing a cruel joke. Maybe it was that guy Steve.
Maybe he was involved in some sort of occult activity. Maybe the episode in the
convenience store was a warning for her. Panting, she slowed and fell to her
knees on the ground.
“What is going on!” She pounded the
ground in anger. Never had her sense of security been so breached. Never had
her view of the world been so wrecked by mystical and unexplainable
occurrences. Gathering her emotions, she sighed and set forth again. The sooner
she got to the motel, the better.
Chapter Six - Twists and Turns
Outside of her hearing, a watch alarm went off. A mile away,
a spirit, using a derelict’s body, began to walk down the street towards
Maggie.
Although the neighborhood was dense,
people were sparse. After walking almost a mile down the street, Maggie
concluded that the whole area had been taken by aliens. A rancid smell, the
blistering sun, and the loud silence made her desperate to get to the commercial
area that Jeff had mentioned was in this direction. Suddenly she looked down
towards the next block and saw a man walking towards her on the opposite side
of the street, limping, dressed in black, and head downward. Every few steps he
swaggered as if drunk or high. "Oh great!" Maggie fished down into
her backpack and got her mace out to carry until she knew she was safe out of
this strange man’s path. The street was paved now, so she put her sandals on in
case she needed to run.
She glanced at her options. There
were none. Each side of the street was lined with cottage style 1950s houses.
Each had a driveway and a carport. The limping man had turned onto this street
from another, but Maggie did not see whether she had a turn on her side. Street
signs did not exist in this strange part of the world. Breathing rapidly, Maggie tightened her grip
on the mace. The limping man seemed to be making a heaving noise. Suddenly he
stopped, abruptly looked up and around, saw her and smiled a toothless grin.
Maggie pretended not to see but inwardly she began to panic. No car had driven
down this long road.
Where is everybody? Maggie did not want to attract
unnecessary attention from the limping man so instead of running she began to
walk very fast. As she came within fifteen feet of him on her side of the
street, she heard him say, "Hey Miss! You gotta dolla?" She looked
down, pretending not to hear. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him begin
to cross the street toward her. "Hey Miss! Lady! You gotta dolla?!"
Her hand tightened on the mace.
Suddenly he stopped in the middle of
the street, ripped off his shirt and stuck out his chest. "Hey lady, I'm
Superman! You want some 'o this?"
No other hint was needed. Maggie ran
as fast as her semi-dry sandals would carry her. Behind her, the limping man no
longer limped but ran behind her laughing and shouting vulgar slurs about his
masculinity.
Suddenly she heard an engine coming
behind her. “Good! That'll make him go away!” she said under her breath.
The squeal of tires made the windows
of the houses shudder and a loud voice thundered, "Leave her alone!"
Maggie turned and immediately
recognized the silver mustang. Stunned and becoming paralyzed with fear, she
watched, walking backwards, as Steve, the guy from the grocery store who
had stalked her on her way to the motel, went over to the limping man. The
strange man had stopped to face Steve and yelled obscenities at him. Quickly,
the man lunged towards Steve, who in turn knocked him to the ground. The
limping man cackled on the ground, rolling over and over, shouting lusty
obscenities to Steve. Steve, disgusted, backed off and yelled at the man.
The spirit looked at Steve and recognized his prey.
Releasing the limping man, he flew over to Steve and sat on his shoulder.
Maggie gasped as she saw the limping
man, suddenly get up, looked around confused, and stumble away, hand on head as
if he suffered from a cruel headache. She felt so weak, so astonished by the
events of the past minute that she began to shake. Steve watched the man
stumble away, then got in his mustang and drove twenty feet to where Maggie was
shaking.
Steve got out, leaving the engine
idling. "Hey, you okay?" Steve walked over to her and smiled. "It's
you. And I guess you know me." He stayed a few feet away and put his hands
up in surrender.
Maggie still could not respond. She
was unsure of this Steve guy. She had been saved from him and now she had been
saved by him. What were the chances?
"Uh, thank you." Maggie
took a step back and waited for his next move. She was unfamiliar with this
chess game. But she knew she needed to come out safe.
Steve lowered his hands and put them
in his loose fitting jeans. Brown haired
and brown eyed, Steve stood a few inches taller than Maggie. Today he wore a
striped shirt rolled up at the
sleeves; collar buttons undone. "So, I see you are on foot again. I know
for a fact that you aren't from around here. So....where are you going?"
There was no way Maggie was going to
open her world to this stranger.
"Listen, I appreciate you
helping me out, but I don't know you and I need to be on my way. It's really
none of your business where I'm going." Maggie tightened her hand around
the mace again.
Steve saw this small gesture. He
shook his head. "You really don't trust people who help you out do
you?"
Agitation opened Maggie's mouth.
"Listen, I don't know your intentions! So thank you for helping me out,
but no thank you to anything else you may offer."
Quickly, Maggie turned around and briskly
resumed her walk down the street. Her agitation and fear of this deserted
neighborhood increased her desperation to find and to welcome the public.
Steve
stood, not sure of his next move. She was definitely worth pursuing. Not only
was she hot, but she had spunk. Thoughts pervaded his mind. He could keep up
with her in his car and convince her that he'd drop her off wherever she wanted
to go. He could drive down the street and wait for her to catch up. He knew
this tiny community inside and out and there was no where she could go where he
wouldn't find her. The only way back to Oakland if you didn't have a
car was to take a bus at the depot. Taxi service wasn't available. Steve
sorted through his ideas. She was intriguing...this no-named hot girl. He
finally decided to keep his morning appointment at the mechanic down
the road. While he was waiting for his car, he'd simply scout the four corners
of the main intersection and keep an eye out for Miss No-Name.
Chapter Nine - The Offering
"Well, this is my abode. Welcome
and make yourself comfortable." Steve paused and looked at Maggie's damp
clothes, wet hair, and tired face. "You want a shower don't you? I'll pull
out some of my sweats and a sweatshirt if you want. I need to clean the
bathroom real quick though."
Embarrassed, he went into the
kitchen to get some cleaning supplies. "I've got food in the frig if you
are hungry. And there are some beers too," he yelled over his shoulder.
"Help yourself!" He went into the linoleum tiled bathroom and closed
the door.
Maggie scooped her wet hair off her
neck. She glanced around to get little hints about Steve. She was not worried
about being alone with him anymore. She felt a strange calm. Leaving her wet
sandals at the door, she walked into the kitchen. "Ugh." Dirty dishes
filled the sink and the counter had not been wiped off in a few days. She
opened a squeaky cabinet and searched for the cleanest glass she could find. Happy
to see some newly purchased lemonade, she poured herself a glass and stood
waiting for the bathroom to be cleaned.
Finally, Steve came out of the bathroom.
"All clean!" He smiled and bowed before her. Maggie laughed. It felt
good to laugh. Steve beamed. Getting Miss No Name to laugh was a good sign.
"Oh, hey, by the way,"
Steve turned to Maggie as she was beginning to close the bathroom door. "There
is a clean towel on the rack, and also I was wondering," he paused. "What
is your name?"
Maggie blinked. She had forgotten
that she had not told her anything about herself, not even her name. "Maggie,
Maggie Carter, sorry for the late introduction," she smiled sheepishly.
"No problem, Maggie Carter. It's
nice to meet you." Steve smiled. Maggie smiled back and closed the door. Steve
heard it lock. Laughing to himself, he put his cleaning skills to work in the
kitchen while listening to the shower water run and daydreaming.
The preying spirit sat bored on Steve's shoulder. The girl's
resistance was formidable. The spirit could see her resolve like a bright
white light around her. It was a wall that would be hard to penetrate. Tactics
must change. Her thoughts must be challenged. Then maybe she would change her
mind and let Steve get to know her better.
Steve's sweat clothes were thick
enough to keep Maggie modest but so warm that she knew she would be
uncomfortable sleeping. She left the bathroom with her clothes in a heap
in her arms. "Steve?"
"Yeah!
I'm in here." Steve was in her bedroom. Maggie stayed in the hallway. "Do
you mind if I use your washer and dryer for my clothes?"
"Oh.
Yeah sure babe. It's the door beside the bathroom."
Chapter Ten - Dreamland
Chapter Ten - Dreamland
In his bedroom, Steve had fallen asleep quickly. He
dreamed of chance encounters and island beauties. Unconscious to the
manipulation of the unseen, he began to see women, luring him with smiles and
winks, then yelling at him with scathing accusations that insulted his manhood.
At one point, he saw a former girlfriend secretly reach into his wallet and
pull out all of his cash, only to tantalize him with flattering compliments,
while crossing her fingers behind her back. The poison of the dreams made him
feel vandalized, angry, and vindictive. In the course of a few hours, women
became ill-meaning vamps. Violence coursed through his veins. His tossed and
turned, fantasizing of brutal encounters that would serve these vamps? their
eternal sentence.
Sweat dampened his sheets and foul saliva formed at the corners of his mouth. He was a hound, a devil.
Sweat dampened his sheets and foul saliva formed at the corners of his mouth. He was a hound, a devil.
As one dream weaved and interlocked with fresh ones,
his will towards Maggie shifted, throwing off reluctant patience and putting on
vehement impatience? How dare she convict him for being normal? Her giant
finger poked him in his chest, leaving blood dripping where her sharp nail had
ripped open his heart. In his dream, he saw her eyes absorb every inch of his
pride and then her mouth open wide to cackle at his humiliation. She sat on a
giant wooden throne that hung in mid-air above his bed. He tried to reach up and knock her off with
his clenched fist but he couldn’t reach. He was locked in chains.
The
unseen manipulator laughed as it watched Steve struggle, convinced that his
chains were reality. In reality, the manipulator, not Maggie, held the chains
that bound Steve to his nocturnal passions and his new violent disposition.
Looking through the wall, the spirit saw Maggie in deep sleep, a gentle snore coming
from her mouth. He drooled.
Chapter Eleven (untitled)
Finishing her coffee, Maggie leaned back in her
chair and asked in a calm and measured voice in order to avoid sounding
offensive. “I need to ask you a question and tell you something I saw.”
Steve nodded, sipping his coffee.
“In the grocery store across from that elementary
school, I overheard you talking to the cashier.”
Steve pursed his lips and nodded again.
“Your back was to me and I saw something really
creepy on your back and then in your hair.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Steve put his coffee mug
down.
Maggie inhaled deeply. “I saw, I saw a snake. I
thought it was a print on your shirt, but then it crawled to the top of your
head and buried itself in your hair like there was a nest. It freaked me out. I
assumed that you’d brought your pet snake with you to the store.”
Staring blankly, Steve picked up his coffee,
finished it off and then set the mug down again, with a mild thud.
“I don’t own a snake, Maggie.”
“So what do you think I saw?”
“I think the better question is, why do you keep
experiencing weird things…voices, a snake in my head. I know you said that you
don’t do drugs, but….” His voice trailed off in suspicion.
“Steve, honestly, I’ve never done drugs. But I,” Maggie
paused. “I had a dream tonight before you, well, you know. In my dream I was
told to consider that these weird things were messages for me to learn from.”
Freaked out, Steve moved his chair back a bit.
“Please, you’ve got to believe me. Here is something
maybe that will convince you. When I was back in Old Town during the first
storm, I had a vision. I thought it was a hallucination and maybe they are
pretty much the same. I don’t know. But in the vision, a tenement building
exploded and a swarm of mutant flies came at me saying “This is you. This place is you.” I’ve been thinking about it and I
know what that dream meant. The tenement house was me. Something inside of it
made it explode. The flies were trying to tell me the message but I was in a
place where I was clueless. But my dream tonight clued me in.” Maggie rubbed
her eyes. “You were right when you said on the street with the man in black
that I must have a trust problem. I do, I mean, I did. I’m working on learning
to trust people. A lady I met today helped me to realize that I need people.”
“So you see, I’m not crazy. I am new to this and I
don’t understand it. But I know that my dream tonight helped things make sense.
Things that the voices and human voices have said to me.” Finished and feeling emotionally
raw, she closed her eyes and waiting for Steve to respond.
There was no response.
“Steve, have you ever done weird things like occult
type stuff?”
“What makes you ask that?”
“Because that snake episode and the way you acted
tonight, foaming at the mouth, made me think of movies that I’ve seen like
that.”
He shook his head with a look of disbelief. “Damn. I
mean, damn…that’s heavy.” He looked up. “I did do that stuff when I was twelve.
In fact, I just remembered something.”
Gathering himself together, he told his story. “Some
boys in my 7th grade class invited me to hang out with them after school one
day. We smoked some weed and looked at magazines. Then one kid pulled out a
deck of cards. They were tarot cards. I’d never seen them before, but the
pictures were really cool. So he read them and some of the stuff he said to me
was so true. After that, we would go to his house and looked at the books he
had bought at some store. The books talked about stuff like curses and
controlling destiny and guides, a whole lot of stuff I’d never heard about
before. We got into that stuff all year. At one point, we made a voice and cut
our wrists to join ourselves with what he called the eternal eye.”
Steve paused and shook his head. “I got a new name.
After we did that blood pact, we called forth the spirits of eternal to guide
us and we each got a new name. The kid, his name was um, Kevin I think. He said
that he knew that my name needed to be Kundalini. It sounded cool so I said
yes. He told me that my sign would be a snake on my back. We would pass coded
notes to each other in class. The guys always drew a picture of a snake to
signify me.”
“Damn, I haven’t thought about that in years. I
always spent the summer with my dad, so I didn’t see the guys. Then I went to a
different school the next year and got into track and field. I just ended up
forgetting about all that stuff.”
Thanks for reading and especially for your feedback. I'll upload a
few more chapters soon.