She Speaks to Angel #samplesunday

Fumbling with my NOOK, my choice eReader, I opened the closed door to English class. Mrs. Engstrom kept her eyes on me in that late-again fashion. I actually could feel those words emanate from her pores and penetrate my skull. Tripping on a television cable wire, I stumbled to the carpeted floor, dropping my NOOK and purse. Oh, God, please let no one be watching. Please let no one be watching this. I picked up my items hurriedly and then flung my body upward, propelling myself into an open seat. Damn; the whole class stared and a few giggles permeated the room. Awkward. Dameon sat in the back with his eyes locked on mine the whole time. No squeezing out of this embarrassment.

Plopping into the front row with a shake of my head, I let my graciously long dark hair wisp over my oval shaped face. Sea blue eyes begged me to cover them up; I didn’t want to see any more. Kids stared, and faces that once held shape and names became a conglomeration of taunting flesh. I felt dizzy with the rush of adrenaline. Emotions pulled me in opposing directions. Fight or flee? Dameon kept staring from the back. I could make him out in my peripheral vision. God, his stare even looked sexy. Sliding down in my seat, I hoped to become invisible. But I didn’t.

Mrs. Engstrom had called roll and shouted my name just to be sure I paid attention. “Allison Maney?”As if she didn’t see the circus act I performed in front of the class.

“Here,” a defeated whisper escaped my pink-hued lips. I only used lipstick because my lips tended to chap. Molly used to tease me about my preference for wearing little make-up. Her mom, being a free spirit, allowed her to wear make-up since sixth grade. Molly said I must be the only girl in the city without it, so I added lipstick to my daily morning regime. But in truth, I didn’t need much make-up. I was one of those blessed girls without blemishes, pimples, or uneven-toned skin. Yes, one of those girls. But I quickly remedied my natural beauty with the oversized garb. My attire choices made Jennifer roll her eyes every day at lunch. She wanted to be a cheerleader; one of those “it” girls, smart and sassy. But she never made the squad.

Sliding the NOOK across my desk, my fingers clasped the delicate touch-screen and I flipped to the required English reading assignment.

“Allison, could you read paragraph one?” Mrs. Engstrom asked, but her request sounded more like a command from the captain of a sinking ship. She had lost everyone’s interest months ago.

“It’s Ali.” I arched my left brow like a dog about to bark. She returned a quizzical look. “My name is Ali. I’ve only told you this since school started.” The second sentence rolled out under my breath. The teacher looked like she might explode any minute as she took in a deep breath, as if fumes might just blow out of her nose. I sighed as I glanced back down at my eReader.

I guess her patience ran thin six months into school. Homework to grade. Mischievous students to send to the principal’s office. And then there was the fact that she hardly ever had anyone’s attention. She appeared surprised when I flipped my NOOK to the page that corresponded to the one on the whiteboard.

“Just read, please,” Mrs. Engstrom replied.

I nodded.

When the dreadful paragraph ended, the room felt suspiciously quiet. Not a peep. No one ever listened in this class. Was I really that interesting? I tilted my flushing face around in Dameon’s direction just as his side of the class stood up from their seats and watched out the adjacent side window. With eyes mesmerized, the other side of the class jumped to their feet with jarred expressions as two jocks took off like a marathon over a few desks to get closer to the window. I made out a blur of something dropping past the window to the ground, but it all happened so fast I couldn’t be sure what I saw.

“Tommy?” the quarterback shouted in question, and then I heard a loud thud. His nose pressed up against the glass. “Tommy Bachelor?” The dread in his voice shot through my veins and brought back the day Mom told me about Dad’s fatal heart attack. I had just turned sixteen and was supposed to have a sweet sixteen party. Dad made the arrangements for a limo to drive my friends and me to the local dance club. I had gone to the hospital instead and cried all night.

What the hell just happened?

I leapt from my chair and darted toward the window to stand behind the broad-shouldered linebacker just as Mrs. Engstrom, at a remarkable sixty years old, managed to squeeze between the two large athletes.

“I saw him fall!” a student in the back shouted, his forefinger pointing to the window.

“Is he dead?” a female voice questioned from somewhere in the middle.

“Couldn’t be!” The linebacker nudged the quarterback. “Could it?”

“Someone do something!” A shriek sounded from behind me.

As all these questions and statements circled, my eyes focused on a lump on the school ground. Crimson color washed around him as he lay face-down. I couldn’t be sure if it was him, but the body wore a green turtleneck, and I had seen Tommy in something similar before heading to my locker this morning.

Buttons on phones clicked, texting. Someone finally called the front office as Mrs. Engstrom panicked. Maybe it was the female student from the middle of the room.

“This is Mrs. Engstrom’s class...we just saw someone fall from the rooftop. YES! He is there now on the ground outside!” The shrieking voice shot goose bumps up and down my arms.

Mrs. Engstrom drew away from the window and appeared to be in shock.

“Never in thirty years of teaching.” She shook her head as if she just couldn’t believe what she saw. But I had my doubts. I heard the rumors...the rumors of students jumping from the rooftop of the school years before I attended. Mrs. Engstrom had only started teaching at Millennium High several years ago. She wouldn’t know that the school, the city, had its fair share of suicides and suspicious deaths. Wherever she had taught for the past twenty-seven years must have been fairly tame compared to this.

A tap on my shoulder from behind spun me around on the ball of my foot, and my dazed eyes met his. Dark as night, his eyes searched my face for expression. What he searched for I couldn’t be sure, but I felt pulled to him like a magnet.

Sample Sunday THE MERS

Enjoy a FRESH YAComing-of-Age Mermaid Dystopian with Young Love and Adventure!
Enjoy this excerpt of THE MERS!


PURCHASE FREE HERE: http://www.amazon.com/Mers-Mermaid-Dystopia-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B005Z327OE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1332042043&sr=8-3


“Two Pirates carried a Mer prisoner in shackles to the cen- ter of town. They thought they had him secure,” Covering his mouth with his hand, Ethan let out a laugh. “But obviously

they had not. That headstrong Mer broke the iron chains. How, we will never know, and he proceeded to race around town with every Pirate after him.”
“What finally happened?” Mira bit her lip, hoping for a happy ending for the Mer.
“The Mer was stabbed, wasting his eyes and hair. The blade went through the back of his head and ruined any chance for a wig or amulets.”
Mira stood, silenced. She wanted to react to hearing of the brutal incident that could have involved Nerin or any of her loved ones, but she couldn’t let her sympathies show. Zale had warned her about the Pirates on many occasions. “You have to be tough," her father had warned. “Keep a strong spirit.” 

Holding in her desire to defend the Mers, she managed to turn her grimace into an awkward smile and changed the subject. “I guess you get a lot of business here?” Mira pointed to the most dazzling amulet with a yellow-orange hue. Un- like most of the eyes that shone yellow, this one glowed slightly different.
“I do very well, thanks to the Aristos,” the owner com- mented, handing the amulet to her. After laying the necklace across the counter, Mira touched the glass that held the eye and felt a distinct shock, like electricity, run through her veins.
Jolted back, she landed into Ethan’s arms, “Gotcha.” “Geez, sorry again.”
“Don’t worry about it; I have that effect on women,” Ethan
joked, making Mira smile. Inside, however, she wondered why she had such a reaction to all the Mer paraphernalia. She grew up with the Mers. That much was certain. She loved the Mers, but could that alone be the reason she felt the eyes calling to her, shocking her? The reason that the smells of dead Mer hair and skin made her mind foggy and dizzy?
“Do you want to get out of here?” Mira moved her slim form toward the door, feeling nauseated.

“Sure.” His eyes conveyed something that Mira couldn’t quite figure out, something that made her all the more curi- ous and nervous.
As they strolled along the road, the Commoners were neatly tucked away inside their assigned shops, so the streets remained bare. Good fortune to find the streets empty, as that gave more time for Mira and her friends to go unno- ticed. 

#samplesunday THE MERS (Mermaid Dystopian) Excerpt

“Come on, Mira,” Nerin yanked her. “This is what you wanted.”

“Right.” She tightened her grip on the knapsack and turned to look at Nerin, “Still dark. We got here quicker than I thought.”

“All this time, everyone’s been scared of Limbo for nothing.”

“I guess Kai is right, we fear what we don’t know,” Mira agreed and began walking, Nerin’s fingers clung to one of her belt loops. Long, tangled grass tugged at her sneakers as she made her way downhill. The further they drew away from what they knew, the brighter, bigger, and more boisterous the life ahead became. 

On the border where Limbo ended and the human world began, Nerin and Mira stopped and stared ahead. Radiant yellow and sky-blue eyes met with the world they would soon know very well. Maybe too well. They had never seen such grandeur and opulence. 

Pearly white buildings stood high, reaching toward the clouds. Even shorter buildings were made of hard, dark bricks, something rare on Liberty Shore. Mers made the most out of the natural environment and spent little time building with man-made materials.  

“Do you see that!?” Nerin asked incredulously. The light from the stars in the sky glowed over the town and made it that much more luminescent. 

“I see it! I see it. I don’t believe it, but I see it.” Mira’s eyes were glued to the unforgettable scene like when her eyes met with the horizon line off the shore back home; she had finally found the place to give her her answers.  

Gripping her hand, Nerin walked with Mira into the great unknown, both excited and scared. As his thumb caressed her inner palm, she felt comforted and was glad she was not alone.  

“I can’t believe how elegant this place looks,” Mira spoke, looking like a wide-eyed doe. 

“They’ve taken everything and left us with nothing...for years.” Nerin raked his fingers through his dark hair, shaking his head. The glitter of pearls highlighted his hair and accentuated the frown and lines of anger expressed in his face. 

“What do you think they call this place?” Mira asked as they stepped onto the cobblestone road and skirted around the corner of a factory; smoke swirled out from the chimney, and a pounding noise emanated from inside the walls. 

Nerin pointed at a white sign with painted black letters, “Remnantville.” 

Mira paused at the sign and slowly took in the world around her; she heard a faint footstep from behind and swiveled around, only to lock eyes with a shadow several yards away. Seconds felt like hours between Mira and the unknown guest. Then, stark, canary-yellow pupils peered forward. Mira jumped back, startled as though she had spied a wild tiger. However, Nerin recognized the silhouette, the golden-brown locks and minuscule shape. 

“Nerissa?” 

“Nerin?”At the sound of the little girl’s subtle tone, Mira relaxed but threw her hands into the air.

“What are you doing here!?” Mira chided, stomping toward the girl, her hands flailing about her. 

“I...I followed my brother. I wanted to see where he went,” Nerissa defended.

“Are you happy now?” She eyed Nerissa before turning her glare to Nerin. “Now we’ve endangered your little sis.” 

“I...” Nerin didn’t know what to say. He didn’t intend for that to happen.

“You’re going back now! NOW!” Mira demanded, stomping close to Nerissa. Face-to-face, Mira’s words hit the little girl, but Narissa didn’t budge. Instead, she planted her feet firmer into the ground.

“I’m not leaving! I’m staying with you! With Nerin!” Nerissa almost had a fit and balled her hands against her hips. She looked like an angry super-hero. 

“Ah, she’ll be all right, “Nerin encouraged, wrapping his arm around Nerissa’s neck. “I’ll keep an eye on her.” Though Nerin sounded sure, he worried. But he knew Nerissa, and she could be more stubborn than even Mira. Still, this world proved violent to his ancestors, and he wondered if his supervision would be enough, but he wouldn’t let that show.  

“What do you say? I come with?” Nerissa beamed.

“Not much I can say in the matter now, is there?” Mira placed her hands on her hips, one of her favorite postures. After a thoughtful gaze, she answered, “Come on!” Waving for Nerissa to join her; Nerissa darted like an arrow to Mira’s side, leaving her brother behind her. 

“Not without me!” Nerin stopped straggling and caught up to the two girls.  

“Why’d you two come here?‘ Nerissa asked.

“I’m looking for my parents,” Mira said; Nerissa gave her    an incredulous look. “I mean my REAL parents,” Mira clarified. 

“You think you’re going to find them here?” Nerissa commented with doubt.

“Where else? They obviously aren’t on Liberty Shore.” Mira squinted her eyes, like she would burn them through the obtruding girl. 

“But...what are we going to do?” Nerissa pestered.

“SHH! Stop asking so many questions, we have to find a place to sleep.” Mira drew close to Nerissa’s face, and the girl quieted with a pout. “Who knows what kind of dangers live in the darkness of the city!” 

“We have to find safety before the Pirates find us,” Nerin warned, Nerissa’s expression dropping from curiosity to fear. 

“Pirates?” Nerissa swallowed hard. Nerin put his arm around her shoulder. 

“If we stick together, we will be fine.” He said those words like he meant them, because he wanted to be brave and needed his little sister calm. But even he worried if they would find shelter in time. Rumors of the human world kept him on edge.  

   With a sigh from the little girl they hunted for a bed, a cot, anything. Nerin stayed near the city walls because he didn’t want to meander too far into the inner workings of a strange place in the middle of the night. Pushing his way to the front, unnoticed by Mira and Nerissa while they bickered, he became the lead. 

Instinctively, the other two followed, giving dirty looks to one another. Though Mira would never admit it, she was elated that Nerissa had joined them. After all, the three had shared many adventures back home. What would this one be without the two of them? 

The walls followed the outline of Remnantville and swerved along the shoreline of what was once known as Jersey. Like Ellis Island, the city had a large fishery, which situated comfortably near the ocean. Seagulls squawked as they flew over Mira and the other two sneaking along the cobblestone towards the ocean. Noticing the fish industry, Mira stayed against the wall, her nose, eyes, and ears caught wind of all the familiar smells, sights, and sounds.    

The docks sat silent, saturated with baskets reeking of fish and a few fishing poles lying against the wooden bars. Grey-black wisps of fog painted the dark sky as waves crashed against the rocky banks. An untidy, rectangular store room with only one door stood several yards high on the right. The smell of sea life was a sure sign of what the town folk kept behind the locked doors. 

“Not so different from home,” Mira commented, and Nerin shrugged. 

“I’m sure once the sun comes up we will see how different this place really is.” 

“You’re right, but still...it’s nice to see something familiar.” Mira tilted her head in his direction, her lashes fluttering. 

“Look! What is that?!” Nerissa interrupted, her forefinger pointing at a strobe light in the distance. 

“I don’t know...,” Nerin’s forehead wrinkled and brows pulled together tight, “...But we ought to be careful.” 

Intense yellow light beamed, fading in and out in a circular motion up into the sky. Appearing out of a long structure, the lights fascinated Mira. The lights reminded her of the Mers’ eyes. As the three trudged toward the strobes, the mystery came into full view.  

A tall, dirty lighthouse sat on the banks, two lights flashing out to sea to help travelers return safely to Remnantville. Though common in Remnantville, Mers had never seen such a formation. Rubbing her fingers over the rough texture of the lighthouse, Nerissa turned to Nerin.

“What is it?” 

“We’ve read about these in school,” Mira interjected with a proud expression. “Humans call them lighthouses because the light helps sailors find their way from the sea back to land.”     

“And... usually they are unoccupied,” Nerin added with a smirk and glint of mischievousness in his eyes.  

“You think we could?” Mira raised a brow, waiting for his answer.

“Could what?” Nerissa questioned with a square of her brows.

“I do,” Nerin said without hesitation. Mira griped Nerissa’s arm, and the three of them headed to the arched opening. Sneaking inside, Mira kept Nerissa close with Nerin watching behind them. 

“All clear!” Mira sounded as she took her first step onto the white marble steps. 

“All clear from behind too.” Nerin answered.

They followed the narrow, steep stairwell around and up until they reached the top. A cramped room with low ceilings, a cobweb in the corner, and little ventilation, but with a spectacular view, awaited them. Windows replaced concrete walls, and the strobe lights, in combination with the reflections of the moon, elicited an angelic appearance over the panoramic perspective of the town. 

“What are we doing here?” Nerissa whined, placing her hands on the windows. The light underneath her continued to shine, in a circular form, upon the sea. 

“This, my dear little sis, is where we will be sleeping for the night.” Nerin chuckled at his sister’s disgruntled expression. She looked like a chipmunk with nut-filled cheeks, her face puffed so much. 

“But...it’s so small,” Nerissa winced, her eyes searched for a place to nap.  

“Only a tad smaller than your own room,” Nerin corrected. 

“But with two extra bodies,” Mira added with a wink, hoping to keep Nerin in on the gag meant for Nerissa. The poor girl almost lost her breath when she heard that. If Nerissa just had to join them, she would have to toughen up to survive. 

“ARGH!” Nerissa stomped away from the window and curled up on the floor. At least the sounds of sea gulls kept her at ease. Her frame was so tiny that from a birds-eye-view, it looked like a bead on a necklace. Nerin laid on his back with his hands behind his head, gazing out the window while Mira laid with her arms around Nerissa. 

“Do you think you’ll find them?” Nerissa whispered into Mira’s ear. Face-to-face, Mira held onto Nerissa, protecting her.  “I hope so...I won’t give up till I do.” 

“Then, I hope so, too,” Nerissa nestled her head under Mira’s chin and closed her eyes. 

In the morning, Mira had been the first to wake. A loud thud startled her,but both Nerin and Nerissa remained asleep. Stretching her body, she stood and tip-toed to the stairwell. Clearly, she heard the padding of feet against the marble floor thirty feet below. 

Shaking Nerin awake, his intense yellow eyes met with hers, and immediately, he sensed her nervousness. Springing up onto bare feet, his head swung around as if in search of the danger, “What is it?” 

Pointing to the stairwell, she replied. “Someone is down there.”

“Are you sure? I don’t hear anything,” Nerin strained to listen.

“I hear his footsteps. He will come up at any minute!” Mira insisted, and Nerin nodded. Pulling Nerissa to her feet and shaking her, the girl opened her eyes, like the dead come to life. 

“Morning?”

“Yes, Nerissa and we have to get going. Now!” Nerin said emphatically. 

The young girl’s eyes examined Mira’s tensed expression, and in a quick second, she darted to the wall closest to the stairs and hide. Her back straightened against the cold concrete, hands trembling.   

“What are we going to do?” Mira panicked, eyes locked on the stairwell. Each step from the intruder below pounded in her perfect ears, and no one heard but her. “He is coming.” The footsteps grew louder and closer, echoing through the staircase.

Nerin grabbed Mira’s arm, “I hear him now.” Chills ran down their spines; goosebumps climbed up their limbs. 

“Stay still, Nerissa.” Mira whispered, her dry breath caught in her throat. 

The girl froze. 

The steps fell silent. 

Then the footsteps grew softer and farther until a creak and clang of the lighthouse door sounded, and the steps disappeared altogether. 

Mira let out a deep breath, “He is gone.”

“We have to get out of here before we’re caught!” Nerin ran to his sister and yanked her arm, pulling her down the marble staircase with him. Mira took one last look at the city through the panoramic wall-to-wall window and then followed. 

Outside, the three heaved a sigh of relief after the rush downstairs. “That was too close,” Nerin said seriously, eyes piercing Mira. The morning sun blazed the banks and caressed their skin. 

“Next time we will have to leave before daylight,” Mira commented, her eyes gazing at the lively morning city that had looked so different last evening.  

“Next time?” Nerissa questioned, mouth open. 

“We will be fine,” Mira encouraged. “Now we know when the humans come into the lighthouse, and we won’t be there next time when they do, but we still need a place to rest at night.”

“It is a nice spot for sleep,” Nerin agreed hesitantly, his mind still pondering over the pros and cons. Nerissa cringed at the thought of sleeping there again, and Nerin scratched his head, “But I still don’t understand how you heard him...when I could not?” 

“Maybe she’s a better listener,” Nerissa said firmly, hinting to her brother. 

“I’m not sure...but it looks like the humans are out and about. We will have to find some coverings for your hands and feet if you’re to blend in here,” Mira pointed out. 

The two looked over their webbed fingers and toes and sighed. They knew they wouldn’t last long without a disguise. 

“What do you suggest?” Nerin cocked a brow.

“Look there.” Mira pointed away from the fishery, away from the fishing nets bundled up on the wet docks. “Looks like a pharmacy. We could wrap both your appendages in bandages. Right?”

“Worth a try, but how do you propose we get into the pharmacy?” Nerin questioned.

“WE are not. I am,” Mira corrected and gripped her friends by the arm. “But first things first.” Walking behind the lighthouse, she left them, “Stay hidden, I’ll right back.” 

#SampleSunday -free excerpt of best selling The Day the Flowers Died

Friday, January 8, 1932

Eli remembered this day well.  The detailed flower print of the pale blue dress Rebecca wore stained his mind as she swung around the banister on her porch. Her dress lifted with the currents of the cold wind still trying to separate from winter and grow to spring. The spring flowers on the lawn began to bloom again, reminding them both a new year was born. He remembered this moment more passionately than others because, on this banister under the changing skies of Munich, he realized he loved her.

He walked like a heavenly string lifted him high off the ground.  Her baby blue eyes complimented the blue in her dress and the sky.  Her hands clutched the metal bars as she played ballerina on her tiptoes and swirled across the porch in her beige thick snow socks. Eli enjoyed watching her spin like a child on her birthday.

She often played like this, but in this moment, a primal hunger saturated him, and only Rebecca could quench it. He grasped her hands mid-spin and spun her such that her face and his touched nose to nose.  Rebecca giggled, lifting her hand to cover her laugh and then Eli took her hand and held her cold fingers inside of his warm hands.

“Rebecca?”

Her eyes glistened at her name on his lips.  “Yes?”

“I love you,” he said succinctly and sure.  Nothing now could be more certain than he loved her.  In this city and country where finances were failing, culture was crumbling, and government was grappling for decision, his love for her would not waver. He wasn’t sure how it happened, how he had fallen in love. He had never loved anyone this deeply.  Perhaps it was the way she accepted everything about him, or the way they felt as ease with each other, or perhaps it was the uncommon manner in which she carried herself, courteous, and yet free.

Now his gaze searched her face while his heart waited.

“I love you, too.” Her words filled him with a new sensation. He lifted her into his arms and swung her around the porch for all peering eyes below to see.  Rebecca tilted her head back, letting her hair catch the wind and then moved her lips to Eli’s soft mouth.

The passion from their kiss erupted inside both of them with an instant flutter of their bodies from the public porch into the privacy of Rebecca’s apartment.  She brushed her cheek over his chin, clad with a hint of stubble.  Eli glided her into her room with his hands moving up her legs and under her dress, eyes intense on one another as they fell to the bed like currents on the ocean, crashing into each other.

Into each other’s hair, into each other’s necks, into each other’s lips, into each other’s legs, intertwined and lost so that no one could make out where one body ended and the other began until they journeyed like seamen into each other’s seas and the sounds of sweetest rapture left their bodies sweating on the sheets.  Rebecca, in swoon like fashion, leaned her limp body against Eli’s on top of the sheets, legs still interlaced with a sheet tangled between them.  They laid there until the sun fell behind the horizon and the Shabbos began.  Then in thought, Rebecca rolled on top of Eli and propped her body up with her elbows against his stomach.

“When will I meet your family?” Rebecca implored with more intensity in her eyes than in her voice.  “You’ve met mine.” She concluded with a fact as any good lawyer would do.  Eli couldn’t help but smile at her persistence, enjoying the affection.

“You will, soon.  I’ve told my mama I’m seeing someone and she wants me to invite you to the Pesach, Passover this April at her house.  You’ll meet everyone there and even have a taste of some good old-fashioned Jewish cooking.”

Rebecca bounced up, elated at Eli’s words, then leaned over to nibble on his naked naval.  He giggled and instinctively pulled back at the tickle before drawing to her.

“Is your family upset you’ve missed synagogue recently because of me?”

“My father’s friends told him I’ve been neglecting Shabbos and he asked me about it.  I was honest with him.  I told him I was dating someone and sometimes Friday and Saturday are the only times we have together.”

“And he understood?” Rebecca asked.  Eli scrunched his face and uttered something slurred between yes and no.

“My mama doesn’t understand why the both of us can’t just go to synagogue together.  I told her it is not something you’re accustomed to doing.”

“And she understood?”

“And then my father insisted on asking me a rhetorical question involving something to the effect of what kind of Jew works on Shabbos and then I told him.”

“You told him?” Rebecca’s body tensed, knowing what prisons her own mother had built around her life and knowing Eli’s father did much the same.

“I told him, she isn’t Jewish, and he just stared at me for a few moments with his mouth ajar and then my mama interrupted and told me to invite you to Passover dinner, that way we all could meet you.”

“And then they understood?” Rebecca’s hopes lingered with the words repeated.

“And then they all wanted to meet you,” Eli said with a higher pitch in his tone and tickled her sides.  “My oldest sister seemed most excited about the idea.” Rebecca giggled and then the stern expression returned to her face.

“Sounds like an intense conversation.”

“It was, but not to fear.  Everything will be fine.”

“What are their names?” Rebecca asked, “Your sisters names, your mother and father’s names?”

“Ah,” Eli’s eyes grew wide, “Sarah is my oldest sister.  Miriam is my youngest sister and Leah is in the middle. My mother’s name is Deborah and my father’s name is Ezekiel.” Rebecca’s body shifted off Eli’s chest to his side, plopping comfortably onto the thick sheets.  Her face lost its pink shade from the friction they shared and her gaze fixed itself on the ceiling.  “Are you alright?” Eli tended to her with his fingers raking through her long hair stretched over the sheets such that it gave the illusion of waves on the ocean.

“I’m fine.  I’m just trying to digest it all.”

“It’s really nothing to worry about.  They will love you.  I know they will.  I love you, how could they not?” Eli squished himself close to her and she smiled halfheartedly until he tickled her stomach again and she bellowed out a scream-laugh that could be heard upstairs.  The early evening became late evening and the night belonged to only the two of them lying like branches twisted on her bed under the stars of Munich, innocent of the country choking around them.

Sample sunday

Invasion of 2020: Chapter one: Meteors

Fourth of July, 2020

Somewhere in the dense forests of the Keni Lake in Alaska, strobes of colorful light flashed across the grey fogged skies, one red light descending toward a lone ranger wanting to catch a glimpse of the firework spectacle. Stumbling and then falling, he scraped his knee as his brown cap tumbled to the ground.

“Damn. What the hell was that?!” The strobe etched his skin, burning his arm. Intent on the intrusion, the ranger hawk-eyed the ball of spitting photons as he felt the extreme level of heat emitting from the strayed light...and then as if guided by itself, the light then turned on the man like a rabid animal, darting at his chest.

With a few heavy, quick breaths, the ranger sensed danger. Not the kind of danger he ever experienced confronted by wolves or bears, but a danger unknown and uncertain. 

Racing past the dying campfire he had set hours earlier, the last of the embers took a crackling breath. Quiet, the woods offered more than entertainment, they offered sanctuary. But tonight, they only brought fear. Darkness consumed the forest as the fire drew on the last of oxygen and the ranger felt as if he took his last breath too; hyperventilating, he couldn’t see and something was out there. Something that wanted him dead?

The only sound, a light buzz of the strobe and the only thing visible, a splattered flash here and there of red. 

“What the hell are you?” he commented under his breath as he felt mesmerized, paralyzed and panicked all at once. Buzzing again, the strobe rushed toward him, scraping against his leg and burning his pants. “Damn it! 

Fleeing from the dead campfire, the ranger plodded over thick grass and dashed through heavy foliage, dodging branches  and trees with his sense of touch and memory. Several more steps and the red strobe stopped him in his tracks as it descended in front of him before his eyes. Blinking like erratic traffic lights, the strobe began to spin, a whizzing noise emanating from its quickened motion. 

Jumping away from the light, the ranger darted up the grassy path leading uphill. The further the ranger climbed, the closer he should be coming to his vehicle. But upon the top of the hill, and in the dark, he noticed he had climbed too early. His jeep sat still many yards away from him. 

“Have to get to the next hill.” The man grumbled as the red enemy pushed past the trees, branches, fog, and grass and confronted the man yet again. “What do you want?!” he screamed out of more fear than inquiry. “Stay away from me!” 

But the light persisted. 

Each movement the strobe took forward, the man moved back...until the man inched his way to the edge of a cliff. Waves from the lake crashed up against the rocky descent and the sound of them breaking on the rocks set a rush of goosebumps up the ranger’s spine. 

Fueled by fear, the man teetered on the balance between falling and standing, his boots resting on the ledge like a crazed tight-rope acrobat. “Get away from me! What do you want!” he shouted again, pushing his hands outward in a ‘stop’ position. 

But the strobe pressed forward, the heat glazing over the man’s face and body, the buzzing ringing in his ears, the adrenaline pumping his blood. Stepping backward, the ranger felt the balance fall into the enemies favor and his feet slipped out from underneath him. 

Plummeting to the abyss below, his body caught the waves and washed out to sea.   

* * *    

    

The same night, on the beaches of the Kenai Lake, Uri Petrov and Julia Smart, his girlfriend of two years, sat on the white crystal like sand. Both wore faded blue jeans and sat with legs crossed over each other. Fingers twined, they occasionally exchanged glances as they admired the fireworks in the sky. Students anticipated the Fourth of July firework show, and most drove several hours from Anchorage to get there.

A gray summer evening popped with colors and blared like a loud horn from the crackling and sometimes vibrating acoustics of the fireworks. Yellows, reds, blues, purples, oranges, silvers and more saturated the evening sky like an exploding rainbow.

Turning to Uri, Julia pressed her lips on his rough cheek before speaking. “The show is spectacular; better than I thought.”

“What you think? I take you to boring place?” Uri cracked a joke in his heavy Russian accent and broken English. But nothing about him touched Julia in a rigid, broken way. To her, he was perfect. Rustic. Robust. Usually with stubble on his chin.

Combing her long strands of curly, blonde hair, something he rarely saw in Russia, her icy blue eyes watched his, waiting for him to draw close to her. Like the storm on the ocean, Julia seemed to Uri, crashing in like a wave just to pull back to the sea, a flowing and ebbing of emotions. He hadn’t fallen for any Russian girls as much as with Julia — perhaps it was the hair — but he loved her.

Born in St. Petersburg, his parents determined early on their son would study English in America, and relayed their wishes on his fifteenth birthday. Leaving his friends, his school, his neighborhood, that would be best for him? By his sixteenth birthday he conceded. Dreams of Uri Petrov making something more of himself than the son of a coal miner and seamstress pushed him aboard a ship bound for Anchorage, Alaska when he turned eighteen. Now at twenty-one, in his senior year at university, he couldn’t even remember what all the fuss was about then.

Sliding his right arm behind her, he yanked Julia into his warm, encasing chest and they fell upon the sandy shore. With sand rubbing between their toes, he smothered her with wet kisses and her laughter only encouraged him.

“Uri, Uri...please.” She chuckled, small white teeth showing. “I am trying to watch the firework display.”

“Ah...yes. The fireworks. American freedom and all that.” 

She rolled her eyes at him and his accent, as if she didn’t know the real reason he brought her here. And it wasn’t for the firework show.

“I want to watch, because it’s only once a year.”

“Yes...yes.” He felt chided and often did with Julia, but he liked that about her. No nonsense. Pulling a bottle of Chardonnay from his wicker basket, he popped the top and poured a glass for Julia which he kept beside the bottle in the basket.

“Thank you.”

“Ne Za Shto,” Uri finished before sipping his own glass. He used that phrase a lot with her, with his friends. She determined it meant something along the lines of no matter, or don’t worry about it, or it was nothing.

With their eyes fixed on the lights exploding above them, the sheer brilliance radiated on their faces and bodies, making their skin glow. That effect fascinated Julia and she rubbed her fingers over her tanned skin to see the strange colors return when she took her hands away.

Laughing, she responded. “Now isn’t that something?”

Uri joined in the laughter as he caressed her neck. “Da, da.”

To their left and right sat couples and groups of friends. Uri’s good pal Paul Boyette barbecued with a few of his buddies just a few yards downwind. Breezes scattered dead fireworks toward the crowd as peers blew on noise makers. Stacked beer cans waited to be discarded as soon as the show ended, and students whistled through their teeth at the start of each firework explosion. A few chose to dance about and some men ripped their T-shirts off, like gorillas gone mad.

Reggae music permeated the air and rushed over Uri and Julia, basking under the night sky. The firework show ended when the last trail of sparkling color slowly faded. Couples fell into each other’s loving arms, swaying or simply rocking each other. Sweet sounds of smacking lips saturated the air. Even Uri now could appreciate the full magnitude of bringing Julia to Kenai Lake. His friend Paul made the suggestion. 

Nestled between his thick neck and shoulder, and with legs propped outward, Julia relaxed her back in the soft sand. Her white tube-top revealed her belly button piercing. She found where she wanted to spend the night. Nothing was more serene than that moment.

Somewhere in the middle of necking, the youthful bodies shook at the loud bang resounding in the sky. More fireworks? Jerking his head skyward, Uri disturbed Julia’s comfort as her head fell backward, but the two set their eyes on the vibrant array of what appeared to be a series of shooting stars. Like cylinders comprised of various spectrums of light, the spectacle crossed the horizon and came towards them. The display marked the sky with as many colors as the firework show.

“What is it?” Julia nudged him with her shoulder.

“Meteor shower?”

“But aren’t stars...meteors...yellow?”

“I...I’m not sure.” A wrinkle broke between Uri’s brows and his left eye twitched as it did when he didn’t quite grasp something. 

“Maybe we should take pictures?” Julia jumped up and dusted the grains of sand from her pale jeans. Pulling her miniature camera out from her square silver purse, she snapped photo after photo as the stream of stars...meteors...lights...whatever they were...flooded the skies and shot across Kenai Lake, heading towards the forest.

Placing his hands over her back, he stood behind her. “You get picture you wanted?” Uri asked.

“I think so.” Julia spun toward him on her heel to let her boyfriend see the exuberance in her face. This was exciting, more entertaining than three years of university had been for her.

“Look!” Uri pointed with his right forefinger, leaning toward the uncanny sight in the distance. A glow like neon lights beamed golden and then hovered over the lake for a moment before shooting across Kenai and into the forests, disappearing.

With mesmerized attention on the blaring lights, the two took time to finally pull their focus away from the skies and noticed people standing on the beach with them, watching the lights in stunned awe. To their left and right and behind them, the sandy shores filled with curious spectators, mostly students from the University of Alaska and a few permanent residents of Kenai.

A few couples spoke in the background. “Is this part of the firework show?” a female voice asked.

“No, no,” a male with a deep voice answered. “This is...those are shooting stars.”

“They are not,” another female interjected. “That is a meteor shower.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?” the male retorted.

“No.” The female stomped her foot. “They are completely different.”

“I don’t think so,” the male’s voice commented.

Between the man and woman bickering, Uri threw his arm around Julia’s neck and motioned her forward. Wanting to step away from the soon-to-be-argument and hoping to catch a better glimpse of the lights shooting across the skies, Uri strolled with Julia along the shoreline with their bare feet getting wet by the lapping shore.

“Much better,” Uri said.

“Yes.” Julia pinched her lips together in a strange contorted pucker, caught between holding in a laugh and preparing to kiss him. His ability to disengage from the world around him amused her. Forget the crowd, heck, even forget the unique sky lights. Uri only wanted one thing, and that was to spend time with her.

“You warm enough?” Uri asked as he rubbed his hands over her back, leading up to the nape of her neck.

Nodding, she just about rested her head on his shoulder again before another light, a purple-white strobe, flashed across the sky. Hovering for a few seconds several yards above them, the purple-white light then blasted toward the thicket of trees and disappeared behind the web of branches and spruce.

“What do you imagine that was?” Julia lingered, her left foot teetering between moving forward and heading back. A tall man with tousled brunet hair stood to their left, holding the hand of his girlfriend. Overhearing, he felt compelled to answer.

“Aliens. They’ve come.” His scratchy voice made the words more ominous.

Turning his head toward the man, Uri sputtered, “A...aliens? What you smoking?” The Russian accent took a moment to register before the man responded.

“You’ve never seen the little green men?”

“Green men?” Uri guffawed, gripping his belly, unable to control his laughter. Julia smiled at the man as she tried to hold Uri up straight with the brace of her arms.

“This is not a joke.” The man grew defensive, his dark brow arched.

“A joke...a good joke.” Uri nodded with an inviting smile, in the way that said you are a friend. Shaking his head, the man turned to his girlfriend who rubbed her temples.

“Let’s just go home,” she suggested.

“Home, sweetie!? This place is perfect to see them coming!” Both agitation and excitement crossed his face, as if he couldn’t make up his mind which emotion made more sense for him. But leave? He couldn’t leave now. With a sigh from the girlfriend, everyone knew who won that discussion. 

Yanking Uri forward with her arm underneath his, Julia guided him away from the couple and farther down the shoreline. The silence didn’t last long before someone jumped up behind Uri and grabbed his shoulder.

“Wait up!” Paul declared. Uri turned, seeing the hopeful eyes of his best friend. The fashion-challenged business major who he met his first year at university sighed.

With his foot sinking in the wet sand, Uri glared at his friend. “Paul?” Uri sounded disgruntled. “What you want?” That was Uri’s way of saying go away. Paul knew this, but these lights were too mysterious to enjoy without his best friend — the guy who did everything bordering illegal with him.

“Isn’t this something!?” Paul raked his thin piano fingers through his dirty blond hair. He frequently played piano when he wasn’t studying for his business classes. Blue eyes fixed on Uri and widened.

Squirming, Uri couldn’t make up his mind what he wanted more, fulfilling his curiosity about the lights or his curiosities about Julia. The latter seemed more relevant to his life and he curled his lip under in answer, like an angry mutt.

“Aura Borealis more bright. Light shows all year round.” Uri waved his hands and began to walk away from Paul.

“No, no...not like this.” Paul gripped his shoulder. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Is this only happening on the Kenai Lake?” Julia inquired to no one in particular.

Uri kicked a pebble on the wet sand. Now, Paul drew his girlfriend into the craziness. The lake already soaked in curious whispers and awe-struck citizens. She didn’t need to be added to the bunch. Up and down the beach, flashes from cameras marked this event permanently. The images were burned forever into the minds of the spectators.

“I’m going to call my sis in Anchorage. Maybe she knows.” Paul flipped his cell open and after a few rings began to talk. “Are you seeing this light show?...No, no, no...not the fireworks...the...the meteor shower?” he asked with a strong question, because he wasn’t sure what kind of lights these were. “Yeah, some kind of shooting stars for the past twenty minutes....all kinds of colors. Purple, silver, gold, red, yellow, blue....Nothing? Turn on your television, anything?” He waited a minute before responding, his eyes searching the skies above him. “Really? I’ve got to show you these pictures. Later.” Click, the phone shut off and he snapped another image before turning to Uri.

“What did she say?” Julia questioned.

“She didn’t know what I was talking about. There is nothing on the news and she hasn’t seen anything but fireworks in Anchorage.”

“But wouldn’t it be rare that a meteor shower would be seen all over the state?” Julia stated.

“I don’t know.” Paul shrugged. “But this sure is interesting.”

Slipping his phone into his back pocket, Paul looked skyward again, as did all eyes on the Kenai Lake. Silence fell over the shore, whispers quieted and then a rush of awe. Even Uri turned away from Julia for a moment to see what brought on such a reaction.

Twenty lights of various colors darted across the evening sky at once, and without a sound. Then all the lights disappeared behind the trees as quickly as they began. The lake sat silent and empty for ten minutes with students and residents just standing, staring, hoping a light would return and spark up the sky again. But nothing. Then ten more minutes passed and the spectators grew restless, packed up their things and headed to their cars.

“Do you think the lights will come back?” Julia asked Uri with puppy dog eyes. And how could he refuse her?

“Certainly.” He squeezed her shoulders. The three turned away from the water and toward the parking lot up the hill.