Rudolf’s heart raced and his mouth twitched. He took a deep breath and tried to ignore the others. He hated the teasing. Even though it happened every year, dealing with it never got easier.

“Where’s your red nose Rudolf?” somebody yelled as the boys burst into more laughter.

He tried to walk with a normal easy stroll but he felt tense and awkward. It was hard to normalize this situation while he battled both embarrassment and fear. Embarrassed everyone was staring at him and fear that another snowball would smack the back of his head…or worse, that a sudden shove to his back would throw him again face first to the ground.

“We want to see you fly Rudolf!”

“So would I,” he thought amid their jeers.

His head suddenly lurched forward and he felt the cold sting of another snowball. He didn’t pause to brush off the snow, determined instead to distance himself between himself and the school.

He both loved and hated his name. Christmastime was the worst. Most of the rest of the year passed with only minor incidents but after Thanksgiving the teasing continually got worse. By the last day of school before Christmas break he expected this. Even the snowballs. Read the rest of this entry »

School was out for the day and I was watching corny teenage drama on TV when it started. While lying on the floor, hands behind my head, feet crossed, and laughing at a thirteen year old boy covered in popcorn; the TV first spoke to me for the first time.In a deep raspy voice it said, “Tonight your brother will die.”

At first, I didn’t do anything. I thought it was a mistake or somebody talking behind me or in the other room. But twenty minutes later it happened again.

“The knife in the kitchen will be crimson by morning,” said the same dark voice.

This time I sat up and turned around. My brother, laughing, was watching the TV from the couch behind me.
“Don’t Hal!” I snarled. “That’s not funny.”

“I’m not laughing at you stupid,” he answered through his giggles.

I looked at Cindy. “Did you do it?”

“Shut up loser,” she said, “I can’t hear.”

I frowned and turned back around. It took several minutes to brush it off but soon I was once again laughing with both of them at the completely unrealistic antics of the teenagers. Another twenty minutes and the tall nerdy boy with glasses tripped over the cute girl. He fell and the kids around him laughed, Hal and Cindy behind me laughed, and I laughed too. Then he looked directly at the camera and instead of the squeaky voice I was used to, I heard the dark sinister voice from earlier. Read the rest of this entry »

Aubree lined her bike with the center line, tightened her grip, tucked her head, and let the hill pull her. She rolled over the first yellow dash and aimed for the next. As she gained speed, the yellow lines zipped underneath her. Within moments, they shot like arrows past; zip……zip…..zip….zip…zip..zip.zip. The wind pushed her hair back and even seemed to push the corners of her mouth into wide grin. The bushes along the road blurred into a green haze and she focused on a wooden ramp at the bottom of the hill. A quick queasy feeling in her stomach sent a wave of fear through her body and she considered putting on the brakes or swerving to the side. But the excited tingling in her stomach brushed it aside. In a way she couldn’t understand, she felt safe and stayed on course.The ramp lifted her front tire and aimed her towards the sky. Her body felt heavy as the bike suddenly lurched upwards but then light and free as the ramp launched her into the air. She closed her eyes and waited for the ground to catch her, for a bump…but nothing. She opened her eyes and looked down. The ground moved further away! The trees were below her. The street lights were below her. She looked out over the city and continued to climb higher into the sky. She let go of the handlebars and stuck out her arms as the wind pushed its way past her. “I’m flying…..I’m flying….I’m flying….I’m frying eggs!”

The wind stopped, her bike stopped, and she sat frozen in the air. Confused she looked at the handlebars in front of her. The green grips, the red posts…and a strange circular…

“…Frying eggs, come and eat.”

Aubree opened her eyes. She wasn’t on a bike. She wasn’t flying. She focused on her alarm clock: 7:05.

“Come on kids, come and eat breakfast.” Again the voice of her mother echoed up the stairs and into her room. Read the rest of this entry »

Chapter 1“Wait, Aubs…I gotta rock in my shoe.”

Aubree stopped and turned around. Curtis sat on a rock next to the trail and took off his shoe. His coat was torn, his pants were covered in mud, and he had a blood stain on his cheek. She swallowed back the lump in her throat. She was scared and she knew Curtie was scared. Still, they both talked and acted like fear did not exist. Perhaps they each new they wouldn’t survive if they let the fear take control.

Aubree looked down the forest trail. On the right, Pine trees towered and blocked out the sunlight. On the left, a gray rocky mountain rose up past the tops of the trees.

“Ok,” Curtis said and stood up. He looked at her and smiled. “Do you want another granola bar?”

“How many are left?” She asked.

“Six.” Curtis told her. He paused, and then added, “We need to find a place to sleep before it gets dark. Maybe I can catch another rabbit for dinner!” He grinned.

She laughed. Yesterday he surprised her by catching a rabbit for dinner. It seemed like so long ago. “I’m so hungry I think I’d actually try and eat some this time,” she said. Read the rest of this entry »