Follow every rule, appease every hurt, perform every task, stifle every heart cry.
She couldn’t. Not without becoming a shell, and what was a shell except the hollowed exterior of a creature who had died inside?
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Her mind adapted to AIDA’s rigid rules by numbing. She spent her days like a ghost, gliding through a routine that only mimicked life. Hunger was her only tie to reality, to her past.
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“Once Rich sees you and Neil bonding, he’ll relax. That’s all he really wants, you know, for Neil to be happy, because then Neil does his work better. And your job is to make him happy.”
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He folded the note, eying her. “Congratulations, Katie Tucker. We came to let you out.”
“Rich...” Mr. Alcott tried again.
Neil’s eyes rose. “She’s mine.”
“She betrayed you, son!”
“Gift.”
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She rehearsed the process as she stepped through the arched entryway, expecting a two second window when she could drop the message onto the moving shelf without it sliding into the grocery sack. Two seconds to tell a stranger that she was here. Two seconds to escape to freedom. And if she failed...
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She stared into the fogging glass walls of the shower, blinking out of her thoughts as faded letters began to form on the glass.
lions.
She stepped from beneath the spray. “Hotter,” she told the pipe. It responded, burning the edges of her toes. Steam rose around her, outlining the message on the glass.
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She couldn’t live the rest of her life here. Somehow, she had to get a message out, had to find her way home.
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Leaving her rural Texas village, Katie travels to the City to attend college. But her scholarship dreams are halted when she finds herself locked inside the house of her wealthy sponsors.
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Near the structure sat a sheet of pieces all held captive in their molds. The castle was unfinished, though several pieces had been freed and painted. But four sailors had been moved from the ship into the castle, two near a table in the courtyard and two on the wall staring straight ahead over the pair on the ground.
“Um... ” Katie faltered.
Neil sighed. Took one on the men from the wall, moved him to the drawbridge, and then spun the wheel until the board lifted to cover the gateway.
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She looked back into the mirror. A stranger with short brown hair stared back. The dress was a vibrant blue, drawing the neckline into a tight V shape, and sporting a silver chain that stretched across her bare skin. She swallowed three times. She had to become a city girl now. No one at home would believe she was Katie.
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When given a chance leave her village to attend college in the city, Katie has no idea her journey will end behind a locked door. An original novella written by Lindsey Backen. Read it for free on her site.
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Jeremy's ears bounced as he called out, "‘Fess up, Tucker! Did you peek?"
Tucker stopped, drew his hand to press the envelopes against his chest and declared, "Tucker does not peek!"
He spoke the truth, for the envelopes he delivered to Allison and Katie were still sealed, but he winked toward Katie, even as he spoke to both. "Good luck, girls."
Allison clutched her envelope, managing a flickering smile. Katie suddenly wished she had danced with Clark because he paled so much it looked like someone might need to catch him if he passed out. But he recovered himself with a breath, took his own envelope as he thanked Tucker and bore the attention of the majority of spectators.
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Allison ignored the gesture, instead peering up at Katie. "I didn't sleep at all last night," she said. "Let's make a promise that no matter who gets the scholarship, we're all still going to be friends. We'll always be friends."
Katie blinked as logic broke up the sentimentality. "Whoever gets the scholarship won't even be here. I mean, we won't be enemies, but we're not exactly going to be talking."
"In our hearts," Allison amended. "Besides, I'm coming back—I mean, if I get it. You guys are too . . . " Her eyes flickered to Clark before her eyebrows tucked as she looked back to Katie. "Aren't you?"
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Two seconds to tell a stranger that she was here. Two seconds to escape to freedom.
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How to stop avoiding your problems . . . and find pleasure in discovering the solution. Is it possible to ENJOY having a problem?
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When you’re a writer, you become friends with other writers. Lots of other writers. Today I decided to share a few books by a handful of my writerly friends - and a little about how they and their books came into my lives.
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The first request I got to release my books with larger print came even before I had published. It surprised me because the reader who was asking was around ten years old. It Here is how I created my first Large Print book.
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I’m testing out a theory that to put out 5x the amount of your normal work all you have to do is . . . work less?
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When I first began to learn about the publishing industry around 2003, self-publishing was still considered “vanity” and noses were raised. It was important to me to be able to control the content of my books and maintain the copyrights, but I was terrified of looking unprofessional if I self-published. I decided to create my own publishing imprint and spent the next few years teaching myself the professional publishing standards. Around 2012, I published the original Across the Distance as an ebook. Even though it was selling with no marketing from me, I got scared and pulled it off. It just didn’t seem “good enough.” And I was desperate to be professional.
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Why “You’re getting the results you deserve” is actually terrible advice for life.
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