When last we saw Dani:

“You okay there, Dani?” Darcy asked, bring me back out of my thoughts.

“Wha... Yeah. I’m fine. Just thinking about things is all.” I told her. Which was the truth, even if I didn’t tell her what I was thinking and worrying about.

“Oh, okay.” She said. “I’m just trying to make sure that you’re okay. I’d be more than happy to listen if you need someone to talk to, you know.”

And whaddya know, I actually felt somewhat better about that. I didn’t know if I could trust her or not, but the fact that I didn’t really have any friends since my move here to Ravencrest and Jimmy’s death. It might actually be nice to have a friend and not feel so lonely anymore.

“As much as I like this Gulliver overall, I think Quindlen made a mistake to have the Houyhnhnms be intelligent draftbeasts.”

“Why?” Spar asked. “Do you think he should have said they were intelligent... what was it in the original? Unicorns?”

A young man tries to find a way to put his broken family back together.

CHAPTER 53
Alec didn’t bat an eyelid when I walked in. One small remark, that was it.

“I was wondering how long it would take you”

He was, if anything, looking shabbier than he had before Christmas, and I had to ask myself how he had managed during the holiday period. That was a time that had always hit Mam hard, and I could tell Alec was no different. He made a short note, then looked up as I took my seat.

“How far out are you now, Jill? Work?”

Bob and Ted had been friends since high school, which was many years ago. Ted was an animatronics, robotics and special effects guru, and had used Bob as a guinea pig on many of his, often groundbreaking, special effects projects, turning him into all sorts of characters from credible versions of Prince Charles, Marilyn Monroe and John Lennon, through to sci-fi and animal characters. Bob was comfortable as both male and female characters and always tried to act the part of whoever or whatever he looked like.

Arooo….4

Chapter 4

Magic sucks…

I feel drunk in that bad..bad..got the spins bad but for some reason I can’t get sick and my heart is tearing itself apart. Everything really important dropped out from under me and I lashed out and hurt people that’ve only been kind to me.

I thought I was done doing that PTD freak out stuff.

But Kelly was the one who got me through that.

And Kelly is gone.

And I’ve been to war, I’ve done horrible things for my country and the scars have always weighed heavy on my soul.

But none of that’s hurt like this has.

CHAPTER 9
And school days passed, until the weekend came, and each day began with the assembly of what was becoming, for me, a type of second family. We girls would meet on the bus, tease and be teased, and pass comment on everything from the colour of a teacher’s hair to the particular gifts and failings of boys.

The
Christmas Ditz also part 2 of 3

My attempt at a Hard Boiled Detective story. Hope it is not as confusing. Have tried to explain certain hard boiled words and statements. Goddess Bless you All.

A Letter to My Ex

Dear Sharon,

I’m writing this, not necessarily to send, but so I can get my thoughts in order before I talk to you. See, I’ve been keeping a secret, and its beginning to feel like lying. I’ve gone back and forth on when I should tell you, with one part of my brain saying “confess! you are sinning against her and against God by not being honest with her!” The other part is saying “Wait! You’ll only hurt her and yourself if you tell her now!”

I want to title this one “I believe”. I’m going to just take a minute to say some things.

I’m laying in my bed, thinking about my date last night, and what my life has been like for the last couple of weeks. Yeah, I’ve been a girl for a less than a month, and in that time I’ve gone from a depressed Junior Varsity quarterback with a broken heart to a fairly happy witch, dating (and maybe even in love with) the Varsity quarterback.

Wow, when you think about it that way, it really sounds like I’m some kind of a slut.

Thanks to Marvel comics for their wonderful characters. Psylocke, Juggernaut, Courier and Deadpool are all theirs. Buy something of theirs, willya! :)

Chapter 7

Tracy and I were walking on the beach. It was sunny and warm, and we were hand in hand, enjoying the walk. I was totally happy. Then everything started shaking.

“Betsy! Betsy! Wake up! You’re late!”

“Wha-what? I do’wanna, mom!”

“WAKE UP!”

  
Somewhere in this chapter:

“Mark?” MJ said with a worrisome tone in her voice.

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

“I'm having a few cramps this morning but it is natural after all I ate last night, other than that I feel fine, why?”

[ Note: contains scenes involving the aftermath of violence. If that sort of thing is at all triggering for you, do please move along. ]

I felt like I was on fire when I woke up.

In my head, I flung back the sweat-damp duvet and pivoted up and sideways on one hip. In reality, I managed to push myself half-upright before discovering I couldn't even lean against the bed properly and so slithered gracelessly to the floor. My legs didn't want to work the way I expected and I had a weapons-grade headache. That was when I remembered the stabbing pain in my leg while at the metro station the day before. I twisted round as best I could and found what looked like a serious insect bite.

Spiked.

It was the sort of thing that happened to other people - usually in the more excitable media.