Wordy Wednesdays: TEN (Part Three)

Welcome to Wordy Wednesdays! As promised, here is Part Three of Five of my new short story, “TEN”. Stay tuned as I release a new part of the story every week!

If you missed previous parts of the story, you can find them at the links below. Enjoy! 🙂

Previous parts of the story:

Part One

Part Two

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TEN

PartThreeofFive

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Outside

Kyra left the building where Dr. Martinson’s office had been for the last ten years of her life. Coming there every Thursday afternoon had truly taught her a lot about the human mind. The doctor was nothing but a guinea pig for Kyra.

Looking both ways before she crossed the street, Kyra trotted across and stopped in front of her car. The late model Honda was perfect for the young woman. Black with tinted windows, it looked just like every fourth car driving down any random street in her town. There were no identifying marks or stickers, no vanity plates and she always drove the speed limit.

Opening her car with the key fob, Kyra slipped into the driver’s seat and put her seat belt on. Raising her hand to turn on her radio, she spied another scrap of paper sticking out of the CD slot. Plucking it from her stereo, she read the message, “Now is the time for action.

Turning on the stereo, she discovered she had just a few minutes to get over to Center Street before the traffic cam would switch over to traffic on the bridge.

Kyra drove down to the stop sign at the end of the street and executed a right hand turn onto Denver Street. Driving exactly the posted speed limit, Kyra listened to the traffic as she drove sedately down Denver to the intersection of Denver and Center. Glancing in her rear view mirror, she could see the van approaching from behind and smiled. Sliding her sunglasses on, she grinned and revved her engine. The van revved back. He was ready.

Just as the traffic cam announced the congestion forming on Center Street, Kyra gunned her engine and peeled out into traffic in front of an empty school bus. The white van followed suit. The two cars were obviously in hot pursuit and the traffic reporter didn’t miss a beat.

As the eye in the sky excitedly began telling listeners about a high speed chase occurring south bound on Center street, Kyra weaved expertly in and out of traffic, knowing from research that the news camera could not see her license plate. Making a sharp left onto Lexington Avenue, Kyra pulled into an open garage and pushed the button to shut the door. Seconds later, she could hear the van whizzing by outside the garage. The traffic reporter sounded puzzled as he said the van was still in his sights, but the little black car had vanished.

Kyra smiled, put her car in park and opened the door. Grabbing her bag from the trunk, she locked the vehicle and exited through the small door in the corner of the room. Her heels clicked sharply as she entered a long hallway. Opening the fifth door on the left, she dropped the bag on the floor, turned and looked at the camera in the corner and removed her sunglasses.

“Mission accomplished.” She said, winking at the camera.

The only other door in the room opened and a woman entered, smiling.

“Excellent work.” She air kissed in Kyra’s direction and made to pick up the bag from the floor.

Kyra placed her foot on the strap.

“What are you doing?” The woman straightened and looked Kyra in the face.

“I’m not doing anything.” Kyra smiled devilishly.

“You are stepping on the strap, Darling. Why are you doing that?”

“Maybe I want to see you bend over again.” Kyra hiked an eyebrow at the other woman, “Darling.”

The other woman laughed. “Of course you do. I have a magnificent bum.”

The woman winked, bent over dramatically pointing her rear end in Kyra’s direction and grabbed the case.

Kyra, feeling cheeky, grabbed a hand full of the woman’s shapely bottom and squeezed.

The woman squealed and Kyra, taking her cue, bent over her back and whispered in her ear.

“If you liked that, you’re gonna love this.”

Leaning back, Kyra replaced her hand with her foot on the other woman’s bottom. Giving the prone female a firm shove, Kyra’s opponent pitched head first onto the floor. Swiftly bending down, Kyra grabbed the bag’s strap and exited via the door the woman had come through.

As the door slammed shut behind her, she could hear the woman cursing.

Book Review: The Angry Woman Suite

Book Title: The Angry Woman Suite

Author: Lee Fullbright

Format: Kindle

Series: N/A

Volume: N/A

Length: 366 Pages

Publication Date: February 22, 2012

Rating: 4.00 out of 5.00

Summary: The Angry Woman Suite is the story of intertwined lives. Elyse is a young girl when her mother marries Francis Grayson. Francis is angry at the world and is an abusive father to Elyse and her little sister ‘Bean’. To understand Francis’ anger, the book tells the tale of what made Francis into the man he has become and what happens when Elyse is old enough to do something about it.

Pros: This is a touching and elegant story of life-long love, family deceit, mental illness, abuse and just living life. I immediately connected with Elyse and was touched by her devotion to her little sister, her need to protect Bean from the life that was chosen for them. The book definitely elicits emotions of all kinds. Magdalene is a mystery throughout, but you want to like her, to love her as Aidan does. I found myself wanting to love Magdalene, but not knowing how because I didn’t understand her. Which is what the author intended, I do believe. 🙂 The characters really came to life for me and it was a long journey that twisted and turned and came to a peaceful close.

Cons: There were several spots in the book that I found unclear. Especially where the identities of Francis and Jamie were concerned and who was who and which part of the story. There are parts when it is an action scene and I was not really sure what had just happened. For example, without giving too much away, there is a scene where a character is harmed by another character. It’s very unclear what happened. Did the attacker have a knife? Did they attack with a tree branch and inflict that much damage? Was the attacked person nude? I just was left in a cloud, not really understanding what had happened. There are several scenes that, for me, were unclear or confusing as to what had transpired when I was done reading it.

Reader Warnings: I would recommend this book for mature audiences. There are topics of child abuse, violence, alcoholism and sex. There are no over-the-top scenes, but there are scenes and descriptions of child abuse which I found to be disturbing, but who wouldn’t?

Conclusion: Overall, this is a good book. I enjoyed reading it. It’s really just the last few chapters that seemed to get confusing and unclear as to what was going on. The attack scene that I mentioned before, the scene on the third floor of Grayson House, and others that are just very confusing all happen towards the end. But it’s a great story. I love how history is woven into the thread of the story and made to be a part of the tapestry of their lives. The characters pulled at my heartstrings and pushed me on to the last page so I could make sure they turned out alright.

005: A Poem

Hello Readers and Writers!

A few years ago I did an exercise where I wrote one poem each day for 30 days. All 30 of these will appear in my upcoming book ‘Life and in Between’ along with many other short stories, poems and fiction pieces. This is one of my favorites, so I wanted to share it with you. This is titled 005 because it was (obviously) day 5 of the 30 day exercise. 🙂

Poetry was my first love, my first published work was poetry. I believe poetry is as close to a person’s soul as you can get. It’s real and it’s raw and good poetry speaks to you in some way. I hope this one speaks to you.

 

005

From within spaces

I created elements

Burst of glowing stardust

Where I danced

 

Stardust

Author of the Week on Readful Things Blog

Congrats to Mark Paxson who is Ionia’s Author of the Week. You can check out Ionia’s awesome blog HERE. You can visit Mark Paxson’s blog HERE.

Check out Ionia’s awesome post about Mark’s books at this link: Author of the Week.

 

Mark Paxson - Weed Therapy

 

Freebie Friday: Free eBooks 07/26/13

Freebie Friday

Hello Writers and Readers!

Happy Freebie Friday! I have scoured Amazon.com to bring you the best free eBook offerings I could find. Check them out, download them for free! Remember to leave reviews if you can, reviews are extremely useful to authors. 🙂

** Please note** At the time I am posting this message, all the books are free for the kindle version on Amazon.com. They may not be free for long, so hurry and get yours! I hope you find something you like!

1. A Hidden Fire

2. AARP 2013 Almanac: Free Stuff, Scams and Savings, Diet and Health Tips, Movie Classics and More

3. Everflame

4. The Secret Garden (This was my favorite book when I was a kid!)

5. Carpe DiEmily

Yoda Says Read

Happy Reading!

~ Eileen 🙂

Everything: A Poem

Hello Readers and Writers!

I am putting together a new book called “Life and In Between”. It’s a collection of flash and micro fiction as well as short stories and poetry written by yours truly. In going through some materials, I found something I wanted to share. I hope you like it!

Everything

Bring me to my knees in sweet, sweet agony

Shining so bright, you shine down on me.

My guiding light, yes, you lead me

I put my hand in yours

You take me blindly.

In a field of poppies you are a violet

A flower still but much more yet.

A snowflake falling so gently

Slowly, softly you touch me.

The blanket I hold close for security

My eyes, when I cannot see.

Everything different, everything brave

Bursting out of me

Is everything you gave.

Wordy Wednesdays: TEN (Part Two)

Welcome to Wordy Wednesdays! As promised, here is Part Two of Five of my new short story, “TEN”. Stay tuned as I release a new part of the story every week!

If you missed it, you can find Part One HERE. Enjoy! 🙂

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TEN

PartTwoofFive

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Doctor’s Office

“Tell me something that even those closest to you don’t know, Kyra.”

Kyra looked at her psychiatrist and didn’t say a word. Blinking slowly, she processed the question.

“Kyra?” The woman peered at her over her half-glasses, her milky gray eyes blinking. “Did you hear the question, Kyra?”

Making a decision quickly, Kyra’s lips formed a lop-sided grin.

“Yes, Dr. Martinson, I heard the question.” Committing to her decision, Kyra leaned back on the white leather sofa and crossed her legs. Joining her hands on her slim knees, she bounced her leg so her anklet jingled gently. “The real question, Doctor, is whether you want the answer or not.”

“Kyra.” Dr. Joy Martinson laid her pad and pen aside and looked her patient in the eyes. “We don’t play games here. You know that. Answer the question please.”

Kyra’s eyes landed on the table underneath the doctor’s writing pad. Another scrap of paper could be seen protruding from under the writing pad. Kyra watched her doctor’s face and smiled, her red lips curving gracefully.

“Alright, Doctor. But I think I’ll need some tissues.” Her grin widened and her index finger tapped slowly on her leg. Kyra brushed her straight dark hair from her shoulder.

“Very well.” Dr. Martinson turned to grab her box of tissues and Kyra quickly snagged the piece of paper from under the doctor’s pad. In the same red script, the message read, “A surprise awaits you in the near future.

Slipping the paper in her purse to join the first one, Kyra began to speak, “When I was five, my cat went missing.”

“Yes, you told me. Fluffy, right?” The doctor put the box of tissues on the table in front of Kyra.

“Yes. Fluffy was the first.”

“First?”

“Yes, when the fifth cat disappeared, my parents finally suspected where they were really going.”

Silence stretched in the room. Without breaking eye contact, Dr. Martinson picked up her pad and pen from the table and adjusted her glasses.

“What happened to all the cats, Kyra?”

Without skipping a beat, Kyra leaned forward. “I skinned them, Doctor.”

The good doctor blinked. “You skinned them?”

“Yes.” Kyra said calmly. “I skinned them.”

Dr. Martinson had heard this from young people before. Kyra was trying to shock her. The doctor knew how to solve this one.

“Ok, Kyra. Tell me about skinning the cats. What did you use to skin them? Did you kill them first or skin them alive?”

The doctor, satisfied with herself, sat back in her chair and waited for Kyra to back down from her challenge.

Kyra’s smile didn’t even come close to reaching her emerald green eyes. Dr. Martinson felt a chill run down her spine and shivered despite the warmth of the room.

“The first cat was already dead and I filleted it with my Father’s fishing knife. The second cat I smashed over the head with a rock before I skinned it with the same fishing knife. For the third cat, I had purchased my own fillet knife off the Internet. I skinned it halfway while it was still alive and then it died. I finished skinning it after it died. The fourth cat, I disemboweled and gutted while it was still alive but I was disappointed that it died before I got to skin it. I skinned it anyway. By the time I got the fifth cat, I knew what I had to do. I sliced it open slowly, pushing my bare hands inside her belly. I loved the feeling of her warm insides all over my hand. I wiggled my fingers, finding her heart and massaged it to keep her alive, just like I had read about. I skinned her slowly, keeping her open so I could massage her heart from time to time while I finished the job. When I was done, she was flayed and her guts were intact, but exposed to the air. It was a success.”

Kyra sat perfectly still, enjoying the terror that slowly filled her doctor’s eyes. She let a few seconds pass before she whispered, “Well, Doctor? Am I making it up?”

The session timer chimed and without another word, Kyra gathered her purse and left.

Wordy Wednesdays: TEN (Part One)

Welcome to Wordy Wednesdays! As promised, here is Part One of Five of my new short story, “TEN”. Stay tuned as I release a new part of the story every week! Enjoy! 🙂

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TEN

PartOneofFive

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Waiting Room

Kyra Marin entered the waiting room. Closing the door softly behind her, she sat in her normal chair and picked up a magazine. She was the only one in the drab room. The couch across from her was a dull maroon color and looked as if it had been there for more years than she had been alive. The chair she sat in was wood with a green cushion, her favorite color. The tree in the corner looked like it was about to give up the fight and other chairs in the room had definitely seen better days.

The corner tables held mismatched lamps with low light and the overhead light was also of low wattage, lending a pale illumination to the room. Above the couch was a huge painting of a lake scene with the colors blurred together as if the artist didn’t have their glasses on. Kyra snickered and turned to her magazine.

The magazine she held was a fashion magazine with a skinny, blond model on the cover. Kyra rolled her eyes at the model and read the cover to see if the articles inside might be of interest. ‘How to Please Your Man’. Gag. ‘Better Hair in 5 Steps’. Barf. ‘10 Slimming Outfits on a Budget’. Double Barf. Seeing nothing that she was interested in, Kyra leaned forward to replace the magazine on the table and get another one. As she tossed the reading material on the table, a corner of a piece of paper protruded from the edge closest to her.

Glancing around to make sure no one had entered the room while she wasn’t paying attention, Kyra grabbed the corner of paper in her fingers and tugged. It was a tiny slip of paper with red writing in a flowery script. Kyra brought the paper closer and read the message.

Kyra’s eyes narrowed as she read the paper. “Your secret is not for you alone.”

She tucked the piece of paper into her purse and nodded to herself. Fine. It was time to take the plan to completion. She was ready.

Grabbing another magazine from the table, Kyra sat back and flipped through it while she waited for her turn with the doctor. Pausing on every other page, pretending to read the articles, Kyra prepared herself for what she must do. Years of therapy with the doctor were finally going to pay off. She knew all the details of the plan and the doctor played a huge part. Kyra needed to be careful in order to pull off her part of the action.

The office door opened and Dr. Martinson stood looking down at her.

“Hello, Kyra.” Dr. Martinson was an older woman. She always dressed in a business suit with a skirt and jacket. She always wore pearls on her neck and ears and she always wore black pumps. The doctor smiled at her and motioned her into the office with her left hand while holding it open with her right. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

Kyra tossed the magazine on the table with the others and preceded the doctor into her office. Following Kyra inside, Dr. Martinson closed the door with a solid push and took her place in the chair across from Kyra on the couch.

Book Review: If Looks Could Kill by Eileen Dreyer

Book Title: If Looks Could Kill

 

Author: Eileen Dreyer

Format: Kindle

Length: 354 Pages

Publication Date: October 16, 2012

Rating: 4.50 out of 5.00

Summary: Chris Jackson is the real name of a famous writer who has chosen Pyrite as her new home. The townspeople love her, for the most part, and protect her identity from the outside world. Under a pen name, Chris writes horror stories about horrible murders. While working on her latest novel and welcoming the hunky new police chief, Al MacNamara, to town, Chris is haunted by a real killer who is copying her murder scenes perfectly. While Chris and Al try to discover who the killer is before they come too close for comfort, Chris tries to convince herself that the killer is not herself.

Pros: I liked this book and the underlying story about Chris Jackson. The characters were good and I think readers will relate to the hidden pains of Al and Chris especially. I liked the characters in the town of Pyrite and the descriptions of the town itself. I think I may have lived in Pyrite at one point in my life and not realized it! The supporting characters were very real. I loved Dinah and Trey and I, of course, loved to hate Sgt. Lawson and Reverend Sweetwater. I think my favorite character was Al MacNamara. After suffering a horrendous injury, Al decided to move to a smaller, quieter town, only to be put into the circus that is Chris Jackson’s life. Solid as a rock, Al is calm and cool and carries everyone through the story to the exciting end.

Cons: Chris’ different names are a little hard to keep track of. I can’t be a spoiler, but for me, it was just a tad too much. There were a couple typos in the book, but nothing that hugely detracts from the story. I think the biggest Con for me was that I felt there was no true resolution at the end of the book, and I’m a girl who loves a happy and complete ending. Another thing that is very small, but really sticks with me is that I don’t connect the book’s title with the events in the book.

Reader Warnings: This book does contain some sexual content, violence, child abuse, phobias and negative religious connotation.

In Conclusion: I enjoyed reading this book. If you like suspense and surprises, then this one’s for you. I recommend this one.

Happy Reading!

~ Eileen 🙂

 

Wordy Wednesdays: Derived

As a new feature, every week, I’m going to use a random word generator. It might be OneWord, it might be something else. I will put 15 minutes on my timer in my Write or Die desktop edition and I will write something for 15 minutes or until I feel like the piece is done. (I’m sure 15 minutes will be over before I feel like the piece is done!) Then, I’ll post the writing here for you to enjoy!

So, here comes the first ever Wordy Wednesday entry….

WordyWednesdays

 

 

Today’s Wednesday Word is: Derived. Resource Used: OneWord

Writing Piece – Unedited, 15 minutes of straight writing using Write or Die Desktop version

Derived

The fact that Paul was a prick was derived from the fact that he had never spoken a genuinely nice word to anyone in his entire life. We all despised him and wished him dead. Imagine our surprise when he made our day and ended up dead.

It was a Friday and we all got to work at our regular times, somewhere close to 8 in the morning. Some before 8, some (that would be me) slightly after 8. Paul never showed up before 9. He would waltz in, sloshing coffee from his alcohol-smelling take-out coffee cup and yelling ‘Good Morning!’ to anyone who would listen. He didn’t really mean it and we all knew that. He just wanted to appear like a good manager, even though he was anything but.

That Friday, we all got settled in to our desks, checking emails, chatting with one another about the shows we watched on TV or who called who for dates. It seemed everyone dated everyone in that damned office. Well, I never dated where I worked, so I always said no when co-workers asked me out. Especially managers. They were never the smart choice for dating in the workplace. It never ended well and when it inevitably went south, you were the one who lost your job, not them.

So it was nearing 9 o’clock and we were expecting Paul any moment. The office got noticeably quieter as workers hunkered down with their nose to the grindstone in anticipation of their boss’ arrival. 9 came and went and pretty soon, it was nearing 10 o’clock. We all started glancing around, peeking above our cubicle walls, waiting to see if someone was going to say something about Paul not being there yet. I was a natural leader and others often looked to me for answers. Pretty soon, eyes turned my way, silently asking me what was going on.

Sighing, I locked my computer and walked towards Paul’s office. Stopping at Renee’s desk, I asked her if she had heard from Paul.

“No,” she said, not even bothering to look up at me.

“Ok,” I said, “Have you seen him yet this morning?”

She quirked an eyebrow and glanced at me, her purple eyeliner was smeared on her left eye. She flipped a hand out to the side in the general direction of Paul’s office, “Do you see him anywhere?”

I stood there silently for a moment, thinking. “I need him to sign some authorization forms for the company meeting purchases. Do you know when he’ll be in?”

Renee swept her hair back from her shoulder, took a lazy drink from her coffee mug and then decided to bless me with a response. “No,” she said.

I glared at her and stalked back to my desk. My co-workers all looked to me for an answer and I just shook my head and shrugged my shoulders to indicate I did not have an answer for them. Sitting in my chair, I scooted up to my computer just as my cell phone began to ring.

The ringtone told me it was my brother, James. I shook my shoulders in a little chair dance to ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ before I answered the call.

“What up, James?” I said cheerily. I loved my brother and we were very close. True, it was unusual for him to call me in the morning on a workday, but I was always happy to talk to him, no matter the time of day or what I was doing.

“Hey, Claire,” he started. His voice sounded weird and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Something was wrong. “I have some news for you. It’s not being released to the public yet, so I can’t share details with you, but your boss’ body was found in an alley downtown.”

Never one for political correctness, my brother the detective just spit it out. I was stunned for a moment.

“What?” I finally managed to say.

“I know, right?” Was his response. “I was the first responder and I recognized him right away. He’s definitely dead, Claire, and from what I’ve seen it looks like it was not an accident.”

“What?” I said again.

“Did you hear me?” He sounded puzzled now.

“Yes,” I stammered, “Yes, I can hear you, James. I just can’t believe what you’re saying.”

“Claire, there’s more. The reason I am calling you is to give you a heads up. I’m going to be pulled from the case and you’re going to be questioned.”

“What?” I was feeling like a moron with a very low vocabulary at this point. “Why?”

“When I got here, he had his cell phone in his hand.” James began. I could hear a siren approaching in the background.

“Claire,” he sounded scared now, “the number on his phone was yours. You were the last person to speak to him on the phone apparently. So I will be removed from the case and the new detective will want to speak with you ASAP.”

“I didn’t speak to Paul, James. Why was my number on his phone?”

“I don’t know, Sweetie, but his phone indicated that the call to your cell phone connected. I gotta go.”

“Wait, James!” I almost yelled into the phone. “Who will get the case instead of you?”

James was silent for a moment and I dreaded his answer, knowing what he was going to say.

“Mark,” was all James said and then he hung up.

Great. Mark. My ex.

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Well, what did you think?

Happy Writing!

~ Eileen 🙂