 My excerpt this week is from Scintilla.  Brandon had become a danger to himself and those around him. His control over his electricity had degraded to the point it was tenuous at best and he didn’t want to hurt these kids. So, he made sure each group knew what he was and to stay clear at all times. He couldn’t hurt them as long as he wasn’t close enough to touch them. There was always one girl in each group who didn’t seem afraid. She dribbled water from the sink into a dingy, plastic cup and set it beside the one mattress that was separated from the others then backed away without taking her eyes off Brandon. He knew he was losing his grip on reality when he kept thinking this same girl was always in there with him, only each time she was slightly different, hair length, skin tone, eye shape, something was always changed. The room swirled, making Brandon stumble toward the mattress and lose his train of thought. He drank the water, nodding his thanks to the girl then curled up on the mattresses and tried to get warm. The building was in the desert, there was no air conditioning and they sweltered during the day. At night the temperature dropped far enough that heat was replaced by chill. It was the cycle Brandon had been living through for days. He had no idea how long he’d been there, though he suspected it was less than two weeks from the dates on some of the documents he pulled off the internet. Sinking into his head was how Brandon survived. Raul became his safe place. Never mind, he barely knew the man, and all his interactions after his one week in Arizona were via e-mail. It didn’t matter that he’d probably never see Raul again or that he wasn’t going to somehow, miraculously, know Brandon was in trouble and arrive to help. Raul was surprisingly hot for his age, spurring Brandon’s personal fantasy along. To most people Raul appeared brusque but when Brandon got underneath the surface he found a man who was kind and caring. Right now, Brandon needed some kindness and the safety he imagined Raul would provide. He wished he’d sent those e-mails telling Raul how he felt along with the ones telling Raul his fears. Brandon thought he was letting his imagination run rampant when he was sure he was being followed. Or when he was sure he saw someone lurking around his car. Then his apartment had been vandalized. There was little damage, nothing had been stolen and the police took a report, but that was it. He could have thrown around his parents’ names and gotten more of an investigation, but he didn’t. Now the only thing that stood between five kids and three violent men was Brandon. All that was between Brandon and hopelessness was his fantasizing about Raul. He was determined to save these kids, get them to safety, or die trying. Brandon expected to die. Scintilla is available in eBook, paperback, Kindle Unlimited and your local library digital catalog.    
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
 Welcome to My World
|
RSS Feed
