Welcome back to World Castle Wednesday! I’ve enjoyed hosting my fellow authors and introducing their writing to the world. This week I’m featuring our fantastic Sci-fi authors from my World Castle family. I’m so proud to be a part of their team and support them all throughout their writing adventures. Take a look! You’ll thank me later!

Giveaway: 1 set of eBooks (The Bondage Club, Cover to Covers and The Riding Master by Alexandrea Weis) – Open Internationally – (Giveaway Graphic Attached)

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It’s coming out this Friday and we’re going to celebrate big time!! Come check out the In Chains Release Day Party!! Friday August 1st from 7-10pm CST.  I’m so excited to see what everyone thinks about the third installment of the Destined Series. Check out the fantastic Trailer made by Lindsay Anne Kendal Graphics.

Welcome back to Flash Fiction Friday. I hope you’ve been enjoying the series. They sure have been a lot of fun to write and to read. This week the challenge was to write a flash fiction using the word Blaze of the idea of perhaps a blazing fire or something like that. I hope you like what everyone came up with.

Flash #1 Author Fran Orenstein

Uh oh. Larry Jackson didn’t like the look of frustration on Timmy’s face, the puckered

lips and scrunched eyes. Then he saw the open plastic jar in Timmy’s hand; disaster in the

offing. Move, he thought, rising from the child-size chair. He reached across the table to grab the

jar, but missed. Glitter flew through the air covering everything in its path. Kids shrieked and ran

in all directions. The jar hit the table and turned over, spilling the sticky shiny stuff all over the

Amanda sobbed. “Timmy’s bad, he spoiled my picture.”

Marcus grabbed his painting and swung it off the table hitting Lincoln in the face.

Lincoln and Amanda added their wails to the cacophony of screaming children.

At that moment the door to the kindergarten room opened and the principal, Mrs. Parks

walked into a spray of sparkling glitter flying through the air. It wasn’t fairy dust, and her

expression mimicked the wicked witch of the west and not the good fairy. Larry Jackson saw his

tenure flying out the window in a blaze of, well it certainly wouldn’t be glory.

Fifteen tiny voices squealed in delightful giggles, except Lincoln who sat on the floor

holding his cheek and crying, and Amanda whose tears fell in a waterfall on her ruined picture.

Of course, Maya, the child most likely to make the Harvard debate team blurted out, “Ooh, look

at Mrs. Parks, she looks like Tinkerbell.”

“No she doesn’t,” Harry shouted. “She looks like a she got dipped in sprinkles.” Harry

would most likely be on the opposing team from Yale.

“The colored sprinkles you put on ice cream,” Kimberly added, not to be left out.

“Jimmies,” shouted Jimmy.

Amanda wailed louder adding her shrill voice to the discordance of sound. Larry had

a split second to wind down the hysteria before he found himself on the unemployment line.

Walking sedately to his desk he slammed his hand down on the big silver bell that waited in the

corner for just such a moment. Twenty bodies stopped moving, forty eyes looked up at him, and

twenty tiny forefingers covered their lips in the universal sign for silence.

Larry’s heart stopped jumping and his blood pressure dropped twenty points. “Thank

you, children for being so polite. Let’s say good morning to Mrs. Parks, all sparkly with glitter.”

Twenty voices, minus a still sobbing Amanda, shouted, “Good morning Mrs. Parks.”

The principal brushed the glitter from her hair curly brown hair and making a futile

attempt to dislodge the sparkles from her suit, then nodded at the class. “Good morning

everyone. Let’s see what lovely pictures you made today.” She began walking around the desks,

brushing glitter off her suit, stopping to admire each child’s artwork.

Larry breathed and went to Lincoln, still sitting on the floor, rubbing his cheek. He

reached down and helped the boy stand. “Let’s get some cool water on your cheek and make it

all better.” He turned. “Amanda would you like to help Lincoln?”

The little girl nodded and took Lincoln’s hand, forgetting about her picture ablaze with

shiny dots and stars. “Come on, Linc, my granny is a nurse and I know how to make you feel

Larry bit back a smile because Amanda was so serious, and went to the sink, wetting a

wad of paper towel in cold water. He gave it to Amanda, who held it against Lincoln’s cheek.

“Now you’ll feel better, Lincoln.” She patted his hand.

“You’re a very good helper, Amanda,” Larry said.

Larry turned his back so they wouldn’t see his grin. He saw a frowning Mrs. Parks staring

at him for a moment. The grin disappeared and his heart began pounding again. Then she winked

and turned back to examining Katy’s glitter smattered picture.

Later that day he received an email. “Larry, I want to commend you on the way you

brought the class back under control and how you handled Lincoln and Amanda. Accidents

happen, especially in kindergarten. Just be happy it was only glitter. I remember…but that’s for

another day. Enjoy your weekend.”

Flash Fiction #2 Author Elissa Daye

“Keira, where are you?”

Keira heard the voice on the other end of the phone. Looking around her she eyed the space speculatively before responding. The pitch black of the room around her was only separated by the small flames that licked the wood in the blazing fireplace in front of her. Her boss had a propensity for darkness, more to do with her own lot in life than anything else. “I’m at work.”

“Are you going to go to the Alumni thing?”

“I don’t know, Terry. It’s been a long time since I’ve been back there. I’m not even sure I would fit in with all the other successful alumni.” Returning to her alma mater did not really sound that appealing to her. Too many memories floated around the hollow halls of Louisiana State University. Some good, other so grisly that she never wanted to return. Perhaps, that is why she had left and never looked back.

“Sis, look, you can’t hide in your hole forever. Go back, have some fun. Kick back a little.”

“Terry, stop pushing. You know I don’t want to walk down memory lane. It’s not my thing.” Suddenly the phone was jerked out of her hand and Keira gasped.

“Hello, Terry? Yes, yes this is Claudia. She’ll be there. Rest assured. I’ll make a sizable donation to the university and make her hand it over. I know dear boy. I’ll send someone with her if I have to. Good, good. Glad to hear it.” Claudia closed the phone up and tossed it back to Keira.

“Claudia, come on. You can’t be serious.” Keira let out an exasperated huff of air. She hated it when Claudia pulled rank with her.

“Have I ever not been serious?” Claudia’s sharp eyebrows rose challengingly as she sipped from her crystal wine glass. Keira could smell the concoction inside it from here and it made her stomach flip flop. That bitter metallic smell just did not settle at all with her.

Claudia smiled at her and her dominant teeth were exposed for the world to see. Her black hair was slicked back into a knot at the back of her head. Her green eyes twinkled with the fire’s light. “Live a little. At least you can.”

“I know, I know. I’m a mortal. I have a soul. You’re envious, yada yada.” Keira rolled her eyes at the woman who had become more than her boss over the past five years.

“You humans take everything for granted.”

Flash Fiction #3 Author Michele Corneglio

Fire (a work in progress)

I decided today I wanted to have a serious conversation with Kat on our walk. Not about The Community, but about our relationship.  Heck, I don’t even know what to call whatever it is we have together, but there is something between us that I can’t just leave alone.  I think about her all the time.  She drives me absolutely bonkers when we’re together. The moment we are apart though, I feel incomplete.

I decide to wear something a little different from my normal walking clothes. She doesn’t approve of my mismatched socks, so I’m wearing a pair of plain white today.  I usually just slap a hat on my barely brushed hair. Today I brushed out the curly locks and put in pig tails. As I am getting ready for today’s walk with Katrina I suddenly noticed the scent of smoke in the air.  This is not completely abnormal since we live in the desert, but not good since we live in such a populated area. I decided to investigate.

“Kat, what’s going on out there?” I asked her on the phone.  There was no need for me to actually go looking for trouble when I knew “Miss Knows Everything About The Community” would have the answer.

“Mag, shut the windows if they’re open!” She sounded frantic. “There is fire coming up the hillside!” Of course, now I had to look.  With my phone to my ear I walked to the bank of windows at the back of the house.  I could see the smoke.

“Holy shit!” slipped from my mouth. The smoke was thick and seemed closer than it ever had before. I said goodbye and then stepped outside for closer inspection of the situation.  The hillside is long and deep with native plants. It is also secluded and hard to reach since there is a barrier fence preventing undesirables from trespassing. The small fire near the bottom would soon be a blazing mess knocking on my back door. Not to mention it could easily jump to the homes at the actual bottom of the hill.

I stilled my breathing for a moment to listen for sirens. Nothing. With my phone in hand, I used my speed dial for the Fire Department.

“I don’t think we’re going on our walk today,” I said as she opened the door. I raised my arms up showing her I brought hard cider with me. She tilted her head like an adorable puppy dog, and motioned for me to come in.

Welcome back to World Castle Wednesday. On spotlight this week are our amazing Mystery & Thriller Authors. These authors will keep you on your toes as they weave their web of deception and lies, while you try to figure out who is behind each mystery. Our thrilling edge of your seat reads will stay with you for days. You can find their works on Amazon and through our publisher World Castle Publishing.

You can also find out more about our authors through our new online magazine- CastleGate Magazine which is free for you to check out any time your heart desires. 

The Land of the Shadows By Author Elissa Daye

When Lyssa was at her lowest, she found herself surrounded by dark entities formed entirely from shadows. Their darkness had eaten at her very core until she had almost nothing left to give. Tired of their corruption, the young witch decides to fight back by trying to locate their power source unaware that her attempts would lead her down a path that would change her life forever.

Available at:

Amazon

Copyright @2014 Elissa Daye

Chapter 1

Lyssa glanced around the clearing, not daring to move too quickly. She shouldn’t be out this late at night. The quad was barely lit up, and the shadows covered every inch around her, so she inched forward one step at a time. Lyssa needed to get back to the safety of her dorm room, and she needed to do it now.

A swish of air interrupted the silence behind her. It was not necessary to turn around, for she knew who it was…or rather, what. She grabbed her pentacle between her clasped fingers and took a deep breath. Even though she felt her courage falter, she knew the gods would protect her.

Lyssa walked a few more steps ever so slowly, so that every movement was almost undetectable. The hairs on the back of her neck rose as she closed her eyes and dropped the pentacle. It rested between the rising and falling of her chest as small angry breaths tried to break their way free from her lungs. If it wanted a fight, then so be it. She was fed up with the taunting shape, fed up with the web of darkness that tainted the world around her. When everything in her body told her to flee, she knew it was simply not an option.

Dropping her backpack, she whirled around to face her pursuer. A black shadow stood behind her, a strange black being somewhere between here and there, with no reason or rhyme, just a hollowness that ate up the air around her. It had no discernible facial features, its only human feature a pair of glowing yellow orbs where she assumed its eyes should be. As it moved closer to her, Lyssa knew it was daring her to run.

Gathering her courage, she found her voice. “I will not be threatened any longer.” The black being moved closer, floating as if there were no separation between the ground and the air. It reminded her of a ghostly grim from horror stories of long ago, and a shiver ran down her spine. She closed her eyes and concentrated on bringing her energy from within to protect her. Raising her hands, she rubbed them together slowly, picturing the energy that would soon swirl like fire between them. The newly learned skill started to generate heat as she breathed in the air around her and pushed out everything she could into the slowly growing orb of energy in her hands. An electric current started to pick up, and Lyssa took another deep breath to hold it there.

“You need to leave, right now! You’re not welcome here!” Part of her might regret banishing it, for she had learned to do no harm, but the desire to live through this moment pushed her forward. She believed in Karma, the magic of redemption and the power of returns, and it sat on her shoulders like some devil vs. angel debate. However, this thing was threatening her, and she had given it plenty of chances to leave while it still could. She had seen it before. It terrorized innocent children at night, and chased people away from places of gathering with feelings of discomfort, ill will, and a gut wrenching need to leave as quickly as possible. It hated happiness and thrived on breaking up the stillness and peace within others. It had visited her the year before, when the difference between life and death had been a mere slice away.

The dark shadow continued to float towards her, and she had no other recourse but to react. Raising her hands, she shouted “Away!” and her hands released the ball of energy. It shot through the air like a speeding bullet, and the bright light singed the darkness in the air around it and smashed into thousands of pieces as it slammed into the shadow. The dark being dissipated into a swirling mist before her, dancing like cigarette smoke in a clear open sky, before it was finally gone.

Now, she walked quickly across the quad, her heartbeat keeping pace with her loud footsteps as they echoed like drumbeats in the silence. Soon, even more would come, and this time there would be a handful to deal with. Lyssa had never retaliated before, and while she felt a slight exhilaration, she dreaded whatever would come next. Now they would be prepared to do more than threaten her space, they would come for everything, but this time she had a plan. By using her inner sight, she would find the entities that were sending out these dastardly minions to do their dirty work and hopefully find the source of the darkness. Unlike the many that were afraid to seek the powers behind these shadows, she would dare them to come, for she did not live in fear anymore. Lyssa had come to this town a year ago, and from the moment she settled into her dorm room, she had felt the presence rooted deeply in the grounds when the light fled and the darkness covered every corner. There was something terribly wrong here, something that she was determined to figure out.

Lyssa remembered the last few years with no fondness. After breaking away from a vicious cycle of family abuse, she had found herself isolated from all her support groups back home, with no friends, no family, no one at all to help her. No one understood her, no one accepted her. No one believed her. Her friends were too uncomfortable with the truths of her past. While she liked to think that her friends had deserted her in her time of need, the truth was she had pushed every single one of them away long before they had gotten the chance. Lyssa hit rock bottom, bruising every inch, every last centimeter of herself in the process.

As she sunk into a deep depression, a desperate despair gripped at her as if she were swimming around in a barrel of crude oil, every inch of her being covered in the slimy depression that stained every pore of her skin. Lyssa had always promised herself that she would find a way to get out; that she would move on with her life and move past every sin that had been carved into her soul, every memory that she had meticulously catalogued into a mental filing cabinet of things never to speak of again. She had survived this hellacious life of secrets that had devoured every ounce of her innocence in order to find a freedom she had dreamt about since she was a child. And while she was proud of surviving, proud of how she had escaped a life that had seemed predestined, the moment of her escape was when the darkness had started to appear. That was when the filing cabinet had burst open, and all the sickening memories had come pouring out like a festering wound that had never healed, a wound so deep and infected that no simple Band-Aid would ever work to conceal the pain oozing out of it.

Lyssa had barely noticed it, this shadow of cold darkness. It had lingered so close that she had only to reach out a finger to feel its presence. It was the shadow, the shadow that was cold yet familiar to her at the same time, for she had lived a lifetime surviving the evil emanating from it. The being had seemed to gaze at her from the window, almost as if to ask her to embrace her malcontent. Like a parasite, it had watched her from outside her room, growing larger every time it siphoned more life and joy out of her from a distance.

Suddenly, she had discounted everything she had done to get where she was; the strength that she’d kept hidden from the rest of the world, and all the good things that she had transplanted into her life. The darkness came for her and built its tomb around her with icy talons that shook her to the very core. She had never thought of ending everything before then. Her plan had been to survive, to get away from her father’s corrupted grasping hands before he took everything she had left to give to the world.

When the black void came, so had the whispering voices, voices that she had never heard before that moment. They brought volatile emotions that made her tremble like a leaf on the wind. “Just end it. End it now. Who will care? Who will miss you?” When she found strength to carry her through those restless nights, the voices found another weakness. They soon began to blame her for everything that had gone wrong in the lives of those she cared about the most. Those attacks had bitten at her like mosquitoes, at first with timid suckles at the flesh of her guilt, then strong gasping gulps that had devoured every inch of her courage. “End it. You deserve to die. Look at what you’ve done to your family. It’s all your fault. You deserved it. End it. Then no one will be hurting anymore.”

Before long, she had lost herself to the moment when the voices got too strong to ignore. “You don’t have anyone. No one wants you. No one loves you. They never did.” The message had repeated itself over and over again. She remembered the knife that she had used to carve a pumpkin the night before…it glistened from across the room as the candlelight cast its light around it. Suddenly, the temptation to pick it up and slash had risen so close to the surface of her mind that she had crossed the distance of the room and picked it up without a thought. Standing there in the stillness with the knife shaking in her hand, she had held it against her wrist. That was when she had heard a woman’s voice interrupt the record, and its message started to skip like a pebble across a pond.

“The world would be a much sadder place without you.”

Lyssa had turned to the sound and seen a spirit standing beside her. Her long brown cascading curls were swept up into a Grecian coronet. She wore a white gown that looked like something from a Greek mythology book that she had read in high school. Lyssa had never seen her before, yet her presence had seemed vaguely familiar.

The knife had clattered as it fell to the floor at her feet, leaving Lyssa staring in awe at the spirit before her. “Why would anyone be sad that I was no longer here? No one needs me anyway.”

“It is difficult for them to reach you now, for they have not traveled the roads you have. In time, your friends will understand. They need time to adapt. You must fight the darkness that tries to control your thoughts.”

“What are they?” Lyssa had asked her.

“You must discover that for yourself. Until you do, you must remember that you have a greater purpose than this thing can ever touch.” The spirit gestured to the being floating outside her window. “You have to keep fighting, keep believing, keep living.”

When Lyssa had tried to ask her more, the spirit had already disappeared. It wasn’t until later that she learned that the spirit, Jephilia, was her spirit guide. The witty being had a way of disappearing before answering her questions in detail. When Jephilia wasn’t shocking her sides with energy jolts to get her attention, she was dropping messages that only a saint could interpret. From that moment, Lyssa had been able to break through the thoughts that had lived like a parasite in her brain for the past year, and she began to work on inner peace to build a barrier that the darkness could not touch.

Today I am welcoming fellow World Castle Author Jeff Horton. I’m thrilled to be a part of his summer blog tour. Jeff writes Christian Suspense, YA Sci-fi, and Sci-fi/Suspense.

Today I wanted to feature , Frontiers, his second book in the CYBERSP@CE Series.  If you live in fear that your world will be destroyed by an internet attack, this book might be the one for you. I’m sure afraid to enter my info into any system these days, I don’t know about you. I often imagine someone is hacking into my video camera and might be watching me with a bad hair/makeup day. That is a scary thought!

Anyway, without further ado, here is Frontiers.

A Dream to Unite Humanity…

Scientists discover the technology to successfully construct Earth’s first interstellar spacecraft, code named Frontier. Hank Reynolds, a gifted and courageous test pilot for the United States Air Force, is assigned to test pilot humanity’s first interstellar spacecraft on a historic flight to Alpha Centauri. Under the command of the fledgling Earth Space Alliance the spacecraft will carry human beings to the stars, and beyond.

A Plot to see it Fail

Someone doesn’t want to see this happen and will stop at nothing to see it fail―including murder… When the Frontier is sabotaged, it leaves Hank stranded and alone to die in the Alpha Centauri system. With their dreams crumbling around them, will they be able to discover who is behind the plot to steal the alien technology, and to murder those closest to it?

I tried to link to just this trailer, but as you can see he has many different ones and you should check them all out!\

Where can you find Jeff?

This week the challenge was to use the word shine in your flash fiction piece. I can’t wait to see what everyone came up with and hope you enjoy reading them!

Flash Fiction 1 Author Elissa Daye

Exerpt from Work in Progress “Crushed” using the concept shine.

Daniel. The very thought of him put her on edge all over again. What was he doing at Pandora? Keira grabbed a pillow and crammed her face into it so she could let loose the frustrated scream that begged to be set free. Her efforts just made her head pound more and she flung herself back on the bed in protest. She came to the only conclusion she could. Men sucked. That’s right, they just plain suck. No other explanation for it really.

That’s not true, a little voice in the back of her head taunted her. Fine. Being with Daniel hadn’t totally sucked. It was the aftermath that had ripped her into so many tiny fragments that she wasn’t sure she could even piece together. She’d certainly not get any progress on that with him following her around like some kind of stalker. One thing she knew for sure, Daniel had a reason for coming and more than likely he would not leave her be until he felt he’d had revealed it. Keira did not feel the need to acquiesce to his need for absolution. Why should she? She distinctly remembered asking him if he were married and the fact that he’d married Jessica Wren made her sick to her stomach.

“Enough, Keira!” Her self-proclamation rang out across the cabin. Great, now she was talking aloud to herself. Thank goodness this area was private. Keira pushed up from the bed and decided that her dry mouth deserved some kind of reprieve. She put just a small amount of weight on her left ankle. If she put just a small amount of weight on the balls of her feet, the pain wasn’t too bad. Limping to the refrigerator, she pulled out a carton of orange juice, placed it on the counter, then pulled a glass down from the cabinets. After drinking the juice, she made a bagel for breakfast and small fruit plate, which she carried carefully to the patio outside taking special care with her left foot.

The view was simply spectacular. The morning rays shimmered across the light blue lagoon waters and Keira wanted to lose herself within its shining depths to wash away the memories that had corroded her soul. If she could toss her worries across the surface of the water and watch it skitter across the top until it landed into the oblivion beneath, she would skip them across the pool without looking back. Such was the way with life though. Keira couldn’t cast aside the past so easily.

“That’s it, Keira. Time to do something else.” As she gingerly walked back inside, she thought she saw a strange furry creature run across the beach. Shaking her head as if to shake water from her ears, she did a triple take. “Now you’re losing it.” Nothing was outside at all. She sighed deeply, then finished her hobbled walk inside to get her laptop and a large bottle of water. Determined to keep her mind off her problems, Keira propped her foot up on a chair and settled into a day filled with edits and revisions.

When she had completed her tasks for Claudia, she opened up her own work Just In Time, which was a chapter away from completion. It was a contemporary romance about a woman who had almost lost her chance to be with the man of her dreams, a man she had been in love with since High School. In a way, her own life inspired this story, for she had held her own crush for someone who had not know she had existed just as Abby, her character had. Abby was a lot like Keira, except for her looks. Keira had decided not to let art imitate life and had actually made her a normal person who had never really struggled with weight issues the way she had.

Now that she had added enough scenes to spice up the story, Keira felt more comfortable with her story as a whole. Up until a few days ago, Keira would never have thought she could unlock the passion inside her character, and that was mainly due to the fact that she hadn’t unlocked her own passion. Not until Daniel. Why did it always come back to him? Did it matter, really? He was married. End of story. At least she didn’t have to make her masterpiece end that way, because after all, there must be a happily ever after. Keira couldn’t help, but feel jealous of her own character as she typed the final paragraph to wrap up her ending. She would kill for a happy ending for once, but was quite convinced that they simply did not exist.

After pressing save one last time, Keira decided to put her work away for the day and take a dip in the lagoon. She went inside and changed into an orange two piece suit and walked back outside, all the while surprised that her ankle seemed to be feeling better. Her guess was she had just bruised it in the fall. Thankfully, she would be back to normal very soon. As she walked across the small white sandy beach, the tiny grains tickled her feet like a soft feather. Dipping her foot into the crystal water, she felt its warmth inviting her in. Wading in slowly, the water felt like a dream around her. She dove the rest of the way in and was surprised when her feet did not touch bottom. Apparently the lagoon was only shallow right near the edges. Keira swam to the other side and back with little ease and since it was a low impact exercise, she was able to do so without further injuring her foot. When she neared the tiny beach, she found two men had walked onto it. Her senses perked up, for who knew what these men wanted and why they had thought it was alright to just come into her private area unannounced.

 Flash Fiction #2 Fran Orenstein

The Grandma From Hell

by Fran Orenstein

I stared at my reflection in the elevator doors, making a face. Not my best morning, but then when was

it ever? Like a Cyclops’s eye shining in the moonlight, the silvery doors beamed back at me. I shivered,

and glanced at the door leading to the stairwell. Did I really want to climb five flights because some

elevator door sent the wrong vibe? Maybe it was the building itself, old, from the 1920s, with gargoyles

on the roof and an old-fashioned shoe-shine stand in the lobby. If I didn’t have an early appointment to

show one of the apartments, I wouldn’t be here at all. Get real, Marty, it’s just the ambiance, too retro,

too well, old. People liked this kind of atmosphere, or they wouldn’t be asking $1.5 million for a two

bed, one bath. At least there was a skeletal, ancient doorman on duty, probably here since it was built.

He probably wasn’t much protection, but he wore a clean uniform with brass buttons that he had to

shine daily; it showed some pride in his job.

Where was that elevator? I heard a creak and a groan. Rolling my eyes, I sent a prayer to the goddess of

machines that tonight I would sleep in my own bed and not at the bottom of an elevator shaft. With a

final clang and a swoosh, the doors slid open, and I stepped inside, crossing everything I could manage.

The elevator rose two floors and stopped. The doors opened and a woman entered. Short and chubby,

with perfectly coiffed silver-blue hair, you would immediately place her as somebody’s cuddly grandma,

but when she opened her mouth an inquisitor cloned from Torquemada popped out. “Hello, my dear.

Are you the sales agent for Apartment 5C?”

I nodded, now sure this was the building gossip. Perhaps if I didn’t speak, she would get the message. I

grabbed the rail as the elevator shuddered, bounced and stopped. The light dimmed and all I saw was

the shine of her silver lapel pin, shaped like the letter O, or an open mouth. I pushed the emergency

alarm, but nothing happened. I yelled for help, but nothing happened.

“Don’t worry, my dear. Happens all the time. Electricity isn’t quite what it was touted to be by that

Edison man is it?”

Edison man, as in Thomas? Great, a power outage and I’m stuck in an elevator with the gossip from hell.

She had to know everything, my complete bio from conception to now. None of her business. Who did

she think she was?

“So, your first love threw you over for your best friend?”

When did I tell her that? I nodded, praying that the power would come back on and we would move just

one more floor. How was I so lucky to get stuck one floor away from freedom with the grandma from

hell?

“That must have been terrible and you were only what, fourteen?”

“Fifteen.” I clamped my hand over my mouth. Dummy, don’t answer, but I was getting sucked into this

interview. Had I really gone through fifteen years already? What was I thinking?

“Oh, so young.” She pulled the fur stole tighter around her shoulders, fox heads and tails shifting as if

they would leap off her ample bosom and rip out my throat.

I moved back until I pressed against the wall, the railing digging into my back. “Um, I’m going to try my

cell phone again, maybe the call will go through this time.”

“Interesting gadget, that thing you call a cell phone. Where’s the dial?”

“What dial? It has buttons.”

“Fancy, these new gadgets.”

I edged around toward the doors, ready to offer anything if I were released from this box hanging

by cables. Who the hell was this woman? Sweat beaded between my breasts and elsewhere

unmentionable. Blood pounded in my ears. I wanted to reach out and touch her, but fear held back

my hand. Would she be flesh and blood? Suddenly the elevator lurched, the lights came back on full

strength and we creaked to the fifth floor. The doors parted and I dashed out. Turning my head, I looked

back over my shoulder at the empty car, as the door slid shut.

 Flash Fiction 3 Author Joann Buchanan

Excerpt from SHINE

Samuel put his hand on my cheek. “I can’t lose you. I love you,” he said. The nearly indestructible man made me feel like the most important person in the world—that it would break him if I was gone from this planet. I smiled at him. Our eyes locked. I was mesmerized by the warmth in his soul. It shined surly as the sun in the sky. It shined as if there was nothing else in the world when he looked at me. He shined.

Hi everyone! We’re highlighting our Young Adult Authors and one of them still has a deal going on right now!

We are also doing a Young Adult Book Giveaway. Click here.