“Could you help me for a minute, Brian?” she asked.

“Sure,” I said, putting down my planer.

“I’ve measured this board three times and have gotten three different numbers.” She smiled.

I took the tape measure from her and measured her board.

“What’s it supposed to be?” I asked.

“I don’t really know, to tell you the truth.”

I looked at her.

“You think I’m stupid?” she asked shyly.

“No. I’d never think you were stupid.” I tried to gauge her reaction.

She smiled at me. “Well, I feel stupid. I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“I’ll help you,” I said. That’s when I began working with Carly on her project, a shelf for her mother. I spent more time working on her project than mine. That was fine with me.

“Thanks for helping me,” she said as we walked to lunch.

“You’re welcome. I don’t mind.” I looked at her and she looked back at me and smiled.

Of course, when we entered the cafeteria, she ran off to be with her friends and left me to myself. I was used to it. But at least I had the time we spent together to think about.

I stood in line and waited to be served my food. I glanced around and was happy not to see Dominic or his friends. I knew they’d be here, though. They always were.

I got my tray and headed out to the tables. There was no one willing to let me sit with them. I always sat at a small table on the far side of the room. I usually ate alone. The only time anyone ever sat at the table was if a new kid had no one to sit with. Usually, they had already made at least one friend by lunch.

So I sat alone eating a chunk of dry lasagna with undercooked noodles, green beans, peaches, chocolate pudding, and drinking my milk. It wasn’t a delicious meal, but it would fill the hole in my stomach. Besides, I wasn’t paying attention to the food. I was thinking of Carly.

A few times, I risked peeking up to get a glimpse of her talking and laughing with her friends.

She was pretty. The prettiest girl in the whole school. And her attitude made her even prettier. I couldn’t remember a single time that she’d ever made fun of me like everyone else did. She talked to me when I talked to her. Everything was just different with her.

Her warm smile, kind blue eyes, and adorable dimples made her cute. But the way she treated me made her beautiful.

I finished my lunch and walked over to dump my tray. Had I not been so preoccupied with thoughts of Carly, I might’ve seen Dominic rushing toward me with his tray.

Before I noticed him, he slammed his tray into my chest, pretending to have tripped.

“Oh, Boozer. That sucks.” He laughed. The three buttholes behind him laughed too.

Dominic pulled his tray away from my chest, revealing the mess. Lasagna and chocolate pudding covered the upper half of my shirt. Here and there, a green bean was stuck to the goo.

“You did that on purpose,” I said quietly.

“Did I?” Dominic asked, stepping toward me. “Prove it.” He jabbed his finger into my forehead and walked away.

I looked at Carly, hoping she hadn’t seen what just happened. She was looking directly at me. So were all her friends. So was everyone else in the cafeteria. But out of all those people, Carly was the only one not laughing.

The following is an excerpt from Held. Look for the Smashwords Edition soon.

Held

1

Most horror stories begin on a dark and stormy night in some spooky old house. Mine began on a sunny Tuesday afternoon in the parking lot of the Lakewood Mall. That’s where I was abducted at gunpoint while walking to my car.

I hadn’t even had time to register his approach from between two large SUVs.

“Keep walking,” he said. He simultaneously wrapped his left arm around me and squeezed my left shoulder, and used his right hand to shove the gun into my ribs.

So here we were, walking to my car. With his arm around me, we looked like a normal couple. I knew no one could see the gun. The handful of other people we passed along the way didn’t even glance at us.

I thought of screaming. I thought of struggling. I thought of turning and running. But I also thought of my husband. And my son. If I turned and ran, he’d shoot me. If I struggled, he’d shoot me. If I screamed, he’d probably beat me and then shoot me. I couldn’t leave them without a wife and mother.

Before I could make a choice, we were at my car. I considered just walking on by it, pretending I forgot where I parked. That would buy me a few more minutes. But he led me to the driver’s side door.

He knew this was my car.

“Open it,” he commanded.

I dug through my purse, wishing like hell I carried bear spray or Mace or hairspray or anything that would give me the second I needed to get away from him. But I didn’t carry anything like that. I felt the pack of gum, the tampon, the extra pacifier, my wallet, and finally my keys.

I jerked them out of my purse, nearly dropped them, and clumsily began to unlock the door.

The closer we got to getting in the car, the harder he pushed on the gun. He’d soon crack a rib if he kept on.

When the door was unlocked, he tightened his grip on my shoulder. He leaned into my ear, which would look to others as if he were whispering sweet nothings to me.

But that’s not even close to what he said.

“You’re going to get into this car, slide over to the passenger seat and nothing more. Got it?”

I didn’t even look at him. I just stood there.

“If you do anything, and I mean anything at all, other than what I’ve told you to do, I’ll kill you. And if you manage to get away from me, I’ll kill your husband. And then, I’ll kill that pretty little boy of yours. And I’ll take my sweet time doing it. Got it?”

This time, I nodded. I wouldn’t let anything happen to my family.

He kissed me on the cheek quickly.

“Good. Now get in.”

I did as I was told, though the urge to open the passenger side door and flee was overwhelming.

He got in quickly, took the keys from me and started the car. I watched through the door window as we drove through the parking lot and away, to wherever we were going. I fought to keep from vomiting as I realized that no one was going to save me. No one was going to stop him from taking me away.

Even if I could somehow manage to escape him at some point, everything was going to be different. Assuming he didn’t kill me first, life as I knew it was over and gone forever.

In the side mirror, I watched as the parking lot slipped away, taking me further and further away from hope.

The following is an excerpt from Annie’s Revenge. Look for the Smashwords Edition in summer 2011.

Annie’s Revenge

Chapter One

I ran. I heard laughing and yelling in the distance behind me. “Annie! Annie!” Repeatedly, they kept calling for me, taunting me. I ran faster in the complete darkness. I had no idea where I was or where I was going, but I knew for sure that I had to get away from them. My heart pounded against my chest. My breathing came and went in raspy puffs, my lungs afire and my ribs aching fiercely. I had to keep going. Stopping was not an option.

My mouth filled with blood, its metallic taste nauseating me. Missing teeth, a busted lip, and a bitten tongue were all sources of the bitter blood. I also felt blood running down my thighs. My left eye was swollen shut and throbbing, and the other was attaining a haze. My unseeing eyes mattered little, as the darkness around me was so absolute, I couldn’t have seen under normal circumstances. The sky stood moonless, but moonlight wouldn’t have reached the thick forest floor to illuminate my way had it been in its fullest phase.