Author Archives: aineacushla

12:9  Ivan stopped and swayed, fingers pressed to his forehead. Kim pulled up short and looked at him.   “Are you okay?”  “Fine.” He lowered his hand and shook his head. “Just got dizzy for a moment.”  The shaking of his head seemed to set off some kind of something because he swayed again, enough that Kim wouldContinue reading “Enter the Woods 12:9”

12:8  “Do you hear that?”  It had been several meros since Air had gone off on its hunt. Long enough that Kim and Prairie moved to the right wall and sat down between the first and second doors in it, with Kirby flopping down with One’s head draped over their folded paws, Hello’s slanted of to theContinue reading “Enter the Woods 12:8”

12:7  “That’s a castle.” Patti stated the obvious and then proceeded to crane her neck to look up, up, and up at the very large stone structure standing on a hill across a stone bridge that spanned a moat. “Yep. Definitely a castle. The moat gave it away.”  “The multiple towers and the drawbridge didn’t?” Ben asked with a flex of brows.  “I mean, buildings other than castles have those butContinue reading “Enter the Woods 12:7”

12:6  “Folks?” Siobhan pitched her voice to carry over the laughter. “Keep dancing.”  There was a chorus of “Yes, Siobhan!”s and a lot more laughter.  Kim slanted Siobhan a look. “You think it’s necessary?”  “Laughter is the opposite of tears, right?” Siobhan started for the roses in the center of the room. Kim trotted along at her side. She kept smiling because it really didContinue reading “Enter the Woods 12:6”

12:5  Kim started for the house only to notice Siobhan staring intently at the ground. More specifically she was staring at the exposed earth. There was a clear delineation between the rolling green of the grass in the cherry orchard and the open dirt apron in front of the house. She hadn’t really paid any attention to itContinue reading “Enter the Woods 12:5”

12:4  “Here,” Dan walked over and hauled Patti to her feet.  Once she was settled he gave the water a hard look. “The story has to be lived.”  Patti jerked him a look. “What does that mean?”  Prairie walked over to Dan and gave him an assessing look. “I think that we can’t step too far outside of the parameter of the story.Continue reading “Enter the Woods 12:4”

12:3   “You don’t think it’s a little weird that Prairie said she was keeping her eyes open to possibilities and, bam, Gia shows up with a story?” Abe broke the silence hanging between them.   Ben clenched his hand into a fist. “I think it’s a lot weird. And I’m going to keep my eyes open for a lot more than possibilities.”  Continue reading “Enter the Woods 12:3”

A long silence followed Prairie’s last word. It stretched, infinite. Gwen felt it like taffy, strands of it pulling between her friends as they slanted glances at each other.   Dan very quietly closed his book and placed his pencil on top of it. It was a testament to the silence that the quiet sound of that closing wasContinue reading “Enter the Wood 12:2 – part 2”

Gia & Erik  Gia remembers the day, though it was long ago, that Erik and his family moved into the house next to her family’s. They weren’t exactly estates, though they came close with extensive lawns and “wooded features”, so if Gia hadn’t been out in the rose garden that was separated from his yardContinue reading “Enter the Woods 12 – Interlude – Gia & Erik”

12:2  “When did they put in couches back here?” Gwen flopped down on one of said couches and plopped her feet on the coffee table in front of it.  “A few dias ago. Leo said something about ‘if you are going to practically live here might as well have somewhere comfortable to sit’.” Patti pitched her voice to mimicContinue reading “Enter the Woods 12:2 part 1”