Starting over

So I thought about making a little extra cash by selling my talents as a grammar Nazi. I have been a beta reader for 2 years and editing all my life. I pick things out that are misspelled and things that don't sound like they belong together. I am reading for 2 lovely ladies you can find them on twitter and ask them about the feedback I have given them on their works in progress. They are @agirlnamednat and @AlyssaFox99. They are good friends and I love being their proof reader.

If you are interested in someone like me proof reading your documents I am very negotiable about price and payment. You may contact me via  the comments below to let me know you are interested and then we can chat about how you want to go about the business.

Thank you for your time and only serious inquiries please. 

Umm yeah..

The only writing I seem to be doing is blogging so I guess that will be it for now.. other than book reviews..

On the agenda, I will review The Hunger Games trilogy and tell you how I enjoyed them or not. Also I will be reviewing Jim Butcher's novels The Dresden Files. I very much like the tv series and the books are awesome too.

The Kingdom of Childhood

I read this book by Rebecca Coleman called The Kingdom of Childhood. It is set in 1998 with flashbacks to 1960's Germany. I am going to answer the end of book questions regarding the book while its fresh in my mind and after I will post my opinion of the book.

1.The story is set in 1998 amidst the release of the Starr Report and President Clinton's Impeachment, and as the novel opens, there is an intense discussion in the media about these subjects. Do you feel the "national conversation" about the Lewinsky affair opened avenues of discussion that would have been inappropriate for Zach and Judy otherwise?

I would imagine that it would have to depend on the context of how the discussion got started to how it would be considered inappropriate for Zach and Judy to discuss. In the situation it started off as a joke that everyone heard during that time and spiraled from there. In a way Lewinsky's affair with the President gave the topic of having an affair a closer look. Something people don't feel comfortable talking about because almost everyone knows of someone or has a family member who has been in that situation, making it a topic of non discussion.

2. The first few chapters of the novel show an increasingly skewed set of boundaries between Judy and Zach that allow the affair to occur. Did this seem realistic to you? Was the process of dissolving their boundaries similar to what happens in affairs between consenting adults?

I think it was very realistic. I think Judy being a neglected wife and under appreciated mother had taken its toll on her. I think she welcomed any kind of attention even if it was from a 16 year old boy. The boundaries between consenting adults exists to keep society and others happy. In that respect between two consenting adults the consequences fall to both of them. In the respect of the boundaries between an adult and a student/minor it is different. With that kind of boundary crossed the responsibility falls to the adult. They will see the 16 year old as a victim even if he/she initiated it. The adult should know the boundary line and not cross it yet Judy did. As for the dissolving of the boundary between the adult and the minor I think its very similar to that of two consenting adults. They go through the initial attraction and act on it.

3. The Waldorf school movement is an educational approach that is widely practiced around the world and yet little known outside those communities. Its philosophy extends beyond the classroom to the entire lifestyle of the families involved. How did you feel about the way of life Zach's family, and others in the story have adopted? Did it seem appealing or too intrusive? Were there any aspects that stood out to you? Judy's children, Scott and Maggie, both rebel from their upbringing in different ways. Did you blame them for rejecting the Waldorf way of life or did it seem understandable?

I think to each his own. What works for one family doesn't always work for another. I think on the one hand it is appealing to have a sense of belonging and knowing that you share the same beliefs and practices of others and in a way its too intrusive. In the way that its too intrusive is that if anyone were to find out you strayed from the practice they might call you out on it and that it would have some sort of consequence. Judy didn't practice everything being taught at Waldorf because the proof is in her refrigerator in the form of Coke. As for the rebelling on Scott and Maggie's part I think they did it just to do it and maybe they did have a real reason but in the novel it just seemed like an easy out for them. Blame mom and dad so they can have something to bitch about. I think in some ways that it is understandable for them to want to rebel because they are finding out limitations and how much they can handle and how much their family can take before being in a situation of discontent.


4. Both Judy and Zach are influenced by experiences in which they are confronted with their parents' sexual misdeeds. Each struggles to reconcile their idealized sense of their parent with their parents' human failings.
In what ways did you feel those experiences affected their choices with each other? In the case of Zach, did you feel that his mother's affair made an affair with a middle-aged woman seem more natural to him, or only increase his guilt about his role in it?

I think that they both could have used someone to talk to about what they witnessed. Their parents made choices that affected them differently. Judy blocked hers out until her life started unraveling. Zach lived with his and was able to deal with it in a different way. I think in a way they were drawn to each other because of their pasts. I don't think that Zach's mother having an affair made it natural to him to have an affair with someone twice his age. If Zach's mother had found out I don't know that she could have said anything he didn't already know and confronted Judy. Zach's mother's affair seemed to be between two consenting adults and not just a student and a teacher because essentially that is what the relationship was. But because of age it also turned it into two consenting adults entering into a sexual relationship. For Zach to have this seem natural to him would be his understanding of how his parents and society felt about it. Most societies and parents will abhor this relationship and call out foul. Someone would be going to jail and labeled as a sex offender if they didn't get the death penalty first. Zach would probably feel guilty that he had a part in it as all abusers seem to project that on their victims.

5. In the flashback scenes, Judy's mother is institutionalized due to a mental illness, which leads to Judy's father's affair with Kirsten and her own isolation and dependence on Rudi. All of these factors set the stage for her later affair with Zach, which in turn leads to her own unraveling mental state toward the end of the story. Did you sense she was mentally ill throughout the novel or did the stress of the affair cause her to "crack"? How did her family history of mental illness factor in to your impressions of or sympathy for Judy?

I think it would have to depend on whether or not the mental illness her mother had, was passed to Judy. In the beginning I think Judy was just lost and looking for solace in whatever she could find because she lost her mother essentially and then she lost her father to another woman's affections which probably confused Judy. At the age of 10 kids are impressionable and what she saw as infiltration and betrayal by her father of her mother that she couldn't see passed the basic human need of wanting and needing human contact in the form of sex. Later in life I think because Judy felt that isolation again she looked for solace in the contact she had from Zach and Ted. I don't know that she didn't already have a mental illness but it does seem possible that she could have been mentally ill throughout the book. However, I don't think it was the case. I think the stress of the affair made her crack because what did she really have to lose? Her daughter didn't agree with the way things were done while she was growing up and her son didn't seem to wanna have anything to do with her just as her husband delved deeper into his own problems and obviously abandoned Judy.

6. On the way back from Ohio, Zach and Judy discuss the song "Mrs. Robinson"and the idea of older women who pursue younger men. While society considers it "creepy" when an older man pursues a younger girl, in popular culture it's often held as funny or tantalizing when an older woman - a "cougar"- does the same with a young man. Do you agree that this double standard exists? Has your perspective changed after reading The Kingdom of Childhood?

I would have to agree that the double standard does exist.Society is prudish in some ways that its more common for an older man to chase a younger woman/girl than it is for an older woman to pursue a younger man. Like its more allowable for an older man to pursue the young woman/girl while its never talked about when an older woman pursues a young man/boy. My perspective hasn't changed on the topic of older men and women chasing the younger opposite sexes. People are obviously going to do it no matter what happens no matter how many other people are caught. I think the reason that most get caught is because of the age range it tends to happen in. Once a child turns 18, legally they are an adult and are supposed to be able to make life decisions. If they enter into a relationship with someone that is 11, 16 or 20 years older than they are that is their choice. It can be weird because of the huge generation gap but maybe they see something in each other that no one else can. Or maybe they found what they can give to each other and its just that simple. In Zach's case his maturity is probably what made him attractive to her other than his physical looks.

7. During the scene in which Zach comes over to spend the night, he reflects on his first kiss with Judy. In the version he remembers, Judy is the aggressor, which is quite different from the earlier version told from Judy's point of view in which the kiss was instigated by Zach. Which version did you believe?

At first I believed Judy's version because it seemed like he was mature for his age and because he is a boy/man/teen I think it would have been something of a challenge to him to see if he could get away with it. As for later on I believe Zach's version because as Judy becomes more clingy/needy it makes sense that she might have been the aggressor.

8. In Part 2, after Zach feels Judy forced herself  on him in the car when he was sick, his attitude toward her changes significantly. Still, he continues to be with her. Have you ever had the experience of being in a relationship you knew was toxic while finding it impossible to let the person go?

I have felt that way only once before and it was only because at that point he was the only thing keeping the bills paid and food in the house. When he finally left it was a relief that I didn't have to make that decision and deal with a huge blow out. At that point it was just figuring out what to do in the mean time to keep myself floating. After I found a job and made sure the kids were cared for things got easier and I kick myself as to why I ever let it go on for so long that it made me self conscious about how I saw myself. I feel like now I can breathe and make decisions with out having to second guess myself.

9. Throughout the story, numerous people- Sandy Valera, Temple and Rhianne - attempt to interfere with the affair (to the extent that they know about it).  Yet none is truly successful in making a difference. Did you feel any of these characters pushed too hard, or not hard enough, in their attempts? How do you think they could have been more effective?

As a teacher Sandy Valera should have gone to Judy on a personal level at first then on a business level if the personal level didn't work. If she couldn't have gone to Dan about it she should have gone to the board and ultimately the police because even just a suspicion will get an investigation going. Temple being a friend of Zach's did all he could to interfere and get Zach to see the error of what he was doing .He also could have gone to Dan or the school board or the police but I think he wanted to give Zach the benefit of the doubt by turning things in himself. I think Temple wanted to be a friend to Zach and help him and that was how he knew to do it. Rhianne's way was sneaky. I didn't like her approach especially when she confronted Judy at the school. Maybe as a mid-wife she could have called Judy to her office to discuss it. Then when she later went to Judy's home and confronted her I felt it was out of place for her to have done so. That is Judy's sanctuary no matter what was going on in her life she needed a place to feel secure and she did at home. With Rhianne's invasion into her home it was very weird to have read that scene and not think of Rhianne as a huge bitch for doing so. I am not sure that Rhianne should have confronted Zach that night either at that bonfire because of her state of mind when she left Judy's. I think she could have waited and spoke to Zach maybe the next day instead. Or just let Zach handle it.

10. Although it isn't mentioned in the book, the story is set around the same time as the real-life conviction of teacher Mary-Kay Letrouneau for her relationship with a twelve year old student. Such cases are not uncommon in the news, and often the perpetrator is a devoted teacher who has a spouse and children. The question always asked is, "Why would she risk everything for an affair with a boy?" Did the story leave you with a different perspective on how these events occur? Do you believe that such relationships are criminal?

Ok first off sex with a minor is very much a taboo subject. As a parent of kids its hard for me to understand why anyone would want to have sex with them at such young ages but as they get older say 14 and up its a little different. I lost my virginity at 14 to a 23 year old and while I am not proud of that, I believe that it is the age when "most" teens experiment with sex. Today's kids know more at younger ages than I did at 14. As for criminal I think it depends. My parents would have called it statutory rape and I called it love. Little did I know at that age that it wasn't love it was just an excuse to get what he wanted and leave. I was stupid. I think it depends on maturity. Most kids aren't able to wrap their head around the responsibility of having sex at that age so why condone it or push it? Zach seemed like he had a pretty good idea of what he wanted out of the relationship especially to go so far as to use protection. Most teenage boys won't or don't use protection and get the girl pregnant. So in that aspect of maturity if my daughters came to me and said they were ready to have sex at age 12 or 14 or 16 and they had someone quite a bit older that was interested in them I would probably flip shit or if they didn't come to me and I found out they were having sex with someone older I would flip shit. I mean they are my babies. I would want to protect them. I don't understand how someone could have a mature relationship with a minor to include sex and expect the relationship to not end on a bad note with parents being upset and the law involved. Not to mention what that person must be thinking to want to have sex with a minor. I wouldn't say that my perspective changed on how things like the affair occur it might have changed my perspective on why people do it. In Judy's case I think it was loneliness and that she found someone who was convenient and accessible rather than starting a fresh relationship with someone her own age. Ted was her age but lived else where and was not easily accessible not to mention he was married too. In Zach's case I think it was a thrill for him to see if he could get away with it. He didn't account for the feelings that would get involved and I felt that in the story Judy was one more fuck away from telling Zach she loved him. Because I can see how she might think that the sex could lead to love or to  her at least how she would have perceived it.

11. At the end of the book, did Judy redeem herself to you in any way? Did you feel pity for her? Also at the end of the book, Zach is experiencing the birth of his sister. Did you have the sense that his life would get back on track after this, or that the story's events would continue to complicate things for him?

Judy didn't redeem herself. She killed her husband, and was killing herself all because she realized she had nothing. Her kids abandoned her, her husband ignored her so she killed him and really she must have felt that she had nothing left to live for. She wouldn't have been able to have a normal life after everything was said and done because she would have been charged with a crime such as statutory rape of a minor. Her life would have left her rotting in jail for the death of her husband and sex with a minor. I did pity her because of her past and how it seemed she had no one to reach out to. Rudi also left her in a sense because all she was to him was a play mate nothing more. I want to think Zach's life got back on track but I think with Judy's death and the scandal that would eventually rock the community once everything was found out, I think it would have torn Zach up at least for a while. I mean he did after all have a relationship with Judy and did in some sense care for her it would be heartless of him to say he didn't care or that it didn't affect him. I think in the long run his life would continue and be on track but for a temporary time he would have to deal with the stares, the accusations, the whispers, the lies and the pity.

This book was definitely not something I would have chosen had I known what it was about. Because when you hear of this kind of thing happening you almost always know how it will end. With either a jail sentence or someone killing themselves or both. I think this book was well written and had me turning pages to find out what could possibly make someone do this. I was riveted by sheer nosiness and the need to understand why. If I were to recommend this book it would be under the pretenses of having someone change their perspective on the topic of relationships. That the affair itself wouldn't have been bad if it weren't for the age difference and the fact that the other party wasn't involved. To me if the person that is married to another person goes outside the relationship to fix a need because they aren't getting it in the relationship with their spouse and the spouse knows about it then it's not cheating. That opens up a whole new discussion I am sure, but there are circumstances that have to be told and a sort of explanation of sorts to be told for someone to understand why I think that way. I am only saying that to each his own. What is done in one relationship isn't always done in another. It just depends on the factors.  

Full of Ideas

So I was going over what I post here and decided it is pretty boring.

I want to spice it up and was thinking of maybe doing short stories here or maybe just blather on about stuff. I don't know. I have about a billion stories and no outlet for them. Currently I am writing 2 stories, one is a free write which will end up being massively edited and the  other is constrained by chapters and will also need to be edited.

So here is a little bit about my free write. I am writing in first person point of view and my character is from England. The period of time is around the time Jack the Ripper was well known with the exception that no one knew who it was. They never found him. She has a very broad cockney accent and was a prostitute/whore. In this story she is killed by Jack's apprentice in much the same manner that Jack killed his victims with the exception of being stabbed 50 times. She tells her story which ties in with the history of Jack and that of the apprentice and she discovers what happens to Jack and discovers that time travel is possible.

In my structured story the main character is looking for his origins. In the original story he didn't feel like he belonged to the world in which he grew up and found out later that he was royalty and was heir to the throne in a magical land. Only he could restore the balance. (Don't judge.. I wrote this back in high school and threw the curve for the other kids in my class. I learned later that not one of them measured up to my story. Talk about a major ego boost.) Anyway so I have been working to flesh this story out and its sort of working however like with everything else in my life I am second guessing it. I have sent it to a couple of people to show them what I have so far and both have commented that its good but will undergo a rewrite. Tell me something I don't know. Anyway the fleshed out synopsis of this story is:

Born in Arkadiy as Vladislav Anatole, Chase Holden is taken to America after a siege lays his birth place in ruins. With his last heroic moment Miroslav Anatole sends his wife and child through a mirror to America where he feels that his son will be safe. In a heart wrenching moment the connection is lost and Sashenka has to place her son in the care of others so that she may return to Arkadiy to ensure her son's ascension to the throne. She keeps a watchful eye on her son through the mirror as he grows up thinking the people raising him are his birth parents. In a fiery airplane accident both his parents suffer with life threatening injuries, where he loses his dad. His mom speaks to him with her final breath to tell him he had been adopted. His quest begins with the search for his birth parents. Sashenka becomes impatient with his progress towards returning to his rightful place leaving Arkadiy again to bring her son home. Convincing him of his heritage is the only obstacle. He desperately wants to believe but is torn between bringing families together and giving them closure when nothing else can be done to finding himself and gaining his own closure. With his supernatural abilities that aide him in his work he has given closure to so many people but desperately seeks his own. Dare he take the chance to get closure and leave all those cold cases and unsolved mysteries behind?


I also have some romances tucked away which I always think will end up being cookie cutter and maybe I should write those first as a foot in the door. I was told that YA is blowing up right now so I am toying with an idea for YA but I find it really hard to put myself in the shoes of a teen. I know I was one once, but having wisdom with age I can't bring myself to make my teen character wise and I have a hard time allowing them to be ditzy teens. Don't get me wrong not all teens are ditzy, they just aren't ready to be an adult but are set in adult situations.

 I also have some horror and mysteries some where rolling around and in my structured writing I show case a little bit of that.

The thing is I don't want to stick to one genre and be a cookie cutter. I want to branch out and not trap myself.  I also want to write Erotica. See a little bit of everything. No labels.

I also beta read (proof-read) for people and want to turn that into a business. I also want to ghost write for people to help them out in whatever way I can because that is my form of giving back to the community. 

Excerpt 1

Drawing shallow breaths, paralyzed with fear the child lay as still as death on the mossy covered rocks.  Raking in air through broken teeth his gasps reached her ears as his body hit the leaf bed where the impact tore his clothes eliciting a string of cuss words.  Clenching her eyes shut she fought to calm her racing heart.  Praying he couldn’t hear it beating like in the story by Poe The Tell Tale Heart.  Metal on metal grated on fragile nerves as her sense of dread grew; the cartridge clicked into place

  Meticulous planning gave him plenty of time to craft each kidnapping and death.  After capturing only a few children at a time, sometimes within days or weeks of each other, their tortured screams bounced off the walls of the compound.  Pleas for mercy and deliverance fell on deaf ears.  The air saturated with pain, wrenched screams from the throats of the terror-stricken children, forced tears of hatred to stream from her eyes as sympathy for each tortured child became a reminder of what she would soon go through.

  Hatred oozed from his pores like sweat the stench so strong it burned her nose as bile rose up the back of her throat threatening to choke her.  The hair rising on the back of her neck multiplied her fear as the rage seethed with his words. 

“Come out; come out, wherever you are.”  He chanted

No Name

I still don't have a name for my book.

So as for what is going on, I have introduced my main character and some key players. I thought at first my book was going to be a scifi or a fantasy but it has a more murder mystery thriller feel to it. I don't want to put a "genre" on it at this early because it could go into scifi/fantasy. I want to leave it open so I have some wiggle room.

The inspiration for this story was done back in high school (1995) I have been out of school for 11 years. The story started off a short story and the names of the characters have changed. The story has become darker. The characters have matured more so than when I originally wrote them. They seem to have taken on a life of their own. Now its hard to stay with just the main character because there is so much going on. I am writing in a variety of different points of view.

The original story was basically a moral story. I had to write it for an English class (which I threw the curve for the rest of the students). The teacher loved it and was confident I could turn it into more. So here I sit 11 years later trying to find that spark the teacher saw. I have the basics of what the original story was about. However because this story has become darker, dealing with the evils of the modern world and the pain and suffering that most people endure at the hands of people that are mentally sick, disturbed, possessed etc..

The main character is torn between two worlds. One that has given him a place and the other that needs him to take his rightful place. He will have to make a decision on the future of his career and his life. Both worlds will challenge his beliefs, his strengths and his weaknesses. Their will be murder, ruthlessness, relief, among other emotions.

I know this is vague but I don't want to give away too much. I look forward to constructive criticism.

Destiny is a Mystery

Chapter 1:

Breathing hard with fear, the child lay as still as she could on the mossy covered rocks trying not to a make a sound. She could hear his ragged breathing, his stumbling and cursing. He was loading a gun, cold fear made her stiffen with a renewed sense of dread. She clenched her eyes shut against the night, the sounds that he made and tried to calm her racing heart. She knew that this was her night to escape; she knew that he meant to kill her. This was the one year marker of her disappearance and like the rest he always killed his captives on the anniversary of their kidnapping. The horrible thing was you couldn’t tell he was a cold blood killer. He fit in where ever he was. He made people like him and that was a dangerous thing. She knew he was sick. He would capture only a few children at a time sometimes within days or weeks of each other. Never leaving anything that could be considered as evidence. Except when he killed them; he killed them all in the same fashion, careful to not leave any of his blood, saliva or DNA on the victims. She sometimes heard them scream. The ones he had captured prior to her capture. They pleaded with God to save them; they prayed they would be sent home to their loving homes. Sometimes they would just cry and that would be worse for her because she knew that the fear they felt was so horrible that they sometimes went so deep inside their own minds that all they could do was cry. She felt that way most times. He would yell and get enraged because he knew he was not having any kind of effect on his victims when they went into themselves to escape his torture. She remembered one brave boy. He stood up for himself even until the final blow that ended his life. He wouldn’t cry out or make any kind of noise that would give the killer any kind of acknowledgement that he was being hurt. The boy, she didn’t know his name, she called Michael the Arc Angel had died quietly. That enraged the killer so much so that he killed another child that same night. That child gave the killer exactly what he wanted. The tortured screams, the pleading, the acknowledgement that he was there and was superior to all of them.

She never knew why he did what he did. He never would talk to his victims. He never spouted that he had a rough childhood although she could tell that something went wrong for him to have made him snap and start killing children. In her own warped way she often wondered if he had been treated differently would he have become the killer he is or would he be a different person. She knows she will never get the answer, even if she made it to freedom and he was finally caught and put on death row. She knew she didn’t want him to be put on death row only to await the day of his execution. She wanted him to suffer the way those children did when they were tortured to death. She wanted him to feel exactly what he did to those children. She didn’t want him to get paroled she wanted him to rot in a cell for the rest of his natural life and she prayed he would think often of the children he killed and the lives he wrecked by taking them.

Slowly she opened her eyes, looking around cautiously she sensed more than just the man’s presence. She strained her ears to hear his movements. Then she heard it. The tell tale sign that he was on the move again. He was softly muttering under his breath. She also picked up another sound. One that wasn’t part of his movements. It was another set of footsteps. She knew instinctively that the killer couldn’t hear the footsteps because he was making too much noise for them to be of much notice. If he had noticed another set of footsteps he may have shrugged it off as an animal. She knew better. It was no animal that stalked the killer. His breathing became heavier as he moved through the broken branches and shuffled through the rocks and debris from dead trees. He was almost to where she was hiding. Thoughts of bolting came to mind and she knew if he sees her get up, she wouldn’t have a chance because he would fire on her and maim her rather than kill her outright with the gun. She knew that is how he always started the killing process, with a gun wound. Sometimes it would be a shoulder or a knee or a leg. She scooted further under the big oak that had become her shelter. Praying that whoever was following or whatever was following the killer would already make their move and bring the killer down. She hoped it was someone that knew what he did.  Crashing through the underbrush the killer came to a standstill. “Come out; come out, wherever you are.” He chanted. “I know you are out there and you are no match for me.” Wiping his grimy hand across his mouth he wiped away the sweat and spit that had coated his mouth and chin. “You know Imma gonna find you girl!” he shouted. Looking down to make sure that his gun cartridge held the amount of bullets he wanted he clicked the magazine into the gun. With a loud click he cocked the gun and peered through the scope.

Startled he stumbled backward. Just five feet in front of him was a shadowy figure of a man. He hadn’t heard him step out from behind the oak. “Jesus, God! Who are you?” The killer demanded. Looking wild-eyed at the shadow. He swiped his hand across his brow and then looked again and didn’t see the shadow. His thoughts were racing now. He was beginning to think that what he saw was just a figment of his imagination. He sneered to himself. He hadn’t had much of an imagination since he was a child and now he reveled in what the papers said about him being clever. He always wanted someone to acknowledge his presence. He always wanted someone to see him for the potential of what he could have been. All his life he knew that no one would accept him for himself. He knew that if he didn’t get the better of people that they would always take advantage of him. “Damn them all!!!” he shouted at nothing. Spit flying out of his mouth into the night air. Then he saw it again the shadow of the man. Closer this time. He raised the gun and began to count to calm himself so that his shot would be true. In an instant the shadow was upon him flinging him to the ground. Surprisingly fast and heavy the killer grunted in pain. Having had the gun shoved into his jaw hard enough to shatter it, he felt his teeth come loose and began spitting them at his assailant. Nonchalantly the shadow wrenched the gun from the killers grasp and flung it a good distance away while still holding the killer by the throat. “I am your worst nightmare asshole!” The shadow growled in the killer’s ear. “Kill me then.” Grunted the killer. “That is what you want; it is not my place to put you down. For what you have done you should be locked away and the key thrown into a melting pot.” Pulling his cuffs out the shadow clapped them around the killers wrists and hauled him to his feet. “Alright sweet-pea you can come out of hiding now he isn’t going to hurt you or anyone else again.” The shadow assured.  Hesitant in making her presence known to the killer and having to face him again she didn’t answer. “I know that you are scared sweetheart, but I have him in custody there is no way he will be allowed to harm you let alone touch you.” The shadow wrenched on the killers cuffs causing him to grunt with the force.

“I will come out if you turn him around so he can’t see me.” She called.

“You caught him where?” came the grumpy tone on the other end of the cell phone. Leaning against the SUV, Chase crossed his ankles; listening to the department chief. The day had been a long one for Chase. He was pursuing the child killer while looking for signs that the child might still be alive. He had several leads and eye witnesses that turned up nothing. He had been sitting in an air conditioned café when the next call came in. It was another lead; this one seemed genuine. After five minutes of getting all the details he paid his tab and left the chilly café. Wearing his Ducati Monster sunglasses he straddled his 2010 Ducati Hypermotard 796. The wind was whipping his hair into a frenzied knot as he traveled the interstate following the lead. The location was in New Jersey, north of Dover. Hedden Park had been the destination of the child killer. After scoping the possible routes into the park and the select places that Chase figures the killer would hide a body; he settles in to wait for the child killer. The lead told him that a man in his mid-fifty’s was seen acting suspicious with children that he claimed were his own. The killer was seen talking to some of the frequent visitors of the park. Many got a creepy feeling as if bugs were crawling along their skin. The questions he asked were pretty ordinary according to the people he spoke to. He generalized his questions about the park coming off as someone that wanted to know more about the park because he was a nature buff. He claimed he wanted to wow his kids with his knowledge. Most people avoided him and the others were happy to assist him. After having got the information the killer wanted he went back to his lair to finalize the details of his killing. He would let the kid try to escape by giving her a head-start. Most of the kids ran away screaming and the others tried to be stealthy. The ones that ran away screaming seemed to make more mistakes which lead to their deaths and the others that used stealth just prolonged their deaths. He would find them and then torture them. Many people had heard the screams and because of superstitious; figured it was the Jersey Devil in the flesh tearing apart another animal. The screams were primal and coated with fear.

Smirking to himself the child killer cleaned his gun meticulously making sure that finger prints and DNA were cleaned off the weapon. He mentally went through the motions of just how sweet this kill was going to be. The girl was feisty. She spit on him and clawed him whenever he came within arm’s reach of her. Even with the chains she was strong. He smiled to himself picturing her broken in many places as well as spirit. He reveled in the fantasy where he knew she would beg for her life and acknowledge that he was worth paying attention to. 

Chapter 2:

Night had fallen. The kids whimpered in fear and hunger. “Shut up!” he screamed. The whimpers got louder before they were hushed. Walking the length of the dog kennel like compartments he came to the last one where the date of the kidnapping was posted and today’s date. The girl stared defiantly at him. Tapping the plate he sneered, “Know what today is girl?” Chuckling in his throat he stared at her envisioning the torture that he was going to inflict.