A Second Chance

By Dawn Natelle

Alert: I want to warn readers that this story goes back into dark places in the first half. If you have triggers related to suicide, then you might want to avoid this, or steel yourself a bit. It is essential to the story, though. (The trigger area is between asterisks, so you can skip it if you prefer). Dawn.

MONDAY, May 2, 2016

If Sonlas was going to be kicked out of the academy then he would do it on his own terms.
He knows where the academy hides their most valuable treasure, an Heirloom Gem, and luck would have it that he manages to get his hands on it.
Now on the run, he depends on the gem to stay a step ahead of those who hunt him.

Finally, I get back to a weekly schedule. And the next chapter is more than half finished (it might be a double chapter).

River

By Dawn Natelle, edited by Eric

Chapter 23

Chris dies in a horrible car accident and goes to Heaven. He soon discovers that the friend he protected, Arnie, in high school has committed suicide due to constant bullying and abuse. Now, he must go through Hell to find Arnie and bring him to Heaven. However, things are not as they appear.

This is NOT a pretty story. It might look like it takes a page or nine from Zoe's Becoming Robin and similar stories by other authors, but in the end, this is a tragedy, plain and simple. Every single warning listed at the top of the story is appropriate.

The story ends with two big scenes: a rather descriptive rape scene followed soon after by a very graphic suicide scene.

All characters are fictional, the school is loosely based on one that actually exists in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

**********

Tina Shepherd was in the final stages of dying a slow death due to cancer when she met the Martins and their friends.

Note: The suicide caution is not for a central character, nor is it for a sympathetic character.

sex: 1/10
violence: 6/10
profanity: 2/10

Categories: Hybrid, Elemental, PSI

Timeline: 2060

Chapter Seventeen: Begin a rising exponential

The next day, even more of the pures were down for the count. I went over to the table and reiterated our offer. "When your friends come back, don't reject them. Almost all of you will be changing within the next few weeks."

Anthony
New York

Anthony stared at the mirror, trying to ignore the sounds of the school that echoed in the hallway and into the small bathroom. His perfectly cut blonde hair matched school regulations, not touching his collar. A year ago he'd had a ponytail that reached well below his shoulders, he'd managed to man up and not cry when it was cut off on his fourteenth birthday to meet the high school regulations, but he desperately missed it whenever he combed his hair.

The cross shaped church was packed as it was every year for the Christmas Eve Family Service. The altar, pulpit, and lectern filled the top arm. The gaily and brightly decorated fifteen foot tall Christmas Tree had temporarily replaced the Baptismal Font on the right arm of the sanctuary. A three foot high nativity sat atop the closed lid of the grand piano in the left arm of the sanctuary. White lights twinkled in the green garland wrapping the railing separating the congregation from the choir and organ in the area between the arms of the cross. The main congregational seating was in twin rows of twenty pews each sitting 12 people. A flickering single candle sat atop each seven foot tall candelabra which were clamped to the inner and outer sides of every other pew.

The pastor was in the middle of his sermon pausing for a dramatic moment of silence when the door from the right vestibule opened with a squee from a worn hinge. A bedraggled emaciated figure staggered in looking around the sanctuary blinking with amazement in the dazzling light. Alerted by the noisy hinge everyone turned to see who entered. In that moment the sermon was kaput.

“Ex...excuse me,” the small person asked in a small quavering voice. “I... I’m looking for Harry and Livie Clark...”

Nearly everyone turned to look at Harry and Livie. The couple were a mainstay of the congregation. They were the somebody’s of the church... as in ‘Why doesn’t somebody do this?’ or ‘Why doesn’t somebody take care of that?’ The couple stood and looked at the scrawny child.

“We’re Harry and Livie,” Harry stated. “Who’s asking?”

The seemingly perfect guy Terrance Allbot! Good grades, athletic, what more could you ask for? A better personality. Everyone thinks he is perfect until they get to know him. He is a sexist jerk who thinks all women are under him. He was doing fine in life until a girl with a 6 year crush on him was turned down by him. She left saying a sentence he would never forget "You will pay for your mistake of being such a sexist jerk!"

(This is my first story I have ever written so please be patient with me, as I might not be that good. The chapters will be relatively short, but I will try to make a lot of them. It just depends on the feed back of the first few chapters. Not complete yet. Enjoy!)

Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls

A mysterious diary. An unconventional porn shoot. A night out on the town ends with… a transformation. Read all these stories in this month’s TG Mixed Tape, along with an examination of the filmography of the Wachowski siblings (of The Matrix fame), how the pair incorporate queer themes into their work, and Speed Racer (2008) as an artistic statement and a reflection on Lana Wachowski’s transition; an interview with Jenny North, who talks cosplay and genre-(and gender)-bending; and more!

CHAPTER 17
We were winding down a little bit as the little band Ernie’s dad had hired played some slower tunes, including a very slow waltz that got a lot of couples onto their feet and each other. I was sitting at one of the tables with Bill and the new groom as his lady wife went to powder her nose.

CHAPTER 15
I opened the back door and stepped back two years. The smell was the same, but the colours seemed just a little more worn than I remembered.

“Mam! I’m home!”