The first one to volunteer was a young man who had had shoulder length hair and it was colored in faded streaks of rainbow. He wore John Lennon-esque glasses and he looked like he had seen better days…

When you live in a town as small as Benton, your choices of entertainment are very limited, the more popular choices include the skating rink, the local movie theater, or if you were sixteen or older you could attend a popular teenage dance club that had just opened last spring in the countryside called “The Mill”. Most of those only opened once the sun had set. And most of those catered to the popular kids, or kids who had could get a ride or owned their own set of wheels.

"Samantha!" Mom snarked at me from down the corridor. "There are more mirrors you can look at this way."

Now for a little story I cooked up one night in my head, and to fellow author Sleethr, I just borrowed Bree...she kind fit the part best!!!!!

September 4th, 2373
In Transit to Mars

“Stop stressing, Cupcake,” Jordan told me. “Hollywood has not forgotten you. As if.”

“Last month I was... just a high school student. Rory’s kind of…a big thing in my life now,” I said.

“I want to ask you a very simple question, and you’re going to give me a straight answer, well, two questions,” Leina nodded as she pressed a button on the control panel, increasing the incline of the treadmill. Around us, the sound of pounding feet, dropped weights, and the occasional grunt resonated throughout the gym. Leina towered over us on her treadmill, dressed in a gray mid-riff tank top and a pair of skin tight black leggings. “Why are you asking this?”

“Well,” Tiffany said, stumbling over her words a bit. “I mean, Audrey…she doesn’t always listen to us and-“

Everything I Want
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

“You would seem to have everything I want,” he said.

“I am very proud of my boys,” I said, switching the phone from the image, and slipping it back into my pocket.

“Not just your family,” he said. “Your house on the river, your relaxed lifestyle up here, and clearly you are in good health.

Carla was very good at helping with the locks but it was clear to me from her continued absent-mindedness, that her thoughts were very much on other things namely, the meeting to discuss a settlement with her case. Her promised surprise for the weekend never materialised but I didn't push it. I was there for her whenever she might need me.

June in America
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

When I missed out a contract the year after our team got to the playoffs, all that was on offer was a contract in Japan. The Kobe Sunbears were looking for a big hitting first baseman, and it turned out that I could hit bigger than any of the Japanese guys on their team. One of their coaches was from the States and told me that I would do well. He was right.

Mrs. Winstead returns Lucy home the same night, after currently omitted events. Later, Peter and Lucy have dinner with Carol's family, and Peter agrees to try out Bikini Beach.

[Late Saturday]
“Which way are we going?” asked Carla.

I’d brought Roxy to a standstill where the Macclesfield Canal leaves the Trent and Mersey Canal near Kidsgrove.

“It depends on you.”

“Me? Why?”

“How many locks do you want to go through between here and Manchester?”

I was re-reading this story, when I started noticing how many characters I had introduced in it. To make things a little easier to keep track of everyone, I decided to create the list below. I know it's been a pretty long time since I originally posted this story, so there probably won't be a lotta folk using this list, but I do see a few hits on a pretty regular basis, so I decided to post the list anyway. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below, or send me a private message. Thank you! :)

Kaya stood in her room. Fear and uncertainty made her indecisive about what to do next. There were two messes that needed to be cleaned up. All of her makeup and the broken mirror on her floor, and the relationship between herself and her family. Those messes did need to be cleaned up but Kaya did not know which one to do first. The teenage girl wanted to make the right decision to make up for all the bad ones she had made today.

“We’re not objects!” Sophie chanted, backed by dozens of her friends and colleagues. “We’re not objects!”

“You go, girls!” A passer-by, a young woman in her early twenties, said, giving the picket line a thumbs up as she walked past them and into the vast concourse of Heathrow airport. Nevertheless, Sophie still felt uneasy.

This is a direct continuation to What It Takes To Survive. If you haven't, please read that story first!

=^_^=

"... And that's the weather you can expect today. Now back to Alan in the studio who has updates on the story that has gripped our nation and the world"

I didn't remember when the radio had come on. Maybe it was back when the car did. I hadn't been listening then due to Mikey making small talk but it now had my attention.