Chapter 2 - Annie Off The Stage

Annie was a great success, which made me want to spend more time on the stage. I was hooked on the bright lights and the greasepaint, just like my parents. The hardest part of the whole thing was the my name in the program.

Even when you are a budding young sorceress, life is what happens when you least expect it. Just almost normal life things. Taking a stand against bullying in school. Waking your Mom up at an inopportune time. Learning the consequences of beating on another girl's boyfriend a little too enthusiastically. Finding out the hard way that male mosquitoes can sting sometimes. You know, life things.

“Can I give you a call? Something a bit weird happened this morning. X” read my message to Claire.

I’d been unable to concentrate since getting back from my coffee with Sarah. I’d taken Barney for a short, fifteen minute walk, skipped lunch and then tried to continue my studying. I was finding myself reading the same paragraphs over and over, and each time wouldn’t have been able to recall much of the material.

Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,
An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away,
An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep,
An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep;
An' all us other childern, when the supper things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun
A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,
An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you
Ef you…Don't… Watch…Out!

"Little Orphant Annie"
James Whitcomb Riley
1885

Just before her Saturday class at the dojang, Christie is all suited up and hoping for some sparring practice. Her next advancement test is only a couple of weeks away, and she wants to be ready!. Some things go right. Some others, eh, not so much. In the end, however, a great many things in Christie's future may start to change.

On the run geisha style.

What if supernatural beings like Witches, Faeries, Demons, and their ilk are all real? Glen Evanston is about to be caught in their many traps in my new work in progress: Magic, Mystery, and Mayhem a Graphic Novel by Raine Monday

“Morning!” beamed my Mum, as we saw each other on the landing, both making our ways towards the top of the stairs. She was far too cheery for this time of the morning, if you were to ask me.

“Mornin’,” I mumbled back, as I started to head down the stairs, my Mum a few paces behind.

“This is very early for you,” commented my Mum, “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, fine, thanks,” I continued to mumble, as my Mum followed me into the kitchen.

Amanda, Christie's Mother, is driving home, stuck in traffic, after her meeting with Grandfather Kim. Her child's so far unique trial continues to bother her, and she uses the time in traffic jams to plan. Meanwhile, Christie is trying to develop some plans of her own on how to deal with members of the Competive Cheer and Dance Team who won't leave her alone. Christie's trial maybe hard to figure, but Amanda is well able to help her daughter learn how to deal with such minor annoyances - without magic and without Taekwando.

“Good!” The tall young man said as Luke effortlessly lobbed the ball back to him. “One more, come on.”

“Sure,” Luke replied, stopping the ball dead with his feet before chipping it back into his training partner’s hands.

“You sure you’ve never played on a team before?” Luke’s training partner, a young man named Darren, asked in his thick Yorkshire accent as he and Luke followed the rest of the team off of the pitch.

Don’t-05

The next few hours were very much a blur. I was searched several times before I was taken to Shrewsbury Police Station for questioning. My requests for something to eat were ignored.

"These could be evidence," said the detective who was assigned to question me as he held up an unopened pack of six energy bars. From the look of him, Detective Sergeant Saunders was a rookie in the Plain Clothes world. He had no dress sense at all and trying to wear shirts that were at least one if not two sizes too small for him, did not present an air of confidence or authority

After getting punished for a fight he didn't start, Taylor's life has taken a turn for the weird. First it was strange dreams then it was a bizarre feeling that something isn't right. Now he's constantly cold and can't figure out why.
But these things are just the beginning of his problems.