1 Year 8 Months Ago

“I do not like this, Balthasar,” I stole a glance at the aging soldier beside me. My father’s right hand man in many aspects. He grunted as we peered out over the bow of the ship, at the Stormveil painted against the horizon. We were close enough now that I could feel the vibration in the deck beneath my feet; a terrifying reminder of the looming death just over the mountain.

“If you fear death, then perhaps you should have stayed home, little Lord,” Commander Balthasar Hammond said it almost mockingly. I grunted.

Five o'clock finally rolled around.

I couldn't wait to get to my room, it would mean I could either take a nap or get ready for supper. Thanks to the time difference between my hometown and Doom Valley, my body insisted it was not only past my bedtime, but I'd missed supper by several long hours.

CHAPTER 39
It was a musical non-music night, if that makes any sense. In short, the actual folk club wasn’t on, but several of the regular musicians were up for a play, and as the ‘club’ was in reality just an extension of the pub’s normal commercial activities, it ended up much as would be expected. The clientele were mostly locals that night, apart from that woman with ‘Pat’ again, and a larger group of girls. Sali whispered to me as we carried a couple of trays of drinks back to our tables.

“Those girls over there, the Hwntw lot? I think they’re all…”

Idol

Idol - 1989- Age 20

“Jonny gots bitsy feet,” Linda told Turkle. “But not littler than mine!”

The next day was Friday. Lanie went to her Fourth and Fifth Period classes with Rachel, then went to Mrs. Lin's classroom for the board game club. Lanie was eager to see Conner, since she knew Rachel had let it slip to him that she wanted to date him. But as it turned out, she and Rachel got to the classroom early. The only other person there was Justin.

"Hey guys," Justin said when he saw Lanie and Rachel. "You're a little earlier than usual."

Lanie shrugged. "The early bird gets the worm," she said.

Right then, Conner came into the room. "Hi Lanie," he said.

And so we wave goodbye to Frankie and Mathew. Their story together comes to an end. Remember until I post again, that there are stories galore on Amazon that I've written that you can browse.

NINE

Four weeks later, Mathew and Frankie had each tried to settle into their old routine. Mathew was back to running their company, and Frankie was back to playing golf and tennis. She spent a lot of time in the gym. They’d been going to their doctors together, so there were no secrets.

The two sat together on the couch facing Ruth Savage, their psychiatrist.

Janegirl Camp
Chapter 6
Copyright 2022 by Heather Rose Brown

=-=-=

For the next couple weeks, Lanie and Rachel continued to go to the board game club and hang out with Conner, Justin, and the other guys there. Outside of the club, Lanie practiced playing checkers at the orphanage with Rachel, Aaron, Trevor, and some of the other kids at the orphanage. It took some time, but she was able to improve. And it got to a point where one day, in the game club, Lanie actually beat Conner in a game of checkers. She felt proud of her victory-but she didn't let it cloud her feelings for Conner.

"Women!" he exclaimed. "You can't keep a secret! None of you!"

"Well, to be fair," I interjected, "I wasn't a woman at the time."

He gaped at me, incredulous. "Seriously? Seriously now? That's your excuse?
That's supposed to somehow make it better?"
 

2 Years Ago

I could see the Stormveil from my vantage point, safe behind the steel-glass port of my father’s airship. To see it for the first time was beyond breathtaking; a perpetual storm four hundred and fifty meters high, running the length of the continent, stretched out along the horizon. A rush of wind enraptured millions of specks of dirt, debris, and even rock, swirling and blowing, tearing through the sky to create an immense wall of pitch blackness, broken only by the period lightning flash from beyond the event horizon.