I have to tell on myself. I had thought I saw something somewhere on the site about a Halloween Story contest so I wrote this. Then after it was finished awhile ago, I found the link for the rules...it was from 2013! Ha! I laughed at myself and figured, what the heck, I'll post it anyway.

What do you do when you come to savor the peace and contentment of living a life true to yourself, only to have it ripped away? How do you move on? Can you move on? Katie, the main character, must find a way by turning her pain into something positive.

A NOTE REGARDING THIS STORY

This is a fictional chronicle of a normal hardworking guy named Jack. The federal government made him an offer he couldn't refuse. All they asked was for Jack to go undercover to help the U.S. Government ensnare a terrorist.

Any resemblance of the characters depicted in the story to actual individuals is coincidental. All events are the sole responsibility of the author. None of the scenes in this story depict minors engaged in any sexual encounter.

This story has been previously posted on other sites. It is being posted here with a strong rewrite; some new chapters have been added. I had my BFF Monica Rose edit the material so it should be more readable. -- Marina

We know that some of the characters presented here are unlikeable or appear to be unbelievable. That is the point though. People grow and learn through their experiences. And there is always hope for justice and punishment.

Marina: [email protected]

Hopscotch…A Jump in Life 17

*Before…

We eat and watch Stardust on my laptop since apparently it was in the DVD drive as if that wasn’t like telling and even the parents raised an eyebrow at that and made me blush and soon after that they have to head home with their actual RL stuff going on and everything like work and Dad has a long drive to go and get Nova…Uhm Kaitlyn tomorrow and me…well I start going through my laptop trying to figure out just exactly what Shawn was like and where Sarah was hiding in all of the stuff here.

It’s thanks to password saves on my Firefox that I get into Shawn’s Facebook and E-mails.

Oh…that was a mistake.

*And Now…

Hopscotch…A Jump in Life 16

*Before…

“Yes and if you can do without your mom and I for a while tomorrow we’re going to drive down and pick her up so we can actually meet her parents instead of talking to them on the phone and online.”
I can’t help it but I end up hugging him and he hugs me back.
And there it is the sniffles. (Sniffle.) “You guys are awesome, you sure it’s okay?”
He gives me a bit of a tighter squeeze that sort of sets off what the Doc just said about all of the stuff that they must have gone through with me and everything. It really, really means a whole hell of a lot that he and that she cares so much.
That he’s hugging me like hugging me is special.
……me…special.
Y’know it’s one of those visceral feelings more than anything else but it feels like feeling like I’m special was something that was pretty far removed from my life before this.

*And Now…

Chapter *11*
Dance Away

“You on?”

“Huh?” it's not bad enough I've been dragged to Jess's room where I'm stood here in my undies but now she's talking gibberish.

“You're wearing a pad.”

On? Oh right, “Just some spotting.” I allowed, which isn't a lie.

CHAPTER 20
That night was the start of so much more than a ride in the back of a bread van. Once Tricia and I had broken the ice, it seemed as if her personality had expanded. The films we went to see in the cinema were in colour, more often than not, and so was she. Courting back then was different from what it would become only fifteen to twenty years later, and also from what it had been during the war. It wasn’t the formal dance it had been for Mam and Dad, but it wasn’t a headlong dive into intimacy.

Hopscotch…A Jump in Life 15

*Before…
She heads back into the office and I look at Mom and Dad. “One of my friends wants to come here and visit and that might mean that she’ll be staying at our place if she’s allowed to…so…can she come over?”
Dad and Mom look at each other and Dad says. “We need to talk to her parent’s first kiddo.”
I nod. “I have their contact info here.”
I bring it up and show Dad who writes it down and he smiles. “Going to Tim’s you want anything?”
“A double-double?”
“Okay.”
He leaves and Mom stays and I hug her then I knock on the Doc’s office door then head inside to set her up with her own LJ account.

*And Now…