I woke up a little late the following morning. The sound of mom hammering on my bedroom door jarred me from my sleep. It took only a brief glance down at my phone to tell me why my mom was hammering on my bedroom door. I had overslept by a good half hour and was now running behind. Going into panic mode, I jumped out of bed, threw on a school blouse, slipped on a pair of panties, slipped on a skirt and forced on some socks and laced up my shoes.

Author retains all rights to this original work of fiction.

Tuesday, March 27th 6:11 PM
"Hey Brea... How's it going?"

As much as I wanted to really speak my mind, needed too for my own sanity and to keep from spiraling into a dark place, I decided it was probably best to go with a generic answer since I didn't know Blake all that well, "It's going pretty good." I hoped I sounded like I believed my own answer.

Blake raised an eyebrow, "You sure? You don't sound very convincing."

Sunday dawned cool and clear. An early frost covered the ground and brass bells of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church bellowed all through the town. Soon there voices were joined by All Saint’s Catholic church. Fr. Brown had insisted the service for that day be in the ‘High Church’ style. Cradle Episcopalians would know this style by the colorful nickname of ‘Smells and Bells’.

My schedule for the year had remained the same. And so, according to that schedule as soon as I dropped the paper off at the office, I was to report to my first period class. That being “Natural Science”. And as expected Mr. Henderson stood there in the classroom waiting for me. He wore a different suit this time, instead of the fading gray suit, he wore a dark charcoal suit. What remained of his gray, thinning hair had been brushed over the best he could to hide the big bald spot. The lingering smell of Old Spice aftershave, tobacco and coffee hung around him like a blinding fog.

The Marian Chapel attached to St. Mary’s Episcopal Church was dark, it was always kept dark. The chapel was a small square room, instead of rows of pews, chairs with kneelers provided a place for the faithful to sit during the rare times the room was used. The chapel was only used for Morning Prayer and evening prayer. And on certain feast-days chief among those was ‘All Saints Day’ a set aside by the church to honor the dead and pray for those souls trapped between Heaven and Hell.

We soon reached the grave. The wind was starting to rise now and one could feel the cold touch of winter upon its breath. Linda placed her flowers first and then I did and we both then just stood there, standing to shoulder to shoulder if you will. As I peered toward the flowers, resting upon the frost covered ground, my mind wandered back to those ghostly visions of mom. Taking a deep breath, I quickly made a mental note to pay our local Episcopal church a visit.

Once we reached the car. We noticed another car pulling up into the parking lot. Once the other car was parked. The door opened and a woman with flaming red hair stepped out from the driver's side. And from the other side, a girl around my age did as well. The women with flaming red hair was the first to speak.

Ebenezer is a small crossroad’s community, located in the hill country of Mississippi. The hamlet can boost of around one hundred or so families, two small churches and two general stores and one carwash. If you your traveling down route fourteen and take a right at the crossroad’s and travel say a quarter of the mile more. You will find on the left-hand side of the road a small country church. The church is a boxed wooden church that looks like something straight from the history books. Behind the church is a small graveyard.

My Happy Ending
“My Happy Ending”. By Avril Lavigne

The Headmaster took a deep breath and peered toward me for a very long minute. Finally, he turned his attention toward Linda then he turned his attention toward Lily. After three minutes of silence, he pushed his seat back and stood up.

“What happens... Over the course of homecoming, does not reflect the values of the school. But I feel we should put that all behind us, don’t you all agree. I think I’ll let this matter rest.” He paused and walked over to nearby happen... he stood in front of the window, is back turned to us and his arms folded behind his back.

“Always.”

The minute I reached the office, the office secretary, greeted with a small smile. She was an older woman, her iron-gray hair was pulled back in a tight bun. Her outfit, a white button down blouse, tucked into the waistline of a black skirt was free of wrinkles and dust. White stockings and black dress shoes rounded out the outfit. And as she stood upon the old wooden desk, her hands folded upon the clean, highly polished surface. She fixed me with a look.

Johannes Malt Shop was a Benton mainstay, located on a few doors down from “Ginger Evens Bakery” and only a quarter mile from the towns only supermarket in town “Sunflower: Food store” it the main hang out for the tweens and teens all year round. And to honesty, really everybody stopped here to get a quick snack. There hamburgers, where to die for, and their milkshakes were the best around. Thick and creamy.

Thanksgiving follows Halloween. While Halloween is all about the spooks, Thanksgiving is more about family and sharing the fruits of the earth. It was also the time of year people start playing Christmas music and every shop puts up a tiny Christmas village in there display windows. And considering that was in the south, I think the fake flakes of snow that piled high on the display tables, is the closest thing we’ll ever see to a “White Christmas”.

Back in 2017, there was an event that came to be known as, Spontaneous Body Swapping Syndrome. Thought of in the past as a disturbance in the flow of nature, or a scientific experiment gone wrong on the genetic level, it is in fact a magical curse inflicted on one member of each family. Each of the opposite gender. In the future SBSS has become something of a regular event. So regular in fact that it is found to be linked to birth. Scientists and Mages have found that when two people are born at the same exact time, their bodies are linked together. When either person reaches a certain event in their life, the cycle begins. The duration of the event depends on the strength (or weakness) of the connection.
this is the origin story i have been cooking up since i started writing. Hope you enjoy ^-^

The bleachers on both sides of the field where filled to the brim with people. The whole school had turned out, with dozens of people waving small flags that had the school’s mascot on them. The cheerleaders where busy whipping the crowds into a frizzy. And thereby the side, My eyes firmly fixed upon the strawberry blonde girl being lead to our side of the field by three Manchester cheerleaders. Lily, Joan, and Mindy were there. The three talked with the other three and finally, Joan escorted the girl from Manchester over to a waiting table where our homecoming court sat.

I only had to wait a few seconds before the sharp sting to the paddle cracking across my backside flooded into my bottom. The first stroke of the paddle took my breath away and caused the tiny hairs on my arms to stand straight up. Coughing, I crooked out.

“One Ma’am,” I said as took a deep breath and waited for the next one. I did not need to wait long for the second one either for soon the paddle cracked my bottom again. Sending another wave of sting rolling into my bottom. The second strike once again took my breath away, but I forced myself to count again. “Two ma’am.”

Hi everyone, Debbie V here. As you may or may not know, Kris and I were very good friends, and we’d often share snippets of chapters for each other to look over, or sometimes just for fun. These snippets below are some of those that I felt deserved to be shared with the audience that loved her work so much. These are all her own words- I haven’t altered or added anything beyond a quick spellcheck. The stories are presented in rough chronological order and as such may overlap with previous ‘continuing adventures’.

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With daddies money in hand. Mom, Lily and I headed to Johannes Malt Shop, Benton favorite and only mom and pop burger joint. Once we walked through the door, the smell of beef patties being grilled on a open flame hit us like a ton of bricks. Once we were inside, mom guided Lily and I toward a table. Once we were seated a women around Lily age appeared. She had honey blonde hair and deep blue eyes. She smiled toward each of us and placed a small paper menu down upon the table.

Lily did my hair and makeup. She wanted to do more, but the chime of the front door filled the air. Mom and dad were home early it seemed. Lily blinked and stood me up, and took me by the hand and guided me down the hallway and then down the stairwell and finally we reached the foyer. And there in the doorway stood mom and dad, see mom and dad worked together, my family was.. I guess you would call us bourgeoisie. We owned and operated a store in downtown Benton ‘Potter Mercantile’. It was among the oldest businesses in operation. And my sister and I attend Benton Academy.