[nnwm15] If I go out there, there is no coming back. The girl sat alone in the park. It was near dusk, and the birds were beginning to fly up into the trees for the night. They didn’t like intruders mulling around below them, making a terrible racket whenever they sensed a disturbance. The …
Chapter 13: Unidentified Flying Object
[nnwm15] Where am I? Am I finally done? Is it all over? Sara Beth remembered a day years ago before she met Julie, back when it was just her and her parents, living far out in the country before they moved closer to the city. It was sunny, and warm, likely the first warm …
Chapter 12: Occupation and Preoccupation
[nnwm15] Mrs. Corum’s mind was working frantically. She needed to complete 6 more before she stopped. Sara Beth dutifully called them out. “Uh, 32” Mrs. Corum thought for a few moments. “1024” “33?” “1089. Make them farther apart, it’s more challenging” “OK… 98” “Ooo….. 9604” “73” “Hmm… 5329” And so it went for at …
Chapter 11: The Mountains
[nnwm15] Mrs. Corum had a nagging thought about an area of the landscape they’d yet explored. Weeks earlier they’d thought of heading toward the tiny dot of difference on the horizon, perpendicular to hers and G-ma’s spots, heading away from the light valley. They’d started that direction but, upon realizing that it was farther …
Chapter 10: Repression
[nnwm15] After that dim, the core group spent much of the next day trying to regain their composure. Ryan and Jamie basically ignored each other, with Sara Beth, G-ma, and Mrs. Corum wishing they could go back to a time before such tension existed in their group. On one hand, they all felt bad …
Chapter 9: Escape
[nnwm15] “Come over here” “Why are you whispering” “Just follow me” “I don’t want to” “Just do it” “Fine” “We’re gonna get out of here.” “How?” “I have a plan.” “It will never work.” “Sure it will – just because they think it won’t you’re gonna believe them? They don’t know everything. They think …
Chapter 8: Old Married Couple
[nnwm15] “I can’t describe it other than to use the word ‘bliss’”, G-ma said, reflecting on the experience. “I think that’s pretty accurate”, Mrs. Corum added, “It was as if, for a moment, the entire world stopped, and I was basking in a warm glow. I didn’t want it to ever end” For a …
Chapter 7: Trapped
[nnwm15] The three ladies didn’t say much for a long time after they heard G-ma’s theory. While it wasn’t the only possible explanation for the place they had come to know as a reluctant home, it was one that seemed to make sense. A number of realizations would wash over each of them over …
Chapter 6: The Link
[nnwm15] Hi Everyone – before we get into Part 6, I just wanted to thank those who have been reading the novel so far. I’ve come up with a name for it – “Cinereous”. I hope that you’re enjoying the book so far. This chapter clears up a few big questions, and asks a few more. Remember, …
Chapter 5: The Meeting
[nnwm15] “No, I can’t say that it ever got that bad”, G-ma said. The look on Mrs. Corum’s face was a bit crestfallen, obviously she had hoped that G-ma might empathize a bit more. G-ma noticed. They had been talking about their former lives outside of this place, specifically the low points. “I’m not …