Towering Expectations

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This is the opening chapter of the first book 'Towering Expectations' in the trilogy, The Ville Rose Series. All three books are available on Amazon.

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1999

15 Rue d’Embarthe, Toulouse

He was still in bed. It was four o’clock in the afternoon and he was still in bed.

…opened the door to their bedroom in the flat on the third floor of the house in Rue d’Embarthe and frowned. Normally, it would have amused her and she’d have climbed in next to him and they’d have made love. Instead, today, she was irritated by his laziness.

“Have you been in…

By Gillie Bowen

By Gillie Bowen

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Inka's Curse Part 7: The Trip Home

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…cold harsh air wipes my face. The overgrown trees are surrounded in a blanket of dazzling snow. The snow crunches underneath my feet as I walk cautiously. Sweat builds up behind my neck as I cautiously look around.

I underwent a tedious, weary trip to arrive at the Wellspring area of the glorious forest. The radiant sun was about to disappear below the horizon. I was close to my intended destination but I won’t be reaching it before the dreadful night as I planned.

I was exhausted after traveling persistently through the harsh weather. As I move sluggishly without a…

By Cristina Collazo

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Not A Secret Vice

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Gluttony on a national level is not the answer to global thinking.

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…you're saying the forecast is bad.”

The four degrees Celsius kind, my lad.

“Really? Fossil fuels and factory farming?”

Overconsumption, overcombustion; it's quite alarming.

“Hmmph. What’s the worst we're looking at?”

Common sense runs thin, we all run too fat.

“Any chance we can avert?”

Hah. Headlong to a world of hurt.

“Guess no sense paying down debt.”

Nope: at least ice was nice, while it lasted.

“How much will we lose?”

The coasts and south, be singing underwater blues.

“What about the rest?”

Northern heartland will have…

By David M. Hoenig

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For A Moment

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Loneliness is like poison.

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…there, in her eyes he could see the world he always wanted. What he had hoped for, dreamed of, and desired. For as long as he could remember. It was all there, as her gaze met his. He tried to say something, anything, but words failed him. He failed himself, and before he knew it the moment had passed. Was it real? What he had thought he’d seen was no longer present. Not even a trace. He wondered if it had ever even been, or had he simply wanted it to be. Had it been his…

By Wil R. P. McCarthy

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Voilet Hour Story

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…saw him in the violet hour, he was inattentive of my presence around him.

Though those eyes told me lie everytime, still somewhere this stupid heart is ready to trust that heart again, which never chisel my name on it.

Always inexpressible he was, I thought, but soon after discovering his invisibly-visible lie, I realized that not a bit of his beat was for me. Never felt special of that knot which only I voluntarily and stupidly was carrying.

And his smile brought all Beautiful glimpses of the time when he 'used to' show me the love which has given…

By Dorus Sekhri

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Inka's Curse Part 6: Bad News 2

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…my best. If I don’t make it and they find my body, have it returned to Ruth for me. She’s the innkeeper at Wellspring.” Titan might be like a brother to me but Ruth has been more than an aunt to me. She’s like a mother to me but I’d never tell her that.

“Alright. I’ve met her before from the few times I’ve visited on vacation,” Titan says thoughtfully, “but it was long ago when I was just a boy.”

“That was most likely before I had to move in with her because I don’t ever remember seeing you…

By Cristina Collazo

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A Peculiar Demise

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The weirdness began on the day I died…

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…view from up here is incredible and makes me feel somehow complete, which is ironic. I’m aware of the fact that I’m dead, although any disassociation from my material being doesn’t seem to have kicked in yet. I look down, out across the world that I’ve called home for thirty-six years, and I realise with some slight sense of melancholy that I won’t miss it at all. I’ve had a damn good run. But all good things, as they say, must come to an…

By Martin Webb

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Inka's Curse Part 5: Bad News

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…to rest comfortably at the local inn before leaving. Who knows how long and dangerous the trip is going to be precisely. I didn’t sleep comfortably that night. I tossed and turned in bed as I tried keeping my mind off this uncomfortable chest plate and the weird sword that won’t speak to me anymore. As soon as the sun starts to rise, I get up from the bed. I have to travel by day.

When I’m about to leave Moon Valley, Titan stops me.

Why can’t I ever avoid him? He’s got some eagle eyes. Although at the moment…


By Cristina Collazo

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The Abyss

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…slate-like under my bare feet; cold, slick, impenetrable. The air is stale and clammy. My hands blindly lunge into obscurity; nothing within grasp, only the vacuum of the dark barren. The cold emanates from within my soul and spreads through the fibers of my nerves, embracing every inch of my body. I call out; my voice falling flat, no walls to echo my shout. I shiver, not knowing if this is from the chilling dankness or my own fear and fall to the ground.

Sobbing, I crawl through the misty darkness for hours. The floor is slick from the dewy…

By Tracey Koehler

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Inka's Curse Part 4: Trapped

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…village has already been cleaned up or melted away. Before I search for Albert, I decide to take care of me. I sell the fish in a bundle for twenty coins and a coin per seashell ending up with twenty-six coins. Twenty-five will be spent on the room. I offer the last coin to the innkeeper as a tip. I cook up and devour my seaweed for lunch at the center fire before finding the armorsmith.

What might have been a mighty combatant back in the day was currently a cumbersome man. He stood in front of the armory shop…

By Cristina Collazo

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