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Excerpt:
She walked
slowly to the window and rested her hands on the filthy sill, her face pressed
against the glass. It was so familiar, yet it had a strangeness, as if she'd
never seen it before. It was different. Amanda let her eyes roam over the vista
before her, trying to put her finger on the change. It seemed like yesterday
that the landscape had been filled with lush, verdant leaves. The Indian summer
refused to move on, the maples, hickories, and birches filling branches
abundantly in varied shades of restful green, so that the school looked crisp,
fresh, and inviting. Overnight, autumn painted a new picture, fading the
landscape, ushering in the next season; the leaves withering, curling, setting
the branches on fire with vivid oranges, yellows, and reds; the bases covered
with the remains of dead leaves, shriveled and brown. It was too early; Amanda
was puzzled by the change. A dark shape raced across the lawn, too fast for her
to discern, but the feeling of unease returned. The shadow disappeared quickly
behind one of the great gnarled tree trunks that Patrick had told her were the
entrances for the goblins that terrorized the campus. She smiled, wishing
Patrick were there so she could point it out to him. She squinted hard, trying
to figure out what exactly had caught her attention, but the bleak landscape
offered nothing. She laughed for the first time, her ribs protesting, missing
Patrick so hard that it hurt more than her bones.
Amanda's
brow furrowed, and the hammer clanging behind her eyes filled her skull, but
the memory of how she had gotten there eluded her.