So it’s just another day. I’m waiting on agents and publishers to email me back. I’m working on a few WIP. And I’m also doing a whole lot of nothing.

I also haven’t been blogging and updating as much as before. I don’t really have much to talk about. It’s just a lot of wait and see at the moment. No exciting news. No new news. No nothing.

So to keep everyone entertained…here’s a bit from one of my WIP.

Chapter One

My eyes snapped open and I sat up in bed looking around. Sweat beaded on my forehead and my chest heaved with my heavy breathing.

“It was a nightmare,” I mumbled to myself settling back onto my pillows.

I turned onto my side, unable to get the horrific dream out of my mind. The beautiful woman’s lifeless face stared up at me as the scary man laughed. I don’t know why I cared so much that she was dead, but she looked so familiar. I stroked her soft, brown hair while my tears fell on her flawless face. I wiped my eyes as I remembered. My head throbbed. The dull pain began behind my eyes and radiated around my brain.

My life changed during that frigid winter when the migraines started. I thought they were from pulling all-nighters and cramming for finals, but boy was I wrong. The first, and worst, happened on a snowy winter night in February. My desk was covered in papers from Chemistry, Geometry, my English workbook lay untouched, and Summer of My German Soldier sat unopened on my night stand. The math problems in front of me blurred, and the excruciating throbbing sent pulse waves throughout my head. It felt like tiny little men pounded away at my brain. I closed my eyes, pressed my finger-tips into my temples, and rubbed them slowly. The pain refused to go away. I made the difficult trip to my bathroom hoping that something in there would help.

I dug around in the medicine cabinet until I found a bottle of Aspirin. The pounding migraine made my vision blurry, and the pain increased with each passing moment. I grabbed the tall, white bottle of pills and fought with the cap; trying desperately to pop off the top.

Stupid child proof caps!

I banged it off the edge of the counter causing its contents to spill everywhere. For a split second it rained white pills. I sighed heavily and grabbed two of the tablets off the floor. Tossing them in my mouth I slid to the cool linoleum below and sat there waiting for the pain to subside. My head felt like everything in the room turned to a swirling mess. I scrambled to my feet as fast as I could and went back to my desk. Opening one eye I saw half of my neighbor’s snowy haven and half stone steps leading to an ancient temple. I started to panic a bit.

Well this is a new symptom. There has to be something wrong with me.

Blackness crept in, and I could feel my body falling to the floor. I’m not sure how long I was down for, but when I opened my eyes I was no longer sitting at my desk. I clambered to my feet and realized I stood at the entrance of a temple. I blinked a few times and pinched my arm. I did not go anywhere.

Perhaps I’m a daydreaming time traveler. Oh come on, Colette! That is beyond ridiculous. You  have an active imagination. Yeah, that’s it. Nothing more than an overactive imagination.

“This is not real. It can’t be,” I said out loud to myself.

I searched desperately for my house and snow. There were no signs of snow though. In fact, it was hot. Really hot. The clearest blue water and a beautiful, cloudless sky above lie ahead of me. The people hustling up and down the stairs were draped in weird, colorful bed sheets.

“Hey, you!” I ran up the stairs after a tall, white haired man who just walked faster to get away from me.

Rude.

“Excuse me!” I walked down a few steps hurrying after a dark haired woman that would not even look at me.

What the…

“Will someone talk to me?” I yelled standing in the middle of the crowd, but nobody listened.

Hell, nobody bothered to look at me. Well, straight at me. I managed to get a few disapproving sideways glances from a few people. They looked at me like I sprouted a second head and turned purple. I stood there screaming at the top of my lungs. Nobody stopped. Nobody paid attention. Nobody cared.

She emerged from the temple behind me. Exceedingly beautiful with piercing gray eyes set beneath long lashes, and curly brown hair which framed her porcelain face. She had such a warm and comforting smile. All of my uneasiness vanished and the butterflies in my stomach settled by her mere presence. I felt so safe and secure being near her.

Confusion managed to overwhelm my every thought though. I stared like a scared child hoping for guidance from her mother. There was so much I wanted to ask, but didn’t know where to start or where my absent voice ventured.

“You will understand in time, my daughter,” she said, even though I never asked a question.

Before I could think of something to say a little girl stopped in front of me, and smiled while holding up a rose. Everything felt as though it were in slow motion as I knelt down to take the flower from the child.

She wrapped her chubby little arms around my neck, “Thank you, Goddess.”

She giggled and skipped to catch up to her mother. Her mother smiled and waved to me. My arm felt so weak as I lifted it to wave back; I stayed in my fixed position not wanting to move. It felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. The woman, who called me daughter, put her soft, delicate hand on my shoulder. I stood looking from her to the scene in front of the building.

Goddess? Me? Definitely the weirdest daydream I’ve ever had.

I watched as more people walked past us holding baskets of fruits, vegetables, breads, and clothing. A few stopped and placed their loads at our feet while bowing. Others, though, avoided eye contact all together. Their behavior startled me. The only things that were ever given to me were tests, homework, or my dinner plate. Random gifts of groceries was new. I looked up from the offerings and I could see two other smaller temples. Of all the places I vacationed at with my parents, none were quite as beautiful as the city that lay beyond the hill where I stood. I never before saw a place quite like it.

The visions always left me with a sense of sadness. They never became clearer, never changed, and I never found out why I was there or where I was exactly. It was always the same place, the same people, and the same weird clothes. I wished I had paid more attention in my history classes. I lost it. I sunk to the steps sobbing. All I wanted was for this all to go away and it never did. What was worse, nobody knew about it. I was completely alone in my lunacy.

“Don’t cry,” the beautiful woman whispered to me.

“What?” I sniffed while wiping my eyes.

“Don’t cry. It will make you appear weak to them,” she said.

“Appear weak to whom? Who are you?” I asked, clambering to my feet.

“To the people. They will see you as weak, and inferior. Don’t cry.”

“Where am I?”

“All in due time,” she smiled, while turning and walking up the stairs.

“What does that even mean? What in due time? I am so confused!”

I followed her like a lost puppy; staring up at the large temple as we went. Drawings etched in the stone at the top appeared to wrap around the building. She walked into the temple, and as I followed everything faded away. I ran after her, trying not to lose the woman, but it was useless. She vanished along with everything else.

When my eyes fluttered open I saw soft light stream in through the window in front of my desk. My body felt like it had been run over by a bus. I sat up, and held my head for a few minutes before realizing I had no idea what time it was. I opened my bedroom door just enough to listen for my parents. I took a few tentative steps out and paused near the stairs listening. I heard the muffled voices of my mom and dad, with some clinking of pans. I could not figure out if I should expect breakfast or dinner.

I got back into my room as my alarm clock started to buzz.

Morning.

My homework sat on the desk still untouched. The assigned chapters for English were not read, and I was exhausted. I turned off the alarm, and went right back to the bathroom. It was time to get ready for school. I was screwed. I really couldn’t afford anymore incompletes, and even with a forty-five minute free period I knew I would never get everything done.

Shit. I thought to myself.

I stood in the shower letting the hot water run over my body. The heat felt so good on my sore muscles.

“Colette!” I heard my mother’s warm voice call up to me.

“What?”

“Breakfast is ready, sweetheart,” she said.

“Mm hmm,” I climbed out of the shower and wrapped a warm, fuzzy towel around my body.

I rubbed at my eyes, still trying to clear my vision. All I could think about was that temple. The building was burned into my brain. No matter how hard I tried, I just could not forget it. I slid into a pair of jeans, and a sweater. I did not feel like messing with my hair, so I let the natural curliness over take my head. Sitting at the table, dad had his newspaper, and mom put the plates on the table while I sat. I poked at my eggs, and nibbled at my toast.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” mom asked sipping at her coffee.

“Bad dream,” I mumbled.

“Are you alright?” dad put his paper down, and examined my face.

“I’m fine. It was just a bad dream.”

“Okay,” he picked the paper back up, and got lost in it again.

A honking horn disturbed the quiet breakfast. I grabbed my bag, and ran for the door.

“I’ll see you after school,” I called out to them.

I heard a muffled response from the back of the house.

My best friend’s car idled in the snowy driveway. She would never believe me about these migraines and visions.