READER'S ROCK LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE VOL 2 ISSUE 4 NOVEMBER 2014 Vol. 1 Issue 9 March 2014 | Page 12

Fran Veal
I run to escape.
I run to get away...
My parents have been
murdered, will I be next?
A twig snapped behind me. Jerked out of my
thoughts, I jumped up and spun around. My heart
stopped. Before me hair gleaming in the sun, stood an
angel. Okay, slight (and I do mean slight)
exaggeration.
He was tall with muscles that rippled under his
red T-shirt. His hair was blond and tousled, with one
wave flipped just above his eyebrow. He stood there,
staring at me with eyes as deep and blue as the sea. I
forgot to breathe.
Then the angel frowned.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. Okay, so
he was also self-absorbed, stern and nosy.
My chest started to hurt, and I realized I was
holding my breath. It came out in a rush. Who did he
think he was, anyway?
“What do you mean, 'what are you doing here'?
I was here first.” I stood, planning to have it out with
Mr. Perfect.
“I'm sorry,” he said politely, “Let me rephrase
that. What I meant to say is that I've never seen you
here before.”
His sudden change in demeanor gave me whiplash. I tried to hold my cool under his steady gaze. I
struggled to think of something brilliant to say, bu t I
was, at the moment, absolutely speechless.
The angel seemed to be studying me as if
puzzled. Finally, he spoke. “You seem real enough.”
He paused, brows furrowed, “I'm… Joshua, but you
can call me Josh.”
The sound of his voice was soft, lyrical,
mesmerizing. He looked straight into my eyes without
flinching or glancing away. My anger melted away. I
had to shake myself to clear my head.
I was torn between being captivated and scared
out of my mind. He might look like he'd stepped off
the pages of a magazine, but for all I knew, his looks
were the only good thing about him. I stepped back
cautiously, eyeing the trail to my left.
“And you are?” he asked, stepping toward me.
“Leaving,” I started to back up, but a strong
hand grabbed my wrist. My heart was pounding as I
struggled to break free.
“Hold up. What's your hurry?”
He was so close, I could smell his cologne.
Part of me just wanted to stand there and take it all in,
but the part that had just experienced major trauma
wanted to run away.
“Back off,” I warned.
“Okay, okay,” he dropped my arm and backed
up a step, “I won't hurt you, scout's honor.” He held
his hands up in surrender. “I just want to talk to you.
Look, I'll chain myself to that tree.”
“That won't be necessary. Just back up another
three feet, and we should be good.”

“Better?” he grinned.
“I guess,” I said rubbing my arm. I wasn't
completely convinced, but I felt more comfortable with
the distance between us. At least I could breathe again.
We stood there for a moment, studying each
other. I finally broke the silence. I was still a little
annoyed, but my instincts were telling me that the guy
was basically harmless.
“You know, you could try to come off as a little
less menacing. Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's
rude to go around scaring people like that?”
“My apologies,” he said in a southern drawl, “I
really didn't think you would react like that.”
“Apology accepted.”
“It's just that this is the place I usually come
when I want to think. When I saw that there was
someone else here, I was surprised, that's all.”
“By the way, what did you mean when you said
that I 'seemed real enough'? That's kind of a weird
thing to say.”
Josh laughed and shook his head.
“I guess it must have seemed strange to a
newcomer. It's just hard to tell the physical entities
apart from the spirit ones.”
Okay, so the guy was a head case.
“I don't follow,” I said, inching toward the trail.
“You really don't get where you are, do you?”
He stepped closer.
“Let's see,” I said, heart pounding, “I'm
standing in the middle of a clearing, in Summer Cove.”
He laughed and shook his head.
“I'm not in Summer Cove?” I asked
sarcastically.
“No,” he said, “You're dreaming.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head.
“You're crazy,” I said, opening my eyes.
I found myself lying on the grass in the
clearing. Josh wasn't there. Puzzled, I stood, walking
cautiously toward the trail.
“Josh?”
Nothing.
“This isn't funny.”
Had I really been dreaming?

He deliberately took three steps back.

Excerpt