Novel Preview!

For those of you who wanted a preview of my novel, here it is! This is the first few pages. I apologize for the spacing. The blog doesn't like indenting. :) Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!


Kate opened her eyes. Slowly, through a haze of white, colors and shapes began to materialize. She heard the faint sound of someone mumbling in a deep and unfamiliar voice. Although she tried, she was unable to make out the words. Suddenly, Kate felt a warm hand on her right cheek as her vision began to clear.
“Can you hear me? Are you okay?” the mysterious voice called.
Kate drew a deep breath and tried to answer. “Mmm hmmm.”
“Are you sure?”
Kate blinked her eyes several times, trying to force them into focus. The outline of a young man’s head was slowly transforming into a handsome face. “Yeah… I think so.”
His worried expression broke into a relieved smile as he moved his hand from her cheek and swept it gently across her forehead. “You had us worried.”
Kate tried to sit up but as the world began to spin wildly away from her, she collapsed back into the dew-covered grass.
“Careful,” he warned. “Cheryl went to get some ice for your head.”
Who’s Cheryl? Kate looked at the man and waited until there was only one of him. He was in his early twenties and looked to be about her age. His brown hair was being tousled by the crisp autumn wind and as he stared down at her, his deep brown eyes glistened in the last light of the evening sun. “Wh- wha-what happened?” she stammered.
“You don’t remember?” he asked, his face hardening. “We were helping Cheryl hang Halloween decorations. I suppose it’s my fault. I should have been the one on the ladder.
“Ladder?”
“Yeah, to hang the skeleton.”
What is he talking about? Who is this guy? Kate had always been a very intelligent person and even in her current state, she knew something about this conversation didn’t add up. She had never seen this man before and certainly did not know anyone named Cheryl. She tried to remember how she had gotten there, but nothing came. Her mind was blank and her head ached. Finally she asked, “Can you help me up?”
The man slid his right hand under her head and his left hand under her shoulders, guiding her slowly as she pushed herself up to a sitting position. Kate closed her eyes and waited for the nausea to pass before opening them again. She cradled her head in her hands and uttered a dainty, “ouch.”
“You’re going to have quite a bruise. We were actually about to take you to the hospital before you came to,” he explained, kneeling beside her.
“Where’s Ben?” Kate asked.
The man looked as confused as she was. “Ben? Who’s Ben?”
Just then, a chubby woman in her mid-fifties came running out of the house with a bag of frozen peas and a kitchen towel. “Tyler, is she all right?” she yelled as she ran toward them.
He looked unsure. “Well, she’s conscious.”
The woman, who Kate assumed to be Cheryl, knelt beside her and looked her over. “Thank God!” she exclaimed as she wrapped the beige towel around the bag of peas. “Put this on your head, hon,” she said with a thick Southern accent, her black, wire-rimmed glasses slipping down her small nose. She pushed her glasses back into place and smiled warmly. Cheryl had short, graying hair, big, green eyes and wore entirely too much blush. She was a veteran nurse at the local hospital and she knew that if one was only unconscious for a couple of minutes and then able to sit up, it was a good sign. Far better than the possible outcomes that had been filling her mind only seconds ago.
Kate took the peas out of politeness, stifling her impulse to run from the strangers. Something felt weird… something felt wrong.
Cheryl pointed to the right side of Kate’s head, just above her temple. “Right there, sister.”
Obediently, Kate lifted the peas to her head. She winced as the pain shot through her. It seemed pointless to her, anyway. The peas weren’t much colder than the air temperature.
“Now, look at me.” Cheryl studied Kate’s eyes, asking her to look in different directions and follow her finger. Then she moved on to tapping Kate’s fingers and extremities and asking various questions of sensation. When Cheryl was satisfied, she gave Kate the all clear. “You look great, hon.”
Kate forced an awkward smile. “Thank you, but I should probably get home now.”
Cheryl’s eyes narrowed. “Home? You are home.”
Kate couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “No, I mean my home.”
Tyler leaned toward Cheryl. “She asked for someone named Ben. Who’s he?”
Cheryl bit her bottom lip as she tucked her short hair behind her ears. “Oh dear. I don’t know anyone named Ben.”
“He’s my husband. Ben Jackson,” Kate explained. “If you could take me to a phone, I could call him.”
“Maybe we’d better get you to a hospital after all,” Tyler said apprehensively.
“No. I just need to get a hold of Ben.”
Tyler reached into the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out his cell phone. “Let her try. Maybe she knows someone named Ben.” He handed the phone to Kate, who hesitantly took it.
“Can we go call him now?” she asked.
“Go ahead,” Tyler urged.
Kate raised her left eyebrow. “Can you take me to a phone?”
Tyler and Cheryl exchanged concerned glances. “It’s in your hand,” he said.
Cheryl’s face filled with concern. “Can we do this inside?” she suggested, not wanting the neighbors to see what was unfolding on her front lawn.
Kate looked down at the rectangular object in her hand. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
“Lisa, it’s my cell phone. You have one just like it.”
Kate suddenly felt sick and it had nothing to do with her head injury. “Lisa? Who’s Lisa?”
“That’s not funny,” Tyler scolded.
“I’m not being funny,” Kate fired back.
Tears tumbled down Cheryl’s rosy cheeks. “Can we please take this inside?” she begged.
“Go on in,” Tyler agreed. “I’ll help Lisa.” He watched as Cheryl turned toward the house, then he extended his hand to Kate. “Up you go,” he said as he pulled her to her feet.
Kate’s knees buckled as she stood and she swayed backward into the stranger’s arms. “Easy,” he said, steadying her. “Can you walk?”
“Yes, but…” Kate couldn’t think straight. She didn’t know where she was or whom she was with or why the smell of the man’s cologne gave her the sensation of having butterflies in her stomach.