I’m working on my first book of a three book series.  The main character Trudence Leigh Darling (Tru Leigh Darling) is given a “gift” of vision.  Confused and consumed she learns about her gift and her new and ever changing destiny.  Tru is accompanied on her journey by her brother, Brandon, and best friend, Karlie.  She encounters the greatest threat of all, Weylin. He’s beautiful, charming and so bad but it feels so good.  This is an epic story of good verses evil, finding love and discovering who you were always meant to be. What would you do if you found out you were the twenty-first century Christian Cupid!

You can read the current chapter one of The Kindling. I am in the process of editing and will keep you posted.

Enjoy and leave comments if you wish!

Chapter 1

The Big Bang

The newspaper would read: “Trudence Leigh Darling, 23, dies hopelessly alone, no husband or children to speak of, leaving only grieving parents and one aggravating older brother.” Not the life I thought I would have and certainly not the happy ending I’d dreamed.

Crap! Crap! Crap! Why did I waste so much of my life? Sure, I had a good job, education, and a cute house—but what else? Who did I have to share it with? Not to say I was one of those girls who needed a man to ‘complete’ her, but it would have been nice to have a partner, someone to morn my passing, put flowers on my grave and light candles on my birthday.

I was in full pity-party mode when suddenly, it felt like my soul crash landed back into my body and the physical world came rushing back to me. Without warning, all my senses sharpened. The rain was cold on my uncovered legs and my wet clothes clung to my body. I ached all over and my head exploded with pain. Felling my body was one thing, but moving it was a total other problem. My thin frame didn’t support much muscle and I felt like I’d been beaten up by a mob of professional wrestlers, but I tried.

I reached out, feeling the rough wet pavement beneath me. Eyes clenched tight, it was so cold and wet. One side of my face submerged in water and from the taste of it, dirty water. I shivered from the nausea of the filthy water, the cold, and the fear that swept through me. I wasn’t dead, but maybe dying or drowning if I didn’t get my face out of the puddle.

Someone or something screamed—a low yell that crescendoed into a high-pitched scream, the rhythmic scream pounded the base of my skull. Groggily, I lifted my three-ton head out of the puddle and wondered how I ended up lying face down on the ground. The water blurred my vision; I looked around for help. I wanted to yell, I tried, but I could only get out low moans. Opening my eyes wider, I saw it. I blinked a couple times, not really believing what was in front of me. Steady sheets of rain feel a few feet from me. But, not normal rain, this rain was glowing white. It was the most beautiful rain I’d ever seen; each droplet shone like a brilliant star against the black velvet night. My eyes widened, despite my pain it caused, and I gawked at its beauty.

 I had to be dying because the stars were actually falling out of the sky. The rain of stars emerged out of an unknown origin; they cascaded to the ground, bouncing free before they faded into the darkness. As the heavens fell, I watched in amazement. I reached out to try to catch them, to put them back into the sky to save them, but my arm gave out. I was too weak; I crashed back into the puddle as the dirty water covered the side of my face. I coughed and spat a tiny rock from my mouth.

If I was dying, the rain of stars was an awesome last earthly vision. Maybe in my next life, I would find the one and get my fairy tale ending. I hoped I wouldn’t come back as a dog or something gross. I opened the one eye that wasn’t submerged in the puddle, trying to see the stars one more time. I was awe struck by their beauty, but something dark caught my attention. There was a black patch in the sheeting stars. As if someone was pulling back the stars like a velvet stage curtain, a figure, a man, emerged. He stood silently and gazed at me. I lifted my head enough to see him. His face was lit up from the luminance of the stars; he was surrounded by the halo of light. His strong jaw and black hair framed the most dazzling robin egg blue eyes I’d ever seen. They glistened as bright as the stars against his dark features. His eyes were intense with purpose and I wondered if it was me or the stars he was after. His tall muscular frame reminded me of a Greek God. Had my prince come? Excitement and dread swirled in my head while my heart beat a little faster and belly flopped. A tall dark and handsome guy moving the heavens to get to me, maybe I would get my happy ending after all.

I watched him, standing motionless amongst the falling stars. Was he real or a figment of my love lusty near-death imagination?  I’d never seen eyes like that and I didn’t see any white horse galloping about, so I ditched the prince charming idea as impossible and went to the next dramatic conclusion, I was dead.

If I had died, then he must be an angel; no human could move stars. An angel, my own personal angel, waited and watched. A little smile slid across my face; at least my last traveling partner was super hot. I closed my eye waiting to feel my angels’ touch which I imagined would feel something like feathers and silk.

I waited for him to come but all I heard was the rhythmic screaming and it was louder and louder. My head throbbed, and I struggled to breathe, fighting the dirty water attempting to invade my throat. When was it going to end? What was he waiting for? Patience was not a virtue I was born with.

Then, someone touched my face. Was it my angel? Gently, they cradled my head and neck, encasing it in a stiff brace. I didn’t think angels needed braces, what an odd thing for an angel to do.  It wasn’t soft and feathers, but hard and cold and really uncomfortable.

I mumbled something, but he hushed me, telling me everything would be all right. Reluctantly and carefully I opened my eyes and saw red and white flashing lights. Wincing at the lights, they caused my brain to throb with pain. My thoughts conflicted. I thought heaven would be all white clouds and harps, but most importantly, no pain! Maybe I wasn’t going to heaven. I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.  Hell must be taking not only the bad but the boring, too, which was the only way I would get in.   

“You’ve been in an accident, but you’re going to be okay.”

The man’s voice didn’t sound like an angel, but then again I had never talked to one before either. Opening my eyes again, I saw a young man looking at me. His brown eyes were fixed on me, his blond hair wet and pushed back from his face and his boyish features confused me. He wasn’t my angel, but I also didn’t recognize him. Maybe I wasn’t dead but I was certainly being rescued by someone.

I wondered if he saw my angel or the falling stars. I gurgled at him to look for them, but he hushed me again. He worked fast. I jostled back and forth while he slid the backboard under me. I caught a glimpse of my surroundings. I was on the ground outside my garage; my car still angled in the alley behind my South St. Louis City brick bungalow. The memories were fuzzy. I’d left the party early to beat the weather. My smart-mouthed big brother, Brandon, teased, saying I was over protective of my “silly” car. How could I not be? I loved my, white Honda Civic. I knew it wasn’t fast and flashy, but it was my first new car.

I concentrated through the pain in my head and remembered what I was doing before the stars and my angel. I was driving home through a fierce storm; and as I turned onto my block, I noticed all the houses were dark and assumed the electricity was out. I cursed the electrical company—untrimmed trees lined my street and were always breaking branches during storms, taking out the electrical lines and causing power outages at least a half dozen times a year. My detached garage had an alley entrance with a manual door. I wanted to put my car in the garage. The weather predicted hail. I wasn’t going to have a car that looked like a dimpled golf ball. I jumped out of the car, ran to the door and struggled with the wet, steel garage door handle. I pulled and stomped my feet splashing water onto my bare legs and totally ruined my new brown suede boots. The damn door wouldn’t budge and the next thing I knew I was with the rain of stars and then my angel.  I was safe with them, without them I was cold, wet, scared and peeved off about my boots.

The wet night wrenched me back to my current predicament. Now, there were two people beside me. I could feel them patting me. Definitely not feathers and silk it was rough and pokey like they were inspecting a new set of tires on a car.  My body ached, my head was killing me, and I felt different, strange. I felt electrified, as if every cell in my body was over-excited, like I’d had a five gallon bucket full of double espresso lattes.

The men tilted the backboard and lifted. Feeling totally out of control, I tried to turn my head and grasp at something solid to hold onto, but I couldn’t move. Not only was my neck braced, but I was also tied down. They slid me into the back end of the ambulance and shut the doors on my fallen stars and my angel. Immediately, I missed their beauty and the tranquility they brought me. I wanted my stars, my angel, my happy ending. It was so close and I missed it. I always missed it.

The bright light from the inside of the ambulance seemed to burned through my closed eyelids, so I closed them tighter until the forehead strap of the backboard pulled on my skin. I groaned, fighting the pain. I felt like a prisoner, tortured by the stupid light. I tried to concentrate on my breathing, like Yoga or something, anything to stop the pain in my head.

The EMT closest to me began talking in a loud authoritative voice that carried throughout the ambulance, bouncing off the metal walls and echoing in my ears, “Her vitals are stable; BP is 120 over 80, heart rate 150.” All I could think was, sweet, not dead or dying. “She is responsive, reflexes are good. I don’t see any life- threatening contusions.” He paused and lowered his voice; “Trudence.” his voice was gentle and sweet and sounded way too young. “Trudence, can you hear me?”

I’d never liked my name.  I went by Tru, but now wasn’t the time for preferences. With my eyes tightly closed, I tried to nod, forgetting the brace that locked my head in place. I opened my mouth and for a moment, nothing came out. I still tasted the filthy ground water I’d been lying in, and my stomach turned. “W-what happened?” My voice sounded so strange and weak. I swallowed hard.

“It’s going to be okay. You’re safe now.” His voice was soft, and I needed to believe my young EMT. I would be okay, but he didn’t answer my question. What had happened to me?

Not one to be ignored I asked again, “What happened?” He hushed me and kept working. He sure did hush me a lot. But since I was still strapped in, I thought I’d better not annoy the only person who could set me free. I tried to relax and remember my fallen stars and super hot angel. Maybe I had died and the rain of stars and angel were a glimpse of heaven, which in my opinion, is not too shabby, super cute boys and mood lighting to boot. I could handle a heaven like that. I let the memory consume me. It felt like a flood of warm water rushing over me, encasing me, pushing out the pain.

After bouncing around for fifteen minutes, we stopped. I heard the beeping, medical speak, and machines of a hospital around me; I wondered what I looked like to them. I was wearing a white cardigan set with my favorite khaki skirt. My light brown hair was perfectly flat ironed straight and long. My new brown suede boots were killing my toes, but they were too cute. I was sure they would be the envy of the emergency room, even if they were rain soaked. Suddenly, I thought of something I’d seen on a trauma special on the Learning Channel. It was either The Learning Channel or another info-commercial on the latest multi-use blender. Anyway, the first responders cut the clothes off the victim…

Oh. My. God. Was I naked? I could feel the heat fill my face at the thought of being undressed, baring it all to the world, more specifically the St. Louis Barnes Jewish Hospital emergency room. Thinking back over the day, I tried desperately to remember what I wore under my khaki skirt and cardigan set. Oh, God, not those, please anything but those. I actually wanted to die. What would the first responders think about my big, white granny panties?

 “Open your eyes, and look at me,” a woman’s voice demanded. I imagined the bright light in the emergency room, I was sure it feel like it was burning  through my skull and I really didn’t want to see myself, just in case I was right about my panty issue. I shook my head no, or better yet, hell no! By her huff and grumble, I could tell she wasn’t pleased with my unspoken response.

 “I need you to open your eyes Trudence. We need to make sure you are okay.”

Cringing at the thought of the prying my lids back and shining a mini flashlight in them (I saw it on the trauma special too); I decided it was better to comply with her, no matter the pain from the emergency room fluorescent devil lights.

I opened my eyes and a round-faced nurse stared back at me; her hot breath smelled of coffee and cigarettes. Amazingly, the pain of the light was tolerable. Relieved, I took note of my surroundings. I was in a hospital bed; but before I had time to think, the nurse moved closer and rubbed my shoulder.

 “How many fingers am I holding up?” She held up a pudgy hand.

 “Two,” I murmured.

 “What is today’s date?” she demanded.

“October 5^th,” I replied even quicker.

“Good,” she reassured me with a pat on my arm.

The nurse and aids buzzed around me as they unstrapped me and removed my neck brace. Their movements seemed well-choreographed. A standard hospital mural hung on a stark white wall to my left, opposite a blue curtain entrance. My artsy best friend Karlie, an artist, would be disgusted with the lack luster attempt at a valley of flowers.

“Good evening, Ms. Darling,” a deep voice said. “It seems you’ve have had a very eventful Friday night.”

The doctor was tall and slender with gray hair and skeleton-like fingers. I looked at him, puzzled. I still couldn’t remember how I ended up in the emergency room, and no one was answering my questions.

My mind searched for answers while the doctor checked over my chart, mumbling something inaudible to the round-faced nurse. The heavenly rain! I remembered the rain of stars and my hot angel. Had I died? I wanted to ask about the stars, but was too afraid they might think I was crazy and maybe I was.

His voice was deep but calm, “You have a concussion and will need to take some mild analgesics for the next couple of days. There was an electrical explosion near your home; I am quite amazed you don’t have any burns.” His eyebrows lifted as he looked me over head to foot, I cringed as his eyes passed my midsection. I made a silent vow to never ever wear those panties again! “We have checked your cardiac rhythms and everything seems to be perfect. It’s really a miracle. You must have a guardian angel looking out for you tonight.” Ha! Maybe it was my angel “We’ll be keeping you for a couple of days for observation.”

I nodded, more to shut him up than in agreement. I wanted to close my eyes, remember my angel and the beautiful rain and push out the raging pain that began to invade my skull again. Damn those devil lights.

Feeling two pills pushed into my hand, I opened my eyes to see a young nurse staring at me with a big smile and a small white cup. She handed me the cup of water, and I gulped down the pills—anything to take the pain away.

Moving to a room I finally thought about big-brother Brandon and he might be mad I hadn’t called him. I was too tired and still wired; I decided to deal with his brotherly lecture later, when the world wasn’t filled with falling stars, hot angels, and panty faux pas.

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