Before I move on to chapters 1 for Ancient Terra (now that Sanctum's 4 have been completed), here's chapter 1 from my new release, Ariel's Christmas. I will post an updated list soon with links to all the chapters 1 :)
A gentle tale about loss … and a cat.
This is Ariel’s first Christmas alone and she wants nothing
to do with festivities. Her best friend extracts a promise from her to put up a
tree, though, an old woman gives her advice, and on the way home she buys a few
Christmas treats and, on impulse, cat food for the strays around her building.
These factors end up changing Ariel’s life.
Chapter 1
🔔
PARK BENCH
Ice
had gathered in the grooves created where the old wood split, and Ariel picked
at the tiny icicles encapsulated upon the park bench’s eroding armrest, her
long nails the tools suited to this mindless task.
“Hate the cold,” she snarled at the jagged
piece she airlifted to safety.
Kids in bright, padded jackets laughed and
shouted, running here, there, mothers calling after them, while jingles and
bells wove into their exuberant antics. Busy today. Holiday season. Christmas
Eve, point of fact. The loudspeakers delivered the Christmas spirit with gusto.
“Bloody December,” Ariel grunted as she
flicked the shard aside.
Ignoring the aches in her almost frozen
knuckles, she scratched at the next groove, wondering what kept Colleen. They’d
agreed to meet here – the same bench they hogged every workday lunchtime from
April to September but ignored for the canteen in their office building when
the weather turned, with a few exceptions when a warm day materialised –
because, conveniently, the park sat smack in the centre of the shopping
district, two blocks from their offices when they were at work. They were off
work now, of course, back to the grindstone in the new year. Guess she didn’t
have to wonder why Colleen was running late. The woman adored shopping, and
wasn’t it the season for exactly that?
“Careful, your face will freeze in that
horrible scowl.”
“Took your sweet time,” Ariel huffed as
Colleen plopped down beside her, spilling a multitude of packages and bags to
the frosted earth surrounding the old seat.
“Have you been sitting here all this
time?” Colleen asked. “Doesn’t look like you bought anything.”
“Did, too. Only had one gift to get,
didn’t I?”
The something special for her best friend
now sitting beside her was the only concession she made regarding getting
involved in the madness of festive shopping this year.
Colleen knew it, too. “Oh, honey, there’s
still time to change your mind. Come with me, please. My family will love to
have you over.”
“Thanks, but I have to face the music.
I’ll never move on unless I endure Christmas alone.”
They’d discussed this; Colleen didn’t
press. Instead, she leaned down to grip a large bag, one emblazoned with
baubles and snowflakes, and passed it over. “Yours, and don’t say no, and
promise you will use every last thing in here. Tonight.”
Peering into a mess of decorations,
tinsel, strings of lights, Ariel nearly passed out. Too much Christmas in that
bag.
“There’s a small tree in there, too. Deck
the halls, Ariel. I get that you need to be alone, really do, but I also know
how much you adored Christmas before. Don’t give up on that. Promise me.”
“Hmm,” was all she offered.
“Promise.”
“Fine, promise.”
“Good for you. Now.” Colleen leaned into
her array of bagged and boxed gifts, rummaged for a while. “Aha!”
Straightening, she brandished a rectangular box wrapped in silver foil sporting
red candy canes. “Put this under your tree. Open it when you’re ready.”
Accepting the gift, Ariel stared down.
Hefty. Had to be a book. She discovered she was intrigued.
“Is that a smile I see?” Colleen murmured.
“You know, you don’t need to be alone. Stop by the shelter on the way home, get
a dog. It’ll be good for you to have a furry companion around.”
They’d discussed this, too. Ariel hated
the thought of leaving a pup alone in her apartment all day when she returned
to work. “You know how I feel about that. Stop suggesting it.”
“I hear you. Fine. Okay, girlfriend, time
for me to go. I’ll see you for New Year.”
“Wait.” Ariel found the narrow package
she’d secreted in her jacket’s inner pocket and handed it over. “Merry
Christmas, Colleen.”
Her friend was instantly agog, lifting the
gift up to eye level, fingers tapping and rubbing in an attempt to unravel the
mystery waiting underneath green and gold polka dot wrapping. Man, she was
worse than a three-year-old.
Laughing, feeling markedly better, Ariel
nudged her. “Go on. Brett’s probably steaming from his ears already, waiting
for you. You guys have a long drive ahead.”
“Thanks, darling. Merry Christmas. I’ll
phone you Boxing Day, okay?”
Soon enough, after a hug and a kiss,
Colleen and her many packages had marched across the park, leaving Ariel with
her weighty gift across her knees. She clutched it with cold hands, and
eventually forced herself to move.
Time to face that music.
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