Stories tagged “Janine”
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The Unknown Brown of Chestnut
Though she sat only a few yards away Alex could hardly look at her for fear his ten year old heart would beat out of his chest. Demure and beyond cute her lightly freckled face beamed despite the classroom’s harsh lighting. Her green eyes twinkle...
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Intuition of Infatuation
Ricky going to the board stood out as he was the toughest kid in school. It being the fifth grade, that’s not saying much. Unbidden and glassy eyed he went gliding up to the board and began drawing a crude female form. Mrs. Hubbard started yellin...
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I Am Not Dreaming
“I am not dreaming,” Alex said aloud to himself, though no one heard. He blinked hard. Ricky was on the floor, chalk covered hands twitching at his sides. Mrs. Hubbard obscured his artwork as she leaned over him, a look of panicked concern ...
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On the Play Field of Battle, Such As It Was
With his usual knack for going unseen, Alex slipped from the classroom and bolted for the outside door. A quick left out the heavy, metal door, and he was rounding the side of the building to the wide play yard. There the lady in black stockings contin...
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Sun and Shadows
Ms. Merchant found them a few minutes before the end of school, still huddled together in the grass. Alex had gone hoarse from saying whatever comforting thing he could think to say, trying to mimic has father’s soothing tone and demeanor. The su...
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To Meet by Woods in Moonlight
Alex hopped the low fence at the school boundary and trudged around the kindergarten trailer toward the play yard and woods beyond. Head down he struggled to make sense of his own ill-formed plan. Words like idiot, stupid, moron, clueless, and asinine ...
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Arguing in the Dark
Janine looked at him seriously. “You can still go back, you know.” Up until that moment, going back had always been in Alex’s thoughts. He had been well aware that every step he took toward the school was another one he’d have t...
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Weirdness Abounding
While rolling his eyes at Janine’s troublesome assumption, Alex spied the edge of the woods. Even in the dark he could tell. The plants were wrong. The ground was darker, not the usual reddish stuff that stained so many of his pants and shoes. Th...
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Confirmations of Previous Assumptions
Two steps in, and the air felt different, warmer and tingly. Eight steps in, and Alex was reasonably sure the school was no longer behind them, though he dared not look back to confirm. Just over a dozen steps in, and they were holding hands. Alex thou...
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Snack Attack
Alex tugged hopelessly at Janine’s arm, but she barely even noticed his attempts and ended up dragging him forward with her. “This isn’t workiiiiing,” Alex murmured. He looked around for something, anything to use as a weapon—...