A New Story

I haven't added any new posts on this site for a while because I've been busy working on a very long story. It started as a short story, but has evolved into something much bigger. I don't know how it will turn out, but it is very exciting to see that I am capable of writing a story a little more intricate and a little longer.

Here's an excerpt from one of the first chapters. I'd love to hear what anyone thinks of it!


"As silent as the grave" was a phrase Alec had heard many times, though he had never experienced anything like it until now.

Nothing around him moved.

He heard no ocean waves, no clanging pipes or hollering sailors. All the whispered hums of human breath were now silent too, except his own.

He had been kneeling there on the cold hard floor of the cabin for nearly thirty minutes. Only a few short moments earlier he had listened to his own father’s breathing slow and then cease. He was unaware all the while that his father was slipping away until at once, after nearly a month of suffering; his face finally appeared calm.

The frostbite had given it a ghostly appearance.

Alec would have cried had he had the strength. He was almost certain his tears were frozen inside his eyes anyway.

He stared for what must have been hours at a crooked half-smile frozen on his father’s face. It was such a familiar look. He had always been so quick to laugh; it seemed only natural that he would pass away with a smile. Alec felt sure his father’s final smile was given to thoughts of his beloved wife. Alec had always believed that no man on earth had ever loved a woman as much as his father had loved his own dear, Eliza Belle. Thinking of her now, at a time like this, was almost more than Alec could bear. He couldn’t stand the thought of her standing on the docks, everyday searching the seas for sails on the horizon that would signal the return of her husband and her son, when in actuality he knelt alone and cold over the body of her dead companion.

How long might she wait? Years? Decades? A lifetime?



(excerpt from chapter two)

No less than a mile up the river from where Alec had been knocked unconscious, an old village, not yet discovered by the rest of the world nestled itself tightly between two steep mountain rises. The mountains were blanketed with snow and ice and their crags and crevices were home to snow owls, timberwolves, and other creatures able to withstand the extreme conditions. Bitter chill winds whipped down on the village during the long nights and cold cloaked the people constantly.

The village homes had been built ages ago in a large circular pattern, no one living could tell you exactly when. The circle formation was essential for the villagers’ safety, to keep predators out and most importantly it allowed every hut to use the warmth of the fire........................................

.......................................Viola, the old village doctor, often told stories of her grandfather and how he had started the fire himself when he was very young. She claimed it took him seven days to create the first spark, and no less than ten bushels of tinder to feed it while it was small until it grew large enough to finally survive on wood alone. No one was sure whether or not the story was true, but they knew one thing; the fire was essential to their survival. If it were extinguished, the cold would close in on them and the entire village would be dead.......................................

..............................They brought him to Viola’s hut and laid him on her cold dirt floor. She quickly ordered that he be moved by the fire and there, in the warm glow of the flames she began to bring the boy back to life. She removed his clothes and rubbed his frozen body with her wrinkled hands. The warmth and life of the fire soaked into his skin as she continued to massage each muscle. Hour after hour she kneaded and rubbed until at last his pale cracked lips parted and warm breath exhaled as a cloud of life. Curious villagers held their own breath while they waited for the boy to move. After a few moments, he began to slowly turn his head from side to side then he opened his bright blue eyes.

Without offering even a moment for the boy to regain his senses the villagers began hurling questions at him. Where had he come from? Why was he alone? How did he survive? Each question fell unanswered. The startled boy sat up, his fearful eyes darted from strange person to strange person.

He could not remember anything.......................................