It would have surprised some people to discover that the day Walter Blythe died was only the second worst day of young Una Meredith's life. The worst day was when Walter had bid her farewell at the train station and laid a chaste kiss on his young lover's lips that burned still on her skin. As his train had disappeared beyond Ketter's Hill she had shivered and shook with a terrifying premonition as Dog Monday threw himself after the train, howling a dirge, and Shirley Blythe had flung himself after the dog and restrained the sobbing, loyal creature.

~o~O~o~

Fever

Once a bully threw a rock at me, wrapped in just enough snow to disguise its true nature.  Now I feel the reverse of that pain, with my loose skin barely holding the burning embers of my body together. I swallow screams down my parched throat, knowing each tear on my cheek stabs my mother’s heart like a dagger.

Images of dancing flames overlay my vision, sending up wisps of phantom smoke. A voice calls my name.

Once upon a time there was a lovely princess. She was fair and tall with a lovely singing voice. She had green eyes. Now please don't ask me why these eyes were so important. They just were. Just remember that the princess had lovely green eyes.
Anyway, lovely as she was, the princess got everything and anything she ever wanted. She had the finest sports equipment. She had her own dance studio.She had eleven ponies and fourteen horses, though she hated riding them. She was spoiled. Yet one day, she came across something that she could not have.