Nett’s Shorts

Wakeful Echoes A sequel to More Time to Dream.  Wren woke up next to the man who held her heart - or did she?  There is a forgotten reality beyond the idyllic world of her dreams.  Can she find her way back?  Does she want to? Excerpt: Now that I knew of my dual existence, I became aware of the parts of this one that were missing, things which had never crossed my mind due to how complete I felt with Nicolai.  Family.  Friends.  Occupation.  Perhaps their lack was what caused me to start filling the empty void of my forgotten reality with daydreams.  While in the throes of imagination, I would sometimes hear more echoes of those who presumably loved me, even the occasional phantom touch which seemed to tug ever so gently. Then Nicolai would regain my focus, making me wonder why I had ever been thinking of anything or anyone else but him, and I would ignore their siren call - until the next time my mind would wander.   A light hand ...

  Ripples of Fate Bree is plagued with morbid visions she can do nothing about.  Will she find a way to change the inevitable - or will fate have the last laugh? Excerpt:      Wind whipped my hair and spritzed me with sea spray as I stood on a stretch of beach strewn with boulders.     Offshore, waves spouted like geysers against a breakwater.   Scanning the sunbathers and swimmers dotting the landscape, my eye was drawn to a boy of about ten hanging on a raft.     His vigorous kicks churned the water behind him, propelling him farther from the shore.      “Andy!     Not too far out, now!” a woman yelled from the water’s edge.   “Andy!” she bellowed when he ignored her.      “Aw, Mom!”       He was wobbling to and fro, slowly changing course, when the raft flipped over in a whirlpool of bubbles.      “ANDY!!!”      The woman ran into the water, falt...

A Different Me Isabelle and her sister planned a weekend in Vegas to escape their humdrum lives.  Creating new personas to amp up the fun, they end up with more adventure than they bargained for. Excerpt:      “Hello, Chantelle.”     His manner was different from before, menacing to be exact, adding to her unease.        “Umm, Johnny, right?”  She took a furtive glance around the empty hallway.  “I was just getting ready to call it a night.”      “Can’t let you do that,” he said, looming over her.  “The night’s just getting started.      She juggled the ice bucket between them.  “Listen, I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression…”      “This isn’t about you and me,” his eyes roamed up and down her body, “not that I hadn’t given it some thought.”      The door to her room opened, revealing Jennifer clad in flannel pajamas.  “Iz...

Phantom Memories A young man has moved into my home.  Despite being unaware of my haunting presence, he is helping me discover who I am - and what happened to me. Excerpt:      “Is this her?” Sybil asks, holding one of the pictures from the mantel.      The doorbell rings and Amy goes to answer as Matt replies, “Yeah, that’s her.”      “She was pretty!”      “Yes, she was.”      All eyes turn toward the speaker and my buoyant mood sinks when I see who Amy has ushered in.      “Guys, this is Matt’s next door neighbor, Charles.”      After a round of greetings, Sybil asks, “You knew her?”      He takes the picture from her, looking at my image with an inscrutable expression.  “I did.”        “Could you tell us about her?”      As curious as I am, I have no desire to hear myself described by my killer.  Wandering off, I en...

One Too Many Sunsets Charlene was wagered like chattel, gambled away by her husband to be used and abused by hard men.  If she never saw him again it would be too soon, but he has something of hers - something she aims to get back! Excerpt:      She set up camp and waited, her spirits sinking with the sun as it finally fell below the horizon.  Fear and anger kept her from succumbing to exhausted slumber despite the moon’s steady progress across the starlit sky.  She felt no relief when at last someone approached, for it wasn’t her husband.  Rising from her perch near the fire, she aimed her [weapon] at the rider.      “Thar’s no need to be pointin’ that thar [weapon] at me.  I’m here to fetch ya for yer husband.”      “And why hasn’t he come himself?”      The man scratched his whiskers, the unsettling sound chafing her jangled nerves.  “Well, I’d tell ya, but he’s a wantin...