Chapter One Maggie hated herself at that moment. So much so that in her thoughts, when she cursed herself, she called herself by her given name of ‘Margaret’ instead of what she insisted everyone else calls her, Maggie. She lay there with tears swelling in her eyes, but refused to allow one teardrop to fall down her cheek. You’re so stupid, Margaret. You will not cry. Not in front of your stepson. You’re a grown woman, an...

“Go ahead and set that there, my dear,” Nikki instructed. My dear… I thought as I placed the grocery bag of chips on the kitchen counter. Everything about this visit to my field training officer’s house felt off, but now it felt very wrong. “Okay,” I said and began to empty the bags of chips and bottles of soda from the paper grocery bags. I had already marveled at her impressive whiskey bar in her living room on my way i...

“Oh, my God, Bro, you gotta be lying,” Erin laughed. She had been laughing since I began telling my embarrassing story. I knew she’d get a kick out of it. We had been friends for far too long for us not to know each other’s sense of humor. Any story that involved me humiliating myself was right up her alley. “I’m totally serious. You think I’d make this up?” I said, shaking my head. Erin and I sat next to each other on ou...

“Just roll the dice!” Alice said, shoving my shoulder. “No way!” I said, clutching the dice to my cleavage, “This is how horror movies start!” “Tonya, what horror movies start with a freaking board game?!” Mike yelled from the other side of the coffee table. “The kind where four college kids break into an abandoned house in the woods, find an old chest that has an old-looking board game, and open it see that not only does...

I woke up with a start the next morning. The kind of wake-up you have for a very important event, and you’re so nervous about it, you wake up before your alarm has a chance to squawk. In my case, I woke forty-five minutes before my alarm. My heart drummed on my chest, my hands were sweaty, and already there was an ache in my belly. The guilt from the night before and the worry from the morning to come clashed inside me, a...

I was asleep when he came into my room. It took me several minutes to realize what was happening. By then, my father had already undone his belt, dropped his jeans to the floor, and taken off his shirt. By the time he crawled into my bed and under the covers, I could smell the hint of his cologne emanating from him and was awake enough to understand that this was not a dream. My dad had just stripped down to his underwear...

“Beth?” the front desk assistant called. I stood with my bubbly smile, “Yes?” “The doctor will see you now,” the assistant said. I put my cell phone away in my small pink purse and exited the waiting area for the back halls of the doctor’s office. It was February 14th, and everything was decorated in this office. Mini stuffed bears sat on the assistant’s desk, the walls were covered in pink, red, and yellow hearts like a...