If you’ve just discovered this (Hi!), read Chapter 1 HERE.
New chapters every Saturday morning @ 9:09 a.m. EST. Yay!
Parker awoke before his new alarm clock had sounded. The early bird catches the worm, Bubba would have said.
Unless you are the worm, thought Parker, in which case you’d rather crawl under a rock and hide.
Parker turned away from the clock. He rolled onto his side and pulled the blankets up under his chin. For a moment, he half-expected to look down on the skyline of Kingdom City, the buildings shining and tall in the early morning light. The view from his bedroom window had become one of life’s simple pleasures. When he wasn’t recoiling from the nightmares, he loved to lie in his warm bed and watch the sun rise up from the Atlantic Ocean. The white clouds and endless blue sky always made him sad, though he never understood why. They made him feel nostalgic, like he longed for something, though he never understood for what. He just knew he had an urge not just to fly . . . but to soar. To be free.
The drab rock wall reminded him that this was a possibility, a very real and soon to be realized possibility. Suddenly he remembered exactly where he was: He was in Candyland, and there was a Battle-suit upstairs. Five of them, in fact. And one of them was waiting for him. The thought of flying the Battle-suit now offered an appeal it had lacked just yesterday. It offered a tangible representation of the sentiment he relished most when he lay in bed at home, day dreaming about flying as only the birds can.
A spark of joy ignited somewhere inside him. Armed with his renewed loyalty to his friends and to the mission, Parker knew today would be a great day.
He threw back his blankets. The overhead lights flicked on and cold white light filled the room and hurt his eyes. He wondered if Bubba had swapped out the lights in his own room, exchanging them for red lights like on his dad’s submarine.
Parker could scarcely wait to take a hot shower and don a clean, perfect uniform so that he could join his friends on a new day of training. He slid off the top bunk and felt a sudden rush of air.
His stomach lurched upward, into his throat.
His feet didn’t touch the floor.
There was no floor.
He was falling . . .
Falling . . .
Into darkness.
Next chapter coming Saturday!