Welcome to Snippet Sunday!

Where writers come together to share a few sentences (8-10) of their current project — whether it’s a recently released novel, a WIP (work in progress), or an older manuscript that’s being revived. Intended to hook readers, gather feedback and build an author’s fan base, Snippet Sunday is the FB group that does all three.

Welcome to September! For this month, I am going to continue on with my short paranormal story, Rivers of Black. A story which I am now in the process of editing again after I talked myself into it last week. Come October I am going to be switching to something different.

Picking up right where I left off from last week’s snippet. My main character had been thinking about wanting to take her own life, but her fear of being found had stopped her. Now, she is out wandering the woods, looking for no place in particular that would be her place to sit in peace at last, coming across an old, scarred, and battered oak tree. Now that tree has shown it’s own desolation and deterioration to mother nature and my MC is spiraling into despair. She is just about to go through with the deed and take her own life, when she discovers an odd dark circle that wasn’t there before.

A bit of background on this story as well: This story is rather dark and depressing. It deals with a topic some people would be hesitant to read; which is self harm and suicide. I don’t sugarcoat this either, I write it raw on how someone in my character’s state feels. Just be forewarned with that. I hope it doesn’t deter you from reading, but I know others cannot deal reading these kinds of things. (There is really nothing bad to this snippet though, but it’s getting good.)

(The following has been creatively punctuated to fit the ten sentence limit.)

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I backed away from the circle, but instantly stopped once more — curiosity was overcoming my shock. Another blast of cold wind blew by me and I closed my eyes against the wintery assault.

Along the wind came a soft voice, barely audible: “Come closer,” it seemed to say.

Panic coursed through me now, afraid that I was hallucinating or something was terribly wrong. My legs twitched to run far away from the strange circle, but something kept me rooted to the spot; something felt like it was calling me, pulling me closer to the darkness, tempting me to step inside. My feet carried me towards the darkness before my brain even registered what I was doing.

Warning bells sounded off once more in my head before I passed out of the sunshine and into the darkness.

The first thing I felt was a complete coldness spreading through me, like someone had dumped me in a frozen lake. The air around me was stale and suffocating making it hard to breathe, and despair and terror descended on me as the darkness seemed to get thicker, closing in on me as if it was tangible. The little light that there was seemed to disappear into thin air, leaving nothing but blackness.

Cover made by @_teenagers on Wattpad

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If you want to read the whole story, it is available to read on Wattpad! (Though, as I said above, I am editing it again.) I love to hear any and all feedback on my work as well. Comments are greatly appreciated, as are the reads.

And if you’re looking for some other great snippets of fellow authors,

hop on over to Facebook and check out Sunday Snippets!