Maia and Electra: Prologue: Forever Summer

Image Source

Finding this image was a stroke of luck. She really is a dead ringer for our protagonist, Electra

Prologue:

Forever Summer

Every summer has a story. For me, summer never ends.

I was on the brink of madness the night my reflection revealed the truth to me. I initially tried to write off the experience as reaching the breaking point in a life utterly woebegone. Tough luck was the only kind of luck I had ever known. Could I be blamed for wanting to be absent from reality for a while?

My sister Maia was the only good one in our family. She was sweet and maternal. She would nestle beside me after each of the numerous occasions when our abusive stepfather would batter my ears with acerbic insults and my body with his fists, feet, and any object that might be handy.

I would never give him the satisfaction of crying out or begging for mercy, no matter how the injuries might amass on my body. He snarled that my defiant behavior caused him to beat me all the harder. He told me that I was ugly, bad, and worthless while my sister was the sweet and good one, the one who had the Sight. However, no matter how divisive his words, I never allowed them to have a deleterious effect on my relationship with Maia.

On that particular night when my reflection revealed the truth to me, I learned that, unlike my stepfather’s lies led me to believe, my powers were not absent, they were merely muted.

I learned other devastating truths that I did not know how to process, and so I decided to leave.

This is not where my story begins, but it is where I shall begin its telling as I walk along the road and gaze at the sky, my throat parched with thirst, my heart sore from sorrow, my soul numb, and my eyes unable to cry another tear.

~Aurora Hylton~

~Gem Moondreamer~

~The Real Cie~

Prompts Used:

Hourly Writing Prompts

Illuminate Prompts

Mindlovemisery's Menagerie

The Secret Keeper

Trying to Write

Note:

I've been working on this story for years and was stuck being unable to explain how it worked. 

Cie and Gem helped me fix that. The answer is, infinite alternate universes hinged on a focal point. Cie says this is mostly Gem's idea, but she's the one who channels him. In any case, she's our editor.

Gem says his contribution was just having the idea, so he felt he didn't need a byline but the idea fixes the story. So he gets a byline too.

In any case, THANK YOU!  

Love, your very grateful cousin Aurora

Word Bank:

tough luck

BRINK |

WALK

| GAZE

| SKY

| ROAD

1. Absent

2. Acerbic

3. Nestle

4. Numerous

5. Behavior

6. Deleterious

7. Parched

8. Particular

9. Amass

10. Muted

11. Woebegone

12. Maternal

What Pegman Saw: The Forgotten Land

Tsaghkunyats Ridge, Armenia  © Roland Yeghiazaryan, Google Maps

What Pegman Saw: 

The Forgotten Land

by

Aurora and Cie

When we stepped into the Forgotten Land, tears flowed from my eyes. The contrast between the stale, decaying city and this lush, fresh haven was unimaginable to me, who had never known anything but pollution and corruption. For a moment, I wondered if our enemies had destroyed the city; perhaps we were walking into Heaven.

“Are you all right, Sister?” Maia inquired.

“Maia, what do you feel when you see this place?” I asked in a quavering voice as she dried my tears.

“Relief,” she said. “Hope. What about you?”

“I feel as if I nearly drowned. Relief is momentary. We are still in the rushing water, so to speak. Do you remember what happened at the hospital—the events leading up to this moment?”

“I don’t remember how it started, but I know that we’re here.”

I wondered if perhaps it was best for certain things to remain forgotten.

Aurora Hylton

The Real Cie

Notes:

Aurora:

I'm ashamed to say that I've been unable to find the inspiration to work on this story for a year and a half. Health issues of aging family members have taken precedence over everything else. Cie said that when she saw the Pegman prompt, she remembered my story and thought it would be a perfect way to describe the place where the members of the Resistance take refuge. Thank you, Cousin Cie. I only hope it won't be another year and a half before I work on this story again!

Prompts Used:

Mindlovemisery's Menagerie

What Pegman Saw

Writer Prompts

Yeah Write

Libre Office

Click the above image to go to the official Libre Office download page

Disclosure: I am not an affiliate or employee of Libre Office or The Document Foundation. The following is an independent opinion for which I have not been compensated in any fashion.

If you are looking for a suite of programs to replace Microsoft Office, look no further than Libre Office.You can read more at the official Libre Office website and on Wikipedia. 

Libre Office looks and feels like Microsoft Office and supports documents created in Microsoft Office. It is 100% free. 

My son told me about Libre Office a couple of months ago. I admit that I was afraid to try it at first. I have been using Microsoft Office literally since the early 1990's. However, once I finally downloaded the program, I was sold. The greatest part about being sold (aside from how well Libre Office works) is the fact that it cost me nothing. 

If you click the image above, you'll be taken to the official Libre Office download page. Always use the official product page to download any software. If you google the software you want to download, you will find multiple links. Many such links contain malware. Never trust them. Always use the official link.

Try Libre Office for yourself. Like me, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Best,

Cie