Reaching for an escape from the monotony of her world, Kara stumbles backward into her mind to find that the window to another existence is open. Fear abounds when Kara climbs through and learns that it may be more difficult to find a pathway back home.
EXCERPT:
Kara's eyes closed lightly. Her eyelids felt like feathers resting on her face. As her eyes inevitably closed fully, she felt a sensation to which she was unaccustomed. The typical, lonely feeling of closed eyes that she dreaded every night when she forced herself to attempt sleep, was not to be found.
There was only a calming feeling of solace in the warmth that washed over her face. The serenity of warmth incarnate permeated even the light between her eyes and her shuttered eyelids. The feeling was welcoming and fully encompassing, and soon she was overtaken and enraptured in the experience, a willing participant in something greater than herself.
The muscles of her hands, usually compulsively tight and wrought with anxiety, began to relax. Kara allowed the head of her wine glass to rest between her breasts. A tiny bit of red wine overflowed onto her chest and dipped slowly downward to her navel where it pooled, appearing like blood seeping from a cesarean section.
4,235 words
About the author
An intrepid researcher of the human mind, Jim Johanson seeks to find a greater understanding of human existence and to depict his findings in fiction. With a true appreciation for anything new and unique, Jim refuses to rehash old stories in his writing, rather does he prefer to expound on weird and otherworldly things that humans so rarely experience, and in the case of his horror genre writing, hope never to experience themselves.
"I enjoy writing sci-fi and horror, but any good story is about the characters and what they feel and experience, not about the set or setting of the story itself. You can create the most vivid sci-fi universe imaginable, but it will be void without meaningful characters, worthwhile struggles, and compelling dialogue."
Jim's greatest influences include Phillip K. Dick, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Joseph Campbell.
