Black Diamond

By Laura Wright

Josie Stapleton is new in Sunnyside and, after 2 months of irritation, several popular kids dare her to follow them that night. She cautiously accepts, but knows they just want to scare her.

They take her to place called the "Devil's Bridge," but the prank has horrific consequences. At 200 feet above ground, Josie witnesses what happens when legend meets reality. No one will believe what really happened and the community is starting to blame her.

Fletcher was an old coal tycoon who brutalized his mine workers. Legend says his precious Black Diamond is cursed to run the decaying tracks forever. Legend says he's captain for the devil, in the train from hell.

Josie must find answers to impossible questions. Her autistic best friend and several new acquaintances show her the answers are just as impossible. The journey leads her to discover the monster who lurks in her own bloodline.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Black House Books
• Release date: Feb 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452433370

Laura Wright

Laura has spent most of her life immersed in the worlds of acting, singing, and competitive ballroom dancing. But when she started writing, she knew she'd found the true desire of her heart! Although born and raised in Minneapolis, Minn., Laura has also lived in New York, Milwaukee, and Columbus, Ohio. Currently, she is happy to have set down her bags and made Los Angeles her home. And a blissful home it is - one that she shares with her theatrical production manager husband, Daniel, and three spoiled dogs. During those few hours of downtime from her beloved writing, Laura enjoys going to art galleries and movies, cooking for her hubby, walking in the woods, lazing around lakes, puttering in the kitchen, and frolicking with her animals.

Book preview

Black Diamond

By: Laura Wright

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Copyright 2011, Laura Wright. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions. Published by Black House Books [http://blackhousebooks.com].

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Chapter 1

"You can call me Theodora. Or Winter. Maybe even Jacqueline or Lona, just as long as it’s any name that’s elegant or beautiful, anything, but Jocelyn, which is my real name. It sounds like a verb or an adjective. We’re jostling down the street, or the mall was jostling. My friends call me Josie, which is tolerable, but I would really prefer a different name altogether. I should say my friend, singular, as I don’t have many friends. Luckily, several girls have invited me to join a group activity this evening.

"We moved to Sunnyside two months ago and the transition has been, as my guidance councilor puts it, ‘less than perfect.’ I think that’s an understatement.

I’m in Geometry right now, last block of the day. Thank God. Mr. Harriet just pointed out the finer aspects of the pentagon and then threw out the worst government joke I’ve ever heard….

Josie Stapleton danced around the topics, but couldn’t say what she really felt. She was tempted to write her true feelings down, but she couldn’t. She was the new girl and would be perceived as the troublemaker. She wasn’t invited to do anything, especially a group activity. She was dared, plain and simple.

She was annoyed and harassed into it. It would probably be asinine, but she had to do it. It might be the only way to see any peace.

She couldn’t think of anything else worthy of mention. She’d privately kept a journal for years, but didn’t dare turn that in for the assignment. The act of keeping two journals made it more difficult to translate her thoughts to paper. She had to regularly remind herself this was a school assignment and should be duly censored. Advanced English-Lit required a non-fiction composition and the teacher insisted on journaling.

Since it was an assignment, it should contain enough information to seem genuine, but not enough to provide any indication of her true feelings. True feelings only created many, many more problems and she’d already had enough of those. She didn’t need further trouble at school. The guidance councilor might even lift her level of issues to, potentially troubling. She would be the harasser and not the kids who did it, because she didn’t suffer in silence.

She dodged the stream of students as they flowed of out of the classrooms. She darted towards her locker as soon as she found a break in the traffic. She had reached a depressing realization in recent days. She’d been certain the rampant petty politics and nepotism wouldn’t be so noticeable at a smaller school. She imagined that if those qualities were there, it would be on such a small scale as to be almost invisible. Grant High was only half the size of her last school, which also presented another unforeseen issue.

It was much more difficult to be lost in a crowd, like before. Everyone had a strange habit of knowing everyone else. Everything about her was strange in contrast to others, from her clothes and the purple streak in her dark auburn hair, to her clunky shoes and even her jewelry. She was conspicuous and didn’t really want to be. She missed blending in, for then she could evade the viciousness of the school favorites.

She stopped for a soda from the machine. She hadn’t been noticed so far. She drank the cold liquid and relished the feel of it. She already knew what the outing would involve. It was an attempt to humiliate her. She’d seen it so many times at the old school that the threat had lost its potency. She just didn’t want to be bothered with their stupid test, or whatever it was.

She’d never been popular, would never be popular and that was fine with her. She didn’t want to be understood and had no need for peer validation or acceptance. She struggled to understand the world’s unspoken popularity contest, where everyone must be liked and accepted. Even adults seemed to still be in high school, in many ways. She didn’t want to fit in if she couldn’t be herself. The ultimate goal was to humor them, to prove she wouldn’t be their entertainment and maybe the vipers wouldn’t bother her again.

She called the girls vipers because they reminded her of serpents. They were secretive and devious. They selected the most vulnerable targets and attacked without provocation or mercy.

She’d watched them long before they noticed her. They were a cruel group, one that only accepted others equally cruel.

Her father’s company transferred him to Sunnyside two months earlier. She was grateful to leave the last school. In truth, Grant wasn’t that bad in comparison, but it moved towards that level as time passed. She stepped out of the nook beside the machine to search for Emily, but her friend wasn’t anywhere in the hall.

Emily had high-functioning autism and her literal perspective was fascinating. Daily conversation in the modern world had been hijacked by sarcasm and figures-of-speech. Emily couldn’t understand verbal abstracts with ease. Since she couldn’t use clichés around her, so it inspired her to perfect and expand her own vocabulary.

She clutched the strap of her pack when the vipers rounded the corner. She quickly turned to dig through her backpack in hopes they would just pass by. As luck would have it, instead of going towards the door, they approached her. She heard the jingle of Monica’s Hello Kitty key chain. Remember Josie, we’ll be by your house at ten tonight.

They smirked as they walked off. One of the minor moons that always orbited such bright people called back, Be there or be square... and don’t bring the robot. Was that Steph? Or Kathy? She couldn’t keep them straight.