Desertion

By Karl Pfeiffer

There is a way about brothers and there is a way about children. There is a way the young see the world as if the world is new and fresh and a place of magic. Sometimes all that matters is that you have someone to share it with, who understands, who sees as you see.

Desertion is a story about reality, childhood, adulthood imagination, and growing up. It's about possibility, hope and loss. It's about two brothers and a man in the forest and the places where lies meet truth.

And as always, it's about where the lines lay.

"We're in... territory [of] mystery and mysterious places... We and the characters seem to move across boundaries, real ones involving the landscape, and emotional ones, where the lines between dream, fantasy, and reality get blurred... This story will stay with me a long time." -Leslee Becker, Author and Professor.

Karl Pfeiffer is an aspiring novelist, journalist, paranormal investigator, lecturer, college student, and ghost hunter at the Stanley Hotel. Forever a romantic, he can't resist those things dark, epic, and mysterious, and this comes through in his writing as he explores the extremes of human emotion, where the edges fray, and what happens when the world breaks down.

Karl carries a strong web presence, and can be followed on twitter and facebook through his website www.KarlPfeiffer.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: Karl Pfeiffer
• Release date: Mar 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458072092

Karl Pfeiffer

Novelist, poet, college student, ghost hunter, television personality, radio personality, and general badass. I write horror, supernatural fiction, experimental, romance, genre bending work. Really anything that speaks to me, is heavy in theme, and carries a strong driving story. If you'd like to say hello or give feedback, be welcome! I'm easy to find!

Book preview

Desertion

by

Karl Pfeiffer

Published by Karl Pfeiffer at Smashwords

Copyright 2010 Karl Pfeiffer

http://www.KarlPfeiffer.com

Discover other titles by Karl Pfeiffer at Smashwords.com:

Dreamland Crocotta

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Desertion

The window was shattered. One pane was still intact, clinging to the left edge of the frame. Pink striped curtains floated like ghosts in the breeze. Threads dangled like limp, frail legs. Insect carcasses. Exoskeletal shells.

A boy threw another stone at the windows.

Don’t call me Schwartzy, Max.

Schwartz then.

Don’t call me Schwartz either. Schwartz is a stupid name. No one is called Schwartz anymore.

No name then?

A bandit name. Something criminal. Shadow?

Shadow is a dog’s name.

So what then?

One-eyed Jack?

Schwartz lifted his fresh eye patch, his Christmas present, his new namesake, and studied the side of the broken, abandoned home. His vision twisted and went spotty, making sense of the recent blind spots. The patch gave him a headache and the world swam funny. When he first put the patch on, he’d expected a nice line between the black from one eye against the vision from his right. But instead the two blended together. Sometimes shadowed. Sometimes sharp. Oftentimes just bleary. But headaches were part of being a bandit. They practically came with the job. The shit wasn’t easy, Max always said.

Shit’s not easy, Schwartz said.

Damn right. Max flung a rock and it glanced off the siding and the sound echoed but they didn’t flinch. No one would hear it. And so what if they did?

I like it. One-eyed Jack. He repeated his brother’s words back again, tasting them in his mouth the way he tasted the berries they found in the Twigs earlier in the day. The Twigs were what they called the broken forest behind their neighborhood. Their weedy backyard fence opened a drainage ditch away from the Twigs, and the Twigs opened to a forgotten neighborhood. Most of the houses had been torn down. Only a few were left. A flood had