All the Skies I will not See: A Novella

By Petra March

Award Winning eBook, and Library Journal SELF-e Selection.

It takes 7 seconds to crash.
It takes 3 seconds to fall in love.
It takes an infinite moment to let go.

David Medwin's life is fading away, and all he can think about is what it means to be alive.

An intense story about life, death and, most of all, love.

(Ages 17+)

-2016 Readers' Favorite International Book Awards Gold Medal Winner: Fiction - Short Story
-2016 Pacific Book Awards Winner: Best Short Story.
-The Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards Finalist (2015).
-Shelf Unbound Notable Top 100 Book (2015).
-Literary Classics Seal of Approval (August 20, 2015).
-Pinnacle Book Achievement Award (Summer 2015): Best Novella.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Petra F. Bagnardi
• Release date: Jun 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311374721

Petra March

Petra March is the Award Winning Author of the A Touch of Cinnamon Series, and of the stand-alone novel, A Different Kind of Lovely. Her book, All the Skies I will not See, is a Library Journal SELF-e Selection. The book won the 2016 Pacific Book Awards for Best Short Story, and was a Gold Medal Winner (Fiction - Short Story) in the 2016 Readers' Favorite International Book Awards. In 2015, the book was a Finalist in the 2015 Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards, won the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award for Best Novella, earned the Literary Classics Seal of Approval, and received a 5-Star-Review Seal from Readers' Favorite. The literary magazine Shelf Unbound listed All the Skies I will not See amid the 2015 Top 100 Notable Books. The multi-award winning All the Skies I will not See features characters from Petra March's other works: A Veil of Glass and Rain (Special Edition), A Dream of Lilies: A Novella, and A Different Kind of Lovely: A Novel. A Veil of Glass and Rain (Special Edition) was a Finalist in the 2016 I Heart Indie Contest (New Adult), organized by the Las Vegas Romance Writers of America, and was featured in the June 2015 issue of the literary publication, InD'tale Magazine; Book Riot listed A Veil of Glass and Rain amid the 100 Must-Read Books by International Romance Authors. A Different Kind of Lovely won the 2018 Elit Book Awards and received the Bronze Medal in the Literary Fiction category. The book was also a 2018 Readers' Favorite International Book Awards Honorable Mention in the Literary Fiction genre, and won First Place in the Fiction: Novel eBook category of the 2018 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards. The novel was also a 2018 SOMERSET Book Awards Semi-Finalist. A Different Kind of Lovely: A Novel is a BiblioBoard's Indie International selection. Petra March (aka Petra F. Bagnardi) graduated summa cum laude in Theater and Cinema Studies at University of Rome 3, and earned a MA degree from the Catholic University of Milan. She studied Screenwriting and History of American Cinema at UCLA and NYU, and worked as screenwriter in Italy and France, where she also taught Creative Writing in elementary schools and junior high schools. Presently, she keeps traveling and dreaming through her novels and stories; just like Petra, her characters are deeply in love with Europe and the USA. Website: authorpetramarch.weebly.com Facebook: @AuthorPetraMarch

Book preview

All the Skies I will not See: A Novella

Petra March

All the Skies I will not See: A Novella by Petra March

Copyright 2015 Petra March (aka Petra F. Bagnardi)

Smashwords Edition

Dedication

To Angelo – always.

Acknowledgments

A big, huge, infinite, thank you to my amazing Editors, Sharon Taylor Xuereb and Heather Sheffield; I will be forever a fan of their respective blogs: Sharon's Book Nook and The Turning Pages Blog.

Then, I'd like to thank my best friend Francesca Chericoni, artist extraordinaire, for always being there for me, no matter what, and all the awesome Ladies of my amazing group, Petra's Pretties.

Prologue

Now.

My name is David Medwin. I'm twenty-one years old. Something bad happened to me.

These are the last, precious moments of my existence. So, while my body is still shrouded in merciful numbness, I let my mind and my soul awaken and wander.

I hold on to my memories and my regrets.

I drink in the world for the last time.

The sky is a dense, dark-blue blanket studded with bright stars. The air is heavy with the sweet scent of flowers and pine trees. The cheerful voices of the night creatures perform a pastoral symphony just for my soul.

No, that's not right. I'm not alone.

My friend Eagan is resting beside me. His eyelids flutter restlessly, speaking of an uneasy slumber. As I contemplate my best friend, terrible, unexpected anguish surges within my chest. It's a cold, frightening, strong sensation that forces my mind to focus on my body. My limbs feel strangely weightless, as if I were floating, and my skin were made of dust. But I'm flesh and bones, and my mind knows that the soft numbness is a temporary relief and the sudden sadness brimming inside of me mean something. Something painful.

I'm not alone. Eagan is with me, which means that something bad happened to him as well. I hope he's not hurt. I want him to live. I don't want to leave him.

I glance at Eagan once more. My friend's eyes blink open and, for an infinite moment, his blue gaze lingers upon my features not with familiar kindness, but with fear; then Eagan's lips part in a wordless cry.

Chapter 1

Four years ago.

The sounds, noises, voice of the kids around