The Book of Lost Souls

By Robert Trainor

The Book of Lost Souls is a dark romantic comedy. Most romantic comedies are rather lighthearted and wouldn't offend anyone between the ages of fifteen and ninety, but the Book of Lost Souls could offend many of the moralists who seem to be quite prevalent nowadays. These people—let me call them the choir—can be very vocal and tend to insist that the good be rewarded and that those who transgress certain boundaries should be punished. Particularly offensive to the choir is the use of drugs especially when there is the slightest hint that the author may be advocating the use of drugs.

Here, in The Book of Lost Souls, we have an interesting artistic and psychological battle between alcohol, barbiturates, and cocaine—with a little bit of prostitution thrown in to spice things up. Which drug will gain the approval of the author and reign supreme at the end of this charming farce? Will, Jenna, who has recently become discreetly enamored of Rainbows—barbiturates—finally marry the man of her dreams? Or will Damon, who is addicted to cocaine and prostitutes, manage to hide his unsavory habits from Jenna as he makes a desperate attempt to marry a woman who is the daughter of a multimillionaire? Or will Jenna's father, the drunken old buzzard, be able to successfully intervene before his daughter is ensnared by all the vile habits of Damon?

Contrary to what a superficial reading of this book might tell you, the author sneaks around behind the scenes and delivers an ending that probably no one could have foreseen. Unfortunately, the choir will have long since fled the scene and will, in their outrage, feel compelled to leave an irascible review or two about how the author is trying to corrupt the young and seduce everybody else in his relentless pursuit of fame, glory, and a thirty-five cent royalty, but the careful reader will eventually stumble onto an amazing fact: This weirdly comical book was ghost written by an avant-garde member of the choir.

Originally, The Book of Lost Souls began as a murder mystery, but I eventually ran into an obvious problem: Who was going to be the victim? Among my characters, no one seemed like a likely victim, and I couldn't come close to coming up with a realistic suspect. I tried my best, but I must admit that I failed. Looking back on it, I think I felt all murdered out—being a relatively peaceful person, it can be a little depressing to pull the trigger on one of my characters just so I can collect my bloody royalty. It's not that I'm a complete fool because I do realize that dead bodies are, for the aspiring author, the ticket to success. Because of that, I've probably murdered at least twenty people in my many murder mysteries, but I guess my subconscious felt like taking a break from all the vicarious violence that goes with dead bodies.

What remained was a novel that is both half serious and half ludicrous. But please remember that The Book of Lost Souls was originally intended to be a murder mystery, so the humor isn't really rampant or overpowering at the beginning of this novel. But eventually, this novel descends into a bizarre comedy where bad intentions and massive overindulgence are transformed into something that could almost pass for nobility.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert Trainor
• Release date: Feb 27, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224435982

Robert Trainor

Over the past twelve years (since I retired at the age of 59), I've written nineteen novels, four novellas, four non-fiction books, and seven anthologies, all of which you can find in the Kindle Store. Instead of writing a biography of myself, which seems rather irrelevant, I would prefer to write a biography of my books. Here, in the order in which they were written, is a brief sketch of the plots, themes, and subject matter of these books.1/ The Voice of the Victim describes a series of murders in a small city. I've always felt a great deal of empathy for the victims of violent crimes, especially those who are murdered by guns. What, I wondered, would these people say to us if they could speak? When reading this book, it is important to remember that my intention, from first page to last page, was to present the voice of the victim. And, to me, this voice is not a straight-line accusation of weapons and murderers but tends to veer to a pervasive mockery and total indictment of modern culture. This novel is much different than anything else I have written, and there will be many who will object to what the "voice" is saying.2/ Some Things Are Sweeter than God is somewhat along the lines of a classic murder mystery but is certainly not one of those books where the conclusion is some wild revelation that no sensible reader could ever discern beforehand. The protagonist is a forty-year-old woman lawyer who, in her role as a public defender, is required to represent a man who is accused of brutally murdering his ex-girlfriend.3/ The Road Map to the Universe is a well-constructed novel--at one time, I was a tournament chess player, and this book required a great deal of planning and analysis. Essentially, it's a highly unusual murder mystery, but the perceptive reader may be able to identify a standard plot theme lurking in the background. The Road Map also examines an interesting philosophical question: In a universe of four billion galaxies, what relevance, if any, does the human being have?4/ The Great Barrington Train Wreck, a truly offbeat social commentary, includes a unique type of murder mystery and is one of my favorite novels. Although I almost never include anything from my own life experience in my books, I was, just like the protagonist in the Train Wreck, homeless for many years. So I'm familiar with the lingo and attitude that some of the homeless have. This is a catchy, captivating book where the plot seems to materialize out of thin air until it becomes the elephant in the room. Also, to my mind, this tale could describe what happens to Holden Caulfield, the anti-hero of the Catcher in the Rye, as he approaches forty. It's not all peaches and cream! Especially when he falls in love with the daughter of a millionaire, and even more especially when he ends up on death row.5/ Your Kiss Is Like the Sweetest Fire describes a teenage romance between Jaime and Renee, who were adopted at a young age into the same family. It seems illogical to me, but in almost all states, the law views a sexual relationship between adopted siblings who live in the same family as a crime of incest--exactly as if they were related by blood. So Jaime and Renee have this difficulty to contend with, and also, their mother and father are both rather repulsive characters who are totally incapable of helping them. Wait until you meet Renee--I love her.6/ Requiem for the West is partially based on an apocalyptic poem that I wrote during the 1990's. Ten thousand hours is a lot of time to spend on a seven-hundred-word poem! Requiem is also an examination of some apparently abstract themes that seem highly relevant to me: 1/ The pervasive role of explicit sexuality in our culture and the very different ways that people react to it; 2/ The often farcical, Dilbert-like nature of the modern workplace, in this case a college; and 3/ Is doomsday just around the corner? The 1960-2000 version of myself considered a nuclear apocalypse to be inevitable, but nowadays, I'm ambivalent.7/ Frontier Justice was easy to write because once Adriana Jones arrived on page 10, she took over the book, and all I had to do was keep up with her as she overpowered every obstacle that crossed her path. I hadn't intended for that to happen, but that's the way life goes sometimes. Do I agree with, support, condone, or advocate Adriana's way of doing things? Difficult questions. Adriana is my creation, so I have to take some responsibility for her, I suppose, but I look at it this way: To be true to a character, one has to let the person speak and act in a way that is appropriate to his or her personality. I just can't legislate them into political correctness! Adriana didn't just overpower the other characters in Frontier Justice--she also overpowered me. I really like this book--I wish, as a writer, I could think of more characters who are as dynamic as Adriana.8/ A Tale from the Blackwater River is a novella that is meant to be a satire on a certain kind of story that is showing up far too frequently nowadays, but on another level, it's just kind of a humorous tale that was a lot of fun to write. This book is written in the first person by a forty-two-year-old woman named Alanda Streets. I almost published it under the pen name Alanda Streets because I thought some people might say that no woman would ever write a story like A Tale from the Blackwater River, but for those who feel that way, I hope you will ask yourself this question: If the name Alanda Streets had been on the cover of the book, instead of mine, would you have felt that a woman couldn't have written it?9/ The Blackwater Journal is another Alanda Streets novel--this time, she is only sixteen. I couldn't seem to get away from Alanda--she does have a spunky survivor's attitude towards life that appeals to me. In this book, she has to call on all her resources when her evil father imprisons her in a room and tells her that she has only a week left to live. As the days pass by, the terror mounts on her own personal death row. Does Alanda escape? Maybe so, maybe no.10/ Love Letters (Soaked in Blood) is another murder mystery that has a humorous undertone, which many will probably miss. The problem with writing a murder mystery is that anything that can be thought of has already been done about a thousand times. The only original idea left would be to have the most obvious suspect turn out to be the murderer. Think of it--that's probably never been done! And so...maybe you can guess the rest.11/ The Book of the Dead is about a man who goes to his 25th reunion and meets his high school sweetheart. The two of them embark on an impulsive twenty-four hour car ride that will take them through three southern states and bring them face-to-face with death. This is a tale where the boundaries of ordinary reality are stretched out a little bit! I'll leave it to you to decide whether The Book of the Dead is a fantasy or a reality.12/ Destroyed by Malice sees the return of a character who played a minor role in The Voice of the Victim. He's the world famous novelist Barker Drule, but unfortunately, he (and his wife) exit the book on page 1 when they are gunned down in their driveway. It isn't long before detective Jeff Willard is convinced that the murderer is a member of the Drule family. Perhaps it's Lenore, the older daughter, who was, years ago, secretly raped by her father; perhaps it's the beautiful Raylene, who wrote a novel about a rape victim that her father managed to have the publishing industry blackball; perhaps it's Ricky, the cocaine-addicted son who is desperate to get his hands on his father's money; and perhaps it's Dalton Drule, Barker's irascible eighty-two-year-old father who just happens to own the gun that was used to murder his son. In the end, when the truth finally comes out, there will be very few left to tell the tale.13/ How to Write an Imaginative Novel takes you through the whole process of writing a novel and then uploading it to Kindle. Among the many things covered are: Where will you find a plot? What is the best way to find names for your characters? How important is it to punctuate your book correctly? Is there a quick way to learn punctuation and sentence structure? What is the best way to write dialogue? What kind of things should one avoid in a novel? What is the significance of the first draft and why is it so important? How does one begin a book so that it immediately commands the reader's attention? How does one revise and edit a novel? Is it possible to create the cover for your book without spending any money? How does one convert a book to the correct format so that it can be uploaded to Kindle? And finally, how does one upload a book to Kindle?14/ I Ching 2015 contains a complete translation (minus the Confucian commentaries) of this ancient Chinese classic. Also included are detailed instructions on how to consult the I Ching using either yarrow stalks, coins, or dice. (For those who have been using coins, one should be aware that a significant error has crept into the method that many people use to cast an omen. This error, which involves using either three or four similar coins will seriously affect the accuracy of the omens you receive.) Additionally, there is extensive advice on how to interpret an omen. By using the correct method of interpretation, you will be surprised at how much clearer omens become. As part of this advice, I have posed a number of questions to the I Ching and have then interpreted the omen I received. Finally, for each hexagram, as well as many of the lines in each hexagram, I have included my own observations as to the essential meaning of these hexagrams and lines.15/ Blood and Blackmail is an elegant murder mystery with an unusual plot twist that took me some time to piece together. For those readers who enjoy the challenge of solving a crime before the final chapter arrives, this novel should provide you with a truly interesting puzzle. I doubt many people, if any, are going to see the underlying deception that runs throughout this tale because...if I say anything else, I might help the reader unravel this mystery, and I certainly wouldn't want to do that!16/ Fairy Tales by Martians takes a humorous look at the theory of evolution. Science, of course, claims that the human being originated from an amoeba that eventually became a tadpole that eventually became a frog and so on and so forth. However, I just can't conceive of the fact that ten million years ago, two frogs mated in a swamp and because of that event, I eventually arrived on the scene. What kind of a genealogy chart is that? Neither does the seven-day religious version of events appeal to me, so what I'm left with is a very cynical view of both the religious and scientific theories concerning the origins of our existence.17/ The Book of Dreams repeats a very old idea that has been used in many a novel. But here, in this murder mystery, the idea is taken to another level entirely and contains a twist that not many will see coming. The clues are there, starting with the poem in the Preface.18/ The Dark Side of the Moon is a tale about an attractive high school teacher who falls in love with one of her students. However, Carolyn Black is nervous that her sexual liaison with the student will ruin her career. Eventually, she tries to break off their relationship, but when he threatens to commit suicide, Carolyn is faced with an excruciating dilemma.19/ The Murder of Nora Winters was inspired by John Dickson Carr who wrote a number of locked-room mysteries. In this type of mystery, the murder victim is found in a room that does not allow the killer any means of exit. The doors and windows are all bolted from the inside, and it's considered very poor form for the author to create a room where there are sliding walls or secret panels. The solution to the murder of Nora Winters is, I think, relatively simple, but I've woven in enough deceit and misdirection to confuse all but the most astute readers.20/ The Vanishing Victim is a tale of a psychiatrist and a troubled woman who comes to him for counseling. What she reveals to him proves to be a confession to a brutal crime, but he is unable, because of the doctor/patient privilege, from revealing this crime to anyone, including the police. But even more troubling is that the woman's confession, although it contains a number of factual inaccuracies, turns out to have a terrifying reality of its own.21/ The Fatality Game follows a series of innocuous crimes in a rich neighborhood that seem to be more pranks than anything else. But when a woman is murdered in her bed, Detective Cody Barnes realizes that there is something evil lurking under the placid veneer of swanky mansions that are inhabited by millionaires. And when Cody becomes romantically involved with one of the earlier victims, the beautiful Lucinda Kane, the case begins to take on a life of its own that will eventually lead to the deaths of three more people.22/ How to Write an Intelligent Murder Mystery describes some of the adventures I encountered while I was writing murder mysteries (of my twenty-one novels, thirteen are murder mysteries.) This is a somewhat unusual instructional book that attempts to relate the problems encountered in the writing of a murder mystery to the more general problem of writing fiction in today's market where any new novel is almost instantaneously buried under an avalanche of new novels.23/ The Real Meaning of Life is definitely one of my favorite books. It's written in the first person by Patrick Devlan, a twenty-seven-year-old guy who writes murder mysteries. But his father, who is dying of pancreatic cancer, wants Patrick to write something that will take his readers to a "better place." Patrick decides to follow his father's advice, but a few days later, his roommate's pregnant girlfriend is murdered, and Patrick becomes entangled in a real-life murder mystery. Eventually, after his roommate is convicted of the crime and sent to death row, Patrick is faced with a dilemma that will lead him to the discovery of the real meaning of life.24/ Flight 9525 is a non-fiction book that attempts to answer the question as to why there is so much suffering in the world. For the most part, this book bypasses the usual political, psychological, and social reasons for suffering and examines the following: If God is real, then why do human beings suffer? Why would an all-merciful, all-loving, and all-powerful Being permit its creations to suffer? The usual explanations, such as the hypothesis that God granted man free will, don't answer the question at all. In fact, this is a question that's never been answered satisfactorily.25/ The Scriptwriter is the tale of a man who becomes entangled with three different women. There's the incredibly beautiful woman, the incredibly rich woman, and the incredibly homeless woman. Which one will he choose? Events, mishaps, and character flaws lead him to an interesting decision.26/ The Murder of Marabeth Waters contains a considerable amount of subtle black humor and describes the investigation that ensues after a prostitute is found strangled to death. Detective Devin Driver is quickly able to focus on a suspect; not only did this man send a threatening note to Marabeth, but also, her blood is found in his car. As it turns out, the real murderer lurks elsewhere, and unfortunately, Devin isn't a particularly perceptive detective, so it isn't surprising when the wrong person is convicted of the crime. However, even if Devin had been Sherlock Holmes on steroids, he undoubtedly wouldn't have solved this murder.27/ The Trial of Shada King--a district attorney in Hartford, Connecticut, is charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of the man who had raped her ten days before the shooting. Shada claims that she acted in self-defense, and since she was wearing a recording device at the time of the shooting, her claim of self-defense seems to be valid. But why was she wearing the recording device? The prosecuting attorney is convinced the crime scene was an elaborate stage production that was intended to deceive those who would be listening to the tape and that the victim was murdered in retaliation for the rape.28-34/ Finally, I have seven anthologies on Kindle that combine complete versions of many of the books listed above: Four Novels, 5 Novels, Four Murder Mysteries, The Blackwater Novels, Dark Tales, Six Novels, and Five Murder Mysteries. The purpose of the anthologies is that it gives the reader a chance to buy, for instance, five novels of mine at the rock-bottom price of $2.99.I spend a great deal of time revising my books. After finishing the first draft, I go through the book at least eight more times--first page to last page. Each journey through the book is slow and painstaking--no less than three hours and no more than thirty-five pages a day. From my experience, the kind of errors that pop up on some of the later readings can be rather surprising, if not downright alarming! I particularly look for inaccurate punctuation, lackluster sentence structure, and inaccurate or repetitive vocabulary. I also do not permit confusing sentences to stand--I can't imagine that any reader will want to read a sentence twice because I couldn't find a way to explain myself clearly.Finally, I would ask you all to keep an open mind about novels by an author who has no brand name. I am quite unusual because I do not advertise myself in any way, shape, or form (outside, I guess, of this little biography). My books are well-written, entertaining, and thought provoking, but they are often truly original, and I worry about the page-six syndrome. That's the point where some readers abandon a book by an unknown author because of a single sentence, idea, or attitude that seems amateurish to them. Have faith that there are some genuine diamonds in the Kindle arena and have faith that your instinct to buy one of my books was a good instinct. If you read any of my books to the finish, I think you'll feel that your time was not wasted because these novels are not cheap imitations--they are real creations.

Book preview

PROLOGUE: DON’T STOP BELIEVING

The wine, the women, and the songs had been flowing freely that night. It was just three weeks before her wedding, and Jenna Shedd was probably the happiest woman in town, if not the whole state. The party her parents had arranged for her was beyond lavish—no expense had been spared by Marcia and Duncan Shedd to make certain that their only child would always have a night to remember. Two sets of caterers had been hired because the place where the party was held, at an auditorium about five miles outside of town, was big enough that it would take a person two or three minutes to walk from one end to the other end of the hall. The vaulted ceiling was decked with festoons—ribbons, flowers, and all sorts of signs that wished Jenna a lifetime of happiness with Damon Drake, her boyfriend, her beau, her crush, her lifelong friend, her life and her being.

Both Jenna and Damon had dozens of friends because they had been among the most popular students during their high school years—Damon had been the senior class President, and a year later, Jenna had been the valedictorian of her senior class. But Jenna was no bookworm who closeted herself in her room until late at night while she did her homework and crammed for exams. Rather, she was the quintessential ideal of the well-rounded student—a cheerleader on the football team, an all-star guard on the basketball team, and a member of the debating society. And neither was Jenna a wallflower—her long wavy auburn hair fell to her shoulders and only accentuated her beautiful blue eyes, her magnetic smile, and her almost picture perfect figure. Everyone knew that the sky was the limit for her.

Jenna had entered the University of Pennsylvania in 2013, while Damon began his college career in 2012 at the University of Pittsburgh, which was fifty miles south of their home town, Marsden, Pennsylvania. During their time at college, the two of them had maintained the standards they had set for themselves in high school, and both of them graduated with honors. Initially, they had wanted to marry in the summer of 2016, but Jenna’s father had prevailed upon them to wait until after they had both graduated from college. Although Jenna did not attend church regularly, she had absorbed much of her mother’s devout religious values, and so she and Damon had never gone to the moon—to quote the expression that Jenna liked to use. However, both Damon and Jenna, who gave every indication of being deeply attached to each other, were reasonably if not entirely content to accede to her parent’s wishes. Probably, to be frank, the fact that her father was a multimillionaire had something to do with their patience—it was hardly unreasonable of them to hope and expect that if they followed the dictates of Jenna’s parents, it would pay off financially.

As for Damon, he was not the kind of guy that Duncan, Jenna’s father, or probably any father, could object to. Although he was rather short and scrawny—only five foot six—he was charming and quite handsome, with dark brown hair that fell almost to his shoulders, and he seemed, to Jenna’s parents, much more mature and serious than most men were at his age. And yet he also had a merry smile and a way of pulling off some innocent pranks with a sly grin that made even Duncan, who was a serious nuts-and-bolts type of guy, smile in appreciation.

And now, at eleven o’clock, just before the party was about to end, the band was about to play Jenna’s favorite song—Don’t Stop Believing. Duncan had arranged with the band for this song to be played at the end of the party, but now, he suddenly had a spontaneous inspiration, and jumping onto the stage, he grabbed the microphone. Everybody was in the mood to applaud that night, and Duncan had to wait thirty seconds for the applause to subside. No one really knew what they were applauding for, but everyone was in an enthusiastic mood as a sense of youthful exuberance, fueled by alcohol, caroused through the auditorium. Jenna, who was very near the stage, shouted out, What are you going to do, Dad? Sing us a song? From up above, her father said, No—you are! Leaning down, he took his daughter’s hand and practically dragged her onto the stage.

Dad! she squealed. I can’t sing in front of all these people. 

Sure you can, said Duncan. You have such a beautiful voice. He thrust the microphone into her hand, and at that exact moment, the band struck up with that wonderful tune, Don’t Stop Believing. Jenna, swept up in the spontaneous cheers from the crowd of over two hundred people, couldn’t resist, and with a flourish of her outstretched hand, she sang, in a strong clear voice, Just a small town girl living in a lonely world. It was almost like she had been made for this moment. Her long tight-fitting strapless white dress; her almost involuntary highly sensuous movements as the song coursed along; the rollicking rhythmic clapping of the crowd; the way everyone started joining in with her on the chorus.

A moment of true humanity where people forgot about their troubles, beliefs, and feelings; a moment when a tidal wave of ecstasy swept through the room as the newfound diva kept the chorus going for a full two minutes while the mostly young audience began jumping up and down as they raised their arms over their heads and joined Jenna in a happy anthem to young love and a marvelous future. Don’t stop believing; hold on to that feeling.

And what a feeling it was! But it wouldn’t be many days before all those feelings would be demolished and then replaced by something much darker that would gravely threaten the marriage of Jenna and Damon.

CHAPTER ONE: SOME EVEN THOUGHT THAT THEY WERE LESBIANS

Jenna’s childhood was a happy one. As happens many times with an only child, she was given special attention, but along with that attention came an expectation that she would excel in her studies and make something of herself. So far, she had lived up to her parent’s hopes for her—besides her success in high school, she had graduated with the highest honors (magna cum laude) from the University of Pennsylvania where she majored in Education and Child Development, and shortly after her graduation, in May of 2017, she had been hired for the upcoming school year as an English teacher at one of the two middle schools in Marsden, which was a pleasant suburban-type town of about fifty thousand people.

Duncan was eager to impress his daughter and her soon-to-be husband, and six weeks after her college graduation, he had purchased a small two-bedroom house that was about five miles north of Marsden on Miller Street, which was a narrow paved road that didn’t see much traffic. Duncan had let his daughter choose the house she had her heart set on, but he hadn’t particularly liked Jenna’s choice—the house was about a quarter mile from the main road, Route 242, and he wasn’t all that happy with the idea of his beautiful daughter living in what seemed to be a remote area.  The house itself was set back about fifty feet from the road, and the driveway, which was unpaved, led to a small garage. But after he talked it over with Jenna, Duncan had been won over by not only his daughter’s charm but also her business acumen. Jenna was no airhead, and she made a convincing case to him that with a few fairly inexpensive repairs, she and Damon might be able to sell the house for a considerable profit in a few years.

After her graduation from college, Jenna had been staying at her parent’s house and wasn’t able to see Damon quite as much as she would have liked because of her mother’s inflexible attitude towards any kind of sexual activity before marriage. Neither her mother nor father had specifically used the word curfew with her, but it was made plain to Jenna that she was expected to be home at a reasonable hour, which in the Shedd house meant ten o’clock. However, when the wedding, which was planned for August 13th, was about three weeks away, Jenna began to move her belongings, as well as Damon’s, over to the new house. Damon wouldn’t be able to help much with the move because, during the week, he was working at Barren, Denks, and Hatter, an architectural firm that was located about twenty miles south of Marsden. He had been working there for a year now, ever since he had graduated from college, and by all reports, especially his own, he was doing quite well and expected both a raise and a promotion within a very short period of time.

Jenna could have waited for the weekends when Damon would be free to help her, but she was very enthusiastic about her new house, and over a period of three days, she had moved almost all of her and Damon’s belongings into the new house. There were many things to pack up and bring over to the house in a U Haul that Jenna had rented, but the task of moving was made much easier for Jenna because she had the help of her longtime friend, Lyla Simmons. Jenna and Lyla had known each other since the sixth grade and were inseparable pals all the way through high school. Because they attended colleges at the opposite ends of Pennsylvania, they saw each other less frequently than they did in high school, but they frequently wrote to each other, and also, during summer vacations, they were often seen together. In fact, they spent so much of their time together that some of her high school classmates thought they were lesbians, and even those who knew Jenna quite well would sometimes wonder if there was something more between her and Lyla than an innocent friendship.

Lyla was a strikingly attractive woman with raven black hair that fell to her shoulders. She tended to wear black frequently, and the clothes she chose were form fitting and definitely accentuated her rather provocative figure. Although she had graduated from college with an English degree, she was now applying for jobs in the fashion industry and had already appeared a few times as a model at various fashion shows in Pittsburgh.

The first day of the move to the house on Miller Street had been the hardest—Jenna and Lyla made two trips over to Damon’s apartment, as well as two trips to her house, before they were finished. On the second day, they spent all morning and the early part of the afternoon opening boxes and placing things inside the house. Finally, around one o’clock, they decided to take a break, and after eating a quick lunch at a Chinese restaurant, they had stopped at a convenience store for a bottle of wine before they returned to the new house.

Jenna uncorked the bottle of wine, and then the two of them went out to a room that Jenna called the living area and began to drink the wine from some fancy wine glasses that Jenna had brought from her parent’s house. Damon and his two brothers had already moved in the large furniture and appliances, and Lyla sat on a sleek velvet purple-colored couch, while Jenna sat in a maroon stuffed chair that was facing the couch. Between them was a coffee table where they placed the bottle of wine. From the west, the July sun streamed into the room through the large windows, which did not, as yet, have any curtains.

Do you remember when we first met? said Lyla.

Do I ever! said Jenna. "It was when we were in the sixth grade, and both of us were obsessed with...I can’t