Sherry didn't know what she would do without her big brother. He had been her rock all these years. She had known he was depressed, but she had no idea how much until...
She had discovered his note on the kitchen table that morning. Sherry's futon couch had been neatly folded back into it's proper place, as had the bedding and pillows that were stacked accordingly on the floor. It was hard to believe that Chris had been there at all. Sherry looked hard at the note and re-read it for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning.

"Sherry, I'm sorry, but I couldn't stay. I need to get things figured out on my own, but I promise I'll call when I figure out where I am headed," signed plainly and simply, "Chris." The letter ended nearly as abruptly as his stay had been, and she couldn't help but worry and wonder when, or if, she really would ever hear from him again.

Lydia listened intently as the rain beat down upon her window pane. They did need the rain, but....

Lydia was desperate for sun. The rain had been falling for two days, a steady stream of crisp water trickling from an ever-present grey sky. What she wouldn't give for just two hours of warm daylight to enjoy and lose herself in for a little while. Not to mention the house seemed cooler when the rain was falling, just a little bit more empty. Chris had been gone a month now. Hopefully the rain was helping the grass around his grave-spot grow in. Fresh green grass would be so much more inviting to sit upon than the newly turned dirt that was an all too painful reminder he was new to that area, and gone from hers.

The lights of the oncoming car winked at Sue and her sister, Elaine as they waited along the side of the road...

It had been a bitterly cold wait. Sue and Elaine were all too eager to be home. Christmas was always a fun-filled time spent with family and friends. Elaine had been so excited to pick Sue up from the airport and travel home for the holidays with her. Five months ago Sue had departed for College and Elaine had missed her. Home felt so empty, the room they shared together felt equally void of her presence. Elaine longed for those nights the two would stay up late into the early hours of the morning chatting about everything under the sun. That was life as it was - a past reality they never really stopped to think would ever change. Sue was in college now - Elaine would soon follow next year. Life was changing and it came to a shrieking reality as the two girls sat huddled on the roadside with a blown-out tire and new awareness of just how different things were and could be down the road. For now - all they cared about was home, the Christmas lights that were ahead, and the opportunity to just be together, if for a while.

The large, heavy oak door massively covered the entrance to the building...Erica reached up to grasp the cold, metal handle....

It was shockingly frigid. As if it had not been touched by human hands in years. This old chapel of a building had always haunted her. In the summers, when the leaves were green with summer, Erica would often play down by the river bed, just yards from it's little fenced in garden and enticing entrance. Often she would imagine herself a young bride, ready to meet the love of her life as the oak door would swing wide inviting her to step into her dreams and truly live.

The leaves whispered to the trees as the cool breeze circled the neighborhood... it was eerie the way the only sound to be heard was the trees...

This was exactly what she needed. If all of Jessica's cares boiled down to the sound of the wind whipping through the trees then everything just might be right in her world, but it wasn't. Most days all she could feel was the painful race of her heart as days mounted with stress and insurmountable obstacles. She had only dreamed of a retreat like this. Mike knew she needed this get-a-way more than anything so he had loaded her on the next available flight out to Maine and a little bed and breakfast that waited to sweep her off into another world altogether. Jessica didn't need the bed and breakfast for that - her thoughts did a fine job all by themselves.

"But I have always wanted a pony!!" Miriam whined to her boyfriend, Charlie...

Realistically her banter was just in jest, but an honest assessment of the conversation left Miriam with so many doubts. Charlie and herself were so very different and so was their relationship. In a sense, their relationship was unlike anything that she herself had ever wanted. Miriam was a quiet free-spirit who loved pleasing the people who were in her life. Most of the time this worked, but on occasion it left deep unrest withing the core of who she really was which only confused her with questions that she couldn't answer. Perhaps, thought Miriam to herself, it was time to do something about it.

It was a cold, windy day when Sandy heard the news....

Her cell phone had been ringing non-stop in her back pocket as she jogged through central park. The wind was biting with every beat of her shoes against the pavement, but the fall colors in the trees enchanted her. Sandy had tried to ignore the real world calling, but to no avail. Exasperated, she stopped long enough to catch her breath before picking up. It was Sam on the other end of the line. Charissa had just quite and the top marketing position stood wide and was her's for the taking, if she wanted it. Sandy's heart leaped - this is what she had worked her life away for, but now, she just wasn't sure if she wanted it anymore. Actually, she didn't know what she wanted. "Sandy, this is it, this is your shot. I need an answer now," said Sam.

"Please put your shoes by the door," Aunt Helga said in her shrill voice that grated on my nerves...

Every summer it was customary to make several visits to Aunt Helga's house and every summer Amanda dreaded each one. There was just too much going on back at home to uproot her life for the isolation and frustration of Aunt Helga. Aunt Helga was strict and lived every moment of her life controlled by some rule which Amanda couldn't understand. Since her uncle passed away four years ago, Helga lived alone. Not only alone, but she pretty much kept to herself. Someone as young as Amanda just couldn't understand that side of grief, or what Helga was going through. To Amanda, it was just old age and crazy rituals. To Helga, it was a way to control something in her life which seemed to be slipping by her all to fast. Helga was excited to have Amanda around, she just didn't show it very well.

Kara stepped back as the door blew quietly open... she cautiously took a step forward...

She could hear the age in the door as it creaked ever so slowly in her direction. This barn had been her childhood retreat where she sat and daydreamed about what her life could be like, what she had wanted it to be like. Memories wafted through her like the smells of the old lofts and haystacks. Kara loved this place, more than any other. As she stepped inside, her present world faded away and she was taken back to all the sights and sounds of those bright summer days surrounded by every furry critter imaginable. They were her quiet and peaceful companions. In fact, Kara could almost see old Fred, with his furry little tail, peak around the corner, eyes shining with excitement and purring in anticipation as she stepped closer to him. Mechanically, Kara reached down to grab him but then, almost as suddenly as he had appeared, he was gone. Kara was simply lost in another day dream, only this one she wanted to keep and hold on to with everything that she had. Somehow she knew this old place would understand. Old Fred would understand.

"Evidently you don't plan on saying goodbye to me, do you?" Shana said haughtily.

She was so tired of the guessing game and walking on egg shells. If this was so right, it shouldn't be this hard, should it? Anyhow, In Shana's idealistic world, that's how things worked. Life however, was not ideal. Mike was not ideal. Oh, she thought he had been at first but those initial impressions can fade so quickly in the light of reality. Reality was, he loved to argue and they argues about everything under the sun. Shana was tired of always being in what Mike thought was the wrong, and even more, she was tired of him running out the door and shutting her out of his life.

Wyatt grasped the edge of the pool, breathless and looked behind him...he had to hurry!

Chris was right behind him, his little shark fin cutting through the water like a pro. Lisa just loved to watch the two boys play together. Just imagine how comical it was to see Chris with his little shark-fin hat flailing in the water in hot pursuit of Wyatt. Wyatt was out of breath, Chris had a triumphant grin that stretched ear to ear as if he were just the king on the hill. They lightened her heart and made every moment somehow worth something.

Brenda had always feared this would happen...she would be stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire...in the dark...

Plus, it couldn't have come at the more less than perfect moment either. She and Chris were headed home from Christmas vacation, to which Chris was still recovering from surgery that he had just one week prior to the holidays. They had been talking about how crazy the last year had been, and it had been a roller coaster. So much had happened that it was a year she would rather not repeat again. Just as they were both trying to look on the upside of things, the tire blew. Karen could feel the car veer sharply down to the left. As she pulled slowly off to the side, she wondered how they were going to get out of this one. They were already miles from home and miles from the next stop. Not to mention hardly anything would be open the day after Christmas. To top things off, she would have to handle the repair herself, or, so she thought....

She closed her eyes as she remembered her favorite Christmas, the one where she and her brother Jimmy each got a pony...

Christmas on the ranch was magical. Angel loved everything about growing up in Montana where there was room to run, to breathe, to simply be at rest and peace. Angel loved that about her childhood, probably now more than ever. At 20 Angel was as wild as the land she grew up oN. She had left the valleys of Montana for the city skylights of New York hoping for what most hope to achieve in the bigger cities with greater opportunities, or so it seemed. City life, however, was nothing like she thought it would be. Smiles were rare as people became too wraped-up in their own respective worlds to really care about yours. Above all the noise, cars, and hum of the city Angel just couldn't hear herself anymore. Everyday Angel became a little more lost and alone. Christmas was right around the corner though, and she was going home. Tiny was long gone, but she could still picture that little bay pony with eyes that gleamed mischief...oh how she missed home!

The wind blew fiercely against the screen door, slamming against the house with a THUD, THUD, THUD...!

Alexa hated being home alone when it stormed. Chris was out somewhere trying to herd all the cattle in for shelter. They had been here just a little over a month and there seemed to be an endless amount of things to do. This was a new town, a new place, in the middle of nowhere really. In fact, "town" was about 10 miles southeast of where her parent's farmstead was located. Alexa had always dreamed of coming back here. Her tea was warm as she cupped it and sighed deeply, staring out the large bay window that her mother used to read to her in. Those days were so long ago. Mom and Dad must have known she wanted to come back more than anything, that's why they left the house to her. There had been a lot of disappointment in her life, but here, everything had been near perfect. Memories in this place were only happy.

The door slammed. Macy cowered in the corner, dreading what was going to happen next..

She hated it when he came home like this. Back when mom was alive, life was so different. Dad had seemed happy and go-lucky then, as if the cares of the world slid off his back with one smile from her. Now, everything was just so different. In fact, the house felt an eery emptiness that even she tried to hide from, only she didn't drink like dad did. In ways she could understand him, and in other ways, it was like she not only lost her mother, but her father too. Macy was living with a stranger and her own world seemed to be closing in around her.

"Home sweet home," Ray said, as he threw his bags on the porch and forced the door open. He just knew Clarice would be happy to see him again.

Well, maybe. Not that it mattered he had been absent from her life for over a year. Ray was one of those free-spirited young men who just couldn't settle down. Clarice was everything Ray could ever have dreamed for in a woman and more. Beautiful blue eyes, dark hair, kind complexion and even more, a sweet personality. Commitment, however, he wouldn't do. Ray had absolutely no intentions of marrying, maybe ever. There was just too much out there to reach for and he wanted it all. So, without much warning, Ray had taken off nearly a year ago to travel and find his own way. What he hadn't banked on was the loneliness and heartache and desire to see Clarice again. He knew that she loved him, so she would be waiting for him. At least that is what he told himself.

The trial seemed to drag on forever. Everyone thought he was guilty, but there just weren't enough known facts...

Oh sure there was the circumstantial evidence, or heresy, but nothing concrete, nothing you could go on. They only thought Chris did it because he was black, poor, and from the streets. He looked tough, but that's because he had to be. Life didn't hand him the silver spoon or even a fair fighting chance. Chris remembers that night. He had rounded the street corner of eighth and Tepford, heading home after the midnight shift at work. Chris could remember two men yelling, some pushing around and banging, and then as he got closer, the gunshot. The blood. The police sirens. Chris had stood there, absolutely frozen stiff with shock and nobody ever asked him any questions. They read him his rights and six months later, here he was. It was ludicrous that they even bothered reading him his rights that night....

"When I grow up...," Jamie said, "I want to be a firefighter." Jamie laughed to himself as he recalled that memory...so many things had happened since

At seven you could be anything you wanted to be. Seven was a great age, Jamie thought, free from so much of life that he wished he could return to that place where ignorance really was bliss. At seven, Jamie had been wildly imaginative. Not only had he wanted to be a firefighter, but an Astronaut was also one of his weekly whims. Don't forget to add to that list the police office, doctor, lawyer, and pilot he once envisioned himself being. Now though, at 19, anything looked good. Jamie had struggled through high school, never really settling on any one passion. He was smart, he just didn't have the drive that he needed to succeed, or that others thought was needed for success. He finished high school, just not with the flying colors that everyone had envisioned. College was OK at best, but he only made it through his first year. A year was long enough to know that Jamie just didn't know what he wanted, so why waste the time and energy spinning your wheels, and money, for nothing? No, Jamie was passionate, he just didn't know where to direct it.

The newspaper headline screamed at Allan. He couldn't believe his eyes, the picture opened up so many old wounds...

She was sitting so helpless, prying at every emotion in black and white. "Surely the girl couldn't be more than two years old," thought Allan to himself. Pigtails disheveled, the girl sat next to a heap of twisted sticks and rubble that had once been her home. Her eyes were stoic, endearing, as she clutched a hold of her teddy bear as if she would lose that to. Allan knew loss. Beth had been two and she had loved pigtails. Allan could remember Beth getting so excited whenever she got to wear them and she would toss her head from side to side, her blond tails going a mile a minute. That was two years ago, and those were better times. In less than five minutes Allan had lost everything; his home, his wife, and yes, even little Beth. They just hadn't been prepared, they didn't know that what loomed ahead could be so powerfully destructive..

She knew she wasn't supposed to pick favorites, but Ms. Clawson couldn't help it. Bianca was a special child, she could tell that early on.

Although Bianca was quiet, she was incredibly intelligent and even more, wildly creative. During art class Ms. Clawson would stand by in amazement as Bianca's hands would seemingly dance over her paper. She had a steadiness and control for line, an eye for color, and a perspective for the realistic. Much of what Ms. Clawson knew of Bianca she learned from her artwork. For example, it was easy to see that Bianca loved animals, her favorite though was the horse. In almost everything Bianca was allowed to free-hand, a horse was involved. Colors could tell a lot to, and for reasons that Ms. Clawson didn't really know, Bianca almost always chose blues, purples, blacks and greys. Perhaps it was the lonely void in her eyes as she swished the colors on her white canvas that made Ms. Clawson think all might not be right in Bianca's world. For all the things Ms. Clawson didn't know, she was glad that at least Bianca could paint her own world to escape into, at least for an hour out of the day.