Novels by Grace Rivers

CHAPTER TENBREAKING IN AND BREAKING FREEAfter two weeks of futile search, the two tired, exhausted girls were almost on the verge of giving up. Vivian was getting weaker and weaker.Jane kept thinking about breaking in to Mrs Smith's house. Vivian told her," the last time I was there to hand in our assignments; you know the time she got to inject me with the virus ...well her house is a very big one. More like a castle. She said her great great great grand aunt who she said had been somewhat of a royalty back in those days had passed it down through the generations and finally to her mother who had passed it down to her. The first time I entered I was so confused I didn't know where to knock. It's a very big house. After you get past the main gate; I think it has a kind of electricity that detects when someone is there and I think there are cameras too because when I got t

PART THREETHE PRESENT…when darkness seems to overwhelm your light, when all around you, you see sights that jar your mind, timid heart, be brave!CHAPTER

CHAPTER EIGHTMORE NIGHTMARESJane woke up with a start. She had had a terrible nightmare. She checked the clock; it was two in the morning and what was she supposed to be excited about today? She remembered: Today was her birthday. Today was her birthday and she had started it with a horrible nightmare. Ever since she had the last nightmare where she had been drowning, she had had just a few more nightmares but they hadn't been so persistent like the ones that had now continued to happen recently. This time around, almost every night she woke up from a nightmare and sleeping pills did little to help her. She glanced at the clock again. It was now well past 2 a.m. She remembered that her family had planned a small picnic party for her today to celebrate her bir

CHAPTER SEVENNEW BEGINNINGSJane woke up suddenly with cold sweat all over her body. She had had a bad dream. What kind of dream was this anyway? In her dream she had been walking with Vivian on a cool beautiful beach when suddenly Vivian was no more. In the dream the setting had suddenly changed from the beautiful beach to a dark room with a dark pool of water. She was on the edge of the pool when suddenly she heard an evil laughter which she thought was familiar but couldn't place it. The laughter came nearer and nearer and as she tried to make out the face of the dark figure in a hood cackling with an evil laughter advancing upon her, she slipped and fell into the pool. It was as though a large weight was placed on her. She could no longer swim. She tried as much as possible to remember all that her swimming coach had taught her to no avail. The voice said mockingly," how could you forget to

CHAPTER SIXLOSING ITVivian had gone home with Jane and spent some time celebrating (which was mostly eating ice cream from the fridge till they had stomach aches) and had gone home only when her mother called her to remind her to pick up her cousin at the airport who was going to be staying with them for two days. With Jane all alone with her brother, she anxiously waited for her parents to come home so she could share the news to them. It was 5p.m , just about two hours more for her dad to be home. Although she was elated by her success, she still felt nervous about having to go against Jay next week. She remembered that Mrs Smith her favorite teacher had congratulated her with a huge smile on her face and a pat on the back. Jane heard the roar of an automobile engine and checked the clock: 5:30 p.m. Her father wasn't supposed to be back by now, till at least 6p.m. She opened the door as soon

CHAPTER FIVETRYINGThe morning dawned bright and clear. Jane's mother came back from her shift exhausted and slept through the morning and into the afternoon. When she woke up mid afternoon she didn't look too refreshed. "How are you doing mum?” Jane asked. "Oh dear I'm fine and you too? Hope you slept well?".”I did thanks". Just then Joe came out. "Mom, when did you come back? I had to sleep without seeing you". "Oh dear, you have always slept without seeing me, at least most of the time", she said laughing."We are going out for an evening picnic today so prepare!” Jane was suspicious," but we haven't gone for a picnic in a long time! Why now though?” Just then Jane's dad came out. "I'm sorry I won't be going out with you all. I have a meeting to attend strictly for executives and my flight leaves in an hour and I will be coming back in 3 days"

The end of that term saw Gail coming third place in class. Despite how turbulent the school year had been, she had still somehow managed to make it to the top. She was very proud of herself and her parents could not be any prouder. Gail’s father had returned to work having raised money from his odd jobs. He added that to his savings, and to the one the company had given him and made the initial payments of two thirds the amount and then pledging to pay the rest in installments for over a period of one year and so he got a new truck that was much like his old one. Things returned to normal. Gail went to school using the public transport and was picked up by her father if he could help it. He still brought her books that remained from his distribution at the end of the day; this could be damaged books without covers or with some part torn off which customers had r

“Hello am I speaking with Mrs. Mary Owens, Mr. Michael Owens’ wife?” the voice asked. “Yes…This is Mrs. Owens. Who am I speaking with?”. “I’m calling from the town’s police department. Mrs. Owens I’m sorry to inform you that your husband has been involved in an accident. You are needed at Maple Leaf hospital right away. Gail’s mother was in a frenzy. Quickly she took her purse which contained some money and was about to leave when her daughter asked, “Mother won’t you tell me what happened? Why are you leaving in such a hurry? Has anything happened to father?” “Your father has been involved in an accident and is being hospitalized. I’ve been asked to go meet him. Stay back and…” “No! I’m going with you. I can’t let you go alone this night and

Gail had made up her mind to work relentlessly to give herself the much needed advantage in life. Just like her father tells her almost always, “You may not have the advantage and privilege now but if you are willing to work hard for it, you will get there”. So it was with a renewed resolve that she prepared for school the next morning, vowing in her heart to be focused and not let “petty” things distract her. So today, which was another Monday morning, dawned bright and clear. She took the public transport to school and arrived quite early. Was that Jon poring over a book? She inched closer…this was nothing short of a miracle, she thought to herself. Jon never was seen with a book, not even with a sheet of paper unless he wanted to copy homework

The trouble with maple tree is that it brings forth sweetness and so to harvest the sweetness, it has to be sapped taking the sweet syrup and leaving it with less and less sweetness. Gail was a sweet girl, mindful of everyone and doing anything she could to help others. Gail was coming back from her friend’s house after tending to her. It was five o’clock in the evening. She was halfway home when she heard a whisper behind her. She remembered the warnings her parents had given her about not talking to strangers. “Not everyone really needs your help”, her mother had said, “Some come disguised as vulnerable so you can have pity on them and then they turn around do you harm. Don’t answer the calls of strangers. Walk faster and if need be run when the stranger becomes insistent”. Gail seemed to have forgotten all about this in a hurry. She heard the whisper again and turned o

Today, Gail decided she wanted to be a baker. She had visited Nene earlier today and Nene’s parents were both bakers and owned the local bakery in town where they had workers who together with them baked bread, cakes and other things that were bake- able. Not that she didn’t already know this before she visited today, but that when she got there Nene’s mother had brought out a fairly big cake for her and Nene to munch on. Gail wasn’t used to eating cakes during times when it wasn’t a special occasion. “Do you eat this every day?”, She had asked Nene. “Not every day but almost every day when there are leftovers from the bakery”. “And does this happen all the time?” “No, but almost all the time because we bake a lot of cakes, in fact we bake more cakes than the rest of the bakeries in town put toget

For Gail, school had always been an exciting adventure. For all she could care the subjects could do themselves especially math. She wasn’t doing so well at math and to her it didn’t matter because she did try her best. She remembered getting a zero in an algebra test and crying all the way back home to her father. Her father had consoled her by saying, “Gail, I wasn’t so good at algebra myself. In fact I got so bad in school that I had to drop out to do what I was good at: helping others. I help distribute books to those that need it and in return I get paid for doing what I loved. You know when I was younger, I would sit in class looking out from the window and seeing loads and loads of trucks of books, foodstuff and what have you being distributed from companies to residents. I always wanted to do that. I was fascinated by it so much that my teacher had to take me out from the window se