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To Thine Own Self Be TrueLoading...
by India Aranha
To the Reader...
A book in progress...here is a working summary as it is being written...
A girl who feels safe where she is and has been able to fend for herself (Leilani). As a result, she is not as careful as she should be. She lives in a patrolled school/staff community in the mountains. It is more isolated and restricted, so outsiders are recognized and cannot readily enter.
The flipside of this is Brett Simon, who is also a teenager. His family is affluent and associated with this school. They have the money where their son can bend the rules. More interested in prestige and status, they neglect Brett and his sister, 10 years his senior, has left home and stays away, likely due to a rift with her parents as well. They spoil him with holiday travel and don't emphasize his schooling in exchange for their frequent travels/absences for business. He received a camera at 5 years of age. It piques his interest and he develops a passion and expertise in photography. It becomes an obsession when he develops a fascination for photographing a subject under joy and then with fear. His first subject, Stefania, he harmed out of panic to prevent her disdain by revealing his fetish. He begins to follow, trying to find another, but continues the same pattern. Then he finds Leilani....
A book in progress...here is a working summary as it is being written...
A girl who feels safe where she is and has been able to fend for herself (Leilani). As a result, she is not as careful as she should be. She lives in a patrolled school/staff community in the mountains. It is more isolated and restricted, so outsiders are recognized and cannot readily enter.
The flipside of this is Brett Simon, who is also a teenager. His family is affluent and associated with this school. They have the money where their son can bend the rules. More interested in prestige and status, they neglect Brett and his sister, 10 years his senior, has left home and stays away, likely due to a rift with her parents as well. They spoil him with holiday travel and don't emphasize his schooling in exchange for their frequent travels/absences for business. He received a camera at 5 years of age. It piques his interest and he develops a passion and expertise in photography. It becomes an obsession when he develops a fascination for photographing a subject under joy and then with fear. His first subject, Stefania, he harmed out of panic to prevent her disdain by revealing his fetish. He begins to follow, trying to find another, but continues the same pattern. Then he finds Leilani....
The Italian Rivera--Brett's favorite destination during his frequent sabbaticals.
Brett Simon's Passport and plane ticket to Italy...is he getting ready to travel or recently returned?
Some of its bits and pieces in the works...
It was dark and Leilani made her way back up the path towards home, only to hear the sound of footsteps following her. Fear surged through her, then the knowledge of fight or flight as response. Leilani made her choice and decided to continue on her path, calculating her next move. She smirked and gave chase. An avid runner and quick to assess her surroundings, she felt the follower's steps quicken with her cadence. Who could be following her? No one knew this area except the students and staff who attended the school.
Much to her surprise, the mysterious stranger was a man, a teenager as she, tall, dark, svelte and agile on foot.
Up close, she could see his eyes, deep and dark, but warm. The warmth could be deception... He was self-assured, and the smirk he had at the end of his dialogue, hinted at charm. Again, that could be the lure.
Leilani met his gaze and held steady. She was streetwise, and did a mental check of this hypothetical fork in the road. "What did you say your name was?" she asked. "I didn't," he said. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and discreetly rubbed her hands at her pockets, for her pocketknife.
It was dark and Leilani made her way back up the path towards home, only to hear the sound of footsteps following her. Fear surged through her, then the knowledge of fight or flight as response. Leilani made her choice and decided to continue on her path, calculating her next move. She smirked and gave chase. An avid runner and quick to assess her surroundings, she felt the follower's steps quicken with her cadence. Who could be following her? No one knew this area except the students and staff who attended the school.
Much to her surprise, the mysterious stranger was a man, a teenager as she, tall, dark, svelte and agile on foot.
Up close, she could see his eyes, deep and dark, but warm. The warmth could be deception... He was self-assured, and the smirk he had at the end of his dialogue, hinted at charm. Again, that could be the lure.
Leilani met his gaze and held steady. She was streetwise, and did a mental check of this hypothetical fork in the road. "What did you say your name was?" she asked. "I didn't," he said. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and discreetly rubbed her hands at her pockets, for her pocketknife.
Much can be revealed through a 35 mm camera lens. Is the lens the window to one's intentions?
The dark path....what unknown lurks within it?
