“Do you trust me?” Julia asked.

“Of course–” He replied.

“No,” Julia said. “That’s the default answer. It requires no thought about the repercussions.”

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“My mother and my two best friends are dead,” Julia said. “It wasn’t God, or fate—”

“Julia… that—” He said.

“Crazy? Impossible?” Julia pressed.

“Julia…” He said.

Disclaimer: This excerpt from Dark Hearts is currently in development. There may be typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. The image is sourced from Pixabay.

“Momma,” Julia whispered.

A lone tear rolled down her cold cheek was especially jarring. She rubbed the tear from her cheek, in awe it was there. Julia had cried before, but this was too much to process, and had yet to take in what happened.

“Madison…” Julia said.

How was she expected to cope? Her mother was home. The wounds she saw that were anomalistic, but controlled and precise were telling. The timing was too convenient to be coincidental. This was deliberate…

Disclaimer: This excerpt from Dark Hearts is currently in development. There may be typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. The image is sourced from Pixabay.

“Julia,” he said softly.

It was like being trapped under ice, with every word elongated, muffled, and faint. Under the water, she was safe from all that pain and sorrow, but would need to break through or drown.

Julia recoiled, as he touched her shoulder. She jumped out of the truck and ran off towards her home.

Disclaimer: This excerpt from Dark Hearts is currently in development. There may be typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. The image is sourced from Pixabay.

The hot tear running down her cold cheeks was especially jarring. She rubbed the tear from her cheek, in awe that it was there. It was not that Julia had never cried before, but this was too much for her to process, and had yet to fully appreciate the situation she was in.

Disclaimer: This excerpt from Dark Hearts is currently in development. There may be typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. The image is sourced from Pixabay.

“What am I going to do about it?” Radio asked after unslinging his weapon.

Before Gruff managed a smart assed reply, Julia felt a sharp blow to her head. Her vision became filled with lightning strikes and stars, which soon faded away into oblivion.

“Good,” Gruff said.

Disclaimer: This excerpt from Dark Hearts is currently in development. There may be typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. The image is sourced from Pixabay.

“Julia,” he said softly but those words were lost.

It was as though she were trapped in a frozen lake, with every word elongated, muffled, and faint. She imagined herself deep in the water, safe from all that pain and sorrow, but she needed to break through the ice or drown.

Disclaimer: This excerpt from Dark Hearts is currently in development. There may be typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. The image is sourced from Pixabay.