How it all started
From the beginning. In sixth grade ( yes that far back ) I wrote a short story about a little girl who was stranded on an island after a plane crash. The plot thickens when she discovers one of the passengers is a crazed psychopathic cannibal. To my surprise ( yet to no others ) my story was rejected due to it's "inappropriate" nature. I was so proud and so was my mother. After my mom told the teacher what she though, we spent the rest of the day knocking down the sanity of my educators and celebrating my creativity. Fast forward 20 years or so.
Apparently, I was officially an adult. I was visiting my mother and she had prepared a box of all my old school papers and awards ( the box wasn't very big ). Amongst the artwork and report cards we found my old horror story. My mother, the proudest in the land, revealed that she had always hoped I would expand on the story I had written so long ago. I took it as a challenge. A few years later I had a 534 page behemoth on my hands. After editing and reediting I had cut it down and was ready to send it off. I researched the process and kept running into the same phrase. "The best way to get published is to BE published." CRAP! I decided to write a short story. Something I could possibly publish in a magazine. While I was pondering, the "accident" happened.
It was a beautiful night. My friend was having a dinner party for his birthday, a preamble, before we all headed out to a local club to see a band. Just before we all loaded into our cars someone suggested we should take a group photo out on the deck under a blanket of stars. Nearly 20 friends huddled together poised and ready for our close ups. The flash went off and we all relaxed, that's when a call to action was heard " I want one on my phone" Even at that point we could share, FB, even email copies of photos. However our old school mentality held us in place as we waited for the elusive missing phone. Moments later we all held our smiles. "One, Two, Threee......." The ground disappeared beneath our feet. Time slowed to a crawl, and all thoughts of life before were now and forever gone. The two story deck we were perched upon crashed to the ground. When the rubble and cloud of ash from the hot BBQ grill settled, the confusion began.
Many were injured that night, me included, I shattered my Fibula and broke my Tibia. I would be healing for quite a long time. As I lay in bed with my leg propped up over my head It came to me. She came to me. CATALINA
J. Lee Roberts
