Heather S. Ingemar's Blog, page 34

Concerts in January

Gonna be a fun week next week! Come see me LIVE at….

5:30 to 7:30pm at Roger's Bakery and Cafe, 116 College Place Avenue in College Place, WA on Wednesday, January 18th

and at…

7 to 9pm at Blue Palm Frozen Yogurt, 1417 Plaza Way suite B, Walla Walla, WA on January 21st

I'll have CD copies of "Fledgling" available and a lot of new music to debut, so it's going to be a fun time. I hope to see you there!

Lose You

Life's a mess

And I can't stand sitting here

In this waiting room

Where I can't confront my fear

CHORUS

What if I lose you?

What if this is really the end?

What if forever only meant until now

And I'm gonna lose my best friend?

What if I lose you?

You're so brave

With your toughened smile

I don't know how

Because I feel like dying

CHORUS

I don't want to think

About the possibilities in this nightmare

And I don't want to think

About not having you there

Because I need you

Oh, I need you…

CHORUS, 2x

Shatterproof: Things Aren't As They Should Be

It seemed so unreal.

The first one leapt at me and I stood frozen, staring at its dark, drooling jaws. This wasn't – couldn't – be real…

"Leslie – shoot!"

It was like he'd kicked me in the backside and time sped up. I had my gun in front of me, pumping rounds into the ugly, shadowy creature. It twisted in the air as my bullets sank into its weird flesh. Collin shoved me, hard, and I staggered to keep my balance. The creature I'd shot landed where I'd been standing. It shivered and twitched on the path.

Collin roared, and I looked to see him grab one of the demons in a bear hug. It's claws shredded his shirt, leaving deep purple welts on his skin. Collin growled, an inhuman sound, and his mouth transformed before my eyes into something long and toothy. I watched in horror as he latched onto the demon and began to do what I could only describe as drink. The demon writhed and grew pale in his grasp, and its cries were like glass on metal.

I'd known Collin was different since that moment in the college hall. No 'normal' guy could heal himself like he'd done. And now the proof of his strangeness was right in front of me.

There was no way Collin was normal – but what the Hell was he?

Something latched onto my sore arm and started to drag me off the path. I screamed and fought, trying to turn so I could get a shot at my attacker but it kept turning just out of my sight. Sharp pain burned its way up my arm. I clawed at the ground, kicking and scrabbling in the dirt.

Collin threw the dead demon husk to the side and it broke apart like dust. Collin gnashed his abnormal teeth, and bounded toward me. He growled again, launching himself at my attacker. I screamed as he tore the demon from my arm.

They went down in the bushes. I fought the urge to cover my ears against their noise, scooting myself back in the dirt. My sprained arm hung limp, but my good hand clung to my pistol as I levered myself upright. I focused the sights on the bushes as I started moving away. This was just… too damn surreal.

Collin – normal looking aside from the myriad cuts, scratches, and bruises – emerged from the brush. He wiped his mouth off on his sleeve.

"We need to move," he said, approaching me. My gun's sight picture wavered across his chest.

"What the Hell are you?" I stammered. "I need to know." A little voice in my head reminded me that I'd asked him that question before an not gotten a satisfactory answer.

He threw his hands up in disgust. "I never should have agreed to this," he muttered. He kicked at the still-twitching demon corpse, the one I'd shot. "Look," he said. "I'll play your twenty questions, but we can't stay here. So let's go. We have to regroup."

We stared at each other for a moment. "Spill it," I ordered. "Right now or I'm not going another step."

"Great. You don't trust me."

"No. I just need something to help me process THAT." I gestured to the pile of demon dust.

"Fine." He sighed. "Can I talk while we're moving?" he asked.

* * *

(This piece is part of an ongoing serial story. You can catch up on the plot via the Serials page. If you liked this work, please consider purchasing one of my other stories, or some of my music for your collection.

"Middle of Nowhere" up for voting!

My horror short story, "Middle of Nowhere" (pubbed as Heather S. Ingemar) is up for voting in the Preditors & Editors 2012 Readers' Poll! If you get a kick out of my writing, please go vote for me:

http://critters.org/predpoll/shortstoryh.shtml

The poll will be open through January 10th.

2011

Let's be honest: 2011 was a tough year. Hardship, defeat, and self-discovery that led to a myriad of difficult discussions and soul searching… I battled bouts of depression and struggled to make myself less of a 'broken' individual. (The jury's still out on that last one.) I fought my way through tough decisions and daily battles regarding health, home, family, and career… At the end of it all, I do believe December has been the toughest month to get through so far, and I sincerely hope fairer waters are ahead…

But certainly good things happened in 2011. With twenty minutes left to go, I can look back and know that 2011 was landmark:

In music:

I built my music career up again, performing and making over 20 professional appearances.

I have written seventeen songs, and have started work on number eighteen.

I put together a CD of my own, fulfilling a dream of mine since junior high.

In writing:

I pursued the very thing I was most afraid to try (lyrics).

I broke barriers, baring parts of myself I never thought I'd ever be able to talk about. Lyric gave me freedom to do so. And in doing so…

I have acknowledged the dark, derelict, and destroyed parts of my soul.

Most importantly, I have made steps to heal.

I still have a long way to go. The scars of childhood don't go away easily, and I'm well aware it's going to be a long haul to wholeness. But I've found my music again. Like a best friend, we've pretty much picked up right were we left off. Music is going to help me with healing, in addition to simply being a spot of joy among daily trials. You, too, are helping me with that, because every time you say one of my songs has touched you, made you smile, feel relieved, or just feel, it reminds me that we're all human and none of us are alone.

Here's to a better year.

Shatterproof: Ambush

Collin seized my arm and hauled me along the levee bike path. "Can you grab your gun quickly if you need to, Leslie?" he asked. His head was in perpetual motion, surveying our surroundings.

"It's in my back pocket."

"Good. You might want to hang onto it."

"I take it this is worse than you thought?"

"Oh, yeah." Something crackled in the bushes and Collin shoved me behind him. We stood like that for five interminably long seconds of tense silence until the bird rustled its way to the top of the bush. It cheeped at us. Collin exhaled, then grabbed me again and propelled me along with him.

"What are we going to do? We have to help my Dad."

"Do you have a death wish?"

"No, but I'm not leaving him!" The thought of him being trapped with creatures like I saw the other night scared me beyond belief. My stomach was a cold pit of ice.

Collin stopped short and I tripped over him. He cursed. "Leslie, you might not have a choice," he said.

I looked up and our path was blocked.

Three red-eyed, mismatched creatures stared back at us.

* * *

(This piece is part of an ongoing serial story. You can catch up on the plot via the Serials page. If you liked this work, please consider purchasing one of my other stories, or some of my music for your collection. )

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

One of my favorite Christmas songs from one of my favorite artists:

Just a reminder, there'll be no edition of Shatterproof this weekend (but don't worry I have others already scheduled, so there hopefully won't be such a lag for a while).

Have a wonderful holiday, everyone.

Not Done Yet

I'm not done yet

I'm not walking away

'Cause there's so many things I wanna do

So many songs I've got left to play

And even if He reaches out to

Take my hand

I want you to know

That I'm not done

Yet.

(song in progress)

Performing this week

Just a quick note to say that I'll be at Roger's Bakery this Wednesday, December 21st, from 5:30 to 7:30pm. Come see your favorite singer/songwriter play some new songs as well as some old ones, and even some Christmas tunes, since, 'tis the season.

Shatterproof: A Chat With Death

I looked up to see him frowning at me.

"What?" I said.  "You expect me to face off the Devil and whatever other Great Spookies of his without some kind of a side-arm?"

A tiny smile quirked the edge of his mouth.  "A side-arm isn't going to do you any good against Luce."

I 'hmmph'ed to myself and kicked at the leaves in the grass. We waited underneath some balding oak tree just off the river bypass to meet Collin's informant, whoever he was. The informant was late. And I wanted my gun. "Please?" I said, and saw Collin's crooked smile falter.  I positioned myself beside him.  He leaned away from me, but I gave him the sweetest, most pleading smile I could muster.  "Pretty please?"

He cracked.  "Oh, alright," he said, fishing in his pocket for my gun.  He handed it over, giving me a skeptical look.  "You're going to shoot me in the back like last time," he growled as he watched me check the pistol and stuff it in my pants pocket.

"Nonsense," I said.  I turned from the gun to find myself much closer to him than anticipated, a proximity that sent my stomach to twisting.  Tension hardened the features of his face, and I saw a vein at the base of his neck jump wildly with the speed of his pulse.  My throat was suddenly dry, and I swallowed.

I wanted to kiss him.

Really bad.

I swallowed again, inclined myself toward him.

"You don't know what you're doing, Leslie," he said, his voice low and rough.

"Just one kiss," I breathed, inching closer.  He looked about to say no.

"Are you up to your old tricks again, Collin?"

Collin flinched away from me. "She started it."

"Ha!" The tall, skinny man slapped Collin on the shoulder. "Now, why am I here? Her time isn't due, but it will be if you parade her in public like this."

The skinny man turned his face to me, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. His eyes were piercing and I felt like a bug on a skewer in the science lab. Collin came to my rescue. "We want to know what's going on with her father. Have you heard anything, Derren?"

"They've got him somewhere underground, but you might want to think twice before going after him. They need her, too." Derren turned his strange eyes on me once again.

I shuddered. "Oh, no. No."

"What are they planning?" Collin asked.

Derren tipped his chin toward me. "Right now, she's the talk of the town."

"Don't mince words, Derren."

The skeleton-like man rubbed the back of his neck.

"Luce has some big plan for John involving the gates, but she," and Derren stuck out a skeletal finger at me, "is the lock, the thorn barring his way."

Collin cursed.

"I know I don't need to tell you what that means," Derren said. "And anyway, we've talked too long. Get her out of sight."

* * *

(This piece is part of an ongoing serial story. You can catch up on the plot via the Serials page. If you liked this work, please consider purchasing one of my other stories, or some of my music for your collection. )