GUEST POST: The Timber Effect (Jacky Reynolds)

Set in modern day Fort Bragg, California, The Timber Effect tells the story of Timber Elizabeth Brogan, a senior at the local high school. After witnessing her parents’ death, Timber is sent to live with her closest family. Aunt Grace, Uncle Chad and her thirteen year old cousin Emily love and care for Timber, and treat her as though she had always belonged with them despite the fact that Timber has a secret past and a secret identity that no one but her family knows about. At least until the handsome new high school teacher moves in across the street with a secret more dangerous than Timber’s.

Timber is now faced with these strange new feelings for her new teacher that she can’t figure out. Convinced she can never be happily in love with anyone because of her secret, she fights with herself until she can no longer resist him. After discovering his secret, Timber allows herself to be in love. Unfortunately, their destinies have intertwined and Timber’s whole world flips upside down. Before she graduates high school, Timber must fight the shadow of a conquered demon called the Vanquisher, her deranged and bloodthirsty neighbor, and participate in a war she never wanted to be in in the first place.

 

“I like Timber! Very relatable as a teenage girl. Worrying, relaxing, attached to her friends. Imaginative girl, but very believably accepting of the world she lives in here. There’s elements of magic and mystery, and she just accepts them as “the way things are”. I like that.”

Wattpad Reader Review

“Hurray for Grace, too! Ahahah, she’s got a lot to say, doesn’t she? I can just hear her voice in my head. Chad and Emily are pretty great too. I like how warm and cozy everyone is with each other. Really gives you a sense of Timber’s home life and how much she is cared for.”

Wattpad Reader Review

 

The relationship between Timber and Henry began fourteen years before they were reunited in Fort Bragg. Timber met Henry once many years before Timber began high school though it was so brief neither could remember. Timber’s mother Elizabeth was carrying her down to the creek for a bath. She saw him and she smiled the biggest smile she had ever formed. The relationship with Henry and Timber started when she was three years old.

When she was four years old, Timber was running around and laughing one Christmas morning while Henry was sitting by the fire with his new mittens from his best friend. She had come up to him holding a marshmallow in one hand and a stick in the other. She was covered in pine needles from playing under the Christmas trees and she had the biggest smile on her face as she looked up at him. Henry was only ten years old at the time so he wasn’t as interested in the small for year old as one of the older kids might have been but it was him she approached. She held out the very last marshmallow to him.

She sat beside him and put the marshmallow on the stick as two older boys came over to Henry and began to bully him. The smallest of the two boys were three times Timber’s size but she immediately placed herself in front of Henry.

The bigger boy made to hit Henry but instead of punching him, boy was backing away, yelling in pain. Timber had Turned into a silver wolf cub and sunk her teeth and claws into the boys arm and she would not let go no matter how hard she was shaken. When she was thrown off, she fell onto Henry’s lap. She barked a small squeaky bark and launched again, sinking her fangs in deeper until she was sure Henry was safe.

Every weekday after that, Timber would come and sneak inside Henry’s class room and leave him marshmallows while he was at lunch. She didn’t stop until her parents took her outside of the walls of Heiligdom.

When Timber and Henry are reunited fourteen years later, not only does a strong love form between them, everything turns upside down and they are faced with a threat on Timber’s life.

 

The fifth Friday afternoon of the school year, at the very beginning of October, as Timber was arguing loudly with her math homework for her least favorite teacher under the sun, her highly sensitive ears picked up the sound of trouble. Under normal circumstances, Timber would let it be and not get involved but the girl who was shouting back at whoever she was arguing with was not even supposed to be on campus. Suddenly Emily’s tiny frame came into her view, followed by a guy who she knew was the junior named Josh that Emily had been crushing on for a while. The problem was that Emily was not interested in a relationship; she just wanted to admire from a distance.

“Leave me alone! I do not want to go out with you,” yelled Emily. “I’m in eighth grade! I don’t even go to this school.”

“Come on Em,” begged Josh. “Just a movie.”

“No,” said Emily firmly.

She saw Timber and waved happily as she tried to ignore the guy who was following her. Timber got to her feet and took a step towards her little cousin. Then Josh wrapped his arms around Emily and the panic on Emily’s face made Timber infuriated to the point of impulsiveness. She sprinted straight to Josh as fast as her legs would carry her. She darted up the steps but did not slow down until she was within arm’s reach of Josh. Timber’s right palm came in contact with the side of Josh’s face. The crack of skin contacting skin seemed to echo through the air. Vibrations of pain started in her palm and spread all the way to her fingertips. Her palm was bright red, the same red mark that matched the one on his face. Josh stared at Timber with his eyes wide as his hand slowly made it to his red cheek. Josh let go of Emily and Timber pulled her away from him and put Emily protectively behind her.

“STAY AWAY FROM MY COUSIN!” barked Timber. Timber should’ve felt some kind of remorse. But she didn’t. Not one organ in her body could produce guilt for her actions.

“Yeah, what are you gonna do Timber?” asked Josh with a foul laugh and Timber got a whiff of rum on his breath. “You can’t do anything. Everyone knows you don’t fight.”

“Yeah? Try me.”

Josh swung at the left side of Timbers face, but Timber was ready and quickly dodged while pushing Emily out of the way. Timber had never been punched by anyone before, so she was incredibly surprised at the pain that blazed up through her as his fist connected with the side of her head. She went down, but caught herself with her hands before her head hit the ground. She was dazzled for a second but she got back up onto her feet and continued to shield her cousin. Suddenly she heard Emily shouting from behind her.

“Henry! HELP!”

She made the mistake of turning away from her opponent to see Henry sprinting through the hallway with a look of unmistakable fury on his usually mild face. Taking advantage of her lack of attention, Josh threw his body weight behind the fist that edged closer to her face. It hit her jaw with such force that blood pooled into her mouth. Pain erupted from the point of impact as she was sent spinning. The last thing she heard as she went down was Emily screaming hysterically. The side of her head smashed hard onto the light grey concrete and Timber was knocked out cold as her limp body tumbled down the steps.

She woke up with a start in her living room when she heard the front door slam shut. Timber’s eyes flew open and bight afternoon sun made her squint for a moment but her eyes were able to adjust quickly. It took her a minute to realize that she was tucked under the light green patchwork throw blanket on the couch, but she didn’t know how she got there. Worried voices could be heard from the kitchen and it sounded as though Chad and Grace were both just coming into the house.

“We left as soon as you called Henry,” said Grace frantically. “There’s blood on your arm! Oh good Lord! Are they alright?”

“They’re both fine,” said Henry reassuringly. “I carried Timber home which is where the blood came from. Emily was very shaken after seeing Timber get knocked out and fall down the steps but she fell asleep five minutes ago in the recliner. I hope you don’t mind but I made her some lavender tea. Timber is on the couch. I think she’s still out.”

“That’s fine. Tea helps Emily sleep. So what happened?” asked Chad hurriedly.

“Emily wanted to surprise Timber and pick her up and walk home with us but she ran into some boy named Josh. He wouldn’t leave her alone and Timber got involved. She hit him and pulled Emily away. I ran out just before she got knocked out. Timber technically started the fight but she was just trying to protect Emily.”

“What happened to that kid Josh?” asked Chad.

“I just got off the phone with the school administrators about five minutes ago,” explained Henry. “Josh is suspended for the maximum of a week since this is his first offense. Unfortunately Timber will have to be punished too because she was the one that technically started it. I was able to pull a few strings. Timber only swung once to protect her cousin so they gave her three days of after school detention. She’ll spend them with me so it’s not going to be much of a punishment since we spend time together anyway.”

“Thank you so much Henry! I don’t know how to thank you enough.”

Timber could tell that her aunt was going to become hysterical at any time. She thought it would be best to get up off of the couch and let them know she was awake. She threw the blanket off and sat up, and then she stood and wobbled a little. Her head was spinning so fast her vision went blurry. She tripped over her own foot when she tried to take a step and fell over to the floor with a dull thud. Chad, Grace and Henry came running into the room to see the source of the noise and Grace hurried over to her when she saw Timber awake and laying on the floor.

“You’re up, thank goodness!” cried Grace. “Are you alright?” Grace helped Timber up to a sitting position.

“I’m a little sore,” said Timber, rubbing her face in the place where she was hit. “I got hit on the jaw. It still hurts. So does my head.”

“Chad can you please get my medical kit?” said Grace.

“What for?” asked Timber.

“I just want to make sure your eardrum is fine,” said Grace. “If you’re talking without a lot of pain your jaw is fine but it looks like your ear was bleeding.”

Chad came back a few minutes later with a white box and gave it to Grace. She opened it and pulled out an otoscope. Grace looked inside Timber’s ear and muttered angrily to herself. Then she grabbed a cotton swab and gently cleared dry blood out of Timber’s ear.

“I don’t see any damage to the eardrum,” said Grace sounding relieved. Timber saw Henry’s face mimic her aunt’s tone of voice. “You’ve got a nasty cut on your head but it doesn’t look too deep. I just need to clean it and bandage it up for the night. You’re not showing signs of a concussion which is good. I think you should be fine if you don’t get up and walk for a few hours. I know you don’t like it but to make it up to you, and Emily, you can have whatever fast food you want for dinner. Henry, would you like to join us?”

“I don’t have much money right now,” said Henry hesitantly. “I think I’ll just eat at home.”

“Nonsense,” said Grace. “We’re buying.”

“You rescued our girls,” said Chad. “Please let us buy you dinner.”

Henry sighed but grinned. “I can see I’m over ruled. Alright I’ll stay.”

“Oh here, give me your shirt,” said Grace. “The sooner it gets washed the easier the blood will come out.”

Henry reluctantly unbuttoned his shirt and took it off, revealing his thin, toned body and tattooed arms. He handed the shirt to Grace and she folded it over her arm and then walked over to Emily and gently kissed her nose. Emily stirred a little and opened her brown eyes. The first person she saw was Timber and her eyes got round with panic and excitement. She jumped up with a yell and threw herself at her cousin, sobbing profusely into Timber’s shoulder.

“Thank you. I’m so sorry! I didn’t – I’m so happy you’re okay! Henry was furious after you went down. He yelled at Josh like crazy! I thought Henry was going to hit him. Then he carried you all the way home and tucked you in on the couch. He was so worried about you I thought he was going to cry! He cleaned up the blood on your face from your ear and your head and your jaw….” Emily gasped. “Is it alright? Are you alright? Is anything broken?”

“I’m fine Em. Really I am,” said Timber, holding her cousin tightly. Then she looked up at Henry over Emily’s shoulder. “You really did all of that? For me?”

“You’re my best friend, Timber,” said Henry gently. “I care about you.”

As Timber looked up into Henry’s hazel eyes, something happened that made the room fall still and silent. For the first time in eight long years, Timber let her guard down and a single teardrop fell from Timber’s eyes and rolled slowly down her warm, slightly flushed cheeks.

Emily stared at her in complete shock and so did Chad and Grace, but Timber could only look at Henry’s eyes. Timber felt his eyes burning into her with an expression she had never seen. It was piercing her soul with a warmth Timber had never felt before but she liked it. She got up and tried to walk over to him but she only managed to take a few shaky steps before she wobbled and fell. Henry lunged forward and caught her before she hit the ground too hard. Henry sat down and positioned her so his leg was resting under her knees. She looked up at him and at that moment, Timber forgot about everyone else in the room. She could only see the man in front of her and she did not want to look away.

 

Jacklyn Reynolds was born in the bustling Silicon Valley in the southern region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Before starting the first grade, she and her family moved north to Fort Bragg, California where she developed her roots, a love for small towns, nature, writing, and local history. Upon finishing sixth grade, her parents brought her back to the Silicon Valley where she attended high school and started competing in Poetry Slams with her high school club.

Shortly after high school, Jacklyn married her soul mate, Matthew and settled down as a housewife after working in retail, and the amusement park industry. After falling into a hardship, Jacklyn began writing again. In 2014, she released her first novel, Cheyenne: The Art of Love and Jealousy. She and her husband live in the Central California Coast with their young son. Jacklyn enjoys going on nature walks, photography, and traveling with her family.

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