Son of a Pitch Entry: Stars in a Bucket

Title:Stars in a bucket
Category and Genre: NA CR
Word Count: 92,000


Query:
Life teaches 18-yr old Shana Matthews from small-town Mistyview Falls a few things: falling in love can be overwhelming; being a good person is negligible; repayment for kindness is often painful wrath. But her toughest lesson will be trying to stay afloat after she’s hurled into the deep end, and that with weights attached to both feet.

Shana's settled into taking care of her father and three half-brothers, when-almost overnight-she finds herself at extreme, opposite spectrums. She's happy and head over heels for Casey, and crippled with fear as Lonnie's (her brother) aggressive outbursts towards her increases. Soon Shana is torn between love and her familial responsibilities; and when she chooses her heart, she pays the ultimate and most brutal price for the decision. It drives her to abscond from Mistyview Falls... away from everything she'd ever known and cherished.
Almost 7 years later, Casey happens to cross her path. Despite the enduring love, Shana considers her demons too profound and resists his advances. Despite her obvious desperation to have him leave, Casey is determined to win her back. And in staying, he uncovers the harrowing truths which haunt her, and it's unfathomable. Both their worlds are once more upended as they're faced with the most daunting decisions of their lives... all in the name of love.


First 250 words:
Changes…

I remember that I once read something I had thought so beautiful at the time.
Things change, people don’t.
I am now unable to recall where exactly I had seen it, but the four little words had offered such a dedicated promise that it had etched itself upon my hopeful heart, that unforgettable summer I turned 19. I had held onto that assurance, no… I had clung to it with such desperation like a drowning person would a life-raft, just waiting for the day that my circumstances would change.
I was my mother’s daughter; always-doing-something-good-for-someone-else-Shana. I was altruistic and everybody knew it. And I suppose for me, having too good a heart turned out to be a bad thing. I had believed that in reward for my kind nature, my life would turn around for the better. Rather foolishly, I had settled my faith in Karma. I was too young and innocent back then. So ridiculously naïve. Harsh reality was standing on the side-lines, just out of view, waiting for its’ chance to give me a wake-up call.
Things change… people don’t?
What a crock. Soon I would know better-I learned that the hard way. The worst way possible, which you would never even want to imagine! The one day I had stood on the jetty, overlooking the lake and I thought that I had never seen a sight more spectacularly beautiful. The grass and trees were lush and green, the blue sky clear and the water sparkling.