The Space Between Time - Chapter 1, part one.
Before you read the first part of chapter 1 of my book, I want you to know that this is just the first timeline. Jenna finds her 3-times great-grandmother's journals and upon entering her life, not only experiences her adventures, but learns about herself in the process. I hope you enjoy and make comments.
The Space Between Time
by Lucinda Sage-Midgorden
© 2014
Chapter 1
Jenna’s mouth opened in a silent scream. Just as the man was about to drag her away, she heard the soft rustle of petticoats. The sound stopped the man’s progress. Cringing in fear, he let go of Jenna, then melted away into the ethers. Relief swept over her. She looked, but couldn’t see the female presence clearly, except for what she was wearing; a long Civil War style dress with purple-gray folds of skirt flowing over large hoops. Sighing, she knew she was safe. The monster/man was afraid of this woman. Just as she was turning to get a better look and to thank the woman, the annoying beep, beep, beep, beep of the alarm clock brought her back to reality. That damn dream again. But this time’d been different. The woman had come. Jenna lay in bed savoring the feeling of the woman’s presence, then reached over and silenced the alarm clock.
Another day of work. The familiar bitter-sweet ambivalent feeling rushed in to replace Jenna’s warm memory of the woman saving her in her dream. Would she ever make peace with her decision to become an editor, when what she longed to do was write her own stories? Thank heaven it was Friday, two whole days to focus on writing the story that had been knocking around in her head for weeks. That’s if Sam didn’t have plans for the weekend.
She turned over to wake him. He was a heavy sleeper. She patted his pillow, but he wasn’t in bed. Reaching to turn on the light, she gasped. He was sitting, completely dressed, in the chair near her side of the bed. She propped herself up on one elbow.
“What are you doing there?”
For once his handsome dark eyes were serious. “I’ve gotta talk to ya, babe. This is hard. I put in for a promotion and I got it. I’m going to L.A.”
Jenna’s head was foggy. “What?”
“I’ve been meaning to tell you, I just didn’t know how,” he said in a rush. “I’m moving to L.A. It hasn’t been working for us for a long time. You changed. It’s good we discovered this before we got married. I’ve gotta go.”
Sitting up in bed she said, “Wait. What are you saying?”
He frowned as if he didn’t understand why she was being so obtuse. “I’m saying that neither one of us is happy, and I’m breaking our engagement and moving to L.A.”
Shock paralyzed her. Even though she’d seen this coming, it still made her stomach clench and her head spin. She stopped breathing. This can’t be happening. How can he do this without even talking it over? ”You’re breaking up with me at 5:00 a.m.? Can’t we talk about this tonight?”
The comforting feeling from her dream evaporated, replaced by growing anger and the knowledge that another relationship had failed.
“No, babe. I’m leaving today. As soon as I get my stuff packed. I start on Monday.”
“So, you’re just leaving without giving us a chance to talk this over.”
All the times she’d tried to get him to talk about their relationship flashed through her mind. He’d always managed to evade the discussions and made her feel like she’d been silly to suggest anything was wrong between them.
“You know it’ll just be the same old stuff and we’ll be right back where we were. Neither one of us has been happy for quite some time.”
Pounding her pillows into a more comfortable shape, instead of punching Sam, she had to admit that he was right. Jenna hadn’t been happy, because she felt like she was the only one in the relationship. She’d hoped that would change. “I never said I was unhappy. I said we needed to work some things out. But you never had the time to do that.”
“Come on, don’t make this my fault. You know you want things a certain way, and if you can’t have it that way, then you make me suffer.”
She swung her legs out of the bed to face him, which was easy as he was still sitting down. “I make you suffer! That’s a laugh. I want us to have a real relationship where we talk things over and make decisions together. Whenever I bring that up, you run screaming from the room and I don’t see you for days.”
Sam unfolded himself in slow sections. As he rose from the chair she was struck again at his outward beauty. Too bad it was only skin deep. Looking down at her from his great height he said, “I’m not gonna argue about it now. As far as I’m concerned we gave it a good try, but the sex got boring, and you didn’t want to support my career. I’m sorry, but, it’s over. You’re a great and beautiful girl. You’ll find some boring guy who’ll adore you. I gotta go now. I’ll come back and pack my stuff after you’ve gone. You can keep the furniture. My apartment in L.A. is furnished. But, can I have my ring back?” He put out his hand.
Seeing red with every nerve tingling, Jenna took a step toward him with fists clenched, “No, you can’t have MY ring back. You gave it to me. It’s mine now.” She pushed past him toward the door knowing keeping the expensive ring he’d given her would be the only way she could get back at him. “Besides, I’ll need to hock it so I can put a deposit on a cheaper apartment. Now get out of here!”
He picked up the suitcase she hadn’t noticed on the other side of the door. Sneering he said, “You know, I’ve never told you what a needy bitch you are. My friends wonder why I stayed with you so long.” With a self-satisfied smirk on his face, he left.
“You’re friends are shallow and vapid, just like you,” she shouted after him.
He stopped on the stairs. “There you go again using a big word that no one knows what it means. Why don’t you talk like normal people?”
“What like your homies? Always talking about what the Kardashians are doing, or the latest episode of Survivor, or America’s Got Talent? Can I help it if they’re illiterate? I make a reference to Walt Whitman, they think I’m talking about a box of candy. You can have them. I’d rather have an intelligent conversation with someone than the mind numbing hot air that comes out of their mouths.”
Sam’s face contorted into a malicious grin. “You just proved my point you shrew. At least I learned one old word when you dragged me to the Shakespeare play. I slept through most of it.” He picked up his bag and bounded down the stairs, finishing their argument by slamming of the door so hard it shook the front windows.
The Space Between Time
by Lucinda Sage-Midgorden
© 2014
Chapter 1
Jenna’s mouth opened in a silent scream. Just as the man was about to drag her away, she heard the soft rustle of petticoats. The sound stopped the man’s progress. Cringing in fear, he let go of Jenna, then melted away into the ethers. Relief swept over her. She looked, but couldn’t see the female presence clearly, except for what she was wearing; a long Civil War style dress with purple-gray folds of skirt flowing over large hoops. Sighing, she knew she was safe. The monster/man was afraid of this woman. Just as she was turning to get a better look and to thank the woman, the annoying beep, beep, beep, beep of the alarm clock brought her back to reality. That damn dream again. But this time’d been different. The woman had come. Jenna lay in bed savoring the feeling of the woman’s presence, then reached over and silenced the alarm clock.
Another day of work. The familiar bitter-sweet ambivalent feeling rushed in to replace Jenna’s warm memory of the woman saving her in her dream. Would she ever make peace with her decision to become an editor, when what she longed to do was write her own stories? Thank heaven it was Friday, two whole days to focus on writing the story that had been knocking around in her head for weeks. That’s if Sam didn’t have plans for the weekend.
She turned over to wake him. He was a heavy sleeper. She patted his pillow, but he wasn’t in bed. Reaching to turn on the light, she gasped. He was sitting, completely dressed, in the chair near her side of the bed. She propped herself up on one elbow.
“What are you doing there?”
For once his handsome dark eyes were serious. “I’ve gotta talk to ya, babe. This is hard. I put in for a promotion and I got it. I’m going to L.A.”
Jenna’s head was foggy. “What?”
“I’ve been meaning to tell you, I just didn’t know how,” he said in a rush. “I’m moving to L.A. It hasn’t been working for us for a long time. You changed. It’s good we discovered this before we got married. I’ve gotta go.”
Sitting up in bed she said, “Wait. What are you saying?”
He frowned as if he didn’t understand why she was being so obtuse. “I’m saying that neither one of us is happy, and I’m breaking our engagement and moving to L.A.”
Shock paralyzed her. Even though she’d seen this coming, it still made her stomach clench and her head spin. She stopped breathing. This can’t be happening. How can he do this without even talking it over? ”You’re breaking up with me at 5:00 a.m.? Can’t we talk about this tonight?”
The comforting feeling from her dream evaporated, replaced by growing anger and the knowledge that another relationship had failed.
“No, babe. I’m leaving today. As soon as I get my stuff packed. I start on Monday.”
“So, you’re just leaving without giving us a chance to talk this over.”
All the times she’d tried to get him to talk about their relationship flashed through her mind. He’d always managed to evade the discussions and made her feel like she’d been silly to suggest anything was wrong between them.
“You know it’ll just be the same old stuff and we’ll be right back where we were. Neither one of us has been happy for quite some time.”
Pounding her pillows into a more comfortable shape, instead of punching Sam, she had to admit that he was right. Jenna hadn’t been happy, because she felt like she was the only one in the relationship. She’d hoped that would change. “I never said I was unhappy. I said we needed to work some things out. But you never had the time to do that.”
“Come on, don’t make this my fault. You know you want things a certain way, and if you can’t have it that way, then you make me suffer.”
She swung her legs out of the bed to face him, which was easy as he was still sitting down. “I make you suffer! That’s a laugh. I want us to have a real relationship where we talk things over and make decisions together. Whenever I bring that up, you run screaming from the room and I don’t see you for days.”
Sam unfolded himself in slow sections. As he rose from the chair she was struck again at his outward beauty. Too bad it was only skin deep. Looking down at her from his great height he said, “I’m not gonna argue about it now. As far as I’m concerned we gave it a good try, but the sex got boring, and you didn’t want to support my career. I’m sorry, but, it’s over. You’re a great and beautiful girl. You’ll find some boring guy who’ll adore you. I gotta go now. I’ll come back and pack my stuff after you’ve gone. You can keep the furniture. My apartment in L.A. is furnished. But, can I have my ring back?” He put out his hand.
Seeing red with every nerve tingling, Jenna took a step toward him with fists clenched, “No, you can’t have MY ring back. You gave it to me. It’s mine now.” She pushed past him toward the door knowing keeping the expensive ring he’d given her would be the only way she could get back at him. “Besides, I’ll need to hock it so I can put a deposit on a cheaper apartment. Now get out of here!”
He picked up the suitcase she hadn’t noticed on the other side of the door. Sneering he said, “You know, I’ve never told you what a needy bitch you are. My friends wonder why I stayed with you so long.” With a self-satisfied smirk on his face, he left.
“You’re friends are shallow and vapid, just like you,” she shouted after him.
He stopped on the stairs. “There you go again using a big word that no one knows what it means. Why don’t you talk like normal people?”
“What like your homies? Always talking about what the Kardashians are doing, or the latest episode of Survivor, or America’s Got Talent? Can I help it if they’re illiterate? I make a reference to Walt Whitman, they think I’m talking about a box of candy. You can have them. I’d rather have an intelligent conversation with someone than the mind numbing hot air that comes out of their mouths.”
Sam’s face contorted into a malicious grin. “You just proved my point you shrew. At least I learned one old word when you dragged me to the Shakespeare play. I slept through most of it.” He picked up his bag and bounded down the stairs, finishing their argument by slamming of the door so hard it shook the front windows.
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