Hahaha! Well, how do you it? How do you balance a “normal” life and write about killers and kidnappers and sex traffickers? Is it the sign of a twisted mind or a great imagination?
The Wooden Swing:
One minute, I stared, mesmerized while my three-year-old sister Ellie kicked her feet, sending the wooden swing high into the air. Turning a page in my book, I looked down. For only a second.
Only…one…second.
The next, I jumped up and ran, screaming Ellie’s name. A scruffy man in a torn jacket and baseball hat which he wore backwards had muffled her mouth and dragged her far from the protection of our backyard swing.
Dogs barked as he raced through the neighbors’ yards. Soon, he was nothing but a blur as my tiny feet fought to keep up.
And no one saw him…or Ellie. Ever again.
Sixteen years ago, that idyllic Mayberry-style life in Samsaddie, North Carolina, ended. No more hide and seek until dark, no more cheerful hugs from Mom and Dad. Nowadays, acquaintances looked at the ground whenever Ellie was mentioned, afraid if they acknowledged it could happen here, their own children would be in danger. The children they kept tucked behind closed doors. They hadn’t forgotten any more than we had.
Now, at twenty two, I was old enough to disregard my parents’ wishes and apply for a concealed weapons permit. I’d take my inheritance from Granddaddy Blanchett and leave behind my once happy family, the town that had meant safety for so many of us kids, and start the hunt for Ellie in earnest.
Somewhere out there, my kid sister Jessie Blanchett still waited for me to find her and bring her home. To safety.
***
What makes a nice mom and wife, or a good husband and father obsess over such topics?
Do you write suspense or mystery? Where do you find your best ideas?
How do you manage to balance the good with the evil?
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