She gave me a mysterious smile and said “Child, haven’t you noticed that you’re different? Not the same as other people?”
Again, I blushed. “I know I’m different. My parents…um, foster parents, were scared of me. They didn’t understand me.” I paused a moment, then went on in a low voice. “I don’t even understand myself.”
Willa Cunningham has felt alone in the world most of her life. She’s really never fit in anywhere, even in the home she grew up in. Willa has abilities she does not understand that scare those around her and leave her feeling frightened and even more alone, eventually causing her to have to vacate her home and venture out on her own as she tries hard to live a low-key life.
Until she meets The Woman in the Woods, and her whole life changes. $2.99 (See excerpt below.)
Excerpt
I stood, still feeling as though I was in a dream, until I heard a week voice. “Sit, my child. Pull that chair over here, next to the bed.” She indicated the rocking chair near the window.
I did as she asked. It was warm in the cottage so, before sitting, I took my jacket off and placed it on the back of the chair. The lady smiled at me as I looked at her. She looked to be about seventy-five, maybe eighty, by the lines on her face and her hands.
“What’s your name, child?” She asked, trying to sit up in her bed. I went to her and helped, propping pillows up behind her back.
“My name is Willa Cunningham,” I replied, settling back into the chair.
“You are a pretty one. How old are you?’
“Twenty-four.”
“Yes, yes,” she replied, as if she had already known but forgotten. “You can call me Nana. Are you always so sad, Willa?”
I blushed, and she went on. “You were a happy baby. I remember that. You were always laughing and having fun. You have been sad for a long time, now, haven’t you?”
“You knew me when I was a baby?” I asked, amazed. “Did you know my real parents? I hope you’ll tell me about them. I’ve always wondered what they were like.”
I was feeling conflicting emotions. Sadness, happiness because she knew me, and wonder at how I came upon her in the woods.
She smiled sweetly. “You’re my granddaughter, child. Your father was my son. I have come to bring you back home. I’ve watched you for the last several months, walking through the forest, sure you were the one. That’s why I set my home here. I wanted you to find me.”
A little confused, I replied “I don’t remember this place being here before, and I’ve been walking in this forest lot the last couple of years. How did you get all the way out here?”
She gave me a mysterious smile and said “Child, haven’t you noticed that you’re different? Not the same as other people?”
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