Title: Doll
Small school, lots of secrets, a popular mean girl, Pepper Fox, and of course a few outcasts–Tomie Dupuy, Sarifena Green, and Opal Dawn–who all shined on Pepper’s tormented list, since junior high. Opal shined the brightest.
Tomie, Sari, and Opal made a pact and traveled to Monroe Creek, Louisiana with the goal to end their torment in an untraditional way.
Sometimes things don’t end up as we wish. Fate always possesses a way to redirect everything.
Will they finally find the solution to their agonizing problem or will all spiral out of control, as they never anticipated?
Before I could reach Opal, the bus came to a slow stop. She almost knocked me over as she was exiting her seat and dropped her dingy backpack.
Everything spilled out. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I’m such a klutz.”
“Hey, it’s ok. I drop stuff all the time.” I called out to Mr. Ray. “She’ll be up in a few. Need to help her gather her stuff up.”
Mr. Ray nodded, placed the bus in park, leaned back in his seat, and turned on his favorite radio station to listen to a 60’s classic song.
I gathered up her items as fast as I could; I stuffed them back into her backpack, as she did the same. I swooped up an 8×5 picture of Pepper Fox dressed in her cheerleader uniform from the eighth grade.
Something about the picture stood out. I examined closer. It was Pepper’s eyes. They were missing, as if burnt out.
Opal jerked it from my curious examination before I could comment. She stumbled up to her feet, tucked her backpack under her arm, and ran down the bus aisle until she reached the stairs. I followed her halfway.
“Slow down, Opal…” Mr. Ray said as he opened up the bus folding doors for her to exit.
She turned around to speak, but nothing came out. She walked down the stairs in a swift motion with slight pauses, which was the opposite of her earlier entrance.
She looked both ways before galloping across the street to her house.
Miracle Austin works in the social work arena by day and in the writer’s world at night and weekends. She’s a YA/NA cross-genre hybrid author; adults also enjoy her works. She’s been writing since junior high and Drive by The Cars being one of her biggest inspirations to write. She enjoys writing diverse free-verse poems/mini-stories and short stories; she written over a 50 of those works; horror/suspense are her favorite genres.
Doll is her first debut YA/Paranormal novel; Doll won the Purple Dragonfly Award, 2nd place, in the Young Adult category in 2016. Boundless, an eclectic collection of short stories, set for a release in the Fall of 2016. She hopes to present at many more teen book events and conduct school visits in the future. Finally, Miracle resides in Texas with her family.
