Chrysalis - The Emergence of Emery

Prologue & Chapter One (SAMPLE)

Copyright 2016 Maria Macdonald

All Rights Reserved

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to real events, real people, and real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the Author's imagination and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, organizations or places is entirely coincidental.

All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the express written permission of the Author. All songs, song titles and lyrics contained in this book are the property of the respective songwriters and copyright holders.

Prologue

I didn't look back when they called names. I ignored the sharp pain in my back, from the stones and empty soda cans they threw at me when I walked by. I kept my face hidden from them and controlled my tears by biting my tongue, until the familiar metallic taste flooded my mouth. It's what I always did.

I was different, and the children within my small town hated me with a passion that I didn't rightfully understand at my young age.

'Emma the elephant' and 'alien face' were amongst the common names that were used to describe me as a young child. It progressed and evolved to 'salad dodger' and 'wide load.' Though the one I was called the most was 'rat girl' which was meant to be like Bat Girl, but it was more of an insult than anything else. They used the name because my teeth were bigger in the front. Like a lot of children I had to grow into them. I was alone. Isolated. Hated and abused. I had no parents, no one to care for me. My whole life had been hollow, empty, and the feeling, it seemed, was to be terminal.

The day my life changed monumentally is one I'll never forget. It was the day I was reborn.

Walking from my job at the local bookstore, the sun had set and I wrapped my arms around myself as a chill started to seep into my skin. That's when I saw them.

My abusers.

In school there was a bigger crowd, but tonight I saw only three. Boys... almost men. They were eighteen now, just like me. They hadn't stopped dishing out the insults since they began back in first grade. In fact, after returning this last year, it's become worse.

My looks changed over the summer. I grew into my body, and my teeth, my spots cleared and my hair is now thick and lush. These boys noticed me, they all did. The taunts never stopped, but I saw it in their eyes—there was an annoyance. Just like it had always been, but now there was also a want... they wanted the new me. They hated craving me, it was new to them and they just didn't know what to do about it. Plus, none of them were brave enough to admit it. Not that it would have changed anything. Let's face it, I hated them all, with a passion.

When they approached me that night it wasn't with caution. It should have been. Fear would have served them well. I was meek, quiet. I didn't fight back. I was an easy target... that's what they thought. That's what I thought. Why would they be frightened of little old me?

When they pushed me into the back alley and tried to rip my clothes off, things changed. I listened to their voices, heard the evil inside them, felt the cruel enjoyment that wept from their pores. I didn't understand it then. But I do now. That fight was monumental and thus began my life.