Counting Sheep

Prologue

Hello, hello! I am back!! Did ya miss me, did ya miss me?! 'Cause I missed you. Omg, I am so freaking excited. Here is the next book for you guys! It has been taking some thinking, but I think I've got all the bones to the story down. I am so SO excited to introduce you guys to Counting Sheep and I cannot wait for the journey this book is going to take us on. This is just the beginning! Let me know what you think! I am so freakin' excited! Have you seen the trailer for this? If not, check out the last part of my last book, Amare. The trailer is attached there. (Hopefully XD) Enough of my rambling. Let's get to the story. Enjoy, my lovelies. XOXOX -Hannah.

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Counting Sheep by Hannah Dean

"Sometimes someone isn't ready to see the bright inside. Sometimes they need to sit with the shadows first. So be a friend and sit with them. Make the darkness beautiful..." -Victoria Erickson

This book and all its characters are the intellectual property of Hannah Dean.

PROLOGUE: 26 years ago-

One sheep...

Two sheep...

Three sheep...

The sun was gone and the moon had fully taken its place. It hung high in the sky, bright and slightly misshapen from the few overlapping fluffy clouds but still a swirling opalescent ball that washed everything in a milky twilight.

The house was quiet besides the ever present creak of floor boards or the whistle of wind blowing over the roof...but something was off and the little boy felt it even as he was shook awake from a deep and fitful slumber. The world was deadly silent as if sensing something darker than the shadows of midnight loomed ever closer.

"Wake up!" A voice hissed. "Wake up, wake up!"

Blurrily, the little boy did so, blinking away the sandy remains of sleep from his eyes.

"Momma?" He asked.

She stood above him with a wild look on her face, something he had grown accustomed to over the years--even at the ripe old age of 7 years old.

Her eyes were wide and her short platinum blonde hair stuck out in puffy peaks.

The nightgown she wore was tattered and had long ago been outworn, hanging off the frail and thin contours of her malnourished body.

"You need to get up, honey. You need to get up now." She told him urgently and stripped off the blanket from his bed before grabbing his pillows as well. Even through his thermal spider-man pajamas he could feel the cold bite of air that passed through their small, run down and drafty house, but he ignored it, following his mother as she hurried from the room.

He cradled his teddy bear tightly to his chest, watching his mother's frantic movements as she made her way towards the closet that sat in the living room along the far side wall on the right. Julian looked at her, eyes filling with tears as she threw open the closet door.

"Momma? Again? Do I have to?" He cried and worry along with irritation tightened her thin lips as she stuffed in the two pillows, sliding the few coats and jackets that hung on wire racks above.

"Yes, baby. I'm sorry, but I'm having another friend over and he can't know that you are here." She fluffed out the blanket and covered the dark green carpet before turning back to Julian and grabbing his arm to begin leading him inside the small space.

"I know that you don't like it, but you've got to do it. This'll be the last time, I swear."

With a soft hiccup, Julian nodded and got to his hands and feet so that he could climb into the closet. He laid his head on the pillow that was propped uncomfortably against the inner wood wall and tucked his feet to his chest as his mom covered him with the soft fleece blanket from his bed.