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You know what? From now on, I'm gonna start posting chapters of my next book here. The first typed edition will be free, but I'll have a book version sooner or later.
Ingrid Horan is a longtime member of Heavenly Hope Church in Anderson, and hates it thoroughly. Still, it's the only way she can get out of the house without having to actively meet new people. But when she encounters a bear during a group hike, she stumbles upon a house covered in vines, with all manner of flora she's never seen before...
Chapter 1
In the depths of a certain forest in Anderson, Indiana, no matter the season, there is a wide, circular swath of land that is always flush with fresh grass, colorful flowers, and evergreen shrubbery, some of which isn’t even native to the area. The local fauna has learned to flock to this place if there’s no food nearby.
At the center of this mysterious sudden jungle stands a massive effigy of a bagworm moth caterpillar bearing on its back a construct of logs forming a helix 70 feet high, well-hidden among the towering pines of the surrounding forest. None have been inside it, and few hikers have seen more than a glimpse while walking the beaten paths. Even then, they all dismiss it as a trick of the eye.
But the imagination runs wild, and wherever this behemoth came from, whoever lives inside it, if anyone, has to be responsible for the incredible bout of biodiversity.
…
“Alright, singles, gather ‘round!” called a tall, blond boy as he stood upon a boulder.
Outside of an information center within that same forest, the members of the Bible Study Group for Singles of Heavenly Road House of Faith prepared for a hike.
“Are y’all ready for the first Heavenly Road Hike of the season?!”
“Yaaaay!”
This was the first of several that had been planned for that fall, and everyone there was morbidly excited about it.
Almost everyone.
Not Ingrid Horan.
She was mostly on this trip because it was the best way to get away from her worrisome parents without having to talk to strangers. Unfortunately, this group with whom she had spent her formative years weren’t much better.
They were always so annoyingly bubbly and energetic and “joyful in the Lord” (ugh) and Ingrid felt it impossible to keep up most of the time. She knew she “ought” to be able to display the same verve her churchmates did, but she just...couldn’t conjure it up. She could, however, think of at least two reasons why this was so.
Reason the first: This kind of touch-and-go energy had been a feature of the church’s congregation for as long as she could remember, and her brain was just now beginning to recognize it as a drain on her psyche.
Reason the second: Even if it hadn’t, she never felt the same kind of ecstasy that everyone else did—or seemed to-- back at the House, and the most hateful thing to her was to try to fake any kind of emotion.
“Now then...” continued the tall blond boy, Joshua Pendleton, whom Ingrid had known since they were in Little Sunbeams Sunday School together, and the most annoying of all. “We’re gonna be splitting up into teams of 2 of the same gender, and each pair is gonna be taking either Sycamore, Pine, Maple, Beech, Ash or Hickory trails--”
Ingrid raised her hand. “Uh, Josh? I don’t think we’re gonna be able to do that. There’s an uneven number of people here.”
“Uh...”
Josh silently counted the gathered singles and realized she was right.
“Uh oh. Nngh...”
Even from atop his boulder, Ingrid could tell he was turning bright red. Huh boy...
“Uhhhh then I guess I’ll take one for the team and go with one of the girls!” He said at length, swallowing roughly.
“Ingrid, you...” He cleared his throat. “Do you wanna c-come with me?
”
In recent years, it had become painfully obvious that Josh had a crush on her, and that he’d become terrified to even breathe in her direction for fear of it leading to them committing adultery. She was no sadist, so she smiled and said:
“Sure Josh, whatever gets us going.”
Josh flinched at “whatever gets us going,” but nervously returned the smile and clapped his hands together with an air of finality. “Alright! Let’s pray for safety before we get out there!”
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