Autumn Masters is a failure in her own mind. She is about to let her dream of being a writer die when she is given an opportunity that may be too good to be true. She has to navigate dating, sex, attraction, writing, teaching, and learning all at the same time. Will she survive the torture, use it to her advantage, or be swept beneath it all?

The Torture of Autumn

Autumn wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked up at the coaster. She wasn’t sure whether she was sweating because of the heat or the fact that this roller coaster went up far above the level of the clouds. At least, that’s what it looked like. By the time they got to the top, they’d probably need oxygen tanks. But at least she’d be able to see the Earth from orbit. And then they’d come crashing down at a few hundred thousand miles an hour.


When she was younger, she’d read a short story about a kid who goes to a theme park and has to ride on a set number of rides. The rides are exciting and about as scary as anything you could imagine. Turned out that it was a population control method. Each ride had a good chance of killing you, just from the shock and stress to your heart all the adrenaline would cause. The kid survived the number he had to do, but then, of course, decided to ride on one more. And he died.


This roller coaster looked like something right out of that story.


Chapter 36: The Rollercoaster in Plotting