Best wishes and God's blessings to all. Thank you all for the votes on "The Light of Dawn" which allowed me to win the monthly contest, I just hope it's not the last time.
MoogPlayer
P.S. Don't forget to vote.....
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Hi, my name is Mark Albertson, and I'm forty five years old. I stand six feet tall, weigh a hundred and ninety pounds, and I have dark brown, almost black hair and sky blue eyes. At the time of what I'm about to tell you happened, I was barely thirty- two years old, an Electrician by trade, and when I wasn't working; I lived what most would call a reclusive life. I hadn't always been that way though. I met a girl named Kerrie Hill during my freshman year of college. Soon there-after, we fell in love and then got married right after we graduated.
However, after three wonderful years of marriage, or at least I thought so, and also to make a horribly long story short, I came home from work early one afternoon and found her in our bed fucking the nineteen year old kid that lived next door. Needless to say, our marriage ended....very badly. Because I was twenty-five at the time, I climbed into a shell and hid for the next five, or so years.
I had given up on both women and love. Women became nothing more than something to fuck on occasion, and the word love meant nothing more to me than a word that women used to get their way, or at least that's how I felt at the time. During the first few months of being single again, I felt very bitter. And after I'd had enough of my friends' wives or girlfriends setting me up on blind dates with their friends, most of which ended in disaster, I climbed into my own world. It was a world that was safe from heartbreak, shattered dreams, and pain. I bought fifteen acres of very thickly wooded land and built a house right in the middle of it all, away from everything and everyone, and that was my sanctuary.
Chapter One
I had just come home from work one Friday afternoon and my telephone began ringing the moment I set foot in my house. "Hello," I said, into the receiver.
"Hi, Mark," my little sister, Taylor, said on the other end, "What're you doing this weekend?"
"That all depends," I suspiciously laughed, "Why?"
"Well," she began, giggling into the phone, "I'm having some friends over for a barbeque tomorrow, and I was wondering if you would like to come over. You haven't been out of that house except to go to work for years. Please say that you'll come....for me, please?"
I could never say no to Taylor, who herself was twenty-eight at the time and had just gotten engaged to her college sweetheart, a guy named Travis Henderson. He's a nice guy that loves my little sister and....oopps, I'm getting ahead of myself.
"Alright, Sis," I smiled, "What time do I need to be there, and do I need to bring anything?"
"At one o'clock, and just bring yourself," she said, "And thank you, Mark. I love you very much, big brother."
"I love you, too, baby girl," I smiled, "I'll see you tomorrow."
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I was up and awake by nine o'clock that next morning, and as I sat on my back porch drinking coffee, I began to remember why it was that I'd chosen to live the way I'd been living, or should I say existing.
As I thought of all the pain that Kerrie had put me through, I began to get mad all over again. Only this time, I was mad at myself for ever allowing someone to control my emotions like she had. And in doing so, I felt the sting of tears as they hit my eyes and began their journey down the cheeks of my face.
"What the hell is the matter with you, Mark?" I said aloud, "Gut up and be a man for fuck's sake, and stop thinking about that whore." As one can see I was still hurting, and with that said, I was also afraid of getting hurt again. But still, today was a day that I was going to spend with my little sister who, after our parents were killed in a drive-by shooting in front of a grocery store one day while I was at work and she was away at college, became the only family I had left.
Let me take a moment to describe Taylor. She's five feet, four inches tall, has long blonde hair that flows past her little waist, she got that from Mom, and big blue eyes the same color as mine. And because I had never looked at as more than my baby sister, I didn't know all the particulars that most guys want to hear about. But let me say this, Taylor is a very beautiful girl, that much is certain.
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"Hi, Mark," Taylor cooed, as she hugged me tightly, "I'm so glad you could make it."
"I told you I'd be here," I smiled, as I hugged her, "Besides, nothing's too good for my baby sister."
"Damn, right," Taylor giggled, as she led me out to the pool in her back yard.
Because they'd invested it correctly, the annuities of the stocks that Mom and Dad had bought tripled upon their deaths. And the money we inherited was, by far, more than either of us could've ever imagined; leaving both Taylor and me not ever having to work again if we chose. But our parents, God love them, had raised us correctly, in that we both wanted to contribute to our inheritances with earnings of our own, hence the reason we both worked regular jobs and each had our own houses on our own properties.
As Taylor led me through her house, I looked around and saw certain things from both of our childhoods, like pictures being proudly displayed as they hung on the walls, or sat in frames on various surfaces throughout her house. It was reminiscent of being in Mom and Dad's house, and it left me with a soothing feeling of comfort.
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Once we were out in the back yard by the pool, I discovered that Taylor and I were the only ones there. But before I could say anything she smiled and said, "No one will be here until two o'clock, but I wanted to talk you alone for a while. I hope that's okay, Mark."
"Of course," I uneasily replied, "Why wouldn't it be?"
"Because I never see you anymore," her eyes beginning to fill with tears as she spoke, "You stay holed up in that house all by yourself, way out in the middle of nowhere." Then she threw her arms around my neck and cried, "I miss you so much, Mark. Don't you understand that you're the only family I have left?"
"Shhh...Don't cry, sweet girl," I softly said, gently hugging her as tears fell from my own eyes. It was then that I began to realize that in becoming such a recluse, I'd hurt the one person that I loved more than anyone, or anything on earth.
"You and Kerrie have been divorced for well over five years now," Taylor sadly replied, "Don't you think it's time to move on?"
The look on her face nearly ripped my heart out by the roots, and in doing so, also made me realize that my precious baby sister was right. But still, I was terrified of being hurt again, and at the time; I didn't want to even consider getting out anywhere, much less getting into another relationship. But with my baby sister being the kind and caring soul that she is, I smiled and said, "Taylor, sweetie, I know that you love me and that you're only looking out for me, but I'm just not ready to start dating again."
"And why not?" she pointedly asked, "I know a lot of different girls who...."
"I told you, Taylor," I firmly replied, "I'm not ready."
"Dammit Mark," she spat, "What the hell is wrong with you?"
