Turn the Page:

TURN THE PAGE: Part Three

Preface:

The tale of Theresa 'Terri' Murphy continues in her hometown of Medford NJ. After fleeing Chicago, upset, and troublingly aroused by her encounters there, she returned to her Grandparents home.

Dean joined her there in time to celebrate the holidays together but by the first week of January it was time for him to take up his next position. His company had no immediate opportunities in the locality and so Dean was taking what looked to be a medium-term slot in California four or five months at least. Seeing that his wife still seemed out of sorts but was improving since returning to NJ, Dean opted to travel alone to California with the understanding that Terri would follow when she felt able to.

While not an overtly ardent man, Dean was also troubled that Terri and he had not made love since Chicago. He was concerned that a prolonged absence would not improve that situation. Before leaving he conferred with Terri's Grandparents on a plan to help Terri get out more and so get back to her old self.

Terri had written an email to Dontrell on her last night in Chicago. Her face still streaked from her tears, she briefly outlined what had occurred and confessed that in her search to recapture what she had felt with him, she had instead caused herself upset and humiliation. Terri feared that this sexual journey was one she was losing control of, so she informed Dontrell that she was going to keep the cell phone off for the time being and that if she changed her

mind,

she would let him know via email.

In the weeks that followed Terri relived her indiscretions in Savannah and Chicago by day and by night. However, as time passed and not long before Dean had left once more to work, the daytime reflections on her past had eased considerably. Her nightly bouts with her dark subconscious however still continued.

Chapter 1:

It was nearly noon and Terri was still lounging around in her pj's when her grandmother breezed into the living room like a battleship under full sail. Eveline Murphy was a formidable woman in her late 60's who had never taken a backward step in any argument she'd had. With a regal flourish she tossed a large envelope into Terri's lap startling Terri who had been engrossed in a new book her grandfather had lent her.

"What's this?" she asked her grandmother who had now taken a seat opposite her.

"Now dear, you know I love you, don't you?" Eveline began, avoiding Terri's question. "Well, I love you enough to tell you this truth. Only so much healing can happen with you sitting on your backside. I don't know what's gotten into you, but I don't plan to spend the next few months watching you mope around feeling sorry for yourself. God rest their souls, but your poor parents wouldn't have wanted it either."

Terri had the good sense not to deny her Grandmother's assessment and Eveline could see Terri's head starting to bow in misery. "So, moving on, what 'this' is, well it's a late gift from your Grandfather and me" Eveline said before Terri could dwell any further on her Grandmothers 'truth'.

Terri opened the envelope to see it contained some paperwork and a prospectus from a local community college. The paperwork turned out to be admittance documents for Theresa Murphy to start an eight-week course in 'Introduction to Creative Writing'.

Shaking her head Terri began to hand the paperwork back to her Grandmother but Eveline just folded her arms and fixed Terri with a stare that bottled Terri's voice inside her throat. "No, no, there'll be no excuses this time Theresa. No false entreaties that you haven't the skill or the knowledge for such a thing. You have a ten thousand books rattling through that mind of yours and the blood of poets running through your veins. You're going and that's an end to it. Class starts at 6pm tonight. There's tea in pot and I've fresh bread made, so come in the kitchen when you've a mind to." With that her Grandmother swept from the room, the room grown larger now for the absence of such a force of nature.

Miserable, Terri flicked through the prospectus until she found the course she'd been signed up for.

'Introduction to Creative Writing -- Co number 1446B

Over 10 weeks and 30 lectures, attendees will review and discuss modern poetry and the skills required for those wishing to improve their skills in the art of composition. Attendees will also be required to create short stories across different genres. These will be reviewed and graded throughout the course.

Credits from the course can be used towards a degree in Creative writing.

Instructor: Abraham Willis, Local Author of 'The Hourglass Knight' series.'

Terri looked at the timetable, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 6pm to 8pm. Well, it wasn't like she had anything else to do she thought. The instructors name also sounded familiar. Eventually she had to look up the books online before she remembered. The series was about a time travelling Private Investigator from NYC who meets a disgraced Templar Knight. Between them they 'Holmes and Watson' through several supernatural crimes over the course of the series. Terri recalled the second book in the series being in Dontrell's book collection but she hadn't bothered to read it as she hadn't read the first one and her free time had been used for something more hands on.

She quickly searched for the author, finding a short review about him. African American, born and raised in Trenton NJ, BA in English, first published aged 20, last published work when he was 34. She quickly did the math in her head, so he was 53 now, that was a long time with no new book.

Not exactly a world class author she thought but then again, it's a tiny community college. Terri knew her Grandparents were right to get her focused on something, she hadn't spoken to anyone aside from them and Dean in weeks. Her stomach, and the smell of fresh bread permeating the house, reminded her she hadn't had her lunch yet. She headed to the kitchen, prospectus in hand, her mind already preoccupied by what she should wear that evening.

Chapter 2:

The college was a small affair, there was only about 3000 students attending. It eschewed the sciences, instead focusing on arts, literature, and some business courses. There were three buildings on campus but by this time of the day only the main building was still open, mainly to allow students access to study rooms and the library.

Terri stood nervously outside the classroom door. It was just coming up on 6pm now and the corridors were fairly quiet, most of the regular full-time students having left hours ago. Around her, loosely clustered were the people she supposed were to be her classmates for the next couple of months.

She was relieved to see that she wasn't going to fall into the category of youngest, oldest or the solitary female in the group. In fact, it seemed to be quite a good mix-match of people, a couple of retirees maybe looking for help writing a mystery novel, some middle-aged housewives perhaps looking to craft the next Fifty Shades, a couple of twenty-something year old nerds who were definitely looking to one day write some bestselling book about zombie vampires from their whispered comments to each other. All seemed friendly enough, greeting each other as they arrived with head bobs and tentative smiles.

The sound of footsteps echoing down the corridor drew her attention from her peers. Abraham Willis might not have ever made it to the Times Best Sellers list, but you wouldn't know that to look at him. Tall, good looking and elegantly dressed in an expensive suit that seemed more suited to a high paid CEO than a low paid local professor. He reminded her a lot of Isaiah Washington from Grey's Anatomy.

Terri was fully prepared for him to be either arrogant from his own limited success as a writer or perhaps disgruntled to be reduced to teaching a small class of would-be writers instead of signing a deal with Netflix to produce a show based on his books. Abraham was in fact neither of these.

He half jogged the remaining few feet between himself and the classroom waving his hands to usher everyone inside. He began apologising good-naturedly for having kept them waiting outside as people shuffled into the room. Once everyone had taken their seats in the classroom, Terri had positioned herself to the left and almost at the back, Abraham perched himself on the desk at the top of the room and looked down at the 19 students present.

"Right so I am going to just jump straight on into it. I don't like wasting time having everyone introduce themselves and then talk about why they opted for this course. I will learn about you through your words and you are clearly here to learn to write. As for myself, if you want to know me then buy my books...please", he poured out this speech with practised ease and Terri guessed it wasn't his first time giving this course.

"Okay then, lets kick things off" he said, rising to his feet and striding to the white board. He proceeded to write '

I WILL NEVER FORGET THE TIME...

' before turning and saying "That's your opening, give me a story, a poem, song lyrics, a dirty joke, whatever, but give it to me in 10 minutes."

Everyone began frantically scribbling on their pads, heads down except for occasional glances to see if others were doing the same. Terri quickly wrote the first line and then paused; she knew what she was going to write but still hesitated. Finally, when nothing better came to mind, she began

'I will never forget the time I lived in Savannah and my air conditioning broke...'

10 minutes later and Abraham was walking between the desks collecting the signed papers.

"Alright, that was a kind of a warmup exercise I like to try out" he explained, "I won't be commenting on these to you or the class. They are a merely a tool, one which will give me an idea where you are skill wise and it gets you in the right frame of mind." He clapped his hands together, rubbing them energetically and smiled down at them. "OK, before we move on to tonight's curriculum, which is some poetry analysis and some talk about how to first approach writing a story. Let's look at your assignments that I will want to see on Friday. So, give me a story, no shorter than 5000 words, and with a nod to my chosen genre let's make it science fiction please."

The older people in the room didn't look particularly pleased so Abraham hurried to add "Each assignment will be on a different genre, but even if it isn't something that interests you or you find difficult to write. Do give it your best effort, stepping out of a comfort zone is important in life and literature."

The rest of the class flew by. Abraham was witty, with a self-depreciating sense of humour especially where his own writing career was concerned. The class were engaged, and Terri even found herself being drawn into making a few observations during the discussions. She drove home afterwards, joining her Grandparents who were settling in to watch some TV.

"So, was it enjoyable Theresa?" asked Eveline, her husband Jack managed to drag his eyes from the TV screen long enough to hear what Terri's answer would be.

"It was great fun, Abraham the instructor is really good and I was talking to a couple of people after the class, they were pretty impressed by it all as well," Terri blurted out before snatching an Oreo off the plate of food Eveline had left near Jack. They both looked relieved at Terri's enthusiasm, even more so when she gave them both a hug of thanks before heading to her room to think about her assignment.

Terri was buzzing so much she texted Dean as well, fairly sure that he was behind her Grandparents gift. He replied

'Fantastic Sweetheart, so happy to hear you liked it. Still in work right now, but I'll call you tomorrow ok?'

Terri had never really been a huge fan of fantasy or science fiction though she did enjoy some of the classics. Because Abraham's book had featured a knight, she finally had an idea to have a young princess rescued by an older knight who had to fight and slay a giant to save her. It was really a nod to Don Quixote, so she tried to spice it up by creating an elaborate fight sequence followed by the princess falling in love with the knight.

Tuesday evening, Dean rang. He listened to Terri's news which was exclusively concerned with her course and he was obviously pleased that she was enjoying it so much. After that he had news of his own. "The new company is really impressed by my work, I've gotten a lot of positive feedback, in fact a lot more than I'd expect. It hasn't been said openly but I get the impression they may make me an offer of a job" Dean told her.

"What would that mean?" Terri asked. "Well to start with it would mean no more travelling around" he started explaining. "The company is based in Japan but has opened offices on both coasts here in the US. Like I said I haven't heard anything concrete but Ichika Ishiguru, she's the operations manager I've been primarily dealing with, has definitely dropped some broad hints regarding that."

Terri did her best to sound positive and encouraging for Dean but aside from being able to settle down in one place there wasn't much about his news that grabbed her interest. Dean rattled on for another 10 minutes about the job before Terri pled tiredness and rang off. Really, she just wanted to continue polishing her assignment.

After about four rewrites over the course of the Tuesday she felt pretty happy with it and was quietly confident Abraham would like it. All the assignments were piled on his desk as the class started that Wednesday, everyone keen to impress Abraham by submitting the work early. He seemed genuinely taken aback that everyone had been so prompt, quipping that he was grateful they were giving him the weekend off reading them. Again, there was a lot of banter and laughing over the next two hours.

Friday was more of the same except that they received another assignment, this time a story in the murder mystery genre. Terri struggled with it and was less than happy walking in Monday evening to the class, she had written it more as an opening to a longer story rather than as a complete stand-alone short story. Her only high point was naming the murder victim Cassandra.

Taking her usual seat, she waited impatiently for Abraham to hand out the previous week's assignments. He stood beside his desk, graded documents held in the crook of his arm and addressed the class. "I've written comments and suggestions throughout your assignments, you'll know them as they are barely legible and in red pen," there was a low nervous chuckle from the students, "Please people, if you see lots of red, don't go getting disheartened. A lot of feedback doesn't mean it was bad, just means I had a lot to say on the subject."

He pulled out the first folder, tossing it to the owner "Jimmy...Zombie Werewolf meets Zombie Vampire...no surprise there then. I liked it. Good work." Another folder was handed out, "Emma, storyline was a bit vague, but your prose was beautiful, great effort." Four more assignments were handed out before, "Terri, excellent reimagining of a classic tale. Very enjoyable...might rob that one for myself.".

Terri flushed with pleasure at his praise and pawed open her assignment to read his comments while he handed out the remaining work. She quickly scanned through them, mostly remarks on grammar and comments on slowing pace of story to allow reader to engage better with a situation. Finally, he had written; '

Bold move to stray from the typical young dashing hero. Quite enjoyed the hint of romance between the characters as well. Looking forward to more from you. AW'

Abraham then gave them back the Murder/Mystery assignments, as expected Terri didn't receive the same level of praise for this work, the two retirees both receiving the lion's share of plaudits for plot this time. Abraham then took his usual position perched on his desk. "So, this week's first assignment will be a love story... yes I thought that might please you Emma. One quick note, Jimmy, don't write a love story between a Zombie Werewolf and a Zombie Vampire, I think 'Zombie Vee -- Private Investigator' was pushing the boundaries already." Jimmy good naturedly accepted the laughter from the other students before everyone quietened down for the class to continue.

Chapter 3:

Terri was now in her fourth week of the course. She was already considering signing up to do further study as she was enjoying it so much. While the class were waiting for Abraham to arrive, Emma swung round from her seat at the front and said "I was thinking it might be nice for everyone to go out for a drink this weekend after class. Anybody interested in doing that after Friday's lecture? There is a nice bar just down the block from the campus."

Everybody seemed to be interested in doing that, even the older generation among the students, so Terri didn't want to be the lone dissenter. Instead, she gave Emma a thumbs up and tried not to dwell on having to cope with a social gathering.

The bar was called 'The Slip Inn' and while spacious it had a dark wood interior and dim lighting that Terri felt was a bit gloomy looking. Her classmates clearly disagreed, commenting on its sense of intimacy and old-world charm. Yet another example of her being out of step with others Terri thought to herself. She'd come dressed smart casual for the night out, a short purple woollen jacket, grey printed T-shirt, short purple floral print skirt, black stockings and low-heeled shoes.

It wasn't until her third glass of wine that she realised that Abraham had joining them for a drink, apparently invited by Emma. He was working his way through the group, pausing to speak to people singly or in small knots. Terri set her glass down on the table and excused herself from Jerry, one of the retirees, who had been telling her about his late wife's passion of overcooking food, to go to the restroom. She took a moment to compose herself in front of the mirror before heading back.

Jerry had moved on to a conversation with Jimmy's friend Brian, the other half of the Zombie writing duo, and so Terri found herself momentarily isolated on the fringe of the group, glass of wine in hand.

Abraham appeared beside her and touched her elbow gently to gain her attention. "Everything alright? You are looking a little lost" he asked. Terri had tensed instantly at the physical contact and she tried to keep her voice steady as she answered, "Yes fine, just back from the bathroom. Oh god, I mean I was just talking to someone a moment ago. Here, talking here, not talking in the bathroom. Shit."

Abraham laughed out loud causing some heads to swivel briefly towards them. Terri once again found herself burning with embarrassment, thankful now for the poor lighting in the bar.

To seem less of a clutz she asked Abraham a question; "So did you really get an insight into everyone from their writing like you said in the first class?"

"Absolutely" he responded. Terri waited for him to follow up, but he remained annoyingly silent.

"Really?" She cringed as she said it, but Abraham just laughed again.

"I suspect you are in search of some proof to my superpowers then" he said. To which Terri nodded hesitantly before smiling slightly and answering firmly "Yes, please."

"Ok well it wouldn't do to describe what I learned about one of your fellow students, I mean you wouldn't know if I was making things up, right?"

"Right" Terri agreed, taking another sip of wine.

"So, I will instead turn my penetrative mind to the mystery of Theresa Murphy. Sorry I mean of course Terri, since that is how you sign off your work. My first deduction is you don't like being called Theresa, correct?"