When I started writing ANOMALY, I did so with one thought in mind: I like my monsters insidious.  I don’t want my victims to be running barefoot through a forest in the middle of the night, already scared past the point of knowing normal bowel function when one of my babies strikes.  I want my monsters to hit when someone’s comfortable – perhaps when they’re sitting on their front porch on a nice sunny day, or out on a date with their sweetheart, or, as in the excerpt you’re about to read, when they’re out with friends, having an illicit teenage smoke, not imagining for a moment that there could be anything scarier than the punitive wrath of their Mother.

ANOMALY is out now on Amazon:  http://amzn.com/B00I2D6N58

Tommy Brown slipped his catcher’s mitt on and off, a nervous habit that had been with him for as long as he could remember.  Anton Ferraro lay back on the grass and blew smoke rings.

‘My Mom’ll kill me if I don’t get home soon!’

Anton rolled his eyes and took another drag.  ”Tommy, when are you gonna grow a pair?’

Tommy glowered.  This wasn’t the first time his so-called best friend had called his manhood into question, and the joke was wearing just a little bit thin.

‘Maybe I should ask your Mom; hers came in around the time she married your Dad, didn’t they?’

Tim Kelly sniggered, blurting smoke in Anton’s face.  Joey Gretsch stubbed out his cigarette and stood between the two combatants.

‘You’re both pussies; accept it and move on.’ With the air between the two friends still chilly, he added: ‘Hey, my sister’s balls are WAY bigger.’

Tim smirked.  ‘He’s right man…I should know.’

Tim illustrated his point with a disgusting gesture that cracked them all up – mothers may have been off limits, but when it came to a sister’s reputation, it was open comic slather.  Anton slapped Tommy on the back, which was as good as saying sorry, and the four friends headed for home.  Joey opened a pack of Juicy Fruit and gave everyone two pieces each to mask the tobacco on their breath.  Tommy chewed it like it was his last meal, which was exactly what he was afraid it might be if his mother found out he was smoking.  Anton and the other boys exchanged a look, but said nothing.  They were four years away from being able to walk into a Seven Eleven and request a pack of Camels without fear of legal or parental repercussions, but that kind of freedom was something a guy like Tommy would never have; his mother wouldn’t allow it.

They were just about to cut through Harper’s Field – abandoned farmland that the residents association and the government had been tousling over since the eighties – when Anton was distracted by a girl walking a dog.

‘Tessa!’

Tommy wondered if there was a manly way to vomit.  Tessa O’Reilly had been the only girl he had ever thought about since kindergarten.  To her, he was just another name on the attendance roll but today, whether it was his way of making up for the testicular jibe or just to screw with him, Anton was playing wing man.  At least, that was what it looked like he was doing.  After Anton whispered in her ear for what seemed like an eternity, Tim and Joey joined in.  He couldn’t imagine a guy like Joey talking smack about him to the love of his life, but being talked up by your friends wasn’t necessarily a ringing endorsement; it made a guy look needy and, with the possible exception of his father, the needy guy did not get the girl.  The boys broke off and resumed the trek home, all three sporting conspiratorial smiles.  Just as he was about to join them, Tessa called him over.  Now he was sure he was going to hurl.

‘Hey,’ Oh god, I did I just squeak?

‘Hey.’

Tommy’s mind was racing streets ahead of his mouth.  She was the last person to speak, so now it was his turn, but whatever he said wouldn’t be worthy of her.  Then again, if he let the conversation lapse for too long, she might mistake his silence as disinterest.  She looked like she wanted to talk, so maybe he should just shut up and wait – girls didn’t like it when you cut them off.  They didn’t like guys who were too shy, either.  But how to be a gentleman AND a guy?

Tessa kissed him, and suddenly his mind was an oasis.

There was another silence.  This one was anything but uncomfortable.

‘So, I just got the new Street Fighter game for my Super Nintendo; you wanna come over and play it tomorrow?’

That was it.  This was destiny.

‘Sure.’

‘HELP ME!’

‘Anton,’ they said in unison.

Tommy grinned.  ‘I’d better go before they kill him; is just after lunch okay?’

‘Perfect.’

Another heavenly silence.

‘Great!  I guess I’ll see ya.’

Tommy ran through the field feeling like he could do anything.

Sam O’Reilly had always known his daughter was beautiful.  She proved it to the world a week later by voluntarily going down to the police station and recounting the last time she saw the four missing boys, one of whom she had adored since kindergarten.  She was a tough kid, but he could see her strength withering away with every hysterical phone call from Lucy Brown.  For the first time since she was five years old, his little girl needed protecting.  When the answering machine speaker vibrated with furious, accusatory screaming for the fifteenth time, he decided enough was enough.

‘Let’s take Chee for a walk.’

Sam took her arm as they approached Harper’s Field, determined to steer her away from the place she already visited in her dreams.

‘Chee likes it here.’

‘The field’s cordoned off, Honey.’

Tessa took his hand and gently pried it off her arm.

‘It’s okay, Daddy…I’m okay.’

They had almost passed what seemed like a mile of yellow tape when Tessa noticed something and ducked under it.  Sam yelled after her, then stopped when he realised what she was headed towards.

Tessa barrelled through the field.  She wanted to kiss them, kill them, tell Tommy how much she missed him and smack him senseless for what he’d put his mother through; what he’d put her through.  The whole town thought they were dead, and they’d been hiding the whole time, just so they could play some stupid practical joke?

Sam didn’t care about anyone else; those boys could have set fire to the whole damn town and he wouldn’t have cared, so long as Tessa wasn’t hurt.  But they HAD hurt her, terribly, and showing up in the middle of Harper’s Field looking like extras from Leave it to Beaver was equivalent to baking her a cake and pouring warm fertilizer all over it, as far as he was concerned.  He started after her, anger allowing him to tear through the tape with little effort.

He was two feet away when his little girl dropped like a house brick.