Excerpt from Novel "Like Rain" by Brandon Victor

The blinds were closed and there was no activity in the house. There was no television on, no sound of a microwave, or the smell of a freshly cooked meal from the kitchen. There were no conversations or sounds of laughter to give the house a pulse. The sunlight barely sneaked past the blinds as if the rays were fighting to be free. There was no sound from water in the shower or from it being flushed into the sewer system. The residence was truly a representation of its single inhabitant.
Down the stairs on the living room couch laid Ivy. She was laying wide awake on her back staring at the ceiling with her sharp peircing eyes. She laid there in nothing but a white wife beater and grey sweat pants. The determined yet uneasy look on her face made her seem like she was having a conversation with herself in her mind. Her long wavy, jet black hair came draping over her shoulders to the bottom tip of her breasts. Her lips are full and round, always moist with lubricant and soft as rose petals. Her skin was smooth and shiny from the cocoa and shea butter applied just an hour earlier. Her complextion is slightly darker than a milk chocolate hershey bar.
She was silent and still, her breaths were slow and easy. On her lap laid a book. A diary to be exact, it was a diary that she has not wanted to open for quite some time now. It was leather bound and tan in color. It was an average diary that you would find at Borders or Wal-Mart. She just laid there and rubbed the leather gently with her fingertips. She did this for almost an hour, then a single tear begain to fall down the left side of her face. It was hot, almost scolding, like a small peice lava was secreting from her eye. She had held back the any formation of a tear for so long that this single one seemed to erupt through. With her right hand, she caught the tear before it fell to the suade pillow her head rested on. She raised her fingers to her face and observed the slight moisture that she saw. She rubbed it into her skin and gave a slight laugh. Ivy then sat up with her back resting on the arm of the couch. She gave out a weak sigh and whispered to her self... "To hell with it."
Slowly she reached her index finger under the lace that held the book together and popped it loose. Ivy gingerly opened the diary like she could do it harm if she opened it to quickly. The first page simply stated, This is the Diary of Trinity Louise Harris. After this text the page was as neat and as clean as if it were brand new. The first entry was on the following page, Ivy scanned to see how long she wrote but the date is what caught her eye. She had no idea that Trinity kept a diary this long... July 27, 2000