Saint Joseph School

I saw it beginning to end. What a long strange trip it's been.

Franky and Violin

(Update for I15)

"Dear Diary,

The irony of the fact that I am specifically addressing a book with the intent to divulge my latest secret thoughts hasn't escaped me. In fact, the last time I confessed my deepest, darkest thoughts to a set of pages and glue, I ended up in exactly this situation ...

Franky is, and likely always will be, a junior.

Some say that those who read the holiest books of the world are reading fairy tales. But regardless of what the reader’s actual beliefs are about the literal truth of scriptures, these books offer insight into a fascinating characteristic of human nature many fail to notice. That every hero gets it ...

It was bigger than she had expected. The cavern mouth formed an oblong arch the better part of 12 feet across from end to end and rose to a little over 7 feet at the apex. The broken face of rock crumbling around the edges was none too inviting, but it seemed stable enough. The beach in this area ...

Francis was pretty sure that it was Henry David Thoreau who once said, “Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does not howl; it is the imagination of the traveler that does the howling”, and at this rate, she was pretty sure he also deserved a special place in Hell.

Clad almost comically in a ...

Almost two weeks to the day of her abrupt realization, Franky found herself staring dejectedly into her coffee. The back-wall diner was crowded, but around the early afternoon, it always was. The elderly regular who had taken up residence next to her sniffled his way through a breakfast special ...

“You see,” the plant continued, without pause, “Father Joshua was already well versed in the language of the occult..”

“You mean Latin.” Franky interrupted again.

“No, I mean he was an educated man when it came to things supernatural.”

The art of talking without the necessity to breathe made the ...

She stared across the room from the foot of her bed as the plant paused to adjust the angle of its bowl.

“So…ok….wait a second. You’re saying that this book is some kind of piecemeal, Frankenstein, magic book that some priest stitched together while on the run from the Fae?”

Apparently satisfied ...

I was totally in the Knowledge Bowl (what my high school called the Academic Decathalon) when I was a freshman and sophomore. I was also in the band.

Now I write, do yoga, and dig for ancient dead people.

I know, I know.

My nerd hurts.

The bright morning sun found Franky blearily, but happily, walking the halls of St. Joe's, a large stack of plastic wrapped uniforms carefully balanced between books and clipboard. As she passed each locker in turn she hooked the bag containing the cheer uniform onto the outer door along with a ...

If anyone would have told Franky, two weeks ago, it would be the benevolence of a sickly, yellowing, plant that brought her deeper into the mysteries of magic, she would have laughed herself sick. It was more likely that she’d be entertaining an accusation that she simply rolled the wilting thing ...

Franky smiled, clapping Bri on the shoulder in faux camraderie.

"Fair enough. I think we can manage that. Who knows...you might even get a real pyramid this year."

The wicked glint in the goth girl's eyes belied something deeper. Something she found funny....and that was never good.

"So," she ...

It wasn’t until dust-grey rays of the early morning sun began their trek across the dorm room carpet did Franky realize she was awake. The smell of old coffee grounds and sneaker rubber, a scent native to carpet, assaulted her nostrils. She groaned and slowly, with several aching joint complaints ...

With little more than a minute to show time, Francis Cross finally sauntered out the gym doors and onto the school lawn. Seeing Bri at her perch behind the card table was all she needed to remind herself to school her features and plaster on her best thousand-watt smile with as little teeth ...