Seasons of the Heart: Spring

By Stephanie Fletcher

Season’s of the Heart - Spring

Spring tells us of a first love, of puppy love, of a crush, and the ending of such love, as a person grows with experience and they learn more about their relationships. It shows us how, in all innocence, these fledgling relationships can crash and burn. We follow eight teenagers and go with them for an end of term party, at a local beauty spot, where it all goes horribly wrong.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stephanie Fletcher
• Release date: May 8, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311670847

Stephanie Fletcher

Biography (29 10 2012)I am a Mother and best friend to three girls. I truly love my life and every person who has ever touched it with unconditional love, and I am grateful for all their support in my endeavours. I am now a grandmother for the first time in October 2012 and I am sure inspiration will come for some children's stories! I have a website for publishing my writing and poetry. The web link is http://www.stephanie-fletcher.co.ukI started writing seriously after having a traumatic event in my life and having a nervous breakdown to boot. My physical and mental health suffered greatly and now six years later, hand on heart, I can honestly say I am not the self-driven OCD perfectionist I was before.I had a spiritual enlightenment, counselling, and time, lots of time on my hands. I could have quit, and sank deeper into depression but I didn't. I am lucky enough to have three wonderful caring and considerate daughters who witnessed my decent into hell and back, and a family who never left my side. I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and hit life head on again like the Taurean bull I am.I had always written a journal of sorts, spasmodically, and the days of staring into thin air became times of inspiration. At first I was scared to show others my work. The last thing I needed was criticism that cuts you to the soul. I needn't of worried, only but a few people gave me critique that knocked my confidence and I began to grow as a writer.I am not very well educated, only secondary school and college at forty doing a creative writing course and gaining a certificate in counselling skills. I read a lot, anything and everything and I take notes everywhere, for use later in my work. I collect idioms and sayings, inspirational quotes etc and they all help. A voice recorder is handy for those nighttime ideas and I also read my work out loud, recording them and then playing back, as it is easier to see where something doesn't work. I have a programme called ‘dragon speak’ which types up my recordings and saves a lot of frustrating keyboard time, which does my arthritis no good! I like to do my original work long hand so I have a lot of A5 notebooks needing attention.Writing is never dull, or a job, I enjoy everyday I spend writing and often surprise myself at what comes out. I am now attempting my first Novel, called ‘Time Tells Tales’, a synopsis is on my website and the first book of the five tales is published as an e-book on Smashwords.com and is called ‘Alfred's Tale - Dead in a Ditch’. I have three collections of poetry and two short, novella type stories available as well, one of which is free, so go help your self to a copy!

Book preview

SEASONOF THE HEART

SPRING

By

Stephanie Fletcher

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SMASHWORDS EDITION

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PUBLISHED BY:

Stephanie Fletcher on SMASHWORDS

SPRING

Copyright © 7/05/2014 by Stephanie Fletcher

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This story is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

Adult Reading Material

I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Stephanie.

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Seasons of the Heart

These four short stories reveal to us the four stages of ‘LOVE’ throughout a year in the lives of very different couples and their experience of love at a certain stage in life.

Spring tells us of a first love, of puppy love, of a crush, and the ending of such love, as a person grows with experience and they learn more about their relationships.

Summer is about a chance meeting which maybe the beginning of true adult love, or unconditional love. It is a story of hope, of not giving up on love, that it may, at any time, in any situation, leap out and touch us on the shoulder.

Autumn reveals to us what happens when things start to go wrong, when love leaves and divorce seems inevitable or is it?

Finally, Winter takes us to a place that all couples fear - being the one left alive and alone, when their partner passes away. It is a sad but enlightening story which shows that true love never dies.

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SPRING

School’s out for ever! A group of kids sang loudly as they left school for the summer holidays. There was a lot of ‘egging’ going on - that is all the fifth form leavers were having eggs and flour thrown over them. Many had stripped off their uniforms and were having a ceremonial fire until a teacher caught them and made them put the bin out.

Stupid boys! Stacey, a fifth form leaver herself, said to her best friend, Jenny.

What do you expect? They haven’t got a brain cell between them. Jenny replied. Well I am glad the exams are over, now for eight weeks of unbridled bliss. You going anywhere on holiday Stacey?

Nah. Mum can’t afford it this year. Are you still going with your parents to Ibiza? Stacey asked with a tinge of jealousy.

You bet, I can’t wait, but it’s not until the end of August so we will have a few weeks to hang out. Jenny replied, feeling bad for her friend who would not get time away from this boring town.

Fancy coming down the ‘rec’ (Recreation Park) later and see whose about? Stacey said changing the subject.

Suppose… nothing else to do in this dump of a town. See if you can pinch some of your Mum’s wine that she makes… I bet she won’t miss one bottle. Jenny asked hopefully.

Dunno, Jen… Stacey didn’t like her Mum’s wine and she would be punished if found out.

Go on Stace, we can have a good ‘ole drink to the summer hols Jenny replied trying to encourage her.

If she finds out she’ll ground me forever! Stacey objected as her friend was now becoming annoying.

Oh well, if you daren’t… I suppose we will have to go beg someone at the shop to buy us some. You got any money? Jenny asked. Stacey knew she was not about to drop the subject, it was the last day at school after all.

A bit, I’ll see what I can do. Meet you at six by the bus stop okay? Yet another subject change which Stacey fit in before they parted ways.

Yeh, whatever! in Jenny’s best imitation of her heroine Catherine Tate.

They had reached the street corner where they went different ways. Stacey headed left towards her Mum’s council flat, and Jenny turned right towards the footbridge that went over the train tracks, towards a more up market area of this relatively small town.

It was an ‘everyone knew everyone’ kind of town and everyone knew which side of the tracks they heralded from. It didn’t bother Jenny where her mate came from, but her parents were constantly going on at her to choose a friend more suitable and not one who constantly got her into trouble.

Stacey and her Mum lived alone; her father had never taken any interest in her. She was the result of a fling, a one night stand, and not true love. Stacey was determined not to end up like her Mum; she was going to hang on to her dream of finding the perfect boyfriend and true love. She was saving herself for the wedding night - a virgin.

Jenny howled with laughter when Stacey talked about her slushy romantic ideas. She had admitted to her romantic friend that she had sex for the first time when she was only fourteen, but it had been a quick, unsatisfactory experience. In Jenny’s world, practise makes perfect, so she kept on practising. She bragged to Stacey how she had done it on her Mum and Dads bed with one of her cousins. Stacey was horrified but kept Jenny’s secrets as she was one of the ‘popular’ girls at school and she always looked out for her. Even when Jenny’s parents placed the blame for her bad behaviour on her, she still stuck by her.

Now everything was set to change, the exams were over and