The Stone

By Justin Emmons

"Catching a glimpse of himself in a small pond, Trevor saw his reflection, and staring back at him was a young, fourteen-year-old boy dressed for battle."

Moving to the Appalachian Mountains and expecting a different life from the city, Trevor finds more than he bargained for. While exploring his new surroundings Trevor di

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: May 21, 2024
• ISBN: 9798893332346

Justin Emmons

Justin Emmons grew up on the plateau in east Tennessee, along with his three brothers and one sister, was raised by his mother, Linda, and grandmother, Jean "Grandma." He continues to live in the same small town with his wife and five children. Justin hopes to use this book to encourage readers to chase after Jesus and find their own courage to face Satan with the whole armor of God.

Book preview

Chapter One

At fourteen years old, Trevor had already experienced amazing adventures traveling the world with his mother and father, who was a Marine. He had seen grand sights throughout the United States and even visited exotic countries, making memories and friends.

However, the life of a Marine was hard. And Trevor hated saying goodbye to new friends, changing schools, and never really having a home. He was always moving.

Trevor and his mom were tired of traveling. They wanted to put down roots. So, sadly, Trevor’s parents decided they would split up for a while.

Trevor’s mother had loved growing up in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee, so she made the decision for the both of them to move to the place she had loved so much as a child.

He was looking forward to having a room he could settle into and making friends he could keep. And the search for their new home was fun, too. His mom made it feel like an adventure.

His mother settled on a little farmhouse in just about the middle of nowhere. Trevor didn’t like the idea of being so far from everything because he was used to the city. Where would he find friends to make? What was there to do there? Although he had been excited at first, now he went with his mother reluctantly.

The day of the move, he hugged his father goodbye and grabbed his backpack stuffed with his most precious items. He was sad to watch his father disappear as they turned a corner but knew he would see him again when he returned from his next deployment.

Settling in, he looked out the window as his mother drove them to their new home. When they finally arrived, Trevor wondered how far out it was and where was the closest town? It seemed like they’d been driving for days.

When they pulled up to the place, he crawled out of the car and walked up to the big, empty, old farmhouse. It looked a little run-down, and he knew he had a lot of work to do.

***

The first few nights in the house were weird for him because he wasn’t used to it being so quiet. There were no sirens, no cars, no people at all. Only a few owls hooted and coyotes howled in the distance. It was eerie and took a while for him to slip off into dreams.

On the third night, they had a pretty bad storm, which knocked out the electricity. Now, being in the city with the electric out and being in the country, in the middle of nowhere, alone was quite different. In the city, even without power, there was noise. Neighbors talking, car lights that streamed like rivers through the streets. But here… it was so dark he could feel the night. Kind of spooky, actually, but peaceful. A place where he could really think.

Trevor sat there in the darkness, listening. Crickets and frogs as far as the ear could hear. It was different, but nice.

Once the wind stopped thrashing the trees, he finally fell asleep.

The following day, the electricity was still out, and without his gaming system or even TV, Trevor had to find something to do, so he started exploring around the area.

He grabbed a big stick, because you never knew what you’d run across in the country—a bear, a mountain lion, a snake, or, heck, maybe even Big Foot in these parts.

First, he went out to the barn and opened the big, old, wooden doors. Inside looked like it hadn’t been used in years. It was pretty dusty and had spiderwebs everywhere. As he walked through the barn, he picked up the random objects he found and studied them.

The whole time he felt as if someone or something was watching him.

As he looked around, he noticed a trap door in the floor that looked like it led to a cellar. Using all his strength to heave the door up from the layer of straw and dirt, he went down, discovering it was almost as if someone lived in there, though there wasn’t any evidence of anyone having been there for a while.

Trevor noticed something out of the corner of his eye that caught his attention. He went over and picked it up, marveling at the most beautiful stone he had ever seen.

As he stood there, his gaze fixed