Excerpts

Have a peek at some of my favorite pages from The Girl Who Dreams in Green!

Page 64

"When they got home, Leigh started packing a bag. Over and over, she filled up the backpack until it was bursting, then unloaded it again, rearranged it, and loaded it all back in. She pulled armfuls of clothes from her closet and piled them on the bed until there were mounds scattered everywhere. She took the hangers out of each piece of clothing, then replaced each one and hung it back in the closet before crashing it all back on the bed again. From time to time, Beth would stand in the doorway, watching and silent. Just waiting for the phone to ring, at a loss for what else to do.

Finally, at 2:10, Beth’s phone buzzed. She answered on the first ring.

'Hello?'

'Hi, Ms. Carpenter, it’s Dr. Kirk. I just wanted to let you know we found Leigh a bed. Crosspoint was full, but Baptist General had a space on their psychiatric floor.'"

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Page 69

"After a dinner that she didn’t eat -- a hamburger and floppy french fries -- Leigh waited in line to take her sleeping pill. When it was handed to her in a tiny paper cup, she didn’t pause before swallowing it. She headed straight back to her room. No one tried to talk to her.

Once in her room, she slipped off her moccasins and got into bed, pulling the covers to her chin and squeezing her eyes closed. And then she waited."

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Page 79

"Leigh put on a sudden burst of impossible speed, one she couldn’t sustain. But she only needed to give herself a little space between herself and the monster. She needed a moment to do what she needed to do.

When she was a dozen yards or so ahead, she stopped, and crouched to the ground. Bird fluttered off of her shoulder, landing a few steps away.

“What are you doing?” Fox, who was now standing nearby, asked.

“Hang on, I don’t know if it will work,” she answered.

Leigh reached within herself to feel the strength that had made the flowers grow and the trees bend to her path. She grasped it in her mind and imagined it spreading throughout her whole body. Again, she began to glow, and then to grow."