DILLON'S P.O.V "Sweet dreams, Ariana." I whispered in her ear, causing her to shudder. "And just remember, I mark off those who are dead to me. Who no longer have a place in my cold heart...you are not leaving any time soon." **** ARIANA'S P.O.V The drinks affects seemed to be like a blanket. I felt squished in my own skin, my consciousness ebbing away but my limbs still moving, although barely holding me up. I was mentally dragged down as distant pulses entered my ears, my feet sliding across the table in succession to the dancing everyone was encouraging me to do. My eyes swivelled around as the scent of alcohol wafted closer to me, many hands shoving, pulling and gripping at me. I needed air that wasn't tainted with sweat and rotten with beer, but the more I unconsciously danced, the more I didn't care about anything. **** Peer Pressure! Restrictions! Betrayal! Gossip! Abuse! That list might be Ariana Coopers' biggest problems in school, but the outside world is a whole different story. Unraveling Aria's past and digging deeper into the truth is the only way she can find out who she truly is. That's not necessarily a good thing...or a bad thing. **** 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁, 𝗮 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝗿𝗲-𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻! Volume. One in the Deeper Chronicles © Copyright

Andy, Alex and Todd are three friends living and working in a dead-end Californian theme park town. In their small world of days spent working as theme park mascots and nights of partying, the three friends will experience the loss of parents, friends and lovers, and must quickly learn how to cope with loss in a world that has not prepared them for these rites of passage. The story also features a parallel narrative, presented as interludes, wherein Andy reflects on childhood fairytales his dying mother used to tell him, representing a fantasyland that may once have been Utopian but now that world is fading and the cracks are beginning to show. It is a narrative of love and loss that reflects the real world events occurring in the novel. "Douglas Welcomes Careful Drivers" is a meditation on family, friends, love and the presence of God where we least expect it. An original fiction by Christopher Daniels (writtenbychristopher)