New Horizons
Dan Carr
Author Bio
Dan Carr lives in Nova Scotia, and enjoys writing.
Description
After a wild night out and being carried home by her on-again-off again-boyfriend, 17-year-old, high school drop-out Valerie Campbell is sent to “New Horizons”, a facility for troubled youth. Strip searched and uniformed, Val is put into cabin 519 with five other disturbed residents from across the country, all of whom she quickly discovers are all different shades of crazy. Pessimistic, jaded, and stubborn, Val clashes with her cabin mates and counsellors–because she’s not like them–until one night she witnesses an escape attempt from fellow delinquent and nutcase, “Jenny Shoulders”. The event changes Val’s outlook, and she quickly decides that the only way to get better is to get out.
Book excerpt
I wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen to me because I was already used to how things were. But it seemed like Dad was done leaving pamphlets about behaviour modification classes for teenagers carelessly thrown around the house. There were only so many threats that could get down on paper before they became meaningless, and Dad’s needed roots in more terrifying ways.
Finally, he had figured out what to do with me.
There was no telling what exactly I had done to set him off. It had to be the no job thing. Or maybe it was embarrassing to have a daughter without a high school diploma. That wasn’t exactly something I wanted to yell at the top of my lungs either. Whatever my issues were, they had finally made Dad look for a solution.
It was mid-afternoon, and while I tried to nap with my iPod on the highest volume it would go, Dad’s solution to my problems stormed into my bedroom.
In my dream, I had been gliding. It was from one building to the next, and the building I was coming from was slightly higher than the one I was going to. That was the only way I was ever able to fly in my dreams—if I was falling.
I woke up when my blankets were pulled from me. There were two large men standing in my room. I had no idea what was going on, and I was so startled that I didn’t believe it was happening.
There were a lot of things I regretted right then. Mostly what I had on. I was wearing boxer shorts, a sports bra and earphones. I was listening to a country music song and I wasn’t even that much of a country music fan. My phone was plugged into the wall, charging, and I noticed the screen light up as the men moved toward me.
It was 2:30 p.m., and in the real world, people were finished having lunch and onto their next thing. Sunday chores might have been on the to-do list, or beginning to start a nice supper. My new reality was a bearded dude and a ginger man trying to take me away.
“HELP!” I screamed.
The bearded man pulled me off the bed by my leg. My ass smashed the hardwood floor, and it felt like my tailbone had shattered. I tried kicking my legs to make it more difficult for him to drag me out of the room, but I was a little, 17-year-old girl that had nothing on two, huge men.
The last thing I saw before a bag was thrown over my head was the ginger man, and I saw that he was missing a front tooth. After that, it was darkness. The bag felt like a potato sack and smelled like mildew. Flecks of dirt got in my eyes, and I wished I had contacts in to protect my eyes like a shield. But I wasn’t a contacts person in any sense of the word. I was proud to have good eyes and no friends.
Author Website
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28800321-new-horizons
Best place to buy your book
http://www.amazon.com/New-Horizons-Dan-Carr-ebook/dp/B01AKWPJ6M