The Footbridge

Life couldn't be worse for Sally Mason. Heart broken not only by her enemies, but by her once best friend, she thinks suicide might be the answer. disaster strikes when unknown magic thrusts Sally and Kelly through time to 1995 – the year before Sally was born. Sally gains a new perspective of her mother when she witnesses the abuse she suffers from her own bullies. When Sally jumps to her pregnant teenager mother's defense she sways history into a hazardous chain of events which leave her tied to a chair in a dark basement, with aborticide pulsing through her veins. The secrets she holds are far too valuable. Someone wants her dead, and is willing to kill anyone who interferes.
Can Sally and Kelly rescue her in time to save her baby? Can they solve the riddle that has shaped their lives? Can you solve a crime if no one knows it happened? Can they find a way back to the present? Read the powerful story of Sally's fight for survival and Kelly's arrival at the meaning of true love.
Appropriate for ages 15 and up. Contains some sexual references.

Excerpt from The Footbridge
7:21 am: Sally pulled her door closed. Back in elementary school she loved what happened next. She still did, despite how painful it was. But pain was something she was learning to live with. She touched the red welt on her cheek. It was fading now and didn't hurt so much, nothing compared to the heartache Kelly would cause when he acted like nothing was wrong. She pulled a lock of hair over the injury, grateful the rest were under her clothing. She looked across the side yard to the house next door. Kelly opened his door and came out exactly on time.
She would have left earlier, but Kelly always left at 7:21 and it was the only chance she ever got to talk to him. It was worth the occasional tardy. Sally shot a look toward him. He smiled and waved, but Sally saw through his friendly facade. She considered going back inside. Not when Mom’s been drinking. Grudgingly she willed her feet to carry her forward. Kelly was waiting for her when she reached the sidewalk.
“Hey Sal,” Kelly said.
He was the only person who could call her that. But it really didn't matter what he said. She might even like if he called her a worthless accident child like her mother did.

“Hey Kel.” Or maybe it was just because they’d had those nicknames since he had moved in, way back in first grade. “How’s lacrosse?”
“Honestly Sal, it’s kicking my butt. But I’ve lost eight pounds since the season started.”

“I thought you looked good.” Sally blushed. Did I really just say that? But Kelly didn’t seem to notice. “Sorry.”
Kelly glanced sideways at her flashing an amazing half-smile. They reached the footbridge. They used to pretend it was magical and that it could transport them to other worlds. But get real! Cashmont High School was not magical or a place where imaginations could rule.

Halfway across the bridge Kelly stepped in front of her, forcing her to stop walking. He gently brushed aside the lock of hair Sally had pulled over the red welt from Jack’s paintball attack. “What happened?”

Sally twisted away from him. Why did he keep pretending he even cared? “I got hurt.”
“Sally. What happened? Was it your mom?”

Sally’s eyes shot up. “No! She’d never hurt me.” She tried to step around him but he moved sideways to block her.

“Sal, I’m your friend. Tell me about it.”

So he’s my “friend” now? “It was Jack and Harv. They attacked me with their stupid paintball guns when I was painting in the ravine. Jack stomped on my easel and kicked my paints all over too.”

Kelly’s face burned red. “Those guys are dead.” He studied Sally’s face. “Did they hit you anywhere else?"