Hi everyone, it has been quite a while since I've been able to get on Gaia, I'm happy to be back. Anyway, I have my book out, and would love to share an excerpt from it, and get your opinions on it. This is a real book, and has been published. It will soon be republished, so i thought I would take this opertunity to share it here with my fellow writers. The book is called Amanda's Faith and I'll share the beginning of the prologue with you today.

AMANDA'S FAITH

“You’re an evil little girl. Why did you have to be born? I never wanted you.” My mother’s words cut like the blade of a knife, and they left deeper wounds than her hands ever would. She was drunk most of my childhood, and half the time I don’t even think she knew what she was doing.
My father loved me, and tried to protect me from her, but when I was three he left the house and never came back. There was a funeral, and everyone was sad. No one told me where my father was, everyone ignored me as I sat all alone on the steps holding my teddy bear.
It wasn’t long after my father died, that my mother began to beat me. I never knew what made her angry or hate me, she never told me and I never asked. A day didn’t go by that I wasn’t beaten for one thing or another.
When I started school, I began to have to hide my bruises so my teachers wouldn’t see them. The first time she broke my arm, she told the nurse that I had fallen from a tree. She always had an excuse for my bruises if people asked.
When I was five, a man moved in with us. His name was Mike and he was very kind to me. At last I was told where my daddy was. Mike held me while I cried, and then he took me to the grave where my daddy lay.
On my sixth birthday, Mike made me a stack of my favorite pancakes. For an extra treat he smothered them with whipped cream and put six candles on them and then he sang Happy Birthday to me. My mother came in the room as I was blowing the candles out. Without a word she picked up the plate and had dumped the pancakes in the trash. Mike had gotten angry and had yelled at her. Then they exchanged harsh words and like daddy had when I was three, he walked out never to be seen again. That time there was no funeral and no one was sad. My mother had just been angry. That’s when she began to drink what she called her “happy Juice.”
I will never forget my sixth birthday. That day when I returned from school, I hadn’t even gotten one foot in the door before she came down on me. “You ruin everything you horrible little girl. You take everyone away from me. I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!” She had screamed at me as her fists had slammed into my tiny body. I awoke two days later in the hospital, black and blue with several broken bones. My mother blamed Mike and he was carted off to jail before I could say anything.
Two weeks after I was released from the hospital, she came home in a foul mood and already drunk. My mother came in my room and beat me till I was unconscious. That time she had no one to blame, so she was taken to jail and I was sent to a foster home. That’s where my story first collided with Stormy Rose Winter’s disturbing story.
When Stormy was four years old, their house got invaded. Her father had hid her and her two brothers in a closet. “Mitchy, you’re my big boy now, you take care of your brother and you watch over little Stormy, she’s in your care now. Don’t let them find her, whatever you do, don’t let them find her. Now hide in here and keep them quiet. Don’t make a sound, no matter what you hear, and no matter what, do not leave this closet unless you see the uniform I told you about. Promise me son.”
“I promise dad.” The eight year old said trying to hide his fear.
“Your mother and I love you, we always will. We’ll be together again son, someday we’ll all be together again.” He kissed all their heads and then closed the door. They heard something heavy being moved in front of the door trapping them inside.
From their hiding place, they heard everything as their parents pleaded for their lives. Her brother Mitch tried to cover her ears so she couldn’t hear their mother’s screams, but she still heard them. Stormy clutched her baby brother Josh who had been wrapped up in a blanket, to her chest. Suddenly the smell of smoke filled the closet and Josh began to cry. To calm him Stormy began to sing her favorite song. “Jesus loves me this I know for mommy and daddy tell me so little ones to him belong we are weak but he is strong Jesus loves you this I know mommy and daddy told me so little Joshy don’t you cry Jesus loves me this I know for mommy and daddy told me so
From outside the closet Mitch could hear a siren getting closer.
“They’re coming, keep singing.” Mitch told her they gotta hear you so they know we’re here.”
“Jesus loves me this I know for mommy and daddy told me so” Mitch began to sing along with his sister. He heard the siren get really loud and then get quiet.
“They’re here, we’re saved. Sing louder Stormy, sing louder.”
“Hey Steve, you hear that?” A fire man asked as he reached the door to the burning building.
“Sounds like a child singing Joe.”
“It’s coming from inside.” Joe hacked at the door.
“This looks pretty bad Joe.” Steve said
“Where are you?” Joe called out. The singing got louder.
“It’s coming from upstairs.”
“I’ll go check it out.”
“Be careful Joe, those steps aren’t going to hold.”
Joe scaled the stairs and reached the top as the flames engulfed them.
“Joe, hurry up and find that little girl, this fire is out of control.” Steve shouted up to him through the roar of the out of control fire.
“Where are you?” Joe shouted again above the roar
Mitch began to kick at the door to the closet. “We’re in here.” He shouted.
“How many are with you?”
“Just my sister and our baby brother. We’re in the closet. There’s something blocking it we can’t get out.”
“Hang on kids.” Joe shouted back as he fought his way through the rubble and smoke. “Hang on!”
Joe reached the closet and shoved the dresser that had been pulled in front of the closet. When he opened the door, the kids started coughing. “You’re all right now; I’ll get you guys out of here.”
Mitch recognized the uniform his dad had told him about, and wasn’t afraid. He helped Joe lead his sister to the window where another fireman waited for them on a ladder. Mitch climbed out the window without hesitation, and then turned to take Josh from his sister who still clutched him tightly. Once her arms were free, Stormy ran for the door calling to her mother. Joe tried to catch her before she reached the burning door, but the little girl skirted out of his reach and backed up into the hot door catching her back and shoulder on fire. Joe threw a blanket on her and rolled her till the flames died. He carried her to the window, as the flames burst through the bedroom door.
“Get these kids to safety.” Joe said already accepting his fate “And tell my wife and son I love them, and I died a hero.” A split second later the floor gave way beneath him sending him to his death.
Stormy and her brothers were rushed to the nearest hospital where the two boys were treated for smoke inhalation and Stormy for her burns. The county got involved after it was determined that both parents had died in the fire. A social worker took them to a foster home.

Please let me know what you thought, and I'll be happy to post more soon. Please be honest with me, I really want to know what you think, don't be afraid to be critical. Thanks.