Introductions - Meet Stephen Blake

Photo Credit: Tiquetonne2067

Another rough cut excerpt from "Saving Catherine"

    It was late fall when Stephen Blake found himself standing amid a crowd on the steps of the Amherst Academie Science Hall. A student of some years past, Blake was there wanting to pay tribute to the memory of his mentor, Professor Nigel Eastwick or at least, as he saw him to be. 
  Perversely, he had only found out of the Professor’s passing when an invitation arrived at the farmhouse announcing a benefit in his honor. Blake would remember the sight of the envelope as it lay amongst the day’s mail. It was unusually large to be anything ordinary. Inside on a heavy stock of white, a single word  would catch his attention and turn his world in. 'Posthumous', the word devoured his senses leaving nothing of the day to reach him as he stood outside his home in disbelief. No sounds would catch his ear, no scents would carry to him in the morning air and though his lips were still wet, no taste would remain on his tongue. Even his fingers would lose feeling of the smooth parchment as it lay between his rough hands. Only one thing remained and it magnified his loss – his sight. Through clear hazel eyes, Blake would read again and again the words before him.
   In his mind, they were projected a hundred times over so that he could trace the form of each and every word. He could study the line breaks and variances of weight given to curves going up and down. He could see deep into the grain, beyond  black streaks resembling nothing more than specks on the page. He could see everything and yet understand nothing of Professor Eastwick’s sudden death. Looking to understand one word, he was at a loss to find any answers in the other words scripted elegantly in between.
   The only thing he did know was that a return to Amherst was in order.

Other "Saving Catherine" Rough Cuts here