Book of Bella: Prologue

16 year-old Bella Rose awakens with her little sister Lily to the crack of a single gunshot splitting the still night. Heart pounding, she throws off the covers and hushes Lily to stay put. Barefoot and breathless, Bella runs to their pa’s room — and freezes.

Her pa lays crumpled beside his bed, a blood stain blooming from a single gunshot to the chest, bathed in cold moonlight. His stare was steel. Unafraid. Ready. Just as always.

Paralyzed by shock, Bella barely registers the distant neighing of a horse. Her instincts kicking-in, she snatches her pa’s revolver from the floor, his final act of defiance still warm in her hand.

Racing out of the front door, the dry wind stinging her eyes as tears threaten to fall, she stops in her tracks just in time to see a black stallion tear off into the darkness, a shadowy figure riding hard into the night. Bella raises the revolver and empties it into the distance, her eyes never leaving the mysterious figure. The gun empty, but her arm still in the air, the tears begin to flow as Bella lets out an ear piercing scream that echoes in the distance.