by C. Kennedy
“You did not make the win?”
He smiled wide. “Third is great.”
Jake and Sophia joined them, and Jake high-fived Michael. “We’re losers, bro!”
Michael cracked up as Jake hugged him and lifted him off his feet. “Best losers ever!”
Jake laughed as he dropped Michael on his feet. “Gives us more time to live life to the fullest!”
Christy looked up at Michael. “This does not bother you?”
He shook his head, still smiling, and ran a gentle hand down Christy’s thick curls. “I have you. That’s all that matters.”
Now Christy smiled, his beautiful eyes sparkling like the crystal waters of the Caribbean. “S’agapó.”
“I love you too, babe.”
~The Final Beginning~
AUTHOR’S NOTE
AS WITH the first two books in this series, Ómorphi and Thárros, this novel was written to give victims of abuse hope. It wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the real life Christys and Thimis who endure and struggle every day to survive and heal. I have nothing but the utmost respect for you.
Until you have endured the violation of abuse, whether by a single act or a chronic condition of suffering, you cannot know the meaning of self-loss. It isn’t only the obliteration of all your belief systems; it is also the annihilation of your human worth and the unrecoverable larceny of your self. Painful beyond description in myriad ways, debilitating, and tragic, abuse—including bullying—leaves everlasting, invisible scars.
Abuse is not only fostered by secrecy, it depends on it. Tell someone. There is hope and there is help and, no matter what anyone tells you, it’s okay to ask for help.
For those of you finding yourselves trying to understand an abused friend or family member, please keep an open mind. Imagine how hard it is for them to reorganize and come to terms with what has happened to them. While this book and its prequels are works of fiction, the abuse and posttraumatic symptoms suffered by Christy and Thimi are based upon real events. The best thing you can do is to listen. You may be the only person in the world they can turn to.
If you are a victim of abuse, always remember that abuse does not define you. Never judge yourself by what others have done to you. One final note. A learning curve isn’t a perfect arc. You will falter, but you will succeed. Allow yourself the time needed to heal, and do it at your own pace. Above all, be gentle with yourself.
Thank you for reading this book.
Cody Kennedy
Los Angeles, California
May, 2017
RESOURCES
IF YOU are in crisis:
RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network) 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
NATIONAL RUNAWAY SAFELINE 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929) OR TEXT 66008
THE TREVOR PROJECT 1-866-488-7366
The Trevor Project is the leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention among LGBTQIA youth. It operates the only accredited, nationwide, around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention helpline for LGBTQIA youth.
If you are not in crisis and need help finding people who can help and support you, go to ReachOut.com at http://us.reachout.com/get-help/finding-people-to-help-and-support-you
If you need advice on how to help a friend, go to ReachOut.com at http://us.reachout.com/get-help/help-a-friend/relationships
If you are an adult male survivor of abuse, go to 1in6.org at http://1in6.org
Abuse comes in many forms, and if you’re having trouble figuring out whether you’re experiencing abuse, check this out: The Power and Control Wheel at LoveIsRespect.org http://www.loveisrespect.org/is-this-abuse/power-and-control-wheel
Parents, Teachers and First Responders, Be One With Courage at http://www.onewithcourage.org/
My blog also contains a Resources page http://www.ckennedyauthor.blogspot.com/p/resources.html
A bit of inspiration, Please Hear What I’m Not Saying by Charles C. Finn http://www.ckennedyauthor.blogspot.com/2012/12/please-hear-what-im-not-saying_1.html
More from C. Kennedy
Elpida: Book One
High school senior Michael Sattler leads a charmed life. He’s a star athlete, has great friends, and parents who love him just the way he is. What’s missing from his life is a boyfriend. That’s a problem because he’s out only to his parents and best friend. When Michael accidentally bumps into Christy Castle at school, his life changes in ways he never imagined. Christy is Michael’s dream guy: smart, pretty, and sexy. But nothing could have prepared Michael for what being Christy’s boyfriend would entail.
Christy needs to heal after years of abuse and knows he needs help to do it. After the death of his notorious father, he leaves his native Greece and settles in upstate New York. Alone, afraid, and left without a voice, Christy hides the myriad scars of his abuse. He desperately wants to be loved and when he meets Michael, he dares to hope that day has arrived. When one of Michael’s teammates turns enemy, and an abuser from Christy’s past seeks to return him to a life of slavery, only Michael and Christy’s combined strength and unwavering determination can save them from the violence that threatens to destroy their future together.
Elpida: Book Two
High school senior Michael Sattler leads a charmed life. Almost. He has great friends, parents who love him just the way he is, and he was a champion hurdler until someone took out his knee when they kidnapped his boyfriend. Yet, Michael is determined to make the USATF tryouts in spite of his injuries.
Christy Castle is Michael’s entire world. Healing from years of abuse, his abduction by a predator has left him hiding a new secret as he tries to start his life again. Together, Michael and Christy work to recover from their wounds in time to make prom and graduate high school. To complicate matters, Christy is astonished to learn a fellow victim from his native Greece has survived. Christy will stop at nothing to bring him to the US to keep him safe.
But the prosecution of Christy’s kidnapper looms large in their futures and the struggle to return to normal only worsens. Christy’s past continues to haunt them and, when the prosecution turns ugly and Christy’s new life is torn apart, only their unrelenting courage and determination can save them from the nightmare that threatens to destroy their future together.
They met at ten, kissed at twelve, and were madly in love by eighteen.
Caleb Deering is the captain of the swim team and the hottest senior in school. He comes from a loving home with a kind father and a caring, but strict mother who is battling breast cancer. Nico Caro is small and beautiful, and has a father who rules with an iron fist—literally.
One morning Caleb forgets himself, and he pecks Nico on the lips at school. A teacher sees them and tattles to the headmaster. The accidental outing at school might be the least of their problems, because the ball set in motion by the school’s calls to their parents could get Nico killed. In the face of that very real danger, Caleb knows he has only one mission in life: to keep Nico safe.
Follow the burgeoning love of two teens during the worst year of their lives. Irish-born Declan David de Quirke II is the son of two ambassadors, one Irish and one American. He is ‘out’ to his parents but to no one else. French-born Jean Isidore de Sauveterre is also the son of two ambassadors, one Catalan and one Parisian. His four half brothers have been told to cure him of his homosexuality. Both teens have lost a parent in a London car bombing.
Declan and Isidore meet at the beginning of their senior year at a private academy in the United States. Declan is immediately smitten with Isidore and becomes his knight in shining armor. Isidore wants to keep what is left of his sanity and needs Declan’s love to do it. One is beaten, one is drugged, one is nearly raped, one has been raped. They are harassed by professors and police, and have fights at school, but none of it compares to running for their lives. When the headmaster’s popular son attempts suicide and someone tries to assassinate Declan’s
mother, they are thrown headlong into chaos, betrayal, conspiracy, allegations of sexual coercion, even murder. And one of them carries a secret that may get them killed.
Readers love the Elpida series by C. Kennedy
Ómorphi
“What an exciting, heartbreaking, powerful, and motivating story this turned out to be!”
—Fabulous Fictions
“Such a book is well deserving of much more than the five stars I can give. And it is well deserving of your time. Please, I beg you, give this a go.”
—My Fiction Nook
“Hauntingly beautiful... Magically written, the voices and setting of the story were so clear you lived each moment with the characters.”
—2014 Rainbow Awards
Thárros
“Kennedy has created an indomitable spirit in Christy—one that will not be broken despite all the horror he has experienced. Kennedy has given us a novel of hope… of love… of courage… tharros.”
—Joyfully Jay
“C. Kennedy doesn’t just write a book or tell a story, he opens a window to allow you inside the characters’ hearts and minds, and let me tell you, that takes talent!”
—Bike Book Reviews
Raised on the mean streets and back lots of Hollywood by a Yoda-look-alike grandfather, C. KENNEDY doesn’t conform, doesn’t fit in, is epic awkward, and lives to perfect a deep-seated oppositional defiance disorder. In a constant state of fascination with the trivial, Cody contemplates such weighty questions as: if time and space are curved, then where do all the straight people come from? When not writing, Cody can be found taming waves on western shores, pondering the nutritional value of sunsets, appreciating the much-maligned dandelion, unhooking guide ropes from stanchions, and marveling at all things ordinary.
Find Cody everywhere!
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And read a FREE serial story, Fairy: fairybycodykennedy.blogspot.com/p/about-fairy.html
By C. Kennedy
Safe
Slaying Isidore’s Dragons
ELPÍDA
Ómorphi
Thárros
Elpída
Published by HARMONY INK PRESS
www.harmonyinkpress.com
Published by
HARMONY INK PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
[email protected] • harmonyinkpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Elpida
© 2017 C. Kennedy.
Cover Art
© 2017 Reese Dante.
http://www.reesedante.com
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Harmony Ink Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or [email protected].
ISBN: 978-1-63533-373-2
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63533-374-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017901543
Published May 2017
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America