First Chapters: Legacy of Dreams by Carlie Simonsen

Carlie Simonsen's Legacy of Dreams is a teen to young adult story about how Tanya learns to cope with losing her ability to walk, the withdrawal of her best friend, the disappearance of her boyfriend, and her ability to do the sport she loves. Faced with the chance of losing her beloved horse as well, Tanya has to come up with a plan that will somehow let her salvage something of the life she used to have, and the dreams she was making reality. Legacy of Dreams is a tale of learning to live again.

Tanya knows her parents have been tip-toeing around the problem of keeping a horse she can no longer ride, and whose very name makes her burst into tears. Tanya has only just discovered something that might help things, when she is faced with having to face losing her horse, Copper, altogether. The only question is, whether the family budget can stretch that far. Must she lose the only link left to the life she used to have?

The non-illustrated version of Legacy of Dreams can now be found at Smashwords, Kindle, Kobo, Nook and iTunes.

First Chapter: Legacy of Dreams

If Copper hadn’t bolted—set off as fast as a scalded cat and taken a running jump over Brumby’s fence with my best friend and my new saddle on his back—I’d never have met Daniel Tulloch.

Now some of you will say that meeting Daniel was a bad thing, anyway. Some would even say that, if I’d never met Daniel, I wouldn’t be in this wheelchair now.

I can’t argue with you about the wheelchair thing. At least, I can’t argue with you about it in a way that will make any sense. Someone once told me that ‘these things happen for a reason’. If they’re right, then I’d probably be in this wheelchair, Daniel Tulloch or not, in which case not meeting him wouldn’t have helped.

To be honest, I don’t think they were right. It’s possible that there were some things I had to learn, but I didn’t have to be in a wheelchair in order to learn them. The hiking accident with Daniel was just that—an accident. You can argue with me until you’re blue in the face, but don’t you ever try and tell me the wheelchair was a thing that ‘had to happen’. If you do, I’ll ask you to leave, because you won’t be my friend any more.

Do you know what I miss the most? Riding in the moonlight on the track by Maple Creek. Actually, no, that isn’t what I miss the most. I think I miss Daniel’s company the most. I miss that a lot.

He went away after the accident. He didn’t even say goodbye. I’ve asked all my friends at school if they know where he’s gone, but none of them do. It seems he didn’t tell them he was leaving.

Now, I’m leaving, too.

END FIRST CHAPTER

If you would like to read more, Legacy of Dreams can now be found at Smashwords, Kindle, Kobo, Nook and iTunes.