THE THINGS YOU DO IN THE NAME OF WRITING:

you all know how hard I've been working on book # 3, and have been for quite some time, what you don't know is that I chose a local backdrop for part of the story, and it was a place I'd never been, a dark, scary, forbidden to go place and me being me, thought, well I'll just write a very nice letter to the owner of said dark, scary forbidden place, and well, why wouldn't he/she let me have a look around.

Well that letter went unanswered.  So I did some google online research, found out what I could, even located a couple videos from inside the structure on YouTube, and I thought, well crap, I guess this is as close as I'm going to get to being able to get a feel for the setting where so many things will happen to my characters....but Ann, oh, well, she took me on what was supposed to be just a simple and innocent fall photo shoot, that somehow turned into a quest, to get me to the place that my fictional characters would find themselves.  It started out as..."I'll just show you the area it's located"...which then turned into driving around the entire premises scoping out holes in the security of the property.  I looked like the unibomber in my dark shades and hat pulled down low....Ann, she looked perfectly sweet and innocent like we'd lost our way and were just trying to get directions.

Next thing I knew, we were devising a plan to infiltrate the compound....by stealth and deception, come hell or high water, us two grown women were plotting and scheming to storm the fort.  We'll call this place "the fort" in order to protect ourselves.

It was a grand plan, one in which we had no idea what to expect.  We faced everything are area had to offer in terrain, hills, marshy swampy areas, a ravine, sticker bushes that tore at our clothing, burrs that stuck to our clothing, I was sweating up a storm as we made the 2 mile trek to our destination.  Oh, but we thought we were so sneaky, keeping to the tree lines, keeping out a watchful eye for anyone who might want to have us shot or arrested on sight.  Ann wasn't nearly as worried as I was, I just was really skiddish about the idea, knowing full well that THOUSANDS of trespassers had made similar journeys to this place....that the location was a known haunted site that many travelers were in hot pursuit to visit, but that wasn't my purpose, I wasn't there to ghost hunt or to vandalize, I just wanted to close my eyes and allow my senses to  take in all that the setting had to offer.  What did it smell like, what noises could be heard, how hard was it to get to, the lay of the land if you will.  It's much easier to write about a place you've been, and experienced for yourself than try to write about a place that you've only seen in pictures.

Well to say the least, we arrived haphazardly to our destination and my, oh my it was glorious, the sun was perfect, our journey had been a success and we'd snuck in completely undetected.  All those times I played G.I. Joe with my boy cousins had paid off!  I felt like I could storm fortresses, sneak into foreign countries ..it's a high I think boys get, but girls don't often do.  Ann and I were G.I'freak'in-Janes we were!  Minus Demi Moore and neither of us shaved our heads or had rock hard bodies trained for fighting, but you get what I mean.

And Ladies and Gentlemen, It was exactly what I needed to finish my book.  It was like my book was coming alive before my eyes when I locked eyes with complex that laid before me.  The very essence of the haunted and eerie remains of "the fort" seeped into my  very center.  I closed my eyes, I smelled.  I listened to what my characters would hear, I looked at the broken windows, and the graffiti'ed walls, and overgrown landscapes.  I saw the smoke stack that went to the incinerator that burned the bodies of those who died here.....it was truly well worth the journey and fear and worry that came with trying to get here, it was worth it by far.

We walked slowly up to the building, I got up close, real close, close enough to stick my head inside:

It was here that I stuck my head inside and heard a dead and dying building, alive with activity.  The place was resounding activity from a million different locations.  I felt my blood go cold upon getting so close to this place, and I had the distinct feeling something was watching me, taking notice of my proximity.  I was standing outside, while my head was inside the opening, and I felt like I'd crossed a line that I shouldn't cross.  I took my head out, turned to look around me and the first thing I saw was this:

Scared the ever-luvin-crap out of me it did!

Even looking at this picture now, it makes my chest get a little tight.

I decided pretty much then and there that there wasn't any way in hell that I'd step foot further into the building, that I was just a sight see'er, not an infiltrator.  I would respect the boundaries of a visitor, and keep a safe distance from crossing any more lines.

Ann and I made our way around the perimeter of the building, taking pictures, imagining the internal layout of what we could only see from a distance.

We whispered as we made our way, remaining in-stealth mode so as not to alert any nearby humans or barking dogs of our presence here.

After we made our way around the entire lot, and were back to where we started, we thanked our lucky stars for the experience, for the thrill, for the success in finding it and we bid our farewells to the object of our quest.  We walked back towards the railroad tracks from whence we had strayed and just as we were about to get away scott free....

A voice called out to me.

"Hey!"

it said from behind me.

The building was behind me and I was scared to death at what I would find when I turned around.

Who or what had called out to me.

But i faced my fear and I turned....slowly...and my heart was pounding so hard in my chest...I think Ann could hear it from 3 feet away....

I turned to see two people walking towards us.  Dressed in head to toe camo, one carrying a compound bow.  The one carrying the bow, decked out in face paint.

Again they called out to us:

"Hey, come here"

I looked at Ann, and she looked at me as both our minds were saying "so, do we run?"

I said to her "I aint' going back there....."

and Ann said "they can come to us"

so we stood still like we were frozen to the ground.

I whispered, "you don't think they'll shoot us do you?"  I mean you hear of people shooting trespassers sometimes....

that's when Ann decided to be proactive, she called out to them, "See anything?"

They remained silent.

A bad sign.

They got closer, Ann tried again, "See anything?"

The man spoke then:  "Seen two girls"

Ann: "Oh yeah..."

Him:  "you two scared off a ten point buck we were about to shoot!"

Me: (knowing this was a cardinal sin in hunting to ruin a guy's odds at getting a great buck) said:  "oh, man we're so sorry!" and then i made a face like it pained me to hear that.

Ann says "Oh, yeah, right, we did hear something go crashing through the brush, yeah, I think I know right were you're talking"

"What are you guys doing back here?"  The man asked.

Ann replied, "Oh, just taking some fall photos, the trees are just so lovely this time of year..."

I stood frozen, my lying skills were seriously rusty and out of practice.

"You know that you're trespassing and can get three days in jail and a $300 dollar fine for being back here?"

Ann said "Noooooo...didn't know that"

I shook my head, still an absolute mute.

"well you can, you aren't supposed to be back here, this is private property"

"We didn't know" Ann said.

"do you own this land?" Ann asked him.

"Yes" he said.

I again made a very dramatic "I'm so sorry....about the deer, about trespassing, about lying to you right now"...face.

{But in our defense, there weren't any "no trespassing" signs until we got up near the building.....and it was spray painted on, so It wasn't like it was official....and we'd come so far, we had to, ya know?  Sort of how like guys can't stop peeing mid stream, once you've committed to the act, you can't just stop in the middle, it's just not done!}

"Leave!" the man said with authority

"and don't come back!"

Ann and I both nodded and turned to head back the way we had come.

We'd escaped certain jail time, and were once more headed through the trees, headed back to the railroad tracks that would deliver us back from where we'd come from.

"HOLY SHIT!" I said, "I can't believe that just happened...we so almost just got arrested!"

And Ann and I talked, and laughed, and recovered our senses as we journeyed back the two miles we'd traveled to get here.

{Me and Ann after our close encounter}
{Seriously, does this shadow make my butt look big?}

WHAT A CLOSE CALL!!

So Hunter guy, if you are reading this, I'm really sorry, we didn't mean any harm, or trouble, to you or your property, and I thank you sincerely, because my book will be the better for having had the experience.

And thank you for not having us arrested, and for not shooting us with your bow, that would of sucked.

So, that's the story of how I almost got arrested, and how it was almost all Ann's fault!

*winks*

But oh, what an experience!

Awesome!

Your Law Breaking Blogger Friend,

~HeatherLynn~

to see all the photo's from the day of photography, hit me up @ my facebook page, or at Turkey42@hotmail.com and I'll get you the link where you can go see them.
Some of them are pretty good.
*smiles*