Another Humorous Romance by Liza O'Connor

Strange non-war, never happened, PTSD event.

As part of my ‘humans can’t remember worth crap’ blogs, I would like to share how I managed to give a friend a PTSD event without actually doing anything but talk.

In fact, I had no idea I’d done great harm until many years later when Facebook came to be and we all reunited electronically. She PM’d about the time we kidnapped a cute guy named Steve, tossed him into my roomie’s car and drove around for hours before releasing him.

I did recall the cute guy named Steve and I’m certain my roomie had a car, which I often drove in, but I had NO recollection of kidnapping cute Steve against his will. However, my friend did and the guilt of her memories had continued to grow over the years until it had become a major traumatic event in her life. (While she didn’t say so in her comment, for such ‘guilt’ to grow, I’m thinking in her memories we did something more than drive him around Oklahoma for hours. I’ve no idea what we did, because I’ve no memory of the event.)

Wishing to resolve the matter, I contacted my former roomie and asked her if she remembered us ever kidnapping Steve. Nope. Then I contacted Steve. Surely he would remember? His reply: ‘Nope, but sounds like fun.’

Clearly Steve was thinking we’d be doing something more than driving around town, as well, because having my roomie drive us about for hours didn’t sound fun at all to me. She was a terrible driver back then and her constant braking and then speeding up would make me car sick….or so I remember now.

However, since neither the alleged victim nor me or my roomie remembers the event at all, I let my friend know it didn’t happen so she could stop feeling guilty.

Want to guess how that ended?

She PM’s me back, very angry and assures me it did happen and it altered her life, and goes on about the pain it has caused her. Then she defriends me.

Until I discovered how easily memories could be created, I had no idea what had just happened. Upon giving the matter more thought, this is what I think happened, but I could be making it up. Who the hell knows!

 I faintly recall one night the three of us were in our dorm room, and I said “wouldn’t it be fun if we kidnapped Steve…” and then me and my roomie, both being of theatrical natures, created an entire event of fun things to do with cute Steve.

I think my friend got so caught up in our imagination, that it settled in her brain and later when she recalled it, the part of it being a ‘funny idea’ wasn’t retained, but the kidnapping was. And thus began the foundation of her PTSD event. And while my brain said, ‘You’re just making shit up, I’m not recording any of this’, her brain said ‘let’s record this. It’s a fascinating event.’

My friend now lives in a remote place, raising llamas, selling llama sweaters via the internet. I hope, trauma memory aside, she loves her life, for I recall her being a lovely person and I feel bad about planting the seed that became her future trauma. 

The Hardest Love

A Long Road to Love Series

By Liza O’Connor

BLURB

THE HARDEST LOVE IS TO LOVE YOURSELF

Sam Lancaster is a lost man. Since returning from the war in Iraq, his life has been spiraling out of control. Attempting to escape his troubles, first he moves to a small town of Denton, Iowa, where he becomes the sheriff and beats up the local trouble. When that ceases to work, he seeks peace at a Vermont hunting lodge, where he gets arrested for shooting fish rather than throwing them a line. After spending five months in a work camp to pay for his many crimes, he gets out only to discover Carrie is in danger—again. Convinced he’s the only one who can keep the little Pint Size safe, he rushes back to NYC.

During his absence, Mars has turned the Lancaster estate into a sanctuary for injured vets. Sam agrees to take a test that proves he has Swiss cheese memories that are inaccurate and dangerous. Even knowing this, his PTSD continues to worsen. While he’s deemed to be a poor candidate for a new method of self-correction, his many friends will try anything to save him.

When danger shows up at the Sanctuary, Mars gives him a mission to evaluate the potential threat from certain staff members. On top of his list is Sam’s new girlfriend. Figures!

EXCERPT

Damn, but Sam, liked this woman. Which was really strange. She was so not his type. “What’s your name?”

“Aggie.”

“What type of name is that?” Aggie sounded like a mascot for a football team.

“Short for Agnes.”

“Your parents should be shot.”

“Didn’t have any. You should go after the nuns instead.”

“Nuns named you?”

“Yeah, they named and raised me. I was evidently too cheerful so they decided to ruin my life with a god-awful name.”

Laughing at her response, he sat on the bed to put on his shoes. “I see they failed. Good for you.”

To his surprise, she sat on the bed beside him. “Could you hurry up? Carlos is really excited for you to see him.”

“Excited?” The last time he’d visited him at the Vet’s hospital, Carlos had begged him for a gun so he could end his life.

“Super excited. He’s been up since six, waiting for you to arrive.”

Sam glanced at his watch: 12:05.

 “Jeez, I had no idea how late it was.” He jumped up. “Sorry for yelling at you for waking me up. I thought it was early morning.

Walking to his window, Aggie petted his curtains. “That’s because your room has thick curtains capable of blocking the sunlight. Oddly, all the staff members have sheer curtains so the sun can wake us up very early, even on our days off.” Then she headed out the door.

“Hold up,” he said as he finished tying his tennis shoes. She was already twenty feet down the hall, requiring him to jog to catch up with her long legged stride. Once beside her, he asked, “I gather you’re not happy working here?”

“What would make you think that?” she asked and turned down another hallway which had not existed when Sam used to live here.

“I love my job, this place, and the people. I’d just appreciate heavier curtains on my days off.”

“Have you mentioned it to Mars?” Sam stared about, recognizing nothing. How could Mars change so much in so little time?

“The CEO? No oddly my curtain’s density didn’t seem something to bring up to the busiest man alive. I did mention it to my boss, but he didn’t see any reason to escalate the matter. Instead, he suggested I focus on the positives and not go out of my way to find a negative.”

BUY LINKS

Released May 5, 2015

A Long Road to Love

The Hardest Love

Amazon

Book Five

Other books in the A Long Road to Love series

Book One

Worst Week Ever

Amazon

“Love this book and couldn't stop laughing from beginning to end.” 5 stars – Alves - Amazon

Book Two

Oh Stupid Heart

Amazon

“Be warned though, this book is completely different from The Worst Week Ever. Yes, there is still humor, dry wit, situations that you would think...NOT AGAIN but this one humanizes Trent more.” 5 stars - Brian’s Mom – Amazon

Book Three

Coming to Reason

Amazon

Once again, Ms. O’Connor has written a brilliant book about the complexities of relationships, good and bad. Again, to me, the book is the best break up book EVER and it left my heart singing in the end. Best.Book.Ever…

Book Four

Climbing out of Hell

Amazon

 “In typical @Liza0Connor fashion, crazy things happen which make you laugh outloud.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Liza O’Connor

Liza lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels. She loves to create interesting characters, set them loose, and scribe what happens.

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