Free Flashback by Amanda Carpenter Page A

was somewhat surprised to find herself and her awareness shifting. She had taken a step forward and now, looking back, she saw another girl in the past, the girl that she had been. She could no longer identify with that girl. It seemed to be the difference between an adolescent and an adult.
    Forced as she was to empathise with another, strange adult, she’d managed to mature in some way. She was no longer in a glass cage looking out, no longer the lone princess in the castle. She hadn’t realised how little she’d empathised with her mother, close though they were. Perhaps it was that very closeness that had caused them to keep somewhat distant. Whatever the reason, Dana found that she really was a world apart from her mother, and that was a new and strange feeling, one that she’d never thought to have. Adolescent rifts with the parent had always happened to someone else, but never to Dana. She’d known too much, had been too aware of what was going on, at least that was what she’d thought. Now, looking back, she had to smile wryly as she recognised in herself for the first time that typical adolescent arrogance. She’d known it all, then. She was an old woman in a teenager’s body, and nobody knew it. She was the authority, the ultimate in worldly cynicism and weary wisdom. She was so young.
    Dana was beginning to see just how normal she was in some aspects, and it was laughable in a way. She stopped walking and propped herself up on a waist high rock, staring at the pattern of fallen pine needles, brown and dry, that cushioned the forest floor. How deflating it was to recognise something like that! She was the special one, the freak, the different and unique one. That had always been her pride and despair, the source of both her joy and sorrow.
    And now she was finding that she wasn’t so different after all. She was finding that she didn’t recognise the feelings that David Raymond prompted in her, either from the store of her own experiences or the wealth of her vicarious knowledge. It was just something she knew nothing about. It was an attraction she’d never before dreamed could exist.
    And there, it was out in her consciousness now. She looked at the thought, mentally sniffed at it and examined it from all sides and reluctantly had to admit it was true. She was attracted to David. It was an attraction different from anything she’d known. It wasn’t just the attraction for a kindred spirit or a likeable person, it was much more than that; there was something elemental about it, something having to do with the fact that he was a personable male. She liked that maleness of him, that alien quality that complemented her femininity. She liked the man on different levels. She liked his mind and that he was a strong man of deep emotions and hard control. She liked his fairness and his ability to understand something outside of his experience, and sympathise. She liked how he was able to really listen to what was said and not just hear the words. She liked how he had reached out to cradle her hand when he thought she needed support, how he was secure in himself enough to offer the support right then instead of merely feeling uncomfortable and looking away, like so many people did. And last of all, that unfamiliar feeling she was only now experiencing, wholly on her own and for the first time in her life, that quite frankly attraction to his masculinity.
    Self-conscious at the newness of it and the unexpected awareness of her own femininity, she shrugged a little and laughed under her breath, hopping down from the rock. It was silly. He very probably didn’t notice her at all. The one thing she could do without right at the moment was a typical case of adolescent infatuation, on top of everything else. That was what she feared it was, for her confidence in herself was badly shaken at her new and deeper self-knowledge.
    She devoutly hoped that she wouldn’t make a fool of herself.
    Back at the house, Dana found