Under The Mango Tree

"I like her," I said as I sat across from my mother unable to keep the frustration from boiling over. "Like who?" "Callie," I admitted, my chest tightening as I said her name. Her expression froze for a moment before she set the papers aside and leaned forward. "You’re joking, right? Callie is your brother’s girlfriend." "I don’t care," I snapped. "I can’t stand seeing him with her. She should be mine, and I’m not going to just sit back and watch them together." "Well, well. This is interesting." She sat back, steepling her fingers. "You really want her all to yourself?" "More than anything," I confessed. A slow smile crept across her face, and it sent a chill down my spine. "Don’t worry. I have a plan.” Whatever she had in mind, I knew it wouldn’t be simple. But if it meant having Callie… I was willing to do whatever it took. **************** Callie was given a choice by her new boss: either lose her job or act as his escort for his family’s Christmas and New Year celebrations, pretending to be his girlfriend. Left with no other option, she reluctantly agrees to be his escort but what she doesn’t realize is that she’s walking straight into a trap. Dive into a story of love, betrayal, romance, suspense, and a Christmas miracle. Second Chances Under the Tree is a gripping and intriguing read that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.

On the fourth day after our son died, I decided to end my military marriage. Before that, I spent three days taking care of what remained of him. On the first day, I tricked my wife into signing the cremation papers. On the second day, I went to my son's school and collected the textbooks he never had the chance to use. On the third day, I prepared a table full of his favorite dishes and begged my wife to come home so we could celebrate his birthday one last time. She agreed. Then she turned around, claimed she had a mission, and spent the entire night setting off fireworks with her childhood sweetheart. That night, I sat beside my son's memorial photo and ate alone. The next day, she came home looking guilty and handed me a brand new backpack. She said it was a gift for our son to use at school. She did not know that our child would never live to see his first day of school.

Some say that life can be predictable, that at some point of your life, you get to know what is to come next. That things become so usual, that you can almost feel it coming. 27 year old Roselyn Arahoz thought that way as well. Having become a successful Lawyer, fulfilled her parents wishes, have amazing friends, Roselyn couldn't ask for more. On her third win in a case, Roselyn decides to throw a party at her best friend, Joslin's mansion along with Katelin. The three Best Friends make it a hit, as all their high school friends attend the party. Yes, Roselyn was right. Nothing could have been more perfect nor could she ask for more. But what happens when the so called party is used as a set up for someone to commit a brutal murder and disguise it as suicide? And why is Roselyn's loved one is blamed for it? Could it have something to do with what happened in the past, 10 years ago? Or, What happens, when the person murdered and framed for suicide happens to be one of Roselyn's best friend itself? This story portrays the life of three best friends for 10 years, who grew up together, believing that they had left there terrible past behind. But what will change when there past comes back to haunt them, until they finally face it and realize there mistake?

A bloody resistance against colonial invasion that tears Seme's indigenous leadership apart marks the entry of a strange culture into the clan. Osayo, the priest, seeks to protect the clan's religious system from erosion by the Blue-eyed (colonists). He, however, has to face off with a few loose canons, including his own son who escapes to a mission center far from home and ends up falling in love with a convert. In the meantime, a terrible plague breaks out in the clan, killing animals and people and leaving the land barren. Coupled by a misunderstanding of concepts in the new faith propagated by the Blue-eyed, a longstanding rift and blame game emerge between the converts and the conservatives, and spuns into a cutural marriage. Soon afterward, Osayo dies and his son, Okayo, realizes he has a greater role to play. The supernormal powers of the clan's aboriginal religious tree are stolen by a witch in line with a prophetic myth. And in a painful and tumultous mission to reunite the two conflicting religions of Seme Clan and limit the Blue-eyed's influence, Okayo puts his front foot forward in combating witchcraft so as to have the tree's powers in safe custody, and protect good from being superseded by evil.

There is an old school built near in the forest several decades ago and there is a tree house at the back of the school. It has been neglected and almost abandoned by time, so many spirits have lived here. Many wonders have also happened in the area that have frightened people who know the story about the tree house. Until the wealthy couple renovated the old school for student to use again. They have two children. Their eldest son is studying abroad with his grandfather and one of their daughter's named Samantha will be there to study. One day the student was suddenly possessed by an demonic spirit. What happened to the girl was so horrible that the teachers and some students could not bear with the strength of the girl. They called a witch doctor and a priest to expel the spirit that was in the girl's body but they failed to defeat the demonic spirit. Until they thought of seeking help from a paranormal investigator. When he arrived he began the prayer o ritual to cast out the dreaded spirit. The girl healed but she sustained many wounds on her body. After the possession the priest blessed the school and even the tree house. The priest did not try to climb the tree house because of the omnimous presence of spirits. The school has been quite since it was blessed. Just a few months later, there were students playing chase until they no longer realized they had reached the tree house. Suddenly the two children climbed up and entered inside the hut. They stayed a few minutes and panicked. One shouted out while the other one was left inside. What happened to a student who was left inside the hut? Why it called the devil tree house?

He was slipping...slowly and ever so surely, he started letting go of his sanity. Inside the Willow Tree, you will find a man in slumber, and you would wish it had stayed that way.