Then he began to shake.

He wanted to tear up the paper or even burn it, but he felt as though the action might anger fictitious gods, who would wreak vengeance upon him. His control had been maintained for many years but the need to share his dark secret never relented.

Written across the page in shaky lettering were the words:

What have I done?

Now his body shook out of control and his teeth began to chatter as if he was outside in a snowstorm without a jacket. He suddenly understood that she knew, and she was sending something to find him. And the thing would be terrible and painful, and he wouldn’t see the approach or know what came for him until it pounced.

One thought kept swinging through his mind as if a perpetual pendulum hung above. Whatever his fate, no matter how dreadful, he deserved everything he had coming.

16

The first day of William’s Orelia Mason Campaign was a huge success. His plan, created as he walked home from that devastating day at the bookstore, was brilliant.

For over three months, work on his latest novel had stalled. Nothing felt good enough to him. He found no rhythm on the pages; his sentences were awkward and convoluted; and he spent more time hitting delete than the return key.

Not so with his revenge campaign.

The first negative review he wrote was poetic. Where finding words for fiction was a challenge, scripting caustic comments proved a breeze.

1 out of 5 stars

I will never buy one of Kindle's recommendations again By H.E. Dash Ed

Format: Kindle Edition |Verified Purchase

This was the most tedious and boring book I can remember reading. The most interesting parts were the grammatical errors.

William leaned back in his chair and admired his handiwork. H.E. Dash Ed as a name was a stroke of genius. That’s what he planned to do. Run in to her life, create havoc and dash away.

Mind you, Orelia’s latest book The Mysterious Heart, enjoyed 423 reviews, mostly four and five stars. This was despite only being released two weeks ago. So if he was to lower the book’s rating of four-point-two-five out of five stars, he’d need to write at least one hundred negative reviews.

Two hours later, he’d added another fourteen. Each time he had to open another account with a new name because book sites only allowed one review per book. Around number eleven he’d run out of ideas for fanciful names. His wit had performed long enough and then left the building. Now they appeared as simply Anonymous.

He’d added three stars as well because he didn’t want to appear obvious. He figured a run of negative reviews might appear suspicious. Even the three stars, he’d peppered with negative comments.

An okay read.

Have read worse but not by much.

Just seemed like this story bounced around dragging its feet.

When he’d had enough, he took time off to shower and eat his lunch. Upon his return he gasped. Other reader-reviewers had piled more four and five-star reviews on top of his, thus diluting the impact of his work.