Speculative Fiction; Visionary and Metaphysical; Christian Fiction
Date Published: September 17, 2025
Publisher: Acorn Publishing
Derek Hollinger has walked a long, hard road since a fateful encounter with an Indigenous shaman woman turned his life upside down. Now married to Kendal, his angel and savior, Derek desperately wants to be the man she deserves. But his obsession with his tattoos—what they mean and how to get rid of them—is tearing down everything they’ve built together.
Paralyzed by depression and self-loathing, Derek is convinced that only one person can help him now: the granddaughter of the shaman whose power inked him from head to toe. Enlisting the aid of his loyal friend and spiritual advisor, Father Mike, Derek treks deep into the heart of the Amazon jungle, where a final reckoning between good and evil awaits.
But God’s plan for Derek isn’t what he expects. And coming back alive—whole in mind, heart, and spirit—will require every ounce of his fortitude and faith.
But then, one morning, the tattoos appeared after he had a
vivid nightmare of a swirling spiderweb that seemed to move and change as
he tried to escape. He had awoken with a start, his heart racing and his
body drenched in sweat. He remembered every detail—the grotesque spider
with its sharp, black legs and beady eyes, looming over him as he struggled to
free himself from its web. In his dream, he had been half-paralyzed with
fear, unable to escape the creature’s grasp as it taunted and tortured
him.
Now, as he lay in his bed, still trembling from the
intensity of the recurring dream, he realized that the spider was not
just a figment of his imagination. It was a manifestation of his deepest
fears and insecurities, a symbol of the overwhelming challenges and struggles
he faced in his waking life.
The tattoos covered his body from head to toe—even his
face.
He had tried to subconsciously resist the spine-chilling
transformation, to hide by going back into a deep, fitful sleep that
night, hoping it was only a nightmare. But the tattoos seemed to have a
mind of their own, and soon, his entire body was covered in a symphony of ink,
intricate and detailed, each telling a story he could not
understand.
Derek became a spectacle, a mystery, and a work of art.
People would point and gawk at his tattoos. He nearly lost his medical
practice.
He could not explain the disturbing dichotomy, but he felt
an intense connection to these markings. He intuitively realized they
were a part of him and he would never be alone again. After experiencing the
vicious beating when he was a teenager that almost took his life, Derek
struggled with feelings of unworthiness, believing that he somehow deserved
what had happened to him. He had been selfish that day, not listening to
his mother and not wanting to visit with his grandmother. Then she died
suddenly; he never saw his grandmother again. It felt like there must have
been something inherently wrong with him if the universe was willing to use its
power against him in such cruel ways.
As a prominent plastic surgeon, he performed each
reconstructive procedure with as much focus and precision as if working
on his own body. His attention to detail and excellence in each procedure
were an extension of the reconstructive surgeries performed by Dr. Christopher
Casey on him as a child.
When he performed craniofacial surgery, it was, in his mind,
a repetition of the one performed on his face so many years before. A
reconstructive microsurgery on the delicate bones of a hand that might
someday perform life-altering procedures.
In his dreams, he relived moments of profound regret and
insecurity. He had told himself it was for the best when Kendal had left
him for a short time before they married. He was protecting himself from
the disappointment and hurt that inevitably came with a relationship’s
dissolution. He had been able to rehabilitate himself in her
eyes.
But now, in this vivid dream, he gripped the steering wheel
of his parked Bentley and felt the familiar explosion go off in his head.
He could not deny the truth any longer. He was a lonely and lost man. The
realization was like a punch in the gut, and he could not help but feel a wave
of sadness for what might have been.
About the Author
Writer, speaker, and certified life coach Monica Broussard is passionate about writing fiction that contains fantasy elements and keeps the reader intrigued about the lead character’s motives. She also writes an occasional article for her hometown’s magazine, SeaCliff Living. She belongs to American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and enjoys attending national writers' conferences.
Born in North Carolina on a Marine Corps base, Monica now lives in “Surf City,” Huntington Beach, California, with her husband of thirty-nine years. She has enjoyed various occupations, but her favorite job is the one she’s doing now—writing.
The 6th Heaven is book 3 in the 21 Tattoos Series.
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This looks like a fantastic read. Thanks for sharing.
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