Sunday, October 4, 2015

2015 Writober 4: From My Novel-in-Progress

Apparently, 2015 Writober is all about ghosts. 
This is a snippet from the novel work I did this morning for 
The Peculiar Predicament of Poppets.


Daniel looked up at the ceiling and let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding.
“Well this is interesting.” It was the same voice, a woman’s voice, that said, I will. “You’re awake. We never thought you’d wake up.”
His eyes darted about the room trying to see where the voice was coming from. The bed’s headboard was against the wall so she couldn’t be behind him and…
“Let me set your mind at rest, I’m in the doll.”
He tried to look down at the doll cradled between his arm and chest but, not being able to move his head, he found that he could only see the top of the doll's head. She had beautiful black hair.
“Who are you?” He wanted to ask. But the words stayed trapped in his mind.
“We met before, but we never spoke.” She laughed. It was a musical laugh that made Daniel feel warm and happy. “Well, you spoke. I mostly grunted, moaned, and screamed.” She laughed some more.
“Ivy?” He thought. Her laughter stopped abruptly.
“How could you know my name?”
“But how can this be? You were dead when I left you!”
“Yes, yes, I’m dead. When you left my body, my soul somehow latched onto my baby. I don’t know how, I wasn’t really aware at that point. It wasn’t until your sister Rosalind gave Irena the doll that I found awareness by inhabiting this doll.”
“Sister-in-law.” Daniel corrected absently.
“Tch, it makes no matter. What does matter, is how you know my name. This I must know!”
Daniel sighed. He could hear gentle conversation coming from downstairs as his wife and daughter ate breakfast. His stomach growled and he wondered how and what he’d been eating.
“Daniel,” the voice was sharp. “Think about how you learned my name.”
He thought about it, remembering the purse he found strapped to her body and the letter inside. He thought about that morning, sitting at the table and reading it then copying it and hiding the original.

“I was going to try to find your family,” he thought. He could feel a tear on his cheek.

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