Hi everyone. Many apologies for the lack of content this month. I’ve been rather negligent in my blogs since we have passed into June and I wish to rectify that in the coming weeks. I’d like to start this off with a look at one of the child characters from my horror novel ‘Evil Deeds.’ I’ve come to realise that up till now I have only touched on the historical characters which make up my novel and not provided any character profiles for those in the modern day setting. So I will put that to rights now with a look at young Tim Mathews.

Tim is the ten year old son of George and Fiona Mathews and brother to Sara who is two years younger. They are complete opposites in terms of personality. Tim is a rather quiet boy who keeps a lot of his feelings bottled up inside. Sara is much more outgoing but in this case opposites attract as they share a very strong sibling relationship. Tim finds this a source of comfort whenever he goes through trying times. But his normal, every day concerns are the furthest thing from his mind when a supernatural influence starts to exert itself over his new home. This influence is exerted by the Franklin family. As I have detailed in my extracts from the novel and the character profiles of the main historical players, the Franklins are out for revenge after what happened to the head of their household. James Franklin was brutally murdered by the land agent Robert Jacobs and it is the Franklins’ firm belief that George Mathews is the reincarnation of Jacobs. However, it remains in some doubt right to the end of the novel whether this is indeed the case. The Franklins return to the farmhouse they called home which in modern times is where the Mathews now reside. It is a world away from the Mathews’ former residence. They had lived a city life before but George decided he would like the quiet life and to breathe in country air. His best friend lived nearby which was another attraction for the move.

Shortly after moving into their new country residence, Tim has a dream which greatly unsettles him. He thinks he has woken up to find his room completely changed. Instead of a carpeted floor he finds nothing but bare floorboards and there is no sign of his bookshelves (the boy is an avid reader). As if this is not unsettling enough, he discovers three children appearing in the room, two girls and one boy who act as if he is not there. They are bemoaning the fact that their family has hit on hard times. Their father has had an altercation with a man who they did not like at all. This man told their parent that as he had not paid the rent he owed he would have to vacate the premises and find another place to call home. This whole experience had brought the children very low. They could not understand how any man could be so heartless as the one who had confronted their father. So, one of the children sank to her knees and began to pray. Her siblings soon joined her as she asked God to intervene at this trying time and if he could not save them from being thrown out of their home begged that he would find a new home for them. She is just nearing the end of her prayer when her parents come into the room and the father applauds her for the Christian resolve she was showing.

Tim is taken aback by this demonstration of strength at a difficult time. He compares the fighting spirit of this family and their togetherness with his own family and it is not a pleasant comparison. Since moving to the country, both Tim and his sister Sara have denoted a distance coming between themselves and their parents. Neither child thinks it is their doing. It just seems to be that their mother and father have slowly but surely removed their love from them. At times they treat them like strangers, as if they aren’t even there, as if they do not consider them at all. Tim cannot account for the change in outlook which has come over his parents. Moving to the country was supposed to be a breath of fresh air, a chance for the family to draw closer together and to have some quality time for each other. Instead, the opposite seemed to be the case. This was a baffling set of circumstances for Tim to take on board and he wondered how it would change.

Then, the next day at school, Tim is caught daydreaming by his teacher. Indeed, he generally shows a disinterested attitude to his studies that day which strikes his teacher as most peculiar. He takes Tim aside at the end of the day’s lessons and asks him if there is anything wrong. Why had he been so inattentive in class when usually he was a model pupil? Tim is quick to assure his concerned teacher that nothing is amiss. But this is merely him putting up a front. Of course there is something wrong. He is worried about what is going on at home and then he experienced this strange dream when a family in crisis were trying to join forces so they could find a way out of the problems they were experiencing. To Tim’s mind it was a strange dream to have. The way his room had suddenly altered so dramatically was odd in the extreme and then there was the way the children talked and the clothes they were wearing. They seemed to live a long time in the past which he found most strange. Why would he have a dream like that? It didn’t make much sense to him.

When Tim and Sara walked home from school that day, Tim experiences another strange occurrence. As they opened the gate which led to the pathway in front of their house a strange feeling came over Tim. He was overcome by the most severe emotions. Indeed, at one stage he thought he might cry. But why? From his perception it seemed to him like someone close to him had either died or was about to. But how could this be? There was no close relative he knew of who had passed away or was suffering with extreme ill health. So where did this feeling come from. Sara could see there was something wrong with Tim and asked him about it but he could not tell her anything. What could he say? Repeat what he had just felt? No, he couldn’t do that. He was close to Sara and could share any secret with her but this was too much for her to handle. How could he express something to his sister which he didn’t fully understand himself? So he said nothing and waited to see what would happen next.

Tim and his family go through a variety of supernatural experiences throughout the novel as they become more and more enmeshed in the world of the Franklins. As they do so they come to realise that their lives hang in the balance and they have to find a way to draw closer to each other before it is too late. It will only be by standing strong together that they will be able to face up to the menace the Franklins place upon them. However, as the storyline unravels they will see a greater danger lies in their way in the form of the land agent Robert Jacobs. There will be a battle of wills to be faced before the novel draws to its conclusion and the Mathews family will have to be ready for the final crisis which will come their way.

Throughout the novel Tim Mathews will prove himself to be a boy with many hidden talents. He might appear on the surface to be a quiet, shy young boy with nothing much about him, but this is very far from the case. He receives plaudits from his family later in the storyline for being the first of them to notice the horror which has come to their home. The fact that even his sister looks upon Tim as a dreamer, who is always reading his books and living in a make believe world works against him when he tries to explain the supernatural presence which hovers over their home is not his imagination working overtime but pure fact. Tim’s resolve is put to the test on many occasions throughout the course of the novel but he always rises to the occasion and proves himself to be a very special boy indeed.

Categories:My Books

Tags: #Drifting Apart, #Reincarnation, #revenge, Christian Resolve, Good versus evil, horror fiction, supernatural.