Hello everyone. In today’s blog I want to return to my horror novel ‘The Cornwall Ghost Story’ and provide another excerpt from it. In the following scene the Noble family are sitting around the kitchen table having breakfast. The previous night Fiona had grown worried about her young son Tony who she noticed tossing and turning in his bed. She is concerned he might be experiencing Esmeralda’s influence as she has done ever since arriving at their holiday home in Cornwall. Was Tony starting to receive visions in his sleep just like his mother had been doing for some time both in her sleeping and waking hours? This is a worrying development. Esmeralda’s spirit hadn’t caused any trouble to Fiona up to this point. She had merely been the instigator of her receiving a series of visions which would hopefully fill in the gaps as to what had happened to Esmeralda’s husband George when his ship had capsized. But if she was going to draw her children into the situation then this was something to be concerned about. As it transpires there is a connection but not as Fiona imagined. When Tony tells Fiona about his dream it opens her eyes to how many people were touched by George’s disappearance. Here is the scene. It starts with Tony explaining to his mother what happened when he fell asleep. I hope you enjoy it:

Tony shrugged.  “Well there was something which was a bit strange.”

“Oh yes? And what was that?”

“Well, when I first went to sleep everything was good.  But then I kept seeing this boy appearing to me who looked really sad.”

“Did you find out what he was sad about?”

“Yes.  He said he had an uncle who had been lost at sea.  The last news about him was a few weeks before.  He told me his uncle’s ship had sunk and his body had not been found.  He kept saying the same thing over and over again.  It was something like ‘Where is Uncle George? Where has he gone? Why will he not return?’”

As luck would have it, Alan came into the room at this stage and seemed perturbed by what he had heard.  He gasped at Fiona who returned her attention to Tony.

“Have you had any dream like that before?” she asked him.

“No, it’s the first time.”

“So, you’ve not dreamt anything like that since we arrived here?”

“No.”  Tony turned a penetrating gaze at his mother.  “What’s this all about, Mum? Why are my dreams so important?”

“Well, it’s a bit of a long story…”

“I think it’s time we tell the kids what’s going on in this cottage,” suggested Alan as he sat down at the table with his usual bowl of cereal.  “I could understand you not wishing to tell them before, but it’s clear Tony’s been affected by this presence which means it probably won’t be too much longer before Sarah gets caught under the spell, too.”

“What sort of spell, Dad?” asked Sarah in her usual innocent way.  “Is it a witch’s spell you’re talking about?”

Alan smiled wryly at the question.  “Not exactly,” he told her.  “Although it’s certainly starting to sound like it when you think of what happened to Tony.”

This brought a shrug from his son.  “It wasn’t that bad,” he insisted.  “I mean it was startling the way it happened with the boy crying out for his lost uncle, but it didn’t last very long.  Anyway, it was only a dream, right?”

“No, I’m afraid it was very far from being just a dream.”  Fiona let out a sigh and then went into the whole story.  She told the children about the discovery of the journal on their first morning at the cottage and all that had happened to her since.  The two children made for a spellbound audience.

“Why do you think I saw that boy?” asked Tony.  “I mean what part has he got to play in all of this?”

“Beats me,” admitted Fiona.  “Apart from the fact he was indirectly connected to the action, having lost his uncle and needing to know where he was.  Well, at least this goes to prove Esmeralda did return to her family as she said she would if she received no further news of George.  It seems to me like she was spending time with her brother or sister, whoever had these kids.”

“So now we’re going to have the pleasure of visits from Esmeralda’s relatives, are we?” questioned Alan.

“It would seem that way, yes,” returned Fiona.  “But if that’s so, it seems to me like only Tony and perhaps Sarah are to be effected by these relatives.  I don’t think it’s going to affect either of us, dear.”

“What a shame,” sighed Alan, and to Fiona’s surprise it appeared he was shooting from the hip with his sentiments.

“Come on,” she chided him.  “You don’t really mean that.”

“Oh, but I do.  Remember when you’ve been having all of these ‘episodes,’ I’ve been completely untouched by them.  And now when someone else in the family is gripped by a vision, it turns out to be Tony here.  I tell you if Sarah is the next one to experience something then I really will feel left out.”

Fiona smiled at this.  “If I were you, dear, I wouldn’t be praying for a visitation.  I would be glad I wasn’t affected in this way.  Because no matter how exciting you might think it is, I can assure you it’s nothing of the kind.  It hasn’t been for me, and I don’t think Tony enjoyed his experience either.”

“No, I didn’t,” admitted the boy.

“You see,” Fiona told her husband.

“I felt frightened for that boy in my dream,” explained Tony.  “I hoped that he would be able to see his uncle again.”

“Well, let’s hope he does,” replied Fiona.  “But the prospects don’t look very encouraging at the moment.”

Categories:My Books

Tags: ghosts, Haunting Dreams, Hope Springs Eternal, horror fiction, Strange Dreams, supernatural.