In today’s blog I would like to provide another excerpt from my horror novel ‘Evil Deeds.’ In the following passage Sara Mathews has experienced a heated exchange with her parents that evening and is awoken in the middle of the night by someone accusing her of something which she doesn’t understand. It soon becomes clear this is an unnatural event she has become a party to:
“You’re a horrible, deceitful, selfish girl and we aren’t going to allow you to get away with what you’ve done. No, you have to be punished for the things you said to a mother and father who love you very much. We’re going to make sure you pay for what you did tonight.”
Sara was startled by this savage diatribe which seemed to have been aimed solely at her. Who was it that was being so critical of her? It sounded like a girl’s voice, but no that couldn’t be right. For she didn’t recognize the shrill tonal quality of the person who had just spoken. Why, then, would she be so viciously treated by a total stranger? No, that didn’t make any sense at all.
The situation which Sara had found herself in was very strange for her. She felt she was dreaming, but she couldn’t see anyone or anything. She was at this moment enveloped in darkness, as if she wasn’t asleep at all. But if this was the case where had the girl’s voice come from?
Hey, what’s that? wondered Sara in a curious vein. It sounded like footsteps, as if someone was approaching her. Not just one person, though, but a group of people. Oh, this is just getting weirder and weirder!
“Yes,” another child’s voice then burst out from the pervading gloom. “You’re right, Emily. Why this girl who is before us now is of a very bad sort indeed. We must do all we can to improve her character, otherwise this family will fall to rack and ruin!”
“For sure we must do just as you both say.” This time it was a boy’s voice who spoke on a subject which was very much a concern of the group of children as a whole. “Dear sisters, let us use our divine powers to take the evil out of this wicked child. Then and only then will she be someone to fill her parents’ hearts with pride rather than shame for having her as a daughter.”
“Hey! Wait a minute!” cried out Sara to the darkness and the mysterious strangers who had somehow come into her company. “You can’t be talking about me. I’m not bad or evil or wicked. Why would you say that about me? You don’t know me. And who are you? Why can’t I see you?”
“Ha! Why can’t she see us, she asks!” shrieked out the first girl who had spoken, doing so in a sneering manner. “Well, I suppose you should at least be able to see us. We should not keep you in the dark, so to speak, any longer. For how can we be expected to gain your co-operation if you are unable to even know who you are talking to?”
There was a murmur of agreement between the other two children who had been inhabiting the dingy scene. The black void which had thus been Sara’s environment for the past few moments soon took on a much brighter outlook. For within seconds Sara was no longer in the dark as to who she was talking to, nor was there any doubt about her location. For there stood before her three children, two girls and one boy, who were all staring at her in a less than friendly manner.
Why, though, was she standing in this field in the broad daylight, when previously she had imagined herself in a dream? How could she have gone from complete darkness to the full brightness of day in an apparent twinkling of an eye? And what on earth had enabled her to leave her bed and come out into this outdoor domain with such speed? For it was as if she hadn’t moved at al, that some magical power had been at work in bringing about her change in environment. Oh, this was just too crazy!
“Hey!” barked out Sara, as she glanced down in dismay as she noticed the dress she was wearing. “What? But this can’t be!” she nervously told herself. “This isn’t one of my dresses, so why am I wearing it? Huh! I don’t even remember putting it on. Besides, it doesn’t look right. It’s so…it’s so….it’s so…”
“…Old-fashioned?” smiled one of the nearby girls, who was wearing a similar style of outfit to the one which Sara had on. “Is that what you mean, girl?”
“Yes it is,” returned a baffled Sara. Her feeling of bemusement had been brought about from more than one aspect of her current situation. For on the one hand, she couldn’t quite believe that this girl in front of her had been able to read her thoughts so effectively. While on the other, she experienced great anger at the belittling way in which this stranger had just chosen to address her. Hadn’t this child’s mother taught her any manners? It certainly appeared that this was the case from where Sara was standing. To be termed a ‘girl’ in such a demeaning, condescending tone of voice was almost more than Sara could take. This was especially so considering the recent turn of events which she had so unwillingly become a party to.
“Well might it appear so to you,” pointed out one of Sara’s tormentors. Indeed, it was the same girl who had just read Sara’s mind in such a startling manner. “For the dress you are presently wearing is much more in keeping with our time than your own.”
“Eh?” replied a puzzled Sara. “What are you talking about? Hey! Is this supposed to be some sort of joke you’re all having at my expense? Because if it is, I don’t find it very funny.”
“Oh, calm down, girl!”
“And don’t you dare speak to me like that! Why are you so rude?”
“Us rude?” smirked back the solitary boy member of the group. “That is rather a strange thing for you to say about anyone, girl! After all, only think of the dreadful way you acted towards your parents earlier on. That was a monstrous way to behave. Only consider what sacrifices your mother and father have made to give you the life you currently enjoy. To be treated with such contempt by their own child should make you feel ashamed. What an evil, spiteful girl you are!”
“Stop this, the lot of you, do you hear?” Sara couldn’t help but cry out in a turmoil of emotion. “I won’t listen to any more of your rubbish! I’m not evil or spiteful and I won’t let you say such things about me. It isn’t right! I mean you don’t even know me.”
“Ah, this is where you are most certainly wrong,” pointed out the boy in reverential tones. “We know you and your family very well. We have indeed been acquainted with you for a long, long time. It’s just that until now you weren’t aware of our very great interest in you.”
“Oh, what the hell are you talking about?” Sara wanted to know. “No, before you tell me that, don’t you think you should let me know who you are? I mean you’re total strangers to me. After all the horrible things you’ve said to me, the least you can do is tell me your names.”
“Very well,” agreed the girl who looked the oldest of the children who had recently come into contact with Sara. “We shall do as you say. For it will make our job a lot easier in the long run.”
“Job?” echoed Sara in bemusement. “What job?”
“Oh, never fear: you will find that out in good time. But first we must make you acquainted with our identities. Well, we all belong to the same family. We are the Franklins. My name is Emily and here is my brother David and sister Rebecca. And what, may I ask, is your name, girl?”
“Don’t call me that,” retaliated a once more irritated Sara.
“Well, what else am I to call you, if you do not give me your name?”
“All right, then: I’m Sara. So there you go: you don’t need to be so rude to me from now on, do you? And that goes for the rest of you, too: don’t think it doesn’t.”
“Hush, Sara,” rejoined Emily with a smiling aspect. “Do not fret so. We are all friends here. Is that not so, my dear brother and sister?”
The smirking expressions which then showed themselves on the faces of David and Rebecca seemed to designate the truth in their sister’s statement. Or did it? This was the disparity of feeling which was causing Sara more than its fair share of concern.
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