THE HIVE

In keeping with our weekly Halloween-Extravaganza, I'm posting a short Halloween story I wrote and recently submitted to a local publication for a contest. *crossing fingers and toes* The requirements: less than 700 words & I had to include three local business that had ads in the newspaper. There are some true elements in this story and a few fabricated ones. See if you can guess what really happened to me. Mwhahaaaa.....

THE HIVE

Sitting on the tattered seat in the family’s den, I hesitantly downed the volume on the TV. The plaited window shutters were ajar to my front, my back exposed to the bare bay window behind me. Shadows of crooked branches clawing the sky crept across the pumpkin pine floorboards. But it was the clunk from the basement and that dang buzzing that drove me batty. I wondered if Frederick Heating would come take a peek at the furnace.

The ancient stairs to the upper floor creaked and groaned; the whooshing wind shook the foundation. I sighed and pressed the off button on the remote control; George’s Banana Stand commercial vanished from the screen. I knew I’d disappointed three-year-old Sabrina. She’d wanted me to read another story from the book I’d brought, but the latest episode of Vampire Diaries had started. Was it too much for a love-starved junior in high school to want to escape into such a scrumptious show?

Practically punching my clenched fists into the cushions, I stood and made my way toward the skinny staircase to check on her. Having a conscience sucked worse than thinking about the dress Mom bought for me to wear to the Homecoming dance. Okay, maybe not that bad but pretty close.

As I ducked under the archway, the buzzing got louder. I detoured down a narrow hallway, dark and dingy with floor-to-ceiling shelves on both sides. Rustic family photos lined the walls. The dank corridor slowly swallowed me, the darkness consumed my sight. Then, I saw a line of light pulsate a few feet ahead of me. Palming the air, I felt a door and opened it to find a well-lit bathroom. The wallpaper was from a time gone by and so were all the fixtures. Seriously, I was sure these were the first fixtures ever made. The sound faded and then stopped.

A tad miffed and now with no intention of checking on Sabrina, I left the door wide to light my way and rushed for the den; my vampire fix needed a feeding. Air burst past me, as the door slammed shut. All went black. I froze; my feet rumpled the frayed area rug. Spider-like prickles needled my spine, the tiny hairs on my limbs in salute. Crouching, I inched toward the door just like the stupid blonde in some B horror flick as the chainsaw splattered raw. I was drawn, a force tugged me.

My fingertips brushed the dirty doorknob. I yanked them to my chest, as the door moaned open and the thin corridor flooded with light. Every inch of the nasty wallpaper was crawling with bugs. I cringed and clamped my hands over my ears. The jumbled hisses pierced the air. Blinking my drying eyes, I stumbled backward. The heel of my shoe wedged between floorboards.

“Where are you going?” The raspy voice asked, and slithered up one side of me and down the other. The bugs hovered in one speckling clump and took shape.

A shallow breath was all I could manage. “Sabrina?”

“We said we wanted another story.” Her body was one, but her voice was many.

I had no intention of answering or of staying here, let alone reading any story. She broke apart into a minion of bugs, as I bolted to the den, the books and creepy photos mere blurs now. Shadows clipped at my heels.

As I rounded the corner, the TV clicked on. Stefan from Vampire Diaries gaped at me from the fuzzy screen, my book from Children’s Book Seller shown tattered in his palm. A breeze fluttered my hair, as he rumpled the pages. My gut panged.

“It’s about time you join us for dinner and that story,” said Stefan.

“We couldn’t agree more.” The buzzing hive that was once Sabrina encapsulated me.

I screeched and wriggled but the grip was too much. The hive dragged me into the TV screen, into Stefan’s waiting arms.

“Come now.” His eyes rolled back as he captured my scent. “Let me read you a story.”

© 2009 Sheri A. Larsen All Rights Reserved.

Halloween Week: A door, a computer, and two toys.

Well, most of you know that I come by the parnormal in my books quite naturally—or is that paranaturally.  :D  Anyway, if you don’t know what I mean it’s that the paranormal is actually quite normal in my life.  And it all started when I was in the fourth grade.  You can read that story here. 

Well, here’s another experience I’ve had.  Let me tell you it’s been hard having to choose which ones to tell, but I think this is a good one.  I’ll also have another story Thursday on my personal blog, so make sure to check it out.

Anyway, my husband and I bought our first house when we were twenty-one.  We’ve lived in it now for 8 years and mostly it’s a great house.  But it’s one of the oldest in our neighborhood and it’s only had 2 owners.  My family and the people who had it built.

The gentleman and his wife who had it built raised their two daughters and a son here, then eventually retired, and, as all ways of life, died.  We’re not sure where the wife died, but we do know the husband died in a hospital.  Not in the house. 

However, since we moved in, we’ve had strange things happen.  Their daughters' room, which is now my daughter's room, was originally used as a storage room, until we unpacked everything.

The first few years were quiet.  It was just a quant little house.  But after I got back from the military and we moved all my stuff into the storage room, strange things started happening.   And they all centered on that room.  We’d hear things fall over and break, but we’d go in there and nothing was disturbed.  

At night, I would swear I heard a woman laughing and when I looked out my bedroom door to that room’s door, I’d see a shadow cross from one side of the door to the other, then disappear.  I started sleeping with my door shut.

We eventually cleared out the room and used it as the game room.  But I never felt comfortable in there.  If I was in there alone, I’d feel sick.  Or like someone was watching me.  I eventually refused to go in there by myself.

As soon as I started doing that, a toy of my sons started going off for no reason.  It was a Thomas the Train toy mountain that would make choo-choo noises when a certain button was pressed INSIDE the cave of the toy. 

We moved it on top of his closet because we thought he was playing with it and lying about it--he was only four or five.  But it still went off in the middle of the night, as if a child was playing with it.  We even removed the batteries.  It still kept working.  We eventually tossed it out and things became quiet again.

Except the creepy room and the shadows walking in front of the door, or the occasional woman’s laughter coming from it when it was quiet.

When I found out I was pregnant with my daughter, we had no choice but to give her that room.  I was hesitant, but it’s not like we could just move.  That would be silly.  So, we cleaned out the room and set it up as her nursery.

Things had been pretty quiet for a while and while I painted and cleaned and primped the room, I felt fine.  I wasn’t sick. I didn’t feel like anyone was watching.  Nothing.  So I felt pretty at ease when we first put her in that room when she was six-months old.

Then almost immediately things started happening.  The leapfrog catepillar toys she loved would start playing by itself.  We removed it from the crib, thinking she was rolling over on it and hitting buttons.  We placed it on her toyshelf on the other side of the room. 

It still went off on it’s own.  Again we removed the batteries.  It still played.  So we got rid of that toy as well.  And things were quiet for almost two years.

Until recently.  The front screen door started opening every night and then shutting.  As if someone was walking through the door.  It happened every night for 2 weeks between 9:30pm and 11pm and I thought it was just the wind tugging on it—it is old after all.  I would remind myself to lock it after everyone was home for the night, but I never remembered until it did it.

Finally one night I did remember.  I locked the door, making sure it was really shut.  Then deadbolted the regular door, thinking nothing of it.  Then at the same time as usual the door opened, then shut. 

I immediately went to check the door and it was still locked. 

Then, that night my daughter woke up SCREAMING at the top of her lungs.  I went in to see why and she was just standing at her door, which was open, like she couldn’t leave. 

I placed her back in bed and sat with her until she went back to sleep, but I started getting that weird feeling like someone was watching me.  And it was coming from her closet.

Then my desktop computer started turning on every morning at 6 something.  We checked the settings and they were fine.  Nothing was set to make it turn on at that time

Every day for another 2 weeks the door opened by itself, the computer would turn on and off, and my daughter woke up screaming.  I finally gave in and let her sleep with her light on, but she still woke up every night.  Then she started tearing apart her room during naptime.  Starting with the closet.  She’d pull everything out.

When I asked her, she just said she didn’t like the closet.

Frustrated and tired, I shoved her toy box in front of the closet door, so she couldn’t open it.

It seems to have worked.  She no longer tears apart the closet and in the last week she’s slept through the night.  The screen door still opens and shuts, but the computer isn’t turning itself on and off.

While all this could be coincidence, it’s weird, so I’m going to start my own paranormal investigation. I’m going to be getting a tape recorder and video camera to watch it when no one’s around and/or asleep.    I might be surprised by what I catch.

Happy Halloween, every one.

YA-Inspired Halloween Costumes

Now, I know not all of my Oasis Sisters share my same passion for Twilight, but I had a *wee* bit of an obsession with the series in years prior.  Take last year for example...

With my vampire-phelia renewed by the series, I forced my daughters to dress up with me. I know most kids get to pick their own costumes, but not mine. Not last year anyway. We were the newest Voluturi -- minus the red eyes. (Yeah, I know you can't *turn* kids, but cut me some slack.)

So this year, the kids are picking their own costumes.  My little one -- she's being Spiderman. (Not girl ... man!)  Which made me think, she's picked another costume that comes from a book character.  I mean, comic books are a form of literature. We just call them graphic novels now.

And then I got to thinking about HOW MANY characters (and costumes) got their start from books.  Any superhero, right?  Harry Potter.  Star Wars (it was a book before a movie).  Even traditional vampires would be nothing without Bram Stoker's Dracula.

So as you and/or your little ones prepare for Halloween, be sure to pay homage to any literary characters who inspired your garb.  Any shout outs you want to share?