Welcome to my offering for The A to Z Blogging Challenge 2018.
My theme this year is Ghostly Inspirations:
a collection of spirits that have been prompted by my encounters with places and times. Some are spooky, some more about atmosphere. I'll be describing each inspiration and the phantom that came to my mind, and then I will share a drabble, which I hope will entertain. :)
Disclaimer: The places and experienced I have used for my inspiration are real, but my ghosts and drabbles are complete fiction, linked to nothing and no-one, alive or dead. When writing about my inspirations, I may have changed names and obfuscated specific details to 'protect the innocent' :).
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V is for Valentine
Inspiration:
Today, I’m not doing a drabble, instead, I’m using a longer story that I wrote for Valentine’s Day this year, a story that is from my new ‘Inspired By…’ series.
The 'Inspired By...' series is a collection of stories where the nugget of an idea came
from an inspiration in real life.
The story is called Phantom Love, and my inspiration is a church yard in a little village in the Kent countryside called Wittersham. When I was a girl, my father was the rector of Wittersham and the primary school I went to was right next to the church yard. There was only an open railing between us and what was a largely wild area. And, in the long grass, there were lots of rather dramatic tombs. One I remember vividly was made up of a large sarcophagus, broken in places and surrounded by brambles and rusty fence.
There was one time when a bunch of us were daring each other to stick our hands in the dark holes made by the breaks in the stonework.
I was never brave enough, but that dare is where the start of this story came from, so I hope you enjoy Ellen and Ben's tale.
Ghost:
Today, I’m not doing a drabble, instead, I’m using a longer story that I wrote for Valentine’s Day this year, a story that is from my new ‘Inspired By…’ series.
The 'Inspired By...' series is a collection of stories where the nugget of an idea came
from an inspiration in real life.
The story is called Phantom Love, and my inspiration is a church yard in a little village in the Kent countryside called Wittersham. When I was a girl, my father was the rector of Wittersham and the primary school I went to was right next to the church yard. There was only an open railing between us and what was a largely wild area. And, in the long grass, there were lots of rather dramatic tombs. One I remember vividly was made up of a large sarcophagus, broken in places and surrounded by brambles and rusty fence.
There was one time when a bunch of us were daring each other to stick our hands in the dark holes made by the breaks in the stonework.
I was never brave enough, but that dare is where the start of this story came from, so I hope you enjoy Ellen and Ben's tale.
When Ben promises to show his cousin, Ellen, a ghost, the pair set in motion a series of events that lead them into a terrifying encounter. Yet, within her fear, Ellen finds a purpose, and it is to find out what Millicent Van Curren, shot by her lover, wants from them.
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Phantom Love (Excerpt)
...The otherworldly humming slipped deep into Ellen’s mind, rooting her to the mattresswith its melancholy undulation. She was sure there would be only one thing worse than
the fear currently swirling in her chest, and that would be if Millicent noticed her, so she
trembled in place, mouth dry, heart hammering, and not knowing what to do as her
visitor slowly formed. It felt like hours of terror as the shadows pulled together out of the
chill atmosphere, suggesting more and more of the young woman in a high-waisted
gown. She swayed gently, the edges of her form not quite holding against her
movement, as surreal as the not quite heard song, and the complicit baby doll lay
against her breast….
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Other paranormal and spooky stories by Sophie Duncan.
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Hi Sophie - I can feel the terror building here ... and yes kids and pranks ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteI would not have put my hand in either! I am really curious about the story now, though :)
ReplyDeleteThe Multicolored Diary: Weird Things in Hungarian Folktales
Know Wittersham as my first wife's cousin lived at Stone, so we passed the church many times on the way from and to Lewes,
ReplyDelete