#dylan rambles
If the restless spirit of a child who died before their time latched onto me and tried to force their way into my life, I would simply love and cherish them as if they were my own.
Rip to every horror movie protag ever, but I’m different.
Mysterious old lady: “You’ve seen the child, haven’t you? I know about her… she was to be one of my twin daughters, whom I parented in a dark ritual with the Lord of Fleas himself! But she was never to be, perished before her birth!”
Me: “Great! So did you ever name her? Because if you didn’t, I’m gonna call her Rosemary. :)”
The little ghost girl with sunken black eyes in a tattered white dress, handing me a withered dead sparrow: “P̴̥̕a̷̟͊p̵̘̅a̴̪͛,̵̪͒ ̸͚̉I̸̘̓ ̴̱̒ḫ̶̓ȁ̴̠v̸̦̌e̵̟͊ ̷̟̓b̸̳͠ȓ̵͉o̷̟͐û̷͇g̶̘͛h̸̩̅t̶̼̍ ̸̡̐y̵͈̽o̸̥̾ụ̸̽ ̴͕͐ą̶͂ ̵͇͊g̴͇̓i̶̝͊f̸̲̈t̵̡̆!̶̺̉”
Me, carefully placing the bird on the shelf next to all the other dead things: “Awww, thank you, Pumpkin! Now let’s get washed up, it’s dinner time and I made soup! :)”
The local medium, showing up unannounced right before lunchtime: “Your neighbors told me about your situation. Don’t worry, I’m here now to help cleanse the evil from this place.”
Me, having just got dressed and ready for a nice day out with my kid: “Seriously? You’re doing this on Father’s Day? Tell the HOA they can bite me.”
10/10 would definitely watch a multi-season series like this
I actually did have an idea for a book about it.
Some years before the book begins, something goes horribly wrong, and some Blair Witch stuff happens across the entire globe. The veil between this world and the next rips clean open, and all sorts of stuff spills through. Horrid demons, torturous spirits, and innumerable ghosts (long-dead as well as recently departed, the calamity does not pick favorites) all flood the land of the living, and some parties on both sides are pretty riled up about it.
So the world goes to war. The natural living world against the supernatural “invaders”. It’s never discovered how the event happened, but in searching for a weapon to fight back against the dead and their ilk, humanity is able to turn the power of faith into a weapon. Doesn’t even matter which faith, which religion or religions supply the light, all that matters is that a new form of warfare is born: weaponized prayer. The supernatural forces fall within the year.
But there are always innocents in war. Some ghosts never wanted to fight. They just wanted to go back to their rest. And when it was decided that they couldn’t, they just wanted to eke out a peaceful place to exist in the mortal world. Some attached themselves to places of quiet that they knew in life, some returned to their families and friends, the people they left behind. But others had nothing to go back to. Many were too young to form these sort of attachments to anything on Earth. These come to be known as “orphan ghosts”.
The book follows a tired, middle-aged fellow (we’ll call him Marcus) who finds himself haunted by the orphan ghost of a little seven-year-old girl with no memory of her mortal life. Maybe she’s from another time period? Maybe she is the daughter of a devil and a witch? Who knows? All Marcus knows for sure is that this spooky little ghost girl follows him just about everywhere.
At first he is apprehensive about his new shadow, but it doesn’t take long before the ghost begins to fill in the spaces in his heart that a hard life had left empty. Marcus had lost his own family—a wife and son—during the war, and with nowhere to go due to the destruction of the Veil, their spirits were lost to god-knows-where. It’s not that he’s replacing his family with this little one, but… well, she’s a light for him in a dark time. He ends up adopting her, and even gives her a new name. (Rosemary! Rosy for short. :P)
But after the war ended, the world remained changed, hostile to any and all things supernatural. Everyone carries a holy symbol on them for self-defense. Spirits and spectres are rounded up into “grave camps”, prison-like holy ground used to contain and banish any apparition unfortunate to be corralled or captured.
Marcus is happier now than he’d been since the day he lost everything, and Rosy is delighted to see him come back into himself. But they have to keep Rosemary a secret from everyone, so no one can take her away.
I dunno, it was just an idea that came to me. I might come back and touch on it here a little bit, but I’d also love to read this story. If anyone wants to take the idea and run with it, feel free. But please shoot me a message or tag me in your post so I can see what you came up with. ^^ Guess this is my contribution to Halloween this year, so… Happy Halloween!
Ok this is all really good. Like the addition
But the first half kinda gave off ”Supernatural Sitcom” kind of vibes with a summary like this:
”Guy in late 20s or early 30s gets found by a restless spirit of a child of unspecfied nature who starts haunting him. Guy decides he is a father now and starts caring for the child-spirit like she were his own. Also tries to legally adopt her. What could possibly go wrong?”
Additional world building mostly still fits
That was the vibe I was going for with the initial posts, but then I started thinking about it more, and it snowballed into “heartfelt found-family drama”.
So I meant to have this short story finished and ready to share by today, but then everything happened with the virus and the power outage (I forgot to mention, a big ol’ storm knocked out the power a couple days ago, so things have been even more complicated). So I wasn’t able to finish it…
So instead, I’m doing something a little bit different… and perhaps a little bit ill-advised: I’m going to be sharing a WIP with y’all, on this website that I keep forgetting I have, and updating it throughout the day as I write!
Happy Halloween, and keep checking back for updates!
https://theseventhwhisper.wordpress.com/2020/10/31/a-day-without-fear-wip/
If the restless spirit of a child who died before their time latched onto me and tried to force their way into my life, I would simply love and cherish them as if they were my own.
Rip to every horror movie protag ever, but I’m different.
Mysterious old lady: “You’ve seen the child, haven’t you? I know about her… she was to be one of my twin daughters, whom I parented in a dark ritual with the Lord of Fleas himself! But she was never to be, perished before her birth!”
Me: “Great! So did you ever name her? Because if you didn’t, I’m gonna call her Rosemary. :)”
The little ghost girl with sunken black eyes in a tattered white dress, handing me a withered dead sparrow: “P̴̥̕a̷̟͊p̵̘̅a̴̪͛,̵̪͒ ̸͚̉I̸̘̓ ̴̱̒ḫ̶̓ȁ̴̠v̸̦̌e̵̟͊ ̷̟̓b̸̳͠ȓ̵͉o̷̟͐û̷͇g̶̘͛h̸̩̅t̶̼̍ ̸̡̐y̵͈̽o̸̥̾ụ̸̽ ̴͕͐ą̶͂ ̵͇͊g̴͇̓i̶̝͊f̸̲̈t̵̡̆!̶̺̉”
Me, carefully placing the bird on the shelf next to all the other dead things: “Awww, thank you, Pumpkin! Now let’s get washed up, it’s dinner time and I made soup! :)”
The local medium, showing up unannounced right before lunchtime: “Your neighbors told me about your situation. Don’t worry, I’m here now to help cleanse the evil from this place.”
Me, having just got dressed and ready for a nice day out with my kid: “Seriously? You’re doing this on Father’s Day? Tell the HOA they can bite me.”
10/10 would definitely watch a multi-season series like this
I actually did have an idea for a book about it.
Some years before the book begins, something goes horribly wrong, and some Blair Witch stuff happens across the entire globe. The veil between this world and the next rips clean open, and all sorts of stuff spills through. Horrid demons, torturous spirits, and innumerable ghosts (long-dead as well as recently departed, the calamity does not pick favorites) all flood the land of the living, and some parties on both sides are pretty riled up about it.
So the world goes to war. The natural living world against the supernatural “invaders”. It’s never discovered how the event happened, but in searching for a weapon to fight back against the dead and their ilk, humanity is able to turn the power of faith into a weapon. Doesn’t even matter which faith, which religion or religions supply the light, all that matters is that a new form of warfare is born: weaponized prayer. The supernatural forces fall within the year.
But there are always innocents in war. Some ghosts never wanted to fight. They just wanted to go back to their rest. And when it was decided that they couldn’t, they just wanted to eke out a peaceful place to exist in the mortal world. Some attached themselves to places of quiet that they knew in life, some returned to their families and friends, the people they left behind. But others had nothing to go back to. Many were too young to form these sort of attachments to anything on Earth. These come to be known as “orphan ghosts”.
The book follows a tired, middle-aged fellow (we’ll call him Marcus) who finds himself haunted by the orphan ghost of a little seven-year-old girl with no memory of her mortal life. Maybe she’s from another time period? Maybe she is the daughter of a devil and a witch? Who knows? All Marcus knows for sure is that this spooky little ghost girl follows him just about everywhere.
At first he is apprehensive about his new shadow, but it doesn’t take long before the ghost begins to fill in the spaces in his heart that a hard life had left empty. Marcus had lost his own family—a wife and son—during the war, and with nowhere to go due to the destruction of the Veil, their spirits were lost to god-knows-where. It’s not that he’s replacing his family with this little one, but… well, she’s a light for him in a dark time. He ends up adopting her, and even gives her a new name. (Rosemary! Rosy for short. :P)
But after the war ended, the world remained changed, hostile to any and all things supernatural. Everyone carries a holy symbol on them for self-defense. Spirits and spectres are rounded up into “grave camps”, prison-like holy ground used to contain and banish any apparition unfortunate to be corralled or captured.
Marcus is happier now than he’d been since the day he lost everything, and Rosy is delighted to see him come back into himself. But they have to keep Rosemary a secret from everyone, so no one can take her away.
I dunno, it was just an idea that came to me. I might come back and touch on it here a little bit, but I’d also love to read this story. If anyone wants to take the idea and run with it, feel free. But please shoot me a message or tag me in your post so I can see what you came up with. ^^ Guess this is my contribution to Halloween this year, so… Happy Halloween!
Ok this is all really good. Like the addition
But the first half kinda gave off ”Supernatural Sitcom” kind of vibes with a summary like this:
”Guy in late 20s or early 30s gets found by a restless spirit of a child of unspecfied nature who starts haunting him. Guy decides he is a father now and starts caring for the child-spirit like she were his own. Also tries to legally adopt her. What could possibly go wrong?”
Additional world building mostly still fits
That was the vibe I was going for with the initial posts, but then I started thinking about it more, and it snowballed into “heartfelt found-family drama”.
If the restless spirit of a child who died before their time latched onto me and tried to force their way into my life, I would simply love and cherish them as if they were my own.
Rip to every horror movie protag ever, but I’m different.
Mysterious old lady: “You’ve seen the child, haven’t you? I know about her… she was to be one of my twin daughters, whom I parented in a dark ritual with the Lord of Fleas himself! But she was never to be, perished before her birth!”
Me: “Great! So did you ever name her? Because if you didn’t, I’m gonna call her Rosemary. :)”
The little ghost girl with sunken black eyes in a tattered white dress, handing me a withered dead sparrow: “P̴̥̕a̷̟͊p̵̘̅a̴̪͛,̵̪͒ ̸͚̉I̸̘̓ ̴̱̒ḫ̶̓ȁ̴̠v̸̦̌e̵̟͊ ̷̟̓b̸̳͠ȓ̵͉o̷̟͐û̷͇g̶̘͛h̸̩̅t̶̼̍ ̸̡̐y̵͈̽o̸̥̾ụ̸̽ ̴͕͐ą̶͂ ̵͇͊g̴͇̓i̶̝͊f̸̲̈t̵̡̆!̶̺̉”
Me, carefully placing the bird on the shelf next to all the other dead things: “Awww, thank you, Pumpkin! Now let’s get washed up, it’s dinner time and I made soup! :)”
The local medium, showing up unannounced right before lunchtime: “Your neighbors told me about your situation. Don’t worry, I’m here now to help cleanse the evil from this place.”
Me, having just got dressed and ready for a nice day out with my kid: “Seriously? You’re doing this on Father’s Day? Tell the HOA they can bite me.”
10/10 would definitely watch a multi-season series like this
I actually did have an idea for a book about it.
Some years before the book begins, something goes horribly wrong, and some Blair Witch stuff happens across the entire globe. The veil between this world and the next rips clean open, and all sorts of stuff spills through. Horrid demons, torturous spirits, and innumerable ghosts (long-dead as well as recently departed, the calamity does not pick favorites) all flood the land of the living, and some parties on both sides are pretty riled up about it.
So the world goes to war. The natural living world against the supernatural “invaders”. It’s never discovered how the event happened, but in searching for a weapon to fight back against the dead and their ilk, humanity is able to turn the power of faith into a weapon. Doesn’t even matter which faith, which religion or religions supply the light, all that matters is that a new form of warfare is born: weaponized prayer. The supernatural forces fall within the year.
But there are always innocents in war. Some ghosts never wanted to fight. They just wanted to go back to their rest. And when it was decided that they couldn’t, they just wanted to eke out a peaceful place to exist in the mortal world. Some attached themselves to places of quiet that they knew in life, some returned to their families and friends, the people they left behind. But others had nothing to go back to. Many were too young to form these sort of attachments to anything on Earth. These come to be known as “orphan ghosts”.
The book follows a tired, middle-aged fellow (we’ll call him Marcus) who finds himself haunted by the orphan ghost of a little seven-year-old girl with no memory of her mortal life. Maybe she’s from another time period? Maybe she is the daughter of a devil and a witch? Who knows? All Marcus knows for sure is that this spooky little ghost girl follows him just about everywhere.
At first he is apprehensive about his new shadow, but it doesn’t take long before the ghost begins to fill in the spaces in his heart that a hard life had left empty. Marcus had lost his own family—a wife and son—during the war, and with nowhere to go due to the destruction of the Veil, their spirits were lost to god-knows-where. It’s not that he’s replacing his family with this little one, but… well, she’s a light for him in a dark time. He ends up adopting her, and even gives her a new name. (Rosemary! Rosy for short. :P)
But after the war ended, the world remained changed, hostile to any and all things supernatural. Everyone carries a holy symbol on them for self-defense. Spirits and spectres are rounded up into “grave camps”, prison-like holy ground used to contain and banish any apparition unfortunate to be corralled or captured.
Marcus is happier now than he’d been since the day he lost everything, and Rosy is delighted to see him come back into himself. But they have to keep Rosemary a secret from everyone, so no one can take her away.
I dunno, it was just an idea that came to me. I might come back and touch on it here a little bit, but I’d also love to read this story. If anyone wants to take the idea and run with it, feel free. But please shoot me a message or tag me in your post so I can see what you came up with. ^^ Guess this is my contribution to Halloween this year, so… Happy Halloween!
If the restless spirit of a child who died before their time latched onto me and tried to force their way into my life, I would simply love and cherish them as if they were my own.
Rip to every horror movie protag ever, but I’m different.
Mysterious old lady: “You’ve seen the child, haven’t you? I know about her… she was to be one of my twin daughters, whom I parented in a dark ritual with the Lord of Fleas himself! But she was never to be, perished before her birth!”
Me: “Great! So did you ever name her? Because if you didn’t, I’m gonna call her Rosemary. :)”
The little ghost girl with sunken black eyes in a tattered white dress, handing me a withered dead sparrow: “P̴̥̕a̷̟͊p̵̘̅a̴̪͛,̵̪͒ ̸͚̉I̸̘̓ ̴̱̒ḫ̶̓ȁ̴̠v̸̦̌e̵̟͊ ̷̟̓b̸̳͠ȓ̵͉o̷̟͐û̷͇g̶̘͛h̸̩̅t̶̼̍ ̸̡̐y̵͈̽o̸̥̾ụ̸̽ ̴͕͐ą̶͂ ̵͇͊g̴͇̓i̶̝͊f̸̲̈t̵̡̆!̶̺̉”
Me, carefully placing the bird on the shelf next to all the other dead things: “Awww, thank you, Pumpkin! Now let’s get washed up, it’s dinner time and I made soup! :)”
The local medium, showing up unannounced right before lunchtime: “Your neighbors told me about your situation. Don’t worry, I’m here now to help cleanse the evil from this place.”
Me, having just got dressed and ready for a nice day out with my kid: “Seriously? You’re doing this on Father’s Day? Tell the HOA they can bite me.”
If the restless spirit of a child who died before their time latched onto me and tried to force their way into my life, I would simply love and cherish them as if they were my own.
Rip to every horror movie protag ever, but I’m different.
Mysterious old lady: “You’ve seen the child, haven’t you? I know about her… she was to be one of my twin daughters, whom I parented in a dark ritual with the Lord of Fleas himself! But she was never to be, perished before her birth!”
Me: “Great! So did you ever name her? Because if you didn’t, I’m gonna call her Rosemary. :)”
The little ghost girl with sunken black eyes in a tattered white dress, handing me a withered dead sparrow: “P̴̥̕a̷̟͊p̵̘̅a̴̪͛,̵̪͒ ̸͚̉I̸̘̓ ̴̱̒ḫ̶̓ȁ̴̠v̸̦̌e̵̟͊ ̷̟̓b̸̳͠ȓ̵͉o̷̟͐û̷͇g̶̘͛h̸̩̅t̶̼̍ ̸̡̐y̵͈̽o̸̥̾ụ̸̽ ̴͕͐ą̶͂ ̵͇͊g̴͇̓i̶̝͊f̸̲̈t̵̡̆!̶̺̉”
Me, carefully placing the bird on the shelf next to all the other dead things: “Awww, thank you, Pumpkin! Now let’s get washed up, it’s dinner time and I made soup! :)”
If the restless spirit of a child who died before their time latched onto me and tried to force their way into my life, I would simply love and cherish them as if they were my own.
Rip to every horror movie protag ever, but I’m different.
Mysterious old lady: “You’ve seen the child, haven’t you? I know about her… she was to be one of my twin daughters, whom I parented in a dark ritual with the Lord of Fleas himself! But she was never to be, perished before her birth!”
Me: “Great! So did you ever name her? Because if you didn’t, I’m gonna call her Rosemary. :)”
If the restless spirit of a child who died before their time latched onto me and tried to force their way into my life, I would simply love and cherish them as if they were my own.
Rip to every horror movie protag ever, but I’m different.
Batman doesn’t do enough smug grins. When one of his teammates or kids does something really clever or smart, he should smirk about it. Like “nice move, that was really clever”.
Actually, y’know what? It’s bigger than that. Too many writers write Batman off as this grumpy dickhead, but he can be better than that. Give me a Batman who appreciates the people he spends time with, but in his own quiet way.
And by that same token, why does every writer seem to use him as a punching bag to make their own favorite look cool? Every time some member of the League or the Family needs to appear tough or furious, they start trash-talking Batman or throwing him around or whatever. Why the animosity? It’s excessive, it’s repetitive, and it makes me wanna put the book down.
These two problems together make everyone in the Family and the League—Batman included—seem like total jerks. And frankly, I’m tired of it. We can do better. It’s time for comics to start doing better.
Me: I like to think I’m getting a handle on my emotions! Yup, no more rampant too-quick attachment for m—
Chet Baker’s “I Fall In Love Too Easily”:*plays*
Me:
