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Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Just Another WIPpet Wednesday...

I keep thinking it's Thursday, and that I only have one more day until I can catch up on my sleep, but then I look at the date and realize it's Wednesday.

Unfortunately I don't have much to report this week. The baby kicks are getting stronger and they still freak out my husband. The boys are still up to their shenanigans - this week they learned that running on linoleum and trying to make a sharp turn is dangerous. There were kitties sliding EVERYWHERE!

I have been doing some writing. I plugged away at The Undying Ones some more, but it's still rough going at times. I also started on the next chapter of The Descendants - which is where we begin to get into the time travel stuff, and reintroduce a character we haven't seen for a couple of chapters. Though, the unfortunate side of this is no more Matthew for awhile - except in flashbacks - and he is probably one of my favorite characters in this series.

In addition to that an idea for a new story began to take shape in my mind. Damn plot bunnies. Though werewolves are also partially to blame for this one. Specifically Ossory Werewolves. I wrote just enough of it down to get rid of the itch, and hopefully I can return to it once TUO and TD are done.

And now for the WIPpet update!

Since today is June 11th, I'll be sharing 6 paragraphs from that Werewolf story snippet. Basically Claire is visiting her mother, who was recently ill. Her mom is a bit weird - she puts salt across the threshold of her house and every night she leaves a bag of food out by the trashcan. One night she's out later than normal and asks Claire to put the food out for her, claiming it's contaminated. Claire thinks she's crazy, because there's nothing wrong with the food, but she goes and does it anyways.
Beyond the yellow glow of the security light the woods behind the house were dark, darker than the moonless sky overhead. The stories the old man at the diner had been telling her suddenly flashed back into her conscious. What had he said about there being a weird cult in town that worshiped werewolves? And then there had been that story the other day about that young girl drowning her friend because some demon had told her too. Was her mom one of those wackos that believed there was more to the woods? 
It’s just a bunch of trees, she told herself. Just like the trees in central park. There is nothing out there that can hurt you.  
However, as she slipped out the kitchen door and took the steps down to the back yard two at a time, she couldn’t help but feel like something was watching her every move. Far off, she could hear something rustle through the leaves, and the crunch of gravel in the driveway. Claire quickly dumped the bag of food in the trash, then sprinted back up the stairs and slammed the door behind her. She made sure deadbolts were locked and then collapsed against the solid wood door, suddenly winded. 
Slowly the absurdity of how she was behaving began to hit her; there was no such thing as demons or werewolves or ghosts. There was nothing stalking her - except for maybe a hungry raccoon or possum - and she was simply letting her imagination get away with her.  
But a small bit of doubt lingered, questioning her. What raccoon or possum would make that much noise? It asked. Even if there was one nearby, they weren't big enough to stir up such a ruckus. 
Fine, she sighed. She would look through the window, even though her mother told her not to, and prove to herself that it was simply nothing. She lifted the gauzy curtain and peered through the glass in the door, expecting to find some critter perched on the lid of the trashcan, however the yard was empty except for two big yellow eyes stared at her from the edge of the woods.
To see more WIPpet Wednesday posts, go here.

12 comments:

  1. Oh, man. That's creepy. I get spooked easily when I'm alone and it's dark, so that would utterly freak me out.

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    1. I'm fine in most situations - but there is just something about the woods that creep me out.

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  2. I'm thinking I would have run back from the trashcan as well. I am not, however, brave enough to peep outside again. And if I did, and saw those eyes...Ah, yeah, the scream heard round the world.

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    1. Yeah, I would've grabbed the nearest weapon and hid in my room with a whole lot of stuff piled in front of my door and windows. I may have to write that in when I continue this!

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  3. Okay... serious nighttime creep factor here. I know I'm not the only one who psyches herself out when strange noises come out of the darkness, so... I'm sure I'm not the only one who can relate to this.

    And the eyes...

    Oh, and the kitties on the floor! Ah, yes, sliding kitties. That makes everything better.

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    1. So a couple of years ago my husband and I went up to Lake Tahoe for a mini vacation. For some idiotic reason, I decided to read up on the Donner party (who were trapped for the winter not too far from Lake Tahoe) right before we went to bed the first night we were there. What I was reading had nothing to do with ghosts, it was just a really boring account of what went down, but for some reason I was so freaked out by it that I did not get any sleep that night. I was positive that every little bump or creek was one of the Donner Party ghosts coming to get me.

      Yes sliding kitties makes everything better? You know what also helps? Kitties who try to jump up on something, misjudge the distance, fall back down, and sit there with an expression on their face of I meant to do that. My husband and I were in my inlaw's bedroom yesterday discussing something with my Mother in Law. Their cat, Dolly, was sprawled out on the bed, so I started petting her. Well, apparently, Murphy got mad that I wasn't paying attention to him and decided to jump up on the bookshelf. The bookshelf isn't very tall, it's really short, and only comes up to the bottom of the window it sits under. Well, he misjudged the distance, got his front paws on the top of it, but couldn't really get the rest of his body up, and promptly fell into my inlaws dirty clothes hamper. Such a dork.

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  4. Very creepy and I have so been there done that (minus the yellow eyes). I was actually expecting the thing to be right up against the glass when she looked and having her have to focus her eyes for a bit before she figured it out. This is a great set up for a scene/book.

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  5. You did an awesome job building up the suspense. My spine was tingling. :) Well done!

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  6. Oh I HATE THAT. It's dark at night, and while you were PERFECTLY fine before, now your mind comes up with all the scary thoughts that make you feel paranoid and that something is out to get you. Then you get back to safety and start to talk yourself out of it and want to laugh at your paranoia. Then yellow eyes peer at you through the darkness, confirming your fears.

    Just... *huff* perfectly awesome suspense for a story :-P

    Great!

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  7. Eeek, talk about creepy! Actually, that paranoia is me every time I go outside after dark, and if I had been talking to that guy in the diner beforehand, I'd probably have refused to put the meat out until the morning! (Though given the basis for the story, that would probably introduce its own set of problems).

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