Piercing screams from upstairs notwithstanding, I was conscious only of a sickening sweet stench coming from whatever goo I was embedded in.
Peeling open my squeezed shut eyes, I shone the flashlight down at my feet, where a child's eyes glistened up at me. I was standing in the cloth guts of a large, mutilated doll, its arms outstretched as if crying for help.
"Beck! BECKY! Are you all right? Answer me!"
"I'm fine, Carol," I called, teeth clenched as I extricated myself from the rotten insides.
"What are you doing? Come back. Come back now, right now!"
"There's jars of tomatoes down here."
Free of the unfortunate doll, I shone the light around me. I was in a dug out dirt cellar, where rows of canned tomatoes sat in the hollowed out walls. I looked at the stairwell but decided I wasn't going back up that way. Too dangerous.
A storm cellar door led to the outside. The few steps leading up to it were sturdy. I tested the door, found it open and climbed out, grinning. Evil sense of humor in full swing, I can around to the porch steps and came silently back inside through the window. Switching my flashlight off, I crept up behind the group of girls hovering over the cellar door. They were all crying and screaming my name. Trying not to laugh, I pulled air deep into my lungs and let out a roar.
They almost drove off without me.
That's an excerpt from FREAK which has hit the cutting room floor and found new life here on my blog. I thought it would be a fun little Halloween story, very appropriate for this spooky season. Now, it's back to the slag heaps. The book is almost ready for print! Hurrah! Wish me and my sore eyeballs good luck with it all. My editor is a genius and it's coming together beautifully. I'm so excited. I hope the book comforts and helps as many people as possible. That's its purpose...so here I go again, back to the writing computer across the room. Take care.
Love, R
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