Welcome to Friday Fiction, my weekly fiction post. It’s also an opportunity to link up your own fiction posts, so if you are working on anything at the moment, please feel free to share it here (using the blue frog link below). Thanks to those who joined in last week. It was lovely to read your work.
Every week, I try to incorporate the prompt given by Sara at mumturnedmom. This week is no exception and I’ve chosen an extract from my current WIP. The character in this story, Jake, can communicate with the ghost of his dead grandmother, but being able to see her caused problems for him. He’s in denial about his abilities and refuses to acknowledge them.
The prompt is ‘Gift’:
‘If Sophie has Lee looking after her she will be fine,’ I say. ‘Have you seen the size of him? She doesn’t need me or you for that matter. Just tell Aimee that her sister is in safe hands and we can leave it at that.’
‘I’ve tried to tell Aimee that but it hasn’t stopped her. Whether that’s because it didn’t get through to her I don’t know.’
‘How do you connect with her anyway?’ I say.
‘Well I don’t, do I?’ Gran says.
‘But how do you try to?’ I say.
‘When I was alive, I was able to go inside of myself and I could feel a physical change within me – a channel opening up, like a gateway. It’s a bit like meditation, where you open up your mind and let your energy flow free.’
‘That’s what Sophie needs to do,’ I say. ‘She might be able to connect with her sister on her own and then she wouldn’t need you to do it for her.’
‘Maybe, but as I said before, it’s not supposed to work like that. If Sophie doesn’t have the ability, then Aimee won’t be able to reach her. You have to have the ability first, like you do.’
‘I don’t have the gift, gran,’ I say.
‘Of course you do, how do you think you can speak to me?’
‘Because of your gift I presume,’ I say.
‘Then how come no one else can see me?’ she says.
‘Because you chose not to present to them,’ I say.
‘Wrong. They can’t see me because they don’t have the gift like you. With a bit of training you would be able to connect with other spirits too.’
‘But I don’t want to connect with other spirits,’ I say. ‘It’s bad enough that I can see you, no offence or anything, but a childhood spent talking to a ghost that no one else could see landed me in a psychiatric ward and resulted in me being on medication for however long – I can’t even remember I was so spaced out. Because of that, there are parts of my life that I have no memory of. I didn’t even know about Aimee’s murder, even though she was a local girl. I didn’t know that Mattie knew her and was questioned by the police. I also didn’t know that Lee’s parents were both killed in an accident. How much of my life did I miss all because I could speak to you? I don’t want to go through that ever again.’
Gran looks guilty for a change and she doesn’t seem to have an answer for me.
‘I just thought that if you could try to open your mind to the idea, then Aimee might be able to get through to you,’ she says.
‘No chance,’ I say, ‘and don’t even bother asking me that again.’
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There’s something about this whole conversation that really appeals to me-the air of ‘normality’ about a subject that clearly isn’t 🙂
Yes, their relationship is interesting because jake feels comfortable enough to talk to her but doesn’t want her presence to impact on his everyday life
I remember Jake. I’m so glad to see him back. And I agree with Redpeffer…the normality of this conversation is intriguing. I wouldn’t have known that his Gran was on the other side had the two of them not alluded to the fact that she’s already passed. It’s very clever the way you’ve written it. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Ha, he’s so used to seeing her ghost that it doesn’t bother him that way. He’s more concerned about having her around because he’s not 100% sure if she’s real or if he imagines her.
Like Iona and Maria have said, it’s the everyday nature of the conversation that’s really clever. Unless his Gran had said, when I was alive, you would have assumed that this conversation happened before she died. You make an extraordinary situation completely believable. Thank you so much for sharing with #ThePrompt x
Thanks Sara. As it’s an extract from a longer story, I hadn’t thought about it this way. Glad it works as a stand alone piece.
Such a fascinating premise for a story. I love that he’s turning his back on his ‘gift’. I’d be tempted to as well seeing as it got him sectioned last time…
I love getting all these glimpses into your novel. As the others have said, the normality of this conversation is really interesting considering one of the characters is dead. Looking forward to another peek in the future (I hope!). xx
That is not a gift I would fancy having. But the way the conversation has unfolded makes it seem like an everyday occurrence
The more snippets of this novel I see the more intrigued I am! It’s definitely a fascinating premise, and I love the interaction between the characters here x
This reminds me a little bit of The Shining. I think many of us like the idea of having that extra sense, but it can open into all sorts of difficult areas. An intriguing story I’d like to read more of.
It’s not scary like that though!
I also agree, the normality of the conversation is unexpected. Definitely intriguing! xx