#WIPpet Wednesday Spookier and Spookier

Brews and Boos is this Friday. Here’s a snippet from the third ghost story I’ll be sharing that evening, and it’s another original. I suppose it will have a title when it’s done. I really must finish it. If I didn’t have bronchitis and a fuzzy head, I’d say more. Hope you enjoy.

This week I’ve got 24 sentences from this short story for 10/24/2018.

Little Alice Keefhaver was not the first ghost Sadie had ever seen. Her father had met her at school the morning the mine collapsed, trying to tell her something, but there were no sounds coming from his lips, only silent words. Little Alice Keefhaver didn’t try to speak, just pointed toward the house where she slept with her mother, father, three sisters, and one brother, all dead. The bloody axe that had done the deed was still sitting by the backdoor.

It wasn’t so unusual for little Alice to be silent. She was the youngest of the Keefhaver clan and very shy. It was odd for her to be alone, though, and it was definitely odd that none of the Keefhavers were at school. Mrs. Keefhaver ran that family like a factory and her five children were always at school, always. It was the mid-day break and Sadie was out in the school yard. Some children went home to eat, others ate in the schoolyard. Sadie usually went to the library. But earlier that week the library had developed a distinctive odor. It was either a dead mouse or an intentionally placed egg by one of the Fleenor brothers. Mr. Hardy hadn’t figured out which yet, and the smell remained.

Sadie was walking through the yard, ham biscuit in one hand with a book in the other when she saw a flash of white from the corner of her eye. She lowered her book and looked across the yard, and there was little Alice standing on the other side of the fence. She appeared to be wearing her nightgown. Sadie walked straight to her. “You playing hooky, little Alice?” The girl didn’t reply, which again, wasn’t odd. “Your whole family playing hooky?” No response. “Your mama out of town or something? She finds out you all laid low, she’ll bust your britches.” Silence. “Why are you in your nightgown?”

*WIPpet Wednesday is a blog hop hosted by Emily Wrayburn wherein writers share excerpts of their latest WIP. All genres and levels of accomplishment are welcome. The only stipulation is that the excerpt must coincide with the date in some manner. For example, on 10/8/14 you might share 10 lines from page 8, 8 paragraphs from chapter 14, or perhaps 18 sentences by doing WIPpet math and adding the day to the month. We’re flexible like that.

#storytelling #scarystories #originalwork

(Photo credit Photo by Lucas Ludwig on Unsplash)