Writer in Residence

Working on the Ghostbook today, snipping, polishing, cutting, restructuring sentences, focusing focusing focusing. It’s all still very rough draftish. But I thought you might like to read just the tiniest little snippet? (BTW, Graciferblue’s series of mosh photos continue to resonate with this story for me - so I’ve used one to illustrate this passage.)

So, this piece is from the chapter The Feel of Moonlight

It’s the middle of the night, and 15-yr-old Pat Finnerty, has just woke to find his twin brother, Dom, missing from their room.

-0-

I ran to the bedroom with the intention of getting my jumper and runners, and paused at the window, looking down into the garden. I wasn’t at all surprised to see Dom down there, strolling along in his pyjamas, but the sight of his companion made my knees unhinge.

The little white goblin-boy was prancing along beside my brother, his delighted grin a black half-moon in his chalky face. He was chatting away, obviously in the middle of an a very animated and amusing conversation. Dom was smiling his lopsided smile and sauntering along, idly swinging a stick at the untidy bushes against the wall. He seemed perfectly comfortable in the company of this naked little creature. The boy said something, and Dom laughed, glancing at it with the same affectionate amusement he usually reserved for me.

I flung myself at the window, fumbled the latch and shoved up the sash. Dom’s voice floated up to me on the cold air.

‘… really?’ he said. His stick swung, thwack thwack, against the bushes.

‘Oh, yes,’ said the creature. ‘Look. Put your arms out like this. Then put your head back…’

I stuck my head over the windowsill. The little creature flung his arms wide and put his head back. If he looked a little to his left he’d see me peering down at him, but he only had eyes for Dom. And he was looking at Dom with a kind of tragic joy, a kind of heart-broken devotion that would have been moving had it not been on the face of such an awful creature.

‘Now close your eyes,’ he said. He watched my brother do as he was bid. ‘Do you feel it? Do you feel the moonlight?’

The tolerant smile that had been quirking my brother’s mouth got a bit more crooked, and he shook his head. ‘Nope! I just feel cold.’

The little creature’s face dropped. He frowned at my brother for a moment, disappointed. And then he grabbed Dom’s hand. ‘Do you feel it now?’

Dom’s crooked smile fell away and, though he still stood with his head back and his arms out-stretched, his whole posture sagged. A low, amazed sound escaped him. The goblin-boy smiled up at him and nodded. ‘ You do, don’t you?’

Dom’s eyes opened slowly and he looked up at the stars in wonder.

‘Wow,’ he said, a long drawn out syllable of awe. ‘Wow.’

‘Dom!’ I cried. ‘ Let go!’

Dom gaped up at me, his face filled with confusion. The little creature screeched in fear and grabbed Dom’s other hand in his own. Dom didn’t seem to notice him, and he continued to stare up at me with utter disbelief. ‘ Wh… Pat? How the hell? What are you doing up there?’

I leaned far out the window. If it had been possible I would have flown out of the window, dived out and landed on that little creature and torn my brother from its grip.

‘Dom,’ I cried. ‘Let go of its hand! Let go!’

The words seemed to sink in, and Dom turned his puzzled face to the little creature who was tugging and hauling at him in an attempt to get him out of my sight. I saw Dom’s eyes open briefly in horror and then the goblin-boy’s own eyes welled up with tears. They ran as black as tar down its white face and my brother’s expression softened and I saw him bend forward to hear the words the little creature was frantically whispering.

‘He’ll hurt us, Lorry! He’ll take you away! You’ve got to come with me, you’ve got to be safe! You’ve got to be safe.’

Dom began to turn back to me, but as he was turning away, the little creature snatched at him and opened it’s mouth and threw back it’s head and screamed.

‘Loooorryyy!’

I clutched at my ears, the scream was awful, a horrible desolate cry. Dom swayed on his feet, his knees buckling, his eyes rolled back to just the whites. He seemed to pass out on his feet and as I watched, helplessly leaning out over the ledge, the white goblin child led my unresisting brother up the path and further into the tangled garden. Out of my sight.

-0-

Ok, that’s it. Hope you liked it. Tomorrow I’ll talk about falling down the rabbit-hole.

Til then slán.