Character
Interview with Alastair Hutchinson, Master of the 1,000 Ghosts—also known as
“The Observer” from Devils in the Dark
You’re quite
sure you don’t mind a few questions? This will be published online, you know.
Alastair: Isn’t
everything? It’s good of you to have me. My permanent contacts with the world
at large are few. I don’t know people very long, as a rule. So, this should be
refreshing … Don’t be nervous. You’ve done nothing wrong that I’m aware of.
Okay.
Um—let’s get started, then. What word best describes true love?
Alastair:
Loyalty. If love is true, people should mean what they say, do what they say
they will do.
© Finish
this sentence: Then I think of love, I think of _______
Alastair: Other
people. Luckier people. And liars.
© What’s your
ideal romantic evening?
Alastair: Myself,
alone and unburdened by the host that lives within me, remembering with my eyes
closed the girl I once loved—and forgetting what she did to me.
© What’s the
perfect Valentine’s Day gift?
Alastair: A
heart, of course. Feel free to take that symbolically, emotionally, or
surgically.
© Did you
ever think you’d found that perfect love? What happened?
Alastair: I
thought so. I was sure of it, even. I guess you could say I haven’t wholly
given up. My perfect love died a short number of years ago, but I’ve found
someone who looks very much like her. Sadly, this one’s currently being treated
in a psychiatric ward, but I find myself looking ever more forward to her
return home. Her name’s Audrey Bales—sweet thing, but very unhappy. She will
not know me long, but I hope to help her in the short time we share together.
© What are
the ideal traits you’re looking for in a forever love?
Alastair: We
both have to be dead for that, right? I look for truth. And forgiveness, I guess.
© What song
title best describes your relationship track record:
“Nothing but a Good Time,”
“Turn Me Loose,” “Shot Through the Heart (You Give Love a Bad Name)”, “Money
Talks/Material Girl”, “Looking for Love in All The Wrong Places”?
I’ve been
around for a while, so there’s a long list running through my head right now.
It wasn’t until the early 1960s before I truly began to reawaken. I heard a
song, then, that might fit. Runaway,
by Del Shannon. Google it. Probably on iTunes as well.
© What do
you find the most appealing about a committed relationship?
Alastair: The
chance to realize this myth of bliss. I’ve heard it works for some people. I
was willing to try it. I would have been good at it, I think.
© Why are
you still single?
Alastair: Well,
we’ve already covered that, haven’t we? I am
dead, you realize. If “dead” is the right word. I’ve been a teeanger for nearly
103 years. I guess you might say my behavior has been a prohibitive factor.
I’ve been accused of being rather … tempermental, too.
© What type
of woman are you instinctively drawn to?
Alastair: Helen.
Only to her. There is no “type.” But Audrey really does resemble her in a most
uncanny way.
© What’s an
absolute deal breaker in a relationship?
Alastair: A
change of heart. A betrayal.
© What was
your first opinion of each other?
Alastair: Our
families introduced us. We were pretty much betrothed before we ever met each
other, but I loved her from the start. I thought she loved me, too. I really
did.
© What first
attracted you to each other?
Alastair: I
loved her completely, instantly. Her cheeks, her lips, the way she read to the
school kids during lunchbreak—everything. Maybe she never loved me at all. She
did say I made her laugh, though.
© What kept
you from acting on that attraction?
Alastair: Who
says we didn’t?
© Who made
the first move and what was it?
Alastair: I
made the first move. It was in a loft where I was pitching hay bales for
Helen’s father. She brought me a glass of water, and … Well, we were caught
before it went very far. We had to meet up later, at the lake. It was cold that
night, but we managed to kindle a little something between us. But it was all
over the very next day.
© What would
she have to change to make this relationship work?
Alastair: Nothing.
It might have been better if I had murdered her father, though—along with that
pompous, strutting law student named Luke that she ended up with.
© What would
you be willing to change to make this relationship succeed?
Alastair: I
would have done anything. But it’s far too late, now. Let’s focus the remaining
questions on Audrey, shall we? She’s all that matters, at this point.
© What’s the
best thing about the two of you together?
Alastair: For
me, a chance to live again, if only for a day or three. For her, revenge upon
those who have hurt her. Justice.
© What are
you most looking forward to as a couple?
Alastair: I
am looking forward to her smile, when she sees her world put right at last.
© What could
stand in your way?
Alastair: Oh,
nothing, I assure you. Nothing at all.
Alastair: Are
we done?
*****
Devils in the Dark
(The Devil
in Miss Drake's Class, 1)
Marcus
Damanda
16+ / horror/paranormal/27K
To most of the Facebook 15, bullying Audrey Bales was
just a game—until two deep cuts with a Swiss army knife changed everything
forever. Audrey didn’t want attention anymore. After five weeks at Fairview
High School, Audrey wanted to die.
The doctors did the only thing they
could with her: they put her away.
But in Fairview, Virginia, the nightmare
is only beginning. The chat session had not gone unobserved. The Facebook 15
have drawn the attention of an ancient evil that lives only to punish those who
would prey upon the weak.
They are the ghosts of 1,000 dead
children—1,000 suicides—and their master…
Their master likes Audrey
Bales.
And as Audrey attempts to heal her mind
and body, far from home, their master prepares for the revenge he will unleash
upon her return.
Excerpt:
Underneath
the blackened veil of her powered-off monitor, the comments kept coming, kept
taunting her.
The observer
had stopped watching. He leaned back in his chair, head upturned to the
ceiling, eyes closed, still eating. The overripe apple had a worm in it, and he
sucked it down.
He projected
his sight outward, miles and miles from his little home. He didn’t know where
he was anymore.
Somebody’s
house. An empty room. A closet.
Here he
first saw the girl, the one they were tormenting. Her Facebook icon had shown
only a skull and crossbones. In real life, she might have been pretty, if she
had not worked so hard to hide it.
Familiar
too. Something in her eyes and her lips.
She was
close, very close, to a bad decision.
She was
imagining the ghost of her brother and talking to it, opening boxes that
contained his possessions. She listened to him speak words the observer could
not hear. Oh, he wished he could. From this distance all he could hear was the
pain inside of her, the loneliness, screams within whispers. An oncoming storm.
It made him
angry on her behalf.
He returned
his gaze to the real world of his apartment. The five of them were still chatting,
their cruel banter punctuated by internet abbreviations and emoticons, calling
for Audrey-Bear to say something, say something….
More joined
the chat.
He shook his
head.
You
deserve to die, he
thought. All of you.
****
Audrey
returned to her bedroom and closed the door. This time, she broke a house rule
and locked it. She put the blanket back in place and thumbed the monitor back
on.
It was
nearly one in the morning, yet the number of people on Cody’s page had tripled.
Stranger still was the activity coming through on her end.
She gazed in
bewilderment.
Benny
Talbot has sent you a friend request.
Heather
Roberts has sent you a friend request.
Ally
Watson has sent you a friend request.
Gabriel
Daniels has sent you a friend request.
Eleven
requests, all kids from school. Most of them had sent her personal messages
too. Some were fake-friendly, some openly mocking. Most pretended to rally in
her support, as if they had somehow stumbled upon this Internet lynching by
accident, all at the same time, and were offended by it. A virtual party had
gathered in Cody’s little corner of cyberspace, and Audrey was the game they
were playing.
Had Maggie
called or texted them all out of bed?
“Creative,”
she said. “You’re really good at this.”
She wasn’t
crying anymore. In fact, she was perfectly calm. With the ghost of her brother
standing by her side, she set his old Swiss Army knife—he’d gotten it for
Scouts, before he had quit—next to the keyboard.
Click
Accept, her brother
said. For all of them. Now, before they give up and start to log off.
She accepted
them all, and the result was chat room bedlam. The comments came faster than
she could read. Evidently this was the very height of hilarity.
And,
naturally, as soon as she had accepted them all, one-by-one, they unfriended
her, and posted.
Just
kidding!
Sry!
Changed my mind!
What an
idiot!
Inspired,
she clicked the Like button over every comment. Then, ignoring the perplexed responses
to that maneuver, she got to work.
She
retrieved the gym shirt from under her bed. Most days this particular item of
attire would have remained a crumpled ball in her P.E. locker after school, but
she’d had to wear it all day, and so it had come home with her.
“Turn your
head, Alex,” she said, as if he were really there.
And as if he
were really there, he answered. Not looking, not looking.
Once she had
the shirt on and smoothed it out, she sat back at her desk, got out her cell
phone, tied her hair in a tail, and took a picture of herself.
****
When the
first picture appeared on Cody’s page, the observer knew exactly what was
coming. He’d seen it before. The details differed each time, but the common
threads were easily picked out: theatrics, spite, spectacle—and from the other
end, disbelief. Then there would be panic, frantic attempts to undo the damage,
and afterward, there would be remorse.
From most of
them.
The picture
was off-center. The girl was smiling, posing. The mascara tracks on her face
looked like war paint.
Val: OMG,
she’s postin selfies!
Cody: Give
us a twerk, emo.
How they
didn’t see what was coming, the observer could not fathom. But that was part of
the pattern too. Bullies, as a rule, didn’t get it until it was too late—for the
victim, or less frequently, for themselves.
The observer
was truly torn. On the one hand, if she went through with it, she’d set him
free. He had made contact with her, though she didn’t know it, and he was the
oldest within the host. After many, many years, it was his turn, and he would
finally learn what lay beyond this purgatory. But on the other hand, he felt
bad for her. He really did.
“Let’s go,”
he said to the screen. The suspense was killing him. “What’s next, Audrey?”
A second
picture came up even as the first was being liked and shared by nearly everyone
on the page. This one silenced most of them.
Audrey was
holding an unfolded pocket knife against her cheek with one hand while the
other took the picture, still smiling, tilting her head.
At first,
the only comment came from Maggie: Drama. Whatever.
Audrey
responded: Stick around. This is for your benefit.
Everything
slowed down, then. Time rolled out like an empty rug, the Facebook page inert
and dead. Minutes passed with nothing.
Then,
Val: Audrey?
Still,
nothing.
Val
again: Audrey, don’t be dumb. Come on.
Five minutes
became ten.
Maggie: She
went to bed. She wants us to worry all night. As if we would.
After
fifteen minutes of relative inactivity, the final picture appeared.
*****
Author Bio:
Marcus Damanda lives in Woodbridge,
Virginia with his cat, Shazam. At various times throughout his life, he played
bass guitar for the garage heavy metal band
Mother’s Day, wrote for The Dale City Messenger, and published
editorials in The Potomac News and The Freelance Star. Currently, while not
plotting his next foray into fictitious suburban mayhem, he spoils his nieces
and nephews and teaches middle school English.
Find Marcus Damanda here:
***Giveaway: 1 ecopy of Devils in the Dark to a lucky
commenter on any of the participating blogs.
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Despite her stubbornness, the three men aren’t about to give up on their woman. No matter the battles they have to face, Aiden, Kain, and Cody are sworn to prove it to her—one way or another.
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One vibrant hope…
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Three powerful men and one vibrant woman must find passion and redemption to survive.
Kayla must shed her expectations and become Queen of Storm Hollow, claim her men, and change the world…no pressure. 
