spot_img

Spotlight Event: About The Heroine

About the Heroine of The Screaming Season

The Screaming SeasonI really admire Lindsay Cavanaugh, the main character of the Possessions series.  A lot of really scary things happen to her—life-altering things—and she’s not sure she can even trust herself:

“Hey, sweetie,” Julie said, squeezing my hand. “Welcome back.”

I want to go home, I thought, wobbling and weepy. If I make a wish and tap my heels three times, all this will have been a dream. Three, two, one…

I opened my eyes. And I saw… “Oh, my God!” Julie shouted, jumping to her feet and leaping away from my hospital bed. Her chair slammed on its side and she tripped over one of the legs, slamming hard against the wall. “Lindsay, stop! Stop, it’s all right!”

Tongues of orange flames whooshed up around the bed. Ebony smoke billowed toward the ceiling, fanning out and rolling across the light blue surface like rushing water.

Searing heat slapped my face.

Flashes:
Dead blackbirds in the snow.
Splatters of blood.
Claw marks in the trees.
Shadows in the forest.
The lake house.
The Ouija board.
The white head.

The fog rising from Searle Lake, where the dead drifted, waiting for one of us to look into the water and see…

That horrible, horrible face, laughing at me, pushing me back against the bed, showing me the ice pick and the rubber mallet and whispering, “Do as I say, and it’ll be all over.” His words were a whisper that echoed around the burning room, ricocheting and bouncing off Julie’s sobbing and my screams. His ssss’s were hisses of steam, and everything I saw morphed into his bloodshot eyes and the gleaming tip of the ice pick. One jab, one thrust.

“Get him away!” I shrieked.

I wailed and shouted. I could hear myself, but I could also hear him, and I heard Julie whimpering. My focus snapped back and I saw her hugging herself as she pushed against the wall with her back, as if she couldn’t get far enough away from me.

“Calm now, Lindsay, calm down now,” Ms. Simonet ordered me. The middle- aged nurse sounded angry, scared, impatient. But of course I wasn’t going to calm down when he was going to shove an ice pick into my eye socket, twitch it back and forth like a cat’s tail, and split my brain apart. What sane person would?

He’s not there, he’s not, I told myself—but he was. Just because they couldn’t see him didn’t mean that he existed only in my imagination.

I knew better.

At Marlwood, the enraged dead possessed the living and made them do horrible, unspeakable things. Made them torment, and torture, and kill. Spirits, ghosts, whatever
you wanted to call them, could hurt you. He was really there, in the blazing infirmary; he wanted to shut me up. I knew the terrible secrets of Marlwood. I knew that dead girls roamed the halls and spied on us, and sent bothersome, nosy girls to drown in Lake Searle, or pushed them over the edge into insanity so no one would believe them, no one would—

“He’s here!” I shrieked, trying to push the nurse away. And that was when I realized they had tied me down. There were leather cuffs lined with felt around my wrists, attached to my bed.

They think I’m crazy.

They know I’m crazy.

“Lindsay, I’m here too,” said the ghost of Celia Reaves, the dead girl who had possessed me on my first day at Marlwood.

But Lindsay doesn’t give up. She discovers that despite all the dangers from without and within, there is a core person, a Lindsay, who can save not only herself, but people she cares about.  She finds herself, trusts herself, and most importantly, loves herself, warts and all…and she wins.  And I really love her for that!

Similar Articles

Comments

FOLLOW US

2,023FansLike
2,951FollowersFollow
11,100SubscribersSubscribe

Recent Book Trailers

Instagram

Advertismentspot_img

Don't Miss

Boys In the Valley By Philip Fracassi

0
Boys In the Valley By Philip Fracassi An invitation of horror -- The Exorcist meets Lord of the Flies, by way of Midnight Mass, in Boys in the Valley, a...

Sneak Peek: Against the Wind by Amanda Cabot

0
Against the Wind by Amanda Cabot Doctor-in-training Louisa Vaughn has no intention of spending more than a few days in Sweetwater Crossing, but when she...

RETURN TO THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE JEDI IN “STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC...

0
The next chapter in The High Republic Adventures saga begins now! The Force is strong in the latest Dark Horse Comics and Lucasfilm Publishing team-up,...

Homeless Author Becomes Filmmaker, Joins with Catching Smoke Films

0
Homeless author Tobin Frost is set to captivate readers again with his evocative new novel "Amber"  an eye-opening exploration of the struggles and humanity of the...

Plant-based Medicine Expert and Founder of Goldthread Tonics, William Siff L.Ac Releases: The Plant...

0
Plant-based Medicine Expert and Founder of Goldthread Tonics, William Siff L.Ac, Presents a Compelling New Vision of the Modern Health and Wellness Lifestyle in...

Behind The Words With Suzanne Woods Fisher

0
Welcome Suzanne! It's great to have you back to talk about a new book. Today, we'll be asking lots of questions about a new...

Sneak Peek: A Parfait Crime by Maya Corrigan

0
A Parfait Crime by Maya Corrigan Set in a quaint Chesapeake Bay town, the latest novel in Maya Corrigan’s Five-Ingredient Mysteries brings back café manager...

FITZ’S JOURNEY CONTINUES IN “THE ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE SERIES II”

0
The comics adaptation of Robin Hobb’s critically acclaimed novel continues The Assassin's Apprentice continues with The Assassin's Apprentice II #1! The comics adaptation of Robin Hobb's epic fantasy...

There’s a Book for That: Artificial Intelligence

0
As AI is now part of our daily news, and lives, the need to understand its uses and implications, what’s beneficial and possibly detrimental,...

Spending Time With Author Holly Varni

0
Hi Holly! Welcome to Reader's Entertainment. We so excited to have you here and talking about your debut novel, On Moonberry Lake. Give our...