SOMETHING TRULY TERRIFYING!!! (Cynthia Reeg)
Here it is—Halloween! A totally spook-tacular time of year.
With that in mind, I was asked to write a blog post about my new middle grade
fantasy, FROM THE GRAVE. I was to highlight ‘the scariest thing in my book.’
Since the story is set in a parallel monster world, there are numerous
frightening scenes—especially if you’re not a monster. The story combines humor
and horror to tell the tale of two monsters. Frank—a misfit. Malcolm—a
true-blood troll. Both trying to prove they are monster enough.
I could write about sinister Principal Snaggle who thinks
nothing of holding Frank over the piranha-infested moat waters as a form of
motivation to change his unmonsterly ways.
Frank’s Tale
Three larger piranhas leaped from the water below. Their sharp
teeth snapped at the back of my neck. I tried to dodge but lost more ground,
drawing another inch closer to my watery grave.
“You wouldn’t really let that happen,” I cried, digging my
neatly trimmed nails into the rickety bridge. My fingers were quickly losing
their grip. “I mean, what would you tell my parents?”
Principal Snaggle’s lips curled up. “The truth, of course.
‘Your son had an accident at school.’ And you can guess what they would say,
‘It’s probably for the best.’”
Or perhaps the awful Minotaur guards on Exxillium, the
island where wayward monsters are shipped off to rot, are the scariest. Frank and a few of his misfit friends are
sent to Exxillium for a day “to scare them straight,” along with their student
escort, Malcolm McNastee.
Malcolm’s Tale
The bigger of the two giant monsters, grabbed a scrawny young
witch from the crowd and pushed Gooney out of the way.
“Here’s your tour guide to this exotic isle. She hasn’t been
here long, but she’s a fast learner. For a mutant. Ain’t you, Zelda?”
The Minotaur tipped up
the witch’s face using the end of his broadaxe. One twitch from the teen witch
and her head and neck would no longer be attached.
You
might say the Minotaurs had a “taste” for their work, as demonstrated in the
following scene.
Malcolm’s Tale
“Yeah,” said the second Minotaur. “We don’t want more of these
creeps to hunt down.”
I nodded. “Yes, sir! I mean, sirs!”
“Good,” said the second Minotaur. “Cause I’m hungry.” He
poked the bigger monster with the tip of his long horn. “How
‘bout we barbeque one of those misfits who tried to escape this morning. Pay
‘em back for causing us so much extra trouble.”
“Grrrr,” growled his partner. “I do love me a barbequed
mutant! Dibs on the ribs.” They threw back their massive skulls and chortled,
jabbing each other with the wooden handles of their axes as they stalked away.
Maybe
ghosts frighten you more than Minotaurs. Here’s a scene where Frank has to
contend with his beloved—but very dead—Granny Bubbie and her witchy ways.
Frank’s Tale
“What do you want, Granny?” I whispered. “What?”
In answer, my hand yanked me from the chair, and I crashed to
the floor. I lay sprawled. My face pressed into the cold, damp grit. The
fingernails of my right hand dug into the dirt, tugging me forward. Tugging me
toward the cupboard. My left foot bumped the table leg. The candle clattered
down beside me, extinguished. A gray fog swallowed me up. But still my hand
drug me across the floor.
When I reached the cupboard, I rose up like a stiffened
vampire ascending from the coffin. Prying open the cupboard doors, I grimaced
when splinters bit into my fingers. A creaky cackle erupted from the rusty
hinges. The doors swung open.
Or
perhaps you would think the scariest scene is when Malcolm finds himself in the
cemetery late at night. The dreaded Demon Hours have descended, when all the
untamed monsters in Uggarland are free to roam. He quickly takes cover in a
mausoleum, only to discover an old gremlin already hiding there. Brute that he
is, Malcolm forces the gremlin outside. The untamed monsters quickly find the
gremlin.
Malcolm’s Tale
“Don’t hurt me, demons,” the squeaky gremlin voice cried out
for the second time tonight.
Surely they would spare a withered-up old gremlin. I bit down
on my tongue. Even if I hadn’t.
Teeth snapped outside. A spine-chilling death cry. I peeked
out. Splashes of blood. I fell back as claws scraped against the mausoleum
door, no doubt leaving bloody paw prints. Crashing back into the pile of bones,
I huddled in the same corner as the gremlin I’d forced out. His slightly clean
smell still lingered. I stuffed my claw into my mouth to keep from screaming.
These
scary scenes are only the tip of the gravestone, so to speak. As you can see,
FROM THE GRAVE has more than enough terror for one frightful blog post. In
fact, I couldn’t quite decide which scene was the scariest. But if I were
forced to the dungeon and lashed to a stretching apparatus, then I would cry
out loud and clear. “The MOST truly frightening thing about my fantasy is how
close it is to reality!” No, I don’t mean the mixed-up monsters but the theme
of non-acceptance—of judgment, abuse, and exile. Too many “misfits” in our own
world endure this daily. This alarming reality terrifies me. So it is up to
us—teachers, librarians, parents, authors—to help change this culture of
intolerance. One child at a time.
This
marks the end of National
Bullying Prevention Awareness Month. Please, let’s make every month one to
end bullying!
Thanks for hosting me! Monster on!
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