NIGHT CALLING

     "He's alive." 

    She whispers in the corner of her prison.  What else would one call a room with a solitary barred window?  The joke is on them, for they are the ones in prison.  The prison of denial. 

    "I saw him." 

    She whispers and softly laughs.  There he was on the night the sky burned.  Stumbling from the fire as if the flames somehow returned him to the world.  He melted into the darkness before she could call his name.

    "Henry." 

    She whispers and quickly covers her mouth.  The forbidden name brought her to this prison.  She said it to them.  Shouted that he lived but they scolded her.  Moral girls do not venture out at night unescorted.  Sane girls do not imagine seeing phantoms.

    "He was flesh." 

    She whispers and wipes away tears.  He was real but moved in a dream.  Someone learning to be new.  Was he not the same man she listened to?  Coins for conversation, unlike the other boys.  Conversations and confessions that would have brought him here.  

    "I'm not mad." 

    She whispers and closes her eyes.  Squeaking wheels shriek into her prison.  Which night is it?  Clanking metal keys thunder into her ears.  Is it her night?  Creaking hinges scratch at her mind.  Is it the kind one?  The one with the promise? 

    "You are not mad."

    The night nurse whispers.  She enters the small room, leaving the cart in the corridor.  The suffering, disheveled creature huddled in the corner turns to see and visibly relaxes.  She kneels and locks eyes with the patient. 

    "This is the night." 

    The night nurse whispers the promise.  A faint smile shines from the patient's smudged, tear-streaked face.  She chose this tragic soul with one glance of loneliness.  Whose loneliness?  Such thoughts no longer mattered.

    "You will be strong." 

    The night nurse whispers, drawing close to the patient.  How many lives has she transformed?  She lost count long ago, but she senses this will be her last.  Brushing away tangled blond hair, she moves closer.  A white film slides over her obsidian eyes.

    "You will be beautiful." 

    The night nurse whispers before sinking her fangs beneath skin.  She drains the pain and memories away.  Close to the edge, but leaving a breath of life.  Specific preparations must now be seen to, but they have all night.  Gently wrapping a peach-hued scarf around the patient's neck, she cradles her in the darkness of the asylum.

    "You will be forever." 

2020, John L. Harmon 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

This story may share threads with...

INTO THE FOLD 

LAST MOMENTS 

 

SCAR TISSUE 

A GRAVE SITUATION 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words.

Freak Out, 

JLH 

P.S. A different post about different vampires...

http://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2016/10/booking-freakboy-salems-lot.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In case you want to give the gift of words this holiday season...

viewAuthor.at/JohnLHarmon 

channel freakboy: EERIE, INDIANA (1991-1992)

I was probably not NBC's target audience when this half-hour series premiered in 1991, but TWIN PEAKS was over and I needed my weird fix.  So, I decided to visit EERIE, INDIANA.  Once I relocated, I made new fictional friends, met Dawson's mom before she moved to the Creek, and saw strange sights, such as Bigfoot, Elvis and aliens.  Plus, I encountered Sgt. Knight (Harry Goaz), who was obviously really Deputy Andy working undercover for the Twin Peaks Police Department.  Yes, it turned out EERIE, INDIANA was the perfect new home for me. 

Eerie is also a new home for Marshall Teller (Omri Katz).  His father (Francis Guinan) moved the family to Indiana to escape the dangers of New Jersey.  What Marshall's father, mother (Mary-Margaret Humes) and sister (Julie Condra) fail to realize is that this seemingly normal town is chock full of weird dangers.  Plastic storage kitchenware-obsessed housewives who never age!  An ATM gone sentient!   A tornado with a grudge!  A corn cult, but not the Stephen King variety.  Plus there is the perilous paradox of observing Daylight Savings Time!  How can a 13-year-old boy deal with this level of crazy by himself? 

Thankfully, Marshall is not alone.  His best friend Simon Holmes (Justin Shenkarow) is at his side while investigating the strange goings-on around town.  Will they solve the mystery of why Eerie is the center of weirdness?  Will the curious collection of mementos from their adventures be discovered?  Will Marshall's family ever get a clue?  

Sadly, we will never know.  EERIE, INDIANA was cancelled after one season.  However, much like some other short-lived series, it burned bright.  Especially in Reality Takes a Holiday.  The final episode begins with Marshall skipping a family outing and then finding a script of EERIE, INDIANA in the mailbox.  What follows is wickedly clever fun and a strangely satisfying conclusion to a truly original, offbeat series. 

To add to the offbeat madness, director Joe Dante (Gremlins) helmed some of the episodes and I can't help but believe he was behind sprinkling the series with quirky-cool guest stars.  Dick Miller (Gremlins) and Henry Gibson (Laugh-In) helped the residents of Eerie lose things.  Matt Frewer (Max Headroom) literally dropped in as a tornado hunter.  Rene Auberjonois (Star Trek; Deep Space Nine) made Eerie a devilish deal.  Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian) was surrounded by a bunch of corn-heads.  Last, but not least, a freakishly young Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man) appeared as a ghost with a romantic problem. 

In conclusion, I had not seen this series since it originally aired and I think it holds up.  The stories are fun, freaky, clever and often not afraid to touch upon mature themes such as death and fighting parents.  So, if you crave something a little different, pay a visit to EERIE, INDIANA.  Marshall and Simon will gladly show you around the weirdness. 

(SIDE NOTE - At the time of this writing, Amazon Prime is streaming EERIE, INDIANA and a spin-off series from 1998 that I never knew existed.  I'm one episode into EERIE, INDIANA: THE OTHER DIMENSION and I think it's off to a potentially good start.) 

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words.

Freak Out, 

JLH 

P.S.  I wonder what Marshall and Simon would think of the supernatural weirdness happening in Collinsport, Maine...

https://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2020/01/channel-freakboy-dark-shadows-door-to.html  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just like the eye in the beginning credits of EERIE, INDIANA....

...The Collective Eye for November is open...

https://thejlhcollective.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-collective-eye-november-2020.html 

INTO THE FOLD

     Ricky Jones sits alone at the monitoring station, putting in his time as the newbie of the group.  Four screens bathe him in a vaguely blue illumination, a spotlight in the darkened students lounge of the old science building.  He studies the four images before his milk chocolate eyes.  Two screens are stationary while the other two are in constant jerky motion.

    Val and Marnie, in the upper left screen, are exploring a storage area in the attic.  Books, equipment and a few old skeletons fill the claustrophobic space.  Footsteps have allegedly been heard reverberating through the rafters.  Ricky wishes Marnie wasn't in charge of videoing because she jumps at the slightest noise.  Val is in his film class, so she knows how to hold and move a camera in a variety of situations.

    Lexi and Derek, in the lower right screen, investigate a peculiar lab in the basement.  A metal surgical table centers a room full of broken or long-unused equipment.  Old newspapers have documented numerous accounts of eerie sobbing emanating from the bowels of this abandoned building.  Ricky wishes Derek would focus the camera more on the surroundings and less on Lexi, who is encouraging him with flirty smiles and laughter.  Derek is intensely attractive, so people often make allowances for him, including Ricky. 

    The lower left screen displays a classroom, it's lab tables cluttered with test tubes, microscopes and miscellaneous science class contraptions.  Claims of objects being hurled in this room have been reported.  A specific hallway on the first floor can be seen on the upper right screen.  It's an old university legend that the spirit of a night watchman stalks this corridor, searching for lost souls with the aid of an oil lantern. 

    Ricky Jones is searching for proof of an afterlife.  In the last year, he watched his grandmother waste away from cancer.  It's impossible for him to believe that the woman who raised him after his parents flaked is simply gone, like she never existed.  He needs to know for certain that she goes on in some form.  This drew him to the university's ghost hunting group.  His reasons for wanting to join touched each of the members, so they gladly accepted him into their fold.

    His alert eyes dart from screen to screen, waiting for something to happen.  Waiting for the others to encounter unexplainable phenomenon.  Waiting for what appears in the upper right screen.  A dim light hanging in the air begins illuminating the hallway, immediately catching his attention. 

    Ricky stares as the light on the screen grows brighter and begins moving towards the camera.  He leans forward, mesmerized, when all four screens suddenly go dark.  Urgency hits him and he grabs for his walkie to contact Val, but finds the charge is gone.  Urgency morphs into panic as he realizes the students lounge should be as dark as the screens. 

    The guttural scream echoes throughout the old science building and then abruptly stops.  Marnie clutches at Val in the attic, while Lexi plunges into Derek's arms in the basement.  Hurried, whispered discussions lead the pairs to one decision.  Flashlights in hands, they quickly converge on the monitoring station, calling out for Ricky.  All that answers them is the silence of his empty chair bathed in a vaguely blue illumination, as if Ricky Jones never existed. 

2020, John L. Harmon 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

This story may share threads with...

LAST MOMENTS 

SCAR TISSUE 

A GRAVE SITUATION 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words.

Freak Out, 

JLH 

P.S. A different post about a different ghost...

https://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2020/09/photographic-ghosting.html 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My books & blogs...

http://thejlhcollective.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-collective.html  

booking freakboy: RAVEN'S GLEN by Nancy E. Polin

Skylar and Stephen Donaghue were just kids when their parents died.  Several years later, Sky is leaving her home on the Choctaw reservation for a  career opportunity in the place where the darkest of dark nights occurred.  While Sky settles into her new life and a new romance, Stephen unearths a life-altering truth about that long ago night.  Now, the ravens are gathering as Stephen and Sky's haunted past threatens to drag them back into darkness.

Author Nancy E. Polin weaves together a tapestry of emotionally complex characters into a compelling and memorable story.  The supernatural element is truly unsettling and the romance has a natural, down-to-earth quality, culminating in an intense and satisfying conclusion.  In my opinion, RAVEN'S GLEN is Nancy's best work...so far! 

You can find RAVEN'S GLEN and other books by Nancy E. Polin from ...

AMAZON 

ITUNES 

EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING 

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind review.

Freak Out, 

JLH 

P.S. A different book by a different author...

https://freakboyzone.blogspot.com/2020/02/booking-freakboy-ghost-stories-by.html 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Collective Eye for March is open with books, blogs & so much more...

👁 

https://thejlhcollective.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-collective-eye-march-2020.html