Of Nightmares and Spirits by Fiona Estelle Hamilton (novels to read for beginners .TXT) 📖

The stories and their inspiration

These stories not only have their inspiration from genres of Gothic and Horror but some elements are inspired by actual events that happened in my life.

“Unseeing” sprung forth one day as I was watching my blind cat, Tommy, play. I began to think that perhaps he jumps at the wall because he senses something my mother and I cannot. Of course my house isn’t really haunted, but I would hate to think of what could happen if it were. The three kittens are very much based off the real Caesar, Luna, and Church. They are beautiful and I am glad I have had the privilege to watch them grow up and call them my own.

“The Face” was combined of two different dreams I had. Both dreams you read about in the story are ones that shook me to my very core. The vampire dream was terrifying to me, because a month or two after I had this dream, a friend of mind ended up dying. He had been a make-up effects artist who did the make-up for the 1st & 2nd seasons of “True Blood” and the first “Underworld” film. He often came to local comic cons in my area, doing custom vampire fangs for people. His death saddened me terribly and I began to think that the vampire dream was an omen. The dream at the end of the story came from one I had not too long ago. I am prone to having dreams that merge with reality at times, and when I saw that face, I screamed bloody murder. My mother was so scared, she almost got the shotgun, because she thought someone was breaking into the house! When I calmed down enough to explain to her what happened and to apologize, she merely brushed it off. “You had a night terror,” my mom said, “That’s all there is to it. We all get them sometimes.” It served as a good inspiration and I’m almost glad I had it!

“Coulrophobia” has its roots from that age old fear of clowns and the “Tales from The Crypt” television series. While writing this story, I looked up John Wayne Gacy and almost instantly regretted that. It was sickening what he did, all while going to children birthday parties as “Pogo the clown” The host of the story that constantly has to put her two cents in, was definitely inspired by E.C.’s comic book hosts: The Crypt Keeper, The Old Witch, and The Vault Keeper. While writing her dialogue, I often envisioned a child. Looking back, I believe the reason behind that was because there was a four part anime, called “Corpse Party”. While I am not an anime fan, I gave this one a chance. It certainly caught my attention, due to the fact that there is an evil spirit of a scissor wielding child that should never be allowed anywhere near sharp objects…

“The death of The Beast” (Which is the only non-horror story in this collection) comes from something each and every one of us has had to face at one point or another: The death of a beloved pet. When I was two, Kia, the wolf dog came into my life and remained my companion for sixteen years of her life and fifteen years of mine. I was seventeen and a half when we had to put her to sleep, due to bone cancer on April 8, 2014. The quotes I used in this one are from an aria called “The Black Swan” by Gian Carlo Menotti that I sang this year for a music judge. Not only are the lyrics dark, but also very depressing when you hear them sung. That’s just how I felt when Kia died. This maddening depression came over me for a period of time after her death. I found “Black Swan” about a month or two after Kia’s death. I decided right then and there, that I would pick that for my solo for the music judge next year. As the story states, I did not stay in the room when Kia was actually put to sleep. I carried guilt because of that for a while as well. I guess whenever I sang “Black Swan” in practice, I was trying to make up for not staying with Kia. The verses you see quoted in the story are supposed to be almost like a lullaby, so whenever I sang those verses, I always envisioned myself in that room with Kia singing “Black Swan” to try to comfort her. I even ended up singing through tears when I performed it for the judge. I strongly recommend giving this song a listen. It’s beautiful, and dark. The picture you see at the end of the story was taken when I was about three or four. My sister, my mom, and I all called Kia “La bête” or “The Beast” because that’s what she was to us: A beautiful beast that we were blessed to have for a short while.

“A Cautionary Tale” came from how my mother used to warn me all the time about not playing with Ouija boards. I never have and I never plan to. The narrator stating how he has a dark force attached to him after playing with the Ouija board, (And before he kills himself in a fiery blaze) was inspired by my aunt’s previous husband. My aunt’s previous husband was messing with stuff he wasn’t supposed to, and by that I mean Black Magick. You NEVER mess with Black Magick unless you are looking for trouble. Trouble found him alright. Not only was he foolish to begin with by messing with the dark side of Magick, but he stupidly claimed he was trying to conjure a demon to make it his servant. The last time my mother and aunt heard anything from him, was when he told them a few years ago, how a “dark shadow was following him, and was after him”. I don’t know if he ever used an Ouija board or not, but if he did, he’s probably got it worse than ever. You never mess with one of those things. Period. I hope you enjoy reading these stories. I know enjoyed writing them! Gothic elements can be found in a few of these. I am a big fan of Gothic Literature, and I'm hoping to write more stories centered around this genre again! Thank you for reading!

--Fiona Estelle Hamilton

Unseeing

My family is a small one. I live with two women. One is a young woman and the other an older one. The rest of the family members are like me, only they are able to see. The three little ones are still young, save one that is around seven or eight months. He still cries often though. The women refer to him as a “cry baby”, which I will not deny. He cries very much, often in the hallway. The youngest of all us was given the name of “Church.” The young woman named him after a character in a novel, if I am correct. Church is rambunctious and is rough when he plays with the others. There have been many times when I must give him a quick bite on the ear to make him leave me alone. Luna is the only female out of all of us. She is strong-willed and courageous, not at all like Caesar, who cries and frightens easily. We often sleep with the younger woman, but Caesar sleeps with the older woman and favors her. Luna and I favor the young woman. Each morning, if we are not already in her bedroom, we follow the older woman and help her wake up the young woman for school. We’re more then happy to do so. I love her very much. Even though I cannot see them, I know my family members are beautiful.

For a long time, my family has had…odd occurrences. Mostly they will happen when the women are not home. Rarely do they occur when they are home. I can remember the first time all four of us heard something. It was a thud coming from upstairs. Caesar immediately froze. He was eating when we heard it, and he promptly stopped. Although we are not physically capable of speaking, we can each other’s thoughts. Caesar’s “voice” was full of fear. “Tommy, what was that?” I didn’t know how to respond. I supposed that it was merely Church, making a ruckus upstairs. As I climbed the stairs to investigate, I felt something run past me. “What are you doing?” Church’s thoughts invaded my own. I felt a little puzzled.

“Weren’t you just upstairs?”

“No, I was playing with Luna’s ball, when I heard something.”

Had we all heard the same thing?

“Did everyone hear the noise as well?”

The other three agreed. “I will go upstairs and see. Hide just in case, there’s an intruder.” They obeyed and did as they were told. Even Luna listened to me, which she does not often do. She must have known I was serious. I climbed the stairs once more and heard another thud. This time it was more of a bang, than a thud. A sudden feeling of dread washed over me. What was around the corner? I could not see it, but I could sense it. It felt…bad. Once I turned the corner, however, the sense of dread left as quickly as it came. Perhaps it was just nerves. The more I thought about it, the more I thought it could have been a bird, flying into the side of the house. I went back downstairs to let the others know, it was safe.

Luna was skeptical though. “I’m sorry Tommy; I just don’t feel it was a bird. It had to be something else.” Caesar was the next to give his opinion. “It was a ghost! It had to have been! I remember mama talking to sissy about the history of the house. Remember how mama can pick up bad energy and good energy? She said she was picking up bad energy!” None of us wanted to deny his theory.

It is true what Caesar said. The older woman can sense things too. We had all heard the older woman speaking to the younger woman about the house. Apparently, it did not have the nicest story. I don’t know the entire story, but I do know that it involved a murder of another person. I never meant for the younger ones to hear the story.

I remember Caesar having nightmares that night. Caesar, I thought, was being ridiculous. “How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t believe this home is inhabited by negative spirits, or any spirits in general!” I could feel Luna staring at me. “That’s not true and you know it. All three of us know you can’t see, but you can sense. You’ve sensed something, you just don’t want to scare us.” Church agreed. “Yes. You view us as mere kittens, but we have grown up in these last few months. The only one out of all of us who still scares easily—no offense to you,” Church addressed Caesar, “Is Caesar. But can we blame him?” Caesar did not appear to be offended by this. He was willing to admit he frightened easily. Even though I continued to say it was just a bird, I knew it was something else.

Later in the evening, I was curled up next to the younger woman while we slept. She hadn’t been feeling well in the last few days, so I wanted to keep her company and help her feel better. Luna was with us as well. She had developed a close bond with the young woman and lay atop her chest. Luna’s thoughts came into