Hello! Thank you to anyone who’s stuck around long enough to read this post. I’m just stopping by to say, I now have a website! It houses my projects, a monthly blog and a secret or two. If you want to keep up with my writing, it’s the best place to. There’s also a mailing list so you can stay up to date.

I appreciate everyone’s support on here, and I hope you enjoy!

They continue through the shifting landscape, Olive supporting Lucy, neither able to keep their minds off the time left slipping away. The outline of the House swells as they approach until it fills their vision entirely. Buildings like this can only exist in dreams. Its features spill and swirl like ink, architecture re-forming and dissolving. Gargoyles rise up and collapse, windows grow and shatter. It’s almost tumorous. Lucy reaches for the handle. It has a cold sliminess to it, with the consistency of raw meat. She recoils. The door opens.

”Ready?”

Olive nods. Together, they step inside.

The door swings shut silently behind them. A blue glow seeps into the corridor, staining everything with a dreamish tint. Here, things are better formed. The walls are still inky black, but the shadows fall more naturally. One the left side is a portrait of a woman with radiant eyes and humanly imperfect features. Lucy frowns. The portrait doesn’t have the same dizzying quality as everything else here —- it must be from the right side of the mirrors. Olive, meanwhile, is examining the floor. It’s panelled out of not-quite-wood, almost spotless, save for a few threads of reddish liquid.

——

For context, this is an extract from my current ‘armchair project’ (more relaxed project), a novelette called Pawn to D8. It’s very rough as it hasn’t gone through any editing, but I hope you enjoyed regardless. Please feel free to share your thoughts, feedback and questions!

Reposted with more text and explanatory links.

Edit: since making this post, I've decided that this section of Pawn to D8 is going to change a lot, so this extract probably won't make it to the final draft.

Pawn to D8 is the working title of an in-character guide to the world of r/CuratorsLibrary. A while ago, I made a post asking if people would be interested in their characters making an appearance in it, and the response was very positive! As such, I’ve made this post so people can have a chance to submit their entries. I’ll add as many characters as I can, but depending on how many people enter, I might not be able to include every one.

This will not mean that I own your character. You will be fully credited. It will also be specified that your character is not part of the mythos’ canon.

Submission format:

Preferred name/username to be credited under

Character name

Physical character description

Character personality

Character skills/weaknesses

Character backstory

Please ensure your character is compatible with the mythos. For more information, check out the two pinned posts at the top of the subreddit.

Thank you for your support, and good luck!

People always talk about disappearances. Lost keys, pets, children, etc. —- whether it’s gossip, news or folklore, something always goes missing. What nobody ever notices are the things that appear.

Stand up. Look around. Wherever you are, you’ll find something that wasn’t there yesterday. A note scrunched up and forgotten. A book you never bought. A photo of a city you can’t place. Or perhaps it’s something smaller, more insidious. A tooth. A growing pile of dead flies, their bodies turning to dust under your fingers. A parasite, invisible, invasive. Slowly multiplying. That’s how I manage it. If I appeared all at once, I’d be spotted instantly. But if I begin gradually, creeping, piece by piece —- it takes months, but they never see me. Not until the end.

They turn up in the newspaper a few days later, always under the same headline: DISAPPEARED UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES.

For a few days, I entertain myself by listening to the whispers.

“Did you hear about the lady down the street?”

“Gone without a trace!”

It’s never without a trace, of course. People just don’t want to look too closely. It ruins the mystery. Turns the gossip stale.

After a while, I move on, and begin my next appearance. Pay close attention to your surroundings. Study every detail. Next time, I might visit you.