It was nice to be able to rock out a short story, considering my focus has been on the bigger things. I had been working on Automata: A History and just needed a break, but I was still on a creative roll, so here we go. I mentioned in my previous blog that I was halfway through one story and had another in my head. This one is actually the latter. As always, I encourage you to read the story first, then come back here for my discussion.
Without further ado…
***SPOILERS FOLLOW***
If you have read any of my other short stories, this one may feel slightly familiar. Don’t worry, that is by design. I have set “The Girl in White” in the same universe as “A Walk in the Woods”. Not only is it also a walk in the woods but is another glimpse into the world of the Firstborn, malevolent beings from beyond time and space. Here I wanted to add just a little bit more to their mythos. There is still a lot of mystery, and can’t wait to see what other stories they want to tell.
For the story, one thing I wanted to capture was the juxtaposition of the mundane with the supernatural. Think of all the stories of people finding out that their next-door neighbor was actually a crazed serial killer.
“Oh, but he was such a nice man!”
It is weird to think about what happens in the shadows, and sometimes those shadows are right in front of us. The interactions with our main character, Herbert, seem less than interesting, that is until we add a bit of mystery with him. Where does he need to be at 9:00 pm? What is the key for? As the story progresses, it just keeps getting weirder and weirder.
While the actual ritual is bizarre enough, it is Herbert’s return home that, in my mind, is the most unsettling. Everything that he just did was 100% normal to him. He feels no guilt about lying to Alice or what he did to Trixie.
How many times has he done this before? Who or what is Trixie now? What would happen if the truth ever came out?
Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more stories in what I am calling…
The Firstborn Mythos.