“You are so brave,” Charlotte said admiringly, “I don’t know many ghosts who would dare to seek out their creator the way you do.”
“Oh it was nothing,” Brandon said, taking off his glasses and cleaning them in one graceful movement, a gesture Charlotte found strangely attractive.
“Do you have a girlfriend?” she asked shyly.
Charlotte’s dad regarded his daughter with a bemused look. “You do know he’s a ghost, right?”
“Of course I know Brandon’s a ghost, dad. I’m not stupid. I am simply being polite. It’s clear that he’s all alone.”
“He has a cat,” said the cat.
Charlotte did her best to ignore this. “Young people tend to have a more open mind about these things. Humans and ghosts have loads in common. And I, for one, think we should do our best to get close to each other. I mean, from a cultural perspective,” she added hastily.
“Oh how adorable, dear,” Charlotte’s mom said to Charlotte’s dad. “Our daughter is having her very first crush.”
“Well,” her husband smiled in response, “at least we know it’s safe to date the, um, formerly living.”
“It’s ok, Charlotte,” Brandon said, “Your parents just don’t get it. It’s not their fault that they’re too old to understand young people.”
Charlotte’s dad was about to deliver a snappy retort, when suddenly there was a loud crash.
“Everybody stay where you are!” came an amplified voice. “The house is surrounded.”
“What the…” Brandon didn’t have time to finish the sentence before the door slammed open with a loud bang, and a full complement of uniformed soldiers came pouring through, brandishing large and very dangerous looking weapons.
One of the company, clearly its commanding officer, reached toward the walkie-talkie at his shoulder. “Reports of violation confirmed. Perpetrators have been apprehended and will be taken into custody.”
He stepped forward. “I’m Captain Rosenkranz of the LVB, and I am here to officially inform you that you are in violation of section III.A.7 of the literary code. We’re here to take you in.”
Something about this scene gives me a strong sense of deja vu. Did you write another story that has this type of twist?
Not that I know of.
Could that have been Ken from an alternate fictional universe? 🙂
Of course, as you said, we don’t know who the author is 😉
This has been bugging me but I think I finally figured it out. It was a scene from your Nanowrimo novel last year, Anna (part 28). I haven’t read it since you wrote it a year ago, and my memories of it are vague. The similarity probably has to do with you playing with the characters’ “reality”, and the government forces charging in. I was trying to recall what was in the scene that I was remembering. I ended up searching your blog for “couch” (which is in part 29). Memory works in really strange ways. Thank goodness for search engines!
Just reread Anna. Still a fun story! And it has a Shakespeare reference too (Macbeth). BTW, I didn’t put the link to the Anna blog page in the previous comment because I still seem to be unable to include links. When I try to do it and submit the comment the whole thing disappears (never gets posted). Feel free to add the link if you like.
Yes, WordPress doesn’t seem to like comments with links. I’m glad you liked “Anna”. Gotta love those Shakespeare references. That man’s work is going to catch on one day, I’m telling you!
It’s true that the feds storm in toward the end of “Anna”, but it’s different — they’re not responding to somebody changing the story that we are reading. Those feds, they keep rushing in, don’t they? Maybe I’m influenced by Riley in season four, speaking of the classics. 🙂