This year’s October fiction project is a short middle-grade horror novel. The working title is “Turning Leaves,” but that will probably change.
Here are the rules (which I am making up as I go along!):
- Write every day.
- Write about a thousand words every day.
- Write words the same day the characters would be writing them, for the most part (that is, Oct 1 words in the story = Oct 1 words in real life).
- Don’t plan ahead.
- Don’t quit.
I don’t have an outline or even a plan.
It’s been a while since I wrote middle-grade fiction. This should be fun.
…
October Fiction Projects to Date:
2017 – October Nights – General flash fiction short horror-ish stories.
Website – Ebook
2018 – Tales of the Normal – Twilight Zone-style surreal stories.
2019 – Crime du Jour – Short crime stories.
2023 – Turning Leaves – Middle-grade horror.
Website – And sign up for the newsletter to get updates about the final ebook!
Turning Leaves (Working Title): October 18 - Two Journals; Ramen with Meatballs; Super Annoying
Content warnings on this chapter for bullying, suicide, sexual abuse. I know it seems like middle-grade fiction should be “safe” from this kind of story, but pretty much everybody I know has some kind of “this shouldn’t happen to kids but it did” story from the age of 12-13. This particular story is based on a true one. The content is in the Jayla’s Journal (Real) section.
October 18 – Lola’s Journal
Today’s journal is about something Jayla told me.
I am staying at her house while my Mom is in Seattle for work and my Dad is in Ohio for a “family emergency,” by which he means his grandpa, my great-grandpa that is, has to be moved into a nursing home after he broke his leg. I don’t understand why he can’t just say that but whatever.
Jayla’s old journal got totally trashed (YUCK THE SMELL, dried milk smells like vomit) and she was trying to clean it up or at least unstick the pages without tearing the words. I was at the tiny kitchen table with her doing homework while she was trying to unstick the pages. The paper tore a bunch. Finally she figured out how to unstick the pages by laying a wet paper towel on them, then a dry paper towel. The pages were stained but she could still make out a lot of the pencil marks.
In the middle of unsticking one of the pages at the front of her journal, she stopped and said, “Did I tell you about Ghost Cat?”
Ghost Cat is the name of her cat, the one that she had at her last house and brought with her after her dad died and her mom married her stepdad, Dave.
Here is a TERRIBLE SECRET: Ghost Cat likes ME better than he likes Jayla!
Or at least he pays me more attention. He is being polite to me because I am a visitor. But I like to pretend he is my kitty. My dad says I can’t have pets until he’s sure I’m ready for the responsibility, if you remember, Mr. Henderson, which you probably don’t.
I said, “Tell me everything about Ghost Cat!”
Jayla said, “I like to pretend he’s not really a cat, that he is a terrible monster in the shape of a cat, and that he has the power to hurt my enemies, and he will if I’m not careful.”
She did not say this proudly, as if she were GLAD that Ghost Cat would defend his beloved owner and princess, but as if she were SAD.
Dear readers, I would be HAPPY if I had a monster cat who would do my enemies great harm. I should probably not be trusted with powers beyond mortal control, anyway. Imagine what I would do if, for example, I had the power of
~~~~ InFiNitE GlitTeR ~~~~
But Jayla is a nicer person than me. It makes her sad to think she might hurt someone.
It does not make her cackle with glee.
Which is why it is better for her to have Ghost Cat than me. I would do EVIL things with him.
October 18 – Jayla’s Journal (Fake)
Mom and Stepdad Dave are still fighting. Stepdad Dave hasn’t come home yet. Mom isn’t really paying attention. She is on her new phone all the time. I am learning to cook a few things so Lola and I don’t have to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all the time. Yesterday I made spicy ramen with extra frozen veggies in it, plus some cut-up leftover meatballs. It was weird but I liked it and Lola ate every bite. Her dad cooks all the time and she says the food he makes is okay but not great.
That made me happy.
We talked about a lot of things.
I like having a friend. I like having a friend stay at my house. I am sad that her grandfather or great-grandfather (I’m not sure which?) needs to move out of his house. I am sad that my mom and Stepdad Dave are fighting. I am happy that they’re fighting, too, because I don’t like him. I am angry that my mom is on the phone and not paying attention to me. I am mad at myself that I am angry at my mom, because she is probably doing something important. I want to move out of Stepdad Dave’s house. I don’t want to move out of Stepdad Dave’s house.
It feels strange to have all these feelings going on at the same time, all mixed together so that I can’t be sure what I am happy about, what I am sad about, or what I am scared about.
I am glad that Mom is feeling better.
October 18 – Jayla’s Journal (Real)
I told Lola about Paige from my old school.
We were sitting at the small table in the breakfast nook, partly because it’s bright when all the lights are on and partly because nobody can sneak up on us there. And partly because snacks are in the cupboard next to the table, and partly because if we need to escape, maybe we will sink down into the floor again and vanish.
I said, “If you’re going to be my friend, you have to know the worst thing about me.”
She said, “If you’re going to be my friend, you already know the worst thing about me.”
I said, “What?”
She said, “That I am super annoying. Joke! The worst thing is that I don’t think I’m the real Lola.”
I didn’t think she knew. But she said she did. She could remember being the real person first, and then she couldn’t remember much until after she got to my house, but yesterday she remembered me taking her out of the box.
I said, “Are you evil?”
She said, “I don’t know.”
She reached down and petted Ghost Cat on the head. I can’t see him but she can. The Lola from before I got her out of the box could see him too, or at least that’s what this Lola says.
I can’t see Ghost Cat but now I can see smoke and darkness swirling around. I can see it moving all over the house and going into the floor in the back kitchen. A little piece of it is always touching me. I can’t feel it but I can see it.
I told her about the story I made up about Ghost Cat, that he scared Paige and almost ate her.
Lola just laughed. “That’s not bad! That’s just funny.”
I didn’t want to tell her the real story, because it isn’t good. But she has to know who I really am.
So when my dad died, Paige started saying that Mom and Stepdad Dave killed him because they were cheating on him. That’s why they got married right away. They were already lovers.
Other people said that, but I didn’t care. I cared that Paige said it, because she made it up and started other people saying it, and because I thought Paige was my friend.
I told her after my dad died that I didn’t like Dave and he creeped me out.
I told her that I didn’t feel sad about my dad’s death, I felt mad.
I told her that it hurt my feelings that Mom was ignoring me.
I still don’t know why she started making up lies about my dad.
But what I did was worse.
She was standing up in front of class doing work at the whiteboard for math class. A folded-up note fell out of her pocket with a plop. Everyone heard it.
I raised my hand and asked her if she had stolen a piece of paper from me with a poem about my dad on it.
I knew she had a note from her brother’s friend James in her pocket. I knew she had a crush on him. I had seen her hanging out behind the school building with him, and I saw them kissing. I knew James had stopped by during lunch and had given her a note that was supposed to be from her brother.
Paige told the teacher it was a note from her brother. I said I didn’t believe her. The teacher knew that we were fighting.
So the teacher picked up the note and read it. She blinked and swayed as she read the note.
Paige got sent to the office. The teacher told me that it wasn’t the poem and that I should keep looking for the poem elsewhere.
James got expelled from college and broke up with Paige.
Paige tried to kill herself and had to stay in the hospital for a while. The part about having to visit her in the hospital, that was true. Paige’s mom talked to my mom and I was supposed to apologize for lying about the poem. I didn’t have to. Paige just told me to get out.
I tried to tell Mom about it, but that was about the same time that she and Stepdad Dave got married. Then we moved and they sold our old house and I don’t think it was because of me, but maybe it was.
Lola said, “James sounds like an a-hole. College boys shouldn’t try to have sex with sixth graders. Paige and her mom sound kinda crazy and mean, too. But maybe I’m wrong and you should ask Real Lola instead if you ever find her.”
“But I didn’t just lie about the note. I pulled it out of her pocket,” I said. “I made it fall.”
“Okay.”
I could tell she didn’t understand.
I pulled on the piece of black smoke near me, and Lola went “Ouch! Ghost Cat, why did you bite me?”
I was crying so hard I couldn’t see her. I pulled again, and Ghost Cat bit her sleeve and pulled on it until she fell out of her chair and onto the floor.
“I did it. I don’t know how I did it. It was all my fault. Please don’t hate me. I made it fall.”
When she stood up, she gave me a hug and said, “I don’t know if Real Lola will believe you. But I do.”
