Haunted Halloween 2011: Guest Post - Jackson Pearce + A Giveaway!

So let me start out by saying this: I was not a cool kid. I wasn’t a cool teenager or adult either, but I really feel the height of my not-coolness was reached when I was about eleven or twelve years old. This was when I was both uncool and didn’t recognize that uncool could be awesome, so I was mostly just awkward. I had a bad perm and hated my lips and was always reading.

The perm grew out and I now like my lips, but I still read (and I now recognize that it’s perfectly cool). In fact, I still read largely the same type of books—fantasy YA. When I was an uncool kid, the selection of YA fantasy was a little bit smaller, and one theme prevailed: ordinary or uncool kids, like me, in extraordinary circumstances. Finding out they’re the chosen one. Finding out they’re royalty. Finding out they have magical powers. The fact that normal kids in books turned out to be extraordinary gave me hope that maybe someday I too could be extraordinary.

I waited to find out I was royalty. It didn’t happen. And then no ancient man in robes came to tell me I was the chosen one.  Magical powers—the best “extraordinary” factor of all, if you ask me—were next, and I wasn’t waiting around to discover I didn’t possess them. If fate didn’t give me powers, fine. I’d just have to create them myself.

(I’m not proud of this.)

A friend down the street, Azba, had a cousin coming to town from out of state. I’d never met the cousin before, and I don’t remember her name—let’s call her Sherrie. Sherrie was going to be in town for a few days, and I was inevitably going to meet her.

At the time, I was sort of the ringleader of a motley crew of neighborhood kids, including Azba and another friend, Jennifer. In an effort to create the powers fate had so cruelly denied me, I enlisted Azba and Jennifer to help with a plan, of sorts. A prank. A trick. A scheme, even.

Below, in italics, is what really happened. In regular text is what poor, poor Sherrie thought happened.

(Did I mention I’m not proud of this?)

Azba lead Sherrie to my house and into the basement, where I had a television, some hand me down furniture, and my ferret’s cage set up. I was dancing to tribal drums up on a chair, wearing a long blue cape. Jennifer played aforementioned tribal drums. Azba and Sherrie entered, and sat down at a table. I leapt from the chair as the drums stopped, landing right in front of them and stood up slowly, slowly, so Sherrie could sense my tribal and impressive powers.

The chair was rickety. The cape as an old sheet, but probably looked pretty decent. I’m not sure why I thought tribal drums and dance were a good way to impress upon Sherrie the magic powers I was pretending to have, but…again. I was awkward.

I introduce myself to Sherrie as “Caterina,” a name I thought was absolutely beautiful and appropriately mystical. Sherrie watches, eyes wide, clearly impressed with my mystique. I invite her to sit down at a table in the middle of the room, lighting a few candles as I do.

If my parents had caught me burning candles, I would’ve been grounded forever. And I’m pretty sure Sherrie’s wide eyes were because she suspected I was mentally deranged, not full of old magic.

I explain to Sherrie that I was just about to hold a séance before she arrived, and that she should stay for it. Sherrie seems reluctant, but Azba convinces her to stay. Sherrie sits at the head of the table, closest to the door while Jennifer turns off the lights. There’s only candlelight now, providing the perfect magical, eerie atmosphere. I begin to call out to spirits, asking them to make their presence known. At first nothing, nothing, nothing…

And then, behind me, a cabinet door opens, then slams shut.

That happened because of the transparent fishing wire we’d tied to the cabinet handle ahead of time. I had a practical marionette rigged up under the table. Sherrie looked terrified. I didn’t feel bad—I was extraordinary! Or at least, she thought I was. Kinda. Okay, maybe she just thought I was creepy, until—

Another door slammed. Curtains flapped. Azba started to say she was scared, Jennifer looked around in delight. I continued to call to the spirits—come to me! Make yourself known! Speak to us! Cabinets are slamming left and right, pow, pow, pow, and then the television bursts on, revealing a screen of snowy static. Azba screams. Sherrie screams. I welcome the spirits who so happily bent to my magical wills.

More fishing line. Everywhere, fishing line. Azba’s rehearsed scream sounded a little, well…rehearsed, but Sherrie was so terrified she fell for it. The basement got practically zero light, so with just the candles, you legitimately couldn’t see the fishing line. I looked like I had skills. No, not skills. SKILLZ. Maybe not magical skills, but I was pretty pleased with myself nonetheless.

Azba grabs Sherrie’s hand. The rise and sprint from the basement, through my yard, not stopping until they reach Azba’s house. They’ve just experienced something amazing. Something crazy. Ghosts are real! And I was the one to show them!

With fishing line!

Azba would later report that Sherrie was terrified and impressed by the arrival of spirits to an average house in suburban Atlanta. Before that day, she didn’t believe in ghosts, but now? How could she not?

Maybe Azba told her the truth eventually—or maybe not; I lost track of both Azba and Sherrie years ago. It’s fully possible Sherrie still believes that what happened in my basement was real. I imagine that she occasionally goes out for drinks with some friends after work. They talk, order a few rounds, eat spinach and artichoke dip. The conversation gets random, something about life after death comes up, then angels, then ghosts. Who at the table believes in them? Sherrie raises a hand slightly, and then explains how she once saw definite, undeniable, insane proof that ghosts are real. All due to a normal-looking girl who had magical powers. Who was special. Who was extraordinary.

Despite her bad perm.

Sweetly is currently available from Little, Brown!

Synopsis: SWEETLY is a modernization of Hansel and Gretel and a companion book to SISTERS RED.

Twelve years ago, Gretchen, her twin sister, and her brother went looking for a witch in the forest. They found something. Maybe it was a witch, maybe a monster, they aren’t sure—they were running too fast to tell. Either way, Gretchen’s twin sister was never seen again.

Years later, after being thrown out of their house, Gretchen and Ansel find themselves in Live Oak, South Carolina, a place on the verge of becoming a ghost town. They move in with Sophia Kelly, a young and beautiful chocolatier owner who opens not only her home, but her heart to Gretchen and Ansel.

Yet the witch isn’t gone—it’s here, lurking in the forests of Live Oak, preying on Live Oak girls every year after Sophia Kelly’s infamous chocolate festival. But Gretchen is determined to stop running from witches in the forest, and start fighting back. Alongside Samuel Reynolds, a boy as quick with a gun as he is a sarcastic remark, Gretchen digs deeper into the mystery of not only what the witch is, but how it chooses its victims. Yet the further she investigates, the more she finds herself wondering who the real monster is, and if love can be as deadly as it is beautiful.

Order online: 

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository

Find Jackson Online:

Website | Live show | Twitter | Facebook

Enter to win a copy of SWEETLY!

Rules and now to enter:

You must be at least 13 years old to enter.

To enter, please fill out the form provided below.

Giveaway open to US mailing address only.

Giveaway ends: October 29th, 2011

 Don't forget to stop by and check out who Jessica is featuring today for Haunted Halloween!

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Jackson, thanks so much for dropping in today and sharing this true "scary" story with us! I loved how different it was from anything else we've had for our Halloween event to date. So, Thank You for taking to time to write it for us.

Also, a HUGE thank you goes out to Little, Brown for donation a copy of Sweetly for this giveaway.

*I am not compensated at all for any of the links within this page.