Friday, April 22, 2011

"Peter and the Crazies" Chapter 1

Sorry about the long wait...I've been editing the ebooks for the first three books: PETER AND THE VAMPIRES, PETER AND THE WEREWOLVES, and PETER AND THE FRANKENSTEIN. The first will be coming out in the next week or two...I'll let you know more as the situation develops!

Updates on "Crazies" will be spotty until I've finished the editing process, which will take at least another week...



PETER AND THE CRAZIES

1


For the first time since he started seeing Dr. Prescott, Peter was looking forward to therapy. The whole mess with the boogeymen had happened the previous week, and Peter finally had something to talk about: a real, live, honest-to-gosh secret his grandfather had been keeping from him.

Of course, Grandfather had tons of secrets he kept from Peter. Unfortunately, most of them involved curses and other supernatural stuff. Which were things Dr. Prescott didn’t believe in, so anytime Peter mentioned them, Dr. Prescott brushed him off and instead asked, “How does that make you feel?”

But now Peter had found out a secret that even Dr. Prescott couldn’t pooh-pooh: Grandfather had a stepbrother he had never mentioned before.

It just so happened that the stepbrother was evil, and had tried to kill Peter twice now – once with gingerbread men and a second time with a Ouija board – but that was supernatural stuff, so Peter was planning to leave that part out.

And he was pretty sure the ‘my long-lost stepuncle wants to kill me’ part wouldn’t go over so well, anyway.

But that wasn’t important. What was important was that Grandfather had a stepbrother named Fallon! Living in Duskerville! A mysterious relative he had never talked about before!

To be honest, Peter wasn’t that angry about Grandfather keeping secrets. The old man had told him as much after Peter’s stay in the hospital a couple of months before: That’s one of those things I need you to trust me about, boy. Do you understand? That’s one of those things I need you not to ask right now.

Well, actually, Peter was kind of mad about Grandfather keeping secrets, because some of those secrets had a way of almost getting Peter killed. Often.

What he was really furious about, though, was that Grandfather had lied to the rest of the world about it and made Peter look crazy. Or stupid. Or both. He had Peter stand up in juvenile court and tell the truth – and Grandfather told him to INSIST to everybody that it was the truth – and then the old man climbed up in the witness stand afterwards and swore that Peter was making the whole thing up.

That was the thing that really made Peter mad: Grandfather had made a fool out of him.

Worse, Grandfather had betrayed him.

The second thing was that Dr. Prescott, like every adult, believed Grandfather instead of Peter. And so he just treated Peter like he was crazy. Or stupid. Or both.

And the third thing was that Peter hated, absolutely hated, when Dr. Prescott asked, “How does that make you feel?”

Which he did about 150 times every session.

Now Peter had proof that Grandfather lied. Proof that Dr. Prescott couldn’t deny. Proof that would finally shut Dr. Prescott up.

How does that make me feel? LET ME TELL YOU HOW THAT MAKES ME FEEL.

But then the phone call came, and things got weird.


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Copyright © 2011 Darren Pillsbury. All rights reserved.


3 comments:

Cat said...

"Crazies"? Now, now, I don't think that's very Politically Correct :D I'm sure they prefer something like "differently-sane". Really looking forward to this one. I like psychology and that sort of mental stuff.

Why do I get the feeling it's a baaad idea for Peter to tell the good Doc about Fallon? Information that could be used against him, perhaps. Either way, I'm not convinced by Peter's reasoning that it'll prove to the psychiatrist that Grandfather lied about the other stuff. And if he doesn't do something about his anger management issues we might see a return of Dark Peter... Mwahaha that'll show 'em!

Good luck with the editing, I suppose we can forgive the spotty updates lol. Have a good Easter everyone!


WV: refigg - the act of replacing the ceremonial fig on the altar of Brevta, Persian goddess of agriculture. A job that carries great responsibility and prestige; often the method of deciding who may claim this honour is a brutal game of coconut shy.

Rubberduck said...

The phone call? WHAT PHONE CALL IS THIS

Prediction (if somewhat of a silly one)! Prescott only devolves into the were-gollum (I'm using that in lieu of an official name) when he lacks human interaction - this is why he's constantly asking his patients how they feel, so that he can simulate more of a conversational dynamic in the otherwise doctor/patient role.

Deavatc = Hindu god of trousers. Fear him!

Darren said...

Cat -
"The differently sane"...I like that. I also like "the reality impaired."

Rubberduck -
OH MY GOSH, THE PHONE CALL!

I like the were-gollum moniker, by the way.