Local novelist tells of supernatural horrors
CHICO >> “Between the years of 1854 and 1929,” writes Chico novelist
Cathy Chase, “from the large cities in the Eastern part of the United States, orphaned or abandoned children were loaded onto trains in large groups and sent West to be given to families. As many as 250,000 children were relocated.” From that starting point, Chase spins the story of one of the orphans, 15-year-old Hannah Banks, who is taken to the tiny town of Sweetser, Indiana to begin life anew.
But all is not right. The story’s narrator, Hannah herself, reports “the old familiar feeling of hot tingling darts shooting down my arms and into my fingers.” What Hannah will encounter threatens her very life; it is a force from the depths of supernatural horror.
But to help the reader make sense of events,
Jane, Hannah’s mother, takes over the story. It is 1884, sixteen years before
Hannah’s arrival in Sweetser.
Jane remembers her romance with Jonathan Banks a year before, who took her through the church graveyard where she spotted the marker of the Slaughter family who had lived in a cabin on the outskirts of town.
Daniel, the father, came home roaring drunk one night and burned the place down, killing them all, including his wife, Martha, and young daughter, Emily. Another family, the Spectors, eventually built on top of the remains. Jane is Jane Spector, and she’s shaken by this revelation, especially because she’s had a “secret friend who’s visited me in my room since childhood” — named Daniel. “Spector,” “Slaughter” — do not take these names for granted.
Jonathan and Jane fall in love, but Jane’s invisible friend, Daniel, is not pleased. Not pleased at all. As Jane tells Jonathan, “I think the Daniel who resides in this house, who wants to keep me, is the same Daniel who killed his wife and child. He is an evil demon.” Then comes the voice of Daniel in Jane’s head: “I order you to call off your wedding.”
Daniel will stop at nothing to keep Jane for himself. The shocking result forms the background to Hannah’s own supernatural battles that will keep readers turning pages until the last.
Dan Barnett teaches philosophy at Butte College. Send review requests to dbarnett99@ me.com. Columns archived at https://dielbee.blogspot. com.