celiabreslin

Happy Halloween, Dear Readers!

I received some exciting news today – HAVEN hit the iTunes store, *woot*! My vampires are now available at all major online book stores! *happy dance* 🙂

To celebrate, here’s a short but spooky Fae story for this awesome holiday. Reposted from its first appearance in the blogosphere on Rita Bay’s Blog. Stop by Rita’s blog for a yummy pumpkin bread recipe along with many other ghost stories for this fun holiday.

Bumped by the Banshee
By Celia Breslin
(Based on actual events as recounted to me by my Irish grandmother – Yes, this really happened to her!)

I lived in a large two-story house with my parents, sister and grandmother. It was a cold, winter evening, nothing special or out of the ordinary. The family dined together, then my sister and I cleaned up while our parents and grandmother drank tea. We joined them at the dining table to do our homework, but my grandmother said she was tired and went upstairs to bed. My parents followed shortly after that, but my father paused on the landing.

“Maeve, it’s going to be a cold night. Fetch us some coal, please.”

I abandoned my homework, grabbed the empty coal bucket from the kitchen, and went down into the cellar. I filled my bucket and returned to the stairs. I had one foot on the first step when the temperature in the cellar, already cold, dropped dramatically. Chills ran down my back. Behind me, someone moaned.

But how could that be? I was alone…

Terror rooted me to the spot. The keening grew louder. I dropped my bucket and covered my ears. A cold wind bumped against my back. I stumbled forward as the shrieking wind rushed over me and up the stairs.

But how could that be? The cellar had no windows…

Above me, the cellar door slammed shut. The sound broke me from my stupor. I screamed and ran from the cellar, through the kitchen and dining room, up the stairs to my room. My parents and sister found me under my bed, shaking like a puppy lost in a snowstorm.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” They asked me, while pulling me from my hiding place.

“I heard the Banshee wail.”

We stared at each other in silence, all of us reaching the same conclusion moments later. We hurried to my grandmother’s room.

She was dead.

Copyright 2013, Celia Breslin, all rights reserved. No part of this family story may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical without my permission. Thank you for respecting copyright! 🙂