{"id":4063,"date":"2021-10-09T08:49:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-09T08:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/things\/?p=4063"},"modified":"2021-06-09T16:24:16","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T16:24:16","slug":"tales-from-the-town-26-the-loft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/things\/2021\/10\/09\/tales-from-the-town-26-the-loft\/","title":{"rendered":"Tales From The Town #26: The Loft"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Agnes heard something clattering around up in the loft. I bet it\u2019s that cat, she said to herself. I bet you any money in the world it\u2019s that cat again. It\u2019s worse than the dolls.<\/p>\n

But when she opened the hatch, it wasn\u2019t the cat at all. Or the dolls. A creature of some totally different sort was stomping around and doing cartwheels in the dark.<\/p>\n

\u201cClaire!\u201d Agnes said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been looking everywhere for you!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMum! Look at me! I\u2019m dead!\u201d Claire said, and did a cartwheel to prove it. \u201cSee?\u201d Then she paused for a second. \u201cWait, how did you get all the way down there, Mum? You\u2019re not dead too are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I\u2019m not dead, Claire,\u201d Agnes said. \u201cI\u2019m just tired. Now what are you doing up here in the loft, anyway? You know you\u2019re not supposed to come up here on your own. It\u2019s dark and dusty and there\u2019s broken stuff everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t the loft, Mum,\u201d Claire said. \u201cIt\u2019s hell. I\u2019m in hell and I\u2019m dead<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell you must be a ghost then because – \u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a ghost. I\u2019m a demon<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, okay, I can believe that,\u201d Agnes said. \u201cBut you are definitely not<\/em> in hell. Look!\u201d<\/p>\n

Agnes turned the light on and Claire saw that she really was in the loft. You could tell because there were rolled up carpets everywhere and the Christmas tree was in the corner and there was a big box of Dad\u2019s things that no-one had the heart to throw away. Claire didn\u2019t think even the devil would want a box of Dad\u2019s old books and maps and things. In hell it was so dark you wouldn\u2019t even be able to read.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh,\u201d Claire said sadly. \u201cI really thought I was in hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou still haven\u2019t told me how you got up here,\u201d Agnes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used the slide under the stairs,\u201d Claire said. \u201cIt goes down into the dark and down and down and down until you come out here in the loft.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a slide under the stairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do! Look, I\u2019ll show you!\u201d<\/p>\n

Claire climbed out of the hatch onto the landing, then clattered down the stairs to the hall as loudly as she could. A few moments later Agnes heard some cries from below, then above and below, and then finally from above only. Claire fell out of the shadows and landed on the floor with a triumphant ooof.<\/p>\n

\u201cSee?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose this means we\u2019ll have to leave the lights on up here now,\u201d was all Agnes could think to say to all this. Nothing this house did should surprise her any more, but a mobius slide was certain something new. \u201cAnyway, at least you\u2019re not dead, Claire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved being dead, Mum,\u201d Claire said. \u201cI can\u2019t wait until I\u2019m dead for real. It\u2019s going to be so much fun! I\u2019m going to haunt everyone<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

__________<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

1. Written between May 5th and May 10th, 2021<\/em>
\n2. The culmination of the story started in episode #22<\/a> and continued in episode #24<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n__________<\/br>

Support An Accumulation Of Things<\/a><\/h3>If you like the things you've read here please consider subscribing to my patreon<\/a> or my ko-fi<\/a>. <\/br><\/br>Patreon subscribers<\/a> get not just early access to content and also the occasional gift, but also my eternal gratitude. Which I'm not sure is very useful, but is certainly very real.<\/br><\/br>(Ko-fi contributors<\/a> probably only get the gratitude I'm afraid, but please get in touch if you want more). <\/br><\/br>Thank you!<\/i><\/br><\/br>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Agnes heard something clattering around up in the loft. I bet it\u2019s that cat, she said to herself. I bet you any money in the world it\u2019s that cat again. It\u2019s worse than the dolls. But when she opened the hatch, it wasn\u2019t the cat at all. Or the dolls. A creature of some totally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1208],"tags":[1192,858,1247,1209],"class_list":["post-4063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tales-from-the-town","tag-a-cast-of-characters","tag-hell","tag-not-hell","tag-tales-from-the-town"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4063"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4065,"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4063\/revisions\/4065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/accumulationofthings.com\/things\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}