65sinking wrote:You don't post stories often, but every time you do so, it's yet another amazing piece.
This story was very emotional in so many ways. Apologies if this comes across as a little garbled.
I loved how this was a story that...
Holy cow!
I do believe this shatters the record for the longest comment I’ve ever received on a story. First off, my sincere thanks for your sincere review. Now a little response to expound on some things you touched on.
One of my other passions being music, both in listening and playing as a (very) novice pianist, I often draw inspiration from music, whether directly or indirectly, or if I make mention of it or not. I have at least one other story (another Halloween story coincidentally) if you haven’t seen it from a while back titled:
The Legend of Seven Devils Swamp, which was inspired by the song
Seven Devils by Florance + Machine (as well as a real place actually), and eventually I’ll probably do more with a theme song (or you could say, “end credits song,” if it were a movie
).
I'd long been toying with the thought of setting a story to
Haunted, and the idea finally started to materialize probably sometime last winter. As far as the lyrics, you hit the nail on the head—I know they didn’t really align well with the end story, but the emotion, or you could say, “spirit,” as well as the title of the song I feel is befitting, and I think there’s some few, subtle/indirect references to the lyrics: “I know if I'm haunting you, you must be haunting me,” for one example. I interpreted it as a sort of retrospect of a past lust; someone haunted by a said and done relationship they can never revisit, which ultimately became the basis for the story.
But, being so busy this summer, I didn’t get around to writing the story in earnest until about the first week in October. I normally take a few months (or even longer) to write a story, so it was a bit of a marathon, and I debated off and on whether or not I’d finish in time, or if I should just wait until next Halloween. But towards the end, I was getting so close, and I really didn’t want to wait till next year. So I pushed a little, and got it done at the eleventh hour—on Halloween Eve. I do feel like I could’ve taken a little more time to further polish it; normally, I like to edit and proof read it two or three times over, but I only had time for about one and a half-ish proof reads on this one. But it would seem that it was apt to leave well enough alone, and despite the rush, it all came out relatively quick, and I very much enjoyed writing it—as always.
As to Roxanne’s fate, normally I do lean more towards happy endings in stories (AI and WildLife stuff are a different story, no pun intended. Sometimes a grim ending is just easier to work with in those mediums), especially with a “close shave,” as you well put it, or perhaps better put, a “deep shave”
But like I’ve said many a time, and what you also eluded too, not every story can have a happy ending, and it wouldn’t be called “Haunted,” if there wasn’t someone passed on to do the haunting, and it wouldn’t be a Halloween story if there wasn’t some grim horror to it
I like to think what happened was more of a release for Roxanne; a release from her frustrating pursuit of satisfying her fantasy, and that she quickly accepted and made peace with her fate the moment she realized she wasn’t going to make it. But when she later realized that Audrey wasn’t able to fully come to terms with what had happened to her, Roxanne’s spirit decided to intervene, drawing Audrey back to her, and convincing her to make peace with herself—but not before one last stab at her own carnal desire for Audrey
I do rather like your tantalizing idea for an alternate ending, and if one believes in alternate universes, it is a quite likely scenario. However, in this version/universe, had Roxanne survived, I tend to think the prospect of becoming a fetish star—though quite enticing to her—would’ve been unlikely. What Roxanne experienced was just between her, Audrey, and most importantly, the mud, which bewitched on her the moment she stepped in, and led her to do things she would never have dreamt of otherwise. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t speak for her
Once again, thank you for investing so much time in sharing your thoughts; I’m glad you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and it was also fun taking the time to expound on and give a little background to the story.
Hope you enjoyed it!
One could also say it's not so much that you "can't" go under, it's more a question of "can you get back up in time," as the ladies here discovered 