An Excerpt from The Dead of Penderghast Manor
Julianne Snow
Perhaps now would be a good time to explain what actually
occurs after death. Death is not completely final. There is something that
remains once one’s pulse stops; a consciousness, best described as an
afterlife, continues.
There are a few that escape the eternal box; they’re the
faceless, nameless people that you sometimes pass on the streets. The ones that
you ignore, or rather, forget to notice. Unlike the Hollywood version of the
Zombie mythos, they are unconcerned with consuming living flesh. Their main
goal is to find a quiet place to exist until the moment their bodies completely
give out.
In some rare cases, they seek out living companionship and
to an extent, respect.
The best known example is a comedienne who shall remain
nameless. Hell, it’s obvious to anyone that she’s had a lot of work done. Her
intention was to give off the appearance that she is still alive, but nothing
could be farther from the truth. The story that passes for accepted fact among
those in the know is this: the comedienne passed away naturally in her home and
upon reawakening, she decided to carry on as if nothing had happened. She had
the money to pay for silence and the preservation services.
There is a relatively larger number of the Dead among the
living and there are reasons they remain (somewhat) anonymous; chances are you
can already figure out just who they might be.
One of the great advantages to being Dead is that you get to
decide who you want to communicate with. It’s like a switch of sorts; one
minute you’re just a regular corpse, but with a pulse of Dead energy, you
become apparently, and in some cases terrifyingly, sentient. It’s part of the
reason that most people are utterly unaware of the existence of the Dead; they
just have no desire to share their existential challenges with the world at
large.
The only time they come out of hiding is on Halloween or for
annual Zombie Walks. Nothing beats being able to be yourself and congregate
with other Dead in your community. Besides, one of them inevitably wins “Best
Dressed” each and every time. It’s just one of the perks of being Dead; the gore
factor is readily apparent from the natural decomposition process and if you
cannot use it for recognition at some point, what fun is it really?
The only thing that really sucks about being Dead is the
fact that when you were alive, you were unaware of what occurred after death.
The Funerary Services sector is booming, and burial and cremation are the
accepted methods for the disposal of your deceased loved ones. For most, the
only time they really had left before burial was at the funeral home.
For some reason, Chester got the ultimate nod of acceptance
from the Dead. It was almost an instinctual thing with them; in Chester’s
presence they acted as if nothing was amiss. As far as any of them were
concerned, they still had a lot of time left on their clocks and it didn’t seem
to matter that most of it was going to be spent underground.
Naturally, some begged and pleaded with Chester to just let
them leave. There was no way that he could have ever done such a thing,
however. The families of the deceased were counting on the Penderghast family
to prepare their dearly departed for everlasting burial. That didn’t stop the
recently deceased from trying, though. And try everything they did…
If you’re interested in reading more, The Dead of
Penderghast Manor can be purchased or borrowed from Amazon! Here’s the
universal link –http://mybook.to/TheDeadofPenderghastManor
***
Julianne Snow is the author of the Days with the
Undead series and Glimpses of the Undead. She is the
founder of Zombieholics Anonymous and the Co-Founder and Publicist at Sirens
Call Publications. Writing in the realms of speculative fiction, Julianne has
roots that go deep into horror and is a member of the Horror Writers
Association. With pieces of short fiction in various publications, Julianne
always has a few surprises up her sleeves. Be sure to check out The
Carnival 13, a collaborative round-robin novella for charity which she
contributed to and helped to spearhead which was released in October 2013.
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