A Patchwork Fantasy Snippet full of supernatural thoughts.

In which a home is made.

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• Read the full transcript below:

Transcript

[Soft, mysterious music]

Laura: Hi, you can call me Laura. This is Patchwork Fairy Tales and you’ve just stumbled upon a Patchwork Fantasy Snippet. If you want to read as well as listen, check out the transcript linked in the description.

[Music fades]

Day 24093

This is my house.
I won’t allow anyone to harm it.
There should have been no more intruders after the last one. I do not want these people here. They will leave–

Day 24095

They are siblings. They are loud.
Always singing and talking and stomping. As if they must be louder than anything else.

Day 24106

There are bolts on the door now. Bolts and hideous, gaudy new locks. How dare they–

Night 24112

I was going to fill the night with terrors. But he woke up screaming before I began. She came running from the other room. They sleep right across the hall from each other, with the doors on a crack.
…they are young, are they not, to be living on their own. Was I ever so young?

Day 24114

She has fixed the squeak in the door at the top of the stairs. It never squeaked when I still lived.

Day 24121

The noise of the doorbell scares them. But they get so many deliveries.
It is a good bell. It has worked all these years–
I can see one of the men coming now with his packages, trudging up to the door.
…perhaps if I knock before he is here, they will come and look before he can sound the bell.

Day 24129

He is planting flowers in boxes on my windowsills.

I always wished I could grow flowers.

Night 24137

She is afraid of the dark. I could see it in her eyes when she got out of bed…I lit the lamps for her.

Day 24142

They have moved the couch to the sun spot a little to the right of the window. That is where I used to have my armchair.
It is the only sensible place for it.

Day 24163

Sometimes the noises of the world are suddenly too much for him. He winces and tries not to sway his head.
This is my house.
…I can keep it calm and quiet for a while.

Day 24178

She just got a phone call and now they are both laughing. Laughter is a good sound, isn’t it.
They said this house has been good luck…

Night 24205

They are singing in our kitchen.
He found my cookbook in the gap at the back of the kitchen cabinet and now they are trying to cook.
They wanted to start with the soufflé. They don’t even know how to make béchamel!
I turned the page to the casserole instead.

Day 24236

This is my house.
These are my boarders.
I won’t allow anyone to harm them.

[Soft, mysterious music returns]

Laura: Thank you for listening, I hope you liked this snippet of patchwork fantasy. Transcripts, easy streaming, and all the information about this podcast and all my other creations can be found on laurasimons.com. That is also where you can find all the information on the fantasy anthology by Improbable Press that this little story was published in! It’s full of stories about cryptids, some of them cosy or touching, like this one, others creepy or adventurous. The book is called Dark Cheer, Cryptids Emerging, by Improbable Press and if it sounds like your thing, I highly recommend giving it a try! But for now:

There’s another tale to tell some other day, but until then: remember to guard your name, and be safe.

[Music fades]

_{Copyright Laura Simons, please do not copy my stories without my permission, lest you insult the fae.}