Chaos Dreams Part 2 Astral Tales

By Candy Ray

A murdered child tries to contact her mother.
A solitary student has lucid dreams, but they trap her in an oppressive forest.
In the afterlife, a girl strives to stop sadness pulling her down, and is helped by an unexpected encounter.
Batman's niece goes on a quest unlike a superhero comic, full of alchemical symbols instead.
On Midsummer Night an occultist meets his true love; can he use the film he is making to win her from another man?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frond
• Release date: Dec 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370432899

Candy Ray

When I was a child I always thought I would become a fiction writer because I wrote so many stories in exercise books. What in fact happened was that for a while I wrote a lot of poems and songs, and then nothing at all for twenty-four years.My consuming interest has always been the occult and psychic subjects, and in 2014 I joined A.E.O.N. a chaos magic group on Facebook. It was described as: "A Unique Art-Magic Collective made up of Highly Creative Individual Rebel Artists: Writers, Graphic Designers, Crafters, Pranksters & Performers. Art Transcends All Reason!"For the sole purpose of contributing to this group, I started to write short stories and novellas. I teamed up with a chaos muse, a non-human entity, and channelled material from her so that we each wrote some of the pieces. Then I began to self-publish the resulting books .The more I learn about the professional writing world the more I am discovering that I don’t have anything in common with them. Therefore, I have now made all my books free on this site.I live on the south coast of England with my small family. The A.E.O.N. art group has faded from prominence now and has been succeeded by newer ones, but still:- Art Transcends All Reason!Other LocationsMy Smashwords interview can now be found on this page https://www.smashwords.com/interview/FrondThe short story collection Chaos Fables is now on this page: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1370828I also write under the pen name Lena Chere. The books under this name are the Eoss Trilogy and they are available both as digital books and paperbacks.Volume 1: See this page. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/890472Volumes 2 and 3. See this page: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/lenachere5These two are published by me and are free.

Book preview

Chaos Dreams Part 2: Astral Tales

By Candy Ray

Copyright © Candy Ray 2016

All rights reserved

Self-Published by Frond

Smashwords editions 2017and 2019

Cover design by Justin Kingsley Pitonak

Table of Contents

School’s Out

The Challenge Landscape

After Life

Glass

All In A Day’s Midsummer

About The Author

Other Books by Candy Ray

School’s Out

Suzanna was only six and wasn’t meant to be in the realm of the dead, but she was here because of a school shooting in which seven children had been killed at random.

Ignore it, said the guide. Don’t dwell on it- get on with life here, and one day you will see that it fits into some kind of crazy pattern that shouldn’t be there really, but people around you have made this pattern.

Suzanna looked offended, and snatched up some marbles from a table. She began to build them into a pattern: MY pattern, not someone else’s, she muttered, and she slammed the marbles down into triangles and diamonds on a velvet board that lay on the table. The guide went away and left her playing with the marbles and she played for a long time: for days. Every diagram was hers completely.

Suzanna’s Grandma soon came by, and took her by the hand. I didn’t want you living with me yet, dear, she said, leading her away, but I mustn’t complain. There are several other families in the same position- it’s just the way things are nowadays.

Where are we going? asked Suzanna, in a surprisingly hostile tone considering it was her grandmother of whom she had seen quite a lot during the first four years of her life.

Home, said Grandma, sounding surprised. To my house.

You shouldn’t have a house if you’re dead. You should just float along the street. Suzanna kicked the brick wall they were walking past.

Now, dear, said Grandma, you must think of it as a continuation of life just as it was before, except that now you live with me. Don’t think of yourself as a useless dead thing floating about. You’re still you – everything’s just the same.

Go and get Mummy, then, Suzanna said flatly.

A woman less strong-minded would have been silenced by that, but Grandma returned immediately, we’ll go and see Mummy in a few months’ time when everything’s settled down. She’s got a lot to sort out at the moment, and she’s upset. You wouldn’t want to bother her when she’s busy and upset, would you?

Suzanna looked away and muttered yes, very softly so that Grandma didn’t realize she had spoken.

The Spiritualist mediums tried straight away to get in touch with the children in the next world, but they only did this because they were asked to, and they qualified the attempts with comments that it was probably too soon to reach them.

Suzanna wondered why Alexa was going on a trip with a guide, and not even the guide who had spoken to her when she had first arrived here but another one, Philippa- a brown-haired girl who looked like a teenaged ballerina.

Where are you taking Alexa? she asked Philippa. Can I come too?

We’re just going to the church for about half an hour, Philippa replied, so that Alexa can send a message to her Mum.

I want to speak to MY Mum.

Your Mum doesn’t go there, Suzanna, Philippa explained. She’s agnostic. And your Dad and sister are in one of the new Pagan religions.

Suzanna dug her elbows into the rocking chair she was sitting on. It was made of white basketwork and it stood on Grandma’s porch. I’m not talking about religion, she said. I’m talking about seeing Mummy.

Your grandmother will take you to see her soon. You might even be able to speak to her- try. Some people get a nice surprise when they find they can have a conversation after all.

So there was something silly that was stopping her from talking to Mummy- but not Alexa, only her. She glared at Philippa and rocked the chair backwards and forwards, and it swished and creaked like a rocking chair should.

A few weeks later Suzanna’s Dad Carl and her fifteen-year –old sister Marisa went to see a medium, but she was a Pagan medium, not one from the Spiritualist church. Philippa, in an impressive show of eclecticism, took Suzanna to the place of the séance just as she had taken Alexa, and it was to be held at the medium’s house. Her name was Jenny and she lived in a chunky house covered with evergreen creepers which stood in its own grounds right at the edge of the town where Marisa had grown up, and Suzanna had been supposed to grow up.

Jenny looked in her thirties and she was wearing a pale red wool dress which ended just below her knees. She had a dark yet rosy complexion and brown hair like Philippa’s, except that hers was pulled back in an elastic tie. She served tea to Dad and Marisa in the lounge with a solemn look on her face which befitted the occasion, and spoke to them in a comforting tone.

Suzanna sat with Philippa in an armchair on the opposite side of the room. It felt as if she was sitting in the waiting room at the dentist’s, and Dad and Marisa