Chapter 20. MISSISSIPPI GOTHIC: A Substack Original Supernatural Southern Gothic Horror.
Small ghost town. Hidden secrets. Demons. Fallen angels. Root magic. And a woman who can see ghosts— Now forced to stop a crazed pastor from awakening a god.
Before you get started: I want to say thank you for joining me on my “Watch Me Draft a Novel” series. If you want to know more about the story I am drafting, check out this post here: Trigger Warnings. There you will find the introduction, glossary, inspiration photos, and trigger warnings. (please see the trigger warnings before reading) I want to add that this series is an 18+ adult fiction with spice. Enjoy.
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Chapter 20:
Ye, say she born, under de silver moon
I was the only one awake watching GG’s house as the steady drum of rain fell.
I thumbed my necklace and laid my head back on the headrest. I thought of Revvy, who was the life or parties, deteriorating into this skinless creature all because of what? He was fighting hard to live and all I could think about was death. I was surrounded by death and I spent most of my days blocking out that fact. Could I honestly stop a god? Could I stop my uncle? I peered into the backseat to find Vex’s big arms wrapped around Jamie’s big stomach. Two things could be true at once. I was both terrified of death, and even more so terrified with life. It was like being suspended in a vast darkness. I couldn’t see my hand in front of me, nor could I see what was behind me. And I hang there. Days, months, years, centuries. Hanging, lost in a wave of grief and despair. Crying out to anyone that would listen, with a hope that someone…someone…would save me. In the tales, stories, anime shows…the Black girl is never deserving of saving or safety.
Vex squeezed Jamie as if he was checking that he was still there.
I wanted someone to squeeze me too. Hold me, never let me go. Fight for me.
I turned back around in my seat, placed my hand over the empty space where the charm of my necklace should have been sitting.
This was why I had to save Revvy. Even after death, I wanted him to be happy, safe, and loved. If we can’t have rest even after we die, then what was the point?
I slumped down in my seat. A tapping like a pen hitting glass caught my attention. When I turned to my passenger side window, a woman with two black holes for eyes stared at me. My heart damn near exploded from my chest.
“Fuck!” I can feel my heart beating in my ears. I shut my eyes. “Not now, go away. I can’t help you, please go away.”
I slowly opened my eyes and the ghost glided to the front of the car. She was dressed in a sunflower dress, one shoe, and her hair was a tangled mess of curls. The rain danced around her instead of through her. I couldn’t figure out why. She opened her mouth and out poured heads of sunflowers and broken yellow leaves.
I shut my eyes, squeezed them tight. “I’ll help you another day. I promise. Please, go.” I opened my eyes to an empty road and rain. Goosebumps snuck up my arms, making my hair stand. When I breathed out, a puff of white smoke plumed in front of me.
“What the fuck?” I touched my glasses and slid them from my face, tucking them into the cup holder. Concentrating, I willed my mind to go blank and let in my surroundings. The night faded into a monochrome gray. The rain hung suspended, droplets frozen mid-fall. Each one glimmered like a shard of shattered glass. As I pushed open the car door, beads of rain bounced off the metal surface. I walked, shifting through the droplets making a clear path to the front of the car. The sky was completely cloudless and starless. Double moons shined like the two moons in Nocious. But this couldn’t be Nocious. Where were the two moons coming from?
In the middle of the road, asphalt cracked, pouring out hisses of smoke. Petrichor, tide with a scent of decay. My clothes clung to my skin like a damp rag. I moved closer to the crack, careful not to step on them. The smoke was speaking. I turned my right ear towards it, and listened carefully.
“He’s coming. He’s coming. He’s coming,” the voices chanted. “God is coming.”
I jumped, my boot stepping into melting concrete. I attempted to run, but my body was sinking into the gray roads.
“Help!” I shouted. “Jamie!” I pulled at my thigh, flexing my muscles as hard as I could to free my foot out of the asphalt.
Hands burst from the cracks, dragging me backwards. I fanned my mind for scriptures. Psalm 35:5. “Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the—” Hands grabbed me by my waist, slamming my body backwards. I begin sinking into the concrete like quicksand, hands covering my mouth.
“God is coming. God is coming. God is coming,” the smoke hissed.
I was pinned. The asphalt pushed up from the ground, creating a lump. A hole formed at the top, and out through that hole gushed out little red ants, millions of them. Rushing toward me, crawling on my skin.
“Oh, hell no!” My voice was muffled by hands pressing my head against the pavement. The woman in the yellow sundress came into view. Holeless eyes, matted hair, sunflowers dripping from her mouth. She sat on top of me, crushing my chest. Her body felt solid, too solid.
“Get off!” I stated scriptures in my head, hoping that I could cast from my mind. There was power in speaking the words. I had to speak the words.
She leaned forward and screamed. Sunflowers rained onto my face.
Memories flashed before my eyes of a young GG playing in a field of sunflowers. GG signed to the woman in yellow who was sniffing a flower. The sun shone bright over their heads. “I love you.” The girl in yellow signed back to GG. Then the memory shattered, breaking off into six pieces. One where the sun was bright with GG. The second, the girl in yellow running through the woods, the third, a deep dark basement, the fourth, double moons, the fifth, being dragged, the six the girl in yellow crashing into a lake. Her yellow dress floated around her as she fought for air.
I was there as if I was the woman in yellow. A ghostly hand dragging me further into the chilling waters. I fought, I fought so hard. All I could think about was getting to my sister. I had to get to my sister. She will miss me. What would she do without me? I love you. I love you. The words screamed repeatedly in my head as I was dragged down to the bottom of the lake. Red bleeded across my vision until it ate up the light of the moon.
Water slapped my face again, and I fought to come up from the lake to gulp down air.
“Hold her feet,” a voice said. “Hold her.”
What felt like fingers clawed my mouth open and grabbed ahold of my tongue. I was choking on my own spit. I had to get to my sister. My sister. Where is my sister?
“Come on, Ahunni. Come on.”
I recognized Jamie’s voice. He was home. I just needed to swim to him.
My sister. I need to get to my sister. The voice echoed in my head.
I spit up gulps of water. Jamie patted my back, turning me to my side.
“That’s it,” he said.
The rain had picked up, pounding the pavement around us. Vex opened an umbrella. I quickly realized that I was in the middle of the street, drenched. A single moon hung over us.
When I was able to sit up, Jamie let out a thank god. He clutched his chest. “What were you thinking?”
Before I could get a word out. Yellow caught my attention in front of GG’s house. I followed the dress until it stopped at the front porch. The woman raised a pointed finger. Her face twisted into a shout, yellow flowers pouring from her mouth before she burst into a thousand petals.
“GG!” I said, pushing Jamie out of my way, running toward the house.
Chapter Question: What is the one thing you want the most?
Chapter 20’s song: Easy by Son Lux
I chose this song because it’s talking about pulling out your heart and the feeling of being alone. And being alone isn’t as easy as we want it to be. Plus, it has a nice creepy vibe to it.
Schedule Release & Author Commentary:
Chapter 21 releases August 12th, 2026
Alright, this is the last free chapter. After today’s release, all chapters will be locked. Your paid subscription helps an Indie author to not only keep the lights on, but for human art, human writing, and it goes toward developmental work as well as copy/line editing. I want to update Mississippi Gothic’s cover to a full spread, and that will cost $500 dollars. Your subscriptions help me with that. If you can afford five bucks a month or $50 a year, I truly appreciate.
Thank you!
About time you all are reading this, I will be in the thick of moving. Wish me luck on my new journey!
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I finally got the chance to read Chapters 19 and 20. I love how you rev the action up and then give us a calm moment of deep emotional break-through for a character. Such beautiful world and character building. So happy that you are back.