A ghost in the attic (a bird on the stairs) is a burgeoning new OC project of mine that I have been working on lately. While not entirely dissimilar to my other large project -- "I'm not supposed to say "I love you"" -- in that it is very much about deeply strange people and the ways we live life and look after one another, it is a new direction as well: a little more complex, more experimental, and more Mad.

I've been wanting to work in more complex, unstable places lately. Difficult symptoms and experiences, trauma, grief and instability -- a lot of works that deal with these topics tend to have a very narrow idea of what "healing" looks like, and it's not one I'm particularly interested in. While I consider this a much more "angst" focused story, I do intend for it to have a "happy ending" -- one very much inspired by antipsychiatric, disability justice, and mad pride visions of the future. That said, content warnings for: Self harm, psychosis, psychiatric trauma, suicidal ideation, and religious themes/imagery.

I have more of a narrative plot in mind for this project that I'm hoping to see realized. My goal is for it to be a single novel, rather than a collection of short stories. I'm excited to work on it and share it with you, but am still working out the finer details on how things will be posted -- given that I'm not particularly inclined to post chapters in a "serialized" format until I have the entire book drafted, edited, and finalized. For now, the snippets I share will likely be scattered and disjointed -- a highlight reel of my first draft as I continue to work on it. The further things develop, the more likely I am to switch things up though, so keep an eye on the changelog for updates and new content!

VERONICA

Veronica Reyes is a 30 year old woman who has recently moved into the guest house behind Celia Villanueva's home, intended to be a "testing of the waters" in living on her own for the first time since she'd dropped out of college. Around 5'6", kind of a bulky-rectangular fat, and has curly hair she doesn't particularly style or take care of — mostly only occasionally cuts it to keep it out of her eyes. She's relatively polite and unflappable, up until she hits a limit, where she can start to get more defensive, loud, and sarcastic. Always a little defensive at baseline, so she's not exactly Friendly per se, and has a flat affect that means most people tend to read her as more rude/disrespectful than she actually is.

Experienced her first psychotic episode while in college, and has had several more in the decade following, and struggles additionally with post-traumatic symptoms caused by her experiences being incarcerated in psychiatric hospitals. Her recurring delusional/hallucinatory experiences are religious in nature — centered primarily around angels and saints; her Paranoia is more explicitly tied to the traumatic surveillance and control she suffered in hospitals, although she considers herself 'Traumatized' by both sets of experiences. Hears Voices only during the worst of her episodes, but has distractingly bad disorganized thoughts; deals with insomnia and sleep disrupted by nightmares and night terrors; never 'non-symptomatic', but does consider her Madness to be largely under control and is only prone to Bad Episodes when particularly pushed/stressed. Terse and largely unwilling to speak too freely or allow people to get too close, she's extremely preoccupied with attempting to mask her Madness so as to avoid further involuntary commitments. Does not take her prescribed antipsychotic medications, although she pretends to.

Bit of a Video Game Nerd, more interested in Achievements, game mechanics, and completionism than the stories of the game — when she's info-dumping about her games, she's talking about item locations rather than the plot or characters. Particular fan of the Resident Evil games, RE4 is her favorite of the series. Unfortunately, she's stuck spending most of her days as a receptionist — not a job she's particularly fond of.

AIDA

Aida Villanueva is a 28 year old who lives in her parents' house with her older and younger sister. 6'1" and slightly underweight; not always the best at keeping up with body maintenance/hygiene. Usually quite spacey and sleepy, she's not particularly inclined towards back and forth conversation most of the time, but a pretty good listener all the same. Spends most of her time outside, but does not often leave the grove street her family lives on — generally prefers to be on her own, and finds being around too many people completely intolerable.

Aida is autistic, hears voices and sounds, and is quite preoccupied with the spirituality and animism of Nature. Most of the voices she hears are disjointed and fleeting, but does consistently hear the voice of her late Abuela Bella — who passed away a few years ago. Very prone to sensory overload and is particularly sensitive to electronic noise and humming — lights, fans, etc. In contrast, loves the sensory experience of being wrapped up in the sun and wind, and hearing the birds and leaves. Acknowledges her experiences as "unusual", but does not particularly consider herself to be "crazy" — just Sensitive/Spiritual. Would not use any psychiatric terms or labels, only might use the phrase "Touched in the head" if particularly pressed, but since she spends almost all of her time surrounded exclusively by her family, she's not often questioned about it.

Ostensibly an artist, but doesn't always do a lot of art. Does keep nature journals, but often just sits outside and enjoys the act of sitting outside without having to justify it by Doing Work about it. When she does make art, she works a lot with watercolors and linocut block printing. Gives most of her finished pieces to her older sister, Belle, who sells them at the front counter of the Taxidermy shop, but other than that, Aida is not employed.

CLARISA

Clarisa Villanueva is the youngest of her sisters at 18 years old, currently finishing out her senior year of high school and preparing to go to college in the fall. She's around 5'5", slender, and generally prefers to wear her hair loose around her shoulders — although sometimes she pesters Aida into braiding it for her. Bit of an unabashed nerd and arguably the most out-going of her sisters; social and enthusiastic, and often a bit impatient. Her upcoming college plans are always kind of looming over her peripherals — torn between nerves over inevitable inaccessibility and exclusion and excitement over being able to get out to a new place and find new people and new opportunities. Currently undecided on whether she'll wind up pursuing a major in Disability Justice or English Lit.

She was born with spastic quadriplegia Cerebral Palsy, which causes very limited mobility in her case. She uses a power wheelchair to get around, and has limited use of her hands (her right more than her left; she can operate a touch screen with little difficulty, but struggles significantly with grip and finer motor skills). Went through enough speech therapy growing up that she is able to speak cogently, but with a strong "accent" — her family and friends understand her well, but strangers often struggle to decipher her speech, so she tends to use an AAC device outside of the house. She enjoys being social, but occasionally struggles with a lot of frustration caused by how frequently people tend to talk over/around her rather than To her — she's not particularly shy about this and will snap/yell at people if properly provoked, although she prefers to try to be as patient as she can.

While she spends most of her free time listening to audio books (equally fond of thrillers/mysteries and cheesy romances), her biggest interest is definitely in Star Trek. Grew up watching The Original Series, and has watched every subsequent iteration of the show — although Star Trek Discovery has earned its place as her singlemost Favorite work in the franchise.

BELLE

Anabel "Belle" Villanueva is 32 years old, currently living in her parents' house with her girlfriend — Michelle — and two younger sisters. She's 5'11" and dresses a bit like Miss Frizzle, if Miss Frizzle was obsessed with taxidermy and clowns rather than early childhood education. Quirky prep energy off the charts — loud, unabashedly Weird, and often overly eager.

Belle is autistic, but slips by unnoticed most of the time — not that she masks as NT particularly well, just that she plays up the Weird enough that most people don't look past it. Doesn't struggle as much with sensory issues, but becomes significantly more sensitive to things when already upset or stressed out — usually "the straw that broke the camel's back" kind of an issue than a constant stressor in itself. Extremely bad at reading social cues; cannot read most people's facial expressions or tones, and often does not understand sarcasm or subtlety. Compensates for this mostly by dominating conversations and being blunt about demanding other people be blunt back to her. It doesn't necessarily make her well-liked, but she's not particularly interested in Being Social — at least, not the same way Clarisa is. Belle is more content to have a select few friends she interacts with, and is content enough to scrape by merely "tolerated" by most other people she has to interact with.

Absolute vulture culture enthusiast. Means she's a bit "strangely obsessed" with Death, but also means that she lucked out by getting an apprenticeship at a local Taxidermy shop and has since taken over the business from its former owner. She does all the taxidermy work while her dad and Michelle help out with the accounting side of things. Collects bones as a hobby. Also, bit of a fan of cryptid conspiracies — Bigfoot and the Jersey Devil are her favorites, though she secretly loves the idea of one day going to the ocean and being the one to find the next modern Globster washed up on the shore.

More to Come:

Michelle Glenn (Belle's girlfriend)
Teresa Villanueva (the sisters' mom)
Abel Villanueva (the sisters' dad)
Auntie Celia (the sisters' aunt)

Snippet #1 - Veronica At Work