Book 1 of the Paige Maddison Series by Lee Bice-Matheson
Literacy Award Winner from the Readers’ Advisory Panel, Orillia Public Library, and included in Battle of the Books competition, 2012-2015 in Simcoe County schools.
Wake Me Up Inside is a ghost story centered around a strong teen-age heroine, Paige Maddison, who is forced to move with her parents from Toronto to hicksville Ontario, to help look after her ailing grandparents. It is a story of discovering one’s heritage and uncovering secrets. What will Paige learn about her family’s past and what will she discover about herself as she moves through this journey?
Paige discovers that her maternal family home is a mansion called O’Brien Manor along with a guest house, condemned cottage and a graveyard. Before Paige leaves Toronto, she has nightmares and visions but does not realize they are of this place until she meets the ghosts haunting the Manor…
Paranormal activities, love, death, illness, family reconciliation, romance, and compassion are the focus.
Excerpt from the ebook:
CHAPTER ONE
It was an amazing feeling to run through the naked forest free of scratches from errant tree branches; to be invincible. I felt free. Glancing down, I thought how strange to be wearing a flowy, pink and white ruffled dress with a high collar. The feeling of running carefree vanished. Without warning my joyful mood transformed into one of desperation. The sound of wild dogs snapping at my heels prompted me to run for my life. There was no one here to save me. My heart raced as my legs grew sore while struggling to breathe. I was desperate to survive. So desperate, in fact, I knowingly jumped off the edge of a cliff. Time slowed in free fall: my heart jumped into my throat, my stomach flip-flopped and while kicking all the way down, I hoped the effort would break my fall. I landed on a boy lying still; stiff as a corpse in a coffin. My fall did not affect him in any way. I immediately rolled off, horrified by what I thought was true. My eyes grew so wide, expecting them to pop. Recoiling, I noticed he was dressed in a black suit with a single red rose placed carefully in folded hands upon his chest. Rising slowly, I nervously looked around. There, in the tall grass stood a little girl with long blond hair tied back by a blue ribbon. She stared intently at me.
I am currently writing book two in the Paige Maddison series. The bones of the book are almost finished, and then, I flesh it out. It takes one year to complete. Please look for it in 2013!
I am also included in The Big Book of Canadian Hauntings, compiled by John Robert Colombo, Dundurn Press, c2009. This began my journey into the writing world. My two narratives called ‘Two Experiences’ are the ending of Mr Colombo’s book. He is Canada’s Mister Mystery, or Canada’s Master Gatherer and has compiled and/or written more than 130 books. JR Colombo is a treasure for Canadians. 🙂 His wife, Ruth Colombo, is also, and a published author of poetry. For further information, please go to www.colombo.ca
PARANORMAL STORIES – EXCERPTS
Excerpt from “A Spiritual Bond” by Lee Bice-Matheson in The Big Book of Canadian Hauntings, Dundurn Press, August, 2009, by John Robert Colombo. Sold by Dundurn Press, Amazon books
One particularly bad air day, I could not go to visit my mother in the hospital. She had been ill for some time. She was in a fragile state and not being able to go to her was unbearable for me. In fact, I paced the floor and spoke to her out loud as if she was in the room. I said, “Mom, I’m so sorry I cannot be with you today. I’m so angry. You know it’s my asthma preventing me. I have to stay inside in the air conditioning. The FP is so high today, I couldn’t even risk going to the car and running into the hospital. I’m so sorry!” And as this was spoken, my fists were folded and I waved them all about. I felt this energy, or force, coming from me – it filled the room.
Later that afternoon, my sister, who was with my mom all day, dropped by and asked, “Were you talking to mom today when you were at home?” I admitted I was. I recounted what I said. My sister’s eyes went wide as she slowly collapsed onto the couch and said, “Oh my God, …
Excerpt from “Paranormal Dad” by Lee Bice-Matheson in The Big Book of Canadian Hauntings, by John Robert Colombo.
My husband had pictures of my dad blown up and hung on the wall for my benefit. One of my favourite pictures was taken in Florida, of my dad with our young son standing on either side of a sign, with a picture of an alligator and an ‘X’ through it. It is illustrating the phrase, “please do not feed the alligators”. I walked over to the picture, squatted, smiling with pure love in my heart, and kissed my index finger and touched it to my dad’s face. I told him I loved him and walked away to put on my favourite CD, the LCBO’s Summer Grill, Volume Two. I proceeded to step onto the elliptical trainer to work-out. The third song on this particular CD is the famous “Chain of Fools” by Aretha Franklin. The song played, then suddenly stopped and replayed a chorus of the song – three different times.
It was at this moment that I smelled something really foul, something I was sort of familiar with, and yet, not really. It started as a faint smell of musty soil, then urine mixed with feces and then something rather rotten. Considering I have asthma, it was immediately noticeable. At the same time, my fingers and hands went cold while holding…
