The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker

Strangely Beautiful Tale Note

Dear Reader,

I’d like to introduce you to my eerie, deathly-pale, sweet and unusual heroine, Miss Percy Parker, a girl with quite a few supernatural talents. This scene from Percy’s childhood memories, where she first learns how she is different, became something only referenced in the final copy of the book, but I’m excited to share this insight into her character with you.

Deleted Scene from The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

“Reverend Mother, do you ever have dreams in the daytime, while you are awake?” the childhood Percy asked, winding tiny white fingers into the rosary at the Reverend Mother’s side. She looked up into compassionate, hazel eyes. Mousy hairs marked with grey poked out around the Reverend Mother’s forehead, defying the restraint of her white coif. The lines upon her face, mapping years of contemplation, curved into a warm smile.

“Dreams while awake; when your thoughts drift? Why, of course, my child. Daydreaming.”

“But do you see things when you daydream?”

“I liken it more to thinking rather than seeing.”

“Then what do you call it when you cannot see anything else in front of you but the dream for a moment?”

The Reverend Mother’s thick eyebrows furrowed. “What is it that you see, child?”

“Often I see doors- there is one with a ring of flame around it, or a big black one like an open hole. Other times I see birds, or feathers. Once there was a boy. Sometimes they pass so quickly they are hard to catch.”

“You have visions, child?”

“Is that what you call seeing things, suddenly, when you are not sleeping? Then yes, I must have those.”

The Reverend Mother spoke slowly. “How long have you been seeing such things, Percy?”

Percy shrugged. “I cannot recall.”

“A long time?”

“I believe so.”

“Do they happen often?”

“Not really. Well... at times.”

“Do you ever see the Lord,” the Reverend Mother pressed, “or Angels, or perhaps our Blessed Virgin, Percy?”

“Once I did see people, at first I thought they were birds. They were nearly invisible, winged. Were they angels? They almost looked as though there was a fire within them- maybe it was the Sacred Heart!”

The Reverend Mother held her in a grave stare. “Do you ever see evil things?”

“Evil?” Percy blinked, brushing a lock of pearl-coloured hair from her similarly white face.

“Bad things, depraved- er- frightening things?”

Percy shook her head. “No. The ghosts in the Abbey are all my friends, they do not frighten me.”

The Reverend Mother started. “Ghosts!”

“Yes, there’s Gregory, the one always in the courtyard, he’s the most dear!” Percy blinked. “You can see them, Reverend Mother, can’t you?”

The Reverend Mother, baffled, shook her head.