Charlotte Gaspel: Demons and Ghosts

I: Fiat Lux

Setting us in some obscure place in France in 1957, two lovers granted the gift of life to a new creature they had forged; a curious spawn; a beautiful child they decided to call Charlie.

And so they began to call him: Charles Gaspel, descendant of Jeff Gaspel and Clara Moreau; possessor of all the love that his precious parents could give him; destined for happiness and prosperity. Make no mistake, no matter how you present him, in reality his family lacked wealth.

Mister Gaspel possessed great gifts for entertainment, and I write Mister only out of courtesy, as he possessed no trace of nobility. He and his beloved felt a great need to raise a child. People of his economic class could not afford such luxuries, but under the circumstances, what is there to lose? Youth? Time? Vital energy to preserve mental stability? Bullshit. All that is secondary when you have no money. Not to starve to death is the highest priority, and although they had no expensive possessions, they had plenty of love to give, so the decision was made. Let's have a child! What a madness! What a recklessness! What an absence of common sense! But more than anything else... What a bless!, because when Charlie was born, their lives began to take on color.

The mother, Miss Moreau, knew the limits of the world. She knew when to stop the show, when to get the best deal, and how to use your weapons well. Obviously, she and her beloved were a perfect match, as Jeff was, by definition, reckless. He was passionate; someone with vision, heart and courage, but such an attitude also brings problems.

Charlie had the bad luck to be born in a town where the law was just an urban legend. Soufreville; that's how they identified the location, so that when someone sees crows eating the remains of a corpse in the street they can say: I found it here, in Soufreville. Yes, where I was mugged last week.

The authority figures who reside there are usually members of the most important mafia in the region. Everyone calls it: The Coffin. It looks cute when they say: If you don't pay what you owe The Coffin, they will cut your guts out.

In theory, they are also the bank there. People often turn to The Coffin for loans, as long as they pay back the money in 2 months and 16 days maximum. Paying interest, of course.

...

Luckily, every time Jeff and Clara borrowed money from The Coffin, Clara made sure they didn't miss a single crumb.

The Gaspels were doing very well for themselves. Mostly they didn't lack food, health, or happiness, so their life was technically good. Unfortunately, as you can imagine, good stories don't come from good times; bad times make good stories, but good stories don't make good times.