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When fictional characters move from books to the REAL WORLD.
…from the mind of a fictional character
by

Julie Compton
(a character from Louise Wise's Wide Awake Asleep)

"Julie Compton is already 'current'. She's a highbrow, business woman in joint ownership with an equally highbrow business woman. She's there, dammit. She's made it, despite her disastrous upbringing."

I sit back and admire my narrative that I've said about myself. Well, it's true I did have a disastrous childhood, and I dismiss all this nature V nurture rubbish giving lazy people excuses to sit on their arse and claim benefits from the taxes of hard working people like me.

My dad left when I was about four. It's hard to remember because he kept coming back to secretly visit me--he couldn't give me up, you see, it was only Mum he wanted to divorce. Except I was a constant pawn in her games.

She handed me to social services, and I ended up in care for two years. Those were the worse days of my life. When I came out, I was forced to go back to my mum despite my dad pushing for custody of me.

But look, that's all in the past. I've moved on, and now I have my own back because I've put her in a home now!

I sound smug, and I want to feel smug... except... I'm not. I'm sad that we don't have that mother and daughter bond. It's all too late now, of course. What's happened has happened. No going back, is there?

So, no, I'm not one of those sad individuals on shows like Benefit Street or Can't Pay? We'll Take it Away who constantly bang on about their 'poor me' situations? I've picked myself up, dusted myself down and bloody got on with it!

I started with nothing, and made something of myself... so why do I feel like a part of me is missing? I'm 49 years old, for Christ's sake! I should be settled. But I'm not. Something is missing from my life and I can't think what.

Julie Compton       

(Julie Compton writing before the accident and before 'shimmer man' sent her back in time to change her future.)

Introducing...

WIDE AWAKE ASLEEP

Julie Compton’s life should have come to an end in the car crash but instead she woke, unharmed, back in 1972 and primed to relive her life all over again.

One problem. She’s in the body of a stranger. 

AMAZON.COM | AMAZON.UK

Journey back to the 70s and 80s England where Julie’s forced to jump through the eras, occupying and controlling the bodies of people she knew as a child. She must work out which destiny path was the wrong one, wondering all the while if her body, back in 2016, was dying in her car.

With each momentous change, her memories transform and she realises she’s not only changing her future but the futures of those around her.

A paranormal, time-slip adventure set in the real town of Northampton in England.

Excerpt taken from chapter five

Wide Awake Asleep

My head was buzzing; thoughts that weren’t mine invaded my mind. I looked over at the mirror on the dresser, then back at the contents of the bag on the bed. I looked at my hands. I’d noticed they looked different before, but I’d ignored their appearance—had to ignore it, to preserve my sanity.

A stranger’s thoughts persisted in my head. Mundane things of another life that I didn’t belong to.

I looked at the mirror again, then rose and forced my legs to move forwards. I knew I’d look different, but the jolt of shock hit me anyway. Instead of seeing my own face, I saw a young woman with a thin, pockmarked face and awful buck teeth. Instead of my blonde no-nonsense bob, my hair was long and brown. A wave of nausea turned my stomach as I stared at my reflection. I should be seeing a forty-nine-year-old woman in her prime, not a twenty-something scraggy-haired woman. I should be immaculately made up with perfect teeth and skin, not… not this.

An unexpected thought popped into my head. Will I look more professional if I put my hair up or should I leave it down? It wasn’t my thought. It belonged to whoever’s body I was occupying.

One thought was spinning around in my mind—and it was mine: I had died in the crash, and this was some sort of afterlife.

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