/lit/ - Literature

> Outline for next chapter of Blackula

The S.S. Demeter is traveling from Varna, Bulgaria to Yorkshire, England. The ship’s workers consist of the Black Captain, the Black first mate, the Black second mate, five Black hands, and a Black cook. They are transporting hundreds of boxes of dirt to Count Blackula’s newly purchased mansion.

One week into the journey, the ship reaches Greece. The crew seems scared and restless. The first mate asks them what’s wrong, but they only cross themselves.

A few days later, one of the crew hands starts using American Black slang. In African American vernacular, he tells the first mate that there is something aboard the ship. Later that night, that crew hand goes missing.

The next day, another crew hand tells the captain that he saw a tall, thin man walking down the hallway. He followed the man, but when he turned a corner, the man was gone.

Another week passes and they reach France. One of the crew hands now crosses himself by snapping his fingers and making a Z shape in front of his chest. SNAP SNAP SNAP. After he gets off his shift, he disappears. The remaining crew panic and demand that they work in pairs.

The next day, the second mate talks about starting up a black-owned business and making a black Wall Street. One of the crew is supposed to watch over him, but he’s overworked and low on sleep. After he rests his eyes for a few minutes, the second mate disappears.

The next day, two more crew members go missing. The only people left are the captain, the first mate, a crew hand, and the cook. They still have hope because they’re getting close to England.

However, the ship gets lost in sea for two days because of a strangely thick fog. That night, the cook disappears.

The next day, the first mate looks around for the last crew member, but he’s nowhere to be found. Then a tall, thin man appears. The first mate stabs him in the chest with a knife. The man disappears into the shadows.

The captain and first mate search the boxes again. They pry open the biggest box with a crowbar. There’s human-like indention in the dirt.
Now that the captain and first mate are the only ones left, they have to work 12 hour shifts and relieve each other. The captain is in workroom and hears some banging on the outside. The first mate runs in and tells him that he is going to jump, and if the captain knew what was good for him, he’d jump too. The first mate then runs to the edge of the ship and jumps into the sea.

Meanwhile, the people of the Yorkshire coast are in their homes, looking out at one of the fiercest storms in history. A strange ship erratically pulls into harbor. When they pull out the gangway, a black dog runs down the pier and into town. They find the captain’s corpse tied to the steering wheel.

The townspeople bury the heroic captain with honors. They try to find the dog, but it’s gone. Some men take the boxes of dirt off the ship and deliver them to Count Blackula’s mansion.