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CHAPTER 11
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Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 12The first time the Beast left:Sally’s hope was repaid one afternoon, around two weeks after the Beast first appeared.She wasn’t aware of the actual time it occurred because she was busying herself with chores. David was in the conservatory, a cluttered room with large, single glazed windows at the back of the cottage. The room was something of a dumping ground. They kept the recycling in there, along with an assortment of gardening tools and some old rattan furniture.Sally had found no effective way of bringing David out of his torpor, so she’d taken to leaving him in the conservatory. He was out from under her feet and she hoped that when the sun came out, he’d at least enjoy the feel of it on his face.She was in the kitchen, which was also at the back of the cottage, washing the dishes and staring out across the garden, wondering what else she should try and plant in the flower beds. Something caught her eye at the very end of the garden, just beyond the wall. It
Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 13Eight days ago:Sally rooted around in the back of the kitchen cupboard until she found the largest Tupperware box she had.She put the box on the counter and filled it with all the steaks, each one seasoned, and then marinated as Hettie had instructed. The steaks had been cut into rough chunks and smelled quite strongly of the marinade. Sally was actually glad to get the lid on the Tupperware box.Next she fetched David’s old Zippo with the Boy Scout emblem on it, and a bottle of paraffin. Then she went and got the small wooden box that had been sitting on the crowded mantelpiece in the living room. It had a strange carving of a tree on the lid. Sally wasn’t an expert in trees, but it looked like an elm tree. Around the base of the trunk was a cage with its gate open. Just what this meant, or why anyone would want to cage a tree, Sally didn’t know, but she thought it would be a perfect container for the figurine.She’d made the figurine this morning out of all the hair
Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 14After the first time the Beast left:Sally was bringing David his breakfast when it happened. He was still in bed and she wanted to do something nice for him, to reach out and bridge the gap that had opened up between them. She’d made kippers, mushrooms, and fried tomatoes, with wholemeal toast and hot tea.As she carried the steaming food up the old wooden stairs on a tray, Sally began to think about why she was reaching out to him and what had come between them. She wondered why she was always the one who tried to make peace and why David never met her halfway. She was the one who had to put up with him and look after him, the least he could do was let her in on what was going on.By the time she got to the bedroom she was livid. Her arms were vibrating, and her anger was like a white hot light—its glare washed out every detail of the room. Without saying a word she lifted the tray and flung it at David’s head.Luckily, her aim was poor, and the kippers, the tea and t
Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 15After the second time the Beast left:It was a warm night, but they decided to light the fire anyway and make it an occasion with a good bottle of Merlot. Sally had cooked lamb shanks, and they were feeling nicely full and a little tipsy.“I don’t know what’s up with this weather,” she mused. “One minute it’s pouring down, the next it’s bright sunshine. It’s been that way all week. Still it’s good for the wildflowers in the forest. There’ll be a carpet of them next week, I expect.”“It’s different in the heart of the forest,” David said. Then he paused, and a brief frown passed across his face. Sally and he had never gone into the heart of the forest, which covered nearly 4,000 hectares. They’d only explored the periphery.Sally sensed an opportunity and reached out to him. “Is it much darker there? In the middle of the forest, I mean.”“It’s more primal and untouched. Very few people have ever gone all the way into it, possibly a handful in living memory. There are pa
Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 16Two weeks ago:David couldn’t keep her out for long. It was after the third time the Beast took him that Sally read the pamphlet Jane had given her.After the section on Hettie of the Hedgerow, Sally flipped forward in the pamphlet to the next chapter where she found the section on the ‘Curse of the McCavendish family.’ The chapter was on Phantom Black Dogs of the Highlands and the Gaelic mythological hound Cù-Sith in particular. It was the last section of this chapter that opened her eyes to the complicity of everyone who lived in Dunballan, including Jane. It was here that she learned something of the dark burden of David’s family:Perhaps the most unique variation on the legend of the Black Dog isn’t actually a dog, but a giant black cat, of strange appearance, more commonly known as the Beast of Dunballan. Dunballan is one of the remotest and least visited towns in the Highlands. It’s also home to some of the strangest folklore of that area.Possibly the strangest t
Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 17Eight days ago:Sally had only been this deep into the forest once before. That was yesterday. She’d had David with her then, or rather his mindless body.Hettie had shown her the way that time. Whispering to her from the coppice, bending the undergrowth to point her in the right direction. She had to find her own way now, retracing the path from memory. That became harder the farther she got into the woods, especially as the sun was going down and evening was creeping in.A rotting moss covered log blocked her way—she didn’t recognise it. Had she taken a wrong turn? Sally looked around the forest for any landmarks she might recognise.The silver birches were giving way to pines, which grew closer together, and the temperature in this part of the forest dropped. The cool air brought a sudden flash of lucidity. Sally thought about what she was doing here in the middle of the forest, and it suddenly seemed insane.Was she really going to save David this way, or was she p
Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 18Ten days ago:Sally felt furious and betrayed, but she was also eaten up with curiosity. She’d been kept in the dark far too long—she needed some answers.The last few months she’d been living through a situation that seemed ludicrous, impossible even, if you spent a few minutes thinking rationally about it. It was as though she’d fallen into some waking dream where all natural logic had been suspended.Sally wasn’t certain why she’d simply accepted everything and then learned to cope with it. The remoteness of Dunballan probably had a lot to do with it, as did the isolation she felt. Sally had no one with whom she could discuss what was happening. She had no friends in Dunballan and had lost touch with her friends in London. She hardly spoke to anyone in her family, and she doubted any of them would help even if she reached out to them.There was only David, and David had closed himself off. He was too embarrassed by what he was going through and possibly a little guil
Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 19Sally looked up from the journal. Her eyes were tired from staring at so much closely written handwriting, and her back ached from being curled up in the same position too long.She had been reading the journal for hours without a break. The fire in the grate was nothing but embers. She stretched her legs and back, and blinked her eyes. Everything in the room looked suddenly strange and unreal. She’d been so engrossed in Matthew’s account of his out-of-body experience, it was as if she was there with him. Putting down the journal and coming back to earth was disconcerting. It took her a moment to readjust.If she’d read the journal before coming to Dunballan, Sally would have considered it either pure fantasy or deluded ravings, but after everything she’d seen, she was more inclined to believe it. It certainly answered a lot of her questions, but it threw up just as many. The current volume was the last of the journals, but there were a few more entries. Perhaps the answe
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- Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror EPILOGUE
- Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 21
- Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 20
- Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 19
- Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 18
- Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 17
- Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 16
- Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 15
- Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 14
