CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 7

The first time the Beast came:

David saw the Beast first. He always did. It was like he was attuned to it, connected on some deep hereditary level.

It took Sally a little while to realise that he was looking at something. They would usually be outside, near the house or the forest, and David would go quiet all of a sudden and stare into the distance. Sally would spot the change in his mood—since moving in with him she’d become acutely aware of the shifts in David’s temperament.

She let it go the first few times, presuming he’d paused for thought and, if he wanted to share what he was thinking, he would. She didn’t like to pry, and she knew David still needed his own space. She’d come to expect a certain level of intimacy with him since moving in. She knew he had his own interior life and she respected that, but she didn’t want to be left out entirely. She began to scrutinise him when his gaze wandered, and she realised he was looking at something specific.

“What have you