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CHAPTER 9
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Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 10Before Sally met David:When she was in her early twenties, Sally went to see a counsellor to work on the problems she had with intimacy and relationships.Her name was Margaret. She was a large, middle-aged lady with grey hair and a weakness for silk scarves. She spent many sessions talking about Sally’s early life, and her mother’s second marriage, and then she offered Sally a prognosis.“What I think,” Margaret said, “is that the lack of connection you feel towards others is a defence mechanism. It’s a way of protecting yourself from getting hurt.”Sally’s father had suffered a massive cerebral haemorrhage when Sally was very young, which had left him incapacitated and unable to fend for himself. He became a shell of his former self, a slack-jawed, drooling lump whom Sally couldn’t bear to be around most of the time.Sally’s mother became his full time caretaker, a task which left her emotionally and physically drained. She had no time for Sally when she was done wi
Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 11When Sally was around nine years old, her mother had walked into the living room to find Sally, with her hands on her father’s head and her eyes closed, praying to God in a loud voice. Sally had seen a film in morning assembly about Saints and the healing power of faith, so she’d been inspired to try it on her father.She was sure that her father’s soul was still out there, caught somewhere between Heaven and Earth, waiting to return to his body. Sally wanted God to reach up and pull her father’s soul back into his body, so he could open his eyes and be his old self again. She was certain that God could do that if only she believed it hard enough and prayed as loud as she could.She was praying so loudly that she didn’t hear her mother come into the room to see why she was making so much noise. The first she knew of her mother’s presence was the sharp stinging pain she felt as her mother slapped her hands away from her father.“What on earth do you think you’re playing a
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
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