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CHAPTER 8
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Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 9Sally turned back to David. His jaw was slack, his mouth hung open, and his eyes were empty and glazed.Sally tried to rouse him. “David,” she said. “David?” But he didn’t respond. Sally passed her hand in front of his face. He didn’t blink or show any expression. He was breathing through his mouth, deep, steady breaths that rattled the phlegm at the back of his throat. Sally took his hand and checked the pulse in his wrist—it was regular. He neither resisted nor responded to any of this.His body was fine, but David himself appeared to be absent. Sally clicked her fingers next to his ear and shook his shoulders, but this didn’t get any reaction. She raised her hand and slapped him hard about the face, hoping to shock him out of his stupor. She left a red mark on his cheek, but his vacant expression didn’t alter a bit.When she saw the mark, Sally regretted being so violent. She didn’t want to hurt David, but she didn’t know what else to do. She couldn’t rouse him, and sh
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
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Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror EPILOGUE
EPILOGUERight now:Sally stood at the sink, staring at the butcher, with a cup of water in her hands. She was frozen into inaction by the sheer weight of her memories and tiredness. She didn’t have the energy to move.She knew she should bring the water to the boy on the sofa, maybe find more blankets and some paracetamol for his fever. He would die soon, like his mother, if she didn’t help him, but then so would most of the townsfolk.Sally was exhausted. She had been worn out just looking after David, but now she had a whole town to look after. More than two thousand people, all of them in the same state as David. She fretted constantly about David—she had to leave him alone for considerable lengths of time, and she worried about his safety. She felt guilty for abandoning him so much, but she couldn’t abandon everyone else in Dunballan either, not after what she’d done to them.Sometimes Sally fantasised about having help, a friend to share her duties or even a small group of v
Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 21Sally smelled the glade before she actually stepped into it. Its scents were lush, primal, and sharp. There were deep mossy undertones, like the bark of the seven ancient elm trees whose thick trunks encircled the glade. There were high fragrant notes, like the pollen and the wild flowers that grew all across the clearing. There were plants here that had flourished for millennia, plants that couldn’t be found anywhere else on the planet.Sally couldn’t help but catch her breath when she entered. The rest of the forest was often noisy, filled with a plethora of sounds. There were the raucous bird calls, the grunts and howls of the creatures that fought and foraged on the forest floor. There was the sound of the wind in the branches and the occasional rain on the leaves, and there were the thousand other unexplained noises that haunt such a wild and untamed territory.The glade was a different matter altogether. There was hardly any noise here at all. It was as if all sound
Queit Places: A Novella of Cosmic Folk Horror CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 20Eight days ago:Sally was more certain now. Certain where she was going and certain she was doing the right thing.This certainty didn’t come from Hettie, Sally was sure of that. Hettie was nowhere to be seen or heard. This certainty came from her love for David. She’d gone to extraordinary lengths for him, but she was going to have him back. She was going to free him from the Beast. Sally had forsaken all her doubt. As strange as all this might seem, she knew why she was doing it.She was deep in the forest where it was darker and cooler. The light was much dimmer as Sally stepped out of the undergrowth and approached the stream. The stream would take her to the glade where she was ultimately going.Sally lingered by the undergrowth for a moment. There was one little thing that was playing on her mind, something she had to clear up before she could go through with everything she and Hettie had planned.She stopped and turned back to look at the thicket of shrub. The d
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
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 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 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 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 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
