The light glowed out of the fog as it turned. He knocked the door. An old man answered. 'I was expecting Donnie.' 'He quit.' He led him inside. 'You need a tour?' 'I'll figure it out.' 'Fair enough. See you in a month.' The solitude enveloped him. Bliss. Lockdown had shown him the path to … Continue reading THE NEW LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER
'What is he doing?' 'I have no idea.' 'He's just standing there.' A small group of onlookers stopped on the sidewalk to stare at the man standing in the middle of the intersection. 'Did he just come out of the manhole cover?' 'Should we ask if he needs help?' The lights changed. Yellow cabs swerved … Continue reading JUST VISITING
She held up the old photograph in front of her. 'This is definitely the place,' Xavier said. He was right. The same trees on the crest of the hill. The wild grass meadow, the hedgerow dividing the fields. This was the right place. So where had the rocks gone? They walked through the long grass, … Continue reading PRESENCE
Every year, on the same day, another one appeared: a black dahlia. She had almost run out of space to put them around her villa. Each year the perennials re-sprouted, a forest of dark bloomage that shrouded her white walls. The shadow they cast she could not escape. The blackness in her heart was embodied … Continue reading RECOMPENSE
'What do you think, a cow?' Arthur poked the skull with his stick. 'Possibly, or a large hound.' 'Strange, sitting here in the middle of an empty moor. A deer I could understand. I wonder how it got here.' James puffed on his pipe. 'Well, let's have a closer look. The evidence is all there, … Continue reading THE HOUND ON THE MOOR
