And They Were Never Heard From Again: A Yarnsworld Tale by Benedict Patrick

Author:Benedict Patrick [Patrick, Benedict]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-02-21T00:00:00+00:00

Felton gasped loudly as he woke. It was still pitch black, still night time. He cursed himself for an idiot - he had not meant to fall asleep.

He forgot all of this, however, when he realised why he had woken. His right hand was being crushed by Tad’s grip. The young boy felt rigid beside Felton.

He shook his hand, trying to get Tad to let go of it. “Quit it, Tad,” he whispered.

“Shh!” Tad said, quickly. The stress in the boy’s voice was evident.

Felton waited a few seconds, trying to get to grips with his surroundings again. He could hear nothing.

“Did you hear her, Fel?” Tad whispered quickly. “Could you hear her?”

Felton listened again, straining his ears to pick out any noises from beyond his pathetic wall of stones.

“There’s nothing out there, Tad. It was probably just the wind.”

Tad kept crushing his brother’s hand. “Not out there, Fel. In here. She’s in here, with us.”

Felton thought the beats from his breast would lead any creatures straight to him. He listened again.

“I don’t think so, Tad. It’s just an empty-”

He shut his mouth as he heard the rustling. The entire cave around him - the floor he was sitting on, and the wall he was leaning against - began to rumble, as something large - something close - moved. It was not a stealthy movement, not a quick dance across the cave floor. Something was dragging itself towards them. Something big.

“I can smell you, little ones,” a voice said, in the dark. It was a female voice, but Felton knew straight away its owner was not human. The words felt as if they had been made by a mouth that had not been created for speech, being too… full of other things. Teeth-like things, perhaps. This creature - whatever it was that was stalking them in the dark - had taught itself to speak by sheer force of will, an abomination against nature’s design.

“I can smell you. Will find you soon, I think.”

Beside him, Tad began to shake. It was the kind of uncontrollable movement that would have looked comical if there was light enough to see anything, if not for the knowledge that pure fear was causing Tad’s body to react that way.

The creature, somewhere close, dragged itself across the cave again, grunting as she did so.

Quietly, and as quickly as he dared, Felton began to move away the stones from his small wall.

“It has been such a long day, little ones, and I am tired. Make things easy on mother, will you, and come to me now. Let me kiss you.”

Once a big enough hole was made, Felton grabbed Tad and shoved him towards it. “Get out, and run, Tad. Don’t stop running.”

Tad was spasming uncontrollably now, his body not knowing which direction it wanted to go in. “But it’s night out there, Fel! I can’t go out at night.”

“Artemis’ beard, you can’t stay in here - go!”

A low noise began behind them. It quickly turned into a growl, and then a scream that pierced their ears like a needle.

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