Green Glowing Skull by Gavin Corbett

Author:Gavin Corbett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2015-03-10T16:00:00+00:00

9

Denny Kennedy-Logan stirred from a deep afternoon sleep. For one phantastic moment he thought he was on a foreign holiday, before a dull but disoriented wakefulness settled in him. He lifted his arms either side, studying them, blinking … He was in a chair, not a bed. The chair was in a windowless room; designed with only function in mind. The walls were of rough brick, painted a stark white, with a violet tint. In front of him was a mirror, with no softening bulbs around it (though there were flowers on the table – lots of lilies).

He leaned forward to his reflection. He looked ghastly, gaslit. His eyes were seeping sea anemones, and from them his face dripped in ghoulish green phosphorescent rings. He leaned closer. His chair zipped back on its castors an inch from under him, making him gasp and grasp the table. The smell of lilies almost choked him, and their cold rubbery touch caused him to shiver.

‘Where am I?’ he shouted, slapping the wall.

How did he get here?

He had been embraced and swept in one movement from some point he could not remember with any … great deal of sharpness.

Who embraced him?

Where were the others?

His shirt was damp through.

Why was his shirt damp through?

‘Where is my jacket?! Where is my cummerbund?! You cannot take a man’s dignity like this!’

Bit!

Let me change this light bulb, he said. But how am I meant to safely pull this off? The chair was on castors. He reached in his trouser pockets. And where am I meant to get a bulb? But that ghastly light from that ghastly tube! No, there has to be a way to do it. And if I were to hold my nerve so that the poles of the tube did not touch any metal along the way. Poles of a tube! A riddle: how can a tube have poles? When it is a light bulb. Or a telescope. And how many tenors does it take to change a light bulb? But I still do not have this light bulb. And that chair is still on castors. How am I meant to do this? I only care so much for puzzles, you know!

A door opened. A woman entered. Red haired, with ringlets, and a burst of red spices for a mouth.

‘Bored yet?’ she said. ‘When do your friends arrive?’

She poured from a jug and handed him a huge glass of water. He took a sip, gingerly, keeping his eyes on her. Thimbles of ice and slices of cucumber piled up at his nose, and his throat and heart and lungs contracted in pain.

‘I believe we’re both going the same way home later. We should share a cab. You’ll enjoy the people on before you. The show-tunes girl is a darling. Can you wait a few more minutes? I have a little more housekeeping to do.’

‘Excuse me,’ he said after the closed door. ‘Where are the others? Excuse me,’ he said. ‘I am a man and I

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.