Horror and Huge Expenses by Robert Perišic

Author:Robert Perišic
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sandorf Passage
Published: 2021-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

On the Border

EVERY FEW DAYS he would find his rowboat on the other side of the river. Going and bringing it back was not so simple. Somewhere in his head, in a small afterthought, the moving of the boat to the other bank began to resemble a sign for him.

He was on watch for the fifth night in a row. He was not used to sleeping during the day, it was poor sleep and he was already very tired, but he had committed to seven nights, and he would see it through. Then he would sleep for as long as he needed to recover. But he knew he would be unnerved if he found the boat had been moved when he ended his watch. If someone was going to come, let them come now. Even if it was all a sign, let it come now.

His eyes were falling shut, so he decided to go for a short walk to clear his mind. Walking slowly, he could hear the river: a soft murmur that was lost during the day. Then he leaned his back against a slanting tree trunk. Its roots stuck out and its branches touched the water. Soon it would be carried away by the river.

The night was so acoustic, he thought. For orchestra. A crescent moon. Imagine an orchestra, the cheeks of the brass players, and the swift movements of the conductor beneath the moon. He felt he could hear them.

He felt he could hear someone. A distant whisper, which seemed to come through time. A wisp of mist clinging to the surface of the river. He no longer knew how old he was. He had been a boy when they whispered by the river, long, long ago, before the fighting.

The mist traveled, wafting past him, occasionally enveloping him. Something moved, he thought. Shadows.

Let it come now.

He took several steps toward the boat and bent down in front of the bushes, which he knew well. He went into the bushes a few yards from the boat. He sat down silently on a stool he had put there when he began his watch. A cocked pistol in one hand and a flashlight in the other.

He heard whispering that the river brought from upstream.

So I’m not imagining it, he thought.

He heard a rustling. He waited, looking into the black like a cat, and finally he saw it. No, he was not imagining: some creature went up to the boat, sniffling. He did not get up or show himself, but only pointed the pistol and shouted, “Stop! Hands up!”

There came a muffled hubbub, like from a brood of animals. The commotion stirred fear in him. When he appeared in front of them pointing his pistol, shouting again with all his heart—“Hands Up! Give yourself up!”—they stood in the flashlight’s beam like startled rabbits.

At first he could not see them, the eyes need a minute to adjust. He heard a female voice, which surprised him. Then he saw that young woman: black-haired, dark-eyed, beautiful.

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.