The Evil Inside by Lee Maroney

Author:Lee Maroney [Maroney, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
Published: 2021-11-02T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

“Christ, I’m confused.” Nick Castle rested his head, closed his eyes, and considered the incredible kaleidoscope of emotions from the last forty-eight hours.

Firstly, the devastating loss of his grandfather. Bill had been his one constant, a sounding board, a high point in an otherwise horrendous adolescence. It had been a long time, too long since they’d seen one another but it was always an option. Now that option was no more, and it hurt.

The rendezvous with his mother had been just as shocking but for very different reasons. The frank exchange of views was nothing new but her willingness to reveal truths that had been hidden for so long came as a frustrating if not refreshing departure from the norm. Her accessible responses were a complete U-turn from the sequestered oblivion he’d encountered as a teen. It stung so much that things may have been so different had they had this conversation two years, five years, even ten years earlier but, he found himself sympathising with her, something previously, he’d have never believed possible. Beseeching the requests, no, demands, of her husband and in-laws wasn’t an option, wavering to their greater judgement on a subject to which she knew little, she’d felt obliged to continue their lie, even when she could see the damage it was doing to him. Dispelling the story for the truth after all this time took guts and though she only had so many details to reveal, her voluntary beginning made it impossible for Mick to deny. He’d left his mother, for the first time, not feeling that usual acrimony and glacial animosity but, with hope that their detached relationship could still be bridged. It would take work but, it was a start. Perhaps he was finally growing up?

The loan of money gave him a feeling of independence he’d long since lost. Borrowing his mother’s car too, helped him step away from his broken personality. He was returning to Hallowell, doing so in a beat-up banger and penniless would have continued his inferiority complex whereas appearing with an impressive vehicle and cash in his wallet portrayed a position of success. It was a welcome departure from reality.

Arrival in Hallowell had been disconcerting for so many reasons. This had been his dream, to return to his spiritual home, the land that had beckoned him since the day he left. The car had travelled like a homing pigeon, taking no effort at all, not a wrong turn, never needing to glance at a map, gliding through the motorways and back-roads alike. The childish excitement made his heart race, the anticipation of a triumphant return, seeing family and a few old friends. But suddenly, memories of those same friends made the ever-present horror flood his thoughts once more. The persisting instinctive terror he felt when he remembered that thing that inhabited that place. The reason that he hadn’t been able to call Hallowell home for all these years. The repugnant, nauseating phantasm that destroyed his life and haunted his dreams.

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