The Lost by Jonathan Aycliffe

Author:Jonathan Aycliffe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

8

EDITED TRANSCRIPT OF TAPE-RECORDED NOTES MADE BY MIHAI VLĂHUŢA

‘I woke about fifteen minutes ago, still in Tamas’s house. It was just after midnight . . . still dark. Cold too . . . really cold . . . Liliana was still asleep. I was groggy . . . almost went straight back to sleep . . . only . . . I was sure . . . I thought I could hear something outside.

‘I pulled the shutter aside and looked out. It had stopped snowing, and there was a large moon over the mountains. It was shining brightly down on the village square. I was . . . I don’t know exactly . . . it was strange. Some of the villagers were walking towards the church . . . one, two at a time. I could just make out voices raised in a sort of chant. It reminded me of the Orthodox prayers I used to listen to when I was a child, when my grandparents took me to church. A midnight Mass? But what was it in aid of?

‘I kept on watching as they slipped inside the building. I think most of the village was in there. I could see lights flickering through the windows, but that’s all. I was really tempted to sneak outside: I wanted to see if I could snatch a glimpse of the proceedings, but . . . I don’t know, something told me the villagers mightn’t take too well to an outsider being there.

‘I decided to go back to bed, it was so bloody cold I couldn’t stand it any longer. And then . . . I heard another sound, just over the drone of the prayers: a wolf’s howl. It sounded really sad and lonely, just drifting down to the village from somewhere out there in the forest. A couple of latecomers paused on their way to the church and looked round. So I knew they could hear it too, it wasn’t my imagination. And then the howling died down, and they hurried into the church. I’ve heard nothing since.’

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