Goth by Lol Tolhurst

Author:Lol Tolhurst [Tolhurst, Lol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2023-09-27T00:00:00+00:00

OCTOBER 8, 1979: HULL BY THE RIVER HUMBER

DAMP. THAT WAS MY FIRST SENSATION WHILE COMING TO. THIS WAS immediately followed by a strange sharp feeling across the palms of my hands. I didn’t want to move, yet I felt remarkably calm even though I wasn’t quite sure yet where I was or how I got there. I tried an exploratory maneuver and moved a finger out into the air, where I felt a wet sensation. Was it water, perhaps?

Yes, that was it. Water! My vision came back into focus and I could see that I was lying on my back, staring upwards at the moon. It was a small crescent moon obscured by clouds scudding across the sky. It was obviously nighttime and I was surrounded by long grey stalks with slightly bulbous heads swaying rhythmically in the wind. It was starting to feel cold, a damp penetrating cold, and I became aware of more pain in my hand. I propped myself up out of the wetness to get a better view of my surroundings, and my hands squelched into something soft and yielding. Mud? Where the bloody hell was I?

I stretched my legs out and cautiously tried to stand up amongst what I could now see were bulrushes. I almost immediately slipped and was thrown down among the bulrushes again. As I continued to slide I could see where I was. I was at the edge of a river, the dank, muddy, disintegrating banks of a river. The River Humber, to be precise. How did I get down here, I wondered.

I remembered a door. I remembered running down a corridor. I remembered lights and laughter and a tussle of hands and legs and feet followed by more laughter. It was all a bit blurry, but I could clearly make out a door. I was running to the door but it was locked. I was pushing on it with all my might when it suddenly gave way and I was flying out into the darkness and the chill night air.

I ran like a fox being pursued by hounds hunting me, the spittle flying from the corners of my mouth as I pounded the ground harder and harder with my feet, faster and faster to escape someone behind me. Then, suddenly, the ground dropped away and I was tumbling down a steep hill over and over and hitting something that knocked the wind out of me. Still I continued to fall. I flew past long stalks of what I suddenly realized were bulrushes that I desperately clutched at in an attempt to stop my fall. The rushes ran through my hands, but they were sharp and stung my flesh, until I finally came to a stop and the darkness settled around me again.

I don’t know how long I lay there unconscious. When I came to it was quiet—not like the last time I remembered. As I retrieved myself from the river’s edge, I remembered more. Robert and Severin drunk and howling as they ran after me down into the bowels of the hotel.

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.